True-life local and regional stories stretching back to the days of the Great Depression. The performance tells of what life was like in Downtown Jonesborough, as well as in mining towns and coalfields in Southwest Virginia and Kentucky. Countering the “town” stories will be tales from out in the county, where families lived off of the land, where electricity and plumbing didn’t come until mid-20th century, and where a necessary self-reliance fueled a tough and independent spirit that endures today. Storyteller Spencer Bohren joined the cast as a special guest for this episode.
Written by Jules Corriere with Anne G’Fellers-Mason
Accompanist Brett McCluskey
Sound Engineer Mike D’Avella
Stage Manager Phyllis Fabozzi
Sound Effects Gary Degner
Editor Wayne Winkler
Stories tonight are created from interviews with:
Alfred Greenlee Mary Nell Robeson
Ellen Kitsmiller-Hedaway John B. Shanks
Sandra Keefauver Becky Poteat Simms
Virginia Maden Barbara G. Smith
Shirley Meade Jimmy Neil Smith
Lawrence Zornes
…And others who wish to remain anonymous.
SPONSORED BY
Wild Women of Jonesborough
Nancy Hope and Odie Major
Stories for this program come from oral histories collected through the region and also come from an oral history project led by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and features memories captured from Mary Nell Bacon Roberson, Alfred Greenlee, Shirley Meade, Virginia Maden, John B. Shanks, Jr., Becky Poteat Simms, and many more. They provide a glimpse into life on Main Street when horses were more in fashion than cars.
Others remember the coming of electricity in the late forties and fifties out in the county; the fortitude it took to live off of the land; and for some, like the Bean family, and in particular, Russell Bean, how hard living sometimes hardened the heart, as recalled by his eight-times great-grandson, Jonathan Edens.