Calhoun, McLean County, Ky | My grandpa was born in 1899 and his dad was a logger so they would move around as he bought timber. Grandma was born in 1907 and grew up dirt poor on a small acreage, both raised in eastern Ky. After going to New Mexico as a young man and working on a ranch, grandpa went back home and married and went to work in the coal mines. Grandpa saved up all the money that he could, working midnight shift dynamiting and day shift scooping coal to try to afford to move out of the mountains of Harlan county. He told grandma one time that he was trying to save all he could but dammit woman your gonna starve me to death. Grandpa carried a pistol in his lunch box working during the violent strikes in the mines. Finally him and his best friend found adjoining farms in west central Ky and moved. Dad, who was the baby of the family and the only child not to born in the mountains, says the greatest gift grandpa ever gave him was getting the hell out of the mountains. Dad also says that anyone talking about the good old days didn't go out in the dark and set on that cold ass seat in the outhouse. |
How We Used to Eat (1953 - 1955 or so)
