By Ron R. Roach
The small mountain communities of Butler, Tennessee, and Rosia Montana, Romania, are more than 5,000 miles apart, but they share an eerie history. In 1948, the Tennessee Valley Authority completed the Watauga Dam, creating a lake that flooded Butler and prompted the relocation of the town further up the mountain. When the waters of the lake were drained in 1954 and 1983, it exposed the skeletal foundations of the original town as stark reminders of the old community. In Rosia Montana, it was not a hydroelectric dam but rather the construction of a massive open-pit copper mine in 1978 that submerged the nearby village of Geamana. Today, the only visible remnant of that community is the steeple of its church, which defiantly protrudes above the polluted waters flowing from the mine.
The haunting images from these two mountain communities are a reminder that mountain regions around the world share common landscapes and consequently face similar environmental, economic, and social challenges. As another consequence of geography, mountain regions historically have had predominantly rural populations with vibrant agricultural and folk traditions.
Such parallels between the Appalachian Mountains and the Carpathian Mountains are especially striking, and since 2013 the Appalachian/Carpathian International Mountain Conference has explored and celebrated these ties. At the most recent conference, held in October 2024, participants traveled to Cluj-Napoca and Rosia Montana to study how mountain communities can learn from each other and work together to face the future.
The conference was founded by Dr. Donald Edward Davis, author of Where There Are Mountains, An Environmental History of Southern Appalachia, and is designed to connect scholars and communities from the Appalachians, Carpathians, and other mountain regions. Davis had served as a Fulbright Fellow at universities in both Ukraine and Romania, where he was struck by the remarkable similarities between that part of the world and Appalachia.
The Carpathian Mountains curve across about 900 miles of eastern Europe, covering parts of seven nations, with roughly half of the range contained within Romania. While the Appalachian Mountains are older and cover much more territory than the Carpathians, much of the landscape looks similar. Bihor Peak (6,066 feet), the highest mountain in the Apuseni Mountains of Transylvania (where Rosia Montana is located) is only 618 feet lower than Mount Mitchell, the tallest mountain in the Appalachians.
The Appalachians and Carpathians are also connected by cultural ties, as thousands of Carpathian immigrants settled in the Appalachian coalfields in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. “The parallels between the Appalachians and the Carpathians are indeed numerous,” Davis said. “Besides growing the same crops in their home gardens — for example, corn, tomatoes, beans, pumpkins, and potatoes — residents of both places also promote such cultural practices as liquor distillation, folk music and dance, and beekeeping.”
The 2024 conference theme was “The Unquiet Earth: Natural Resource Extraction and Cultural Appropriation in Mountain Communities” and was co-chaired by Davis and Dr. Kelly Moffett of Northern Kentucky University. The proceedings were hosted by the University of Babes-Bolyai in Cluj-Napoca, the largest and oldest university in Romania. Past organizers of the conference, in addition to Davis, have included Chris Miller of Berea College and Dr. Theresa Burriss of Emory and Henry University. Miller was instrumental in the early conferences in Ukraine and Romania, while Burriss played a leading role in both 2019 and 2022, working with colleagues at Transylvania University in Brasov, Romania. The conference includes scholars from multiple disciplines who present papers on a wide range of issues facing mountain communities in both regions. In addition, the conference has always included a field component in which delegates visit mountain communities.
The ETSU delegation to the 2024 conference consisted of myself, Dr. Rebecca Adkins Fletcher, and Appalachian Studies graduate student Stacey Horton. The conference took on special meaning when devastating floods from Hurricane Helene struck the Southern Appalachians mere weeks before the conference.
This disaster was a grim reminder of why such conferences are important: geography matters, and flash floods are a threat faced by mountain communities worldwide. Ironically, the conference program had already included papers from European scholars on flash flooding in Romania. In addition, I was asked to provide a special update on the Appalachian floods during the conference’s plenary session to inform delegates how they could assist recovery efforts and to prompt discussion of how our regions might improve flood mitigation and disaster preparedness. This tragic issue is but one example of the many common challenges that our regions face.
Rosia Montana and Its Struggle
Rosia Montana is a Transylvanian village of about 2,000 residents, steeped in natural beauty and history. The name itself means “Red Mountain,” referring to the area’s mountainous terrain and the reddish hues from the minerals in the soil. Like the Appalachians, the Apuseni Mountains surrounding Rosia Montana are rich in biodiversity, with dense forests that provide habitats for brown bears, wolves, wild boars, and numerous bird species. The region also hosts a wide range of plant life, from alpine flowers to forests of beech, oak, and fir trees.
Both Rosia Montana and Appalachia share a long history of the extraction of natural resources. Rosia Montana was founded by the Romans as a mining community during the early second century A.D. and the area became one of the most important sources of gold for the Roman Empire. The site is now one of the most important Roman archaeological locations in Europe. Our team of conference delegates visited the old Roman mines, descending deep underground, where the tool marks from Roman workers are still visible from 2,000 years ago.
From 1948 until 1989, Romania was ruled by the communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu, considered one of the most repressive states in the world. In 1989, the Romanian people overthrew the Communist Party in a violent revolution. More than 1,000 people perished and Ceausescu and his wife Elena were executed. Although challenges remain, including ongoing efforts to fight corruption, Romania has made
tremendous progress in economic and political reform since joining NATO in 2004 and the European Union in 2007.
Over the centuries, gold and copper mining continued to be the backbone of the local economy in Rosia Montana. While most people are aware of the history of coal mining in Appalachia, many do not know that gold and copper mining have a history in Appalachia as well. The first gold rush in American history took place in the North Carolina Piedmont in the 1820s and 1830s, just to the east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The second American Gold Rush started in 1829 in the mountains of northern Georgia, unfortunately becoming a major factor in the efforts to remove the Cherokee people from the region.
The mountains of northern Georgia and southeast Tennessee also contain the Copper Basin, which saw extensive mining and logging from the 1840s until the 1980s, producing acid rain and an environmental disaster; recovery efforts continue to this day. One of the keynote speakers at the conference, Dr. Drew Swanson of Georgia Southern University, presented a paper on this aspect of Appalachian history.
Gold mining operations ceased in Rosia Montana in the early 2000s, but the village was thrust into the global spotlight by a new proposal to get at the gold deposits. The Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, whose largest shareholder was a Canadian company, proposed the construction of an open-pit gold mine that would have been one of the largest in Europe, producing 12,000 tons of cyanide-laced runoff per year.
Our team visited the existing open-pit copper mine less than two miles from Rosia Montana, the runoff from which had destroyed the village of Geamana. This vast hole in the earth, which in Appalachia would be called a mountaintop removal mining site, offers a glimpse into the future that the gold mine would bring, only on a larger scale. The proposed new gold mine would have built four massive pits and dammed up a valley to create another lake for the cyanide-laced runoff.
A broad coalition of activists from Romania and across the world rose up to protest the planned mining operation, on the grounds that it would have been devastating to the natural and cultural landscapes of Rosia Montana. In 2013, thousands of Romanians took to the streets in the largest civil protests since the overthrow of communism. The Romanian Parliament ultimately rejected the gold mining proposal and in 2021, the Rosia Montana Mining Cultural Landscape was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, it was immediately added also to the Endangered List of heritage sites. While the project has been halted for now, the mining corporation still owns a large portion the village, which limits attempts to develop a more diversified, sustainable economy.
Residents have not given up on their town, however, and continue to work to develop new opportunities, including tourist cottages, a new bistro, and a continuing folk music festival. “Once a gold-dependent mining community, Rosia Montana has more recently been promoting sustainable development projects,” Davis said. “The Appalachian delegation was able to visit one of these initiatives — Made in Rosia Montana — a cooperative that employs dozens of women from the local community to produce woolen garments.”
Made in Rosia Montana is a brilliant example of local, place-based entrepreneurship at work. The co-op operates a workshop and storefront in Rosia Montana, an online store, and has opened a retail store 90 miles away in Cluj-Napoca. A key leader in the new bistro and in the co-op is local businessman Tica Darie, who was inspired by the fight to save Rosia Montana and moved to the village in 2013 to do his part.
These initiatives look remarkably like the efforts of many communities in Appalachia to develop a sustainable economy after the decline of mining and manufacturing. And, as we have seen, the Carpathians and Appalachians share a remarkable number of similarities. From the struggles of ancient gold miners to modern-day environmental and community movements, Rosia Montana and Southern Appalachia are united by their commitment to preserving their heritage, protecting their environment, and strengthening their communities. Both regions have seen their environments threatened by natural disasters and human activity. Yet, despite these challenges, both regions remain resilient, with ongoing efforts to protect and preserve their unique landscapes for future generations.
The Vital Importance of Mountain Regions
In recent years the world has begun to have a better realization of just how vital mountain regions are to the health of the planet. Mountains contain 20 percent of the world’s population and nearly one quarter of its forests, providing invaluable natural habitat, carbon storage, spiritual significance, and natural beauty. Every major river in the world originates in mountain areas and scientists estimate that mountains provide more than half of the freshwater supplies worldwide. In addition, many are recognizing that there is much to learn from mountain residents’ way of life. Changes to the world’s climate will only increase the importance of our mountain regions.
In his wonderful book Soil and Soul, Scottish writer Alistair McIntosh tells the story of the people of the island of Harris and Lewis in the Scottish Hebrides and their successful struggle to prevent the construction of a super quarry that would have devastated part of their island. McIntosh laments that modern “progress” has made us more materially rich, but has also left us spiritually poor, yearning for the connection with one another and with the land that we formerly enjoyed in our communities. He writes, “We have seen how change that violates interconnectedness causes degradation, loss, and extinction but equally we have seen how virtuous cycles can be set in motion.” The lessons from places like Rosia Montana and Lewis and Harris are encouraging reminders that communities can unite to restore a proper balance between humans and nature.
We all face the ongoing challenge to work together to strengthen our communities and find ways for sustainable development — development that considers the “triple bottom line” of cultural, environmental, and economic consequences. We can grow and provide the necessary resources for human life, but we can do so responsibly, preserving the mountains for future generations. In the face of these challenges, it is more important than ever for mountain regions to work together in search of sustainable solutions to our common problems. The Appalachian/Carpathian International Conference and others like it can play a significant role in that effort by encouraging dialogue and collaboration between scholars and communities from mountain places around the world.
Ron Roach is chair of the Department of Appalachian Studies and Director of the Center of Excellence for Appalachian Studies and Services as East Tennessee State University. He has been a delegate at five Appalachian/Carpathian International Conferences in Ukraine and Romania since 2013.
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