To listen to Vernon on singing and playing gonna-be-moving just click on the link. In this song he sings all three parts himself.
I am so proud of my brother, Vernon Bowling. He is a professional musician and a craftsman. He can make anything from wood and if it has strings attached, even better. I remember when I was just a little girl living in a log cabin on Big Branch of Coon Creek in Leslie County. We did not have electricity until I was 10 years old. We lit our world with coal oil lamps after the sun went down. Dad always worked away from home of the day because he was a carpenter. I had 5 brothers and all 5 of them learned the skill. I believe the nac for working in wood was inherited. I have twin sons who are carpenters too. Our great,great grandfather, Jackson (John)Bowling was listed in the 1860 census data as a chair-maker. I guess they get it naturally!
Mom and the older boys always made a big garden and cornfield. After they worked all day in the hot corn field they would come in and eat supper then get out the guitars, mandolins and fiddles. They would play and sing until dark. On the weekends was the same. I always loved it. I can remember being small enough to walk under my brother Vance’s leg where he had proped it up on a handmade chair to play the guitar. Vance taught me to play the guitar when I was 12 years old. I sure do miss those times.
There was always a half finished instrument laying around. Vernon was always working on them even back then. Today he is a true craftsman. His mandolins are the best sounding anywhere. He started making instruments when he was 14 or 15 and has perfected his skill. He still makes a one of a kind mandolin and has them for sale now. He also has made several bluegrass gospel CDs. As you can see by the pictures his work is based in our history.
If you are interested in a CD or a mandolin you can contact him by phone at 765-825-1930. We talk frequently but I can’t get him to connect to the Internet. You can also contact me at 1coolgranny.lou@gmail.com.
These photos are of family and friends who belong to an official chapter of the Red Hat Society. We are located in Manchester, Ky. Most of us are retired or getting tired health care workers. We are dedicated to each other as friends. Our purpose is to support women in general and chapter members in particular. Our goal is to have fulfillment, fun and friendship. Our favorite sport is shopping, especially for unique hats. Should you be interested in becoming a part of our group contact me at 1coolgranny.lou@gmail.com or go to the official site at www.redhatsociety.com . I am the Queen of this chapter and there are members from Richmond, Ky to Inez, Ky and several counties in between.
Doom and Gloom! That’s all we hear when we turn on the TV. But what does it really mean? Perhaps it means that we Americans will have to start showing some common sense and self restraint. Instead of putting that pretty dress or pair of cute shoes on plastic, maybe we will have to wait until we have real money to spend. Just maybe, we will have to recycle those shoes that we were going to throw away because they didn’t look so good now. What happened to shoe polish?? Could we cook a meal from scratch? No pre-packaged, microwavable junk. You know, millions in the world would love to have enough to cook a meal from scratch. Could we give up our fast food lunch? If we packed a sandwitch we would save money and calories! Maybe it means we have to use our brain to plan better so we don’t waste gas on excess driving. Would it hurt us to sweat a little in the summer or wear a sweater in the winter so we would save on energy cost. Do we really need that satalite TV programming that cost nearly 100 dollars a month for that 200 channels with nothing on! We need to tighten our belt and remain positive. Even at the worst here, we are better of than any other country in the world! Our economy will recover in time.
Here is some more interesting history that may cast some light on The missing years of Burhead. Note that Jesse and gang was robbing in Kentucky in and west virginia at times during his missing years, please click on the below link to view:
There is a nation wide stereotype of appalachian people as ignorant and backward. Nothing could be further from the truth. The people who first settled the Appalachian mountains were pioneers who sought adventure and were not afraid to face new challenges. If one explores the life style of the early settlers they will find them to be innovative, creative and extremely intelligent.
Actually, many who settled in Appalachia were moderately to very well off land holders and small business owners who managed to make a good living. Their children were well educated for the times. Beginning with the first expansion into Appalachia in the late 1700’s until the Civil War era is actually known as the golden age of Appalachia.
When the war came, the Appalachian people throughout the mountain chain, even down into Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia were typically against slavery. This developed for two reasons: The mountain people were fiercely independant scotch-Irish decendents who valued personal freedoms and the terrain did not lend itself to big farming endevors where large amounts of cheap labor were needed.
In contrast, the flat areas of the states were dependent upon just such agriculture. The south was almost totally dependent on the cotton industry. Large plantations and farms needed great amounts of cheap or free labor to survive. Therefore, their economy promoted slavery. Kentucky’s population was one of the most deeply devided on the slavery issue. It was truely the state of brother against brother. In general, the deviding line ran north to south along the western foothills of Appalachia.
After the end of the Civil war, Kentucky was considered to be a “southern” state by the northern controled government because of the slave holding practices of the central and western part of the state. Therefore, it was punished by policies which hindered the distribution of federal funding for education and roads. The Bluegrass area of the state was the political seat and politicians there controlled the distribution of the available funds. Those in control knew the people in eastern Kentucky had supported the abolition of slavery and the union, because of this, funding for roads and schools were completely cut off from the people of the mountains. It was only after this double injustice that the people of southern Appalachia became poor and less educated.
Yet, 40 years after the end of the Civil war my father (who was born in 1903) recieved an eighth grade education and my mother who was born in 1905 recieved a seventh grade education. By todays standards this may seem meager, however, the average person in Appalachia by that time could not read and write or had ony rudimentary primary schooling. While an education was harder to obtain then, the real keys for a child then as now were the aptitude and personality of the child and the commitment and determination of the parent.
My father was a whiz at math and geometry. He was interested in current affairs both locally and nationally. He could read and had neat hand writing.He was excellent at spelling. He was skilled with his hands in wood craft and blacksmithing. He was a carpenter and could compute various angles and designs.He could play the banjo and read music. He taught singing school by shaped notes. His list of accomplishments and skills could fill this page.
My mother was also gifted. Besides raising 10 children with very little conveniences, she could look at a dress in a catalogue and create one just like it without a pattern. She could have been a fashion designer if she chose, instead she sewed clothing for her children, made lovely quilts and other items to beautify our home. She was a better cook than Julia Child and knew how to grow and preserve every kind of food. She was very industrious and intelligent. As a child she has recieved formal training as an organist.
This is just two examples of many who overcame the lack of educational opportunities in Appalachia. After about 1920 the rest of the nation seemed to “re-discover” Appalachia and the mission schools began to appear. Service minded people, usually christians of one brand or the other, began to arrive to educate and save the poor mountain children. Pine mountain Settlement School, Redbird Mission, and Oneida Baptist Institute were a few examples of those institutions.
Many Appalachian children even as late as the 1950’s and 60’s did not go on to get a high school education. All of my brothers quit school after the 8th grade. Many others dropped out of school long before this. However, as these young men began the exodus to the north to find good jobs in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan they were valued workers because of their honesty, intelligence, loyalty and strong work ethics. They all developed good careers and made a good living for their families. While they were not formally educated in a school system they were educated non the less by being brought up in a manner that prepared them for life.
By the mid 1960’s, it was more common for children of Appalachia to complete high school and a few were attending college. Those who dropped out of high school or finished high school but didn’t go to college were still able to go immediately into the work force and be successful because they possessed an inititive and drive for a better life born of a strong Appalachian work ethic . This was to end by the70′ and 80′ due to another “war”.
President Kennedy toured Appalachia as part of his bid for the presidency in 1960. By this time the coal mining industry had began to slump and attention was called to increasing poverty in Appalachia. Johnson became president when Kennedy was assinated. He carried through with declaring a war on poverty. The welfare system was expanded and programs were created with the intent of lifting people all over the nation out of poverty. Sadly, policy makers failed to realize that giving free money and food handouts for an unlimited amount of time would destroy the initive and work ethic of Appalachia and the poorer sections all over the nation. Children grew up in households where nobody worked and everybody was on the “draw”!
We are about to elect a new president. Obama wants to expand the government to take care of everybody who has a problem. I know from personal experience that a welfare state destroys instead of saving. Short term assistance in a disaster or illness, assistence with education and a few other types of assistance at times of need are the humane thing to do and our government should have some of these programs. However, people need to have to work for themselves and accept personal responsibility. We have enough badly ran government programs. We need to have less government interferance and a better economy. That’s why I am for McCain.
I am a bird lover and a bird watcher. This is a fairly new thing for me. That is, in the last twelve years or so. Birds are such beautiful creatures, especially the songbirds! These is no better thing for me to enjoy than getting up early on my day off, making a good pot of coffee and sitting on the front porch or in front of a window and watching them at my feeders. If it is warm enough to be outside their singing is as relaxing for me as anything I know.
As I sit there and look and listen, it brings me closer to God. I will never understand how anyone can look at a rose or a little chickadee, or snow falling and deny there is a creator! I am reminded that Jesus told his deciples to not worry about material things and to consider the lillies of the field and the little sparrow, he clothed and fed them and he values each of us more than these. He tells us not one hair ever falls from our head without him knowing it! How can we worry?
When I was little we didn’t have all this material stuff like kids do today. There was no computer games, Ipods and cell phones, etc. Instead of ten or twenty gifts at Christmas we always got just one each and nothing expensive at that.
Mom went out to town about once a month for sewing supplies and such. She would go to Keen’s Dime Store. They had small toys for 10 cents each. She would bring me and Shirley back just one! It would be either a set of bobby jacks, a bag of marbles or a little bitty china cupie doll that had arms and legs held on by a rubber band. We were more tickled with these toys than kids are today with everything they have. We appreciated what we got! And birthdays, just another day.
We didn’t have television. We didn’t even have electricity! All we had was a battery radio that only got two or three stations: WKIC at Hazard and The Grand Ole Opery on Saturday night and maybe Whitesburg and that was with fuzzy reception.
When WKIC decided to put Uncle Remus Tales on every evening at three, that was equivalent to having Cartoon Network!
Now, I loved Burr Rabbit! Every evening I watched the clock. At three, everything else was put on hold because I had to listen to Uncle Remus. That went just fine until Elvis came along!
Now, Shirley is almost five years older than me so when I was seven or eight and loved good stories, she was becoming a teenager. All the bigger girls at the Big Branch school loved Elvis and the Jitterbug. Opal Baker and Jewel Callahan was always singing Elvis songs and trying to do the jitterbug when we had recess. Shirley wasn’t ever great friends with them because they were always kind of uppity to everyone else but she was just as bad over Elvis.
This is when the ghost of Cain and Able raised it’s ugly head; sibling rivalry. I would turn the dial to WKIC, Shirley would turn it to Whitesburg. We would fuss and carry on like all kids do. Mom was usually back in the kitchen getting ready to cook supper and didn’t know what was going on. She never would allow us to fuss and fight if she knew about it. Shirley was the biggest tattle tale! If she couldn’t convince me to let her listen to music, she would run to Mommy. I guess mom was diplomatic and would let me listen one evening to Uncle Remus and Shirley to music the next, I don’t remember that specifically but mom was always fair. All I remember was the consequences of Shirley’s tattling; Mom went back to the kitchen, I hit Shirley in the belly with my fist and knocked the breath out of her, she cried, mom whipped me with a little keen switch and I got sent to bed.
I have always been hard headed so I never gave up. Every day that was Shirley’s, I tool a whipping before I would let her get away with it. This trait got me in trouble many times. However, not being a quitter has been a blessing to me after I got grown. It has helped me be successful in everything I have tried to do.
If you would like to read these stories or introduce them to your children here is a web site dedicated to Uncle Remus Takes: http://www.uncleremus.com/
Hey everyone, at Renda’s suggestion, I have started an on line family tree. I don’t know everyones birthdays, etc. If you will review and tell me who I have left off I will add them. Also, I didn’t know everyones grandkids names, etc. I have no plans to leave anyone out and will be thrilled to hear from you all with new data. There is a link to the Tree on my blogroll. Thanks. Hoping to hear from you soon! If you are new to the blog format, here is the link http://www.myheritage.com/site-21395272/bowling
I don’t know if you have been to Hyden, Ky. lately or if you have ever been there before but I have to brag a little about my home town! When I was growing up in the 1960’s Hyden was essentially the same size that it is now. There has been a little growth out toward the mouth of Hurts Creek and up toward the high school but that is about all. Hyden was a great place to be young in. All us teens would gather up at Joseph’s resturant or in front of the bank and sit in the few cars we had or sometimes even on the hoods of them. Everybody knew everybody else and we all had a great time there. We were not harrasses by the town police, in fact, they were our friends. We showed respect by not damaging anything that was around. We didn’t know what drugs were. We only heard about them from the TV. We really thought we were doing something if we drank beer or hit the cherry vodka!
The hyden drive-in was the place to be come Friday and Saturday night. When we weren’t at the drive in or just hanging around in front of the bank, we would gather up down by the river at Wendover and park. There we did a great deal of teen socializing or necking, which ever was the mood. The boys were always in the mood! Actually, the girls were too but “good” girls weren’t supposed to act that way. What our parents didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them!
When I got married at age 18 I didn’t think with much sorrow about leaving. Hyden was just a place to be from then. A few years later I was back, divorced and raising 3 boys as a single mother. I became a nurse and gave 16 years of my life, body and soul, to the Mary Breckinridge Hospital. I lived in and around Hyden almost all of those 16 years. After that I moved to Hazard and then to Manchester. I only go back to Hyden ever once in a while. The city officials have done well for years with keeping it clean. In fact, it is one of the cleanest small towns that I know of in southeastern Kentucky.
That being said, I have been suprised, amazed and proud of the job the city is doing now to beautify Hyden! The new lamps, cobblestone sidewalks and veterans square beg to be visited! Everytime I drive through I wish I had time to get out and walk on the streets and sit a while in the square beside the fountain. I plan to take a day this summer to do just that! I want to go over to the new parking garage and look at it and I would love to have the time to take some music lessons at the bluegrass/traditional music college there. Maybe I can when I retire if I am still able to function! Anyway, as you go through Hyden, slow down and take a look. All you Leslie Countians who have left the area, you should see our hometown now!!
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