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'H—• ""•te P-J ^ i£l ^g CTJ •H l> (Tj i-A GO 43 Q; ,-VH _C TJ •H rir^ &•! c\ o r-ti ft JU --j O t^ Qsj t-J & \\) ! -H cA i—i •3 *-j O.1 r-0 •rH i—t JH -p 0) ^H ^ CU tu) cti PL, ""^ . t_0 ' , " P^i .4...) S~i ri" -^H S "G d r-J r-^ 03 rQ ft f>? JD .O cO O •,2 , H 0 lij jj ;y* «C| ^-XJJ r\^ »% fH '.Ti O S-t -P~ Cn -O SH (D -j~3 ,-TJ VJ b o * £ —j K ! i-- _c; • ^-H T.1 CD ^ o •H SH •CD -P T" cti f.'} C? �Page Q: Were .your chicken;:; principlly fcr egg production? A: X e a h , just for eggs. Q: Did yen. have any boilers or roaster;;? A: No, we just carried a few layers mostly then. Took, one ana ate ore occasionally, jutvt more for laying, Q: Were you cows principlly .fcr meat or for milk? A: T b e y ' s for milk., most alt for milk and calves. Q: ¥ our hogs. W e ' d kill a b e e f , bat prin^:iplly Raise the calves, you k n o w , and sell them. You mentioned, you had hogs. f a r m , o.r did you let A: of them. Dio yon keep them on the them run f r ^ c ? No we kept them up here in pens. We never did let them run. out r u o h We just .kept three or lour for our killing, you know what 1 .moan. A: us abont t h a t ? A: Well, I remember about Easter, UL- boys would get out, and :.:i;ea.L the egg,., ana hirie them in the hay stack' a.nd w e ' d have around, 1 guesG, half a. bushel of Easter egg,-3 that w e ' d g e t . gach as that, 1 remember- t h a t mighty good. Q: Did you color egge? A: Yeah, colored eggs, bcilea egge, fried eggs, I looked forwarn to "Easter. Q: What aid you use to color the eggs? A: Well, we u e u a J l v got. gras:- and onion hull;: to make our green- Brovaa, �Page 3 now that was alder bark. Ana blue, I forget what we made the blue out o.f. We used to make up a coloring out of stuff like that you know and color. Get a pretty good, color too. Mrs. A: A: And then we'd get cloth, you know,, that would fade... ...put that around them and that there would make a pretty color. Q: How was Christmas? A: Well, my Christmas was gun shooting, gun mostly. fellow to hunt, shoot guns. you know, have a big time. Mrs. A: Coming down A: I was a powerful We'd usually get out a crowd of us hunting, Looked forward to old Santy when we was young. the chimney. Never did get to see him come down the chimney, and I finally dec idea there wasn't any Santy Glaus. $: Did he bring you anything? A: Yeah, he'd usually bring us some toys. back them days, and a bucket of candy. And my A stick of candy mostly, stepmother'd make a whole lot of little cookies, you know, like animals and such as that. We thought that was a big Christmas, you know, then. Mrs. A: A: You got to make fire balls and throw them. Yeah, get to make fire balls. A crowd of us get out 'with kerosene, roll them up about as big as of your fist, and soak them in kerosene oil. Get us on some gloves and we'd throw them as high as they coula. had a big time such as that. Boy, we Shooting firecrackers, roman candles, skyrocket; Q: Were there any celebrations of the Fourth of July around here? A: No, they never did pay much attention back then to the Fourth of July. About like any other day. They went about, everybody. They worked on the Fourth of July just same as they would the third. usually celebrate, you know, on the Fourth of July. But now, they A lot of people. �Q: How w'i s the work on the farm done princlplly, like yc^r plowing, your cultivating? A: Plowed it kith a yoke of cattle. Kce it kith hoet;. Cultivate, maybe with one steer, single steer, you know, tangle yoke. Mrs. A: A: Thought you bad some horses? No, he never did Keep much. a yoke cattle. Always had When they'd got 30 big and old, he'd nell them off, and get iiim a. young one, and I'd break Q: He liked a yoke o.i' cattle. them in for bin. Were mot:t of the crops that you grew for your owr; use or aid you eeil Gome? A: No, we j u s t a b o u t made enough for buy a. little. Q: curcelves. Now ana tiv-n have bc^ D o n ' t reckon ive ever sold i'ny. How omen y t u f f were you able to produce on your farm and how K U C H ,:;tu.ff did you have to go to the store and buy? A: We produced might near to everything e,xcept sugar salt, eoaa a r x " . . . . Mra.A: Coffee. A: 'Coffee and stuff like that, We rna.de about everything V;H oat back then, e.xcept something like that. MrB.A: Had their own cows and milk, you know, eniekene, egg:;. Had their own hogs. A: They depended on making their living and laying it up. their living up in the summer to o:.o them that w i n t e r . get out i:n'id w o r k or e] ;:,p they cut They d i d n ' t have to fi.rewood or something, and eut firewood. Plenty of timber, you knov:. a big tree, une it for firewood. They laid lined f j I'eplace:-, A man could get out ana cut 1 guens that tree would now bring two or t h r e e hundred d e J l a r a . Q: How did they keep the food.? you t;aid they laid up in tine '..aiiruaei1. �What would they ri.r-:e i.n the winter. A: How' aid th.ey preserve Well, corn we had a big crib, you know. get dry, and put it :in tlier^. bar1"!-Is arid s t u f f ' , ry- j . Meat, y o u ' d salt it layer of s a l t . it? W e ' a shuck our corn when it Buckwheat, i t ' d ary out and w e ' d j u s t put in I t ' d keep it right, on, I r e c k o n . away in a. tog meat box you knew. 1 d o n ' t knove. A layer of meat, •-> Had enough meat there to last no telling how long. Now i t ' s go to the store to get a little piece. Q: Y e a h , and t h a t ' s a b o u t all you get, a little piece. A: A little piece tor a lot of money. A: HOK as-out the fruits and vegetables? (to Mrs. A) You rtdghf be able to tell me about that. fD's.A: A: About drying. he know;s more about if t h a n I do. h e ' s the one t h a t . . . . They canned oher.ries, si.raivberries, apples, stuff like that. usually has plenty of that to do us. Raised ca,ne. T~e.y Make cane molasses, PI-.T, them in a b.i g barrel, you iino^. Mrs.A: A: you? Had bees, drawed them. Put honey in cans. The "way we done that molasses. You never seen a molasses barrel, did I t ' s a b o u t like a 60 gallon oil barrel. A wooden barrel. And t h e r e ' s a big, they called it a bung hols:, you know about the middle of i t . get a funnel and pour the moiass.es down, in there and he had him pieces of timber, He'd a conple lie wanted to get molasses, h e ' d just roll that <iown to where t h e y ' d come out t h e r e , when you wanted to get you out some to e a t . Q: How did you make molasses? A: You raised cane, you stip it, a cane mill, ana boil the juice down. and top it. Haul it in, srind it in 1 guess i t ' d take about five gallon o f ' j u i c e i,o make a gallon of moia.sees, something like that.. a whole lot of juice, you k n o w . Grind if But tk^y made in a cane mill and make s �wa ber coming out all the time. Q: You never did, see any made, did y o n ? I ' v r seen films of people making it, I ' v e never seen It in p e r s o n . Did you all make maple syrup. A: Tap trees and make maple syrup and tree sugar. Tap ane. boil the wattr down like you. do the other, only not as big of vessels. as RID oh water as yoa do with cane juice. You. d o n ' t get Takes about a bushel of water to make about a quart of molasses of the sugar tree water. you never seen any made of tree molasses, 1 guess? Did, you ever see - Sugar, maple syrup? Well, we caLleo it t r e e molasses. Q: Was the tre<-s sugar that you m a d e . . . . A: We boiled it on a little more, a little longer , than when it got down to molasses. Pour it put , i t in, you know. out in a vessel, grease your vessel yoi s i^anf t.o Make a cake, a dish or something, tea cup or anything, pint, -4 little butter it and, grease. while i t ' s colling, a ca l -e of tree sugar. Pour it out in there hot. You stir i t Ano, then when if got cool, if was hard you Know. Just It was good t o o . Q: 'Was it A: Used what? Q: Did they use the tree sugar more than white sugar? A: N o , they used more white siigar then tree sugar a lot. sugar. used a lot instead of regular white sugar? Brown and whits Used a right smart amount of brown sugar back then. Q: Did you ever do any sawmilling? A: Not very much. Not enough to say anything. Worked around i.ner: just a little b i t , packing lumber or something, but t h a t ' s about a l l . Q: You said earlier that your f a t h e r owned, a store. How big of a store to.^8 it? A: Oh, 1 I w a s n ' t a very big store. Just a little eld country store. �: aitirq iT5T.fi ' noa SDETT UT s o u a j e i T T p jo wi y S p^D99r,i /su'i j;r C - q. ,api;noM o.i^qjj *q.rioq *.:JJOK s,A'r3'n K JOT noA" ^.rtq pYno« opdosd * U T AOUOUI no/ §UTJQ pynoM TT'KK sny 3sr jno/I SuTjq ppno.w a'eiTX '$OQ ^^BUI ppnco noj[ "qSTt.! ;;"C.« q r PTJB iiraop pc V �A: Some of them had the money ana some had chickens, eggs and butter and. stuff like that, you see. North You could- he could just turn that ever at Wilkesboro when he went after a wagon load of groceries. needed a lot of dry a tuff like that you know. If he There wasn't, very much money. There van a few, pretty well to do old farmers that had plenty of money. Took in a little money. Of course, little money then would be a whole lot of money now. Q: What size were the bjg farms around here? If you were going to categorize the farms, about what siae would be a big farm? A: Let's see. Well, somewhere - I don't know of any farms that you would call a farm much less than 60 acres to 230 to JOO. •were mighty scattered through, here back then. timber. These houses Plenty of land, plenty of And they finally got to using the timber, you know. hauling it to Shounels. 25 miles and a railroad run in there to Shounels, termessee, and over to Mountain City. got to getting better all the time. till they just got rich. Sawing it and And some got to sawmilling, and they And them fellows kept on sawmilling Two of my brothers, I guess they're worth about as much as anybody in the county, Mike and Glenn. They started out saw- milling and kept on till they got to bringing a lot of money and then they put them in a flooring plant. West Jefferson. Oak floring plant, make flooring here at And they made a lot of money, clear money there at that. Finally sold that out. Q: what was sawmilling like back then? They didn't hsve electricity tc A: No, steam boilsrs and sawmills - the mill part was a lot like a - the power was steam boilefr fired by wood you know. using gas motors. Then they got to That's about what they use now for saw milling; a gas m.ctcj �Q: Was sawrnilling a pretty hard business? Was it, harde>" t h a n farming .in this area? A: Pretty hard job that savmifling. Pretty hard, work, Q: Wore there any times, back whan you were growing up that -- ..Like then- was bad growing season and the farmer..,. A: They wag a f^w kind of droughts, you know, wet seasons, but they didrd make as much as some seasons as others. Good and bad, sort of like it is now. Q: Were there times when you were really digging deep and ui.gel aa as your t>sft for lack of food? A: No, they might nearly had enough bo live or; the year round, of course, people now days, children, they wouldn't know what to think if you set them down to buckwheat cakes and white gravy for breakf a si/, would they? Molasses and. berries, stuff like that. Q: 'I've eaten it many a time, A: Hove you? 0• \ai. v,-.- --, -. >- i.,-,^i. A: Such s...-, that is w;'iai we had back then. bread, corn bread. Mrs.A.: You're Rye bread, little wheat Two or three kinds of bread we had back then. going to make it sound piti.ful. A: flnh? Q: Sounds good, Mre.A: You:1 re going to make it sound pitiful if you don't hush. A: No, at wa0 pretty good times then. Didn't have to buy much, Q: Did your mother have a wood stove back: then? A: ieah, she had a wood stove. Q: Hid she ever have to cock in the fire place any? �Pase 1C A: Well, we had a fireplace. She'd cook beans on the fire. Had a big skillet, and she'd bake , a cake of corn bread, and if she cd.dn't want to fire up the stove and, the skillet on the hearth, you know. Guess you've seen that, haven't you, or have you? Q: Yeah. A: My, we got a daughter down here West Jefferson. They've got a den there and she got her big skillet and she still - in winter time, when she's got ,-• fire in the aen fireplace, she'll bake her a big cai<e of corn breao. and set her sweet milk out a little while before if there's ice and cold and much ice. Mrs.A: A: money. Take it out of the refrigerator. Boy, she likes sorriotning like that. And tney're worth a lot of They just like that. Q: "What sort of things did your mother bake? Do you remember? A: Biscuits, corn bread, pancakes, rye bread, spple pies, cakes, stuff like that. Q: Did she like tha wood stove better than - I don't guess she ever did have an electric 31.eve? A: No, there wasn't no electric stoves back then. Q: Did she like cooking on the wood stove better than en the,... A: Fireplace? Yeah, they thought they'a up in the upper ten if they had a cook stove. They didn't all have cookstoves. But they finally kept on getting them in until they - got them a second hsnd one maybe. And when '.idle to buy them a new one, they'd buy an old stove. Q: Didn't have refrigerators back then, did you? A: No, we had a spring trough. Q: Like that one in yonder? A: Like one in yonder. spring, wsliea up of rocks. Not exactly like that one. We'd just have a I/fall ourselves a spring trough, ana fix that where it would go right on down to trie spring in there. Floor was up nere �en i'"'.?. JT'.r,. ' l • ': .'j'••'••> ' r ' TODr'C ' 0. •"•'"HI • i ^.r""-3 "' o3 ~ ' : i"-'i ';', q r yjo';. *j;'irio/' 't.s;q' :;&« s.n u;iqw oq. o3 oq nscn af. •q r,;5A'Bq I 'OK i,;-00j, Ao J-.J.A.O ;fci30 suoog oy PBOJ sryq. aesc; JMAS no/ SAHI, — ;:r>-Bg_ o']. r ;«oS 4.BUCJ. p^oj ^ua uo ^OT?g •a^Tioi^Toot.pR /.jqanoo F- ur '^ T^PI^a i ["ooqo!; oq o§ TIG./' prp o.ia'm "IT r f n a '>|3feM t UT ;3J'9n -q_T qorun q.,ur.-[-n.oM j p"[QD ;; GM qj 'jjnq_y pus :<5 -aaoog :V :5 �co m o -p a .o -\H '-—. Q, P-, •H C «-l -P o< c? C31 C3> �A: Oil, we had. a big time at them. have edeggi-r dialogee, all too; Black our facee Ilk- -I gg': r e , and kindo of things ...... they ' a cone fron far ana > ear they r a j'Lu>t nil that hor.ee th-y-.ro eeactiy ehee. we- ha'! our red, e Heel, er Q: What «ero eomo of the game;-- you played? A: Well, tad d play,, at jehool, w o ! d play jail, bane - haee-baj.i, ctnf.r' .Li »:•.:> t h a t . •-•-• ••oiui ; .S , you l::iow. tag, ti \\Ufi Just s5.n-3« aro'^i'id the i.'0;.a;s: thai, wa.;_; ono .you ci;;--,, iod Dron tho ha.aK.ei'ohi;:l' btT.:'i.nd oorrkvbody and then pull o'j.t •'•nd ;v;o:.i had to beat then tu get yoar place back vhore yen ;;;ta:r:i>x. .,;.•;!•? way We : \ a> <;•'.; th.. t ,r\ieht spiavt. Q: :f c:ah , wo a:e:e; tu play that at achcol. A: N", th.ey \va,e:d I ev,vr any -larieee back bhet- ai;, I rea7ie;nber. Mra.i.A: Were there ever ;-e;y Th*-y jc-j''j I:. ad d,i ri'ereat parties an^.i .110 dancing. A: Q: What did. you. do whea you were- courting? A: Oe, we w o n t . . . . Mi-,s.A: A: 'whena/ did yen ge oe late;: T h a t ' d bo '-, long story. W- d i d n ' t halve no h o r a e a.nd buggy bhen much. Tn<- r oonu eg .;..V:n ha: a. noiee:- end. buggy, ana they' ; takt; tneii- gird oat ofr a ridf'.-. W e ' d t k.3et, a creed o," ee ;i'.iet get together, you e v a:.iv, g...:t a r o u n d , go p.Lecee. maydi':, up on M o u a t a i a ; p].:;,,.:r te look o f t . bee;; thoro havoeH you? thinik net-hing -jbout it Wore!- than Bloving Rod', Abo;,t chree ridlo valk. Walk:i:j| Yeu' • W o ' d .d.;.oe w a l k ta-.-r: 3ed - big crowd get together - eix or seven of u.e, you Q: Die you eaye pierei.ee? A: Pi.crd.ee, yeah, Q.: Were there ;•, l o t of aerieiuei ty a c i d viii t .:; b;,.;k. ei-e? bao picnice, had a oi g t-imi^ at th;.K. �Pasx 1: A: ik j ah, they had big revival aeeting:; 1 • the c h u f c h . and held LL about a week, sometimes Uvo weeks. going to meetings. About one a year Had " pretty &.i;:' ii;;ie W e ' d court a right much then, gel eg back and f o r t h to Church. Q: Hov; often did you hav> your regular sivoday oervicco? Or we.r'f: the services every sunday? A: No. Evecj thiru sunday, I think uar time COKO. about four I'diurche;;}. The pr-yn^h^i 1 .had About i.;very third -unday h(.;'d get a r c v u n n ',o • : • . . Had ;.;un.T:.y cchool every auruiay. Mrs.A: A: Preachers had to come from Wf-ad:, Jrl'foraoii. Y'_ : ah. Some of bhem walked dow;i .from t o w n up here. and bag^iHO. Q: A: Lt don't uardly Bound like it Some had horde,;:. could be true, doe.-; it? What type o p preacher,;; ^ere they? Some; oi' tiit:;T!.i pretty good ane. uorric of them 1 i v o u l d n ' t w a l k fron: h(-•!.'e iji.; 'til-'; ytor;-- 1 « Q: Whet type of churchee v/ere in thir; a r e a ? A: Mothod:] ;.;t,, Baptitrt j/jn^t]y. hei'f: .'.'Ijf.vut Mr's.A: A: Thero was a Holineo;.; ehiiref, back r ver : rti.lle, righi, bhi;; f j i d n o.l"' that KChoolhoabe I v/at t e J J . i r i g al.'./i.rh. Then '.heec- a a e n ' t a.oy Holineee a.roar.d h e r e . . , . Not Mien. P r e s b y t e r i j i i , Presbyterian back the;;. Keet'ly Baptist and Metj:od;.d. back t h e n . KIT;.A: have you been ovor through Mill Creek? Q: N o t yet. A: No, it Did th<r railroad affect the farmero around here pretty iiiuch IK j.ped oi.it a rigat n i u a r t . croet? ties right ii; here, bwo or th.ree miles. and all. nioet anywhere. They - see they could haul the They haa a ,.witch, riiayht:,, uvery They could switch off a car, It helped out. load a car with croesties Extract, tan b a r k , it was a right smart :;oo:a back whea the; rallroa.,.! corne through here. Helped t h e fanners out. Everybod �Page 15 merchants and everything. People began to sort of get on their feet and make a, little jnoney then5 Q: Did it come down this way any way? I know it come through Boone, but.,,, A; Yeah, this one come right through here. Abington to West Jefferson. It come from West Jefferson, That^'s the old railroad grade right over there. From the intersection there, well, down here it leaves Walter Baldwinvs this side of Walterl's, it leaves the railroad. And part of the way, it's an the old railroad grade and up the river from Fleetwood to Todd. You never been up there have you? Q: Not yet, A: That road, all the way from Fleetwood down here to Todd's on the old railroad grade. the old depot. Elkland, they called it Elkland back then. They dug it out. Of course they could haul it to town instead, They got trucks and pretty good roads. took it out, you know. Depot's there yet, It didn't affect them bad when they Six miles, five or six from here to West Jefferson. And they could take it up from there to Abij/igton? I don*t if they will or not. It ..run from Boone now to, let!ls see, it ran from Boone to Elizabethton, didn't it? I rode on that road. Oi Up around through Linville, A; iVe come around there on the train from Boone, out in there around Shell Creek, Elizabethton. I used to barber in Elizabethton. I could get to Boone very good, but you had to catch a ride from there down here. There wasn't near as many cars running as there is nowadays, you know, Q: Do you remember when you saw you first automobile? A.' Yeah, I remember when I seen the first one ever delivered around Boone, A lawyer lived, Tom Bowie, West Jefferson, He drove it up there and boy it looked like he's liable to run over everybody in the road. That's the �Page 16 first one I had was a T model ford. We kept one of them a right smart little bit. 0: Were there any gas stations around here then? A: Well, not close. About, West Jefferson is about the closest one for a:long time, Mrs.A A lot of difference with that store a being over there, and things settled around here and there's nobody but us, one house up above us. A' Now my daddy owned from up here, about half way to the intersection, not quite half way, you know where the intersection is at Buvall-'s. My daddy and his brother owned from down here,, about cross this ridge here. He owned land from down there up to John and Duvall's, mountain to the top of this. The top of that And made a right smart of land, you know. I've tried to count up hov many families lived on the two farms of my daddy and Uncle..,. By the way, he jugt had one boy. got two hundred and fifty acres, He had two girls and he hoped they wouldn't sell any as long as they lived. And they've got it yet. Baldwin. He died My first cousin did. 'My uncle died back several years ago and my aunts, and that left it to him. you know. I guess he He kept that land and said he wasn't never going to sell any, long as he lived. about two or three years ago, He kept that land. He Inherited it I worked a lot for him, painting - building houses. And died at Well, they just about owned all of Baldwin, what you'd call Baldwin. Just two brothers. Then it was cut up and divided up with their children. My daddy gave me a batch of land over here to build on, my other brother back up here, my sister back up toward Baldwin, Just scattered around. They's houses3 there's no telling, I guess there's fifteen houses now where there's one then, That's the way time changes, in the next seventy five years? Reckon therelll be that much change �Page 17 Q; I don't know. It can't change - if it changes that much people aren't going to have much, more than the land the house is on. How did the people have to change their way of life during the depression? A: Well, they had to go, most of them had soap houses, you know, and they'd depend on that you know. The soap house, we never did - here in the country, it was as bad as it was away in these big towns, you know. We depended on the farm, you know, Mrs,A3 We had our own milk? had our own cheese3 eggs and all. Mad our own meat, A: Like I feay3 1 was a painting, And about me and another or two was the only painters there was in the county, and fellows that had a little money, why they could hire to have it done, you know, the depression, It just happened so. I had it pretty good back in If I hadn't been a painter, I'd of had a heck of a time, Q; What were the wages an hour? A; About a dollar and a half an hour were good wages for back then. I said a dollar and a half an hour - dollar and a half a day, Mrs,A; I thought you's wrong. A: Yeah, we've not been a getting two or three dollars an hour here but just a few years for painting, you know. They thought that was pretty good. Of course, our boy makes more than that. He contracts, works about half a dozen men, you know. Runs everything, Q; Were there any government programs around here during the depression? A: Let's see, I reckon the NYA work here. Q: I've heard of the WA. A', WPA and NYA. Know anything about that? I was the foreman of the NYA. weeks,, about twenty the next two weeks. About twenty boys for two It give them half time. And give about twenty two weeks and then they'd lay off, and let the other twenty come on. �Page 18 About forty, I think, Keeping time. It was pretty good back then. Better than when you don*t mind mucli in the country such as that, $50 a month for my job. 1 just drawed I thought I was flying then. Mrs.As We was married millionaires. Q; What did these work projects do? As Remodel school houses around where they needed some remodeling, set out trees one day and another. Dig wells. tables or something Itke that, you know, inside in the winter time. Make, in bad weather, weM make Get in the dry, you know, working Let them make stuff like that, you know. Now there was one of these boys there in the NYA work,, he was starting out just they'd take them up to eighteen years old - but wasn't eighteen. was about sixteen. And one of the boys now is the biggest contractor in Ashe County, was under me when he was working working with me on the NYA,. what he was doing. the others. I guess he under me back when he was James Vannoy , he was a good one though. He knew I could ask him to come if I wasnvt there looking after He was a big man there. My boy over there said he had $20,000 worth of work contracted, painting now for the contractor James 'Vannoy. But the government, I believe he said he asked the other day, told me had $40,000 worth of painting contracted right now. That's different from back when we''re talking about old times, i§n'>t it? Qj What was the biggest job that you ever contracted? A; A girl's dormitory at Boone, painted that, contracted. I. contracted that. You know, old gir!T's dormitory. I That *'s about as big a one as I ever I worked there a long time painting in Boone, at the Paint there in the summer time when they's going and coming. college. We'd just have to stop painting when they*s changing classes, you know, going through the halls. Waited until they got settled down before we could go to work, to work at Boone. I like We was working at Boone when they built this road round �Page 19 to Deep Gap( you knov\m there to B,oone., you know/s 42.1, You know^ where that^s at? out here at -Deep Gap, don'-t you? WeM go this- road all the, time, It seems to me lifce. it would be farther around this wayf hut it ^s twenty one mile through by Todd, and nineteen around here by Deep Gap. Of course, Boone is in this way a heap more south than you would think about, But when we'd get done painting, we come this other road. They didn'vt have it finished up yet, h.ard surfaced, hut they had the gravel on it - packing it down. Q; Boy, I thought th,at was a good road, You mentioned earlier about people having to gather roots and all. Did they gather more during the depression? A" Yeah, I guess there was more gathered roots and herbs hack then than they have at times, Well, they couldn't get money much for that. But they'd take them to the store, buy them something to eat it, you know. The merchants would buy that. Then they ship it, you know, in big., big- Mrs. A: His hohbyfs trapping. 0.; Really? A: Yeah> I like to trap, Caught me four minks back up here in ^ I''s telling you about my cousin's place up here. just last winter. Brought me forty five dollars on them, muskrats, got them down by the river. mighty trapping. I got three minks up there Forty five Three coons and a possum. That's I just like to have something for a hobby, you know. Q; Did they trap a lot back when you were growing up? A' No, Mrs.A; Just mice and rats is all, As Now a mugkrat h^de. would bring about fifteen cents back then. 'not much.. Muskrats. Now they br^ng, let'^s see, T got two and a half Idollars] last winter for mine and some, of BailV, Lot of difference there in the price of stuff like that. �Page 20 Qs Was there much moons-hjnitig going on during this., in this area during the depression? As NPJ they- wasn*vt to© much; thro-ugh, here., 'Mrs,A;' Wasn'-'t any- right through; here. As Right through; ftere, Over in Wtlkes, they're a lot over ±n Wilkes than was over here in Ashe County, Now and then they''d catch, a fellow out about Idlewild or somewhere trying to make him a little bit. Hade a heap of it in pots then, you know. Just make, fix them a pot, cap on that. Put the stuff in there and fix it. They could make some pretty good liquor in pots, big old wash pots, you know, Q! When you were growing up; for recreation, besides the parties and all, in the winter time, did you have sledding parties? A: fun. that. Yeah, we'd ride on the sleds? rabbit hunt. That's about our biggest We'd get outside. A crcowd of boys rabbit hunting or something like Have parties and stuff like that. Q: Ever make snow cream? As Yeah, we made, snow cream. Used to make homemade ice cream. I ordered me a freezer and <- I used to barber a little here and on. About the only one around here that could cut hair. And I'd make a run of ice cream Saturday and they'd gather in here, the children. their hair cut. ice cream. Buy., that and get I'd make a little money both ways, barbering and trading on Worked in Elizabethton, 0; Was there electricity in this area when you were barbering? A: No? we. just had to use these kind you work with your hands. Q; When did electricity first come in? ]*rs,'A3 I can hardly remember ^ it xas cherry time. At' I don^t remember what year it was in, We come back, they had lights in and gone, wtten we got here. �Page 21 Os Was- it after the depression or before? A;' After. Q,j Before world war IX? AT T guess it vaa before world was II. I don^t remember just when they did come around putting lights around and phones, Lights been here longer than the telephone has really.-. Q; What was your first electrical appliance that you bought? A; Let?'s see, I guess a radio and a refrigerator, stuff like that. Electric heater, hot plates, one thing or another Ifjte that, Ch What were some of the radio programs that you listened to? A; We like to watch,, what is his name? Nrs. A', Barker. A; Bob Barker, we like to watch him. Bob... How about Paw and Ma Kettle was on? Dillon, we like to watch him. Did you get that a while back? I always like that. Q; ';At the fair17? Channel 3? A; Yeah, and Bunkers> you watch them? Q; What do you think of Archie Bunker? A; He's hard boiled, ain't he? like tb watch the wrestling. TheyT're pre,tty good. We hardly ever miss old Archie. I I don't get too much from football games. Mrs.As He likes wrestling, I don't. A; You ever watch wrestling? 0; What's you philosophy of life? A; No, I don!lt hava one, Q; What dp As Oh,, I - people goingf looking ahead instead of back, Do you have one? you think insures a long life? Lot''s of exercise, Eat plentyP drink a sight of water. Some future. Not smoke too much. �Page 22 It HI kill you if you don^t watch- out,. Now I:Ve smoked about thirty years,, I guess:, Q! Hadn'M: killed you yet, A3 I don'-'t inhale it. before now, I guess if IM Iteen inhaling it, itM killed me I like a lot of walking, stirring around. -My age, now there*'s not many men at my age T eighty three years old - will be the 29th of this month and that's right here. can do a whole of ditching and Not many men that do hardly anything. beating rock and light work like that. put two ditches in my garden yesterday. I I Went through it? got wet and had to cut two. Q; Do you remember the flood of '40? A; Yeah, boy, good. Q; How was it in this area? A; Well, hit pretty dad. other bridges. Was this area hit pretty bad? It washed out a lot of railroad bridges and Got up down there, just below that pot down there in the yard, And this times it got just to the pot there about. That's worse than the '40 flood. 1:00 O'clock when we got up. This last one, you know? It come nearly to the porch that night, Wife happened to get up and look out there. Well ., the creek's up too, and I didn't think much about it being up past those little pines down there. them, pines or right around, it. I got up and looked, and it was way up on I couldfve- jumped off the porch in the edge of There's water from here to that station, that sounded just like a river, Nearly went the basement over yonder. there. It scared me kinda nice. up to Greer's", know where, years. That, nearly seeped in that door I said, vGet your things on. We're going TBey live up a little higher land than we''s on. it % going. I didn't For i;t to be higher than iM^ver seen it in sixty It washed a let of land away back then. Lot of houses. �Page 23 Mrs,A3 Wasted people, a.ways A; It w,ash>d a store, of fter^ away from Todd, is? Tltey- Had a store up th:e,ret went down. YOU knoy wh;ere Todd And it wash;ed it way - store, goods and all And juat a'b'ove. you know, that other creek runs up from the Mrs.A; Now that was HO, A- HO? river. It was HO, railroad down here to Todd. QJ '-& ^ that was back when they'-s building that •! '^16 - I Believe when it was built, Do you remember any Bad men around here. Were there any sheriffs or outlaws? A; Ho there wasn''t very many through here as I can remember. Do you? [to his wife]. around. I guess take it on the whole, there *'s Better folk in and There wasn't many of them, of course. There*s so many more now that, there's more robbing and, everything like that now-a-days than there was them, Of course there's twenty people to one then anyway. Can't hardly judge it that way. But there's hardly ever a bank robbed and. things like that back then. 0; Were there a lot of people that were hurt around here, when the. banks closed during the depression? A: Oh, not very much I reckon. in the banks I guess. There wasn't too many that had money People that did have it, kept it hid under a bed tick in the stall, a sock or stocking or something. Mrs.A! Maybe you''11 give him an idea where we keep oups. A? do, No, I keep mine in the Northwestern Bank, what little checking I A little in Ashe Savings and Loan, just to drav interest, Thats some of th.e easiest money a man ever made, If 1 had a whole lot of money they-M loan out, and the,, interest counts up, Q: Can you th±nlt of anything else to add about the old days? A: I don't reckon so, Q: We certainly appreciate this. � 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 2014-02-25 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 James Edwards, June 12, 1973 Description An account of the resource James Edwards was born in Bladwin, North Carolina in 1890 where he grew up on a farm. His occupations included painting and carpentry. Mr. Edwards built his own house in 1912 in West Jefferson. Mr. Edwards spends a large portion of the interview talking about growing up on the farm. He also talks about cooking and producing food such as molasses and drying fruits. Mr. Edwards also talks briefly about his mother's cooking and recalls some memories from holidays as a child such as Easter and Christmas. He recollects childhood memories of courting, school, church, the Great Depression, and fun activities children did at his age. He also briefly mentions helping with work projects during the Great Depression. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McNeely, Mike Edwards, James 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> 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. 23 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_tape83_JamesEdwards_1973_06_12M001 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. West Jefferson, NC Subject The topic of the resource Farm life--North Carolina--Baldwin (Township)--20th century Baldwin (N.C. : Township)--Social life and customs--20th century Farm life--North Carolina--Ashe County--20th century Ashe County (N.C.)--Social life and customs--20th century Depression--1929--North Carolina--Ashe County Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-06-12 1940 flood Baldwin church farming government programs holidays James Edwards James Vannoy maple syrup National Youth Administration North Carolina railroad sawmills schoolhouse trapping Work Projects Association