1 50 1 https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/74f1927f4e7baa04fde1ffc3c674d110.pdf 2cee9b841fba1c3ba7b9ee2453db9121 PDF Text Text Tape # 46 Outline I. Name and birthplace of parents. II. Parents schooling. III. Occupation. IV. Churches in the area. V. Community A. Formation. B. Change. C. Decision makers. D. Minority groups E. Population. VI. Politics A. Change. VII. Transportation A. Layout of roads and railroads B. Building of railroads. C. First cars. VIII. Mountain crafts and customs. A. Courting. IX. Outlaws X. Legends, folktales, supersitions XI. Depression XII. Shull's Mill XIII. Honorary degree of Kentucky Colonel. �This is an interview with Mr. N.D. Shull for the Appalachian Oral History Project by Bill Brinkley on March 27, 1973. Q: Could you give me the name and birthplace of your parents? A: Well, my father was born here at Shull's Mill. My mother was born over on Cove Creek. Q: What were their names? A: R. L. was my father's name; Mamie D. Graybeal was my mother's name. Q: Did you have any brothers and sisters? A: None alive. Q: But you did have some? A: Two. Q: What were their names? A: They died when they was small. William, and I forget the other one's name. Q: How much schooling did your parents have? A: I have no idea. Q: What is your occupation? A: Engineer. �3. Q: When you lived in this area, what sorts of churches were here? Have you lived here all your life? A: Well, I was born here and stayed here until I was about 18. Q: What sorts of churches were in this area when you came back, or in the earlier days? A: Well, in the early days the same churches were here except Hebron bought out the Presbyterian Church. The other churches were the same. Q: To which of these churches did most of the people belong? A: Well, they were divided. There was no particular preference. Q: How do you think that they have changed over the years, if any? A: I can't see any change. They still have the same beliefs they had earlier. Q: HOT# did this community get its name? A: Four brothers came over, one of them settled here, had a mill out here on the river, and it was called Shull's Mill. Q: How was it formed in the first place, just because of this mill? that reason? A: That's where it got its name. Q: How do you think the community has changed over the years? For �4. A: It was strictly a rural farming area, and now it's gone into a summer resort area. Q: Who have been the community decision makers? Mainly the Shulls or other people involved also? A: I don't see that there was any one person that was the community decision maker. It was all handled through the individuals that owned the property. They made their own decisions. Q: Are there any minority groups in the community? A: None. Q: Has the population changed greatly in the community? A: Well, since Hound Ears and some of the other resorts being here, of course the population has increased. But if you discount that, the population is about the same as it was when I was growing up. Q: On politics* do you have any memoires of specific elections, local or state? A: When I was growing up, they always had a big fight, and everybody got about half drunk, that's about all I remember. Republicans wouldn't vote a Democrat ticket, or vice versa. Q: How do you think the politics have changed over the years? �5. A: I don't think it's as clean now as it was; it's a dirty bunch of politics, a dirty bunch of politicians. Q: How did the people get around in the community? What sort of transportation did they use? A: Horse, buggy, foot. Q: Where did the roads and the railroads run? A; Well, the railroads ran from Johnson City to Boone, that was Tweetsie. With the exception of this new 105 they built in here a few years ago, the old roads were essentially in the same location, but they weren't hard surface. They were just dirt roads, the first ones, maintained by county labor. Q: When were the railroads built? A: About 1914. Q: Do you remember the first cars in the community? A: Well, my father had about the first car that was right in this community. It was, I believe, a 1914 Ford. That's somewhere around '20 I guess, '18 or '20 when he got it. Q: Do you know very much about the mountain crafts and customs? Soapmaking, curing, weaving, anything like that? A: No. �6. Q: Are there any mountain cures that you are familiar with? A: Well, there's an awful lot of them that people use and talk about, but I'm not familiar with any of them. I believe in a good ol' doctor. Q: How would you compare the courting then and now? Dating back then? A: Well, back then you either walked or rode a horse. You usually stayed at the girl's home, didn't wander around much. Now, I don't do any courting now. Looks to me like they're all over the country. Q: It was more back then, you traveled in groups didn't you? If you went to the girl's house, weren't you more with a group than like now it seems that they're alone so much? A: No, I'd say you were more by yourself back then. Q: I was thinking that maybe a group of them got toether in a horse and buggy, went somewhere, picnicking or something like that? A: Oh, well. When you got together, that's right, on an outing or something, you traveled in groups. When you went courting, you went by yourself. You had no competition or interference. Q: Bedtime was pretty early back then wasn't it? A: They sure was, but getting-up time was a lot earlier. Q: Were there any badmen back in the area during that time? �7. A: Oh, sure. We had a few that were considered a little wild, but I don't imagine they would be considered bad now. Q: No outlaws ? A: Not in this particular section that I know of. Q: Are there any folktales and legends associated with this community, or any superstitions that were maybe passed down from your father or mother? A: There's a lot of tales about how tought living was back then, as far as legends, I don't know . DEPRESSION Q: When did it start as best you can remember? A: Started in the early '30's, maybe '29. Q: How many years did it last? A: Well, I believe you could feel it up until the war started in,the '40's, '41. Course, it wasn't as bad in the latter part of the 30's as it was in the early part. Q: Were you living here at the start of the Depression? A: No. Q: Where were you living then? A: Tennessee. �Q: How many were in your family? A: There was just my mother, my father, and myself. Q: Did anyone else live with you? Any boarders? A: No. Q: What was the effect of the Depression on your family? A: Well, you just didn't have the money t o spend, didn't buy the clothes and food that you normally would. You made do with what you had. Q: How did it effect the working conditions? A: There was no work to be found. Q: Were you working during the Depression? A: No, I was in school when it started. I got out in '32. Q: Did you ever hear of any government projects, WPA, CCC? A: Yes, had WPA here, and CCC camp was not too far from here. It wasn't in Watauga County. Q: What did they do exactly? A: Most of the WPA workers worked on the roads, including the roads, highways; and the CCC Boys were brought in and taught how to survive in the wilderness. They built trails, and I think they grew some timber. �9. Q: When did the welfare program, start? A: Are you still speaking of WPA, CCC. . . ? Q: Yes, something like that. A. Best I recall, it was in the early '30's. Q: Was any of your family affected by those projects? A: No. Q: Was there a scarcity of food? A: Not in this particular section, because as I said before, this was strictly a rural area and all the local families raised their own food. Q: What crops did you raise? A: Oh, outside the gardens which we raised everything we ate, main crops were cabbage and potatoes. Q: Did you have any animals? A: Well, we always kept a cow. I had a pony when I was growing up. dogs, normal animals on a farm. Q: Were prices higher or lower during the Depression.? A: Prices were lower. Cats, �10. Q: Were there any new ways of making money that arose, such as maybe people took up making moonshine, gathering ginseng? A: Well, I don't know if people took it up or not, but that's been going on in this section of the country as far back as I can remember. And it's still going on. Q: Do you remember any of the banks closing? A: I remember when the President closed the banks in order to get them reorganized back then. Q: Do you remember any in this area particularly that closed? A: Well, they were all closed for a few days. Q: What was the community reaction to the banks closing? A: Oh, I guess, it was pretty evenly divided. Some thought it would never open again, and others agreed with the President's idea. Q: What date was it that the banks closed? A: '31, 1931, I'm sure. Q: How was the community affected? Was there any profound effect, or did things stay pretty much the same? A: Things stayed pretty much the same. �11. Q: Was there anyone that you blamed for the collapse of the banks? A: The bank's didn't collapse here. The banks were financially in good shape. And as for other sections of the country, I have no idea, poor management, I guess. Q: Did the schools change during the Depression? A: Yes, they did. We had better buildings, we built some new buildings. Course, I believe we had better schools. Q: How about the churches and businesses, the country stores? A: They was about the same. Q: What do you think caused the Depression? A: Well, looked like the stock market was in pretty bad shape; too many people over bought, caught up with them and from that it snowballed into a very uncomfortable situation. Q: Who was hurt worst by the Depression? A: Small investors. Q: Do you think there was anything particularly good about the Depression days? A: Well, at least during the Depression days a dollar was worth a dollar, and if you wanted somebody to work for you or if you wanted to work for somebody else, you could put out a day's work. All in all, I think our economy �12. was healthier than it is now. Q: How is life different today than from the Depression, such as the family life, education, etc. ? A: Back then, all you had was a newspaper and a radio, and the newspaper got here when the mailman rode his horse. Now, you got television, good automobiles to travel, and naturally you have a little more interest in what is going on. Q: What do you like best about today's way of living? A: Retirement. Q: If you could change anything about the way they are now, what would that be? A: I'm not too fond of these subsidies that the government hands out for not growing some crops. I believe that the old law of supply and demand would help us a lot. Q: What I want to get you to do now is to tell me all about Shull's Mill if you would? The founding. It's effect on the community. The history of it. A: Well, the founding and the effect of the community, I don't know anything about that. My grandfather was the postmaster back in 1879. That's a grant that was given to him. The fact that the railroad came in here, and then Whiting Lumber Co. moved in here, and cut out all the timber on Grandfather. �13. Had a little narrow gauge railroad that went up to Boone's Fork, hauled logs in on that. Plants were just across the river from here. They had quite an operation here. At one time they were here. We had a hospital, summer drug store, a big commissary, theatre, I think it was 500 families. large, or larger than Boone at that particular time. It was Course, after the timber supply was depleted on Grandfather Mountain, they all moved to Butler. Families, of course, migrated out of here. There's very few of them left, in this section now. The older families that were here before the mill, their descendants are here. Q: What was the mill exactly? A: Just a lumber mill. They made lathes, you know wooden lathes, that they used in place of metal lathes. They were strictly a lumber mill. They cut timber in the woods, hauled it in, ran it through the mill. Then they dried it and sized it and shipped it out. Q: Did they ship it all over the United States, or just to North Carolina? A: It was shipped out of here on Tweetsie. After it got to Johnson City, I don't know where it went. Q: What is the Kentucky Colonel over there? I noticed that last time I was in here. A: My wife and I both were appointed Kentucky Colonels a few years ago. �14. Q: What is that exactly? A: It's an honorary appointment that you get from the Governor of Kentucky. Q: What is that for? A: It's just one of those honorary commissions that they give you. Q: You got it from the Governor of Kentucky? How did you manage that? A: Well, it was managed through my sister-in-law. She's the one who had the influence. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Appalachian Oral History Project Interviews Description An account of the resource In 1973, representatives from Appalachian State University (ASU) began the process of collecting interviews from Watauga, Avery, Ashe, and Caldwell county citizens to learn about their respective lives and gather stories. From the outset of the project, the interviewers knew that they were reaching out to the “last generation of Appalachian residents to reach maturity before the advent of radio, the last generation to maintain an oral tradition.” The goal was to create a wealth of data for historians, folklorists, musicians, sociologists, and anthropologists interested in the Appalachian Region. The project was known as the “Appalachian Oral History Project” (AOHP), and developed in a consortium with Alice Lloyd College and Lees Junior College (now Hazard County Community College) both in Kentucky, Emory and Henry College in Virginia, and ASU. Predominately funded through the National Endowment for the Humanities, the four schools by 1977 had amassed approximately 3,000 interviews. Each institution had its own director and staff. Most of the interviewers were students. Outgrowths of the project included the Mountain Memories newsletter that shared the stories collected, an advisory council, a Union Catalog, photographs collected, transcripts on microfilm, and the book Our Appalachia. Out of the 3,000 interviews between the three schools, only 663 transcripts were selected to be microfilmed. In 1978, two reels of microfilm were made available with 96 transcripts contributed by ASU. An annotated index referred to as The Appalachian Oral History Project Union Catalog was created to accompany the microfilm. The catalog is broken down into five sections starting with a subject topic index such as Civilian Conservation Corps, Coal Camps, Churches, etc. The next four sections introduced the interviewees by respective school. There was an attempt to include basic biographic information such as date of birth, location, interviewer name, length of interview, and subjects discussed. However, this information was not always consistent per school. This online project features clips from the interviews, complete transcripts, and photographs. The quality and consistency of the interviews vary due to the fact that they were done largely by students. Most of the photos are missing dates and identifying information. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Collection 111. Appalachian Oral History Project Records, 1965-1989 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1965-1989 Document A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text. Scanned by Wetmore, Dana Equipment Hp Scanjet 8200 Scan date 2014-02-19 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with N.D. Shull, March 27, 1973 Description An account of the resource N.D. Shull was born in Shull's Mills, North Carolina and worked as an engineer throughout his life. Mr. Shull and his wife were appointed Kentucky Colonels through the Kentucky governor. Mr. Shull describes his childhood including topics such as church, politics, and transportation, specifically cars and the railroad. Mr. Shull lived in Tennessee with his parents during the Great Depression, and describes what that was like. He also explains the background of Shull's Mill. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Brinkley, Bill Shull, N.D. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a title="Appalachian Oral History Project Interviews, 1965-1989" href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/195" target="_blank">Appalachian Oral History Project Interviews, 1965-1989</a> Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 3/27/1973 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright for the interviews on the Appalachian State University Oral History Collection site is held by Appalachian State University. The interviews are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Appalachian State Collection 111. Appalachian Oral History Project Records, 1965-1989, W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC). Any commercial use of the materials, without the written permission of the Appalachian State University, is strictly prohibited. Extent The size or duration of the resource. 14 pages Language A language of the resource English English Type The nature or genre of the resource document Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 111_tape46_NDShull_1973_03_27M001 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Boone, NC Subject The topic of the resource Watauga County (N.C.)--Social life and customs--20th century Watauga County (N.C.)--History automobiles cars Great Depression Kentucky Colonels Politics railroad religion Shull's Mill transportation