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AOHP #66
Page 1
This is an interview with Mr. and Mrs. Lee Greene
for the Appalachian Oral History Project, by Donna
Clawson, at Route 2, Boone, on June 11, 1973.
QUESTION:
Mrs. Greene, I'll start with you.
ANSWER:
Where were you born?
(Mrs. G) You mean the county?
Q:
Yes, the county or the area.
A":
(Ms. G) I was born in Watauga County, or Meat Camp.
Q:
What was the year?
A:
(Ms. G) 1908.
Q:
What about you, Mr. Greene?
A:
(Mr. G) Well, I was born in 1904.
Q:
Were you born in this county?
A:
(Mr. G) Watauga County, yes.
this house.
Just a little ways right here from
That little house that used to stand out here where that other
house was.
Q:
Who were your parents?
A:
(Mr. G) Henry Greene and Lura.
Q:
Who were your parents, Mrs. Greene?
A:
(Ms. G) Pink Jones and Laura Jones.
Q:
Had your parents always lived in this county?
A:
(Mr. G) Yes.
Q:
They were born in this county?
A:
(Mr. G) Yeah, Watauga County.
Q:
What about your parents?
A:
(Ms. G) They were too.
Q:
Mrs. Greene, I'll talk to you a while then.
did you have?
Both of them.
How many years did you go?
A:
(Ms. G) I just went to the seventh grade.
Q:
How many months out of the year did you go?
What kind of schooling
�AOHP #66 Page 2
A:
(Ms. G) Six.
Q:
Was it a one-room schoolhouse?
A:
(Ms. G) Yes.
Q:
How many teachers did you have?
A:
(Ms. G) Just one teacher, every year.
Q:
The same teacher the whole time?
A:
(Ms. G) No, a different one each year.
Q:
What kind of thing did you study in school?
A:
(Ms. G) Let's see.
Arithmetic, that's what they called it back then.
English, spelling, history, geography, sanitation, and, one other thing.
I can't think of the name of the book. (Mr. G) Grammar? (Ms. G) No.
Q:
That's about the same thing they teach now.
and sisters?
What about brothers
How many did you have?
A:
(Ms. G) I had one brother and four sisters.
Q:
What were their n^^es?
A:
(Ms. G) Well, Docia's my oldest sister.
And Allie Barnes.
You want
their full names?
Q:
Yes, that'll be fine.
A:
(Ms. G) Docia Suddreth, Allie Brown, Bessie Greene, Verlee Brown,
and Stanford Jones.
Q:
Were they all older than you, or were you in the middle?
A:
(Ms. G) I was next to the youngest.
Q:
Mr. Greene, how much schooling did you have?
A:
(Mr. G) I guess I got through maybe what they call the fifth grade.
Q:
How many months out of the year did you go?
A:
(Mr. G) When first I went it was just three months.
There were four older than me.
up to six months.
Q:
Did you study about the same things Mrs. Greene did?
A:
(Mr. G) About the same things.
Then they got
(
�AOHP #66 Page 3
Q:
A:
What about teachers, did you have one each year?
(Mr. G) They teached all the grades that was teached, they didn't
grade them like they do now.
went along.
Passed them through their books as they
Didn't grade them like they do now.
(Ms. G) We never had a
report card or anything like that.
Q:
You just went through?
A:
(Ms. G) Yeah, they just passed you.
Q:
Do you remember the name of the school you went to?
A:
(Mr. G) Huh?
Q:
What was the name of the school?
A:
(Mr. G) Uh, Sands.
Q:
What was yours?
A:
(Ms. G) I went to three different schools.
I guess you know where that is, up Meat Camp.
Springs.
I went to Chestnut Grove.
And then went to Maple
It was only two schools, yeah.
Q:
Well, what year did y'all get married?
A:
(Ms. G) 1927.
Q:
Did you live around here then?
A:
(Ms. G) We lived in PErkinsville.
Q:
How long did you live there?
A:
(Ms. G) Three years.
Q:
Then did you move back up here?
A:
(Ms. G) Yeah, we moved down here where Herbert Foster lives.
And
then we moved from there, down there on the creek, you know where J. D.
Greene owns that little house below the creek.
And then we moved from
there to here.
Q:
How many children do you have?
A:
(Ms.G) Two.
Q:
Mr. Greene, what kind of occupations have you had, what kind of jobs?
A:
(Mr. G) Farming the most of the time, up till the last twenty-two
years.
Two sons.
Then I been working in produce ever since.
�AOHP #66 Page 4
Q:
Can you remember a time when you had hard time getting a job?
A:
(Mr. G) Yeah, they wasn't no jobs, back then 'cept only farming.
I never had no hard time gettin' a job.
I could get work to do.
body wanted any work done, if I had time to do it.
/
then, you didnjt get too much done away from home.
If any-
If you tried to farm
(Ms. G) They weren't
no plants you know, or anything like that to work at.
Q:
They've not been around here too long.
A:
(Ms. G) No, they haven't.
Q:
What kind of crops did you raise?
A:
(Mr. G) Raised corn, potatoes, rye, wheat, buckwheat.
Q:
Did you sell any of them or did you just use them?
A:
(Mr. G) Yeah, sold some fo 'em.
his tax.
A fellow had to sell enough to pay
That's the only way we had of paying the tax.
Q:
Is that all you ever had to pay?
A:
(Mr. G) Yeah, that's about all.
Had to buy a little sugar and
coffee once in while.
Q:
Goodness, that's not like it is today.
What about livestock, did
you have livestock?
A:
(Mr. G) Yeah, kept one cow most of the time.
two.
(Ms. G) Three, we had three cows.
Part of the time I had
(Mr. G) Three here one time,
didn't we.
Q:
What about churches in this area, what kinds of churches have been
around here?
A:
The denominations and all.
(Mr. G) Well, the Methodist and the Baptist have been around the
longest, I guess.
Q:
Which church did the most people belong to?
A:
(Mr. G) I'm not sure I could tell you about that.
Baptist, most of 'em.
Q:
I suppose the
Right through this area, anyway.
Were the churches a lot different then from what they are now?
�AOHP #66 Page 5
A:
(Mr. G) Yeah, they's a whole lot different.
People didn't try to
dress up so fine like they do anymore, when they went to church.
Q:
I guess not.
A:
(Ms. G) Didn't have it to dress in.
Q:
What other ways have the churches changed?
A:
(Ms. G) You answer that. (Mr. G) What?
Q:
What other ways have the churches changed?
A:
(Mr. G) Well, these trends. . . trying to build bigger churches.
And having less attendance, I think, than they used to have.
Q:
That's right.
A:
(Mr. G) That's the way I think they've changed.
Q:
That's true.
A:
(Mr. G) From an old feller by the name of Sands, I guess what give
it the Sands name.
Q:
How did this community get its name?
(ms. G) That's what I've heard.
Can you remember any of the decision makers in this community in
the past years?
A:
(Mr. G) I can't think of any of them.
Q:
I guess its mostly just been involved in the county, iL-/ rather than
so much of a separate community.
A:
(Mr. G) Yeah.
Q:
Has the community changed a lot?
A:
(Mr. G) Yeah, right smart.
Q:
What about the population of the community?
A:
(Mr. G) Yeah, more.
Q:
Are either of you interested in politics?
A:
(Mr. G) Interested in politics?
Q:
Yes.
A:
(Mr. G) Yeah, I've always been interested.
Q:
Can you remember any special elections?
A:
(Mr. G) Yeah, all of 'em.
People don't visit nigh like they used to.
Is it more?
�AOHP #66 Page 6
Q:
Oh, really?
A:
Yeah!
Q:
Did you get out and politic?
A:
(Mr. G) No, I didn't politic but I always tried to get over there
and cast my vote.
Q:
Just kept up with 'em, huh?
A:
(Mr. G) Yeah.
to go vote.
(Ms. G) We've always just been interested enough
(Mr. G) No, I ain't never took no part in the local affairs
much.
Q:
Well, voting shows a big interest.
How did most of the people
around here vote?
A:
(Mr. G) Well, I guess 'at most of 'em, biggest majority of 'em
was Republicans —
Q:
A:
in this county.
How do you think politics have changed over the
years?
, (Mr. G) I think its got rotten, that's how. (Ms. G) You shouldn't
'a said that.
Q:
No, that's fine.
I've heard a lot 'a people say that.
just about agree with you, too.
A:
I think I
How have the politics changed?
(Mr. G) Used to, the candidates would debate, ya know, at some certain
place and speak against one another, but they don't do that no more.
It's
all on television, or not no speaking a 'tall, or maybe have a few gettogethers somewhere, where the parties met.
An' when they debated aginst
one another, an' face to face in politics it 'uz even more interesting
than it is now.
Q:
I bet it was.
A:
(Mr. G) They'd get so mad they could kill one another when they get
up to speak at one another.
(Ms. G) I can remember going to hear people
speak with my daddy when I was just litt^g,
An ' he'd want to go hear
somebody speak that was on his side, ya know.
night and he'd take us children and go.
They'd usually speak at
�AOHP #66
Page
7
Q:
Well, did they ever get in real heated arguments?
A:
(Mr. G) Yeah, they'd get in some purty hot 'uns, sometimes.
Q:
What about the crowd, did they get mad, too?
A:
(Mr. G) No, the crowd didn't seem to worry much.
think so.
I can't remember anybody getting too mad.
probably riled up on a few of 'em in the crowd.
that 'ud give us any trouble.
(Mrs. G) I don't
(Mr. G) Course it
(Ms. G) Wasn't nothing
(Mr. G) No trouble, whatever.
I never did
hear of ..having no trouble
Q:
That's unusual.
At least now it seems unusual.
How did people get
around, back when you were growing up?
A:
(Mr. G) We walked, wherever we went.
or a wagon.
We went in a horse and buggy,
My father bought an old steer wagon.
(Ms. G) My daddy had
a steer, yoke 'a steers that I remember we rode to church in.
You know what
a steer is.
Q:
Yeah.
Did you ever walk pretty long distances?
A:
(Mr. G) Yeah.
Q:
How long did it take ya to do that?
A:
(Mr. G) Not too long.
We'd go five or six miles.
Back then when I'se young I could walk
purty good.
Q:
Where did you have to walk to ?
A:
Yeah, ya had to walk to town when ya went to town.
three miles, ya know.
Did you, like walk to town much?
That 'uz about
That 'uz just a short distance, back then. (Ms.G)
Nobody didn't mind walking to town, back then. (Mr. G) Never thought nothing
about it.
(Ms. G) When my daddy moved down here, ya know, where Wilson
Brown lives, we moved down there, and I'se eleven years old when he moved
from Meat Camp down there.
And all of us walked back up to Meat Camp to
church.
Q:
Well, that seems like a long way now.
I guess people have gotten lazy.
A:
(Ms. G) And they'd be running a revival meeting, ya know, at night,
and we'd all fall in, ya know, and get ready in time to go to church at
night.
�AOHP #66
Page 8
(Mr. G) People back then when they had produce to sell they hauled
it to Lenoir and sold it.
On a wagon, and team.
Q:
How long did that take ya?
A:
(Mr. G) Take 'em three or four days to go from thefeto Lenoir and
back.
(ms. G) My brother used to run a steer wagon for hauling produce.
Took a long time to go with a yoke 'a steers down there.
Q:
I guess it did.
A:
(Mr. G) Back then nobody 'uz in no big hurry.
They'j^meet up with
somebody, they'd stand and talk for an hour or two an1 now they won't
hardly speak howdy to ya.
Q:
That's the way it goes.
It does seem to be that way. You'd
\k with people having it easier getti
to spend with people.
A:
(Mr. G) It looks like it.
But they hain't, they've got to go.
(Ms. G) Looks like when you can go so much quicker that you'd have more
time.
(Mr. G) Everythings speeded up the past few years.
Q:
Yeah, I've seen it speed up just as long as I've been alive.
A:
(Mr. G) Yeah, you've seen it speeding up, all the way up. (Ms.G) I
know we lived on Meat Camp one time.
They'uz a having a revival meeting,
ya know, an' they had it in the afternoons and the evenings.
An 1 I can
remember walking and going with Momma, and we went across the
where Mr. Ira Brown used to live, the Dr. Harmon place, ya know, and come
on across that way.
And I can remember, as we went back, ya know in the
fall of the year it began to get dark so early.
And we got down to where
Aunt Mary Jones used to live and it was agettin dark there, and we had to
go through the dark from there on home.
Q:
That'd be something today, wouldn't it.
Where did most of the roads
and the railroads run around here?
A:
(Mr. G) Well, there wasn't no railroads here, till Tweetsie come into
Boone and I don't remember what year that was.
it never did come back in.
It washed it out in "40 and
�AOHP #66
Q:
Where were most of the i(a:ojds and things?
A:
(Mr. G)
Page 9
Only railroad was Todd, I guess.
gauge running into Boone.
place.
And that little narrow
(Ms. G) But the roads now aren't in the same
(Mr. G) And then they built a road that goes up here to Rich Mountair
to get logs out.
And then went on that narrow gauge over to Shulls Mills.
See, they had a sawmill over there.
up Howard's Creek, was there.
(Ms. G) There wasn't much of a road
(Mr. G) No, not much of one at that time.
(Ms. G) Then they built a good road up there.
We can remember it but I
don't remember what year it was.
Q:
What about some of the other roads, like Meat Camp Read?
Was it a
pretty good road?
A:
(Mr. G) No, rough road, and trees so low you couldn't get around them.
(Ms. G) They wasn't many roads that was even just gravelled, much that
you could travel.
Q:
Of course, I guess, without having cars it didn't make much difference
what the roads were like, did it?
A:
(Mr. G) No, they got to improving roads when cars begun to come into
this country.
Got to hard-surfacing 'em then.
(Ms. G) This road that
goes around down here, ya know, this old road, I can remember when they's
a-building that, before I was married.
And then out there at Sands, right
below, or about even with that house there of
( ? Mr.) Cook's, there's a
big mud hole there, ya know, and couldn't nobody get through it.
car had tried to get through there.
And one
There wasn't but a very few, ya know.
They would get stuc^r And they's always somebody coming out to my Dad's
to get Stanford and Daddy to take their yoke of steer and they'd have to
go pull those cars out of the mudhole.
Q:
When did the first cars come in?
saw your first car?
Can you remember the year you
�AOHP #66 Page 10
A:
(Mr.G)
(Ms.G)
(Mr.G)
(Ms.G)
seeing.
then?
I don't remember the exact year.
I don't believe I do remember the year.
It would 'a been about '15, I guess.
But I remember who was driving the first one that I remember
And I was scared of it.
Do you know I was scared of a car back
We lived on Meat Camp, that was before we moved doen here where
Daddy lived.
And we had come to Mr. Dan Cook's to the store, when he had
an old storehouse - - -out ttere.
Well, where was it that stood?
(Mr.G) Right down this side of where J. B."s got# his store.
(Ms.G) No, that first one that was doen here beside- - - (Mr.G) That first one stood right down this side right below the old
Ingram house down there.
Alongside of the road.
(Ms.G) Oh, I thought you said below the road.
(Mr.G) Well, 'tis, down this-a-way.
(Ms.G) Well, it was on the other side of the road.
be, you're right.
Yeah, it would
That one down there. . . .
(Mr.G) He moved out right down and went up by George Hayes', you
know.
When that storehouse stood there.
(Ms.G) You know where Oscar Hayes lives, don't you?
the George Hayes place.
left on around there.
can you remember it?
Well that was
And the road went way around that hill, to the
And right there below where that old Ingram house,
It's not been tore down long.
Q:
Yeah, I think I remember it.
A:
(Ms.G) It's right there below where Charles Hodges, uh,. . .
(Mr.G) . . .slaughter - place is at...
(Ms.G) Well, I don't know what I was going to tell you before that.
Q:
You were talking about the car, the first one you saw.
A:
(Ms.G) Yeah, that car.
We'd been over there to that store, and we
went back around that road, ya know, and we went, walking up around up
through that bottom above where Oscar Hayes lives.
And went on up the road
there a little piece,...we got over in Tommy Hayes' field and walked on
�AOHP # 66
that hill to where the Howard Foster house is.
Page 11
You know, where Howard
Foster used to live, you know, over near Meat Camp.
Who is it lives
there now, Mr. Shook?
(Mr.G) Yeah.
(Ms.G) We'd go right across that hill, ya know.
We heard this car
a-coming before we got to where we always crawled under this wire fence,
ya know, where we'd come up there above Oscar Hayes1.
And I can remember
how scared we was and we run ourselves near to death because we's so afraid
of that car.
And we wanted to get there and crawl under that fence and
get in that field before that car passed us.
it.
And Henry Miller was driving
Henry Miller had bought him a car back then.
And that's the first
car I can remember seeing.
Q:
I bet that would have been scary.
A:
(Ms.G) We was so afraid of that car. . . . because we had never seen
one.
And we's afraid to be out in the road for it to pass us.
Q:
Can you remember the first car you saw?
A:
(Mr.G) Yeah, I believe it was along back about '14 or '15.
Around
that year.
(Ms.G) It was . . . now we moved from over there in 1918.
And it
was just a few years before that becuase I was a purty goog-sized Qirl.
And I was eleven years old when we moved there.
I guess he's about right.
About 1914 or '15.
Q:
What did you think of the first car you saw?
A:
(Mr.G) Well I thought it was a kinda funny looking outfit.
Q:
I guess they did look strange at first.
A:
(Mr.G) Yeah, but I soon got used to 'em.
Q:
What was the first car you ever had?
A:
(Mr.G) Ah, the first 'un I ever owned was a '21 Ford, I believe.
Q:
You remember when you got that?
A:
(Mr.G) I got it off 'a Larry Lane.
�AOHP #66
Page 12
(Ms.G) She said when.
(Mr.G) Oh, no, I don't remember exactly when.
It musta' been
about 1920, something along that.
Q:
Did you enjoy riding around in the car?
A:
(Mr.G) Yeah, I liked to drive it.
T-Model Ford's what it was.
One seat.
Q:
Did you like it better than walking, and horse 'n buggy 'n all that?
A:
(Mr.G) Yeah, Yeah I liked it better 'n that.
where quicker and back.
Q:
any-
Go further.
What about some of the crafts in the area?
the curing, and the weaving.
A:
You could
Like the soapmaking,
Have you done much of that?
(Ms.G) I never did do any weaving.
to make all the soap that I used.
I've made a lot of Soap.
I used
Me and my mother used to make soap.
She
done a lot 'a spinning and carding, but she never did any weaving.
Q:
Did you ever learn to do any of the spinning?
A:
(Ms.G) No, I never did any spinning.
Q:
I've heard it's pretty hard to do.
A:
(Ms.G) It was for me.
I never did try, though, very much.
put us to doing other things since she did all that.
Mother
She never did teach
us.
(Mr.G) Yeah, people used to save all their ashes where they burnt the
wood to make lye to make soap out of.
Set off a hollow tree, make gums,
pour the ashes in 'em.
(Ms.G) Set 'em up on a big rock, let the rock be a little slant.
They'd pour water down in those ashes and set a crock down under there, my
mother did, to catch the drippings.
(Mr.G) They'd chisel 'em out a little channel, you know, that'd run
into the vessel.
Set 'em up there, pour water in 'em to get the lye.
(Ms.G) She never did buy canned lye.
(Mr.G) Why back then, people was the lyingest things you ever seen.
LAUGHTER.
�AOHP #66
Page
13
Q:
I guess they had to be.
A:
(Ms.G) My mother made her own vinegar and all that she used in the
pickles.
She never bought any.
Q:
Well, I didn't know you could make vinegar.
A:
(Ms.G) Well, she'd take a bunch of apple peelings.
exactly how she made it.
How do you do that?
I don't know
But she'd pour water over that, and let it set
'til it would work, ya know, and then she'd strain it.
Just have the
liquid part, ya know, and let it sit so much and she skim it.
know exactly how she did make it.
And, ooh, it was strong, too.
Q:
I don't
But she'd make some of the best vinegar.
It'd really pickle things.
What about mountain cures, like when somebody got sick, did you have
cures for different things?
A:
(Ms.G) Yes, we had some.
Q:
What were some of the cures you can remember?
A:
(Ms.G) Well, back then children had worms and you know they say now
they don't have 'em.
And Momma would always give garlic, ya know the heads
of garlic, or the bulbs, ya know, out of the ground.
And she'd beat that
up, andy put it on, . . . between a cloth, ya know, and put that on your
stomach.
And that would cure worms.
And then they was an herb that she
growed in the garden, she called rue.
that was good for worms.
I think it was spelled r-u-e.
And
And she would get that, and beat it up and put
it in a cloth, and tie it on the wrist.
Q:
My goodness, did it work?
A:
(Ms.G) Yes, it sure did.
It helped.
a sore throat she made onion poultice.
she do?
And then she made . . . . for
And, let's see now, what else did
She took wheat bran, I forget what else she put with it.
remember how they fixed that for something?
Do you
What was that for?
(Mr.G) I don't know.
(Ms.G) I remember she she used to take wheat bran and make some kind
of cure.
She did all kinds of things like that.
�AOHP #66
Page 14
We ' s never ever took to a doctor, or sent for a doctor or anything.
Anytime, except when the flu WcvS around so bad, in 1918.
That was the
only we ever had a doctor at my house that I remember.
Q:
Who was your doctor?
A:
(Ms.G) Uh, yes, Stanford did freeze his feet one time in the winter-
time.
They come big old holes in his heels, ya know.
in there.
Big old holes, back
And, old Dr. J. B. Hagaman lived at Todd at that time.
he come on horseback.
And we'd send for him and he'd come over nearly
every night. . . ride his horse over there to Meat Camp.
doctored Stanford's feet.
when we had the flu.
And
And then Dr. Bingham come.
He come and
Dr. Bob Bingham,
And Bessie had pneumonia when we had the flu.
Dr. Jones, J. W. Jones, I believe.
And
He was at Boone, and he come to see
her a time or two when she had pneumonia.
(Mr.G) And they all traveled on horseback then.
(Ms.G) Yeah, they had to ride horse back that far.
make all kinds of tea/ in the wintertime.
whether we's sick or not.
And Momma would
She made us drink it all along
She'd made boneset tea, and oh how bitter it was.
And when we had whooping cough she made chestnut leaf tea and I've drunk
quarts and quarts
of that.
Shti. made peneroil tea out of this big red. .
. .no, that's horseleaf that has big red top, but they was a kind of stuff
called peneroil, wasn't they?
(Mr.G) Uhmm - uh.
(Ms.G) She gathered that and dried it to make tea out of.
she made tea out of that.
And catnip,
All kinds of different things.
Q:
Well what was all that for?
A:
(Mr.G) Spicewood, sassafras
(Ms.G) Well now they said the spice wood was to thin your blood.
How they knew that it was too thick, I don't know that.
But they'd make
us drink it and I guess it didn't hurt us.
(Mr.G) They give you spicewood tea to break you out with the measles.
�AOHP #66
Page 15
And they used a lot of these hot teas, now, for measles.
they had to do for measles, back then, ya know.
tea to get you broke out.
Just use some of the hot
They used spicewood tea for measles and they used
the boneset tea for measles, too.
things.
That was all
And it was good for coughs and different
And they used polecat oil and groundhog oil for croupe.
Just
think of them terrible, horrible things you had to take back then.
And
Momma would get
(Mr.G) How'd you like to be greased with polecat oil?
Q:
I don't think I'd like that at all.
A:
(Ms.G) If you take the croupe, or a real deep cold, ya know, ooh,
that stinking stuff, they'd grease your chest with that, and take a real
flannel cloth, ya know.
They'd heat it, ya know, and put that thing on
your chest right here, ya know.
It'd break up pneumonia.
(Mr.G) People'd take a fit now if they had to be greased with it,
wouldn't they?
(Ms.G) I heard Ern Brown one time, tell about breaking up pneumonia
with those things.
(Ms.G). . . . she'd get a great big bottle, it'd hold about a quart
I guess.
And she would put sulfur in that, and fill it full of water, and
she'd shake that up, and make us drink that for something.
terrible.
Ooh, it was
And then she would get horseradish roots and cut that up and
put it in water, and make us drink the liquid off of that.
Something to
keep us from being sick, I don't know.
Q:
Did it keep you pretty healthy?
A:
(Ms.G) Yeah, we's never sick much.
(Mr.G) Yeah, they's never sick.
Healthiest set of Joneses I ever seen.
Q:
I guess they musta' worked, then.
A:
(Ms.G) You know, them old remedies was good.
an awful bad sore throat, I'se nearly grown.
I can remember having
And she put that onion poultice
on my throat, I couldn't hardly talk and it cured me.
...
�AOHP #66
Page 16
Oh, that old soggy-wet, nasty thing on my throat, it felt terrible.
them onions, shooool
And these old hen-an-chickens, ya know, like grows
out in the yard, hens an things, ya know.
them or not.
And
I'll show them to ya.
I don't know if you've ever seen
But they would get that, and would
get a cloth and beat 'em up, and then they'd squeeze that out in a spoon,
and put a drop or two of that in your ears for earache.
cure the earache.
And that'd sure
See, all this stuff grew for a purpose.
Back then people
knew what it was for and they used it for things like that.
(Mr.G) Nobody knows what it's fer anymore.
All folks knows now is
when a youngun gets sick, take it to the doctor.
(Ms.G) Now, what was that sassafras tea for?
That was just as red.
It made the purtiest little tea you've ever looked at.
Now we buy our tea
at the store.
Q:
I guess everybody does.
What does sassafras tea taste like?
A;
(Ms.G) I don't know hardly how to tell ya.
(Mr.G) You've eat sassafras candy, hadn't you?
Well it tastes
a bit like that.
(Ms.G) It was good-tasting.
wood tea wasn't too bad, either.
No, it wadn't a bad taste.
This spice-
But they'd make it for supper and drink
it at the table for supper of the nights.
(Mr.G) Ole boneset was the worst tea that 'uz ever made.
(Ms.G) Oh, it was bitter.
(Mr.G) I've a mind itis.
That must be what quinine's made out of.
I know it tastes a lot like quinine.
(Ms.G) But that's the way they doctored back then.
Never bought
no medicines
Q:
Well, they were making do with what they had?
A:
(Ms.G) And there was only one phone in the community as I know of.
That was Mr. Dan COok and Miss Bertha.
They had a phone, back then.
of these old-timey wall kinds, up on the wall.
a doctor always had to go there and call.
One
Anybody wanted to send for
�AOHP #66
(Mr.G)
Page 17
Andrew Cole used to run a store down there below where
Tabernacle was.
(Ms.G) Did he have a phone?
(Mr.G) No, he didn't have no phone.
(Ms.G) Well, I'se talking about the phone.
that had a phone.
Mr. Cook's the only one
Now us a-livin1 plum over on Meat Camp, if we wanted a
doctor that was the only way. . .
than walking all the way to Boone.
course that was quicker
But we had to walk plumb out here and
back, and Mr. Cook's was a pretty long way.
Greene's and Mr. Walter's that goes up to
Henry Miller and Etta used to live?
lived a way on up in a holler.
Ya know that road at John
the left there?
You know where
Well, it 'uz up that road.
Now we
Turn out into another road, right there you,
the road, you went a way on up in the holler, about a mile, . . .
(Mr.G) Yeah, a mile, I guess.
(Ms.G) From up in there, that was a long ways to walk.
Q:
Can either of you remember anything about any outlaws or badmen
around here?
A:
(Mr.G) Ah, they wasn't many of them.
boys that was out through here.
I've heard about them Allen
Shot up the court that time.
(Ms.G) I've heard older people than I am talk about the Allen boys
that
up the court.
(Mr.G) I've heard it said that old man Ed Miller brought 'em through
this country,
Q:
helping 'em get away.
I don't believe I've heard anything about that.
Do you know what
year that was?
A:
(Mr.G) Uh-uh, I don't know.
(Ms.G) No, see we just heard talk of that and didn't ask about the
year.
�AOHP #66
Q:
Page 18
Can you remember any folktales that you heard your parents or
grandparents tell?
Or legends?
A:
(Ms.G) I don't know.
I can't remember none.
Q:
What about things like planting in a certain sign?
Do you believe
in that?
A:
(Mr.G) Old people, all of 'em used that.
(Ms.G) Kinda go bit it yet, some.
(Mr.G) I believe in it myself, but I didn't plant in them signs.
..
.
I agree that the moon has a whole lot to do with it.
need to talk to Raleigh Williams.
You
He'd give ya something on this sign
business.
Q:
Can y'all remember much about the Depression?
Did it affect you
much?
A:
(Mr.G) Well, about all it was about that Depression was just big
men and all got their money outa the banks and let 'em go broke and nobody
could get no money to do nothing with and there wadn't nothing to do.
And stuff got so cheap ya could just buy a whole lot of stuff for nothing,
about it.
(Ms.G) But you couldn't get that little bit of money that it took
to buy it with as cheap as it was.
You just couldn't get that money.
(Mr.G) You couldn't pay a debt.
Q:
Prices were real low then, but you just couldn't get the money?
A:
(Mr.G) Yeah, back then you could buy a pair of overalls for seventy-
five cents.
(Ms.G) Now you spend five.
(Mr.G) Six.
Q:
Where were you living at the start of the Drpression?
A:
(Ms.G) We lived at P rkinsville, didn't we?
(Mr.G) Yeah.
Q:
Were you living on a farm?
�AOHP #66
Page 19
A:
(Mr.G) Un-uh.
Rented farm.
Q:
Did you raise everything you needed?
A:
(Mr.G) Yeah, raised plenty of grain, stuff like that.
And managed
to get hold of enough money to buy what we had to outa' the store.
But
we didn't have much.
(Ms.G) We didn't raise wheat, and make out own flour.
We had to
buy flour.
(Mr.G) Yes, we did raise some wheat when I lived at Perkinses,
Raised wheat 'n rye.
Buckwheat.
(Ms.G) Yeah, but we didn't make all our bread out of it.
I remember us buying some flour.
with that Truck, you
'Cause
Don't you remember when you hauled off
bought some flour?
But he could get a hundred
pounds for a dollar seventy-five, wasn't it?
(Mr.G) Yeah, a hundred pounds of flour fer a dollar and seventy-five
cents.
(Ms.G) And now, ten pounds cost almost that.
Not quite that much,
but it costs a dollar thirty-five, I think for just ten pounds.
And he'd
get a hundred pounds of flour for a dollar seventy-five.
Q:
How old were your children during the Depression?
A:
(Mr.G) We just had one.
(Ms.G) G. L. was born in '28.
Q:
How did the Depression change working conditions and getting a job?
Was it hard to find a job?
A:
(Mr.G) Yeah, I'd say it was.
Wadn't no jobs to get much.
(Ms.G) Well, everybody just farmed, you know.
Just weren't any jobs
much to get.
(Mr.G) And it hurt the people
that Depression year hurt the people
like Cleveland and places like that hurt worse than it did around here.
Cause the people there ya know had jobs.
jobs.
And it got hard for them to get
�AOHP #66
Page
20
(Ms.G) And we've heard a little talk about in Detroit, Michigan,
having an effect on the people up there.
and had nothing much to live on.
got out
can
And I heard one man say that this man
and sold, uh, can something
what was it?
They got out of work, ya know,
what was it?
Can openers or
You heard him tell it.
(Mr.G) I don't know if I did.
I forgot about it.
(Ms.G) Seem^like it was just can-openers.
Just any little thing.
He'd get out on the street and try to sell that to make a little money,
after he got out of a job, ya know, his work shut do^/n.
(Mr.G) Yeah, get anything ya could, and get out and sell it.
any way in the world to make a penny.
Just
Course there wasn't as much stealing
and bank-robbing and rogueing a going on today as there is.
Q:
Did you ever hear of any of the government projects, like WPA & CCC?
A:
(Mr.G) Yeah, they had some projects like that back then.
They didn't
amount to much, I don't think.
Q:
Do you remember when the banks closed?
A:
(Mr.G) Yeah, they closed when, uh, Roosevelt took office.
'em in the next day or two after he took office.
He closed
Ordered all banks closed.
(Ms.G) I remember hearing Mr. Charlie Hodge say that he acted the
quickest of any president we'd ever had.
(Mr.G) Then he got 'em a foothold or something some way, and everything began to pick up a little again.
a whole lot too.
The^he got us in war and that helped
And then we've stayed in war ever since.
since that day, since war was declared in '40.
Still a fightin' some of 'em now.
Never been out
Never been out of war yet.
Over there in Laos, they're fightin1, I
reckon some of the Americans is bombing yet.
Q:
Did the community change very much during the Depression?
businesses, and the churches, and the schools?
Like the
�AOHP #66
A:
Page 21
(Mr.G) No, un-uh.
(Ms.G) I don't think they's any difference in the schools and
the churches.
(Mr.G) They've changed a lot more since the Depression than they
had before.
(Ms.G) Than they did during the Depression, I'd say.
Q:
Who was hurt worst by the Depression?
A:
(Ms.G) I don't really know, do you?
(Mr.G) Well, I guess the businessman was hurt the worst.
they did get all the money
Even if
. What caused the Depression
was everybody drawing their money out of the bank.
go broke 'n they started drawing their money out.
This fellows was gonna
That's what caused it.
And then they wouldn't pass no bills or nothing that Hoover wanted to pass
so they couldn't do any better.
lican president.
It was a Democrat congress agin a Repub-
They held him down.
(MS.G) If a poor man was in debt, he was really hurt.
you couldn't get money enough to pay it.
Because
There just wasn't any money.
(Mr.G) Yeah, if a man owed anything
A man that didn't
owe nothing boys he 'uz in the best shape he'd ever been.
Everything 'uz
more on equalization then than it's ever been in my lifetime.
(Ms.G) But you just could not get any money.
Q:
Was there anything that was good about the Depression days?
A:
(Ms.G) Well, I guess there was some.
(Mr.G) What 'cha sold brought just as much according as what 'cha
had to buy.
It don't do it anymore.
What 'cha buy is more than what 'cha
sell.
Now they're fussing about such high prices of beef 'n stuff like
that.
And now's the only time the farmers have had a chance 'at raise
cattle to make a penny 'o money.
�AOHP #66
Q:
That's right.
It's unfair to them.
Page 22
I've heard a lot of people say
that families were closer during the Depression, and the communities were
closer.
A:
Do you think that's true.
(Mr,G) They was.
A whole lot closer than they 'air today.
(Ms.G) Yeah, that's true.
They'd work ten whole hours for a dollar
back then and get a dollar a day.
buy much with or to pay.
They just wouldn't get enough money to
Just didn't get much money.
Q:
What do you like best about the way life is today?
A:
(Mr.G) Eatin' 'n sleepin'.
Q:
Well you've been able to do that all along, haven't you?
A:
(Mr.G) Ah, yeah, I've done more sleepin' before.
I can't sleep
good no more.
Q:
Is there any thing you like about what life is like now?
A:
(Mr.G) Well, we didn't have no electric lights, or no power, or
electricity of no kine.
to pay.
Course now we got plenty of it hooked up and have
Nose agin the grindstone to pay our bills.
(Ms.G) Well, I know that still we enjoy the lights.
(Mr.G) We enjoy the little things we have now.
(Ms.G) And now we have a lot more conveniences than we used to have.
We have a electric stove, and refrigerator.
used to have.
We have all that that we didn't
That saves a lot of time, and it's nice.
(Mr.G) Used to have to do the washin; boil the clothes out in a ole
pot and bring 'em up on a rock 'n beat the dirt out of 'em with a stick.
Scrub it out with ya fists.
Lot more conveniences now.
(Ms.G) All the modern conveniences.
I like that part about it.
I have an automatic washer and that's easier.
Now
Used to have to scrub 'em
by hand.
(Mr.G) They's a awful sight o' lazy women, though.
Q:
Do you think it's because of all the conveniences?
A:
(Mr.G) Yeah, that's what caused a whole lot of it.
�AOHP #66
(Ms.G) That's what he says.
Q:
Page23
I guess that's the truth.
You'd think they'd have more time to visit their neighbors then,
wouldn't you?
A:
(Mr.G) Yeah, but they don't.
visit their neighbors.
They have to watch TV I reckon, can't
Some ole story on TV they want to see.
(Ms.G) Well, that's another convenience that we use.
Q:
What did you do before you had a television?
I guess you got to
visit your neighbors a lot more then, didn't you?
A:
(Ms.G) Well, I don't know that we did.
(Mr.G) All that time she has now to watch television she had to
work than and get her work all done.
(Ms.G) It took longer to get "cha work done.
And you had to work
so much harder you were so tired at night that we always went to bed at
nine o'clock.
tired.
Never stayed up later than that, cause everybody was so
You'd go to bed at nine o'clock 'n have to get up "n get a lot
done ready to start on a day's work.the next morning.
You just didn't
have too much time.
(Mr.G) You go anywhere to work, you had to be at work seven o'clock.
Work till six then of the evenin'. Get in ten hours.
(Ms.G) We had to get up earlier then than we do now.
And had to work
a lot harder.
(Mr.G) Boy, I think today, take it all the way around, is a lot better
time than it used to be.
Q:
It sure has changed a lot.
A:
(Mr.G) Well, I think people's got less care for one another, got
twice, three times as little care for one another as they had back then.
(Ms.G) Well, seems like we did get our work done more back then in
time to visit some durin' the day or through the week or somethin1.
anymore we hardly ever go off the place.
And
�AOHP #66
Page
24
(Mr,G) If I go a-fishin anymore I just have to leave something
undone 'n go on.
Cause there's always somethin' to do.
Back then I'd
have plenty o 1 time to go a-fishin' a day out of a week if I wanted to.
Course I wadn't trying to work on the job then.
I'se working the farm.
(Ms.G) Well, if you work at home you can quit anytime you want to and
go some place if you want to ro go a-fishin1.
ya just don't have the time.
But when you work on a job
Ya come in late, and its time to milk, and
time you eat supper, it's eight o'clock time we eat supper a lot o' nights.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Appalachian Oral History Project Interviews
Description
An account of the resource
In 1973, representatives from Appalachian State University (ASU) began the process of collecting interviews from Watauga, Avery, Ashe, and Caldwell county citizens to learn about their respective lives and gather stories. From the outset of the project, the interviewers knew that they were reaching out to the “last generation of Appalachian residents to reach maturity before the advent of radio, the last generation to maintain an oral tradition.” The goal was to create a wealth of data for historians, folklorists, musicians, sociologists, and anthropologists interested in the Appalachian Region.
The project was known as the “Appalachian Oral History Project” (AOHP), and developed in a consortium with Alice Lloyd College and Lees Junior College (now Hazard County Community College) both in Kentucky, Emory and Henry College in Virginia, and ASU. Predominately funded through the National Endowment for the Humanities, the four schools by 1977 had amassed approximately 3,000 interviews. Each institution had its own director and staff. Most of the interviewers were students.
Outgrowths of the project included the Mountain Memories newsletter that shared the stories collected, an advisory council, a Union Catalog, photographs collected, transcripts on microfilm, and the book Our Appalachia. Out of the 3,000 interviews between the three schools, only 663 transcripts were selected to be microfilmed. In 1978, two reels of microfilm were made available with 96 transcripts contributed by ASU.
An annotated index referred to as The Appalachian Oral History Project Union Catalog was created to accompany the microfilm. The catalog is broken down into five sections starting with a subject topic index such as Civilian Conservation Corps, Coal Camps, Churches, etc. The next four sections introduced the interviewees by respective school. There was an attempt to include basic biographic information such as date of birth, location, interviewer name, length of interview, and subjects discussed. However, this information was not always consistent per school.
This online project features clips from the interviews, complete transcripts, and photographs. The quality and consistency of the interviews vary due to the fact that they were done largely by students. Most of the photos are missing dates and identifying information.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Collection 111. Appalachian Oral History Project Records, 1965-1989
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1965-1989
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
Scanned by
Wetmore, Dana
Equipment
Hp Scanjet 8200
Scan date
2014-02-25
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Interview with Mr. & Mrs. Lee Greene, June 11, 1973
Description
An account of the resource
Lee Greene was born in Watauga County, North Carolina in 1904 and farmed all his life. Mrs. Greene was born in Meat Camp, North Carolina.
Mr. and Mrs. Greene talk about their education in a one-room schoolhouse. Mr. Greene talks about farming and the changes he has seen in the community, specifically in politics. Mrs. Greene explains how to make soap and homemade remedies. Both recall their methods of transportation as children and the transition of using cars. Mr. and Mrs. Greene also recollect memories of the Great Depression.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Clawson, Donna
Lee, Mr. and Mrs. Greene
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a title="Appalachian Oral History Project Interviews, 1965-1989" href="https://appstate-speccoll.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/195" target="_blank">Appalachian Oral History Project Interviews, 1965-1989</a>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
6/11/1973
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Copyright for the interviews on the Appalachian State University Oral History Collection site is held by Appalachian State University. The interviews are available for free personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that proper citation is used (e.g. Appalachian State Collection 111. Appalachian Oral History Project Records, 1965-1989, W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Special Collections, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC). Any commercial use of the materials, without the written permission of the Appalachian State University, is strictly prohibited.
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
24 pages
Language
A language of the resource
English
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
document
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
111_tape66_Mr&MrsLeeGreene_1973_06_11M001
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Boone, NC
Subject
The topic of the resource
Farm life--North Carolina--Watauga County--20th century
Watauga County (N.C.)--Social life and customs--20th century
Depression--1929--North Carolina--Watauga County
Mountain life--North Carolina--Watauga County--History--20th century
Boone
cars
Chestnut Grove
Great Depression
homemade remedies
Lee Greene
Lenoir
Maple Springs
Meat Camp
Perkinsville
Politics
railroad
Sassafras Tea
schoolhouse
soap
Watauga County N.C.