Frank M. Allara Library Special Collections and Archives (Univ. of Pikeville)
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Wickham Chapel
No full textAn image of Wickham Chapel, which is connected to the Administration Building
Margaret Record
No full textMargaret Record was the wife of James Record, former President of Pikeville College.
This is a Forever Portrait, number 1243.
According to the back of the image: "This FOREVER PORTRAIT has been creaded by highly skilled craftsmen and is made so that it will withstand the ravages of time, if it is kept under ordinary and reasonable conditions. -- To clean, dust lightly with a soft colth. If more intensive cleaning is ever needed, wipe the entire surface of the picture with a soft cloth dampened with mineral spirits. (Mineral spirits can be purchased in a paint store.) -- IMPORTANT: The surface of this FOREVER PORTRAIT is proceted by an invisible acrylic coating that is moisture- and dust-proof. Avoid scratching. Never use an abrasive or a cleaner containing alcohol or a carbon tetrachloride. -- Forever Portrait - 420 PLUM STREET - CINCINNATI, OHIO 45202
Page 3, Folk Tales of the Cumberlans
No full textA book of collected essays on life in the Appalachian mountains, created by the English Eleven students of Pikeville College, circa 1927.To our grandfathers and grandmothers whose deeds made possible the compilation of mountain traditions and to Miss Bess Alice Owens who taught us to appreciate them we dedicate this book
Page 8, Folk Tales of the Cumberlans
No full textA book of collected essays on life in the Appalachian mountains, created by the English Eleven students of Pikeville College, circa 1927.SHEARING SHEEP
By Berl Short
Shearing sheep is not very pleasant work, I have had experience. Sheep
are usually sheared twice a year, in may and August. The old-fashioned
way to shear sheep is still followed in the mountains. First a small
platform of planks is made about four feet wide, five feet long, and
three feet high. a sheep is then caught and laid on this platform and
then his four legs are tied together. One man sits at his head to keep
him quiet while one or two others takes shears and rob him of his coat.
His feet are then untied, and he is at liberty to go with the loss of
his coat.
WEAVING
By Sarah Anna Hambley
Weaving was a very important task when our grandmothers were young. They
not only made their clothes but wove the cloth also.
this task was not so very easy because the lengthwise, or warp threads,
had to be stretched so tight between the two beams of the loom that
sometimes these threads looped and then the ones that broked had
to be replaced. The women had to make clothes for the whole family.
Nearly every spare minute was filled in by spinning and weaving. The
women and girls had a good time even with all the work they did. they
made work into play. They had their corn-huskings, quilting parties,
and many other similar things to do. When the work was finished, the
play began, so they all worked.
WASHING WITH BATTLING STICKS
By Esther Johnson
By sun-up the women had their morning chores finished, ready to start
washing. It wsa by no means an easy job, but every Monday was the day.
Washings were done at the creek, so they wouldn’t have to carry water.
The wash tub, was made out of a tree, about five feet long with a hole
in one end to let the water out. Where water was in the tub a wooden
peg was used to stop this hole. On the other end of the tub there was
a flat place about a foot and a half wide, used for battling clothes.
The tub stood on four solid legs. The clothes were first put into the
tub, rubbed with the hands, then soap was applied freely and they wetre
laid out on flat boards, ready to beat. The battling stick, about two
feet in length, was very flat and broad on the end which paddled the
clothes. The clothes were put back into the water and beated again
until they were white. Rinsing was very simple. a hole was dug out in
the creek, to catch more water, and the clothes were carried to the
creek, dipped in, then the water was wrung out and they were spread on
the grass or hung on a line to dry.
ROBBING THE BEES
By Annie Lancaster
I have seen my father rob the bees many times. First he got a pile of
old rags and put them into the smoke and set them on fire. Then he put
a shield, made out of wire and canvas, over his head to keep the bees
away. After that he smoked the bees into the gum and took off the top.
A few bees would fly out every little bit, just as mad as they could be
and woe betide the person who happened to be standing near to see it
well done. If the bees started after a person, he would yell and run
as if a snake were after him, for a bee sting is nothing to be desired.
The honey is then cut out and put in a large pan of some kind. The lid
is put back on the bee gum and bees set to work right away to make
some more honey.
PICKING GEESE
By Layton Howerton
In the spring about “Geese Picking” time, Grandma can be seen out on
the banks of the creek trying to find some of her “stray” geese. She
can be heard talking to herself, “That old blue goose knoa as well as
I do that it is time for me to get a-hold of her. I’ll bet she is a
around here somewhere, perhaps hid in these willers”. The gesse seem
to know very well when “Picking time” comes and they hide along the
creek banks
Page 26, Folk Tales of the Cumberlans
No full textA book of collected essays on life in the Appalachian mountains, created by the English Eleven students of Pikeville College, circa 1927.THE BOX SUPPER
By Zuella Phillips
Perhaps it was to get new song books for the church or to buy something
for the school but, anyway, the box supper was, and still is in some
sections, considered quite a social affair.
The ladies prepare the boxes and oh, what brown chicken, what fluffy
white biscuits, jellies, pickles, cakes and just everything that is tempt-
ing to the palate are placed in them! These boxes are then decorated
with all the artistic ability that the owner has to make them doubly at-
tractive. Some of them are marked so that the interested young man will
know which belongs to his lady-fair.
The boxes are placed together and the auctioneer begins to bid them off.
He’ll pick up a box covered with pink crepe paper and all tied with rib-
bons.
“What do I get for this? Fifty cents? One dollar?” holding it up as high as
possible. “Boy, just smell that fried chicken and those pickles.
I bet it was put up by the prettiest girl in the house.”
At this the girl in questions will blush and giggle. “One dollar,” some
young blood will cry out. “One twenty five,” another will yell.
At this the auctioneer will come in. “One twenty five for this box! Is
that all I’m going to get? Boys, you don’t know what you’re missing. “
At last the box is sold for the princely sum of one dollar and twenty five
cents to a young man in the corner. In like manner all the boxes are
sold and then comes the fun for each young man of hunting the owner and
eating with her. The name of the one who fixed the box is placed inside
it. The man who buys it hunts her up and together they eat its contents.
What a thrill it was to have your box bought by the most handsome boy
in the community and get to eat and laugh and chat with him. But oh!
The feeling when some old, ugly, bent man got your box and you were forced
to sit with him. After eating and talking for while the people would
wander home. Usually the young man who bought the box walked home with
the girl. And many a romance has started at the box supper.
THE CORN SHUCKING
By Walter Prince
Perhaps one of the most enjoyable times to the youth of the country as
well as the old, is the “Corn Shuckin” every late fall. These events gen-
erally take place in a large barn loft.
The corn, after being gathered and piled in the middle of the loft is
ready for shucking. Usually a few bushels of the farm’s choice apples
are placed under the corn as a little entertainment after the work is
all finished. The crowd of young and old are invited to attend. Lant-
erns are hung on posts, joist and ceiling to offer a few rays of light
and a few rays it is—before the fun is over. The lanterns that have-
n’t been knocked down by some are so badly smoked they can hardly
be found. The crowd gathers all around the corn sitting on the floor
nail kegs, feed buckets, or on the corn. Everybody starts shucking
corn throwing the ears in a crib and the shucks in a big pen called the
“shuck pen.” To cause a lot of embarrassment and joy, some young farmer
of long ago started a fine stunt for the couple that couldn’t wait until the
things was over to kiss his “gal” and now when your find a red ear of corn
the whole crowd gets to see how you embrace your fair lover in a good
night kiss. Some hunt for the red ear, others dodge it, but some one
must shuck the red ear, and when an old man or bashful finds it
the shucking stops for a while.
After the corn is all shucked the apples are eaten, then after a few
ghost stories are told with trembling hearts the lovers’ hand lock and
all start for home. The fathers and mothers wake up the kids and start
on the way, some singing, some quarelling, some spanking the half-asleep
kids. Thus ends the corn shucking, with the farmer’s corn all ready to
find a market with but very little cost and the community has had a won-
derful time. They prove this by talking about it until some similar
event happens.
CHESTNUT HUNTING
By Annie Lancaster
A good time to go chestnut hunting is real early in the morning. You
should start in time to get to the chestnut orchard just a little before
daylight. For if you don’t the turkeys will come very early and eat up
the chestnuts before you can get there
Page 43, Folk Tales of the Cumberlans
No full textA book of collected essays on life in the Appalachian mountains, created by the English Eleven students of Pikeville College, circa 1927.THE FIRST STEAMBOAT ON THE BIG SANDY RIVER
By Birdie Murphy
As were seated around a coal fire one cold December day, the old fold were telling about the first steamboats that they had seen.
This is a story that Mr. T. I. Reynolds told me at that time:
“I well remember the first steamboat that came up the Big Sandy River. It was very small, but was thought to be large by the first to see it. It was called the “Red Buck. When the whistle sounded, everyone in hearing distance ran toward the river. One whole family, the Brown, that lived near the river, started toward the river. When the whistle was heard by one of the small girls. Goldie was the girls name, and she was one of the first to see the boat. Her grandmother, a feeble old lady, was anxious to see it also but she was so slow she didn’t get there in time. As the boat passed by Goldie she yelled to the people on board, ‘wait jist one minute, granny wants to see the boat!’ But they didn’t wait for granny and she didn’t get to see the Red Buck.
The next boat to make a trip up the Big Sandy River was called the Fav- orite and it was a favorite, for people were as thick as toads just after a rain, to see that boat pass by. Granny was one of the first to see it, but she started to the river before she heard the whistle. While the boat glided out of sight, granny waved her old gaded bandanna handkerchchief to the people on board.
“ ‘Ain’t that a sight to see, it swims jist as smooth as a fish!’ ”
THE FIRST TRAIN THAT CAME TO PIKEVILLE
By Opal Sowards
The first train came to Pikeville on June 5, 1905.
The engineer who drove the first train up Big Sandy was a man named Lewis. The train came up only as far as White House from whence steam-boats brought the passengers and freight the rest of the way.
They worked on the railway line for avout two years, before the train was ready to start up in the “sticks” as it was called then/ It took long hours of hard work to even make a railway bed, because the coun- try was so rough and rugged. A great deal of blasting, and many fills were made; the line followed the river, not because of the distance, but because it was less expensive. Sand and water from the river could be had by doing this. Then the trees were not so thick near the river bank, because it had been cleared to some extent when the steamboats started running up here, many years before.
At last the long days of preparation were over and the train was to leave Ashland, early in the morning and arrive here at 12 o’clock sharp. Crowds came from miles around to see the iron horse, come flying in on two little narrow rails. It was a very impatient crowd, when they had to wait overtime just a few minutes, but when they were told that it was two hours late, they began to doubt if it would get here at all. Anyway they waited, and managed to amuse themselves around the town, by eating peanuts, and drinking strawberry pop.
Finally they heard it whistle down below Cedar, and the children clung closer to their mothers, while some of the colder boys climbed upon the roof of an old building that stood near. All the crowd gasped when they saw it come in sight. It was puffing so that some of the ladies
were afraid it might blow up, so they grabbed their little Johnnies and
ran back from the track. When it finally drove up and stopped with a screak of brakes, some one remarked, “It must be run nigh to death, by the way it’s pantin’.” It stayed here for an hour before it started back to Ashland. During that time the railroad track was a swarm of people inspecting the black monster and asking questions
Page 44, Folk Tales of the Cumberlans
No full textA book of collected essays on life in the Appalachian mountains, created by the English Eleven students of Pikeville College, circa 1927.A QUILTING PARTY
By Philip Conrad Gatehouse
On February 25, 1924 I came in from school and found awaiting me an imvitation to a Quilting party to be given on the following night at a mountain home only one mile away from my home.
At six thirty night of February Twenty-Fourth, of the younger crowd were ready to begin the one mile journey and all were eager to attend their first quilting party. We arrived at the house where the party
was to be given at about seven o’clock, and when we walked in, all the quilting frames were swinging from the ceiling. To our surprise
the frames were only four long, narrow, pieces of wood and adjusted
to the size of quilt wanted. The cotton was between the bottom and the top covers of the quilt, and we soon found out that we were to work
a little. Each gueast received a needle and plenty of thread, and
our task was to sew the top to the bottom of the quilt, to hold the
cotton, and to keep it from getting in one corner of the covers.
There were enough quests to guilt five nice quilts. About eleven
o(clock, we had all finished, and then the real fun started; eating, drinking (coffee), and playing hames. This lasted until twelve o’clock then all guests were invited to attend a quilting party at another
home the following week. We looked the quilt over once more, and
then began our journey homeward
Page 47, Folk Tales of the Cumberlans
No full textA book of collected essays on life in the Appalachian mountains, created by the English Eleven students of Pikeville College, circa 1927
Pikeville Collegiate Institute, front
No full textoai:cdm16953.contentdm.oclc.org:p16953coll1/0Very faintly, "Pikeville College" can be seen written in the bottom left-hand corner. This postcard was sent to Miss Mary Hazlett