57
trading with their neighbors and kinfolk. To satisfy their need
for cash items, they had a small "money crop."

One of the earliest money crops was the root of the
ginseng plant. In going through the old tools of mountain
homesteads one often finds long narrow ginseng hoes, used to dig
this valuable herb. The roots often grow in the shape of a
human body. The word "ginseng" is reportedly of Chinese
derivation, and means “likeness of man." In addition to its
medicinal qualities, the ginseng root is considered by many to
be an aphrodisiac. The best "sang" is said to have grown under
and around black walnut trees. Caroline and the children would
hunt it in September when the leaves turn a pretty yellow
color. They also collected bloodreot, alumroot, black
snakeroot, black cohosh, witch hazel, shonny haw, and the bark
of wild cherry. They sold the roots and herbs to drug merchants
in nearby Jefferson and to Wilcox Drug Company in Boone.

Martin also helped with a cash crop of his own; he was a
cobbler and made shoes for family and neighbors. Martin's
grandson Kyle remembers “people coming to the Cabin and havin'
shoes made." The Cleve Caudill family lived near the Brinegars

and Sherman, Cleve's son, can remember Martin sitting near the

window in the main portion of the cabin and cobbling. "He made
shoes all the time and I wore some of 'um." His workshop was on
the lower side of the Cabin opposite the chimney. "Many a time

I went to that window and Uncle Mart was workin' on shoes by the
light comin' in- through that window." Leather, thread, and
homemade wooden pegs were the primary materials used in the
process. This “jack of all trades," as the self-sufficient

Highlander had to be, spent countless hours measuring and


Labels

10/36

Blue Ridge p
Low Profile
Wayside Exhibit Plan

arkway

Exhibit 080 ~ Page 2

rattled. on

Side of

the gourd and the seeds SCoopedg out, the dipper

Could ladle Water, 4
ia
a
4
i

ee


23
seemed a complete view of the universe. And what a variety of
scenes the Southern Highlands region affords with its wealth of
contours, its rich flora and every variety of water form, from
mountain torrent and cascade to placid lake and spring. The
water supply is so abundant in many places that no other
domestic supply is required.

The log cabin has a number of variants. The early shelter
was a crude structure of one room, often without a single
window. Then came the more adequate but still simple form of
two rooms with a loft over each, the rooms separated by a
covered passageway from three to eight feet wide, called a
“dog-trot." This type of cabin is known as a "but-and-ben," a
term used in Scotland. The most elaborate cabin was that with
new rooms or ‘new houses," as they are called by old
inhabitants, built on from time to time. These resulted in
combinations of T's and L's or sometimes complete crosses with
fireplaces in each of the four gables. Some of the windowless
cabins had two doors, one that opened to the east to get the
“sun ball" early in the morning, the other opening to the west
so that it might receive the evening rays of the setting sun.
There are still to be found in the mountains today cabins which
have no windows; those with but one are not uncommon. ?*

Approximately 80 years ago the introduction of glass
windows became a momentous event and contentious issue in Knott
County, Kentucky. The issue revolved around the offer of some
outsiders to give windows to those who would use them.
Objections were made by old timers against installing them.

Both moral and religious scruples were raised and a prospective


Brinegar Cabin

Historic Resource Study

by

Barry M. Buxton

June 16, 1988



a

arm

—_ open

yrmiect—picatet painhjit

|
|

Caption
079-3

Caption
O79-4

Lakels 10/86
Blue Ridge Parkway

Low Profile

Wayside Exhibit Plan

. Exhibit 079 - Page 2

Martin Brinegar earned cash as a cobbler. He made
shoes for a dollar a pair, more or less; depending
upon the size of the foot.

Caroline and the children collected herbs such as

—-bleedroot, mayapple, and black snakeroot. The

herbs were sold to drug merchants in Jefferson and

Boone.’ -

Brinegar Cabin reminds us of the resourcefulness

of mountain people and the development of cottage
’

industries in which people were able to obtain

cash for items made at home.

Caroline Brinegar made extra money weaving. She
could not read, so she worked her loom using

patterns like the one above.

Martin Brinegar used tools similiar to these Lo

make the shoes he sold his neighbors.



ar

66
needed. They'd set up all night with you. Law I've done that a
many a night with sick folks."5*

"If you got to where you couldn't tend your farm the
neighbors would get together and come in and take care of your
crops, cut your wood and feed your stock till. you got well.
They'd divide whatever they had with you. Everybody, just
about, was that way."55°

John Brinegar said that "back then neighbors seemed to care
more about each other than they do now." Delia Brinegar tells
of Martin and Caroline taking in an elderly man who needed a
place to stay. They received him warmly and made sure he had
plenty to eat.

It is worth noting that at the turn of the century in the
Highlands, many of your neighbors were also your kin folk. As
was mentioned previously, families often settled in the same
valley or cove and interfamily marriages were not uncommon.
Neighborliness, however, was not restricted to family.

Roads in the Basin Cove area were few and in generally poor
condition. Sometimes they would accommodate a wagon but more
often they were only fit for horseback or walking. This
contributed to the further isolation of the Brinegars. Other
than his regular, monthly church attendance, Martin seldom
travelled. He made regular trips to Whitehead, five miles
northwest on the plateau. A small community southwest of
Sparta, Whitehead was named for early settler Daniel Whitehead
who owned a water-powered grist mill and carding mill. Martin
took grain to the mill for grinding and stopped at Joe
Copeland's store for such items as salt, coffee, lead, during

the year. These trips, along with church services, represented



nnHmhemHHE HEH He HE HE we EE we EE HS Se ee

77
done by using lime cement and deep raking the joints. After the
cement has dried, the remainder of the pointing will be with
clay to retain the original appearance of the chimneys.

5. Roof

The hand-split oak Shakes are in need of some
replacement on both buildings. The replacement of shingles will
be hand-split oak. While this work is being done, the old
rafters and center pole will be inspected and repaired where
necessary. If any replacement is necessary, in kind materials
will be used.

The overall effect of these restorative efforts have been to
preserve the historic fabric of the Cabin and Granary and
thereby retain historic integrity. Unfortunately, the repair
work on the chimneys was not executed effectively and the cement
mortar, rather than clay mortar, is most apparent. This is one
of the few negative effects of an otherwise historically
effective restoration.

In 1986, the Blue Ridge Parkway completed a Wayside Exhibit
Plan for Brinegar Cabin (See Attachment Q). Among the
interpretive highlights of this plan were an Appalachian Garden
to illustrate to visitors the variety of plants grown ina
typical Appalachian garden. Those suggested in the plan
included flax, pole beans, pumpkin, tomatoes, buckwheat, dipper
gourd, corn, mint, and squash.

A Brinegar Cabin Day was sponsored by the Blue Ridge Parkway
on August 2, 1987. The event was intended to celebrate the
pioneer tradition and recognize the Brinegar family and

descendants of Martin and Caroline. Activities included a


13

Ironically, this devoutly religious man was caught in a cold
rain on his eighteen mile return from services at the Pleasant
Grove Baptist Church where he served as clerk for more than 25
years. Jerry Lee Brinegar states that Dean Pruett, who
succeeded Martin as church clerk some five months before his
death, helped rescue Martin from the mountains somewhere between
the church and Brinegar Cabin. He says they used a team of
horses and sled to take him back to the cabin. Dr. J. L.
Doughton of Sparta attended to Martin on April 12th, but he died
thirteen days later.

Caroline Jones Brinegar

Caroline was the daughter of Ezekiel and Jane (or Jennie)
Crouse Joines.??

Ezekiel Joines, born May 9, 1824 was already a fourth
generation American. He was the eldest of eight children of
Thomas Joines, Jr. and Lydia Hoppers who lived in Ashe County
(after 1859 known as Alleghany County.) His grandfather, Thomas
Sr., fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain in the Revolutionary
War. Ezekiel was named for his great-grandfather who was the
first of his family to come to America.*?

People often married young in those days. On April 6,
1842, just before Ezekiel's eighteenth birthday, he married Jane
Crouse, a neighbor girl of fifteen. Jane (sometimes referred to
as Jennie) was the daughter of Benjamin Crouse and Wady Cheek.
Land records show Ezekiel's first land purchase consisted of
twenty-five acres for which he paid twenty-five dollars. He
continued to add to his acreage until he had over five hundred
acres. This land, in the Pine Swamp area on the Little River,

was said to be fertile and ideal for farming.**


Labels 10/86
Blue Ridge Parkway

Low Profile

Wayside Exhibit Plan

Exhibit 081 - Page 2

| 7 Caption
{ 081-3 Martin Caudill’s turn-of-the-century cabin, one of

| | the few houses the storm left standing

“



72
selling 50 of these dolls each week." The Cabin was open from 9
A.M. till 5 P.M. daily from May through October.©° Other
popular crafts sold at the Cabin were pottery, honeysuckle and
split baskets, hand-hewn wooden bowls, and hand-woven articles
from weavers at Valhalla and Penland.

In 1970 the Chatham Manufacturing Company terminated its
agreement to manage the concession and interpretive services at
the Brinegar Cabin. According to Blue Ridge Parkway records,
the cancellation was due to two factors. First, inability to
"break even" financially without the flexibility to sell some
domestic and imported souvenirs; and second, new requirements
and regulations established by the National Park Service.

In 1971, Hazel Mathis and Grace Laffoon from Elkin
operated the Brinegar Cabin concession under the terms agreed
upon with the Chatham Manufacturing Company. Like their
predecessors, they demonstrated weaving on the same type of loom
used by Caroline Brinegar. Miss Mathis said they "took over the
Management because we were afraid to see it go under. We love
it so much."§? Mathis and Laffoon continued to operate the
concession until their last permit expired on December 31,
1986. They chose not to renew the permit because they felt it
was not feasible to make a profit without selling goods which
were outside the scope of authorization of the National Park
Service. This authorization called for the sale of "hand
manufactured, homespun textiles, or related articles of the type
approved by the Southern Highlands Handicraft Guild.

National Park Service records report that during the late
1970's and until 1983, Blue Ridge Parkway employees and

volunteers provided weekend interpretation at the site. A


30
smooth; but all, combined with the coarse, lumpy mortar of
native clay, give a most satisfying, even beautiful, texture
when seen in combination with hewn logs or rough boards in rain,
snow, or sunshine.*?

But it is the color of these native stones and clay
mortars as much as the form and texture which often provide
unforgettable harmonies. Perhaps the most beautiful range of
clay colors in our nation is to be seen along the Blue Ridge
Parkway; gray, tan yellow, brown, rose, black, or red.

The Brinegar Cabin Setting

Martin and Caroline Brinegar were surrounded with natural
beauty at their cabin home. From the blooming of wildflowers in
the early spring to the apple blossoms of early summer, their's
was a "homestead" blessed with unparalleled variety. All around
them lay the beauty of rhododendrons and the sweet smell of
honeysuckle. Dream vistas of blue and violet, as far as the eye
could see in all directions, were the envy of many a lowlander.
And in the autumn, foliage anthropoids (except perhaps for New
England) in its brilliance and variety. This was a life lived
close to nature and one which fostered an appreciation and
respect for all its elements. Today, at Milepost 238.5 of the
Blue Ridge Parkway, 3500 feet above sea level, one still has
that feeling of closeness to nature and solitude that must have
drawn Martin and Caroline to the site over 100 years ago.

Martin Brinegar initially purchased land at the sight of
Brinegar Cabin in August of 1876. According to records at the
Alleghany County Register of Deeds Office, Martin bought 125

acres from Henderson and Mary Crouse "for and in consideration


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37
hand loom which was made for the newlyweds by Caroline's father
Ezekiel Joines on the occasion of their wedding. It was on this
loom that Caroline made coverlets, shawls, blankets,
linsey-woolseys, and whole cloth for family garments. These
family textiles were almost always made in the home, although
there were some exchanges and bartering among neighbors.

Kyle Brinegar (Grandson) has noted that a small bed nearly
filled the addition to the Cabin on the right as you move from
the main room to the kitchen. Kyle says that this was a cord
bed. The cord bed utilized ropes or cords in place of slats,
mattress and springs. A cloth tick filled with straw served for
the mattress. Every spring, after thrashing time, the old straw

was emptied and the ticks were filled with fresh new straw.

Cord Beds



62
Brinegars. Kyle Caudill says that the family name was
Brown."They helped us some with ditching. His name was Armster
Brown and they lived in the ol' Henry Fugate place."

Pleasant Grove Union Baptist Church had services once a
month on the third Saturday and Sunday. They had communion and
foot washing the Sunday after the third Saturday in August.*°
The church was a member of the Mountain Union Association which
expressed strong Union sentiments and sympathy toward
ex-slaves. In 1868, they helped organize the New Covenant
Association which was composed entirely of ex-slaves. The Union
Baptists taught these ex-slaves their doctrine, ordained four of
them into the ministry, and had communion and footwashing
services with them. The first black church was the Pleasant
Hill Union Baptist Church. **

The differences between the Union Baptists and other
Baptists (Primitive, Regular, Old Regular, and United) was not
theological but philosophical and political. "The Union
Baptists were supporters of Abe Lincoln and were "Lincoln
Republicans," said church elder Earl Sexton.5? Most are still
Republicans today. The only other real difference was that
Union Baptists practiced open communion while most of the other
associations practice closed communion. As Harrison Caudill,
or. recalls: "Whites and Blacks, even Indians, all had
communion together and washed each other's feet in that church
down there in the Cove." This openness in worship was unique
and is even more amazing when one remembers that this is the
period when "Jim Crow" laws were being enforced in the South,
and Indians were being subdued and put on reservations. It is

unique in the history of American churches.


33

At the turn of the century, the site for cabin building
was usually chosen to be as near a spring as possible. No other
advantages would ever make up for the lack of good water. And
so it was that Martin and Caroline Brinegar located their cabin
just above an excellent spring. They were very proud of their
spring water which was said to have never run dry or freeze in
the winter. The log Spring House with its hollow chestnut log
cooling trough, was critical to the health and well being of
this Highland family. The spring was noted to have the coolest
water "in these parts." In summer it was always "two degrees
cooler than morning." Caroline was said to have kept a long
handle goard for drinking purposes. She kept her house plants
in the springhouse in the winter between two boards. The spring

is said to be the headwaters of the Roaring River.?*

Long Handle Goard

During the period of the building of Brinegar Cabin,
farming had to continue to sustain the family. Each spring
Martin planted his crops and then let Caroline and daughters
Alice and Rene tend them. Building was a slow process using an
ax, froe, adz, and broadax.

The first phase of the building process was laying the
foundation of flat rocks. They formed a level and firm base of

support. Logs, preferably from chestnut trees, were cut to the


65
staggering isolation high in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

There is a softness which envelopes the wooded heights and
hollows, a beauty of melting curves, of lights and shadows, of
varied textures and colors. At the elevation of 3500 feet, high
above the river valley below, each season has a_ special
splendor. From the subtle variations of green leaves in spring;
the hazy serenity of summer; and the crimson, gold and russets
of autumn.

Yet, with the beauty came isolation. Martin was only 18 and
Caroline 16 when they began their married life together in this
remote and hostile environment. Miles to the nearest community
and hospitals virtually unavailable, their's was a life void of
electricity, telephones, highways, automobiles, and much of what
we take for granted today. Environment and heredity conspired
to make the young couple extremely individualistic and
independent. Year by year they lived the solitary life of a
Highland family.

Yet there was a spirit of fellowship and a determination to
survive that brought Martin and Caroline closer to their
neighbors. For in time of crisis or need, there was no one else
to turn to but neighbors. The Brinegars still preferred to do
for themselves. They had learned the necessity for self-
reliance and practiced it in their daily lives. But when the
burdens of life were too much to bare, they could always count
on help and be counted on to give it.

Alex Stewart reflects on the neighborliness of Highlanders
at that time: “Back then if you was airy bit sick, why they'd
light a pine torch and come see about you. ‘They'd bring in food

and they'd stay right there and help you as long as they's


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Labels 10/86
Blue Ridge Parkway

Low Profile

Wayside Exhibit Plan

Exhibit O81

Homestead

‘You are looking deen into Basin Creek Cove.
the log cabin 1500 feet below was the home of

Martin_and Janie Caudill and their 14.children.

Martin’s father, Harrison, who fathered 22
children, lived about a mile down the creek in the
small isolated community of Basin Cove. The

nearest settlement was 8 miles distant, half by

- foot trail, half by road. ae

In 1916 a natural disaster brought an abrupt and
tragic end to the Basin Cove community. Rain
started falling one morning and continued through
the night, by which time "whole half-acres just
started sliding with timber ‘til they hit-the
hollow." The storm left three persons dead and

many homes destroyed. Basin Cove was abandoned.


43

Steel Trap

Another item which was likely to be found hanging on the
barn wall was the ground hog hide. According to John Rice
Irwin, the ground hog is the only small animal whose hide is of
no value for its fur.*° Martin may have used the thick hide
for making shoe strings and thongs for repairing the horse

harnesses.

Ground Hog Hide

A frequently used implement at the Brinegar Cabin was the
"tater hoe.4? It was used primarily for digging sweet and

Irish potatoes, an important staple in the Brinegar diet. The


85
bootmaking and weaving. A study should investigate the tools of
the cobbler beyond those which have been identified in this
inquiry. It may be impossible for someone like Kyle Brinegar to
name. the tools which Martin used in his work, but if he were
shown pictures of those tools he could be much more helpful in
developing an accurate inventory. The operative question may be
"what were the tools most often used and where do we locate
pictures or line drawings of those tools"?

With regard to Caroline's weaving, can any sources in the
community be identified who remember specifically what type of
spinning wheel Caroline used? Can Chatham Manufacturing assist
in the restoration and threading of the loom which is in the
Cabin? Authentic displays of weaving, spinning, and bootmaking

would significantly enrich the visitor experience.


6
extremely strong. The death of a family member brings great
grief.>

Large families were considered a blessing to the Highland
because everyone helped in piecing together a living from the
rugged terrain. Until recently, death rates were very high
among children, and there was hardly an older family that did
not keep a small hillside grave plot where sons and daughters
were buried.©

At the turn of the century, circumstances fostered what
anthropologists term a "live for today" philosophy. There was
little of today's middle class preoccupation with the future.
The difficulty and uncertainty of life led most mountain people
to accept whatever came along, including children. Children
were highly valued because they gave meaning to their parents'
lives. As one mother stated in Yesterday's People, "If I didn't
have my children, I wouldn't have nothin'." And while children
were valued, the uncertainty of life in the Highlands created a

situation where many mountain children were brought up by their

grandparents.
Chapter II
Family Life and Genealogy
Ancestry

The patriarch of the Brinegar family in America is believed
to have been Veith Bruninger, who arrived in Philadelphia from
Rotterdam on September 21, 1731. He was of German descent and
35 years of age when he arrived in the new world. Shown on the
same passenger list were Barbara Bruninger (age 40), Anna Melia
Bruninger (age 7), Hans Adam Bruninger (age 5), and Hans Adam

Bruninger (age 1}. Unfortunately, it is impossible to confirm


Several people have assisted in preparing this report. My
thanks are extended to Larry Cothran, a student at Appalachian
State University, who conducted field research and B.J. Griffin,
a seasonal ranger of the Blue Ridge Parkway who provided
extensive interviews with area residents. District Ranger Phil
Noblett was generous with his time and knowledge of the site.
Martha Bogle, NPS Interpretive Specialist, was kind to provide
extensive background information from the Blue Ridge Parkway
archives.

Much of the genealogical information about the Brinegars was
derived from a study by Mrs. Joyce B. Hory. Mrs. Hory, of
Snyder, New York, has done a commendable job of tracing the
Brinegar family back to Europe.

My colleague, Professor Carl Ross, Director of the Center
for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University, was
generous in sharing background materials and procedural advice.
Thanks also go to Eric Olson and Judy Ball in the William Eury
Collection at Appalachian State University.

A Study of this magnitude requires a good deal of guidance
and assistance from the National Park Service. This was
generously (and with good humor) provided by Art Allen,
Assistant Superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Allen
Hess, Cultural Resource Management Specialist. Mary Ann
Peckham, Blue Ridge Parkway representative to the Appalachian
Consortium Board of Directors, served as a valuable "sounding

board" in reacting to research strategies and conclusions.

vi


40

It is not difficult to imagine Caroline Brinegar, up by
four o'clock in the morning, sitting before the fireplace with
the dough tray on her knees. In the center would go flour and
sour, milk which she would "work" with her hands until it became
thick enough to bake. She may have used an old fashioned iron
"baker" for this purpose. The baker was placed in the fireplace
with hot coals on the bottom and top. People who have eaten
corn bread from this method of cooking say that nothing even
comes close to its flavor.

According to son John Brinegar and his wife Delia, Martin
and Caroline "raised a patch" of flax which, after undergoing
many steps of processing, became linen, or more commonly jeans,
for shirts, trousers, dresses, etc. Caroline, like other
mountain women at the turn of the century, made all of the
families clothes. Flax, of course, had been grown in Europe for
hundreds of years. One step in this process of turning flax to
linen was the combing out of the detritus and for this Caroline

used a round flax hackle like the one pictured below.

Round Flax Hackle


bitiat J

71
approved in advance by Blue Ridge Parkway officials. The sales
were intended to defray the cost of operating weaving
demonstrations.

In December, 1957, a five-year concessions permit was
issued by the Blue Ridge Parkway to Chatham Manufacturing
Company. The permit was issued with the understanding that
Chatham could cancel the agreement at the end of any year if the
operation became economically disadvantageous. This arrangement
appeared to be mutually beneficial through the first five-year
agreement.

Chatham placed a 150 year old four poster, two harness
hand loom in the Cabin which replicated the loom used by
Caroline Brinegar.>” In a 1962 article from the Winston-Salem
Journal, three “hostesses" were identified as working at the
Cabin. They were Mrs. Charles Harris, Mrs. Fred Edison, and
Mrs. T.P. Mayberry. The hostesses "make their demonstrations
count, for all the time they are showing visitors how the loom
operates they are turning out lovely handwoven rugs which are so
much in demand. In fact, the colorful fringed rugs are such a
popular gift item that orders far exceed the output of the
loom. "°*

"The 1962 season is the best yet," said Miss Erline
Mayberry, manager of the Chatham Country Store in Elkin, who was
in charge of the cabin. "We had more visitors this year than
ever before, virtually coming from every state in the
Union."*? —_

In 1962 the Cabin featured North Carolina crafts. The
most popular items were brother-sister dolls created. by Miss Iva

Tucker of the Pleasant Hill community of Elkin. "We average


80

life with emphasis on the Depression era - the period of the

last occupation."

The memo continued to recommend five sub-themes for on-site

interpretation:
1) Mountain agriculture
2) Mountain homesteading (1880-1935)
3) Martin Brinegar family
4) Mountain economy/development of "cottage industries"
5) Mountain dwellings/structures architecture

Given the site's cultural and interpretive significance the

Assistant Superintendent and Parkway staff recommended the

following:

Fiscal Year 1987:

1) Produce and install two wayside exhibits.

a) Brinegar Cabin exhibit tells story of
the Brinegars and development of
cottage industries.

b) Appalachian Garden exhibit describes
plants grown in a typical Appalachian
garden.

2) Provide on-site interpretation on Sat-
urdays and Sundays during at minimum,
peak visitation hours, e.g. 10 AM -

4 PM.

3) Begin to develop temporary exhibit for
interior of structure.

4) Initiate Historic Structures Report and

Historic Resources Report



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DENVER SERVICE CENTER
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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR gis NATIONAL PARK SERVICE



@ “APPRAISAL REPORT

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that I am familiar with the.values of such lands located in and around

3 that
Kart in Bringer Heirs

.. County, State of,

>, described: as

Rigat of Bay,

v g'
acres, timber and improvements, have a present grand total market valueTM
owes, MYL appraisal, as follows, is based on factors of established
“ base values: ‘for soil, merchantable timber and buildings; farm unit desirability.
(buildings, crop land, pasture and woodland considered together); location and ac-
cessibility; condition of improvements; near future productive value of Haber, c
value. of reservation to offerer, and recent non-sacrifice local sales.
» ITEM ACRES PER ACRE . | TOTAL,
Good crop land, including orchard & hay meadow... :
Fair crop land, including orchard & hay meadow...
Poor crop land, including orchard & hay. meadow.
“Grazing Or open pasture.
> Woodland(land value only. orp Us young
Waste land.
J. TOTAL FOR LAN
-Merchantable timber, hardwood.
Merchantable tinber, soft woo

BE ;
a

Other. (explain over
‘TOTAL. FOR IMPROVEM
TOTAL VALUE ‘OF TRACT (1, 2, 3).
-Additions for accessibility, potential.’
- Walues,..etc, (explain over)
Deduction for. naccessibility (explain over)
. Deduction for reservations, easements, etc. (explain over,
, APPRAISED GRAND TOTAL MARKET VALUE (4, 5,6, 7)
Offer.to Sell price of tract.

“Accepted... dasencsensenecasceseceeaceseenenates =


— —_—

aren

sy’ Appalachian Garden .,
: i; |

| LAPS
|

Potatoes . -2

ark Service
‘iment of the Interior

ae

Polebeans -:

. ae eer iy a
=v \ )
| -¢Oour ‘DE EXHIBIT PLAN “



PREFACE

This historic resource study and historic structures report
has been conducted under the rubric of a cooperative agreement
between the National Park Service and the Appalachian Consortium
which was executed July 9, 1986. Data contained in this report
will be used in interpretation, preservation/restoration and
Management needs at the site.

The study focuses on the land and structures which comprise
the homestead of Martin and Caroline Brinegar at milepost 238.5
in Doughton Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Included is
information about the Brinegar family, their values and mores,
building of the Cabin and support structures, daily life of
Martin and Caroline Brinegar, and their relationship with nearby
neighbors and the surrounding communities. Also included is
general information about settlement patterns in the Southern
Highlands at the turn of the century. A brief analysis of
management of the site by the National Park Service is also
provided.

Most of the research for this report was conducted in
Alleghany and Wilkes Counties in September and October, 1987.
Additional material was gathered in the Spring of 1988.

The historic structures report has been prepared by Eric
Swanson of the Rhode Island School of Design. The architectural
drawings, fabric analysis, and recommendations for treatment are
all a result of his labors. Appreciation is expressed for his

keen sensitivity to detail.


CERTIFICATE OF SURVEYOR
( Surveyed Areas )

f
C. G. Fender . do hereby certify

on @) Bat. I am a Licensed surveyor (State o of_North Carolina

@) That dn the employ of the United States Go
: "ment r entered upon and surveyed the Martin Brinegar ©
(Heirs) * —_ tract of Jand (with waich Tem
faniliar) designated ag tract Now | pre contain

. ing 85.7 _ eres:

That in determining. the s boundaries, due corside:



28

Framed Pit Saw

Mountain cabins, as noted by Kephart, Campbell, and other
leading historians have been built without windows, many with
but one door, and earth has frequently taken the place of wood
for the floor; but every cabin, however simple and bare, has its
fireplace. It was usually made of rough, native stone in
dimensions found near the cabin. The firebox was often shallow
and this narrow construction throws the heat out into the room,
although it often throws out a good supply of smoke also. The
requirements of living, however, were not so exact in pioneer
cabins as they are in more modern houses. Whatever the
dimensions, the fireplace was the dominant feature of the log
cabin, serving as the heating system, as a place for cooking, as
a forge, a ventilator, often an illuminating plant as well, and
as a center of sociability for which there was no substitute.
Only one who has been “brought up beside such a hearth can
understand the hold it has.??

Comfortable, cheerful, and attractive as the fireplace

usually is, sometimes a more esthetic feature from an


13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.

21.
22.

Notes

Theodore Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, New York: C.
T. Putnam and Sons, 1900.

_Carl C. Zimmerman an Richard E. Du Wors, Graphic Regional

Sociology, Cambridge, Mass.: Phillips Books, 1952.

Jack E. Weller, Yesterday's People, Lexington, Kentucky:
University of Kentucky Press, 1965.

Allen H. Eaton, Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands, New
York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1937.

Ibid, Weller.
Ibid.
Joyce B. Hory, Brinegar family genealogy. Unpublished.

Ralph B. Strassburger, Pennsylvania German Pioneers,
Baltimore: Baltimore Genealogical Society, 1966.

Ibid., Hory.
Ibid.
Ibid.

Alleghany County Genealogical Society, Alleghany County
Heritage, 1983.

Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Interview with Kyle Brinegar.

Wilkes Genealogical Society, The Heritage of Wilkes County,
1982.

Ibid.
Ibid.


Ltt J

82
3) NPS and volunteer personnel provide on-
site interpretation on a daily basis,

May ~- November.

Chapter VII

Recommendations For Further Research

This research, and that conducted previously by National
Park Service personnel, suggest that the Brinegar Cabin site
(Cabin, Granary, Spring House and grounds) represent a unique
opportunity to depict with considerable accuracy the lifestyle
of a Southern Highland family at the turn of the century. I
recommend focusing on this historic period because the nuclear
family was present.

The lives of Martin and Caroline Brinegar and children are
representative of countless other Highland families who endured
the hardship of mountain life. They shared good times and bad
in relative isolation from much of the "progress" in the larger
society. Their daily lives, their values and mores, provide an
important basis for reflection and comparison with those of
contemporary American society. ;

This research also confirms the necessity to avoid
oversimplification and stereotyping, which has so often
jeopardized the historic accuracy of portrayals of Southern
Highland life. Martin and Caroline Brinegar were clearly
atypical from many of their neighbors in contiguous counties
when considering political and religious beliefs. Their beliefs

merit additional evaluation and study.


10
Martin Brinegar's grandfather because the census from 1850 lists
Thomas, his wife Sarah, and a son named John William. John
William Brinegar was Martin's father.

John William Brinegar

John William Brinegar was born in 1833 to Thomas and Sarah
Brinegar. He was married on November 6, 1854 to Mary "Polly" Cc.
Holloway. (See Appendix E, F) They had three sons, the oldest
being James Martin Brinegar of Brinegar Cabin, who was born
December 11, 1856. Thomas Marshall "“Parsh" followed in 1858 (or
'59) and Isaac Franklin "Frank" in 1861.

John William Brinegar fought with the Confederacy in
Company D, 33rd Regiment of the North Carolina Infantry during
the Civil War. {Military service records, National Archives,
Washington, D.C.) Military records are confusing, however, as
two John W. Brinegars apparently fought in the War. Martin's
father, though, is believed to have died at Sharpsburg on
September 17, 1862 in the infamous Battle of Antietam. Brinegar
was one of three soldiers from the 33rd Regiment that died at
Sharpsburg. In what is known as the single bloodiest day of
fighting in the entire Civil War, some 23,500 Union and
Confederate soldiers were lost. ,

The place of burial of Martin's father is shrouded in
mystery. According to Joyce Hory, who has conducted an
exhaustive family genealogy, there were two John Brinegar's
serving in Company D and both were killed at Sharpsburg. She
says "it is my feeling that the attached military service
records (See Appendix G, H, I, J, K) of John W. Brinegar pertain
to two men: John W. Brinegar of Salem, Richardson County,

Nebraska and J. William Brinegar of Wilkes County, NC.


52
a small orchard of apple trees on the property. "Grandpa
grafted apples all the time," said Kyle. The orchard was

located just below the current rock wall which was constructed
for the parking lot. "Mart had, oh, I'd say 25 to 30 apple
trees."

Sherman Caudill, a neighbor and friend, reminisced about
Martins' small orchard. "The Pruitts used to live on down
toward basin Creek and we used to meet over at Uncle Mart's
(although not related, "uncle" was commonly used as a reflection
of friendship). We loved to go in the wintertime because he
always had a bunch of those limber twig apples. They was really
good about February or March. He kept them in the root cellar."

"He had several apple trees," continued Caudill, "the best
was them Virginia Beauties and the ol' timey Limber Twigs. They
lasted and stayed good all winter long. Now we didn't have any
apples like that down at our place."

John Brinegar remembers his father keeping cattle, sheep
and hogs. "We used a team of oxen to plow and tend crops. In
the spring," said John, "we turned the hogs loose in the woods
to fatten on mayapples, chestnuts and acorn mast. Then in the
fall we rounded ‘um up to take them to market." He added that
"people nowadays wonder how we managed to catch the hogs after
runnin' wild all summer. But by then the hogs were so fat they
couldn't do much running around. In fact, it took us a long
time to round them up because they were so fat they had to lie
down and rest every few minutes!"*7

Like most mountaineers, John said that the family grew
cabbage and potatoes to sell in the fall. With the cash they
purchased flour, sugar and other staples not grown on the

farm.




73
garden was planted and cultivated resembling the Martin Brinegar
garden. Often wearing period dress, a volunteer or an employee
interpreted mountain agriculture, the mountain homestead and the
mountain “way of life" while completing tasks in and about the
garden. Maintenance personnel provided the major upkeep
services for the garden. Following the summer of 1983 garden
cultivation and volunteer/employee interpretive services were
discontinued. Park staff believed the “garden program" was not
effective and by then was suffering from a shortage of
volunteers and NPS staff. Since 1983, interpretation has been
unscheduled and non-routine.

Interpretive efforts at the Cabin have been difficult to
sustain. This difficulty seems to have centered around the need
for concessionaires to be profitable and yet maintain the
historical and geographical integrity of the items for sale.
The early agreement with Chatham Manufacturing Company was a
commendable management effort on the part of NPS. Recent
interpretive efforts utilizing volunteers and seasonal employees
are helpful but cannot begin to adequately provide for the high
volume of visitation traffic at the site.

When viewed from an historical perspective, NPS management
of the structures at the Brinegar Cabin site has been positive.
Efforts have generally been made to ensure the historic
integrity of the site. An unfortunate exception was the
demolition of the barn to make way for the roadway. Each of the
three other original structures (Cabin, Granary, and Spring
House) have been well preserved with a minimum of replacement

fabric.



mmm He eee He ee ewe ee we ee eee ee

34
desired length, hewn smooth on two opposite sides and notched at
the ends. “Laying the logs" was a heavy job and required the
help of neighbors. He found willing helpers like Elbert Crouse,
his closest neighbor, and among his friends in nearby Pine
Swamp. *°

At the turn of the century a house-raising (as the laying
of logs was commonly called) served several important community
functions. First, and most important, it served a utilitarian
purpose by enabling the proud and independent Highlander to get
the assistance he needed with a demanding job. Without strong,
able-bodied help the cabin could never have been built. There
was also a social element to the house raising. It brought
families together and contributed to a bond of trust and
understanding among neighbors. Good food was always available
to sustain the effort.

Alex Stewart, an early Southern Highlander, speaks of

house raising in John Rice Irwin's book Portrait of a Pioneer:

"J don't know at the house raisings I've went to. I bet you
I've been to 25 or 30 of them. What a time we'd have at a house
raising! And the cookin’ - usually big fat hens with dumplins,
beans, pickled corn, kraut, and big old cobbler pies. And no
one never did think about charging a penny."

After the logs were in place Martin calked them with
clay. The roof was covered with oak boards or "shakes" and
"laid arm's length to the weather." According to Irwin, a roof
was never put on during the "new of the moon" because mountain
folklore held that the shakes would soon curve into a crescent

like the moon itself.


46
scythe sharp.** The scythe, often called a reap hook, was
used to cut grain. Kyle Brinegar remembers the scythe as an

indispensable but "contrary" tool around the cabin.

Lis]

Brier Scythe

When the first Southern Highlanders migrated down from
Pennsylvania, they often brought no more than a gun, knife, axe
and an auger. Martin used a two inch auger (according to Kyle
Brinegar) in pegging together the log house, the rafts, perhaps
a sled (which by the way, was used more in summer than in

winter), and in making some of the more primitive furniture.

Auger

\


Subject

a

Structure
location

Panel

orientation

Purpose

Content 10/86
Blue Ridge Parkway

Low Profile

Wayside Exhibit Plan

Exhibit 079

Brinegar Cabin

MP 238.5

To present a brief history of the Brinegars and

cottage industry

at


EHH HE et EE FE ET i nHnhmH HH He HE F&F

51
had to just to get along. And she worked ever’ bit as much as
he did."

This industriousness is consistent with the observations

of Horace Kephart in his classic work Our Southern Highlanders.

He states "Rarely do we find mountaineers who loaf all day on
the floor or the doorstep like so many of the poor whites in the
lowlands. If not laboring, they at least must be doing
something, be it no more than walking ten miles to shoot a
squirrel or visit a crony. As aclass they have great and
restless physical energy. Considering the quantity and quality
of what they eat there is no people who can beat them in
endurance of strain and privation. They are great walkers and
carriers of burdens."*°

This industriousness seems ironic today, given the
Highlanders disregard for time. He lived by rhythms other than
the hour, day or week. The rhythms of the seasons, of hunting
and fishing, of gardening and weaving, these provided the paces
for Martin and Caroline.

Perhaps the most striking characteristic of Martin and
Caroline's life was their independence. Both heredity and
environment conspired to make them extreme individualists. -In
their veins ran the blood of the German and Scotch-Irish
immigrants who left their homeland for the unknown spaces of the
free land. Year by year their forebears lived the solitary life
of the pioneer, facing alone the hardships of the wilderness.
They were lovers of freedom.

"They were totally self-reliant people," said their
grandson Kyle Brinegar. They grew the vegetables they consumed

and maintained livestock for slaughter. Martin also maintained


Ep HE ase &S

Hott

47

Two items used in the springhouse were the stone fruit jar
and the long handle goard.** While the term "fruit jar"
connotes a glass type jar to most of us, these stone jars were
widely used for canning apples or other fruit. They were capped
with small stone lids and sealed with wax. The long-handle
dipper goard was used for drinking at the spring. In an attempt
to make the goard longer, Highlanders would tie a weight to the
suspended goard as it grew, in the belief that it would stretch
and be a better dipper. Kyle Brinegar states that Caroline

"kept milk in the fruit jars and put them in the Spring House."

Stone Fruit Jars

Two related items which were probably used in Martin's
granary or in the Spring House were the log barrel and the
wooden stand. Although artisans of Europe were making barrels
of staves and hoops hundreds of years before immigration to
America, the process required a rather sophisticated skill and
special tools. Nevertheless, when Martin and Caroline first
settled, they needed containers for grain, molasses, lard soap,
salt, honey and other essentials. Martin made such containers
from short sections of logs like the one depicted below. These

logs were called salt gums or bee gums because the most commonly


76
deterioration and providing structural safety, but does not
contemplate significant rebuilding. Preservation includes
techniques of arresting or slowing the deterioration of a
property; improvement of structural conditions to make a
structure safe, habitable, or otherwise useful; and normal
maintenance and minor repairs that do not change or adversely
affect the fabric or historic appearance."

Five restorative steps were to be taken as follows:
1. Drainage
A ditch will be dug along the up-hill sides of the cabin
and shed and perforated drain pipes will be laid at the level of
the base of the foundation stones. The ditch will be filled to
within one foot of the surface with gravel and the remaining one
foot will be filled with dirt with grass cover. Some sloping
up-hill from the cabin and shed will-be undertaken to divert
surface water away from the foundations.
2. Foundation
Due to water damage, the foundation of the cabin and
shed are in need of some restorative work. Where needed, the
foundation will be realigned and the stones relaid dry.
3. Weatherboarding
The weatherboarding of the cabin and shed will be
inspected and, where necessary, will be replaced in kind with
one-inch by six-inch rough-sawed pine material. Every effort
will be made to retain and/or repair original fabric.
4. Chimneys
The joints of the chimneys of the cabin have weathered

severely and are in need of repointing. The repointing will be


am

THE BRINEGAR CABIN



41

Another item which is believed to have been an important
piece of furniture for Martin and Caroline was the blanket
chest. Again, probably unadorned of color or decoration, this
was utilitarian like all the other furnishings. The blanket

chest was usually placed at the foot of the bed.

Blanket Chest

While most of the items inside the house were used and
maintained by Caroline, one important exception was the long
rifle. Those made in Pennsylvania were usually ornate and very
well crafted. The Kentucky, Tennessee and Carolina long rifles
were generally strictly utilitarian. This was, of course, one
of the most important items the Highlander owned. It was the
male equivalent of the loom in importance because it provided
protection and game for eating. It is interesting to note that
Caroline was well versed in the use of this muzzle loader.??
This was important in the event that a bear, wolves, or

"panther" paid an unwelcome visit.


Homestead 4

National Park Service .
U.S. Department of the Interior

HEE RATE ~4
7 er’ :
-BEUE-RIDGE-PARK WAY: Exhibit ,
WAYSIDE EXHIBIT PLAN 081



DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Salisbury, Ne C.,
April 26, 1937.

Sam Pe Weems, Esquire,

Project Manager,

. Appalachian National Parkwy,
:Départment of the Interior,

~ Galax, Virginiae — ‘ae : ‘. }

Re: Tract 21, Appalachian National.
Parkway Project, 28.1 acres, .:)
Alleghany County, John W. :
Brinegare

2 There has been received check payable to. John We
Brinegar in the sum of $320.00, to cover purchase price for.
Tract Noe 21, consisting of 28.1 acres, when the exceptions
‘hereinafter nazed have been eliminated: : tet

“Us AL taxes and assescxents ‘due and x="
E igible. i ;

Proper showing that’ caption tract, a
shown on the map,.is wholly covered by’:
the deed and grant shown at pages 3. and

% of the abstract, and is wholly within.
the boundaries of the deed ‘shown at page:

Proper showing that the portion of. cap-
“tion tract covered. by the grant’on page
3s of the abstract, is’ covered by no erent.
prior thereto.

, That it be shown. by you what advancenents, »
sift anys have been: made to the Proponents ee

That the tract io and is, ‘or is ‘not, oce
> eupied by, tenants.) If the former prevails:
: and there are outstanding any contracts

for lease, removal’ of buildings or Cropss
or other purposes, the sane should be evi- —
denced by separate instruments, effective
after delivery of deed. If occopuancyis
not regulated by. written instruments, the
same should be approved in writing by your
administration.



iq
i
|
il

Title
080-1

Crop listing

o80-2

Appalachian Garden

flax

pole beans
pumpkin
potatoes
tomatoes

=

_ =

Caption
080-3

Caption
oRo-4

buckwheat
dipper gourd
corn

mint

squash

3

Labels 10/86
Blue Ridge Parkway

Low Profile

Wayside Exhibit Plan

Exhibit 080

Flax had many uses on +he mountain farms, Fibers

from the flax stem were spun into yarn and woven

into linen of remarkable durability and strength.

Linseed, the flax seed, helped fatten cattle.

Brewed with flax leaves,

common cold ailments.

linseed tea relieved

Dipper gourds, still grown ia-the—monmtains, were

hollowed out and used at the well, to take a drink

of cool water. Yo harden the gourd shell, gourds

were kept on the vines for several frosts. They

were then picked and dried until the seeds inside


Art
081-4

Graphics 10/286
Blue Ridge Parkway

Low Profile

Wayside Exhibit Plan

Exhibit 081

Photograph of Martin Caudill’s cabin

nothing

= oo ee ee ee Le Le ee ee 2


mae He ee weeaw ee we EE ae ee eee ss

II.

Tit.

Iv.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
PLEEACE. . cece eee eee eee cece cece errs e ress eeeeeesesesees V
Origins of the Southern Highlander
Ancestry........- wee ccc eee eee ence eect cececeee L

Settlement Patterns.
Family Patterns... cece cc ccc ccc ccc eee were esas eeeaes

Family Life and Genealogy

Ancestry.........-- sence
John William Brinegar...
Martin Brinegar.........
Caroline Joines Brinegar...
Marriage, Children and Kin Folk........ceecceeevceeseel7

The Cabin and Its Furnishings

Types of Mountain Cabins... .. ce cece cece cece eee eee 22
The Brinegar Cabin Setting.. sees wee 30
Furnishings of the Cabin... .. ccc ccc ccc cee w eee cent eens 36

Life at the Brinegar Cabin... ... cece cc ccc eee eee ee ee AY

Relationship to the Community........ccccec cess eee ee ee 64

Management by the National Park Service...........0..6-70

Recommendations for Further Research......eeee cece ee ee 82

Historic Basé Map

Notes

Appendices

Annotated Bibliography

ii




64

Delia Brinegar says that liquor was only used for medicinal
purposes, snakebites and colds. Grandson Kyle confirms this
with an interesting recollection: mother never had a drop of
store bought medicine until just before she died. Medical
doctors were “scarce as hens teeth" and almost impossible to
"git ahold of."

Among the ingredients used for medicine were Boneset tea for
colds and pneumonia, Wild Cherry Bark for cough syrup, whiskey
for measles, and Yellow Root or Goldenseal for eye infections
and skin diseases. The most common treatment for colic was
making a "poultice" of hot ashes from the fireplace. Horehound
was used for emphysema. Black Cohast was believed to be
beneficial for heart disorders and Witch Hazel was used as an
astringent. Ladies Slipper was the choice for treating nervous
disorders and Sumach was used as a remedy for sore throats.
Blackberry Root was valued in treating diarrhea.

All of these roots and herbs were in great demand by drug
dealers who would sell them to manufacturers of medicine
throughout this country: and abroad. During the 1920's, A.F.
Phillips of Wilkes County was buying more than 130 different
roots and herbs. Today, chemists derive much of the same

ingredients from coal.**

Chapter V

Relationship to the Community

Today when one visits Brinegar Cabin, even the most casual
observer is struck by two predominant themes: First is the

anthropoids beauty of the Cabin setting and second, the



50
behind. The Brinegars stand as a reminder of a quality of life
that has become rare in contemporary society. They knew they
belonged.

This sense of place was important to Martin and Caroline.
Like most of their neighbors, they were stay-at-homes. The
outside world held little attraction. The center of their world
was the home they had fashioned with their own hands and the
land which provided both solitude and bliss. For them and other
Highlanders, the mountains were a shield from the outside
world. Their reality was the plot of land they knew so
intimately, their fixed place, the central axis of their lives.
The longest trips ever taken were to Wilkesboro, 20 miles from
the Cabin, to pay taxes. And while Martin walked seven miles to
church each month, Caroline stayed closer to home. It was this
sense of place which kept Caroline at the Cabin, fully a decade
after Martin's death. Only the coming of the "turnpike" could
separate her from their home of over 50 years. For to be at
one's cabin home manifested order, harmony, permanence, health
and safety. One's land was not merely a patch of dirt or an
economic unit; it always expressed something transcendent. Its
meaning was not abstract or intellectual; it was concretely and
intimately connected with the fundamental realities of a
satisfying life.

Unlike the stereotypes projected by media today, mountain
people like the Brinegars were hard working. They had to be to
survive. Martin and Caroline would arise about four in the
morning to begin their daily chores. "He always stayed busy,"

remembers neighbor Sherman Caudill. “Of course we-all did, we


geurpr

Rubreriion ComulryTM 0. at ro ae sepa 8M

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE

ORDER FOR COPIES—VETERANS RECORDS

DATE RECEIVED

“Brene Ga r) (See reverse for exolonatton)
CBeina ger IDENTIFICATION OF VETERAN
1. NAWME-OP-¥ETERAN (Last nane, firet, middle) 2. OATE OF BIRTH 3. PLACE OF BIRTH
Brineqgar = John W Jan (2 1826 Tenn
4. WAR IN WHICH OR DATES BETWEEN WHICH HE SERVED} 5. STATE FROM WHICH HE 6. UNIT IN WHICH HE SERVED (Name of regiment or
vos | SERVED. number, company, etc., 2 name of ship)
Cron vu. C. Co D 33 Tht.
7. BRANCH IN WHICH HE SERVED 8. KIND OF SERVICE] 9. IF SERVICE WAS CIVIL WAR
[7] weary (1 cavatey Cy arriteery DD ww (O) vowwwreers D0 won
1 otaer rspeot fy) (J Reoutars [EF] conreverare
fO. PLACE(S) WHERE VETERAN LIVED AFTER SERVICE it. PENSION OR BOUNTY 12. NAME OF WIDOW OR OTHER CLAIMANT
LAND FILE NUMBER
13. 1F VETERAN LIVED IN A HOME FOR SOLDIERS, 14, DATE OF DEATH 15. PLACE OF DEATH
ENTER LOCATION (City and State)
ar 13, 1862 c.Ww.
16. CHECK RECORD DESIRED 17. INDICATE HERE THE NUMBER OF
ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THIS
7] Penston [Lleounty Lano (Service before 1856 only) a orurracr FORM (GSA FORM 6751) DESIRED
INSTRUCTIONS
Submit a separate form for each veteran. Do not send payment with your order. You will be
billed $1 for each record sent. Mail your order to: tn Ww
Military Service Records (NNC: 0,3 3Nwe
National Archives (GSA)
Washington, DC 20408 1/) Saban We Bree
. ° DO NOT WRITE IN THIS AREA By WO XL
. REPLY v
RECORD(S) ENCLOSED __-——~ [] PENSION (C7 eounry tan Cp atitane |
RECURD(S) NOT FOUND (1 Pension (D sounry uno DD miuitary

AY PODISUDIG® eC
he oy A VOY / Uy
oo oa

been iy 1avbuc

WE FOUND
VETERANS NAMED ON THE ENCLOSED GSA FORMS 6751.
THESE FILES BY RETURNING THE ENCLOSED FORMS.

WHEN WE ARE UNABLE TO FIND A RECORD FOR A VETERAN, THIS DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN THAT HE DID
NOT SERVE. YOU MAY BE ABLE TO OBTAIN MORE INFORMATION ABOUT HIM FROM THE STATE ADJUTANT
GENERAL OF THE STATE CONCERNED.

PLEASE COMPLETE BLOCKS | (GIVE FULL NAME), 4, AND 5 ON THE REVERSE OF THIS FORM AND RESUBMIT.

(7) see artacuen sit.

PENSION OR BOUNTY LAND FILES, AND MILITARY SERVICE FILES FOR THE DIFFERENT
YOU WAY ORDER COPIES OF SELECTED DOCUMENTS FROM

SEE ATTACHED FORMS/LEAFLETS .
[[1 wite Be sent ey THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

M0738 S100 HL NIHLIM (3009 dIZ SNIGNIONI) SSIYCCY GNY BMVN UNDA 3dAL YO INTUd

Bil

(71 4 Reruno oF $ 1 1s enctoseo, REFUND AUTHORIZATION
CASHIER SEARCHER: DATE /
ME Be G-F-7

—_—N oho uu Aingge
CSA

ery

GSA FORM 675) (REV, 7-71)



24
window became a serious bone of contention. Windows would open
the cabin to the outside world and thus began the "people who
live in glass houses" debate. To some windows conveyed a lack
of respect for the privacy of the family. Tradition gave way to
the new technology and increasingly cabins had at least one
"winder."

The simplest of these typical old-time log cabins was made
of hewn logs in the form of a parallelogram with a roof of split
oak boards. A chimney at one end was built usually of stone
with clay for mortar, although when stones were hard to get,
sticks and clay served for the upper part. The single door was
swung on heavy wooden hinges or leather straps made usually from
the hide of a wild animal. In the early days the aperture of
the window, when there was one, was not covered with glass, but
with split boards swung on handmade hinges which, when opened,
let in not only the light but whatever kind of weather happened
to be outside. The usual light for the interior of the house
would be firelight from the hearth, supplemented in fair weather
by daylight from the opened door or in rare cases from the
so-called window.?7

In certain instances a marrow, sometimes vertical,
sometimes horizontal opening, would be made in the wall to the
right or left of the fireplace, a small space the height of one
or two logs and varying in width from a peephole to about two
feet. This would afford a lookout and also let in a shaft of
light. In this combination of an open fire and a primitive
window, the mountain family had two sources of beauty and
comfort that many city dwellers would envy, a wood fire and a

clear glimpse of the starry heavens.


20
plowed with a heavy plow and a team of oxen. They raised almost
all of their food. For a money crop they raised sheep and sold
the wool. They also sold chickens and eggs.7*

One of Verl's most vivid memories of the Cabin revolved
around the 1934 Bullhead Fire. For days the forest on Bullhead
Mountain burned. Verl and his grandparents moved all of their
belongings out of the Cabin. As the flames grew near, Caroline
climbed on top of the Cabin and Verl and others carried water
from the spring. She poured the water over the roof to prevent
sparks from setting it ablaze.??

Another grandson who spent a great deal of time with
Martin and Caroline was Elmer Pruitt. He was one of five
children born to the marriage of LouRena Brinegar Pruitt and
Squire Pruitt. According to Sherman Caudill, Elmer was the
victim of a childhood disease. "He had somethin' called white
swellin' when he was little and it left him cripple. He used
two canes and kinda jumped along. He stayed there (with Martin
and Caroline) the biggest part of the time. Elmer was a good
feller. He had the strongest arms of any man I ever saw. I
guess it was walkin' with those canes. He stayed with Martin
and Caroline because his mother and daddy lived way down next to
Basin Creek and he couldn't climb in and out of there. He went
to school some with me at Air Bellows School, about
three-quarters of a mile from the Cabin toward Whitehead."

Anna Joines Edwards, the niece of Martin and Caroline
Brinegar, wrote a letter to the "Alleghany News" in 1952, on the
eccasion of her return to visit the Cabin from her home in

Cardiff, Maryland. A portion of that letter reads:


enka ea at ae

33

(Wontecdeorate.

Gils:

__|N-o.

+

Ls

‘Go. ©, {® Rept N North Curvlina

Infantry (State Troops).* fi

Appears on

Company Muster Roll

Prevent or absent ff i) ae

H Remarl

Ths Iy becazns »,
| Bere aren oopep

mer

ache Che

Ly £7] 33 Regs M
gt North Curohi
+1 Cain | Tetnty @tate Too
Appears on

Company Muster Boll”

of the organization named above,

(conrevenatE,)

(Sonfederate.)

33 [No

<< | LA SVG
Aeieg

Nene appears on
Register

of Claims of Deceased Officers and Soldiers from

North Carolina which were filed for settlement

in the Office of the Confederate States Auditor
for the Wer Department,

By whom penis Li spat: Hid

Miche. 24.. 1863.

intra Bf fils

To what time ___-_.

Preseut or absent —

Remarke:

Comptroller:

When reported to.
When “Feturned —
Wumber of ectflemente:
Certificates

ot

Regiment
Lk Caroling Troops.

: Roll of Honor*
of the organization named above.

County 72 thd.
Date of entrance into servi 198/.

%.
Age-Z55 ; Vol.or * Cooscit Lak,
pelea when 2.
Ljulia

Aspount found dae +

Compiled in the Ofice of the Adjutant General of the State
of North Carotina in accordance with reselutions matised by
the General Asermbiy of thas Bate'm December 20, 1862

This card was made from the original record borrowed from
the Adjutant Geaeeal of North Gxrollen oA, 8, 1088147,



Hist

32
in a cabin which was originally on the 125 acres until Martin
built the present cabin. He began construction of the cabin in
1886. Caroline related in later years that the cabin was
completed when John was six months old. That would place
completion of the cabin in early 1889.**

Martin and Caroline bought property on two other
occasions. When the Parkway acquired the property, Caroline had
three deeds, the deed for the initial 125-acre purchase Martin
made form Henderson Crouse and two unrecorded deeds. The
unrecorded deeds totaled 19 1/4 acres. They listed a purchase
of 10 3/4 acres from Henderson Crouse in February of 1893 anda
purchase of 8 1/2 acres form F.L. Richardson in October, 1900.
At some point, Martin and Caroline sold 55 3/4 acres to R.L.
Church according to Parkway records. This resulted in a
Brinegar property totaling 88.5 acres. Parkway records
indicate, however, that 85.7 acres were purchased from Caroline
and heirs in the transference of Tract 24 on November 12, 1935.
(See Appendix N)

As stated earlier, the Cabin location on the crest of the
Blue Ridge Mountains provided a vista of unparalleled variety
and beauty. The view to the southeast on a clear day was over
fifty miles, extending to Wilkesboro and beyond the Yadkin River
Valley to the piedmont lowlands. To the northwest, the Peach
Bottom Mountains and parallel tiers of mountain ranges were
etched from the Blue Ridge Plateau by the ancient New River. In
the far distance, beyond the hulking forms of several mountains,
is the long outline of the Iron Mountain Range, which formed the

western border of the Blue Ridge Plateau along the Great Valley.


DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICS : JADSRL

Saliebury, Ne Ces
Yay 11, 1937

Ic

4
3. Pe. Yeome, Esquire, ~
Project Manager,
Department of the Interior,
National Park Service,
Galax, Virginia.
: : Re; Blue Ridge Parkway,
Dear ir, Woanss (|

oY am advised by Je Le Gookerhan, equi oy
Avea Attorney, that the following named tracts) kre in
readiness for olcs ing;

Traot Roe 2, Surry vounty, J

Tract Noe 4, Surry County, J
. Bract Bose 0, Surry vount,

Pract Hoe 14, Surry vo

frag al iy MGA La.2'e Utinegar.
“Tvaot Noe 21, Sliegheny v Le yd Brinegar

T shall ve

G £ the Jiegiater of
Deeds for durry County BO. 9550 Ae Me,
Monday morning, May/i7th, and\:t sparta, Uffica of the
Register of Deeds, |qt 9:30 Ae/ He, Tugsdsy Vorning, May 18
for the purpess of tha sbove named tracts
and dediversnggaee eversl proponentee

Respectfully, —

3. Allen Dunn,
Speoial Attomey.

(Letter f11e4 in Tract Hoe 2, J. ve Boxley.)


56
Like most mountain women, Caroline was fearless. The

Basin Cove area was full of poisonous snakes and wildcats. Her

reputation as a "snake killer" was legend among her
grandchildren. She "killed more copperheads and rattlers than
you could haul off in a wagon." Not “ary bit afraid," she

killed them with anything at hand, be it a rock or a rail.

Caroline was also a great storyteller. This lost art has
often been associated with the early settlers of the Highlands.
Storytelling was important not only as entertainment but also as
a means of passing on to the children the heritage and
traditions. Emma Miles suggests: "It is scarcely too much to
say that every man and woman in the mountains, is, in one way or
another, superstitious." The "booger" may be dreams, or charms
against diseases; it may be some absurd fear of owls, or ghosts,
er burning certain kinds of wood, or carrying a hoe through the
house. This may have come from the old Irish or the Cherokee.
Their superstitions and tales of goblins and giants were often
the theme of Caroline's stories. Her children and grandchildren
sat spellbound as Caroline wove tales of adventure. One of her
favorites was of a panther stalking a man, wife and baby as they
were walking up a steep mountain path. The big cat came closer
as night set in. They escaped with their lives by tearing off
bits of their clothing and leaving them on the path, distracting
the panther who couldn't resist stopping to scream and tear the
clothing to shreds.

The Brinegar's, like their neighbors and other Highlanders
at the turn of the century, had little desire to engage in the
cash economy. They were largely self-sufficient, growing and

making what they needed. They often confronted scarcity by


@ e nee
~ 12
2 UNITED STATES 1 ge
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR ew

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE é -
WASHINGTON ,

‘ NOTICE OF DISBURSEMENT

The Treasurer of the United States has issued check to:

(vendor)

<Rnettville, He Bo
SMa (address)

OO Deed APR 93 1937
320.00

In the Amount of §.

: (For = — acres of ‘land at $. poi"
(For. ar = acres.of land for the sum 0

Site Aoquisition Account #L-__ 932
Tract ~€.- :
Proj ects _tppatashtan Partoy

: Appropriation :



74

unfortunately, the biotic cultural resources at the Brinegar

Cabin site have not been well preserved. Many of the important

landscape features associated with an historical accurate

depiction of the lives of Martin and Caroline Brinegar are
missing.

The garden, which was located between the Cabin and the
roadway, no longer exists. The Brinegars were subsistence
farmers and their daily existence was directly related to this
agricultural effort. One cannot depict with integrity what life
was like in the Southern Highlands without representing some
form of subsistence gardening.

The orchard, which was also an important part of the
historic landscape, is no longer present. Consisting of
approximately 25-30 trees, the orchard represented a valuable
source of food and contained what we refer to today as “antique"
varieties. It also influenced the visual appearance of the
area.

The interconnected systems of land, air and water, native
vegetation and wildlife were all important to the integrity of
the Brinegar Cabin site. Livestock were absolutely critical to
survival. The goats, horses, chickens, hogs and cows which the
Brinegars raised are no longer present. Their rooting,
scratching, and grazing are important in accurately depicting
this natural environment.

Among the major alterations to the Brinegar Cabin Site since
1935 is the construction of a parking lot above the site of the
flax field. Additionally, NPS constructed an outhouse which is

inconspicuously situated near the Cabin. This was for use by


Eneenmen RHE ee ee eee Ue lel

26

covering the roof, and in the older cabins the boards for the
door frames and the doors themselves. The logs, or "poles," as
they are sometimes called, used as joists to support the floor
of the loft, were of carefully selected small tree trunks. Oak,
hickory, walnut, poplar, or maple, were smoothed with the
broadax on all sides to bring them to a uniform plane. Along
with the rafters, the logs would be further smoothed with the
drawing, an old but very useful tool in the mountains. After
the strong log walls were completed and the framework in place,
three more essentials were required to complete the cabin; the
floors, roof, and doors. The '‘puncheon" floors were either hewn
aS smooth as possible with a block plane or broadax or cut with

an adz from timbers split out of the log.

Block Plane and Foot Adz

The boards that covered the roof were thin, narrow, split
strips about half an inch thick, four to eight inches wide, two
to three feet long, and laid on the roof. These were made
usually of oak or hickory and were split with a froe, a

Pp

long-bladed tool with a handle on one end. The blade was driven

into the wood by the stroke of a hardwood maul on the back

edge. The board then splits off or is pried off.




Liisi)

7
the exact relationship of these immigrants and the presence of
two young males with the same name remains a mystery. The most
probable explanation is a mistake in recording by the ship's
captain How long the family was in Rotterdam before setting
sail for America is unknown.”

The earliest proven Brinegar ancestor in America was Adam
Brininger. The passenger list of Ship Britannia, 1731, shows
two Hans Adam Bruningers.* Born in 1725 or 1730, Adam had
moved south from Pennsylvania to Rowan County, North Carolina,
where his name appears on the tax roles in 1759. In 1766 he
wrote his will, leaving a 600 acre plantation to sons Adam and
John. To his oldest son Jacob, he left an undetermined amount
of cash.?

Although Adam and John were left the plantation in the
will, they apparently never gained legal possession. Along with
other lands, including 640 adjoining acres where son Jacob
probably lived, it was entered for consideration as land grant
acreage in North Carolina in 1778 by John Johnston. His
application was granted five years later in 1783. ‘Two years
later, Johnson sold 440 acres of this tract for eleven pounds.
The aforementioned land is now in Davie County, just east of
Mocksville.?*° A record of this will is available under "Rowan
County Wills" in the North Carolina Division of Archives and
History, Raleigh. (See Appendix A, B, C)

Jacob Brinegar, (1745-1783) the oldest son of Adam
Brininger of Rowan County, North Carolina, represents the third
generation of Brinegars in America. On December 5, 1768 he

married Mary Prock, daughter of Paul and Margaret Prock of Rowan


75
interpretive personnel on site. Pathways between the buildings
were constructed and either paved or set with flagstones. The
materials used in this construction have led to a serious
disintegration of the historic setting. The "feeling" of the
site has been altered, as has the natural rhythm associated with
the normal cyclical patterns of times past.

The site currently has virtually none of the furnishings or
farm tools which lend historic integrity. With the exception of
a shuttle loom like the one Caroline Brinegar used and two
Strait-back chairs, the Cabin is unfurnished. There is no
display of tools or other items of material culture which are
associated with the Southern Highland farm.

The efforts of the National Park Service to preserve the
historical integrity of Brinegar Cabin is reflected in the
nomination and acceptance of the Cabin to the National Register
of Historic Places in January, 1972. This was obviously an
important step in preserving the historic integrity of the site.

In 1975, NPS performed a major restoration of the Cabin.
The objective was to assure the long-term preservation of the
structure. The major problems identified by NPS were:

1) Decayed weatherboarding on both the cabin and the Granary

2) Fountain damage caused by inadequate drainage.

3) Damage to chimneys and roofs caused by weathering and decay.
The maintenance was performed in accordance with Department of
Interior Executive Order 11593. These standards define
"preservation" as:

"...the application of measures designed to sustain the form
and extent of an...historic structure essentially in its

existing role. ‘Preservation aims at halting further



5)

6)

7)

Fiscal Year 1988
1)
2)

3)
4)

Fiscal Year 1989
1)

2)
3)
4)
Fiscal Year 1990
1)

2)

Initiate action for site Interpretive
Prospectus (IP)

Prepare Site Bulletin initially for free
distribution and eventually develop as a
self-supporting sales item.

Design and prepare additional wayside ex-
hibit panels for placement on the Cabin
grounds, e.g. describing springhouse,

homestead architecture, etc.

Fund and complete HSR and HRS.

Initiate action for Historic Furnishings
Study

Prepare site IP

Provide minimum personal services -

interpretation on weekends.

Complete Historic Furnishings Study and
IP

Begin acquisition of furnishings for
Cabin. ,

Prepare interpretive exhibit plan or
furnishings plan as called for in IP

Continue minimum interpretive services.

‘Construct and install interior exhibits

as called for in IP.
Furnish Cabin as called for in Furnish-

ings plan

81


3
of the policies of the British crown and the seaboard regions,
particularly on matters of land titles and Indian affairs.?
They were determined to establish a life as free from contact
with laws and restraint as possible. In rebellion against a
form of government that imposed its rule from the top, these
people reverted to a system of private justice based on the
personal relationships common to the clan. Thus they developed
a general ideology of leveling - a system that gave equal status
to all and that recognized no authority other than the force of
the individual. No hierarchy, authorities, or experts were
allowed to form in this society; no pressure from outside was
allowed to gain entrance.?

The mountains of Southern Appalachia provided the ideal
setting for this type of life, and into them these passionate
lovers of freedom moved. Their difference in fundamental
psychology from the other settlers who moved west established a
basis for later separation of the southern highlander from his
fellow countrymen in the rest of the nation.

At first, the broad valleys of Southern Appalachia were
settled. The land was cleared of its virgin timber, log cabins
were constructed, the fertile land was broken and made
productive. Game, berries, herbs, nuts, fruit, and lumber were
in great abundance, and the local Indians were a source of
information about living in such terrain. As on any frontier,
life was hard and labor-saving devices were few; yet, in many
ways, the people who settled here were ingenious. While they
were: not rich materially, and had brought with them few skills

in farming, life in the mountains was nevertheless good and


Yor Rettar of March 30. hss. deen ay
and I wish to adviae that wo do went! £6
Hawtia Brinsger plas,” hut wo Gan 9b telah any
gotion wmtil oli the heirs sign the options’
Please make’ another effort. te get ald Shoies*
#0 sign ot.onoo os ow uoney t0 poteing ‘and:

tho job’ and either fire Dillon or uyself silt
1 about thig soone :



Hm HEH HE HE HE FE HH Fk ee ESE EE HF We FE

79

Short term goals include placing wayside exhibits on site
and providing personal services on a limited basis. Long term
goals call for developing the interior of the cabin with
furnishings and/or exhibits and providing personal services on a
daily basis.

In a memorandum from Blue Ridge Parkway Assistant

Superintendent to the Superintendent dated February 6, 1987, the
following observations were made regarding the interpretive
significance of Brinegar Cabin:
"The Blue Ridge Parkway's overall theme is: Man and his
changing environment: the Southern Appalachians. Interpretation
along the Parkway is treated under sub-themes, appropriate to
the areas. The Statement for Interpretation for Doughton Park
calls for emphasis on geology and climate, history and
flora-fauna sub-themes. The Statement for Interpretation
describes this area as a "high, wide and handsome country, where
visitors look into yesterday. Early man with tools of stone and
bone passed by. Then with plow and axe others stayed, and with
luck and skill prospered and learned to live in harmony with,
and not against, the changing environment...At no other point
along the Parkway can the effects of the environment, or man's
effect on his surroundings, be better seen and explained."

The Assistant Superintendent's memo continues to say:
"Brinegar Cabin represents the story of mountain-top people
whose lives were shaped by the rugged and isolated mountain
environment. Martin and Caroline Brinegar's homestead site is
an excellent historic setting for on-site interpretation - a

unique opportunity to develop the general site theme of mountain


’ Proposat No, _....-------------+

- Bunacaneins Rago Procngse BLUE : 5
(AGRICULTURAL Davessrnanee a imera | ure . oo No. 202-2 a
OF F ER TO SELL.LANDS TO THE UNITED STATES
(UMP SUM)

Prossct Name _._... A kppalachien. Hettona} Parkway. __ LP

To assist in the program of the United States to conserve natural resources and to rehabilitate people
living on submarginal lands, the undersigned owners of the following-described lands:

All those certain ree or parcels of lend lying and being in the County of Wilkes,
To: tain, adjoining the Jands of... |.

ReLe Church, C.C. Goffe, appalachian Netional Parkway, Jom W. Brinegear ond Payne and

containing 81-1/4 acres les

hereby offer to sell and convey to the United States of America the said lands in fee simple with all buildings
d improvements thereon. This offer is for acceptance by the United States through the Federal Emergency’.

.: Relief Administrator or by any other representative of the United States.

In consideration of the examination and appraisal by the United States Government of ‘the lands herei
described. ‘end for other good and valuable considerations which are hereby’ acknowledged as received; :
the undetsigned grant to the United States of America te option and right to purchase said lands at and for ;

the sum of $...2.2000.00.... for the tract as a whole, including all improvements and appurtenant rights,“
The undersigned agree that the procedure and. terms shall. be as required by the United States Attomey.

© General.’ The conveyance is to be by warranty deed in the form, manner, and at the time, desired by the.
“Attorney General; payment is to be made after the deed has been recorded ‘and after the ‘Attorney General
“has declared the title to be vested in the United States; all taxes, liens, and encumbrances are to be paid by the

undersigned, including the stamp tax ‘and other bxpenses incidental to the execution of the deed, and th
“undersigned will obtain and record such evidences of title as may be requested by the Attorney General.*

_To accept this offer the United. States must, ye six (6) months from the date hereof, mail a A notice 01

“and the undersigned will then convey these lands to the United ‘States within thirty 9) days after the date

of mailing said notice of acceptance.

_ sv It is understood and agreed that, if the Attorney General determines that the title should be acquired b
...the United States by judicial procedure, either to procure a safe title or to obtain title more quickly or for any
Other reason, then the compensation to be claimed by the é owners, and the award to bs made for said lands, in

“, said proceedings shall be upon the basis of the purchase price herein provided.

No Member of or Delegate to Congress shall be admitted to any share or part i in this offer or Op ion, nor :

' to any benefit to ariso © thereupon.



A, B,

G, H, I, J,

L,

LIST OF APPENDICES

C.........-Original will of Adam Brinegar
D..........Marriage Certificate of Jacob Brinegar
F.........-Marriage Certificate of William Brinegar
Keeeeeee --.Certificate of Death for James Martin

Brinegar and veteran records for

John W. Brinegar

1 Confederate service records for John W.
Brinegar

N.....-....Survey map of Tract 24

P......-+-.-Order to sell Lands to the United States

Q..........Wayside Exhibit Plan of Blue Ridge
Parkway


mem Ee Ee we ee HS & Se 8

58
cutting the leather and sewing it into boot-like ankle shoes.

Almost everything on the Brinegar place was "hitched to

somethin' else." This meant that there were many
interrelationships between the items grown and utilized. Very
little was wasted. Such was the case with Martin the cobbler.

The beeswax from the honey he cultivated was an important
by-product. Martin would take the comb out of the honey and
boil it in water. It would then cool and the wax would come to
the top of the pot. Martin would lift off the wax and coat the
thread for his shoes with it. This prevented the thread from
rotting and the shoes from coming apart. He would also give the
leather a coat of wax to waterproof them. The beeswax also
proved valuable for Martin's horse harness, and in his grafting
of apple trees. Caroline used the wax to coat the bottom of her
iron and to stop leaks in her pots, buckets, and pans. Just
melt the wax down and it would harden like cement.

While many Highlanders initially tanned their animal hides
for shoes, Martin is said to have purchased the leather from
tanneries in Wilkesboro and Elkin. He fashioned wooden pegs
from maple wood to fasten the soles. This involved cutting a
limb, splitting it lengthwise into strips, and letting it dry.
He then whittled the pegs from the strips into what he called
"sprigs." Ralph Joines remembers the final product: "I wore
the shoes he made. They were rough on the inside. The first
thing folks would do is sand down those pegs ‘cause they would
poke into the bottoms of your feet. But back then folks didn't
wear shoes but in the wintertime. Martin would trace the
people's feet and deliver them shoes in the fall before the

first frost."


54
helped cut up the meat and raised the poultry. Oh yes, and if
that wasn't enough, she had her share of milking cows and
hauling wood and water.

Perhaps most important was Caroline's spinning and
weaving. This was the principal home industry throughout the
Highlands. Like all weavers, Caroline faced two basic
challenges in creating her clothing, blankets and other
household and personal items. First, the spinning of the thread
oer yarn, and second, weaving the thread into a web. In
Caroline's case, both processes were carried out entirely by
hand. As with other mountain women, she did her spinning on a
wheel, a ‘graceful practice with great aesthetic appeal.
Unfortunately, spinning was a painfully slow process which was
basic to the character and quality of every fabric. It takes as
Many as eight spinners to supply yarn for one weaver. Spinning

was an activity which Caroline involved all her children in

during their spare time. Not just Renee and Alice, but also
John. This help was necessary just to keep the weaving process
going.

There were two types of spinning wheels used by women in
the Highlands. One was a big, high wheel which was propelled by
hand with the spinner standing. The smaller low wheel, operated
by foot power with the spinner seated, was not as widely used by

Highland women because of the complexity of design and cost to

purchase. unfortunately, I have been unable to determine which
type Caroline used. In all probability it was the standing
model.

At the turn of the century in the Highlands, all the wool

for yarn was carded in the home and made into rolls for


ais

16

Cabin now stands from Henderson (Caroline's uncle).

Henderson Crouse married and had one child, John Wesley
Crouse. Qne of John Crouse's children was Elbert Crouse, who
married Bettie Brooks. Elbert and Bettie Crouse lived closer to
the Brinegar Cabin than did any of the Brinegar's other
neighbors. They were frequently visited by Martin and
Caroline. (Note that Elbert was a grandson of Henderson Crouse,
Caroline's maternal uncle, making Elbert and Caroline cousins as
well as neighbors.)

The story of the Crouse family is in many ways similar to

that of the Brinegars. They were good friends as well as
neighbors. Their small, half-dovetail notch house was built
around 1900. Both Martin and Elbert were subsistence farmers

and both maintained orchards. It is reasonable to assume that
Elbert helped Martin in laying the logs for the Brinegar Cabin
and other chores which required more than one man.

Caroline was raised in the Pine Swamp Community. She was
one of eleven children, six girls and five boys. According to
her son John, she was approximately 5'3" tall and weighed around
120 pounds. In many ways, Caroline was the quintessential
Highlander woman. She worked hard, seldom travelled, and was
wary of strangers. She had an iron will and, according to Kyle
Brinegar (grandson), was firm with her husband when she felt he
needed it. “She had a quick temper and she would rake Martin
across the coals when she thought he wasn't doing what he was
supposed to."*9

Kyle remembers that she was "full of pep." One can
hardly dispute that after hearing the following: "They kept some

of the best land fenced in for the crops. Maybe a half acre or


45
sprung (fallen), indicating a catch, brought exhilaration to the
young trapper. One learned from experience that these boxes
also attracted a less desirable prey-skunks! The rabbit was
usually skinned and either eaten or used as bait for the larger
steel trap. John might have sold the rabbit fur but it only
"fetched" five or ten cents.

Martin Brinegar was representative of most Southern
Highlanders who kept bee hives for the delicious honey.*?
Although there were more sophisticated hives, or "gums" as they
are called in the mountains, he used the more primitive log hive
according to Ralph and Ruby Joines. ‘These were popular in
Europe over 300 years ago and their use represents the practice
of many Highlanders of reverting to a more primitive tool or
implement. The word gum is derived from the fact that most of

the log hives were made from the black gum tree.

al

Bee Gum

Among the other tools used by Martin, Caroline and their

family were the briar scythe and the whetstone for keeping the



49
Chapter IV

Life at the Brinegar Cabin

An important premise of this study is that the Brinegar
Cabin, and the lives of Martin and Caroline Brinegar, are
representative of folk culture among Highland families around
the turn of the century. From their fierce individualism to the
subsistence farming and religious fundamentalism they practiced,
their lives paralleled the day to day lifestyle of most of their
neighbors. If you could have traveled the current-day route of
the Blue Ridge Parkway at the turn of the century, the Brinegars
would have been representative of the people along the way.
They serve as a useful case study of the life and times of the
Highlander in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

What was an average day like for Martin and Caroline
Brinegar and their family? With no electricity, no running
water or plumbing, and no central heating system, it was indeed
a very different existence from ours today. It was a day full
of hardship and pain. Yet, as John Opie notes, there is more to
this difficult life than meets the eye. The Highlander's close
association with the land extends the American frontier
experience into the present day. This frontier-like existence
is based upon a long history. Opie suggests that what is
satisfied in this Highland life has been almost removed from
Mass society; a profoundly fundamental human need to have a
"habitat" and know it intimately. +> Those few Highlanders
still living as pioneers might be called "living fossils"

because they remind our urban society of the world we left


78
performance of traditional mountain music, butter and
soapmaking, weaving demonstrations, wood carving, log hewing and
making roofing shakes.

In January, 1987, Parkway Headquarters staff and field
personnel met and discussed the future of Brinegar Cabin
operations. The following options were discussed:

1) Continue operations under concessions contract
{demonstrations with sales)

2) Seek non-profit organization to operation
(demonstrations with/sales to support operations costs)

3) Seek a "Friends" organization. (Interpretation,
demonstrations and sales to support operations costs)

4) Close Brinegar Cabin. Provide no personal services
interpretation.

5) Provide NPS/Parkway interpretation on site in accordance
with the attached interpretive proposal.

The group concluded that if either option #1 or #2 were
adopted, the emphasis on sales over interpretation would
eventually prevail out of financial necessity for the operator.

Interest in a friends organization never developed. The
report notes that "efforts can and will continue in this area."

Closing Brinegar Cabin was determined inappropriate given
the site's cultural and interpretive significance.

Providing NPS Interpretation on site without sales was
deemed the most appropriate course of action. Parkway staff
whose lives were. shaped by the rugged and isolated mountain
environment. Martin and Carolyn Brinegar's homestead site is an
agreed to provide an action plan for developing Brinegar Cabin

as a major interpretive site on the Blue Ridge Parkway.



11

“Several years ago I was in Salem, Nebraska checking
gravemarkers in the Salem Cemetery. Among the Brinegar markers
I found were two for my great, great, great uncle, John W.
Brinegar. The small marker, probably marking his grave, read
‘John W. Brinegar, Co. D, 33 N.C. Inf. C.S.A.'. There was also
a large family monument giving John W.'s birth and death dates -
Jan. 12, 1826, died March 19 (or 13) 1862 ~ along with his
wife's and children's dates."

“When I received the military records from the National
Archives I realized the ‘Killed Sept. 1, 1862 Sharpsburg' did
not fit my John W. To confuse things further, both John W. and
J. William left widows named Mary. I believe that the first
page of the records may pertain to my John W. Note that they
indicate a birthplace of Ashe County, the present day Alleghany
County. "Absent without leave' suggests that he was on his way
back to Nebraska."

The CSA military records are far from complete, and I
suppose any copyist would assume that a J. William Brinegar and
a John W. Brinegar were the same man. I have not been able to
find out why John left Nebraska and traveled all the way to
North Carolina to enroll; the families must have had some
contact. J. William's and John W.'s grandfathers were
brothers. In the same company were two other Brinegars, James
and Joseph, who were sons of J. William's grandfather's second
marriage. James, Joseph and a John W. have the same enlistment
date and place - Oct. 4, 1861, Raleigh by O. T. Parks.

Martin Brinegar
James Martin Brinegar, known as Martin or "Mart", was the

son of William and "Polly" Brinegar. Martin was born December


53
They also raised crops of buckwheat, rye, oats and sorghum,
cutting them at harvest time with a "reap hook" and threshing
the grain by flailing it with a hickory pole. "When you farmed
on these hills you didn't have to bend your back much to hoe
corn," joked John.

Ralph and Ruby Joines of nearby Pine Swamp remember the
Brinegar's slaughtering hogs and salting and curing their own
meat. "They would use the side meat and fat back. He used hams
sometimes to pay taxes. They would hang the hams in sacks in
the granary."

Honey was an extremely important food to the Highland
family. It was the only sweetener that Martin and Caroline had
most of the time. Ruby Joines said that “Martin kept a bee gum
behind the house." As was the tradition, he used black gum and
placed forked sticks inside for the bees to make the comb.
Caroline was known "to make good sourdough biscuits, she would
always have the starter for sourdough." No doubt the honey
found its way to those biscuits on more than one occasion.

The entire family participated in gathering wild berries.
They were eaten fresh and used for preserves by Caroline. Among
the best were dewberries, huckleberries, blackberries and
Strawberries. Pawpaw's were also popular, but more difficult to
find. "Wildfish" mushrooms were also gathered by most Highland
families as were ramps and salad greens such as lamb's quarters,
“woolen britches," marrow dock, and dandelion. Of course the
mountain salad was always cooked rather than eaten raw.

Caroline worked every bit as hard as Martin. She picked
and dried the wild fruit, washed the wool, carded, spun, and

wove it, made soap, hominy, butter, lard and molasses. She



bits J

Finally, special thanks are expressed to the many
descendants and friends of Martin and Caroline Brinegar who so

graciously shared their memories of their very special family.

Barry M. Buxton

June, 1988

vii


aD

70
Chapter VI

Management by the National Park Service

According to documents contained in the archives of the Blue
Ridge Parkway Headquarters in Asheville, North Carolina, the
National Park Service acquired two different tracts of land
which are identified with Brinegar Cabin. The first, identified
as Tract 24, was acquired on November 12, 1935. The grantor was
John W. Brinegar who was paid $1,000 ($11.66 per acre) for the
85.7 acres conveyed (See Attachment 0).

The second parcel of land conveyed was Tract 21, which
contained 28.1 acres. The grantor was John W. Brinegar and
Heirs and the conveyance occurred on April 23, 1937. The cost
of this land purchase was $320 (See Attachment P).

By 1940, Blue Ridge Parkway officials began to plan for use
of the Brinegar Cabin as an historic visitor site. A 1941 Blue
Ridge Parkway Landscape Plan called for the construction of a
visitor parking lot and a walkway to the Cabin. These were
completed shortly thereafter and the Brinegar Cabin became a
regular visitation attraction.

It was sixteen years later, in 1957, that the first
documented visitor service concession began at Brinegar Cabin.
A one-year special use permit was issued to the Chatham
Manufacturing Company of Elkin, North Carolina. The purpose of
the permit was to provide for weaving demonstrations which
replicate that done by Caroline Brinegar and other Southern
Highland women around the turn of the century. Under the

agreement, Chatham was allowed to sell textile crafts which were


25

John Ehle, the accomplished novelist, and other contemporary
writers have reflected on the simple beauty of the mountain
cabin with the warmth of its open fire on the hearth and distant
stars seen through a small window. Perhaps it is such a scene
that inspired the now classic "Moon and Star" patchwork quilt
Allen Eaton identified with early cabin life in the Blue Ridge
Mountains.

An important contribution to the architecture which marks
the Blue Ridge Mountain area has been the great variety and
large supply of native trees. Among those that have been used
are oak, ash, walnut, hickory, chestnut, cherry, maple, and
poplar among the deciduous trees; pine, spruce, and hemlock
among the evergreens. The deciduous trees have usually been
preferred. In the evolution of the cabin, the logs have been
made smoother and smoother with the great broadax until, in many
a wall, both inside and outside, close examination is often
required to determine whether the logs, sometimes 20 feet long,

have been hand hewn or sawed out.?*

Broadax

The mountain carpenter's skill is apparent, not only in the
logs for the walls, but also in the structural timbers for the

loft floor and the roof frame, the "boards" or shingles for



68
first, and by far the most deadly, was the infamous flood of
1916. It rained in torrents for three days until entire slopes
of the Basin Cove area were swept away. The great deluge of
water gathered destructive momentum and roared down through the
valleys and coves into the piedmont. The Yadkin River below was
nine feet above high water mark. Cattle, sheep, hogs, and other
livestock were drowned in the massive. landslides. Over 50
dwellings, storehouses, schools, barns, mills and factories were
washed away or destroyed. Ten people drowned in Wilkes County
alone. Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property was
destroyed.

Brinegar Cabin was above the danger area and Martin and
Caroline opened their tiny cabin to their neighbors. Kyle
Caudill said that “when the folks came up outa’ there they
watched houses float down the river with chickens perched atop
the roofs and candles still burning in the houses."

The Martin Caudill family, who lived below the Brinegars,
took refuge in the Cabin. John Brinegar remembers that fearful
night. "All twelve of the Caudills walked up the ridge out of
the gorge. They stayed with us until the water went down." The
family of Famon Caudill, who lived in a cabin close to Basin
Creek, was not so fortunate. Famon, head of the household, was
away working in Virginia when the clouds erupted. His younger
brother Cornelious, wife Alice and mother-in-law Wadie Adams
were washed away in the cabin and drowned. The rest of the
Caudill family, safe at Brinegar Cabin, did not discover the
tragedy until the storm subsided. It was two weeks later that
Famon, on his way home, stopped at the Hobrook Store in nearby

Traphill, and discovered for the first time that his wife,


61
hence is his courage and his independence. Inevitably he comes
to feel, with a sort of proud humility, that he has no part or
lot in the control of the universe save as he allies himself, by
prayer and obedience, with the God that rules."** What is to
be will be. So consistently did the Highlander hold to this
that they hardly permitted themselves the casual wish of things
better. Theirs was a hard lot in life and to wish for better
things for themselves was considered a blaspheme.

While it was not appropriate to ask God to improve your own
lot in life, to help others was a different matter. This
"helping one's neighbor" was also a philosophical and practical
hallmark of the Highlander's life. It was demanded by the
scriptures. So it was that Martin and Caroline extended every
effort to help neighbors with house raisings, family illness,
and other needs. They were there to comfort others in their
time of need.

Their religious and political beliefs had important
implications for Martin and Caroline after the Civil War. They
were among many in the Pleasant Grove Union Baptist Church
congregation who helped ex-slaves settle in the Basin Cabin
area. "Wilkes County was well-known for its support of the
Union cause during the Civil War."*? In fact, Wilkes County
was often referred to at that time as "the old United States",
because of its pro-Union sentiments. After Martin's death
Caroline befriended a black woman who lived with her for
awhile. The black woman was known to have been absolutely
fearless. To amuse Caroline, she would climb to the tops of
tall trees and “whoopingly" ride them to the ground as neighbors

chopped them down. A black family also lived near the



mime we ee eee ee eel Ce lee le

18

Alice, the couple's first child, was born nearly a year
later on January 12, 1879. She was followed by Sarah LouRena
{June 30, 1881) and John William (September 1, 1888). A fourth
child, William, was born in 1896 but died shortly thereafter.

In addition to the three children of their own, Martin and
Caroline raised their grandson, Verl Brinegar. Verl was the
only child of John and Sessie Choate Brinegar. John and Sessie
were married in December, 1911 and Verl was born on November i,
1912. Tragically, Sessie lived only thirteen months after
Verl's birth. She died of pneumonia and shortly thereafter Verl

moved into the cabin with Martin and Caroline. He lived with

Caroline until her death in 1942. Kyle Brinegar, Verl's
half-brother, remembers: "My brother stayed with her, Verl
did. When his mother died she took him and raised him. He

lived with her as her child just about from then on until she
died."

Verl told his wife Delia Sexton Brinegar, whom he married
in 1944, that he slept in the cabin loft. During the cold
winter months he slept between two feather ticks. Some mornings
a dusting of snow covered his bed but he always felt warm
between the feather mattresses Caroline had made.

John Brinegar, Martin and Caroline's son, spoke
extensively about his parents and their life at the Cabin ina
feature story in the "Wilkes Journal Patriot" in 1969. He
enjoyed returning to the Cabin where he grew up. "I generally
go back two or three times a year. I like to go up there. It
brings back a lot of old memories."

John remembers his father working hard as a farmer and

cobbler. He said “lots of folks used to bring in hides of


35

In Brinegar's time, sawmills were available to most of the
people. Therefore, Martin had some of his yellow~poplar sawed
into flooring and weatherboard siding. Earlier settlers made
"“puncheon" floors out of logs split in half and laid side by
side, flat surface up, then smoothed with an adz.?°

To protect his home against the blustery winter wind,
Martin boarded his log walls inside and out. A recessed space
was left on the side of the house for the chimney, made of flat
rocks, chinked with clay. He took care to make it airtight and
smooth on the inside to insure a good draft.

When finally completed in 1889, the cabin presented the
tidy appearance of a small, but plain cottage. Martin and his
neighbors didn't go in for unnecessary frills. Another feature
was a disregard for windows. The only opening on the front
facade was a central entrance with a plain heavy surround and a
board-and-batten door. The interior was lighted by one tiny
window beside the large stone chimney anda slightly larger
window containing sSix-over-two sash on the opposite wall. A
rectangular louvered vent with crude horizontal bars located
near the apex of the gable ventilated the attic.

On the rear of the cabin is a shed addition with a smaller
stone chimney on the side. The addition has a central exterior
door on the rear facade similar in design to the main entrance.
Flanking the door are windows containing four-over-two sash.

The interior consists of two rooms, one in the main block
and one in the shed addition. Both are finished with
horizontally sheathed walls and low exposed-beam ceilings. The
mantels, which may be replacements, are quite simple with heavy

shelves supported by large brackets. The unfinished attic or


x naa aE Ee He HE HE Ee Rm Em Ee lUreElUretlUlUreellCUe Ce

55
spinning. The fibers were combed out with hand cards, which
resemble the broad curry combs used in stables.

Caroline would occupy the winter months spinning and
weaving on her four-poster, hand-shuttle loom. As noted
earlier, the loom was built by her father Ezekiel Joines as a
wedding present. With linen thread and woolen yarn she wove the
durable "linsey-woolsey" cloth. Although she could not read or
write, she used the old timey "tromped as writ" patterns that
resembled sheet music. Symbols like musical notes indicated
which of the foot treadles to tromp in sequence to weave the
desired pattern. (See Appendix N)

Kyle Brinegar, her grandson, remembers this process
vividly. "Grandma wove and spun wool and would knit stockings.
She took wool from the sheep's back and made it into cloth. She
would spin wool and do the carding. I've worn: socks that she
knitted and they'd last all winter. Boy, you get under one of
them winter blankets she wove and you'll sure stay warm!" She
wove counterpanes, coverlets, shawls and made whole cloth for
clothes. "She always wore an apron and a long dress and when
she was out she wore a splint bonnet."

Caroline used roots, bark, and leaves to dye the cloth.
Hickory bark and alum root "made the purtiest yellow cloth you
ever saw. It wouldn't fade." To make a red dye she used the
bark of red oak, white oak and chestnut mixed with alum. Walnut
reot was valuable for its brown color and catnip would color the
cloth green. Other sources of color were the pawpaw root, polk
berry, and yellow poplar root. Caroline would put the root ina
pot and boil it and then put in the yarn. This was a similar

process to the way we dye Easter eggs today.



21

"While along the Parkway, we got out of the car and walked
down to Uncle Mart Brinegar's old home and I looked around
where I had played with Alice and Rena many times. I went
down to the old Spring House, where we had churned butter
with the old dash churn. Two of us would hold the dash at
the same time and we would go around and around, and that
was fun. Then I went to get a drink from the old spring
that I had drunk from more than 60 years ago, but there
was no drinking gourd there, as it was the last time. The
old, long-handled gourd that Aunt Caroline kept there to
dip water with was gone. So I folded my hands together
and dipped up water and drank but it did not taste as
fresh and good as it did when I used to drink out of that
old, long-handled gourd."

Sebert Dewey Brinegar of Grassy Creek, North Carolina
(Great Grandson of Calvin Brinegar) relates an interesting,
although difficult to substantiate, piece of information. He
suggests that actor Paul Brinegar, who was the cook on the
television show "Rawhide," must have been a relative because of
the name and the uncanny physical resemblance. Sebert and his
wife said that their entire family used to sit in front of the
television and marvel at the family resemblance between Calvin
Brinegar's son Marion and the well known character actor, Paul

Brinegar.7*


23.
24.
25.
26.
27.

28.

29.
30.
31.
32.
33.

34,
35.
36.

37.
38.

39.
40.
41.
42.
43.

44,
45.

Interview with Sebert Dewey Brinegar.
Ibid., Eaton

Ibid.

_Thid.

Ibid.

Barry M. Buxton, ed., The Great Forest: An Appalachian
Story, Boone, North Carolina: Appalachian Consortium
Press, 1986.

Ibid., Eaton.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.

Ralph Howland, “Old Chatham Loom Will Operate Again," The
Elkin Tribune, May 16, 1957.

Interview with Kyle Brinegar.
Interview with Candice Brinegar Brown.

Ralph Howland, ~Ol1d Chatham Loom Will Operate Again," The
Elkin Tribune, May 16, 1957.

Tbid.

John Rice Irwin, The General Bunch House and Its Contents,
1974.

Ibid.

Interview with Kyle Brinegar.

Thid., Howland.

Interview with Ralph and Ruby Joines.

"Wilkes Man Recalls Boyhood at Parkway's Brinegar Cabin,"
The Journal Patriot, July 10, 1969.

Interview with Candice Brinegar Brown.

John Opie, An Appalachian Symposium, Boone, North Carolina:
Appalachian State University, 1975.



42

Long Rifle

Among the tools in the barn used by both Martin, Caroline
and the family was the wooden rake. In addition to raking

leaves out of the barn, it was used to rake hay.

Wooden Rake

Few mountain cabins were without the old steel trap which
played such an important part in the exploration and settlement
of the country. The double spring trap was adequate for fox,
wildcat, or wolves. The smaller circular base trap, depicted
below, was used extensively in Europe and later in America. It

was used to trap small animals such as mink, muskrat and ‘coons.


83

Overall, the best avenues for further research are those
which would support a more historically accurate depiction of
life at Brinegar Cabin. The first area to be studied involves
material culture. Further research on the Brinegar Cabin
furnishings, and those of the Granary, Barn, and Spring House
could lend authenticity to future interpretive efforts.
Restoration of these abiotic resources should be a high priority
for NPS. This research has identified over 30 items which have
been confirmed as part of daily life at the Cabin. Additional
interviews with Kyle Brinegar and examination of possible items
which are preserved at the museum of Appalachia in Norris,
Tennessee could be constructive in developing a representative
inventory.

Five additional areas recommended for further research focus
on the biotic cultural resources of the Brinegar Cabin site.
Each of these areas would provide needed information for
restoration and preservation. The first of these is the
orchard. We know that Martin Brinegar, like his neighbor and
friend Elber Crouse, maintained an apple orchard. We know that
it contained from 25 to 30 trees. Some varieties have also been
identified as present on the site by this research. Future
research should focus on confirming the varieties of apples
through interviews and comparisons with orchards in the
immediate area. The Elbert Crouse orchard, located nearby,
provides a good first step for an inventory of varieties.

The second biotic cultural resource recommended for further
research is the garden. Since the garden was such an important

part of daily life at the site, specific efforts should be made


» 60
notary public and justice of the peace. It was in the latter
capacity that he officiated for the wedding of Daniel Clary and
S. Brinegar on March 29, 1897. Most of his activity as notary
and justice of the peace revolved around church matters.

Like most Southern Highlanders, Martin could be termed a
“fundamentalist" in his religious beliefs. His church forbade
the playing of musical instruments and they were not allowed in
the Brinegar Cabin. He also frowned on such frivolities as
dancing and drinking. His was an intensely personal religious
experience. He had implicit faith in the word of the Bible and
interpreted it literally. While Caroline didn't make the long
trips with Martin to church services, she was, according to
Delia Brinegar, a very religious person. "Caroline couldn't
read herself, but she had Martin read a chapter each night out
of the Bible." She was not, however, a member of the church.

The Highlanders religious beliefs helped shape his often
fatalistic view toward life. With the myriad of hardships
facing the mountaineer, is there any wonder that he placed his
faith in life being better in the hereafter? "If that's the way
God wants it, I reckon that's the way it's supposed to be," is
the often heard refrain of the faithful. “As Emma Miles notes in

her classic The Spirit of the Mountains: "A man born and bred

in a vast wild land nearly always becomes a fatalist. He learns
to see Nature not as a thing of fields and brooks, friendly to
man and docile beneath his hand, but as a world of depths and
heights and distances illimitable, of which he is but a tiny
part. He feels himself carried in the sweep of forces too vast
for comprehension, but in which the Right must prevail. This is

the beginning of his faith as he heard it from his fathers, from


Lit)

84
to. restore it in part or in its entirety. First person accounts
of the crops grown provide information on the varieties present
but the relative size of those varieties percentagewise in the
overall garden would be helpful. When first person accounts are
not available, generalizations based on other area farms would
suffice.

Additional knowledge of the Cabin site vegetation would be
helpful in restoring the feeling of the farm. Flowers and
blooming shrubs evoke smells and colors and are an important
part of the biological rhythms of the environment. Currently,
the grounds are meticulously maintained but they do not depict
the farm scene in a historically accurate fashion.

We know that the Brinegars had goats, cows, hogs, chickens,
and horses. The restoration of livestock to the site would
greatly enhance the feeling of a "live" farm... An inventory of
all the animals on the farm should be conducted. Where specific
information is unknown, generalizations reflecting what was
typical of area farms would suffice.

Finally, in the area of biotic cultural resources, retracing

with accuracy the overall .appearance of the grounds is

important. Where were the pathways and what was their
composition? Were chestnut logs used for steps where they were
needed? If the paths were dirt, what is the most historically

accurate alternative required to handle the large volume of

traffic at the site? In other words, isn't there an alternative

to asphalt which further research and evaluation could provide?
Finally, two additional areas for research which could

ultimately assist restoration and historic integrity are



Subject

Structure
location

x Content 10/86
Blue Ridge Parkway
Low Profile
Wayside Exhibit Plan

Exhibit 080

Appalachian Garden

Appalachian Garden, Brinegar-Cabin

MP 238.5

Panel
orientation

Purpose

meme HE mH meet meh eae aS as sa Eo

Panel will face garden at its west end.

To illustrate to visitors the various plants grown in

a typical Appalachian gurden



4~-color

4-color

4-color

fet

illustration of

illustration of

illustration of

oe oe ee ee ee oe Le ee Oe ee ee le

44color
4-color

4-color

- 4-color

4-color

4d-color

4-color

illustration of

illustration of

illustration of

illustration of

illustration of

illustration of

illustration of

a
Graphics 10/86

Blue Ridge Parkway
Low Profile
Wayside Exhibit Plan

Exhibit 080

all A recur ag prerend-

Cfree wooles
flax plant °

polebeans
potatoes
pumpkins
mint
buckwheat
tomatoes
corn

dipper gourd

squash


29
architectural point of view is the chimney, which in its
relation to the main lines and mass of the cabin offers great
beauty. What scene is more appealing to a wayfarer than the
gray-blue smoke of a hardwood fire as it rises from a cabin
chimney in the early morning or in the evening of a cool
day?*°

Today, one of the pleasures of traveling the Blue Ridge
Parkway is the opportunity to enjoy the chimneys of the cabins
along the route. If you have ever tried to build a chimney or
wall with native stone, your appreciation of the work of the
Southern Highlander will be immeasurably enhanced. These stone
chimneys will appeal for their mass, line, texture, and color.
Allan Eaton suggests that "in these combinations many an unknown
mountaineer has wrought a masterpiece."?7

The form of the chimney and fireplace relate perfectly to
the low mass of the cabin, the attractiveness of which is
enhanced by a _ gently sloping roof line that helps to tie the
whole structure to the earth, out of which it has grown. The
chimney rests firmly upon the ground, and the ascent of its
stone and mud masonry seems as natural and as beautiful as the
growth of a symmetrical tree. Its generally harmonious outline
is always pleasantly broken by the varying sizes of the stones
used, so that the eye follows, not swiftly but in leisurely
fashion, the outside angles of the mass with its horizontal
lines equally pleasing. The stone is laid as nearly as may be
in courses with the thinner flat ones at the top, but quite
irregular because of different thicknesses. No two faces of the

stones are exactly alike, some are broken and rough, others


5

Southern Highlanders. But if this lean existence seems,
as it undoubtedly does, an indication of a low standard of
living, it must in justice be said that the ability of the
Highlander to extract from his surroundings the essential
elements of life is no small tribute to his strength, ingenuity,
and endurance.*

Thousands of people in the Southern Highlands still live a
life of relative isolation. These are the families farthest up
the hollows, where the creek bed may often serve as the road, in
the coves that extend for miles up the twisting valleys, and out
on the tops of mountain ridges. These folk have but occasional
contact even with their neighbors, who may well be their own
kin. This isolated family has as little to do with outsiders as
possible, and hopes for minimal interference in its own
affairs. It is interesting to ponder what Brinegar Cabin would
be today were it not for the coming of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Family Patterns

The social life as well as the emotional security of the
Southern Highlander at the turn of the century was centered in
the family. It was in this close-knit group that personalities
were shaped and the cultural heritage maintained.
Self-fulfillment was, even more so than today, a direct result
of family interrelationships.

When one speaks of the Southern Highlander family, it is
generally meant to include the immediate family, cousins,
uncles, and even a few close neighbors. Theirs is a close knit
group, not because of shared activities but because of emotional
dependence. While the social ties of the family are not

particularly strong, the emotional and dependency ties are


mm

44
tines were advantageous over the solid iron hoe for two reasons:
first, they would project deeper, underneath the “hill” of
potatoes; and secondly, if a tine did strike a potato, it would

not be sheared in half.

Tater Hoe

There were few furnishings or implements which brought joy
to the young child growing up in the Blue Ridge Mountains at the
turn of the century. An interesting exception which John and

Verle both probably used was the rabbit box.

fo

fi ° eg i

Rabbit Box

Using an apple core or a nubbin of corn for bait, the trap
was set in the surrounding woods and examined every morning.

The thrill of seeing at a distance that the trap door had been


there was little outside interference.

It appears likely that much of the mountain-top
settlement, as seen in the homestead of Martin and Caroline
Brinegar, waS a direct result of the expanding population.
Mountain families were large, and through natural increase, the
rapid succession of generations pushed their clearings farther
and farther up creeks and valleys away from the land already
under cultivation by older members of their families. Because
of the steep mountain barriers which effectually prevented any
extensive travel beyond the local valley or area, sons and
daughters tended to settle down close to parents, grandparents,
and other kin. We see this in the family settlement pattern of
the Basin Cove Region near Brinegar Cabin.

This custom of settling close to kin has often made each
little valley the domain of a small group of families. It is
not unusual today to find families with four generations living
side by side in one narrow valley. Meanwhile, the settling of
the nation went on at a break neck pace. Highways were built
and railroads spanned and crisscrossed the continent, moving
goods, people, and ideas from place to place. But in the
Southern Highlands time was standing still. The people spoke as
they had always spoken; they preserved the old handicrafts and
grubbed out a living in the old ways. They exchanged dried
fruits, cured hams, and gathered ginseng. The gap between the
culture of the towns and the highlands became both wide and
deep.

It is not an overstatement to say that no other group of

Americans has lived through generations so meagerly as have the


=

38

Verl Brinegar has indicated that he slept between two
straw ticks in the loft portion of the Cabin. Kyle Caudill, a
former neighbor of the Brinegar's, has said that while there was
a bed downstairs there was none in the loft. He confirms that
Verl slept on the floor on straw mattresses with one of
Caroline's linsey-woolsey blankets for warmth.

Caroline used a scrub broom to clean and scrub the cabin
floor. The scrub broom was made from a single piece of wood,
the splints of.which were left attached to the handle.

Mountain woman Kellie Williams Eledge describes how she
and her sisters used them: "Mama ‘ud say, 'Hits time to scrub
off them ole floors' and we'd take the mule and sled down to the
creek and fetch a load of sand. An' we take the eatin' table 'n
things outside - an' then we'd pour that creek sand all around
over the floors, and then we'd pour water on and scrub with the
scrub broom. Lord, we'd scrub 'n scrub 'til them floors 'ud be
as clean as new. Then we'd wash off all the sand, and thum ‘tud

be the prettiest scoured floors that ever you seed."7%

Scrub Broom


Art
079-5

Art

al

a Graphics 10/86
Blue Ridge Parkway

Low Profile

Wayside Exhibit Plan

Exhibit 079

Copy of a page of loom instructions of the type

which did not require an ability to read Doth ws

Drawing of an assortment of cobler’s tools Nothin.

7 =


17
an acre for a patch of corn. And they had some goats in the
pasture and one day a goat jumped up on the fence and over into
the corn. She went up and got him out of the corn and fixed the
fence. When she looked back up there, the goat was standing on
the fence! Furious, she went in the house, got the gun, and
shot him off the fence."

Caroline has been quoted by John, her son, as saying there
is "no way they can build a turnpike over these mountains." Her
beliefs were shaken the day she heard dogs barking and surveyors
close behind mapping out the Parkway route. According to Kyle
Brinegar, when the Parkway eventually acquired the property in
1937, she was asked to stay to demonstrate her weaving for
Parkway travelers. Her reply was that she "wanted no part of
all them outside people." She had invested 59 years there. It
was the land she and Martin had settled as newlyweds. There
were good times and bad , but most of all there was surviving
day to day, tending crops, rearing three children and a
grandchild, drying and storing food for winter consumption,
making clothes and blankets, and caring for her beloved husband.

Marriage, Children and Kin Folk

Martin Brinegar and Caroline Joines were married February
9, 1878 at the home of Daniel Holloway. Justice of the Peace
Josiah Caudill performed the ceremony. Witnesses were Daniel
Holloway, Thomas Clary and Levi Joines.

Their Alleghany County marriage certificate lists Martin
as 21 years old (substantiating his birth year as 1856) and
Caroline as 18. Caroline's age is apparently stated
incorrectly, however, on the marriage certificate. Born on

April 22, 1861, she was 16 at the time of marriage.


12
11, 1856 in Ashe County (present day Alleghany County). There
exist some contradictory evidence regarding his birth date
because the death records filed in Wilkes County record a birth
date of 1855. The Alleghany County record, however, supports an
1856 birth, as does Martin's grave marker and marriage
certificate. (See Appendix L, M)

The exact date of death is difficult to determine but
appears to he April 25, 1925. This uncertainty is a result of
conflicting records. The Brinegar Family Bible, in the
possession of Kyle Brinegar, records the date of death as April
25th. The Alleghany County death certificate records death on
April 20th, with burial the 22nd. The Wilkes County death
certificate states April 25th.

An obituary, written by his son John Brinegar, reads as
follows:

"Brother Martin Brinegar was born December 11, 1856 and

died April 25, 1925, making his stay on earth 68 years, 4

months and four days. He was married to Caroline Joines

about 48 years ago. Unto this union were born 4 children,

2 living and 2 dead. He professed a hope in Christ and

joined the church at Pleasant Grove about 36 years ago.

He was taken with pneumonia and lived 8 days. He leaves a

wife and 2 children and 4 grandchildren to mourn their

loss. He was loved by all who knew him.
Fairwell wife and children dear
No more I'll lead you while you stay here.
For me do not weep, lament or sigh
But meet in the sweet bye and bye."

Martin Brinegar died of pneumonia on April 25, 1925.


Chapter I
Origins of the Southern Highlander
Ancestry

The story of Brinegar Cabin begins with the immigration of
thousands of Europeans to America in the 1600's. The great
majority came from the British Isles, but significant numbers
also came from central Europe. Their search for religious and
political freedom and economic opportunity is now a familiar
theme in the annals of American history.

The earliest white settlers to confront the great forest of
Southern Appalachia were predominantly Scotch-Irish and
Swiss-German. They brought with them a whole set of attitudes,
skills, and expectations which shaped how they responded to an
often hostile environment. These "blueprints of the mind"
represented centuries-old wisdom which would dictate how to
clear land, plant crops, select and breed animals, build a
cabin, herd stock, hunt game, make tools, cook food, rear and
educate children, spin and weave, make clothing, care for the
sick, and preserve food. The log technology of the Germans and
the floor plan of the Ulster-Connaught cabin merged to form the
Appalachian log cabin which was so well adapted to the forests
of the South. The open range system (animals foraging without
being fenced) fostered egalitarian ideals and allowed the
landless to compete economically. The militant Protestantism of
the backcountry fostered local autonomy and dotted the landscape
with churches.

The largely Celtic peoples who settled Appalachia did not
practice intensive agriculture. They had existed in Europe by a

combination of hunting and gathering, pastoralism, horticulture,


ie Brinegar Cabin © +

National Park Service
U.S. Depe:ynent of the Interior

BLUB-RIDGE-PARKIWAY-
WAYSIDE EXHIBIT PLAN

i Exhibit
| 079



LpeliCel2 @

° nm
Form RA-LU 10 (Supersedes SL 9) the bliuf?
FHLO-3B5

RESETTLEMENT ADMINISTRATION
-, LAND UTILIZATION DIVISION

TRACT OWNERSHIP DATA

‘Tract No.

be ae et re a)

=D

Grantor
Deed book volume #

Grantee
Page ...

Teirs
“ommgse Race: Name of claimaneottin Brinegar/ Acres claimed 99_& & Married
State forth Garo) ine tae hs unty -. District Grove

Name of spouse ....
From whom did claimant acquire land?
Is.there an abstract for this land? ___.
Will it be loaned to the United States?
Who has abstract now?
Address -_.

Assrssment Recorp: Assessed in the name of
= Address _
Year last assessed -
Improvements, $.
_Tax per acre in 193... on land alone was $_......-----.---__ Improvements, $_.....-2---.--.' Total, $_

: INcUMBRANCES: Mortgages, judgments, and other liens believed to be outstanding:

Name of lienholder Address Amount

Taxes aro delinquent for

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 16-4268


67
virtually all of the family's contact with the outside world.

Sometimes Martin went down the mountain via Air Bellows Gap
Road which crosses the Parkway at Milepost 236.9. The road,
like countless others of its kind, was built and maintained by
the local residents. Air Bellows School, where grandson Kyle
Brinegar attended, was a mile anda half down the road. "As
rough as it used to be, about the only way you could get up the
road was on horseback or foot," said Kyle.

Less frequently, Martin traveled to Absher, which was six
miles below the Cabin. On such trips he frequently visited
Pleasant Hill Store, west of Absher, and hob-nobbed with the
Caudills and Pruitts.

Martin's longest trips were to the county seat of Wilkes
City (current day Wilkesboro). These annual excursions were to
pay taxes and to purchase leather at the large tannery there,
which he used in cobbling.

As stated earlier, Martin and Caroline could be found aimost
every day on their homeplace. This was a function of
inclination, role expectation, and the daily demands of life in
the Highlands. Both Martin and Caroline were stay-at-homes.
Home was the center of their universe and they felt most
comfortable there. The social mores or customs of the day also
dictated that a woman's place was in the home. Therefore,
Caroline seldom ventured beyond the homes of their immediate
neighbors. This included the families of Square Pruitt
(son-in-law), the Caudills, Bert Holloway, Jim Scott, and Elbert
Crouse.

Two significant natural disasters reveal the way the

Highland families supported one another in difficult times. The


22
Chapter III
The Cabin and Its Furnishings
Types of Mountain Cabins

Although the log cabin is a symbol of the American
frontier associated with every advance of our pioneers into the
wilderness, there is no section of the country where so many old
log houses are still standing nor where so many new ones are
being constructed. The continued interest in this form of
building is due to several reasons: in many sections of the
Highlands to build with logs is no more expensive than to build
with sawed timber; there are those who feel that for the wooded
homesite of the mountains, the log cabin is the most
esthetically pleasing type of architecture; and finally, in many
hearts there is a strong sentiment for its traditions.?*

It is doubtful if any experience in house building can
exceed in satisfaction that which the pioneer felt in literally
hewing his home out of the virgin forest. He secured all his
materials near the site and worked them by hand, often supplying
every item of construction himself, including the wooden or
leather hinges, latches, and fasteners for doors and windows
carefully whittled out with his pocketknife.?*

Observant travelers in the Southern Highlands often note
the harmonious relation of this type of architecture to its
environment, and the good judgment and taste generally shown by
the builders in the selection of sites. There are tiny cabins
nestling in little coves as inconspicuous as a bird's nest, and
there are strongly built log houses exposed to wind and sun on

top of a mountain ridge commanding what must have


8
County. (See Appendix D) On Jonathan Hunt's list for Rowan
County taxes in 1768 he is listed as "Jacob Brunegur". In the
Rowan County Court Minutes of August 5, 1778 Jacob's name
appears in the "Register of persons who neglected or refused to
take an Oath of Allegiance to State." His brothers John and
Adam are also on the list.

On November 4, 1783 an inventory of the estate of Jacob
Brinegar was filed (Rowan County Minutes of the Court of Pleas
and Quarter Sessions). One year later, in 1784, Mary Jacks,
late widow of Jacob Brinegar, and Richard Jacks were cited to
appear at the next court session to settle the estate of said
Jacob. No papers or further records regarding the estate
settlement can be found. Mary Brinegar was granted 640 acres of
land (NC Grant #870) on November 4, 1784. This was, in all
probability, the land on which she had lived with Jacob. It was
contiguous on the south with land that had been Adam Brininger's
plantation; the same land was entered for North Carolina Land
Grants by John Johnston.**+

In March, 1785, Mary and Richard Jacks began selling the
aforementioned land (Rowan County, Deed Book 10, p. 189) and in
February, 1787, while residents of Surry county, North Carolina,
they sold the last of the property (Rowan county Deed Book, 11,
p. 561). Thirty years later, on March 20, 1827, in Rowan County
Superior Court, the heirs of Mary Brinegar filed suit to regain
this land. Their suit claimed that Richard Jacks was married to
another woman at the time of his wedding to Mary Brinegar and
that there was no privy exam of Mary as grantor. The suit was
carried to the North Carolina Supreme Court where the plantiff's

lost.


Hite

27

Froe

The doors of the earliest cabins were made of hickory,
oak, and ash, which yield the best of the longer dimension
boards. There are also records that indicate timbers for both

house and bridge construction were cut by hand with a two-man

ripsaw, or "pit saw," just as is done today in parts of the
third world. One of the sawyers would stand on top of the log
and the other in a pit below. This method was used more

frequently for commercial than for individual building purposes,
although at times floor and other boards were made in this way.
Later, the lumber for doors and floors was bought from sawmills.
Kyle Brinegar has said that he remembers "Uncle Mart" using the

broadax, foot adz, and froe in his work.


ee
i

em,

State of North Carolina,

To any regular Minister of the Gospel, having the cme of souls, of whatever Denomination;
Or to any Justice of the Peace of said County: 244% «..%% f At

YOU, OR ANY OF YOU, ARE HEREBY LICENSED AND AUTHORIZED TO
CELEBRATE AND SOLEMNIZE THE RITES OF MATRIMONY, | poe

oS A Ment I Brag AND _« hg tag CO Miverery B

Sand Soin th them together as s Han and Wife.
WITNESS, ow bs Cote ts td CLERK OF OUR SAID COURT,
ATOFEICE,THE 4 © DAY OF « Ve w ry a 18 Tpand IN THE
wd £6 YEAR OF Dire. °

2

aa SS SS BB SF FF FF FF
ers

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46.

AT.
48.

49.
50.

51.

52.

53.

54.

55.
56.

57.
58.
59.
60.
61.

Horace Kephart, Our Southern Highlanders, New York:
Macmillan Co., 1929.

Ibid., Journal Patriot, 1969.

Emma B. Miles, The Spirit of the Mountains, New York:
James Pott and Co., 1905.

Interview with Harrison Caudill.
Interview with Dean Pruitt.
Mark S. Sexton, The Chalice and the Covenant: A History of

the New Covenant Baptist Association, Winston Salem,
North Carolina: Hunter Publishing Co., 1976.

Interview with Earl Sexton.

Johnson J. Hayes, The Land of Wilkes, Wilkesboro: Wilkes
County Historical Society, 1962.

John Rice Irwin, Alex Stewart: Portrait _of a Pioneer, West
Chester, Penn.: Schiffer Publishing Co., 1985.

Tbid.

Rose M. Haynes, "History of a Pioneer Family," The State
Magazine, March, 1985.

Ibid., Howland.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.

“Brinegar Cabin Open Under New Management," The Elkin
Tribune, June 30, 1971.


9
The following children were born to the union of Jacob and
Mary (Prock) Brinegar. All are thought to have been born in
Rowan County (now Davie County):
1) Jacob Brinegar, born between 1770-1780. Descendants living
in Alleghany & Wilkes Counties.
2) Thomas Brinegar, born between 1770-74. Moved to Kentucky by

1800; returned to Ashe County, N.C. by 1830 and died by

1840.
3) Mary Brinegar, born between 1770-74. Married one Thomas
Bracken in Rowan County. Mary died before the law suit

surrounding the estate was filed.

4) Nancy Ann Brinegar, born between 1770-75. Married in Rowan
County in 1789 to Samuel Bracken.

5} Paul Brinegar, born 1774. Wife's name is unknown. Paul
died between 1858-60 in the area now known as Yadkin County,
(formerly Surry County).

6) Adam Brinegar, born 1779-80. Adam moved to Ashe County by
1810 and lived there until his death in 1870. Many of
Adam's descendants currently reside in Ashe County.

7) \Joshua Brinegar, born between 1780-84. . Joshua resided in
Davie County where he died in 1846. ,

The first Brinegar (the name was being spelled by this time
as it is today) to live in the area of Wilkes and Alleghany
Counties was likely to have been Jacob Brinegar, who was born
three generations after Adam came to the United States. Jacob
was in Ashe County (present day Alleghany County) by 1799 when
he entered land for a grant on the east side of the Little
River. Though it has not been proven conclusively, Jacob had a

son, Thomas, born around 1800. Thomas is believed to have been


Phomisns @ Ate IeiinD.

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GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE

ORDER FOR COPIES—VETERANS RECORDS

{See reverse for exptonction)

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Title
079-1

Text
079-2

Labels 10/36

Blue Ridge Parkway
Low Profile
Wayside Exhibit Plan

Exhibit 079

Brinegar Cabin

Martin Brinegar and his wife Caroline built this

cabin during the 1880s. Though Martin died in

1925, Caroline continued to live here until 1935.

Typical of other mountain families, the Brinegars
cleared Jand and raised crops such as buckwheat,

rye, oats, corn and sorghum. Their poultry and

livestock roamed free in the mounta'ins, a common

practice.

Caroline Brinegar received a four-poster, hand loom
from her father as a wedding gift. Using wool
yarn and linen thread spun from flax grown in her
garden, she wove the durable “Linsey-woolsey”
cloth. She used the "tromped as writ" patterns,
which resembled sheet music with symbols telling
her which of the foot peddles to tromp to weave

the pattern.



63

Martin Brinegar, as a prominent member of Pleasant Grove
Union Baptist Church, played a major role in bringing religion
and education to the people of the basin cove area. He took an
important stand for freedom for all Americans. His church cared
for the new born, the sick, those to be married, and the
bereaved. It gave both young and old a place for social and
spiritual fellowship. Above all the church was a community
center, the heart beat of the community.

Martin's religious beliefs also shaped his and his family's
attitude toward an important mountain practice-moonshining.
Moonshining in the Highlands has been romanticized in so many
books, songs, and motion pictures that many find it difficult to
differentiate between fiction, and the true role the production
of illegal alcohol played in the lives of the people in this
region. Many of Martin and Caroline's neighbors made "shine."
It was part of the heritage brought with them into the
mountains. Their ancestors made liquor in Scotland where they
hid their small stills to avoid British tax collectors. They
considered the distillation of spirits to be a man's own
business.

Although moonshining, the illegal making and/or selling of
homemade whiskey, wasS a common practice and important source of
income in the mountains, valleys, and foothills along the Blue
Ridge Parkway, the Brinegars abstained. "One thing we didn't do
was mess with liquor," said Martin's son John. "One feller up
there raised a pretty good family, ten or twelve of ‘em, by
making corn liquor. We were the only folks around on speaking

terms with the revenuer!"


69
brother, and mother-in-law were dead and already buried. Later,
while searching the cabin site, Famon found and saved an old
brown milk pitcher, the only thing left of a young man's
dream. **

Another disaster on the mountain endangered the Brinegar
Cabin more directly. This was the forest fire of 1934. The
fire raged across the mountainsides, spurred on by strong winds
and dry leaves. Verl Brinegar recalled in later years the
horror he and Caroline felt as they helplessly watched the fire
move toward the Cabin. With the courageous help of neighbors,
he and Caroline removed the furnishings from the house and then
began the battle to save the Cabin. The fearless Caroline
climbed on the roof of the Cabin while Verle and neighbors
formed a water brigade from the trusty spring. They carried
buckets of water to Caroline and she poured water on the
shingles to prevent their igniting.

Kyle Brinegar, while not present, remembers the retelling of

the event. "That was an awful fire. They had a water brigade
up there. Grandma's Cabin had boards on the roof and that fire
was comin' up out of the gorge. She said it roared like
thunder. They kept it (the cabin) wet down. It burned all of
the woods around the cabin. People say they haven't seen

anything like it before nor since."


14

Like most families in the area, Ezekiel and Jane had a
large family consisting of six girls and five boys. It seemed
to be a pattern in colonial days that a child would be born just
about every two years. Ezekiel and Jane were true to this
pattern having eleven children in twenty three years. It was
not uncommon for small children to be lost to illness, but the
rugged life seemed to agree with the entire Joines family.+®

In addition to farming his fertile land, Ezekiel was a
cooper, making barrels and churns to supply the needs of the
community. According to the Alleghany and Wilkes County
Geneological Societies, he made a loom for his daughter Caroline
as a wedding present.

The Civil War between the states became a harsh reality to
this family when Ezekiel enlisted in the Confederate Army in
1863 at the age of 39. He left his wife and children to manage
the farm. The care of a six-day-old son, Henderson, added to
the already heavy workload. The eldest daughter, Wada, at 18,
was already married. The other girls: Evaline, Flora Ann, Susan

Ann, Christina and Caroline ranged in age from 14 to 2

respectively. The eldest son Daniel, age 16,.was also to serve
in the war. Richard, age 12 escaped the direct horrors of the
war. When an exhausted Ezekiel returned home recovering from

wounds, he fell by the doorstep and had to be helped into the
house. The story goes that Jane killed a chicken and made soup
every day to help nurse him back to health. He survived, and
the couple added two more sons to their family, Linville and
John Reason.?®

Ezekiel died in 1904 at the age of 70, and Jane lived to

be 84 years old. All the children's spouses were from Alleghany


- ANNUAL UABUAINA STATIC BOARD Ol0 JHSALEIL . —_ y6b
BUREAU OF VITAL STATISTICS z

STANDARD CERTIFICATE OF DEATH See
Registration District Now -22. PF 2

anne teen ee enee = Btate.

(@) Resltence, No, enema
(WUaual pinee of abode) resident give city 01

Length of residence tn ely er town where death occurred tp yr Af soe, Fes. Wow bona tn U8. tof torolon bent yrs. mo. as

TERSONAL AND STATISTICAL PARTICULARS MEDICAL CERTIFICATE OF DEATIL
: Oy ‘ wey, ne 5 Bi pgtecd feta vers) 16 Date of Death (month, day, and year) Qugnel 3 3I
Lihale | dthit: 4 OT 7
be If mareied, wldowed, oF divorced, . I EBY CERTIFY, That I attended deceased trom

Cowie FgnaVure Vpuce-) Gplile—hibs wblbs wll Bf pers

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If LESS tha:
7 Age b> 9 years “oe on iday,----hre. || The CAUSE OF DEATH? was as follows:
ore,

% Occupation of deceased YRMb Andon boued Ah hae

‘Trade, Professton, We a
Somat 7 :
i

AGE shou!

wn properly elas

> Ae S-S (S ae RMN, SSR ee

Particular kind of work.

(2) Goncrat nature of Industry, ! (Goration)
yusiness, or establishment bate
which employed (or ermployer)-— aaa. —-l|Gtconoand -
{e) Name of employer * (Guration) yes... mos. as.
18 Where was disease contracted
9 Birthplace (city or town)—-9.9._.. saowe—nnn--|} Af not at place of death?»
ad (State or country) tug C4 - Did an operation precede death... Date of_______---.__---

be

10 Name of Father Wi 2. aertl| Wat there an antopsy?._..
What test 1 diay a
11 Birthplace of Father GOL ee (Signed). . /
va 62 = 0

(State or country) edd,

12 Malden Namo of Mother WI a Li Ve ‘4 ol ts (Address) Ss e

‘State the Disease Causing Death, or in deaths from Violent
Causes, state (1) Means and Natare of Injury, and (3) whether Ac-
oldental, Suicidal, or Homicidal, (Bee reverse aide for additional space.)

Ft

n

Parents

18 Birthplace of Mother (city or t — =-—=-4
(State or country) LLLAL i

Me 19 Place of Burial, Crematien, o removal Date of Burial

a:

DEATH In ntain terms, ao that tt muy

iw



19
leather" to get his father to make them into shoes for their
children. "He charged for the shoes according to size."

John Brinegar, a longtime resident of nearby North
Wilkesboro, said "when you farmed on these hills you didn't have
to bend your back much to hoe corn." He said they raised
cabbage, potatoes, sheep and hogs to help pay for flour, sugar,
and other necessities they could not provide for themselves.
"One thing we didn't do; we didn't mess with liquor. One feller
up there raised a pretty creditable family, ten or twelve of 'em
by making liquor."

While John remembered life at the Cabin with great
affection, he was not so positive about the construction of the
Blue Ridge Parkway. "The people had lived all their lives in
the mountains. Everyone got along fine, making a fair living,
happy in their homes. Then the government came in and took the
land for little or nothing. We would have been better off if
they had left us alone."

Verl Milton Brinegar, the son of John and Sessie Choate
was born on November 1, 1912, in Alleghany County. Martin and
Caroline "took him to raise" thirteen months after his mother
died. Verl "got his schooling" at the one~teacher Air Bellows
School. He married Delia Mae Sexton of the New Haven Church
community and spent almost thirty years of his adult life
working as a crosstie inspector for Hawkins Tie and Lumber Yard
in Galax, Virginia. He retired in 1975 and died two years later
on January 25, 1977. He is buried in the New Haven Church
Cemetery. 7°

Verl remembered his early life as one of hard work,

helping make a living for himself and his grandparents. He


mH HE FE FTF EF He He me HE HE EEF SE FS

48
used tree was the black gum. Martin would hollow out the stump
by a combination of burning and scraping and have storage for

as much as 100 gallons of grain.

Log Barrel

As time passed at the Brinegar Cabin, Martin is likely to
have purchased wooden barrels in North Wilkesboro or nearby
Whitehead. They are often referred to in the Highlands as
"stands," a term dating back to 14th century England which meant
open-ended barrel. The three below are representative of the
type found on farms along the Blue Ridge. Kyle Brinegar says
that Caroline used the barrels for pickle beans and kraut.

"They'de keep all winter in the Spring House and not freeze no

matter how cold it got."

Wooden Barrels


Seca “s REWAR? , ‘etl
Wee.

La obey ned (Krpgorn
glen de hit les se

( pinata? Ko af Ay) -
fig vain, Card Westy Lohinend, dab G Z
fae She Vhraete in fotiouery Lanier te "hes Mheylan

rte by bus wna tntatriei,s igh he Se hist 2 Hee AdBS
’ nhigel, His Cheer Clagheye. id ak hubltage.
| bee Thee ag: fit oy Omnir Ci eal end Gil:
i ree Pa rmaile Diba sh tee bib berth cots

e we By yale fdas earlier Heel ts bore
het

: the KH os a Gr idee? Qed» Ln? eoorih
fer ne fee ad
: Paes Sporn ie fh (Rael ‘boo. acne OF
ae Coreg, Oe call “hi Mele 74 1s And myn
Reiter sil Plata phe Vl haven, \ Sete. 08 cle jt be with outs
rma 7 hottife, aime, che the ped fe ad hel pe

nikita: 2 fler thadanipn Ue
CTRL Wplinhéhagn. dhe Gait
Ci the Uebel gine

pe ae hy Pike
bw " legteels, tand ehoibs ari prtinknares
1 at amor Cty Side 4 sigue ak me Called and bolo
i Winch Wie Crise Sol ltt Layer decoriyas tole
lL he Titegm Gnd lie Other part ehelt be,
(  eteaad mney pitted Un, cob ofbelt Hh “inf Gund
! AE wa. bgt | ote; Clas the otters, fMlnn£ gry
H y St. yf tin pile “(isthen. Chet ie ee We
Vt Fa ti, nnthg be (le yea iclt be pat CZ
Qyor iecplee ‘beds or, Recoverrng Fi ‘ded eabdl scanty 1,

Cin taerfore for neve j jel felons We Cette LZ
sre negech his. Gong ane We

“rant fotin- Gre Bei om gongs "aetlg fl Lesa bolt 1; Dpepmiee |

, n 4
Cull rain fe itn 4 Ae Jupber myn or dais Las ‘vee.

7h ptcdes
Pity Uoneze WRI OG mn
Cosygatt Veererel” Feegns

poo Padag hes . oon
a » oF



31
of the sum of two hundred dollars" or $1.60 per acre. In
addition to the land, the deed conveyed a small cabin.

While Brinegar Cabin itself is located in Wilkes County,
about 75 yards south of the Eastern Continental Divide, the
original tract of land owned by the Brinegars straddled the
boundary between northern Wilkes County and southern Alleghany
County in North Carolina. The largest towns in the vicinity of
the Cabin at the turn of the century were Sparta to the north,
Elkin to the southeast, and North Wilkesboro, thirty miles to
the south. An element of humor surrounds this dual-county
location of the Brinegar Cabin property. John Brinegar, son of
Cabin builder Martin Brinegar, noted in a 1969 "Wilkes
Journal-Patriot" article that "the boundary line between Wilkes
and Alleghany counties was determined by the direction the water
ran. If it ran off the southern side of the mountains, the land
was included in Wilkes County. If the water ran off the
northern side, Alleghany claimed the land." As was often the
case in rural Appalachian counties, politics was a powerful
force. In this case apparently powerful enough to defy the laws
of gravity. John continues, "but sometimes they changed the
county because of politics. My daddy was a Republican and they
didn't want him in Alleghany so they put him on the Wilkes
County side."3?

It is interesting to note that while Martin Brinegar
purchased this land in 1876, he was apparently in no hurry to
build. The deed for the purchase of the property was not
recorded until December 29, 1885, nine years after the
conveyance. Information gathered over the years suggests that

Martin and Caroline, along with daughters Alice and Rena, lived


15

County. The family consisted of Wada Joines (1845-1916) who
married David Caudill; Daniel Robinson Joines (1847-1914) who
married Nancy Landreth; Evaline Joines (1848-1930) who married
Harvey F. Brown; Richard Haywood Joines (1851-1930) who married
J. Aris Waggoner; Susan Ann Joines (1855-2) who married Daniel
Chappel; Christina Joines (1858-1939) who married Nathaniel
Moxley; Caroline Joines (1861-1942) who married Martin Brinegar;
Henderson Joines (1863-1938) who first married Cornelia
Richardson and then Mary Ann Crouse; Linville Joines (1866-1945)
who was married four times to Nancy Edwards, Kate Roberts, Mary
Hall and Jettie Jordan; and John Reason Joines (1868-1927) who
married Susan Edwards and then Sally Holloway.*7

One of Ezekiel's brothers, Major Finnely, was a teacher in
the Wilkes/Alleghany area. He was a second lieutenant in the
Army of the Confederacy and served under the command of General
Robert E. Lee. During the war Major was wounded, taken
prisoner, and sent to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania On July 3, 1863,
he was released by the Union troops and returned home to his
wife, Molly. After the war, he traveled on foot and horseback
to teach in area schools. This was a period in our history when
few girls received a formal education and boys were regularly
needed to help with planting and harvesting. These "informal"
schools were scheduled around farming needs and often met in
groceries or general stores such as the Irvin Grocery School in
Stratford.7*

Caroline's maternal grandparents were Benny and Wadie
Cheek Crouse. Her mother was one of three children born to
Benny and Wadie. She had one brother, Henderson, and one

sister, Elizabeth. Martin purchased the land where the Brinegar


59

"A pair of Uncle Martin's shoes usually lasted us two
years because we went barefoot back then in the summertime,"
said Sherman Caudill. "He'd come over to our place and say
"hold that foot up' and he'd pick your foot up and rub the shoe
and check it for wear. He was so proud of them shoes. Yes sir,
he was proud of them shoes."

Kyle Brinegar related that it took Martin about two weeks
to make one pair of shoes. "He was busy most of the time when
he was able to work." He charged according to the size of the
foot but usually one dollar would cover the bill.

Martin Brinegar was a devoutly religious man. He attended
the Pleasant Grove Union Baptist Church where he held the
honored position of Clerk. He regularly attended monthly
services which lasted for two days. Services only met once a
month in most rural communities because the preacher was on a
circuit and ministered to the needs of three or four
congregations in different communities. Another reason for the
monthly meetings was the distance members of the congregation
had to travel to get to church. Martin walked from the Cabin to
church (approximately nine miles) or occasionally rode
horseback. The services lasted from “4 A.M. until 2 P.M.,
according to Sherman Caudill, and Martin often spent the night
with his two brothers who lived nearby. He returned home after
the Sunday services.

Louise Tayson remembers Betty Crouse (closest neighbor of
the Brinegars) “talking about Martin's dedication to the church.
She said "she could just about set her clock" by Martin's coming
by on his way to church. As Clerk, Martin recorded and read the

minutes from church meetings. (See Appendix 0) He was also a




Deed conveying title to the United States of America
or its assigns should be drafted, and the description of the

property involved should be the same as shown by plet and cap-
tion pages

It will also be necessary that the deed be properly
_ executed, ‘stamped and: recorded at the expense of the proponent,
and examination of the’ records continued to a date subsequent
“to the recordation of. said deed, disclosing that. nothing has
“oceurred..to affect title since the date of the’ joriginal. cer~
; tificate attached to. he ebstract. ee

“For your ‘convenience, abstract and related papers
are ‘encloseds’

Respe etfully,

Clyde Ee Gooch,
"| Special Attorney

“-Enclosures.


AKG
ap

are



TM =

2
and cottage industries such as weaving or extractive industries
such as mining. The new American wilderness offered ample
opportunity to practice all of these subsistence patterns. The
forest teemed with game and fish. Miles of mountainside were
covered with native chestnuts and other edible plants. The
forest floor was thick with mast to fatten the cattle (and ata
later date, hogs) by which these traditional herders had always
measured a man’s wealth. Southern Appalachia was a stockman's
paradise.

Theodore Roosevelt, in The Winning of the West, describes

his admiration for the early settlers of Southern Appalachia:
"In this land of hills covered by unbroken forest, they took
root and flourished...a shield of sinewy men thrust in between
the people of the seaboard and the red warriors of the
wilderness. They are a bold and hardy race fitted to be
Americans from the very start."*
Settlement Patterns

It is generally agreed by John C. Campbell and Horace
Kephart, two of Appalachia's foremost historians,that the
earliest and largest migrations to Southern Appalachia were from
southern Pennsylvania, eastern Virginia, and eastern North
Carolina. Among those from Pennsylvania was a great pioneer of
American history - Daniel Boone. In 1750 his family left for
North Carolina, following the old route up the Valley of
Virginia, across the Blue Ridge near the dividing line between
Virginia and North Carolina, and on to the forks of the Yadkin
river.

The early settlers included many of those on the first

frontier - self-sufficing farmers who were in opposition to many


Wi

4
5
‘
- i
vt
shea
a t

einer tee tee be

.



Em He He Ee HE HE HE He SE Tm He Ee HE ee eT Oe

36
loft is reached by a ladder rising on the rear wall in the main
room.

Later, Martin added the previously mentioned springhouse,
a small barn which was located near the existing Parkway, and a
granary with a root cellar beneath it where fruits and
vegetables were stored. According to Delia Brinegar, the garden
was located between the cabin and the barn, slightly to the
northwest.

Delia Brinegar notes that when Martin enlarged the house
after John's birth, he built a porch facing southeast. The
porch was used for sitting, breaking beans, peeling apples,
sewing or just for whittling.

It has been suggested by Kyle Brinegar that his
grandfather also built a dry kiln. This, according to Kyle, was
added after the barn, granary, and springhouse. Although unable
to corroborate this, it is consistent with the practice of
German families who came south from Pennsylvania.

Furnishings of the Cabin

Just as primitive and as simple as the Cabin itself was
the furniture which it likely contained. Because there was no
inventory of furnishings before Caroline left the property and
recollections of kin folk are incomplete, we must generalize
somewhat about this aspect of the Cabin.

The furnishings of the Cabin were severely plain with no
surface designs or decorations. There was no use of paint or
stains and apparently no use of the dye of local plants to adorn
furniture, as was occasionally done elsewhere in the Highlands.

The dominant piece of furniture in the Cabin and one of

unquestioned importance to family survival was the four-poster


Ee eS EE eS a 2 ee = = =

Subject Homestead
Structure

location ~ MP 241

Pa n el. ~~ .

orientation

Purpose

Content 10/86
Blue Ridge Parkway

Low Profile

Wayside Exhibit Plan

Exhibit 081

To illustrate the isolation of many settlers in

the rugged gorges



ZZ m HH Ee FE He FE FF SF TM we Eee ee

i

| -

NORTH CAROLINA STATE BOARD OF HEALTH

299 BUREAU OF VITAL STATISTICS
ined STANDARD CERTIFICATE OF DEATH

1 PLACE OF Wie ih Registration District No cd AILS ; eA

County_.

Township.

2 FULL NAME op LE2:

St,
(Gf death occurred in’ » hospital or institution, give its name instead of

PLPC OLY,

(a) Residence. Ni ---8t,, Ward.
(Usual piace of abode) (if nonresident give city or town and State)
Length of residence In elty or town where death occurred yrs. mos, Lia How long tn U. S. If of forelgn birth? bud mos. ds
PERSONAL AND STATISTICAL PARTICULARS MEDICAL CERTIFICATE OF athrn L£ 2 s—
4 Cok EBace » Marr ‘Widowed,
Sie OA © 'BWorcod (apile tigyword) || 28 Date of Death (month, day, and year) ECA Ze
CLIO Oknef 7

se “guabepe ie I HEREBY CERTIFY, Thst 1 attended deceased trom
tot of
LAG oe J--nennen-------. 19, to. —, 9

enna ne 19

that I last saw bh... alive on__...-_..

Vy:
€ Date of Birth (month, day, and year) CPEs

and that death occurred, on the date stated above, at______.-___m.

If LESS than
1 day,..__bre,

The CAUSE OF DEATH* was as follows:

T Are ee years{ Months Daya
@9

8 Oceupation of deceased Z. :
(a) Trade, Professi gt
rate eee TZ Peer

(b) General nature of industry,

‘Dusiness, or establishment in e a
which employed (or employer)_____.._-----.__ +] Ce Rtery nan nnnennm y
(ey Name ofemployer | lr (doration).._..__yrs.---—..-0s.__-_____d.
Ae 18 Where was disease contracted
9 Birthplace (city or town)__---___2<- Zr at not at piace of death?_______.. -
{State or country) Did an operation precede death?
10 Name of Father LL. S, (eZ Dt22/G fy __|| Was there an antopsyt_
Fai ZY. va ‘What test confirmed diagnosis? _.
«| 22 Birthplace of Fother (elty or town)-. ww a
= (State or country) (Signed) -—---—-------~---—
3 iL. fe) (Addrens)
a

tt pe: 4

42 Malden Name of Mother EZ
VPC ‘State the Disease Causing Death, or in deaths from Violent

<BLEL.._] | canes, iste 1) Means end Nature of Injury, and (2) whether Ae~
cidental, Suicidal, or Homicidal. (See reverse side for additional space.)

(State or country)

1“ 19 Place of Burial, Cremstion, or removal Date of Burial
‘Informant.

(Address) Cer beet & ~ aol | bad

18 We Lzovr Let 20 Undertaker WA ‘Addrese
ited wl, yi -

REGISTRAR

Twas

L6T

dO Awd PT SHL SIHL ‘IWaS IVIDIa4a0 GNV/CNVH

SANILIM saad dO YsLsSIOgy FHL JO JOIdGO FHL KI

— quaagoae GNY GaTId SY FTLYOIGXNLYIO HLVEG TWNIOTYO aHL 40
AdOD LOWXS ANY GNUL WY SI SIHL IVHL AAILYID OL SI SIHL

= YNITOUVO HEYON ‘ALNNOD STYII'-



39
Another item which Kyle Brinegar confirms Caroline used
daily was the meal chest. This was an item that was found in
almost every Highland home. Almost all of the meal chests had a
partition; one side for meal, the other for flour. In very
early days, flour was always scarce so the first chests were
used exclusively for meal. “She kept one side full of meal and

the other full of flour," said Kyle.

Meal Chest

A dough tray, of oblong shape, was found in almost every
home; from the tiny pole mountain cabin to more substantial
brick homes along the fertile river bottom. John Rice Irwin

Says that these were always made from the buckeye tree.

Dough Tray