1 50 1 https://omeka-test.library.appstate.edu/files/original/e636a1c24a35eef6eb8b63791acd88aa.pdf 1871f19e81f8d8301afa6b6ae0ad4878 PDF Text Text Page 1. This is an interview with Mr, Dave Hodges for the Appalachian Oral History Project by Bill Brinkley on March kt 1973. Q: Could you give me the name and birthplace of your parents? A: They were born in Watauga County here, about two miles west of here, Q: Did you have any brothers and sisters? A: Yes, I have one brother and one sister living, and one sister dead. Q: What are the names of the brother and sister living? A: Bessie, she was the baby girl, and Dallas Hodges is my brother that lives at VIlas, Q: Do you have any childhood memories of what life was like? A: We had an awful time; we had to v/ork awful hard to make ends meet, you know, but we growed up, I started in working when I was 1^ years old. I went to work on Tweetsie when they was building it in here, cutting the right of way. I helped build the right of way and helped lay the steel and helped run it into Boone when it came in here. I was just a boy, Q: How would you compare the way that children worked back then to the way they work now? A: They're a lot of difference. We had to help make a living, get out in the field and work, farm work, Q: Do you think that as a result of that, the children of today are becoMng a little bit dissatisfied with the way things are? Do you �think if they had that hard work to do they wouldn't be quite so rebellious? A: I believe it would have something to do with it. Q: Maybe hard work would tame them down? A: Yeah! It was real hard work. You had to hoe corn and stuff was hard anywhere. You didn't get much, if you got ^-00 a day for your work from daylight to dart, stayed in the field and hoed corn. You would bring your dinner to the field and you'd stay there all day long, plus up til sunset, quitting hours, Q: I've heard my mother talk about working in tobacco from early morning til late at night and make 50<i a day. She was really proud of that; :;he thought it was a lot, A: Yeah. That way people raised everything they eat. They raised their garden-their potatoes, their corn, their beans, and stuff like that. Wife: Your daddy ran a store and he run the post office. You worked up there, too, A: I worked in the store and the post office when I was a little boy. Q: How much school i np; did your parents have? A: They didn't have too much; they had up to about the seventh grade. Q: How about your brothers and sisters? A: About the same I guess. Wife: twelve. Oh, his daddy, they was twelve of his father. He's one of �Page 3. Q: Now do you think that the schools have changed over the years? A: They.....I believe they're different. They was pretty if you didn't do what the teacher said you got paddled. You had to mind pretty good, Q: Do you think they're a little bit easier on them now? A: I think they are a little bit easier on them now? Q: What were the schools like back when you went to school? A: I don't know how to answer you on that. Q: Well, describe the school situation, maybe, like a one room school? A: They was two rooms. The younger ones went in one room and the older ones in another, They was two rooms and two teachers when I started in going to school, and I remember once somebody passed outside and they killed a black snake and I run to the door to look at it and the teacher gave me a whooping. Q: -Cause you got out of your seat? A: Cause I jumped up. Wife: He would jump onto that teacher everytime he would see her in the grocery store after they both was old. I told he could have waited a little while and not told it so many times, but it was right funny you know, He would tell it on her. Q: Do you remember any of the books you had back then? A: There was that old Brown back speller; I don't know whether you remember that; I forget the name of it. Then we had arithmetic,geography, history, and English book, it was a green book. It's been so lon^ that I can't remember what. �Q: I've heard some people talk about a Blue back speller. Did you have something like that? A: I didn't have that; mine was a Brown back. They had it before I started. Q: How many months did you go to school whin you first started? A: We'd go from,,, about three to four months. We were out at Christmas, about four months school is all we had each year. Q: Did you ever fro to what they call subscription school? A: No, I didn 1 t. Q: What have your occupations been? A: Well, T graded lumber from the time I was IB years old for 37 years. I graded.,.was a lumber grader, lumber inspector, rather; and after that I worked as Justice of the Peace for ID years here in Boone. I'll tell you something else, I had a lot of weddings to come before me, Q: .Probably young people sneaking off, didn't want anybody to know anything about it? A: They was from every state in the Union to get married, Q: When do you think times were hardest to get a job? A: That was the time when Hoover was in,,.President. That's the only time in my life after I was married that I ever was broke; I got broke under his administration. Got down to a nickel and bought a cake of soap with that nickel. Q: How has the work changed over the years? A: Well, they v/as a right smart. I believe it's not as hard as it was when we was folks. �Page 5. Q: And it's more toward...it's educated oriented. You have to have a certain amount of education to even get a job, A: You do now, nearly a college education to get any job, Q: But you know, I think so much emphasis is being placed on this, I think it is eventually going to get to the point where the common laborer will make more than the college graduate. A: It may come to that later cause the college (graduates) want easier jobs, Q: Well, I've been to college four years and I know that when I get out, I don'T want a job out here digging ditches. A: Well, you have worked toward it, Q: It will get to the point where these "high-up" jobs run out, A: They will run out; they ain't_ enough jobs for them. Q: Right, and you have got to have somebody down here to dig the ditches, and raise the vegetables, raise the hogs, and do the farmwork, and things like this, and that price will go up awfully high that people get paid. Q: V/hat sorts of churches were in this area? A: They was a Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian Churches at that time. That's about the number of churches, Q: To which church did most of the people belong? As Well, when I was growing up, most people belonged to the Baptist Church. Q: What were the churches like back then? �A: In what way? Q: Well, their functions, status in the community. Church going was about mandatory, wasn't it? As Yes, you went to church. You didn't miss a service hardly, Wife: Well, you looked forward to going to church; you planned on it, and you enjoyed it. Q: And now, it's getting,.,? A: V/ell, you're supposed to be there, but 1 feel like people aren't as anxious to go as they once was. Lot of people; some aren't. Q: Do you think it's now more a. tradition or custom rather than the person's wanting to go? A: V/ell, I wouldn't know about that, but I can tell by myself that I used to be more interested in going;, I guess it's just,,.and a lot of people, I've heard them say, I've heard young people say that was older than I am, whenever they run a revival, I heard some folks say, some girls and boys, they said they would stop the revival unless they would come up and show an interest unless they believed, you know, that salvation, ,,, corning to the alter, you knowr and so they said, well, they wouldn't run the meeting any longer; they'd close on Sunday night. So they all made up their minds to everybody go up to be prayed for in order for the service to go on; so I really feel like the young people aren't much different, there are just'more of them. Q: How do you feel that the churches have changed over the years, if any? A: There's quite a bit of change. There's a difference in the preachers; most of them just preach for the money anymore. �Q: And they preach what the people want to hear instead of stepping on their toes a. little bit? A: Yeah, If they step on their toes, they want to get rid of them e Q: They're not the old-fashioned hell-fire and brimstone preachers? A: Right, I know that when we was growing up and then after we was first married, we'd cook all day on Saturday and get ready for a revival, and nave cakes and pies and everything fixed in order so we could go to them, day and night. They'd have services at 11:00 o'clock in the daytime and then at night, Q: I've heard my grandmother talk about cooking on Saturday. A: You didn't do much cooking on Sunday. Q: She didn't cook at all on Sunday, You ate what she cooked on Saturday, or you didn't eat at all, Ai That's the way people would do, Q: How did this community get its name? I've heard it was from Daniel Boone, is that correct? A: Well, that's what we've always heard, but then we have heard, I don't know whether you have or not, that Watauga came from an Indian name. I don't know. Q: What was the meaning of that name? Do you know? A: Rivers, I think. There's a river down here named Watauga River, Wife: No, back west. This 5s New River. Q: How was the community formed? A: (Wife) Well, they had the first jail.,.they used it for a jail. �rage o. It: wasn't a jail; it was an old barn righl". over here close to Grady Farthing's farm, just this side, They held court there, and then they built a jail. Wasn't the first jail here in Boone burned up? I think it v/as. QJ V/as it just a regular feed barn? A: Yes, it was just an old barn, and they said the fleas like to eat them up, It was riffht down here, and they tied their prisoners to a wagon wheel, Q: They didn't lock him up in a room? A: No, they had no room to lock him in. They had nothing; no place to lock him. They tied him to a wagon wheel. It's right in sight down here where we live, Q: It's still standing? A: No, it burned; it's not still standing, (Wife) It was 20 * years ago; they tore it down. Cause we could see it from our back porch, Q: How has the community changed over the years? A: Well, it's all together different from what it used to be. It wasn't so many people like it is anymore; it's thickly settled now. They's so much difference from what it used to be when we was growing up. You had to work so much; all the time you had to rest was on Sunday. You worked six days a week, I can remember the first automobile that came to Boone, I got to ride in the first one that ever come to Boone, The man picked me up and let me ride a little. Q: Do you know whose it was? �y. A: Jeff Robins was the one that had it at the time from Lenoir; he drove up here. That's the first one I ever seen, Q: What kind was it? A: Model T: straight fenders, brass radiator, Q: My grandfather had the first one in our community, and he didn't know how to drive it. The man who drove it over thought that he knew how to drive it. He got in it, and cranked the thing up and took off, ran over the top of a woodpile and about killed everybody in there. What was the reaction to the cars coming into the community? How did the people feel about that? A: They thought there wasn't nothing like it. When anybody got enough money to buy one, they didn't cost much back then, you could buy a new Model T for $700. Q: That was a lot of money at that time wasn't it? A: It was a lot of money; you didn't make nothing. Like I told you a while ago, hoeing corn for ^00 a day. I graded lumber for 21 years, and most I ever got at that was 350 an hour, Q: Were there any horses running away, or rearing up, as the cars came by? A: No, not any. The road was narrow, and if they passed, you'd have to pull out to let things pass, just a one way back then. Boone here was just... don't think they had any streets, It was just a one way road through here, and our first mayor,,,I seen our first mayor that ever was in Boone, Q: Who was that? A: Lewis Bryant, the first mayor that ever was in Boone. �Q: Do you know the date when he was the first mayor? A: No, I can't answer that. That was years ago. Q: That's interesting, though, that you remember seeing him. A: I talked to him. He lived right where the police station is now. Q: Have there been any people in the community that you would call the decision makers of the community? Who had a big effect on the outcome? A: I can't recall, their names, Q: Do you feel that there are any minority groups in the community? A: I don't think thai; they are, I think that one's about equal to the other one. Q: I'm sure that some families we,re really poor back then, A: There was a lot of them. The county took care of that; they had a county home built over there. One time my granddaddy went on a bond for the sheriff, you know; and they didn't have no money. The sheriff ran away with another woman and took the tax money, The county home property was his, and he had signed for the sheriff. I can't recall the sheriff's name. (See story at end of Transcript.) Q: The county home was whose property? A; It was my Granddaddy Hodges', Holland Hodges, He didn't have the money to pay the bond off, it was about a $500 bond, and they took it must have been 100 acres. (Wife) The health office is there on that property now. Q: That was the county home? �Page 11. A: That's where it wan; the land. Q: Is that the same thine; that they called the county poor house? A: Yes, the county poor house. Q: Well, did the people in the community, too? A: No, they,..the county put a man and his wife in to look after them, Q: What did they do? Serve food? Clothe them? A: Yes, a place to sleep. Q; Do you have any memories of specific elections in this area? Any colorful events or happenings? A: I don't believe so; they're all about the same to me. Q: Democrats fighting Republicans, Republicans fighting Democrats? A: That's always going on. You can hear that anytime; same today as it was back then. Q: Did you have any knifings, shootings that arose from politics? A: -I can't recall any, Q: How did the people in the area tend to vote? Did they lean toward one party more so than the other one? A: They did at'that time. Most everything was Democratic back then. (Wife) Up til this past year.) It changed a few years ago; more people cone in, and the population has grov/ed so, you don't know who's who now, Q: I was talking to this one man, and he said that there for a while you could predict an election accurately by the way people were registered and the people in the area. But he said that it's changed so much that there's no way. �Page 12. A: That would weigh the Democrats having a majority registered here in Watauga County, They have about, seems like almost 600 more Democrats registered than Republicans, but it don't go like they're registered. You know about that, Q: Do you think that politics are dirtier now than they were? A: Yes! I think they are...think they are. Q: In what way, would you say? A: There's too much money being spent to buy votes, Q: Too much passing under the table, so to speak? A: Yes. Q: Do you remember any political figures in the community that particularly stood out back then? A: (Wife) There's a lot of them. There;s a few living, but there's a lot of them that's gone on that was outstanding. Right at the present, I can't call too many of their names. But I can remember my daddy, hearing him say when I was just a little child, that he followed his father to the election when he was 10 years old. His folks were Republicans, and he came back and told his mother, he said, "Mommy, when I grow up I'm going to be a Democrat.", and he was one of the strongest Democrats there was in the world, I guess. So, naturally we couldn't be anything else but a Democrat, and I don't want to be. So- I'm so happy that they were Democrats when we married, because if he hadn't been, I don't know what would have taken place. We might not be living here together for over 50 years. Q: Have ya'll been married 50 years? �A: 52, will be 52 years this fall, 51 years last November, So it's been wonderful that he was Democrat, too, and I think that he feels the same way about me. Cause he might have took the club to me if I had been...my politics had been something else. All my people on both sides are Democrats, Q: Well, the Brinkley family over all tends to be Democratic, or in our area they are, A: That's what makes them good people. Q: That's the key to it right there? A: That's the key to it, Q: How did the peoole get around back then? What types of transportati did they use? A: They went around in a buggy or wagon, horseback, steer wagon a lot of the time, Q: Where did the roads run? A: .The road come right through Tennessee plumb, just one road on into Lenoir, that way, just one road, There wasn't any side roads much, Q: It was probably just a mud road? A: Just a mud road. Through the winter, mud was axle deep to the wagons. Right through Boone, it was a mud hole through there, (Wife) It took a week to 'go to Lenoir and back with a load of produce in the v/agon. It would take that long to sell it, (Husband) We would go to Tennessee and haul groceries back to my Daddy's store and be gone a week to Lenoir, and take a week to go down there and back in a wagon. �Page Q: Where did the railroads run? A: There was one run in here,.,There never was but one that come in and that was Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina.. It came out of Johnson City, Tennessee; that's the one I told you I helped them build from Shull's Mill into Boone. Q: I bet you could tell rne some experiences you had doing that, couldn't you? A: Yes, I worked for...my boss man learned me how to, in grading off the right of way, he learned me how to use dynamite and blow out stumps. He learned me how to blow out stumps with dynamite and black powder, and to drill in and go through a rock, you know on 105 there's a rock cut down there where the railroad come through, I carried steal to the steam drill over there when they was building that cut, Q: How much did you get paid working on the railroad? A: I got 150 an hour, 10 hours a day, Q: When did you start building that railroad? A: It was in.,.it come in here 1917-18. Q: When was it finished? A: I can't recall, I can't recall that; I don't remember. I forget my dates. Depot still stands at the bus station. Q: Is that where it was? ' A: That's the depot. You can see it right there; go up there and look at it, Q: I remember seeing it now that you mention it; I'd never even th <~>11 crh + a'hn!l+ -t-Vi Ei -t- " h » T v-i rr i.rh o +• i + i.ioc- o 4- n i l �Page 15. A: That's ET and WNC depot. Q: Did you ever hear it referred to as "Eat Tatars and Wear No Clothes"9 A: That's exactly it; "Eat Taters and Wear No Clothes." That's the name of it. I didn't know whether you heard that. I quoted that different times. Q: I was listening to a tape of a fellow who lived over in Avery County. It stuck in my mind; I'd never heard it referred to as that before, A: I've heard it many times. Q: I'll bet you can probably remember the first telephone in the community? A: It's the kind that hang; on the wall and cranked, you cranked up. Q: What was the community reaction to telephones coming in? A" You'd have to...if you wanted to telephone anybody, you'd have to go a lone; ways. There wasn't many in the community, just one once in a while. Each person didn't own one. The merchant would own one; my dad owned one at the store, post office; and that's the only one in our settlement. (Wife) Well, I was waiting for you to tell what some folks said about your daddy and the telephone. You want to tell him about that? (Mr. Hodges) You go ahead. (Wife) He was talking on the phone and there was some folks that went in to buy some stuff, groceries or some things. When they got back they said, theri mother said these boys were, I don't know how many there was, "Where's the stuff I sent you for?" They said, "We couldn't get nothing. That Bill Hodges was talking to the wall, and he wouldn't �16. Wait on us. " Q: That was pretty good about talking to the wall. A: That really happened. Q: Well, I bet a lot of people.... new things coming in like that people weren't used to, lots of people probably thought people were acting strange because of that, maybe. A: (Wife) I had two uncles that was jealous over each other, and so I was visiting. They lived right close, and they were jealous; they were brothers, you know. They were always seeing which one could raise the biggest stuff, you know. My uncle said, ^ "You run over to your Uncle John's and tell him I want to borrow the cross cut saw. I want to have your aunt make us some punkin pies; I want to cut a punkin in two." So I went, and my uncle said, "Well you go back and tell your other uncle,'George, that I'm half through with a tater, and he can have the saw soon as I get through." Q: Sounds like a tale to me. A: That's more like a tale, isn't it? Q: Did you ever do any soapmaking? A: Yes, I helped make it...help my mother make it. lye outside in a big ol' pot, you know. Made it out of �Q: There wa.s something about pouring water over wood ashes, A: Ashes would make your lye. You'd have a hopper to put your ashes in and the water. It would come out down here at the bottom, and you would catch it and make your soap with it. Q: Did you ever do any weaving? A: No. Q: Chairmaking? A: Yeah, I've made some chairs; make them yet. Q: I'll bet you're familiar with a lot of the old mountain cures aren't you? Such things as making a poltire out of mud and putting it on an area, A: Make it out of catnip, make tea out of catnip. (Wife) I've seen my mother use, when children had chest colds, she'd use lard, you know, and terpentine, and put salt, I don't remember how it was made, Anyhow she rubbed that on, put it on warm on the chest, That was supposed to draw out the cold, and I noticed in the Democrat where Whitener had a piece in the paper about it. It brought back memories, you know, what he had written. Q: Were there any spring tonics? Do you remember any of those? A: Oh yes, Q: What were they? A: Molasses and sulfer. That was terrible. Oh goodness, they had to run me down, I had just soon about,,,They said we were run down, you know, and I didn't mind being run down, but I didn't like the sulfer and molasses. Q: What was that supposed to do? �A: I don't know; 1 don't have no idea. Well, yes, I do. It was to build up your blood, Q: Sassafrass tea was supposed to thin your blood, wasn't it? A: Yeah! But they used it, I guess that's what it was for, I'm not too sure about that. And what other kind of tea? (Mr. Hodges) Spicewood tea. Did you ever hear tell of spicewood tea? Q: Spicewood tea? No, I don't think so, A: It grows up around, . .makes awful good tea. People use that at the table, drink it just like you would coffee, Q: Does it have a spicy flavor? A: It's little twigs; you break it up and put water in it and let it...just like you would tea leaves. Q: I've never heard of that, A: There was a man that said he was going to bring; him some. Around Beaver Dam, plenty of it grows there. Up here where I was raised, there's plenty of it grows there. Grows anywhere that it's wet. Q: I've heard of people using hemlock too. If they had trouble with their false teeth, they'd rinse their mouth out with the hemlock tea and it would toughen their gums, they said. 0 Why don't you tell me a little bit about the work you do, Mr. Hodges? The carving and woodwork you have downstairs? A: I make a little of everything from picture frames, men and v/omen, a Hi Q boards, doll cradles, well, I can't think of everything. There are so many things that I make. You see a lot of my picture frames there, the inlaids. �Q: Did you make these? A: Yes. .Q: Do you ever make any pictures out of inlaid wood? A: No, I never have done that, made a few letters, cut out a few letters and made inlaid, Q: What do you do with your stuff? A: I give most of it away; I've sold a little, not too much. A woman out of Virginia bought some: these novelty places around here once in a while want some washboards, (Wife) Dr. Dean's wife bought some of the Hi Q boards and sent them to Georgia. He has things a long ways from here. Q: How big are the little washboards? A: They're 2J- inches by about '•K inches, Q: I can remember we had a big one; my grandmother used to wash clothes on it when I was a child, A: Then I got to making them mushrooms; I don't know if they would sell or not. Q: I'm sure they would, too. You'd be surprised. Did you ever make any molasses? A: Oh yeah'. Set up of a night and make them, put them in a boiler, cane mill. My granddaddy grind it; I'd raise cane and make molasses and help make them. Put them in a big boiler and a little wood fire under them; boil them, Q: Did you make that (a mushroom pin cushion)? A: Yeah, he took off downstairs. That's where he got his pattern; just looking at that. �Q: What do you use that for? A: That's a pin cushion. The bottom, top, and stems are stuffed with cotton. Q: Did you make these too? (mice) A: Yes. Q: What is in these? Some type of gravel? A: Beans. Q: Beads? A: Beans, or you could use birdseed. Q: Surely you sell those to craft shops. A: I make them things like that, them cabinets, Q: You made that cabinet? A: Yes, I'm in a little bit of everything;. Made a boy's wagon. Q: Did you ever hunt any gens ens? A: No, never did, I don't know what it is. I might if I was to run right onto it. My dad used to hunt it. Q: How about flax? I'm riot really sure what that is. Maybe I'm getting that mixed up with something else. A: You must be; I've never heard of that. . Q: Have you ever heard of anything called a May apple? A: Yes, I've dug that many times. Q: What is that? A: That's a little...it grows up this way and then you dig the roots and they have a little May apple on them. �(Wife) That's a puzzle-ball pin cushion; it's a puzzle everytime you put it together. It has 24 pieces. What I mean by puzzle everytime you put it together, you have to learn everytime you put one together. Here's Humpty Dumpty, Q: How was the courting back then? A: You stumped me on that. They weren't calling it that when we were dating, but our parents, they'called it sparking. Q: I've heard that. My father picks at my sister a lot, you know, and says, "Who're you sparking now?", or something like that. A: Our niece came down from Baltimore, and she had a friend with her and they said, "Are you sparking any?", and she said, "Beg your pardon?" He said, "Are you sparking?" "Beg your pardon?" So I said he means are you courting, and the niece knew what he meant, and she said, "Aw, what they mean is -are you dating?" Well, boys had to come to the door, Q: Well, I think that is gentlemanly, A: I do too, I wouldn't allow it today if I had a girl. Q: Nothing makes madder than to hear of a boy driving up and blowing his horn, and here the girl grabs her coat and she goes running out the door. I think it's a disgrace. A: Well, I was used to horses; I didn't care where I run out, Q: Well, the horses didn'.t blow their horn did they? A: No, they had to come in, but when dark came, that was it. Boys left. We went to church together, and I think the most fun we had was walking a mile to get to ride a mile on the Tweetsie. I think you paid the big amount of 110 for each one, �22. Q: Were there any outlaws, or badmen that you remember back at that time? A: Yeah, there was some. I can't remember the first, but they were; meanness has never stopped and never will. They'd steal and rob back then, and everything. Q: Were there any legends or superstitions that you remember in this area? A: There's been some around that I've heard. Now,, my Uncle Preston,, Jerome Preston, they claimed was over there where the Yankees come through. He said he could hear the chains rattling of the captured prisoners; he could hear the chains rattling though. It might have bee in his mind; it was a haunted place down off the mountain. Q: Any superstitions? I'm sure there are several superstitions. A: Yeah, there's a lot of them; some people are scared of their own shadow. Q: Do you remember any of thase specifically? A: I can't remember those; Q: When did the Depression start as best you can remember? A: That was back in 19...just after, the Depression was right after Hoover was elected in 1928. I tried to forget them. It started and lasted the whole time his four years in there, and never stopped 'til after Roosevelt was elected, and then we could see our way. go to work. We could find a job and They fixed places for us to work; a day and work. to start with. we could get a dollar Sometimes you had to take it up in a grocery store You'd work that day and take you to the grocery �23. store and get some groceries that day. haven't had no Depression since that. And after that was over, we That's all I remember. (Wife) We were awful lucky we didn't have to go on relief} or call for relief cause we raised garden and had plenty of food to can, you know, and like that. So that helped, and we had two children at that time. Q: Now that's the way my mother's family was; they had a farm and raised everything. But my father was brought up in a city and they didn't have any areas to plant a garden,, thens and I've heard him talk about eating fried pumpkin three times a day. A: Oh, yeah. like that. You just had to boil potatoes and have milk, and thing? And when you had money, you bought peanut butter, salmon, or something like that. Q: You were living here in this area during the Depression? A: Yes, we lived a mile west of Boone. Q: How many were in the family then? A: There was four of us. Q: How old were the children during the Depression? A: The oldest was 10, and the youngest was 8. Q: How did the Depression affect working conditions? A: You couldn't find a job. (Wife) There just wasn't any jobs and there's hardly a day passed that there wouldn't someone that would come to your door and ask for something to eat and they would just look so pitiful. If you had anything at all to divide, you divided �24. with them. Q: Did you change jobs during the Depression? A: No„ I was working for J. Walter Wright Lumber Company at that time, grading lumber. being sold. We couldn't sell anything; no lumber was You'd get a day now and then. Q: How much did you make at that time? A: I didn't make but...the most I ever made at that time was about 15C an hour, when I got in any hours, $1.50 a day. Q: You're familiar with government projects, such as WPA, CCC...? A: (Wife) Our son, he joined up with CC Company. Q: What was that? A: It was a...you mean where was it? Q: What was it? What was the purpose of it? A: . Well, it was kind of a training like, you know, when they took their basic training,, something similar to it, only they took boys younger, so much younger than.... He was about 15, I guess, 14 or 15; but he didn't like no part of it. He just wouldn't stay. had two friends that he wanted to go with so bad. He And then they had a, I can;t remember what it stood for, but NYA, they had that in our community after the school was, they brought the children to the Boone School in town, and this was to learn the girls and they got paid for that, young girls. �25. Q: What crops did you raise during the Depression? A: Corn and potatoes, wheat, nearly everything you raise in a garden Q: Did you A: Cows. Q: You made your own butter? A: Yes. Q: How did you keep that? A: Put it in the pen. Q: Did you can the meat? A: Yes, we canned it and put it in salt. it, too. have any animals? We raised hogs for the winter's meat. Made sausage and canned You had to grind it on a hand-grinder. got so we'd take it to the meat market. Well,, finally we You know you never find any sausage that tastes like that today. Q: I guess it's because you had to put so much work into it. A: It must have been. Q: Were prices higher or lower during the Depression? A: Oh, things were lower then. little then. Your meat didn't cost but very You could buy, they called it fatback then, side meat. Didn't cost but very little then. �rage Q: Were there any new ways of making money that arose? A: There was a lot of moonshiners. They'd git out in the hills around the mountains and make moonshine and sell it. Happened very often, Q: Do you remember any of the banks closing;? A: Yeah. I remember the Bank of Boone closing one time. It went out during the Depression, People lost what they had in it. People's Bank and Trust Company and Watauga Company Bank, It didn't close. You couldn't git no money back then. It was awful, rough to get any money. Q: V/hat was the community's reaction to the banks' closing? A: Oh it worried the people about that, A lot of people what had a few dollars in there, they didn't have much. It worried them awful, They never did git it. I don't know whatever happened to it, Q: Is there anyone in particular you blame for the banks closing? A: No, I didn't have any money in at that time, so I didn't blame nobody. I didn't have nobody to blame, Q: Did the schools change during the Depression? A: Well, there wasn't much difference in the schools then, Q: How about your father's country store? A: He credited it all out and went bankrupt. He lost everything he had. He credited it out. I think he had $5000 on his books back then, and he couldn't buy no more, Q: That was a. goldmine~$5000. A: Yes, you had plenty if you had $5000, He credited it out on the books he kept. I don't know whatever went with the books he had. �Q: Was there any change in the churches? A: No, there didn't seem to be any change then, Q: V/hat do you think caused the Depression? A: I can't answer that for I just don't know, Q: Who was hurt worse by it? A: Poor people was hurt worse than anybody. (Wife) The working man. My daddy told about a man saying that during the Depression, that he was supposed to be a Democrat; he'd be hap^y if a Republican went back in cause he could save more money while the Republican was in because he didn't have to pay as much for his work hands, Q: What do you think was best about the Depression, if anything? A: I didn't see nothing best about it, That's the worst ever... (Wife) Well, the neighbors, I think, loved each other more. I think that was a good thing. And when any neighbor got sick in the community, they wasn't just one would go to see about you. They was a lot of good things in that way. Q: What do you like best about the way things are today? A: Well, I enjoy good roads. Q: How about you, Mr, Hodges? A: Well, I find that today, you can go wherever you please and stay wherever you please. Q: If you could change anything about the way things are today, what would they be? A: (Wife) I'd wish for peace all over the world more than anything else, and I'd love to have our children close to home for one thing. � 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 2014-02-17 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 Dave Hodges, April 4, 1973 Description An account of the resource Dave Hodges had many different careers throughout his life including working at a lumber factory and serving as justice of peace in Boone. Mr. Hodges talks about religion and what church was like as a child in the early 1900s. He also explains the community of Boone including the history and the differences in the years passed. Mr. Hodges explains the reaction of the community to new inventions like the car and the telephone. He also talks about local traditions such as home remedies, carving and wood cutting, and dating. To end the interview, he discusses his memories of the Great Depression and the effect it had on the community. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Brinkley, Bill Hodges, Dave 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 4/4/2014 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. 27 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_tape56_DaveHodges_1973_04_04M001 Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Boone, NC Subject The topic of the resource Mountain life--North Carolina--Watauga County--History--20th century--Anecdotes Watauga County (N.C.)--Social life and customs--20th century Depression--1929--North Carolina--Watauga County Boone N.C. carving Great Depression home remedies religion wood cutting