Recalling Shenandoah’s Mountain Folk
In the face of such beauty as South River falls, it is difficult to recall that these hills were once home to thousands of displaced occupants.
©Bert Gildart: Shenandoah is a national park well known for its forests of oak and hickory and for the animals that populate these forests. What is often forgotten is that some of these same mountains were home to well over 3,000 people. Here, couples raised their children, who learned to read and write at local schools. Some families made moonshine and on Sunday attended church to pray for their sins.
Some mountain folk were considered colorful and during the prohibition, Silas Weakley produced a much appreciated moonshine, which he sold to George Freeman Pollock, the man who developed Skyland Resort. As the story goes, once a week Silas would traipse from deep within Nicholson Hollow with his load of packaged rot gut, often packaged with timber rattlers that would augment a performance he’d provide for Pollock’s Skyland guests.
Today, as we hike to the beautiful falls along trails flanked with rocks dating back millions of years, there is little evidence of all these good and interesting people. In the late ‘20s and early ‘30s, families were told they must relocate for the good of America, that the area they occupied would become a national park. The government used its powers of eminent domain and within several years most were ousted from their homes.
DELIBERATE MISREPRESENTATION
Though there was an immense and forlorn outcry, certainly it was not what one might expect today, and in part, it was because some of the same people who tapped the talents of these mountain folk later characterize them as degenerate Hillbillies. Leading the pack was George Pollock who wanted to create a massive lodge. To do so, he needed a national park. And so he and others described these people as among the most down trodden of the down trodden. Wrote one park proponent: the children have never tasted milk… there is no bathing or other personal hygiene… the children have never heard of Christmas and have no games or toys…
Because of comments such as this, as Janie and I have wandered through Shenandoah we have been particularly interested in any traces of former human habitation, something that is becoming increasingly difficult to find. After eviction, homes were dismantled while others were absorbed by the forests. Yet others have suffered vandalism, most recently a devastating forest fire, deliberately set in the summer of 2000. The fire was massive and when it was finally extinguished many dwellings preserved as historic structures were consumed by the inferno, to include one of the last of the Corbin homes.
SAVED FROM FOREST FIRE
Today, about all that remains from the generations of this family’s occupancy is the one shown near the top of this posting. Located where the Corbin Cabin Cutoff Trail links with the Nicholson Hollow Trail, the old home was saved through the concerted effort of firefighters; and I am delighted I am still able to visit it, for it shows the isolation these families once considered as part of their birthright. Today, the cabin is also preserved and protected by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, which reserves it for overnight hikers.
Eleanor, Rich, Susan, Janie and Emma enjoying spendors of what has been transformed from farmlands to lush forests of oak and hickory.
Though it is unlikely the massive uprooting of families back in the ‘30s would be allowed today, it did happen and that can not be changed. Realizing the situation’s irreversible nature, Janie and I have been more than happy to show our many friends who have joined us the variety of grand settings this park contains.
L to R: Corbin Cabin, saved from devastating fire in 2000 through heroic efforts of forest fire fighters; Emma Luhr tosses leaves into air near one of today’s forest spectacles, South River Falls; millstone is artifact from years thousands once occupied these hills.
Still, as we poke through the underbrush (finding old fireplaces, cement stairs, mill wheels and more) we like to remember those who once loved this land and called it home. Most likely they were much like the people from today’s wider society, meaning that some were good some and charitable, others not so good or charitable.
But it was a different time, and we’re just glad a little remains to recall this period, something we do as we hike to the beautiful falls and climb the lushly forested mountains, where we try to absorb all of this era’s good tidings – however much changed they might be.
NOTE: Posting from Shenandoah is extremely difficult, and for the next week it will be even more difficult as we move from Big Meadow Campground to Loft Mountain Campground where we’ve been told that you can search and search but will not find hot spots.
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THIS TIME LAST YEAR:
Airstream and our Years on the Road
