Decoration Day-by Ron Rash

As promised, I found "Decoration Day" by Ron Rash. This poem is from this book Among the Believers. I felt that there was a connection between this poem and my last blog post. What do you think? Does it match?

 

 

One whose hand could make a face

Out of paper and pencil Would lay the glassed black and whites On the communion table, Trace our dead kin back to life To walk this land they once walked And see again, through our eyes, The dogwoods, ash trees, and oaks, Swift flowing creeks, narrow skies, Peaks and coves in memory mapped So deep not even heaven Could wish them from looking back.

Shelton Laurel Cemetery Visit

I was lucky enough to interview Mona Lee Shelton, from Shelton Laurel, NC. Shelton Laurel is in Madison County and is referred to by the locals as “God’s Country”. Why, you ask? It’s God’s Country due to the fact of all the natural beauty this community has. You drive in on a two lane road, which is main road to travel anywhere in this community. As I was traveling to meet Mrs. Shelton, I was amazed by the tall mountains I was surrounded by that seemed to go on forever. Furthermore, there was just a peace about this community I felt as I as driving. As many may know, the Shelton Laurel Community was the site for a well known Civil War battle site, The Shelton Laurel Massacre. During the Civil War, thirteen men were shot and killed. Today, there is North Carolina Historic Sign directing people to the location of the graves.  The Appalachian writer, Ron Rash, even wrote a fictional book about the massacre and the Shelton Laurel Community, set in the 1970’s, entitled The World Made Straight. With all this in mind, I jumped at the chance to get an inside glimpse of this historically popular community!

My main purpose for talking with Mrs. Shelton was her knowledge of the local cemeteries in the area. When I first talked to her about Appalachia 2.0, she automatically told me about the older cemeteries she could show me.  As excited as she was to show me, I was up for whatever adventure she had planned!

I met Mrs. Shelton on her front porch, where she has a wonderful view of the mountains that I saw on drive in. After talking for a few minutes about what I would like to know, she told me to “load up” and she would take me around, sharing what she knew about her community. We took a short drive up the road and traveled up a gravel drive. It didn’t look like anything was up this drive, but she told me to “just wait and watch”. So I did as Mrs. Shelton told me. As soon as she got past one large curve on the drive, it opened up into a large field filled with numerous graves. And again, I felt that magical peace.

As we were walking through the cemetery, Mrs. Shelton knew a story about almost person who had been layed to rest in this cemetery. There were Civil War soldiers, WWI and WWII veterans, along with unmarked graves. Mona said that it was local knowledge/legend some of those unmarked graves were the graves of slaves from the 1800’s. After learning this, it was amazing to me that the leaders in the Shelton Laurel Community were still caring for the grounds. Too many times, we hear about unknown cemeteries being found during the construction of large projects, and nothing is done about the graves. They are simply absorbed into the building of the projects…

I guess that’s one defining quality of the people from the Appalachian region; as a whole, they care for their community members long after their death. Those that have passed on still seem to be respected, no matter how long they have been gone. And they always remain in the memories of those still living. At least, this is the feeling I got while Mrs. Shelton was telling me all she knew.

Mrs. Shelton also shared with me the concept of “decoration”. And for those you who don’t know what decoration is; it’s when the family and community members come to the cemeteries and decorate the headstones. They will place flowers and meaningful ornaments around their loved ones, showing their love to the ones who have passed on. I have participated in my fair share of decorations, but Mona Lee told me something I didn’t know. People used to have church services during these decoration days. I asked her if it was like having the funerals all over again. “Why no! People would whoop and holler. We always had a good ole time!”  She also said they would have a huge lunch afterwards. Everyone who came to the service would bring a covered dish and they had fellowship along with great food. After hearing this, my thought was “how much better could it get?”

There is a poem that Ron Rash wrote that I feel matches what Mrs. Shelton shared with me. I’ll make sure to find it and post it. See if you agree!

Truly a Gentle Giant

Mr. Freeman's bull is so gentle that he lets Mr. Freeman curry him like a horse. Can you imagine? A 2,000 pound giant!

Downtown Burnsville, NC

          Over the summer, we traveled to a quaint little town called Burnsville, which is located in Yancey County (right next to Madison). I quickly realized there is so much to discover in Burnsville! We first stopped at Fox Country Store. Thinking it was going to be a “feed and seed” type establishment, we only planned to stop in for a quick minute. But boy, were we surprised! When we opened the door, we were faced with trinkets of every kind. There were clothes, cooking supplies, garden ornaments, and even a small case filled with pocket knives! This is not your average “country store”. As we made our way through all the marvelous things that surrounded us, we started finding more and more interesting things. They had wreaths that you could hang on your door, candles to send to your loved ones, and the most beautiful wind chimes. The most interesting item that the store had, in my opinion, was the cast iron skillets. They were so shiny and new. I am used to seeing cast iron skillets that have been used for years upon years. For those of you who don’t know what a case iron skillet is used for, people in the Appalachian region use them to bake cornbread. And DO NOT ever wash them! Just wipe the skillet out and its ready to be used again. I learned this the hard way when I decided that mine was a little dirty and needed some cleaning up. I took my dish soap and scrubbed until my skillet was as clean as the day I bought it. Unfortunately, my cornbread never came out the same. The cornbread would stick to the sides of the skillet, never coming out smooth. I talked with my grandfather about this and it was then that he informed to never wash your skillet. He said my grandmother would just always buy a new one if hers got too worn. So I learned the lesson the hard way…After exploring the country store, we drove up Main Street to see what else we could find.
          After parking in front of a barn quilt (which, everyone knows by now how much we love barn quilts!), we realized that the Toe River Arts Council was just up the street. Inside, there were numerous types of artwork from different artists in the Yancey area. But the most interesting part of the Toe River Council was the painting exhibit. After browsing through and looking at the marvelous paintings, we were told that those paintings came from a competition that was held a few weeks earlier. However, there was a catch. The artists were only given a certain number of hours to create the beautiful images that were in the gallery. This exhibit really displayed the amount of talent that these artist have. If you are ever traveling in the Downtown Burnsville Area, I strongly encourage you to visit the Toe River Arts Council! You could even leave with a special gift for someone handmade by one of the many artists!
          To end our day in Burnsville, we decided to stay in town for lunch. And conveniently across the road from the Toe River Arts Council was The Hilltop. I guess the name for the restaurant came from where its building is located, on top of a hill. As we walked in, we instantly felt like we were in a dinner from the 1950’s. There were seats at the front counter and booths everywhere else. After we seated ourselves, we started looking over the menu and realized this was a hamburger joint! There were so many choices to pick from; Hawaiian burger, American Burger, Swiss Alps Burger, and even Philly Cheese Steaks. There is even a burger called “The Heritage Burger” in honor of the local high school, Mountain Heritage High School.  This burger is probably six burgers rolled into one. And if you can eat it all, you get it for free! Plus, you get your picture put on the Heritage Wall, proving that you ate the burger.
          We decided to both try the Swiss Alps Burger, which included Swiss cheese, grilled onions and mushrooms, plus all the toppings. And I have to say, after a long day of searching out the interesting things in Burnsville, it was the perfect end to a great day! The burger was juicy, the cheese was stringy, and the mushrooms were cooked to the perfect texture!
          If your mouth is watering by the end of this, you have to travel out to Burnsville, NC to see what all this small town has to offer!  

 

 

Calling All Cattle!

I was fortunate enough to get to interview David Freeman, a Black Angus cattle farmer. In this video, he's calling his nine heifers so that I can see them. Mr. Freeman has been in the business for many years. He once had a bull sale for over $26,000! He has calves every spring that are for sale to anyone who is interested in getting into the business.

Superstitions within the Mountains

 

 

This is a video about mountain superstitions. Debbie Rice, the interviewee, discusses the many superstitions she gathered from her grandmother and parents. Pay close attention; some will make you think and other are just simply hilarious. Happy viewing!

Start of the Adventure: May 22, 2012

          Today, we went to the town of Marshall, NC. Marshall is a quiet, quaint little town nestled next to the French Broad River. We started by checking out the Marshall Depot. Here, every Friday night there is local music and the public is invited to come and watch or even dance. Then we walked along the streets of downtown and basically window shopped. It was really nice, too! I’ve been in the area my whole life and didn’t even know some of the shops were there.

            After window shopping, we went and checked out the Madison County Courthouse. From what I’ve heard, it is a local historical icon. The Courthouse seemed to have a warm, antique feel to it. A sign told us that the road we were on used to be the main road that connected North Carolina and Tennessee a long time ago. We also saw the house where The Salt Raids started. During the Civil War, salt was worth more than money and people in the county fought over it; this incident lead to the Shelton Laurel Massacre, where thirteen men were killed. I have been in the area for quite a while and never knew that house had anything to do with the Civil War. Madison County is not only rich with culture, but history as well!

Close up of a barn quilt

            By chance, we found a brochure about things to do in Madison County and saw a beautiful barn quilt driving tour. There were four quilts in Marshall and four in Mars Hill. Since we were in downtown Marshall, we decided to see the four that were located around Marshall. To see the barn quilts check out our page on Facebook, www.facebook.com/appalachia2. We didn’t realize it at the time, but the tour made a loop back to Downtown Marshall. Along the way, there were many sights to take in; mountains, flowers (wild and domestic), cattle farms, goat farms, and beautiful mountain homes.

            Today was just the start! I wonder what else we will find on this great adventure?

Hymns through the Generations

          Having been in the Appalachian region my entire life, I wanted to take a moment and share with you one thing that I gained from the region. My grandmother and I were extremely close when I was a child. Every weekend, I could be found at my grandparents’ house. And from those weekends, I always remember one specific thing; singing. My grandmother would sing hymns. Whether she was cooking, doing laundry, working in the garden or playing with me. “I’m standing on the Rock of Ages, safe from all the storm that rages, rich, but not from Satan’s wages, I’m standing on the Solid Rock.” This is song that I remember the most. By the age of five, I knew the song by heart and could sing right along with my grandmother when she started to sing.
         I also learned many more hymns from church. I have my grandmother to thank for this too. She sang in the choir and took me with her every Sunday. I would sit beside her and watch how much she enjoyed singing in the choir. She would help me follow along by running her finger under the words. Looking back on my childhood, these memories are the sweetest I have.
          Soon after singing in the choir with my grandmother, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. But something amazing happened. Once the disease progressed so far, she couldn’t talk. But she could sing…for almost a year, all my grandmother did was sing the hymns she had taught me. It was magical. She couldn’t communicate but when she sang, she was so happy. You could see the joy on her face. In my mind, I like to think that, in her world, she was singing in the choir again, worshipping the Lord she loved.
          My grandmother passed away in 2008. At the funeral, you’ll never guess what song they sang…“I’m standing on the Rock of Ages, safe from all the storm that rages, rich, but not from Satan’s wages, I’m standing on the Solid Rock.” I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It was such a bittersweet moment for me, since I had sung this song with her so many times. Now, on her birthday, our church still sings her song. And I still don’t know if I should laugh or cry.
          Passing religion on to the future generations has always been an important tradition in the Appalachian region. This story is just one of many. Ask around. No matter how old the individual is, they will have a story about what their grandparents taught them about the Good Lord.

Getting Started

We have been traveling in and around Madison County for almost a month now. But...I have failed to post anything about it. So I am starting today! Here's the plan- I'm going to have a separate post for every day of our adventure. The date of the original adventure will be posted as well. Maybe I can even manage to get a few pictures in there for everyone to see how beautiful this area really is. Let the adventure begin!