Sandy Mush Chronicles
OH-SMC

Lois Black 

Interview Date and Interviewer

August 3, 1998 ; Stephen Cain

Format

Audio cassette tape ; photographs ; text

Scope and Contents

Lois Black initially talks about her family and goes on to outline the changes taking place in Sandy Mush.

Additional Materials

Transcript ; photographs

Irene Cook 

Interview Date and Interviewer

July 31, 1998 ; Stephen Cain

Format

Audio cassette tape ; photographs ; text

Scope and Contents

Irene Cook talks about her ancestors who came to Sandy Mush before the Civil War. She describes living in Sandy Mush, the Community Club, changes in population caused by migration, and working with her husband in his furniture making business. This leads to a discussion about the changing economy of the region, and the proposal to site a nuclear waste dump in the area.

Additional Materials

Transcript ; photographs

Larry Cook 

Interview Date and Interviewer

August 3, 1998 ; Stephen Cain

Format

Audio cassette tape ; photographs ; text

Scope and Contents

Larry Cook talks about growing up in Sandy Mush, working in the construction industry, and changes he has seen in the area.

Additional Materials

Transcript ; photographs

Mabel Duckett 

Interview Date and Interviewer

August 4, 1998 ; Stephen Cain

Format

Audio cassette tape ; photographs ; text

Scope and Contents

Mabel Duckett talks about the forty or more scrapbooks she has made about Leicester and Sandy Mush, and her ancestors, who came to the area in the 1700s. She describes Waldrup farm, changing demographics, and the effect World War II had on the population. The 1977 flood, barn raising, and the impact of the Depression on the area, are also mentioned. She talks about proposals for a nuclear dump and a dam in the area.

Additional Materials

Transcript ; photographs

Restrictions

Audio is not available due to interviewee request that parts are not to be released. [These sections are omitted fro the transcript]

William Duckett 

Interview Date and Interviewer

August 4, 1998 ; Stephen Cain

Format

Audio cassette tape ; photographs ; transcript

Scope and Contents

William Duckett talks about people moving into Sandy Mush, before moving on to talk about his ancestors who were in the Civil War. There is a discussion about family and kinship, and how improved transport, and the need to find work have changed the area. Duckett talks about farming practices, and his role in the movement opposing the proposed nuclear dump at Sandy Mush.

Additional Materials

Transcript ; photographs

Restrictions

Audio is not available due to interviewee request that parts are not to be released. [These sections are omitted fro the transcript]

Rev. Bill Gillespie 

Interview Date and Interviewer

August 4, 1998 ; Stephen Cain

Format

Audio cassette tape ; copy CD ; photographs ; text

Scope and Contents

Bill Gillespie describes meeting his wife, and goes out to outline how his ancestors first came to the area in the early 1800s to farm. He describes his family and how it has always been a tight knit community. He talks about churches, and the history of religion in the area. There is a discussion about growing food, and cooking, which leads into a talk about family values. There is talk about the problems of drink and drugs in the area, and the changes brought about by improved roads.

Additional Materials

Transcript ; photographs

James R. Hannah 

Interview Date and Interviewer

August 1, 1998 ; Stephen Cain

Format

Audio cassette tape ; photographs ; text

Scope and Contents

After talking initially about accents, James Hannah discusses families removed from Cataloochee where his father was a teacher, and the reunions of the displaced families. He talks about his father, who taught at Sandy Mush school for over forty years. Hannah also mention his small farm, and the honey he makes there, and then talks about the changes in the economics and demographics of the area.

Additional Materials

Transcript ; photographs

Candler Jones and Faye Ferguson 

Interview Date and Interviewer

August 5, 1998 ; Stephen Cain

Format

Audio cassette tape ; photographs ; text

Scope and Contents

Bother and sister, Candler Jones and Faye Ferguson, talk about their ancestors coming to Sandy Mush around 1800 to farm, how, that at the age of 75, Candler still had a cattle farm. There is a discussion on the Civil War, people who live in the area, and corn shucking. The siblings describe the houses they lived in when they were growing up, and the way people lived back then. Ferguson talks about moving to Michigan with her husband, but later returning to Sandy Mush to look after her parents. Jones describes tobacco farming in the area, and tenant farming, before both he and Ferguson talk about families who were no longer living in Sandy Mush, moonshiners, and the arrival of electricity.

Additional Materials

Transcript ; photographs

Burder and Betty Reeves with Robin Singleton 

Interview Date and Interviewer

August 2, 1998 ; Stephen Cain

Format

Audio cassette tape ; photographs ; text

Scope and Contents

Burder and Betty Reeves, and their daughter Robin, initially discuss their family origins in Sandy Mush and Cataloochee, and this leads to talking about the present day community, the people, and their values. They discuss gender roles, and religion in their family before talking about the role of tobacco in the economy of Madison County, and the way the county was depicted in the media. The interview concludes with further details about family members and changes that have taken place in the area

Additional Materials

Transcript ; photographs

Don Reeves 

Interview Date and Interviewer

August 7, 1998 ; Stephen Cain

Format

Audio cassette tape ; photographs ; text

Scope and Contents

Don Reeves describes how his family grew tobacco on a mountainside in the 1940s, before talking about his brothers and sisters, people in the community, and how the community was changing. He talks about how he farmed, as well as working in public works, and there is a brief mention of his grocery store.

Additional Materials

Transcript ; photographs

Bluford and Lottie Surrett with Louise Ball 

Interview Date and Interviewer

August 8, 1998 ; Stephen Cain

Format

Audio cassette tape ; photographs ; text

Scope and Contents

Husband and wife Bluford and Lottie Surrett, along with their daughter Louise Ball, talk about living in Sandy Mush. Bluford describes how despite many years working away from the area he knew he would return because that is where his family was. Family members, living and deceased, are discussed, as are changes in the area, such as post offices that were closed, and schooling. There is talk about the floods in 1916 and 1977, which leads into a discussion about mills, and a description of the family homestead. Bluford Surrett describes funerals and burials, and Lottie talks about the coming of electricity and churning butter. They all talk about growing up Sandy Mush and the changes that they have seen in their lifetimes.

Biography

Lottie Surrett died on April 11, 2002, and Bluford Surrett died on May 28, 2003 aged 98. They were married for 74 years.

Additional Materials

Transcript ; photographs ; obituary for Bluford Surrett

Keith Wells 

Interview Date and Interviewer

August 8, 1998 ; Stephen Cain

Format

Audio cassette tape ; photographs ; text

Additional Materials

Transcript ; photographs

Scope and Contents

At the start of the interview there is a discussion about the boundary between Sandy Mush and Leicester, and outsiders attitude to mountain people, before Keith Wells talks about his family, and their homestead. He outlines the importance of the church in his life, and in the life of the community, and talks about moonshiners, and farming, and how they have changed in recent times.