I watch the Moonshiners TV show religiously and realized that my ancestors come from the same places as the shiners so I created a map! As a family historian it’s the coolest thing to note that I have a genealogical connection to places near to the Moonshiners TV show personalities such as Tim & Tickle, Mark & Digger, Mark Rogers, Josh, Jeff & Lance, and even ole Jim Tom. I even have a heritage location connection to James “Jimbo” Bray who won the very first “Moonshiners: Master Distiller” show, a spinoff of the original “Moonshiners.”
LIST OF MOONSHINERS CAST AND WHERE THEY’RE FROM (GOOGLE MAPS LINKS)
- Tim Smith (Gretna & Climax, Virginia)
- Chuck Miller (Culpeper, Virginia)
- Steven Ray Tickle (Gretna & Climax, Virginia)
- Mark Ramsey (Newport, Tennessee)
- Eric “Digger” Manes (Newport, Tennessee)
- Jim Tom Hedrick (Robbinsville, North Carolina)
- Mark Rogers (Robbinsville, North Carolina)
- Jeff and Lance Waldroup (Maggie Valley, North Carolina)
- Josh Owens (Spartanburg, South Carolina)
- James “Jimbo” Bray (Carbon Hill, Alabama)
- Patti Bryan and father David Parker (Coushatta, Louisiana)
- Henry and Kenny Law (Franklin County, Virginia)
- Mike Cockrell (Mize, Mississippi)
- Jerry Benson (Flat Rock, North Carolina)
- Daniel Maner (Sevierville, Tennessee)
- Charles “Big Chuck” Battison (Youngstown, Ohio)
The Moonshiners TV show features shiners primarily from Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Louisiana. My ancestors came from all those places except the last two: Kentucky and Louisiana. Although Patti Bryan’s father David Parker is originally from Murphy, NC right in Cherokee County.
Technically, I do have a 5th great grandfather that settled in Hopkins County, Kentucky (his son moved to Caldwell County) although it’s nowhere near to Gravel Switch where the infamous moonshiner Chico lives. I miss Chico and Sandra on the show, they were wild! Come to think of it there were quite a few people who rotated off of the show that I did like watching like Big Chuck, Bill (who shined with Josh), and extra large Tyler. I also liked the Waldroups a lot, that being Jeff and Lance (R.I.P).
Of course this Moonshiners TV Show map is just for fun! Google Maps limits how many layers I can put on there so I missed out on adding my ancestor who lived in Greenville, South Carolina near where Josh is from. I also did not add Townley, Alabama where my Bama line comes from – but hey, I’ve written a bunch about them on the Family History Foundation already.
Townley is right up the road from Carbon Hill, and that place represents the very first winner of the Moonshiners TV show spinoff “Moonshiners: Master Distiller” competition series where a dude named James “Jimbo” Bray from Carbon Hill won. Yeah buddy!
It’s true I’m a huge “Moonshiners” fan and have even tasted a bunch of legal shine while in Virginia, Tennessee, and Alabama. I think my favs are the Climax Fire No32 and Mark Rogers Peach shine. I’ve even visited the Belmont Farm Distillery where Chuck Miller and Tim Smith work their magic.
Although my family roots are in the same neck of the woods as these outlaw shiners I don’t have a lick of moonshining in my blood! At least not that I know about. We were plain simple farmers, but who knows I wouldn’t be surprised if on one of those special occasions my ancestors took a few sips of the ole white lightning!
Leave a comment below and shout out where your Moonshiners people are from!
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Is Charles Battison his nickname is big chuck what happen to him
I wish I knew what happened to him, all I remember is Josh working him to death haha. He seemed like a cool cat though!