Search

Records the reminiscences of Ada "Addie" Anderson, (née Smith), with contributions from Vallie Cave, Beulah Sirbaugh and Nell Woodward. Due to the conversational nature of the interview, only Mrs. Anderson's and the interviewer's remarks are identified in the transcript, with comments from the other participants dispersed throughout. Describes home and family life, daily chores, schooling, holidays and community events. Among the topics discussed are the growing, harvesting and preserving of food, soap making, raising livestock and wild game hunting. Includes numerous references to and anecdotes about family members, friends and neighbors known to all four women.

Records an interview with Blanche Rickard, (née Batman), who lived in Thornton Gap, within the future boundaries of Shenandoah National Park. Describes daily life in the mountains, touching on the work of growing and preserving food, herbal remedies, courtship, birthing and funeral rituals, as well as holiday celebrations. Discusses at length the reaction of family and neighbors to being forcefully evicted from their property by the state of Virginia, to make way for the national park.

Records the reminiscences of Charles Estes, who owned a sawmill and several other businesses near Piney River, in Rappahannock County, Virgina, in the 1920s and 30s. Describes the everyday lives of the mountain people who lived around Piney River, popular community gatherings such as hog and beef butchering and apple butter boiling parties, as well as courting, wedding and funeral rituals. Includes references to the gardens and livestock raised by the mountain people, their methods of food preservation and popular holiday traditions. Discusses the various means available for earning money, such as bark peeling, barrel stave making, apple picking and moonshining. Includes anecdotes regarding Virginia governor Harry Byrd and local entrepreneur George Pollock, owner of Skyland resort. A woman identified only as Mrs. Estes provides an extensive description of many common herbal remedies employed by the mountain people, as well as additional commentary throughout.

Records an interview with Charles Ross, whose father, Dr. Charles J. Ross, was one of several local physicians who served the families living in the mountains prior to the advent of Shenandoah National Park. Charles J. Ross was born in Taylor County, WV, in 1881. He received his medical degree from the Medical School of Virginia in 1905, and later studied surgery in New York City. Mr. Ross describes the primitive conditions under which his father worked, where access to many of his patients was often limited to horse trails and foot paths. Recalls several deadly outbreaks of diphtheria, tuberculosis and typhoid fever, which were common in the area, as well as the Great Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919, which caused the deaths of millions of Americans across the country. Mr. Ross often rode along with his father during school vacations and gives his impression of the many mountain people he encountered, including many local moonshiners.

Records a music session featuring Dennis Yager, Nelson Jenkins and Wesley Gray, who perform a number of old-time songs, many of which were popular tunes with the mountain people. Featured instruments include guitar, banjo, Dobro and fiddle. Dennis Yager also participated in an interview with his mother, Mattie Yager, who played several mountain tunes on her autoharp. See SdArch no. SNP-138. There is no transcript for this interview; interview consists of audio only.

Records an interview with Dorothy Housh, whose late husband, Chester C. Housh, was a community manager in the Farm Security Administration that oversaw the forced relocation of hundreds of mountain families from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the 1930s. By the time the Houshes arrived in Elkton, Virginia, in 1936, most of the families had moved away or had relocated to one of the resettlement tracts provided for them in Flint Hill, Ida Valley, Little Washington or Wolftown. Describes the experiences of the mountain people as they adapted to their new lives and the administrative problems that occasionally arose in the resettlement tracts. Dennis Carter, a naturalist at Shenandoah National Park, contributes to the interview.

Records an interview with Edward Scott and Russell Barlow. Both men served in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the mid-1930s and worked together in the creation of Shenandoah National Park. Describes daily life and the kinds of work performed by the CCC men in laying out the boundaries of the park and the construction of Skyline Drive. Both men recall their interactions with the local mountain people, moonshiners and President Franklin Roosevelt's visit to dedicate the park in July, 1936. Also present, but unnamed in the transcript, is Mr. Scott's wife, Ella Mae, who contributed throughout the interview.

Records the reminiscences of Mr. and Mrs. Elzie Cave, who were born and raised in Dark Hollow, Virginia prior to the establishment of Shenandoah National Park in 1934. Mrs. Cave's full name is not given in the course of the interview, but an accompanying typed manuscript gives her name as Lula Breeden Cave. Describes their early home and family lives, schooling, marriage, holidays and community events. Among the topics discussed are farming, raising of livestock, local wildlife and the bark peeling industry. Includes references to Civil War ancestors, wakes and funerals, herbal remedies and the weather extremes of drought and record snows in the 1920s and 30s.

Records an interview with Etta Snow, (née Breeden), and her son Charles R. Snow, who lived in the mountains between Skyline Drive and McMullen, Va., in Greene County, at the eastern edge of Shenandoah National Park.

Records the reminiscences of Everett Breeden, who grew up on Tanners Ridge, in Page County, Virginia prior to the establishment of Shenandoah National Park in 1934. Also contributing to the interview is Mr. Breeden's wife, whose first name is not mentioned. Mrs. Breeden gives her maiden name as Thomas, and identifies her father as William Henry Thomas, also of Page County. Based on this information, she is believed to be Junie Catherine Breeden. Together, they describe their early home and family lives, schooling, holidays and community events. Among the topics discussed are the growing, harvesting and preserving of food, soap making, folk medicine and wild game hunting. Includes references to the local Civilian Conservation Corps camp, burial rites, and midwives. Mr. Breeden worked on the construction of Camp Hoover, also known as Rapidan Camp, which was the first presidential retreat. President Herbert Hoover commissioned the construction of the facility in 1929, which he later donated to Shenandoah National Park. Mr. Breeden recounts meeting and speaking with the president on several occasions at the retreat, which Mr. Hoover referred to as his Summer White House.