By Will Wright

Fifty years ago, a Yale-educated architect named Bill Richardson was on his honeymoon, paddling a rowboat in Maine’s Audubon Nature Preserve with his wife Josephine, when he asked her if she wanted to move to Eastern Kentucky.

A job in Letcher County with the Office of Economic Opportunity promised at least a short stint of interesting work: training young Appalachians in the art of film-making.

Today, the Richardsons’ project, now called Appalshop, is approaching its 50th year, and on Friday plans to unveil the largest net-metered solar project in Eastern Kentucky. Starting in the fall, and throughout 2020, Appalshop will host a series of events celebrating its anniversary.

The solar project is one example of how Appalshop has grown over the years from a work-training program focused on film-making, to a conglomerate of media and community development projects including the solar initiative and a rural-urban exchange program…

Through the Letcher County Culture Hub, an Appalshop community-development network, the group will also install three solar projects with the Hemphill Community Center, the King’s Creek Volunteer Fire Department and HOMES, Inc. Read more…