Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 17: PUBLICATIONS PMSS
NOTES 1980
Spring and Fall

NOTES – 1980

“Notes from the Pine Mountain Settlement School”
Spring and Fall 1980

---

GALLERY: NOTES – 1980 Spring

This issue…is a kind of thank you letter for the fundamentals of life upon which our program and, ultimately, all of us depend. – Mark Dalton

---

TAGS: Notes – 1980 Spring, Mark Dalton, Evelyn K. Wells, Ruth B. Gaines, Edith Cold, Laurel House garden, poem, drawings

---

TRANSCRIPTION: NOTES – 1980 Spring

P. 1

NOTES FROM THE
PINE MOUNTAIN
SETTLEMENT SCHOOL

PINE MOUNTAIN * HARLAN COUNTY * KENTUCKY 40810
TELEPHONE 606 / 558-4361

Spring               The Rev. Alvin Boggs, Director               1980

[Image: Drawing of a boy studying a stream.]

We invite you to pause, to turn with us to the reality of the natural world, and to embrace our nurturing environment as it is felt and shared by Mark Dalton, a student in our January 1978 college term, then an intern on our staff that spring semester, and now, since March, a member of Pine Mountain’s teaching staff.

How easy it is to lose sight of the less noticeable and yet vitally important components of our relationship to Pine Mountain. Pine Mountain lives and breathes within us all; it is the substance of our heart’s beating. We thrive on this spiritual reservoir but seldom do we take time to pause and appreciate the rudiments of our existence.

This issue of the NOTES is dedicated to just that, a kind of thank you letter for the fundamentals of life upon which our program and, ultimately, all of us depend. After all, we may come and go, but the School is always here and the people who love and understand it are the people who share in its glory most!

**********

Look overhead — the sun! Spread your arms wide and drink up its golden warmth. Can’t you just feel the excitement as the individual rays play with the mountain, the meadow, and the water? Yet, you feel the stillness, all is quiet, there are no tangible means of measuring the experience. This is not a mute stillness; an inaudible language has been spoken and heard, and we are now able to perceive the effortless flow of natural processes. The mind may comprehend but only the soul can absorb the experience. Life has its own wings. Let it come, lift you at its own speed and in its own way.

P. 2

In the ditch beside the path is a veil of shimmering algae shaped by the subtle flow of water off the hill. Watch closely, for the individual algae melt into a quiescent wisp of green, given substance by its watery abode. These rich green threads form a coverlet which is generously laced with glassy bubbles. The wonder of photosynthesis there before you, each bubble growing ever larger until it almost perceptibly bursts, offering you the vital breath. We are spun within a web of dependence, all part of the fabric of life!

**********

There’s a marvelous sense of liberation that comes with walking in the woods, as if you are experiencing something clear and essential that’s been a part of our existence from the time man first took shape. We simply live, free of confinements, sharing space with all creation. There is a spirit here, an eminence, exuding life in various forms, some of which seemingly lack the vital flame. Look there —

Wrapped in leathery skin, the small crumpled pouches cling like stubby thumbs to the loose mound of a once rigid hemlock. Puffballs are the warts of the forest floor, little nubbins working steadily to return trees to the soil where they got their start. They sit still, resolute, waiting for the sun to pull the water from their paunch. A finger’s touch, then a gentle squeeze, and off goes the dusty cloud, borne by the breeze. The breath of life.

[Image: A drawing of three puffballs.]

**********

Concentrate on that one rounded rock. Across its worn surface the water tumbles into a noisy froth. For a moment the water settles down, ceases churning and flows gently into a transparent glaze, only to be broken again swiftly by the submerged log below. Eyes closed, open them to greet the sparkle of sunshine dancing forth as individual drops reflect the sun’s rays in a brilliant chorus of light. Feel the slip and slide of the torn water, the swirl and splash of the glistening tears as they pursue…

P. 3

…a personal odyssey down the bed of the swollen creek. Countless smiles dash forth from the heart of the cascades, calling proud and triumphant in their task as purveyors of life.

Drops: tiny bits of water residing temporarily in the murmuring rise and fall of the creek. Just imagine you, yourself, as a drop of water streaming downward at the very center of the commotion which is the essence of flowing water, restless in its continual journey. You are that water; water that two days ago wandered lightly as vapor in the sky; that one day ago fell hard upon the mountain as rain, and that now bounces from pebble to rock down our Greasy Creek, playing catch with the sun as you go.

FOR PINE MOUNTAIN

You, you there! You may rejoice,
For you have given me so much
And asked for so little in return.

I am soothed by your gentle presence.

Walk, walk close! Don’t lead me or follow,

But stay close and we shall know
The joy of learning, growing together.

I am soothed by your gentle presence.

[Image: A sketch of rocks and tree trunk in a stream.]

These are but a few of the musings of one individual concerned that the spirit of Pine Mountain be kept accessible to all. For, even things as basic as water and algae enrich the substance of Pine Mountain and deserve our support.

Your sense of wonder and involvement will enable the School to continue to plant the seeds of discovery, of learning, in all those people we touch.

P. 4

IN MEMORIAM

We give thanks this year for the lives and work of these great women, whose time at Pine Mountain enriched all who came in contact with them, whose service to the School was unstinted, and who helped to build and nurture the firm principles on which Pine Mountain Settlement School has grown and developed.

Evelyn K. Wells: 1914-1928. School Secretary, collector of folk songs, folk dance leader, teacher, later serving on Board of Trustees of the School until 1949.

Ruth B. Gaines: 1914-1932. Dietician, house mother of first Laurel House, creator of Laurel House garden.

Edith Cold: 1934-1947. Teacher, English, “Reading, Bible and History” for freshmen. Librarian. Director of Nativity Play.

**********

THE PINE MOUNTAIN STORY

We offer at this time a booklet, “The Pine Mountain Story, 1913-1980” (pp. 31). It “seeks to tell how the school has related to the forces that have been and still are shaping its environment. It describes ways the school has used to adapt its program to meet the area’s changing needs, and…to interpret the motivation that has inspired Pine Mountain’s nearly seventy years of service.”

Those wishing to secure a copy of this booklet may order one from “The Pine Mountain Story,” Pine Mountain Settlement School, Pine Mountain, Kentucky 40810, at the cost of $1.00 with 25¢ postage and handling charges. Checks are to be made payable to Pine Mountain Settlement School.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR — Forthcoming Open Events

Edible Botany June 6-8
Spinning Bee June 20-22
Medical Botany August 4-8
Homecoming August 9
Fall Color Weekend October 17-19
Nativity Play December 14
January Term January 5-30

---

GALLERY: NOTES – 1980 Fall

Perhaps the most telling testimony to the love this place inspires is the number of those who return for scheduled events or unofficial visits.

---

TAGS: Notes – 1980 Fall, calendar sample, activities, special education, visitors, neighbors, Environmental Education, college students, adult programs, church groups, camps, Scouts, community events, homecoming, interns, organ, James Miller firm, reunions, fundraising

---

TRANSCRIPTION: NOTES – 1980 Fall

P. 1

NOTES FROM THE
PINE MOUNTAIN
SETTLEMENT SCHOOL

PINE MOUNTAIN * HARLAN COUNTY * KENTUCKY 40810
TELEPHONE 606 / 558-4361

Fall              The Rev. Alvin Boggs, Director               1980

[Images of handwritten October 1980 calendar marked with events.]

A sample month from our engagement calendar gives some idea of the variety of events that keep us busy and of the number of people who have shared with us the exceptional brilliance and duration of the fall coloring this October.

Here is a summary of the activities in which we have been engaged during the last two years. It is always frustrating to make dead figures talk. They can never impart the excitement of the living experiences of which they are symbols.

Visitors to Pine Mountain, November 1978 – November 1980.

Not included in the following synopsis of scheduled events are:

1) The regular class held every day for seven to nine emotionally disturbed children. (Breakfast and lunch included)

2) Former students and staff members, 1913-1980, who come back to visit the place that has meant so much to them and to show it to their relatives and friends.

P. 2

3) Research students and enquirers who come to study our program, use our archives or our trails, study Appalachian culture, or look the place over.

4) Many friends and relatives of those who live on campus.

5) The neighbors who come to picnic, swim, folk dance, play ball, hold meetings, etc. It is not possible to keep a tally of their number.

If these categories were on record, the numbers of both overnight and day visitors would be greatly increased.

	Participants
	1978-79	1979-80	Total
1) Environmental Classes with Local Schools Mostly one-day visits	1509	1071	2580
2) Environmental Classes with Schools Outside Our Area Kentucky: Lexington, Berea, Bourbon Co. Tennessee: Kingsport Indiana: Evansville Virginia: Norton Ohio: Cleveland Alabama: Bayside Most of these groups stay for 5 days	732	771	1503
3) College Students Attending a January Term or with Groups from Their Own Colleges Indiana: Hanover Ohio: Oberlin, Capitol N. Car.: St. Andrews Maine: Colby Kansas: Hesston N. Jersey: Princeton Minnesota: Gustavus Adolphus Kentucky: Berea, Georgetown, U.K., Asbury Wisconsin: Carroll College Length of stay: 25 days – 1 day	40	106	146
4) Open Program Events — mainly for adults Weekends: Wildflower, Fall Color, Spinning Bee Workshops: Edible Wild Plants, Medicinal Wild Plants, Solar Energy, Bird Counts	388	263	651
5) Adult Special Groups Cincinnati Zoological Society, Morton Arboretum, Berea Faculty Tour, Kentucky Historical Society, Cincinnati Nature Center, Teachers’ Groups, Water quality advisory Committee, Oneida Baptist Institute (staff). Length of stay: 1 week – 1 day	65	194	259
6) Church Groups — retreats, etc. Mennonites, Methodists, Baptists, Four Square Gospel, Church of the Brethren, etc. Mostly 3-day visits	536	142	678

P. 3

7) Camps church affiliated and other — Scouts From: Michigan, North Carolina, New York, Indiana, Tennessee, Ohio Texas, Kentucky One-week stay for the most part	534	271	805
8) Scheduled Events for Our County and Surrounding Counties Farm Bureau, Family Reunions, Hospital Groups, Poke Sallett Festival, Weddings, Boy and Girl Scouts (Local) Mostly one-day events	1,658	1,215	2,873
9) Scheduled Events for Our Immediate Community Community Council, Reunions, Weddings, Funerals, Fair Day, Christmas Play, Safety classes, Swimming Lessons, Organized Sports, Reunion of Students 1960-1972 Weekend or one-day events	2,739	1,462	4,201
10) Pine Mountain Homecoming One-day or overnight	200	250	450
11) Interns From: Berea; Transylvania; E.K.U.; University of Tennessee; Colby, Maine; Oberlin, Ohio; Gustavus Adolphus and Augsburg, Minnesota; etc. Length of stay 8 months – 2 weeks	10	7	17
Total	8,411	5,752	14,163

Most of the groups that come for Environmental Education now reserve their next visit a year in advance. 1981 is already filling up.

Perhaps the most telling testimony to the love this place inspires is in the number of those who return for scheduled events or unofficial visits. On a single day last month we had a visit from one who had brought a friend and a relative to see Big Log House where she had lived with Miss [Katherine] Pettit in 1914 and then a student from New England who had attended our January Term in 1980 dropped in to see Pine Mountain in the fall and visit with her friends here.

One Sunday a week ago, a staff member met a fifth grade boy from Kingsport who had been here with his class two weeks previously. He had taken many photos when he was here so that he could show his parents what the place was like. They had failed — all of them. He then persuaded his parents to come and see for themselves and had piloted them on the long and tortuous road his school bus had travelled and was now proudly showing them around.

Pine Mountain means so much to a growing multitude of people, but in order to receive and welcome them we need to keep the buildings in repair and the grounds well cared for. Porches that have been in use for over fifty years need replacing, water mains corrode and precious water is lost, electrical wiring becomes hazardous, furnaces die, and roofs leak. changing programs call for building alterations — an endless list — and prices soar. The visitors must be fed so the farm and garden must produce and the cooking and housekeeping staff are endlessly busy. We need people to share Pine Mountain’s values with those who come and, blessed as we are with receiving much…

P. 4

…volunteer help (see no. 11, Interns), we still must have money to pay staff salaries. Where will it come from?

We had a letter the other day from the mother of a former intern, “as long as memory shall last, last weekend at Pine Mountain Settlement School was one most glorious. It was my daughter’s birthday present to me — such a gift to treasure. . .Now I know the truths of that lovely, lovely place. . . enclosed is a small check….”

It is the checks you all have sent in the past that have kept this place going as an inspiration to many. It is the checks that you can send now that will carry us forward into the coming year.

[Image: Small sketch of a tree leaf.]

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Mark you calendar. Write for details.

Nativity Play…….Dec. 14, 1980
January Term………Jan. 5-30, 1981
Wildflower Weekend…….April 24-26, 1981
Black Mountain Wildflower Weekend. .May 8-10, 1981
Edible Plants Workshop……June date not fixed
Spinning Bee……June 19-21, 1981

For reservations write Pine Mt. Settlement School, Pine Mt. KY 40810 or call 606-558-4361.

[Image: Small sketch of tree leaves.]

_________________
*NEWS ITEMS*

The chapel organ. Thanks to many generous donors, has been rebuilt by the firm of James Miller of Louisville, Kentucky and will continue, we hope, to inspire many of those who visit here.

**********

The students of the Pine Mountain Community School (1949-1972) organized for the first time a reunion for those who were in school from 1960-1972. Over two hundred twenty-five people attended the reunion supper and had a wonderful evening together.

---

Previous:
NOTES – 1979
Next:
NOTES – 1981

See Also:
VISITORS Guide to Consultants, Guests, and Friends of PMSS
HISTORY PMSS Summary 1979-1980
HISTORY PMSS Summary 1980-1981

Return To:
NOTES Index

---