Oral history interview with Jerry Plemmons, November 10, 2000
Subtitle: Interview K-0506, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Amberg, Rob, interviewer; Southern Oral History Program; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library
Edition: Electronic ed.
Publisher: University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Published: 2005
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Country life; Community life; Rural development; Rural roads; Social change; Social conditions
Other titles: Interview K-0506, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with with Jerry Plemmons, November 10, 2000; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: At the time of the interview, Jerry Lee Plemmons, a lifetime Madison County resident, worked for the French Broad Electric Membership Corporation, consulting on energy conservation and working toward community development. In this interview, he reflects on the influence of development, particularly highway construction, on Marshall, NC, a town known as "a mile long, street wide, sky high, and Hell deep" (14). Plemmons sees roads as both constructive and destructive forces -- they bring new money and new people to communities, but they also offer residents the chance to leave, invite environmental damage, and balloon property values, thus driving out longtime residents. Rural North Carolinians, then, must work not only to protect their economic and environmental stability, but also the stability of their community values.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on Sept. 25, 2007).

Interview participants: Jerry Plemmons, interviewee; Rob Amberg, interviewer.

Duration: 01:34:25

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-CH digital library, Documenting the American South.  It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.

Text encoded by Natalia Smith and Mike Millner.  Sound recordings digitized by Steve Weiss and Seth M. Kotch.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files : 109 kilobytes, ca. 172.9 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern Communities, interview K-0506, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Sarah Schuckman, August 2001. Original transcript: 31 p.

Funding from the University of North Carolina Library supported the electronic publication of this interview.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements:  Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player.