Posted on 02/19/2010 5:28:18 AM PST by jay1949
The Shenandoah National Park displaced some 450 families from the northern reach of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. The Park meant the end of a generations-old way of life for the mountain folk, many of whom didn't want to leave. [numerous vintage photographs]
(Excerpt) Read more at backcountrynotes.com ...
Too cool. Mark for later read.
I’ve hiked the Old Rag area extensively and I never knew how many communities were up-rooted by the government.
There’s not even a trace left.
Excellent pictures!!
bump for later comment
"We need to bring these backwoods rednecks into the light and civilize them."
one-time ping for those interested in previous article, Lost Cabins of the Virginia Blue Ridge.
I have several more of these articles in process — one on the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains, two on the Tennessee Smokies, one on the North Carolina Smokies, one on East Kentucky, and there are more formulating in the gray matter — anyone who would like to be on a “ping list” please let me know and I will put one together.
Sign me up, please.
Wonderful! Please put me on the ping list.
How long were the Japanese families uprooted during World War II? Were they ever allowed to return to their homes?
Thanks jay1949, I’d like to be on your ping list, and I suspect that stefanbatory will tell you the same.
Please add me to your ping list
jay1949, please add me to your ping list!
I enjoyed this tremendously. Definite yes on the ping list.
Yes, ping me.
My people started in North Carolina in the 1730’s and stayed in the hill country all the way west, through Tennesee and then the Ozarks in Missouri.
The photos are heart-rending, to think these people were uprooted as they were. They were a handsome people.
And we wonder why America is now almost 90% urban.
wow...I wonder if some of these apple and peach trees survive in the wild of the national park to this day and if they are able to be found. being able to bring back some of these heirloom varieties would be really cool!
Unfortunately, most of the old varieties have been lost. There may be a few still surviving, but it’s long odds — we are way past the natural lifespans of standard apple trees. Because apples don’t come true from seed, any younger trees which sprouted from fallen apples probably don’t have the same fruiting qualities. There were an estimated 1,600 varieties of apples grown in Central and Southern Appalachia before WWII; it is unlikely that more than 100 of these have survived. There are orchardists preserving some of the old varieties. See, for example: http://www.longbrancheec.org/pubs/apples.html
Sign me up please!
The government did this to a community in Tennessee, in the Smoky Mountain National park.
Put me on the ping list please.
And when you’re done with all that you already have planned...how about one on the Ozarks. :)
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