Traveling Lincoln County

Our storytelling trips this past week were to Lincoln county, WV. Like many communities off the beaten track (read interstate) in our state, this one is struggling but there are signs of growth. In West Hamlin, the old town section has many empty buildings, but new McDonald's and other new stores on the outskirts show that something good is happening here. This gorgeous stone structure is sporting a "For Sale" sign. If this wasn't so far from my family, I'd be sorely tempted.

We asked several people but no one knew the history of the building. My guess is that it was an inn, with a restaurant below and rooms to rent above. It was located not far from the railroad.

Another intriquing sight in West Hamlin was this old railroad coaling tower. These were used to load coal into waiting coal cars behind the steam locomotives, before the days of diesel-fueled engines. You can see photos of other still-standing coaling towers and other West Virginia railroad buildings here. We did not find a train depot, but learned later that West Hamlin's is no longer standing.

We have been packing lunches this summer for these road trips, and it's been so nice to be able to stop and eat at little parks like this one on the Guyandotte River, just outside of Branchland, WV.

The park was so clean, very well maintained. Someone had been picking up trash earlier in the day, as this bag attests. Library staff told us the park is maintained by volunteers, so many thanks to them for providing this delightful place.

A "float" is planned for this weekend, I believe, and the river looks like a perfect place for kayaks and canoes.

A purple martin sits high on the wires over his home, thoughtfully erected in the park by someone.

I had to smile at this sign. Spell-check can be a useful tool. There is a story of another cemetery not far from this one that is supposedly haunted by a female ghost that will come up behind visitors and blow on their ear. I'd find that fairly alarming myself if I was alone at night in the place.

Other Lincoln County sights:

Sadly, there were many empty and abandoned homes in this county. A testament, I suppose, to the struggling coal industry, as this used to be a very active coal-mining region. We saw no signs of active mines in the areas we traveled, although there may be some in other parts of the county.

This photo just cried out for a black-and-white treatment.

Lincoln county was once a big tobacco-growing area, and the old curing barns can be seen everywhere, most of them falling down, re-purposed into other uses or, like this one, being reclaimed by Nature.

I wonder if this was once a schoolhouse? The number of windows in front make me think so, but it may have just been someone's home.

My mind says this was once a Gulf gas station. Why? Perhaps the shape of the glass window? or the red/orange trim? At first glance I thought the cages behind it were for dogs, but...

actually, they're for roosters, fighting roosters probably. Cock-fighting is illegal in West Virginia but owning the roosters is not.One has to wonder why then have the roosters? I suppose they could be sold to people in states where this bloody sport is still legal. Horrid thought.

I watched the elderly couple who lived in this house for a few minutes. She was cutting grass and working in their garden, which looked like it had been in good shape earlier in the summer but was now a bit on the weedy side. He had a cast on his leg, perhaps explaining the weedy garden. He was working, I think, on a pan of beans, stringing them for leather britches. I liked the setup of this house, with the root cellar so close to the back porch. This was evidently a home where gardening and putting up food had always been an important activity. I wish I could have had time to just sit and talk with them.

In the county seat of Hamlin, this old building looked to me as if it had once been the courthouse, although above the door a faded sign read "Lincoln County Bank." Today is it the home of a Masonic lodge.

This mural is in downtown Hamlin. It shows people climbing over a stone wall into the sunshine. I wonder what its meaning is to the artist? The old part of town is struggling, with quite a few empty storefronts, but on the edges of town there is new growth, and most of the homes in town were well-kept.

The new courthouse in Hamlin. Not as pretty as the old one, in my opinion, but probably more functional.

And lastly, a photo of the church that used to be the snake-handling church Larry remembered in my last post. This is in Sod, not in Sumerco as I thought. The church appears to be closed now, with a nice new house built very close to it. I love the trampoline in front--a testament to the passage of time.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

A Storyteller's Day

I wrote this last night as a post on a storytelling listserve; then I thought it would make a good blog post too:

 

Wednesday was filled with gigs of all kinds and sizes. Some things stand out: the tiny library where the audience was one 3-year-old and her granny, a teenager and the librarian. We had a good time, talking and sharing stories. The grandmother said that her aunt once came back from the beach with sun poisoning; at the doctor's she sat next to a lady who kept reapplying her lipstick and powder. "Why are you here?" the make-up woman asked. "Itch," the aunt replied. The make-up woman moved to a chair across the room and sat beside the aunt's cousin. "Did you hear what she said? She said she had the itch!" "Yep," said the cousin. "Got it from me." 

Outside of the car repair garage next door was a 1959 GMC pickup with Colorado tags and a 5-gallon bucket for a seat. I know there has to be a story about that.

Another program was another small library where about 30-35 people crowded in to hear stories; all ages again and all good listeners. Prior to the show a boy told me that a groundhog had gotten into his preschool classroom and made a terrible mess, even in the bathroom. "We have NO IDEA how he got in there and made that mess," he said, with perfect storyteller emphasis, facial expression and body gestures. His mom tried to hush him; I was happy to hear more.

At the third program of the day, we had a large room and a large crowd. Rushing because the traffic and road construction on the 2-lane highway delayed us, we managed to plug the same cord into both speakers but not into the amp--frustration and sweat ensued and I ended up working without the amp. We had to laugh after the program when we discovered what we'd done.

The last performance was for a church youth work group; young adults from all over the US gathered at a camp to work on the homes of low-income people in the area. There were also 3 Russian girls in the group. They wanted Appalachian stories so that the kids could understand more about the culture of this region. They were a great audience, even though we were outside and the temperature was still in the 80's at 7 in the evening. I learned afterwards that a translator translated all my stories and ballads into Russian for the three girls. How I would have liked to hear that!

Today was a simple, straightforward library program. Tomorrow I tell stories to Toyota plant staff as part of their cultural diversity training program (the employees who will attend are not from the Appalachian region) and then hustle off the perform at the WV State Folk Festival later in the day. 

It's all in a storyteller's day.


Copyright 2007 Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.