A hundred years after the end of their legendary feud, the Hatfields and the McCoys are getting together this weekend for their first reunion — and they will be leaving the shotguns behind.
“We are going to be on our best behavior,” said reunion chairman Bo McCoy, a Waycross, Ga., minister whose relatives took part in the 19th-century war between the two families that left 12 people dead.
Two-thousand descendants are expected to attend the event in Pikeville, Ky., as well as thousands of others, including the governors of Kentucky and West Virginia.
The only confrontation this time will come during a tug-of-war and a softball game.
The families say the goal is to learn about their shared history. There will also be banquets, bus tours to feud sites, bluegrass and gospel music, and lectures about the feud and how it helped perpetuate stereotypes of the people of Appalachia.
