Introduction

People lived a somewhat simple life in Appalachia.  There was plenty of self-sufficiency, but residents of Appalachia relied on each other in the local economy.  There were limits to travel and limits to access for many things for the residents of this area during the early 1900s, who were often more focused on basic necessities and the need to make a living.  Local economies are still important today, but were more so back in the first half of the twentieth century.  

  The general store is a thing of the past except for the commercialized general stores we can find today. Residing in a hotel was a much different experience for people traveling then.  Local residents depended on the nearby mine or mill, or on commerce with neighbors and the few travelers who visited the region. Transportation included walking on foot, horseback, or horse-drawn wagons.

This module challenges students to paint a picture of how people made a living along the Appalachian Trail in Southwestern Virginia.  Students will analyze current images as well as primary documents and the words of a local resident in order to understand how the local economy operated.  What does the evidence of how a local economy operated back then compare and contrast with how our local economy operates today? What aspects of the natural environment were essential elements of the local economy?  To what degree were the small businesses owned by local people critical to local economic life? 

Collection of Sources

• Store at Tuggle Gap (2019)

• Kelley School

• Thompson’s Store (2019)

• Fries, VA (1911)

• View of the Washington Mills, Fries VA (1910)

• • Hotel Mons (1930s)

• Graysville Store (2019)

• Oral History of Ralph Lee Barnard (2019):  Document attached after plans.

Virginia Standards of Learning:

VUS.1 The student will demonstrate skills for historical thinking, geographical analysis, economic decision making, and responsible citizenship by

1. a)   synthesizing evidence from artifacts and primary and secondary sources to obtain information about events in Virginia and United States history;
   e)   comparing and contrasting historical, cultural, economic, and political perspectives in Virginia and United States history;
   f)   explaining how indirect cause-and-effect relationships impact people, places, and events in Virginia and United States history;
   j)   investigating and researching to develop products orally and in writing.

Objectives

1. Students will analyze primary and secondary sources and draw conclusions about local economies in the early 1900s.
2. Students will compare and contrast local economies now and in the past.
3. Students will analyze an account of how local residents could make money.

Teaching Strategies

1. Individual, paired, or guided reading of the interview.  

1. Individual or partner work completing a gallery walk to analyze images of elements of the local economy either in the classroom or online.

1. Group discussion of how the interviewee, and therefore many other individuals, made money as well as how businesses and the mill were part of the economy. 

1. Students create their own business.

Lesson Plan

Distribute copies (electronically or on paper) of Ralph Lee Barnard’s interview about how he made money as a young man.  Individually, or in pairs, students will read and note how Barnard made a living.

Answer should include:

• Hunting squirrels and selling them
• Trapping mink for their fur

Post images of the 7 sources around the classroom or have students use the Internet to visit each image electronically.  Distribute copies of the worksheet attached for students to record their observations. Individually, or in pairs, students will walk around viewing the images or visit the images online and while making their observations.  Students will answer reflection questions about the lack of transportation during the time period and how important the country store was to the economy and the school to the community.  

Have a group discussion about how the local economy operated.  Discussion should address the different options people had to make a living, both from local residents and from visitors to the region.  Compare and contrast the local economy during the first half of the 20th century and today. Discuss modes of transportation that existed and why the stores and schools were important to the community and people passing through as well as why some of the stores still exist.  

• People walked, rode horses, or used horse drawn wagons
• The stores still exist because they are located on main roads

Warm-up Activity

Based on your understanding of a local economy, what do you think life was like for people trying to make a living during the time period?  What challenges did they face? What opportunities did they have? Make sure to consider it from the perspective of someone living during the early 1900’s.  For example, how did people get from one place to another?  

Writing Prompt 

Students have examined examples of different businesses that existed and have discussed how they were essential to the local economy.  Individually, or in pairs, students will create their own business plan in order to create a new business that might have survived along the Appalachian Trail between 1930-1952.  Students should include the following: 

• Name for the business

• What the business will sell or the service it will provide

• What the business will contribute to the local economy both for the locals and people traveling through

• Students can use the map of the Lost Appalachian Trail to determine where their business will be located and explain their rationale for their location.

Each individual or pair will present their business plan to the class.

As a class, students can discuss which business they think would have been most successful.  

Additional Resources:

Excerpt of interview with Ralph Lee Barnard, May 4, 2019 by Mills Kelly

Ralph Lee Barnard (b. 1939, age 80) is the grandson of John R. Barnard, the Appalachian Trail keeper in Patrick County from 1930-1952. His wife’s name is Hope and they live in the home that was John Barnard’s in Meadows of Dan, although today that house is made of brick and has a garage that Ralph added. John Barnard was featured in a story in National Geographic Magazine about the Appalachian Trail in 1948, and Ralph specifically remembers the hikers staying in his grandfather’s barn and talking with them. He was 13 when the trail moved west and had a lot of experience helping his grandfather with the hikers, especially helping them hike through the Dan River Gorge and over the famed Pinnacles of Dan.

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Interviewer: What did you do to make money when you were young? 

Ralph Barnard: When I was growing up here I used to hunt squirrels for a man nearby. He would pay me 25 cents if I hit them in the head. So, I got me a good 22 rifle and made pretty good money shooting those squirrels and selling them to him. We used to eat squirrels a lot in those days. Everybody did.

Now those hikers, they had a lot of panther stories. You know, a panther screams like a woman. Sometimes the hikers thought it was a woman they’d heard and were worried about it.

I used to run trap lines for mink down along the river. I was pretty good at it. One of my uncles taught me how to set my traps. I set’m carefully under the banks and in places the minks would go. Other people, they’d hunt down there with dogs and none of their dogs ever put a foot in one of my traps, so I had’m set in good places. If I got a mink, I got $200 for the pelt. That was before the mink farms started, so people paid a lot of money for just one mink. 

We used to go coon hunting down in the valley a couple of times a week.

My grandfather made that big arrowhead thing all by himself. He found all those arrowheads and pieces of pottery and such and then he made a mold in the sand and poured the cement into it and places all the stuff on it. Then he made another one and put the two sides together to make what you see in the picture here. That’s still down here.

Gallery Walk

Image	Record the following from each image: What do you see in the image? Simply record the content of each image. How did each of these establishments contribute to the local economy?
Store at Tuggle Gap (2019)
Kelley School
Thompson’s Store (2019)
Fries, VA (1911)
View of the Washington Mills, Fries VA (1910)
Hotel Mons (1930s)
Graysville Store (2019)

Now answer the following questions:

What options did people have for transportation during the early 1900’s?  So, why were the stores and schools important to the community and to people passing through?  Why do you think a few of the stores have survived?