Search

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 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 a brief interview with Charles Chapman, a life-long resident of Luray, Virginia, and a carillonneur of international renown. Mr. Chapman's father owned a grocery store in Luray that served many of the local mountain families from 1904 until the 1940s. Recalls his earliest memories of the mountain people and their transactions with his father. Includes references to the annual chestnut harvest and seasonal mountain wildfires. Mr. Chapman also reminisces about local entrepreneur, George Pollock, owner of nearby Skyland resort.

Records the reminiscences of Claud W. Cullers, a lifelong resident of Rileyville, Virginia, who raised cattle throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Mr. Cullers would move his cattle to mountain pastures each year, where they would graze into the fall. Describes his memories of the local mountain people, their modes of living and sources of income. Discusses the bark and lumber industries, chestnut, apple and berry harvests, and prominent local moonshiners. A woman with the surname Keyser, identified as Mrs. Cullers' niece, also contributes to the interview.

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 Cletus Waters, whose father owned a general store in the vicinity of Rocky Branch until 1928. Describes his father's business and his interaction with local mountain families. Mr. Waters' wife, Hazel, who is unnamed in the transcript, contributes to the interview.

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 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.