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So reads an account during the great flood of 1916. It was a reminder that even though we have a long history of growing our own food and managing well during hard-times, we are still vulnerable to the whims of nature. Drought, flood, fire, war-time, can all play havoc with our food supplies. |
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Two stories of the bountiful supply of local fruit and fish can be found
in the first-hand accounts of Edward O. Guerrant, The Galax Gatherers
(1910) and Charles Dudley Warner, On Horseback (1896).
Guerrant, a theologian who had a focused interest in the Southern Highlander, traveled throughout the region in the early 1900's and recorded his visits to numerous communities from eastern Kentucky to the far reaches of western North Carolina. In one trip to Yancy County, NC he describes the apple crop.
Charles Dudley Warner, who travelled on horseback from Abingdon, VA to Asheville in 1896, wrote:
Perhaps confirming the abundance of apples in the region, Warner noted that "...at the tables in this region a singular use of the word fruit. When we were asked, 'Will you have some of the fruit?' and said Yes, we always got apple-sauce.' |
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Food was also a social leveler in the early mountains. Margaret Morley wrote in her book, The Carolina Mountains, that
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MOONSHINE Now there's a topic writers never seem to tire of in the mountains! Moonshine stories abound in the literature. Many are quite credible, but some have been exaggerated to the level of mythology. One such story tells of the moonshiner who had a very successful business because he had never been "discovered" by the revenuers. Part of his secret was his storage of the liquor. It is told that when he planted his cabbage, he would put a bottle of his product under each new plant. When his customers came calling they would ask for a "cabbage" and he would direct them to his cabbage patch where they could "pick their own."
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While the native western North Carolinian often dined on the
agricultural produce grown in small family gardens and often raised and
slaughtered their own beef, pork and chickens, the tourist dined on a
wide range of foods, many brought to the area by railway from the North
East. For example this menu describes the fare at the Alta Vista
Inn in 1915
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CAMPING AND EATING WITH THE RIVES FAMILY
Somewhere in-between the tourist and the resident were the families who came to the mountains for the summer to escape the heat of the lowlands. They generally brought their household help and took up lodging for the hot months of May through September. One such family, the Ora Rives family came up from Aiken, SC and stayed near Brevard, at Cedar Mountain. From there they occasionally took short camping trips to the surrounding countryside, often with other families. One trip is recorded in a small journal kept by Hattie Hill, a young friend of the Rives family. Her log of the journey, "A Camping Trip Thro' Toxaway Country, July 1905," details how the families managed their meals and how they procured their food. Here, a few excerpts:
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CAMPING Arguably the finest book written on camping and cooking in the wild is that by Horace Kephart, who lived in western North Carolina. His Camp Cookery: Outdoor cooking secrets from 1910, (1910). His other "camping" books, Camping and Woodcraft: A Handbook for Vacation Campers and for Travelers in the Wilderness, and the classic, Our Southern Highlanders; A narrative of adventure in the southern Appalachians, all contain rich descriptions of provisions, instructions on dressing wild game, and the art of cooking out-of-doors. His attention to cleaning up after oneself is especially charming in his Camping and Woodcraft chapter, "Cook's Miscellany," in which he quotes Gilbert Hamerton's Painter's Camp :
His recommendations for preparing wild game is perhaps the most remarkable. For example he provides information on how to prepare squirrels, fried; squirrels, broiled ; squirrels, stewed ; squirrels, barbecued. This, followed by possum, coon, porcupine, muskrat, and woodchuck. He recounts a story of a neighbor who when asked if he had ever eaten a "woodchuck" was puzzled, as "woodchuck" is not a term used in the mountains. The more familiar "ground-hog" brought out this response to the question:
Dining on beaver tail involves a long and arduous process, including the impaling of the tail on a stick over an open fire, peeling off the rough scaly hide, then roasting or boiling the white gelatinous flesh until it is tender. He describes the taste as something like pork and notes that the full beaver, preferably a young one, stuffed and "baked in its hide" is a true delicacy. |
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BENJAMIN JAMES JACKSON FAMILY MARKET Benjamin James Jackson, an African American businessman in Asheville frequently took his family of ten children on picnic outings in the summer. As described in the family history: " Summer afternoons often found the Jackson family riding out in the fresh air with a large basket of dinner and lemonade. There were very few paved streets, only dusty roads, but it was fun going to the woods to eat dinner. One of the older boys drove the seven-passenger Willys-Knight family car." Jackson established the Jackson Market in 1897. In the family history the market is describes in this manner: "The policy was to cater to everyone with courtesy. Cafes, boarding houses, hotels, and restaurants chose Jackson's Market for their delicacies. Most of the produce was shipped from Cincinnati, Ohio. A few local wholesale companies furnished the food for retail use." This description was echoed in many of the local markets located in Asheville and in the small towns of western North Carolina. |
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EATING AND WORKING E.C. Goldberg, the owner of the early Asheville Newstand followed a dinner routine that was often typical of Asheville businessmen. According to his family:
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Eating-out in Asheville is today quite an adventure and the array of restaurants can satisfy even the most delicate and robust of tastes. In years past, the diner also had a wide array of restaurants to choose from. The views either interior or exterior were sometimes both exotic and sublime. From the terrace of the restaurant of the Cliff Dweller's Inn at Chimney Rock the views into the valley are awe inspiring. In the close and personal decor of "The Shack", the diner could easily suffer from visual intoxication. The spectacular mountain scenery or quirky restaurant decorations were exuberant visual feasts that brought the diner back again and again. If intoxication of the visual receptors was not enough, the literal intoxication associated with the illicit drinks sometimes served at the local establishments --- including "moonshine," could quickly send the diner to their room, if not "under the table." During prohibition "white lightening," a type of corn liquor was very popular and the "running of moonshine" was common. Many establishments had access to the supply of liquor, but most did not choose to trade, and they took pride in maintaining a "Christian house." After all, "'The Bible-Belt' is an organization," and it is a forceful one in western North Carolina
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FRED SEELY AND THE GROVE PARK INN This excerpt is from a brochure for the Grove Park Inn just shortly after it opened. The manager, Fred Seely, was a strict prohibitionist as well as a micro-manager of both his hotel and often his guests, as can be seen from the information in his brochure for the Inn:
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FOOD TAX In the oral history taken from George Stephens by Louis Silveri, the two have a brief discussion of the "food tax" recently imposed on North Carolina:
Today the revenue for this food-tax in North Carolina is vital to the state's economy but it is determined only on food not sold for home consumption. Food sold for home consumption is exempt. On food consumed outside the home the 2% rate (or, more) applies. The 2% state tax on food is left to the various counties to determine --- up to 3%, for example in Mecklenburg County. |
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