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 The Carter Family Fold serves as a forum for
Come and join me as I drop in on the homeplaces of some of American history’s famous personages. Pay your respects with me as I relive the tragedies of Johnstown and Shanksville. Join me in praise to the God of creation as I rollercoaster through the mountains of West Virginia and Pennsylvania and as I get baptized by the sprays of Niagara.
After countless hours of researching my intended destinations and mapping out the routes that I will take and, with my gas tank full, I am ready to ride.
The first stop of the first day of my trip is just northeast of Kingsport, Tennessee, in the small mountain community of Hiltons, Virginia, the birthplace of Alvin Pleasant Carter. A. P. Carter was born in 1891 in Maces Springs (now Hiltons) in a little log cabin in the mountains of southwest Virginia. In 1926 A. P., his wife Sara, and his brother’s wife, Maybelle (later to be known as Mother Maybelle), formed the group that became known as the Carter Family.
In 1927 they took a trip to nearby Bristol to make a recording for Ralph Peer of Victor Records. Peer was visiting the region, looking for new talent who sang the old songs. Not only did the Carter Family make an impression on Peer, they also made an impression on the public at large, selling hundreds of thousands of records. They recorded for Victor and later for other record labels for several years.
The Carter Family moved to Texas in the late 1930’s and continued to sing together on the radio (even though A. P. and Sara had already divorced) until 1943, when the original group broke up for good. Although most of their songs were not original, A. P. was responsible for bringing many of them into the light of day. He scoured the hills and hollers of Appalachia looking for old folk songs known only to a few. The trio recorded them and made them known to millions.
Their music was worlds away from the electrified country music of today. Maybelle played the guitar and Sara played the autoharp. All three sang. Many of the songs that they recorded, such as “Keep on the Firing Line,” “Church in the Wildwood” and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” were religious in nature. Others dealt with romance, such as “I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes” and “I Cannot Be Your Sweetheart.” Still others sentimentally referred to days gone by, like “My Clinch Mountain Home” and “Mid the Green Fields of Virginia.” A few songs, including “Wabash Cannonball” and “Engine 143,” had railroading as their theme. Their discography of well over two hundred songs ran the gamut of life’s experiences.
The most famous song that they recorded is, unarguably, “Wildwood Flower,” which is, no doubt, one of the first songs that bluegrass guitar students learn to pick. Indeed, I learned to pick “Wildwood Flower”, as well as several other Carter Family songs, by listening to their records. In fact, my personal picking style is based on that of Mother Maybelle, although I would not even begin to compare my modest picking abilities to her skilled fingerwork. Many of their songs, including “Wildwood Flower,” have been recorded over the years by other artists as well.
After the breakup of the original Carter Family, Maybelle and her daughters, June, Helen and Anita, became the new incarnation of the Carter Family and went on to sing for several more years, eventually becoming members of the Grand Ole Opry.
Like many notable people who leave their mark on society and then exit stage right, never to be heard from again, A. P. went back to the Hiltons area and opened a general store. He died in 1960, pretty much forgotten by the world that he had helped to change.
A. P., however, has not been totally forgotten. The main road in the area has been designated “A. P. Carter Highway.” His and Sara’s children established the Carter Family Fold, a pavilion on A. P. Carter Highway where old-time music is played on Saturday nights. People come from many miles away to enjoy the music
and camaraderie. A. P.’s old homeplace has been moved right next to the pavilion, at the corner of A. P. Carter Highway and Wildwood Flower Drive.
In 1970, A. P. was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor. A couple of years ago PBS aired a one-hour special on the Carter Family.
The legacy of A. P., Sara and Maybelle lives on in the hearts and minds of millions of people who still treasure old-time, wholesome music.
After paying my respects to the Carters, I headed up Routes 71 and 19 toward Tazewell, enjoying the views of the rolling hills and the Clinch Mountain ridge. When I reached Tazewell I dropped in at the Carb Orchard Museum, which highlights the history of Tazewell County and the surrounding region.
I was impressed with the number of original artifacts from bygone years, including quite a few weapons from colonial and Revolutionary War days, as well as from the period of the War Between the States.
One of the displays in the museum showcases marine fossils that were discovered in the region. It seems that the area was under ocean water at one time. Hmmmm.
On the grounds of the museum are situated several log structures that were built in the area in the early to mid 19th century and have been moved to their present location.
Although most of the structures are original, the small structure labeled Witten’s Fort is a re-creation. The original fort had been established in the 1770’s to serve as a deterrent to Indian attacks.
I had wanted to visit the fort, but the museum attendant told me that the grounds crew had encounter some copperheads on the grounds in front of it.
It is amazing how good a picture you can get from a distance by using a zoom lens.
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Next installment – Mountain Momma
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