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Records an interview with Lena Meadows, (née Taylor), who lived near Jollet Hollow, in Page County, Virginia, prior to the advent of Shenandoah National Park. Describes daily life in the mountains, including local agriculture, livestock and food preservation, as well as important cash crops, such as apples, chestnuts, and moonshine. Recalls popular community activities, including storytelling, quilting parties and apple butter boilings.

Records an interview with LeRoy Nicholson, who lived in Weakely Hollow, near Old Rag Mountain, in Madison County, Virginia, until 1929. Describes daily life in the mountains, the means of growing and preserving food and other aspects of the local economy. Discusses popular pastimes, herbal remedies, holidays, courtship, and the moonshine trade. Also discusses his memories of local entrepreneur, George Freeman Pollock, owner of Skyland resort, and his service with the Civilian Conservation Corps during the construction of Skyline Drive.

Records an interview with Louis Grannis, who operated a sawmill on Mt. Marshall, near Browntown, Virginia in the early 1920s. The mill produced railroad ties of various sizes, as well as telephone poles, until the commonwealth banned such activities in the proposed park area in 1924. Grannis discusses the economics and logistics of operating a mill in such an isolated location. A woman identified in the transcript as Mrs. Grannis also contributes to the interview.

Records an interview with Louise Long, (née Varner), whose family owned several tracts of grazing land in Rappahannock County, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, prior to the founding of Shenandoah National Park. Describes the extensive cattle industry existing in the Shenandoah Valley from colonial times until the late 1930s. Mrs. Long and her husband, Arthur Long, Jr., oversaw the annual movement of hundreds of head of cattle from surrounding Valley communities to their fertile summer pastures in the mountains.

Records the reminiscences of Lucille V. Coffman, (née Blose), and her husband, who is not named in the interview, but is believed to be Benjamin P. Coffman, both of whom grew up near the southern edge of Shenandoah National Park. Describes home and family life, daily chores, schooling, holidays and community events. Among the topics discussed are the growing, harvesting and preserving of food, raising livestock, wild game hunting and fishing. Includes references to the herbal remedies, moonshiners, the Influenza Epidemic of 1918 and the chestnut tree blight of the early part of the 20th century. Refers to the origins of the Blose family in Virginia and interactions between the mountain people and locals living in the Shenandoah Valley.

Records an interview with Luther and Myra Wood, (née Sandidge), who lived in Afton, Virginia. Describes daily life in the mountains, touching on the work of growing and preserving food, herbal remedies, courtship and holidays.

Records an interview with sisters Mamie Johnson and Betsey Harrell, who were born near Piney Branch in Rappahannock County, Virginia. Discusses the work of their father, Henry L. Johnson, who was a cabinetmaker who often made coffins for the local communities. Describes daily life in the mountains, including activities such as weaving and dying cloth, drying fruit, harvesting chestnuts and square dances. The interview is conducted by their nephew, James Bob Johnson, a ranger at Shenandoah National Park.

Records an interview with Matt Graves Sr., leads a small group on a driving tour of a section of Shenandoah National Park near Syria, Virginia. Mr. Graves lived in the region prior to the opening of the park and was able to identify the sites and former owners of numerous homesteads, mills and cemeteries in the vicinity of Milam Gap. Also participating in the interview are Phil Hastings and John Dooms, naturalists affiliated with Shenandoah National Park.

Records an interview with M.M. Hitt, Jr., whose father owned a general store in Luray, Virginia, at the turn of the 20th century. Mr. Hitt ran his own confectionery store in Luray, from 1911 to about 1930. Discusses the retail business at that time and his impressions of the mountain people who would patronize his store. Includes references to local entrepreneur, George Freeman Pollock, owner of nearby Skyland resort, and local Episcopal missionary, Mary Deaconess Hutton.

Records an interview with Nelson Nicholson and his wife, Claudia, who lived in Nicholson Hollow, 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, hunting and fishing. Discusses the limited economic opportunities available to the mountain people, such as the apple and chestnut harvests, bark peeling and moon-shining. Includes references to local entrepreneur, George Freeman Pollock, owner of nearby Skyland resort.