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Records the reminiscences of Arlene Carr Abell who grew up in Sugar Hollow, Virginia, prior to the establishment of Shenandoah National Park in 1934. Describes her home and family life, schooling, holidays and community events. Among the topics discussed are the growing, harvesting and preserving of food, corn shucking and apple butter boiling parties, wild game hunting, home remedies and folk medicine. Includes references to holiday celebrations, mountain music, her father's occupation as a tanner and tales of local moonshiner.

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.

Records the reminiscences of Beulah Atkins, who grew up in Beech Spring, Virginia prior to the establishment of Shenandoah National Park in 1934. Describes her home and family life, schooling, holidays and community events. Among the topics discussed are the growing, harvesting and preserving of food, soap making, collecting ginseng and wild game hunting. Includes references to the local Civilian Conservation Corps camp, wakes and funerals, and her work with her father and husband in the barrel making business.

Records an interview with Cleadus Meadows, who grew up near Thoroughfare Mountain, in Madison County, Virginia. Describes daily life in the mountains, including raising livestock, the means of growing and preserving food and other aspects of the local economy, such as chestnut harvesting, tan bark and moonshine.

Records an interview with Darrell Yarrow and John Lillard, who were residents of Etlan, Virginia in the early 1930s. Both men give their recollections of the mountain people, their lifestyles and their characters.

Records an interview with E.L. Huffman, who grew up near Big Foltz Run, outside of Shenandoah, Virginia, prior to the establishment of Shenandoah National Park. Describes his impressions of the mountain people who lived nearby, their habits, customs and beliefs. Discusses the various economic opportunities available to the mountain people, such as the tan bark industry, ginseng harvest and moonshine. Of particular interest to Mr. Huffman is the Chestnut Blight that destroyed nearly all of the American Chestnut trees in the 1920s and his efforts to rebuild the chestnut population.

Records an interview with Eli Dudley Jones, who lived near Rileyville, in Page County, Virginia in the 1920s and 1930s. Describes home and family life in the mountains, holidays, food production and preservation, and the various cash crops and other sources of income available to the mountain people.

Records the reminiscences of Elmer Atkins, who was born and raised near Beech Spring, Virginia prior to the establishment of Shenandoah National Park in 1934. Describes his home and family life, schooling, holidays and community events. Among the topics discussed are farming, raising of livestock, log homes and the local bark peeling industry. Includes references to revival meetings, wakes and funerals, herbal remedies, moonshining, the Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919 and the chestnut tree blight that decimated the species in the early decades of the 20th century. Mr. Atkins also comments on the forced eviction of his family and neighbors to make way for the construction of the national park.

Records the reminiscences of Evidell Cave, who was born and raised in Dark Hollow, Virginia, prior to the establishment of Shenandoah National Park in 1934. Describes her early home and family life, schooling, marriage, holidays and community events. Among the topics discussed are farming and food preservation, livestock, local wildlife, and the bark peeling industry. Includes references to local families, moonshine, herbal remedies, Camp Hoover and the effects of the chestnut tree blight on the local economy.

Records the reminiscences of George Berry, who was born in the Cool Springs area near Fishers Gap, Virginia, in a log house on land that would eventually become part of Shenandoah National Park. Describes his early home and family life, school days at the Forrest Dale School, farm chores,and folk remedies. Discusses family gatherings, folk music, bark peeling and local moonshiners. Recalls his experiences working for the New Deal relief programs, the National Youth Administration as a boy, and later for its parent program, the Works Progress Administration. Mr. Berry recalls playing folk music for tourists at scenic stops along Skyline drive. Also discussed are the evictions of families from their homes, subsequently located within park boundaries, and the long term social and economic effects on those people over the following decades.