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Published: October 30th 2010
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I told you about kudzu
two years ago when we were in Tennessee...it was brought over from China because it grows fast, and is a good ground cover. Turns out there's nothing here that will stop it, and it just takes over. It chokes out the trees and other grasses. (Oakdale Christian Academy)
I think I’ve mentioned how strong families (kinfolk!) are in this area; one man described it as “We don’t move away from family.” That’s probably part of their economic problems, but in Texas where we would see large cemeteries, heavily decorated, here we find small cemeteries, sometimes holding only three or four graves. They are family plots. They’ll be under a tree, or on the side of a hill, and of course the ones we notice have headstones, so I imagine all the graves do. Not just wooden crosses, but engraved stones. That speaks to the immovability of the family….who’s going to buy your house if seven of your relatives are buried in the side yard! I suspect that’s also one of the reasons for their economic problems~~people don’t relocate to find a job, they just make do. And believe me, they can make do with very little.
We’ve been in poor areas before, but in my opinion, this is the neediest. There is so little possibility of employment, and there are so many people tucked away. We heard that 82% of the people in Breathitt County are on government assistance (and one man told
us the other 18% work in the courthouse!) In southern Texas there are job possibilities, but in eastern Kentucky those possibilities are so limited. There people could work if they wanted, but here I don’t think that’s the case. It’s very sad. I’ve heard that the Appalachians were poor, but that doesn’t even begin to describe it. Nor have I. One woman told us she moved to Michigan to get a husband, she said the people in her holler have been there so long that they have to go outside to get a husband they’re not related to. They lived in Michigan quite a few years, but when his job assignment changed they decided to move back here. They live in a hollow, and she said they had money and jobs before, and now they have nothing, but at least they’re happy. By nothing she means no TV or cell phone or computer…but they do have electricity. One of our team members saw a sign that advertised black and white TV service, and when he shared that with the women, she laughed and said they might be a little behind, but they’re catching up! When we mentioned having a hard
They look like sculpted figures,
don't they? Kudzu will even grow on wires. It grows on other kudzu, and when the trees die, the kudzu forms kind of umbrellas. It's captivating, and scary at the same time. Makes me not want to stand still for very long! time understanding the Kentucky accent, she said it’s because we’re listening too fast, and that we just have to slow down our hearing! Everything (except the driving) is slow slow slow!
Speaking of driving, last week we were headed into Jackson and a rock fell off a cliff and landed on the hood of our pickup, where it broke into pieces and sent one into the windshield. It happened so fast, and sounded like a small explosion, and we were both surprised that it didn’t break the windshield. That much noise, and not even a chip in the windshield? Then Bob noticed that it had hit the hood first, where it did make a dent, and scraped the paint, and then when it broke into the smaller pieces it scraped the paint in several other areas. Being from Sidney, Montana, I always worried about a sugar beet falling off a truck and coming through my windshield, but this was something else again! We were grateful that it hit the hood first and broke up before it hit the windshield.
We’ve been here a little over three weeks; when we came the trees were barely starting to change colors.
This lets you know how unpretentious
the Webb family is! Webb's is a family owned grocery store that is 70 years old. Remember that when I say family, I mean kinfolk....it's owned by their brother, Herman. Three weeks later most of the trees are bare! They had a dry summer, so that would be part of the reason they dropped so fast, plus we had one day of strong wind, but we notice the changes on every project, and I think that’s mostly because our time is divided into four week period, so we know how quickly nature changes. I understand that, but it always surprises me.
This area uses the county names rather than town names…we told someone we were going to Jackson and they didn’t know where that was. When we said Breathitt County, they knew it. The reasoning is that the county name includes hollows, and places along the road that have three buildings and a town name, followed a quarter mile later by five buildings and another town name! Our tour to Paintsville and Butcher Holler were in Johnson County. A hollow is an area that has a road that goes between two mountains or hills that is a dead end. It’s usually (always?) too narrow, and very windy.
Our tour took us to Johnson County, where we visited a country and bluegrass music museum. We had a super guide
who had the time and desire to visit with us about the area. Many of the bluegrass singers came from here, as well as John-boy Walton! After the museum we drove to Butcher Holler, and toured (which sounds like such a big word, for such a tiny cabin!) the homestead of Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gale.
There’s a very high number of people here (not on campus!) that smoke. Buildings, such as the courthouse, will have No Smoking signs, but then have people smoking inside. All the restaurants, except the fast-food chains, have smoking inside, with a couple tables for non-smoking. After asking around, we were reminded that this has been tobacco country for hundreds of years, so smoking is common. That makes sense, but with the economics and the health factors, doesn’t it seem like……? Few people still grow tobacco for a cash crop, but it is raised for personal use. The coal mines are the largest employers, but they mine the softer coal, so there’s more of a need locally than nationally for their coal. If they closed the mines, there wouldn’t be any employment. We saw some men standing in a barn right along the highway;
Loretta Lyn grew up in this cabin,
and Crystal Gale was born while they lived here. (The women are about 20 apart in age.) The tree on the right is a holly tree that was planted when the family built the cabin. we were going to stop and visit with them, but we had to get home, as we had two of the students visiting that evening. (Most of our teams hosted students two different times, just playing games and visiting.)
Penney’s and Payless often have BOGO sales~~Buy One Get One. That always seemed silly to me, because if I pay for one, I expect to get one….duh. I saw a sign on a store in Paintsville that was having a BOGOF sale~~Buy One Get One Free….now that seems like a better sale!
The school has a Fall Festival this afternoon, which includes games and dinner. Then tomorrow the little kids that live here (22) will come trick or treating. Big weekend for us!!!
Happy Halloween!
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Lisa
non-member comment
that is fascinating!