ridge runners
Appalachian illegal distillers
Ridge runners are people who live in or traverse mountainous terrain, especially the Appalachian highlands.
The term often carries connotations of rural poverty and isolation—hill folk scratching out a living in remote areas.
It can be neutral or mildly disparaging depending on context: His grandfather was an old ridge runner from eastern Kentucky.
In modern use, ridge runner sometimes refers to trail maintenance workers or ultramarathon runners who traverse mountain ridges.
- hillbilliesRural mountain people
- mountaineersHigh-altitude peak scalers
- AppalachianEastern U.S. mountain region
- hill countryTerrain of rolling elevations
- moonshinersUnlicensed alcohol producers
corn liquor · backwoods · back country · hollers · trails · peaks · summits · bootleggers · craggy · wilderness · smugglers · dirt roads · log cabins · outlaw · rugged · terrain · backpackers · hikers
- Appalachian folklorefolk traditions, folklore traditions, mountain ballads, ghost stories, tall tales
- mountain troopsmountain infantry, ski troops, ski patrol, rope teams, mule teams
- SouthernersAlabaman, Alabamian, Alabamians, Arkansan, Arkansans
ridge runnerscity slickers
Urban dwellers, countryside-naive
flatlanders · urbanites · lowlanders · city dwellers · suburbanites
ridge runnersrevenuers
Slang for tax collectors
revenue agents · federal agents · prohibition agents · tax collectors · G-men
ridge, runner, ridges, ridged, ridging, runs, running, runners