HANGING OVER THE CREEK

Otter creek is a lovely body of water that runs through Madison County. It even has some mini-falls that are moving quite swiftly this spring. 

I was driving along one side of the creek a couple of weeks ago -- admiring this vintage farmstead's backside when I noticed a small structure that was halfway hanging over the creek-side. The backside of the old wooden structure had stilted wooden legs built to the upper part allowing the whole structure to remain level.

Now what was this structure/outbuilding used for?  I believe I have the answer? Do you? Come on -- have some fun and try to guess. Here is a close up of the outbuilding. 

HOLLER SIGN

There is a narrow black top road that runs through a place called Davis Hollow, a lowland area lying  between a segment of low mountainous parts of Appalachia. Sparsely populated, it has very few homes along its main roadway. 

Local linguistics pronounce Hollow -- Holler. You would get a big smile from locals  if you said Hollow instead of Holler. I know. 

When you turn onto the blacktop into Davis Hollow there is a sign warning you that there is no outlet.  I turned down it anyway as I always am curious about such roads. As I rode down the "no outlet" road  I noticed  a sign saying FARM MACHINERY. Now I have never noticed a sign such as this before when I have been out and about. I took the sign to mean watch out for traveling farm machinery. There was a large farm near the sign so perhaps the farmer put it there however the sign looked mightily official. 

So I snapped a photo of the sign. There is always a reason to click your camera's shutter no matter how important or irrelevant. 
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VERNACULAR ABSTRACT FARM ART

Farmer John King's tool garage has inadvertently become an abstract modern art palette.  Located on the entrance side it creates tension by reflecting old against new, color against no-color, metal against wood and probably others that you might see. Love how abstracts can evolve without the maker knowing what he has done. I would call this facade a vernacular abstract. 

WOMEN TAKE OVER THE FARM WORK

MARCH IS WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

FEMALE FARM WORKER WEARING THE OFFICIAL KHAKI UNIFORM
PROVIDED BY THE WOMAN'S LAND ARMY  MOVEMENT -- 1918
Library of Congress

Many young men in 1914 to 1918 left the farm to fight in WWI. These young males were recruited from farms where an estimated 38 percent of our population worked at that time. 

Folks in the states began to question how our country would fill the labor gap to produce our food. They were worried that it would probably result in food scarcity and rising food prices. 

Well,  the woman associated with the women's suffrage movement had an idea. Leaders from this movement stepped forward with a plan to recruit woman to fill the gaps on the farms. It would show the strength and discipline of women. 

WOMAN'S LAND ARMY RECRUITING POSTER -- 1918
Library of Congress

Farmers and politicians  were scornful of the idea. They characterized women as too weak to do the work. Eventually they came around to the idea. The women who worked the farms were dubbed the "farmerettes." The whole movement was called, The Woman's Land Army.

WOMAN'S LAND ARMY TRAINING ANNOUNCEMENT POSTER -- 1918
Library of congress

Leaders of the Woman's Land Army were from all walks of life --  the suffrage movement, labor movement, garden clubs, universities -- all helping  raise money to recruit volunteers. They bargained with farmers and won an 8 hour day with pay for the volunteer farmerettes. Thousand of women from all walks of economic lifestyles volunteered to work on the farms.


This movement displayed the strength, courage, and creativity of women. It also set the pattern that women could step in and fill the male labor gap. In WWII  woman workers performed male tasks in manufacturing plants. Their nickname was, "Rosie the Riveter."

 Below is a fine video about Women's History Month -- produced by the National Women's History Museum. 

Below are some resources that provide more information on the Woman's Land Army and Women's History Month.

BOOK RESOURCE

RESOURCE ORGANIZATION

National Women's History Museum

http://www.nwhm.org/

VINTAGE CORN CRIB

WIRE MESH CORN CRIB

I noticed this storage structure on a very small abandoned farm. I really was unsure of its use and so, of course, I roamed around the internet to see what I could put together. Well, finally I deduced that it was a a crib used to store corn. I figured one could store a heck of a lot of it in this metal structure. 


The closest I could date this vintage corn crib, as to when it might have been used, was perhaps early to mid-twentieth century. The little one-story farm house on the property was probably of the 1920s. I figured that, as a farm, I was looking at one that was viable during the early to mid 1900s. 


Apparently these storage cribs are going out of fashion as some people are buying them off  farms and transporting them home to be turned into gazebos. I figure that is a recycling plus for these hard working old ladies of the farm.

KENNY'S FARM STORE

Vintage Convenience Store for Farmers
Rural Jackson County Area, Kentucky

AFRICAN AMERICAN SLAVE AND EUROPEAN WHITE GRAVEYARD

AFRICAN AMERICAN SLAVE GRAVE SECTION

My son and I made a visit this summer to find a slave graveyard that was reported to be located on a recently developed Civil War Battlefield Park which involves several sites in Madison County, Kentucky.  The site we were headed for was a homestead called the Pleasant View House and Farm. Nothing in its published flyer indicated that there was a slave graveyard on site.

What the flyer did say was that Joseph Barnett built the present house on the property in 1825 and at that time he owed 20 slaves. And, he also owned 578 acres. This information was a good base to help us understand the spatial pattern of the graveyard. So off we went toward a rise on the land, a distance back of the old house, to find the slave graveyard.

The first thing we noticed when we spotted the graveyard was that it was divided into two sections – African American slave on one side and European white pioneer family on the other. 

EUROPEAN WHITE GRAVE SECTION

 It was a small graveyard and according to a sign posted by it, it had been in a deteriorated state for a long time previous to a recent restoration. There were approximately fourteen or so grave-markers on the white side and about six or so on the slave side.


The white side consisted of two types of grave-markers; the ledger type and the head and foot marker type. The African American slave side of the graveyard had two types of grave markers. One being head stone and foot stone type made by a stone cutter and the second type -- some head stones and foot stones --  being simply a field stone to mark the head and one also to mark the foot.

MY SON MAKING RUBBINGS OF THE LEDGER INSCRIPTIONS

The ledger types were large flat one-piece stones covering the grave, similar to the cover of a tablet, and placed on a raised limestone foundation. The inscription was on the ledger’s topside. Most of the ledger grave-markers were difficult to read – exposure to weather and the type of local stone used had blurred or erased much of the writing. 


My son came up with the idea of doing rubbings to determine what information we could obtain about the deceased. This method did help some in deciphering some of the names and dates. 


The ledger style was expensive in its time and is believed to have been used by the wealthy.  Historically, they are believed to be a British tradition.  

HEAD STONE IN SLAVE SECTION

The head stones in both the slave and white sections of the plot, if made by a stone cutter, carried the name and date of the deceased. The foot stone simply had the initial of the deceased.

Southern folk grave-markers are simple and unadorned. None of the grave –markers had adornment such as flowers, birds etc. The graveyard was on a rise, which is a southern thing -- this tradition is older than  Christianity. The front side of the head stone is smooth while the sides and back have chisel marks – a sign of back country grave stone-cutters

FOOT STONE OF EMILY'S HEADSTONE -- PHOTO ABOVE

The earliest deceased date that we found was 1806 and the latest was  1851 -- pre-Civil War times. These dates definitely indicate back country living for this region of Kentucky. Also, I would consider this graveyard a folk one due to its dates, arrangement and back country location.

SLAVE HEAD STONE WITH FOOT STONE

Grave stone-cutters in the backcountry during the above dates were involved in other artisan trades along with stone cutting. Many grave stone-cutters were itinerate and travelled over large regions.

SLAVE HEAD STONE INSCRIPTION
In Memory
Joshua  Servant of
Jos Barnett Jr born
1798 & died by a
stroke of Lightning
July 1827

In the early 1800s, markers were not always placed on the grave site at the time of death. This was due to time spent sending away for a grave-marker and then having it delivered by wagon. This could take up to a year or so.
The spatial arrangement of the plot is similar to early Scots-Irish traditions – linear rows. The slave side was also dictated by this pattern.

CLOSE-UP OF JOSHUA HEAD STONE (PHOTO ABOVE)

This graveyard in all probability has many more secrets to unveil through its material culture.  My son and I made two trips to the plot and feel we still missed some of the clues to its history.

CHISEL MARKS ON BACK SIDE OF HEAD STONE

For sources to check out about folk graveyards – see below. I never thought that graveyards could be so culturally fascinating but now I know I will be on the lookout for more of the same.

SOURCES:

Books

Texas Graveyards: A Cultural Legacy by Terry G. Jordan

Sticks and Stones: Three Centuries of North Carolina Gravemarkers by M. Ruth Little

Ghosts along the Cumberland by William Lynwood Montell

Historic Property

Civil War Battlefield Park 

Richmond, Kentucky

VEGETABLE SIGN POSTED ON OLD FARM

Don't know what the paper with duct tape is for? Even though this sign just says tomatoes, cucumbers everyone knows it means --  that they are for sale at this farm. It is a sign that has a dual meaning; one is that farm produce is for sale and two, it is an example of local economies. And perhaps it can also mean that one can get some wonderful fresh stuff at this farm! Stop and support your local farmers and gardeners.

FOLLOW-UP ON KENNY'S BLACKBERRY ARBOR

Kenny Hylton standing near some twine tied tomato plants.

In the early spring of this year I wrote a post titled Farmways -- Country Homemade Blackberry Arbor. It was about Debbie and Kenny Hylton who after being tobacco farmers in Kentucky for many years had to think about a new type of farming. They had been part of the government buy-out that changed the way farming was done in Kentucky. In a nutshell it discouraged independent tobacco farmers to raise tobacco. Of course the issue is complex -- too complex to discuss in a short post -- maybe a college course would be able to cover all the ways and means of the total buy-out.

Tobacco had been a leading crop in Kentucky since its settlement in the late 1700s. It was a way of life in Kentucky -- it was part of the cultural tradition. It influenced barn types, transportation routes, livelihoods, labor workers, language, and socialization.

Since writing the previous post on the blackberry arbor many readers of this blog have continuously visited it. So, I thought I would revisit the Hyltons and see how they were doing with the new blackberry crop.

Blackberries ripening on some of Kenny's pre-arbor plants.

Kenny Hylon and I walked around his blackberry arbor as he explained a few things I didn't catch on my first visit. I learned that the type of blackberries that he planted are called Triple Crown. Also, he pointed out a small crop of blackberries that were blooming along a fence -- they were there before he built the arbor. Along the fence he had both domestic and wild blackberries.

Arbor with young blackberry plants.

As we walked out by his homemade new blackberry arbor, he explained how it was built:

I bought all the wood from a governmental salvage place. It is recycled treated lumber. You can get lumber there for ten dollars a truck load. I got the idea of how to build the structures from a book I read.The end structures that are like triangles are cemented into the ground while the middle row structures, that look like a "Z," are not. The end triangular uprights stabilize each long row.

I asked about the new blackberries:

Well, we got a very small crop this year as they really were just planted earlier this year. I raise cattle and have been saving all the manured hay -- it is now a huge stack. I plan on placing it around each blackberry plant next spring which will really help in production.

He continued:

I have lived on this piece of land since I was born -- I have seen many changes. Development has diminished the rural ways around this area. My street in front of my house is now a busy hard-top country road. When I was young it was a dirt road and we would play baseball and marbles right in the road as there was hardly any traffic. The dairy farm that was next to my property is now a subdivision.

The Hylton's farm wagon with just picked produce.

We walked past a large farm wagon where Debbie and Kenny had recently laid the just-picked produce from their kitchen garden. Debbie was in the house, as I toured with Kenny, canning tomato juice. Their farm is an active place with farm work -- growing much of what they eat. Yet, Kenny explained, they still go to the store to buy some of their food. As I walked back to my car, Kenny pointed out fruit trees -- apple, peach, and pear. As I drove out of their drive I had a a fresh picked cantaloupe and a large tomato -- given to me by Kenny -- a friendly country gesture for sure.

Some traditions have changed like growing tobacco but many have remained such as fruit and garden production. Surely a busy working life but a beautiful way of living.