COPYRIGHT, 1942, BY

JEAN THOMAS

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

To My Brother

DOCTOR GEORGE G. BELL

A once itinerant “Tooth Dentist”

who became the first Republican county judge

in more than a quarter of a century

at the mouth of Big Sandy

and whose unique sentences have become legendary

throughout the Blue Ridge

APPALACHIAN RITUAL

Emerald nobility Reaching to the sky, Makes the eye a ruler Fit to measure by.
In the spring an ecstasy Lies upon the hills— Purpling with new red-buds, Ruffling colored frills.
Make an early ritual For the mountain side; Pine and beech are spectators, White dogwood a bride.
Give a pair of ivory birch For a wedding gift, All the mountain side a church Where wild flowers sift
Velvet carpet-petals down To the edge of hill and town, Showing wild-grape fringes through Opal cloud-thrones dropped from blue.
Now the summer like a queen Does her mountain home in green; With a season for a bier Some old majesty lies here.
Autumn gold is swift and fleet With a wing upon the feet, Rushing toward a winter breath Pausing for immaculate death.
In such economic bliss And a swift parenthesis— In immortal mountain trails, There are resurrection tales.
All the while the mountains know Sudden death is never so.
—Rachel Mack Wilson

Contents

1. The Country and the People[3]
THE LAND[3]
THE PEOPLE[10]
BLAZING THE TRAIL[16]
THE MOUNTAINEER[40]
2. Land of Feuds and Stills[46]
HATFIELDS AND MCCOYS[46]
PEACEMAKER[55]
TAKING SIDES[72]
MARTIN-TOLLIVER TROUBLES[91]
FAMILY HONOR[105]
3. Products of the Soil[112]
TIMBER[112]
WOMAN’S WORK[117]
4. Tradition[122]
PHILOMEL WHIFFET’S SINGING SCHOOL[122]
RIDDLES AND FORTUNES[135]
THE INFARE WEDDING[151]
5. Religious Customs[155]
FUNERALIZING[155]
OLD CHRISTMAS[158]
FOOT-WASHING[161]
NEW LIGHT[164]
6. Superstition[168]
BIG SANDY RIVER[168]
WATER WITCH[169]
MARRYING ON HORSEBACK[172]
DEATH CROWN[177]
A WHITE FEATHER[178]
7. Legend[180]
CROCKETT’S HOLLOW[180]
THE SILVER TOMAHAWK[186]
BLACK CAT[189]
THE DEER WOMAN AND THE FAWN[194]
GHOST OF DEVIL ANSE[199]
THE WINKING CORPSE[203]
THE HOUSE WITH THE GREEN GABLES[205]
8. Singing on the Mountain Side[210]
OF LAND AND RIVER[210]
FEUD[216]
LEGEND[218]
TRAGEDY[228]
PATRIOT[239]
9. Reclaiming the Wilderness[248]
VANISHING FEUDIST[248]
SILVER MOON TAVERN[250]
BLOOMING STILLS[255]
LEARNING[258]
MOUNTAIN MEN[269]
COAL[273]
PUBLIC WORKS[274]
BACK TO THE FARM[283]
VALLEY OF PARKS[301]
WHEN SINGING COMES IN, FIGHTING GOES OUT[317]
VANISHING TRAIL[327]
Index[331]

BLUE RIDGE COUNTRY

1. The Country and the People