My grandfather, Creed Tackett (m Virgie) My mother told me he did the best he could to finish high school. The high school was over 2 hours from their home and he had to walk most days. If it was really bad out they would let him ride a horse. He eventually had to quit after his step father, a deputy, was shot and killed. He went to work in the mines hauling coal and eventually became a medic until he retired with a black lung pension. My mother, Alberta Tackett, told me that when she was young, their garden was on the side of the mountain and they would work it every day during the summer. He eventually bought some large tracts of flat land in Virgie (Monkeytown). He was experienced at carpenter so designed and built his two houses himself. They rented the small house (used to see a horse hanging his head outside the bedroom window). They lived in the bigger house until the were old, when they gave it to my aunt Norma Jean and moved to the smaller house. The big house had walls they could move as the need arose to make rooms smaller or larger and a fireplace that opened into two of the rooms. It was above the creek. I always thought was like the beach because of the sand bar but later learned, he had sand hauled there every year in case of floods. There were gardens on either side of the house, bee hives, chickens, sometimes a cow or pig, a smoke house to process the meats. He had an occasional horse but usually borrowed or rented a horse for plowing. The kids hunted ginseng and berries in the hills. The land across the tracts from the house, we called Poppys mountain, had a working coal mine on it. We used to count the train cars as they went by so he could make sure he was being paid correctly. The train conductors would throw the kids candy or ice cream bars as they went by. My grandfather rose by 4:30 a.m. every day to work in the gardens or whatever else needed done. When nothing pressing needed done he would walk to Robinson Creek or some other far off place to visit family and friends or set on the porch and whittle. He was usually back by breakfast. They traded at Robinson store which I believe is in Long Fork.. They would call in the order and the store would deliver it. If we were in Virgie, we could buy stuff at the store just by signing our names to the book (with gfs permission) my grandfather paid the account once a month. We also shopped at the five and dime, went to Clairs (?) restaurant where my mother once did the jitterbug with me. Every day the women would cook a big breakfast and dinner. My grandmother put up her the vegetables, made sour kraut and pickles.(was told by Alberta they used to make soap in the yard). Plucked the chickens and made feather beds. Quilted, worked in the garden daily and sewed the clothes. Their was also Paw Paw and apple trees. We sit on rocking chairs on the porch to break beans, peel apples etc. When not helping out, us kids would explore in the mountains, swim in the creek, and climb trees. In the evening we played Red Rover, kick ball, caught lightning bugs,and sometimes just set on the porch swing and talked. For a kid from Columbus this seemed like the greatest place on earth.
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 15:14:43 +0000
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