From Hillbilly Highway to homefront: How Appalachian migration has turned inward

From Hillbilly Highway to homefront: How Appalachian migration has turned inward

Pulaski and Laurel counties posted net migration gains in 2021-22. The Virginia in the Pulaski County seat of Somerset reopened on its 100th birthday in 2022. (Photo courtesy of Lake Cumberland Somerset-Pulaski Tourism)For the first time in living memory, families leaving Eastern Kentucky’s coalfield counties are more likely to resettle in Somerset or London than Cincinnati or Detroit. The Hillbilly Highway that once carried millions north has g…