Bennie Cupp with Lula Roach and Hazel Marshall Roach interviewed by Dorothy Noble Smith, transcribed by Sharon G. Marston, 1979

Creator:

Cupp, Bennie (Benjamin W.), circa 1938-, Roach, Lula Willie, 1883-1983, Roach, Hazel Marshall, 1930-2011, Smith, Dorothy Noble, 1915-1999, and Marston, Sharon G. (Sharon Gates), 1944-

Scope and content:

Records the reminiscences of Bennie Cupp, his grandmother, Lula Roach, and his aunt, Hazel Marshall Roach, who lived near Rocky Bar, Virginia, an area that became part of Shenandoah National Park. Much of the interview centers around the reminiscences of Lula Roach, who was 95 years old at the time and who recalled many details of everyday life in the Blue Ridge Mountains around the turn of the 20th century. Describes home and family life, school days, farm chores, livestock, wild game and folk remedies. Discusses family gatherings, such as holidays, apple butter boilings, hog butchering and funerals. Other topics include the various means of earning a living available to the local residents, such as bark peeling, cutting poles and ties for the railroads, the apple, chestnut and ginseng harvests and the production of moonshine.

Names:

Cupp, Bennie (Benjamin W.), circa 1938-
Roach, Lula Willie, 1883-1983
Roach, Hazel Marshall, 1930-2011
Smith, Dorothy Noble, 1915-1999
Marston, Sharon G. (Sharon Gates), 1944-

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