NOTES – 2004

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 17: PUBLICATIONS PMSS
NOTES 2004
Fall

NOTES – 2004

“Notes from the Pine Mountain Settlement School”
2004 Fall

GALLERY: NOTES – 2004 Fall

We welcome your financial support of Pine Mountain. If you want to make a contribution, you may choose from several options: a direct contribution, a contribution to the endowment, and transfer of stock. You might also consider naming Pine Mountain in a bequest or life insurance policy.

TAGS: NOTES 2004 Fall, PMSS staff at work around the campus, new stone bridge, Creech Cabin, activities for school groups, Preservation School, Pine Mountain Archives, Day Camps, Pine Mountain Community Scholars, Reading Camp, Glenna Sawyer Rice, control of invasive plants, James E. Bickford State Nature Preserve, PMSS ballad songbooks, homecoming photographs, how to contribute to PMSS

TRANSCRIPTION: NOTES – 2004 Fall

P. 1

NOTES FROM
THE PINE MOUNTAIN
SETTLEMENT SCHOOL
PINE MOUNTAIN ~ HARLAN COUNTY ~ KENTUCKY
 Telephone/Fax: 606-558-3571

FALL 2004

[Cover color photograph: “Summer Wildflowers at Pine Mountain
The flowers are identified on the inside front cover.”]

P. 2

Dear Friends,

As I look around campus, on the eve of the Harvest Moon, I am reminded that we are blessed to be in this place. Pine Mountain is glorious, as always. I can see the beginning of fall color that will provide a stunning display of natural beauty in October.

The accounting of this summer’s garden production just came in. What bountiful crops! The garden staff, which includes Matthew Boggs, Owen Callahan, and Paul Creech, provided fresh vegetables for our summer guests and supplied our freezers with an abundance of squash, green beans, zucchini, tomatoes, corn, and broccoli. We’ve had watermelon for the last six weeks, and the staff is digging sweet potatoes and Pontiac potatoes this week.

In the Laurel House kitchen, I am grateful for the leadership of Lorraine Browning and the work of her staff – Sophia Turner, Joyce Scearse, Dorothy Smith, Helen Harris, Debbie Cawood, Jackie Creech – as they prepare meals for visitors and take care of housekeeping duties in School buildings. Downstairs, our community coordinator, Judy Lewis, is preparing for the Community School reunion and the Nativity Play in December. She coordinated Fair Day in August, which drew nearly 400 people to the School.

During a walk around campus, I see David Shepherd and his staff – Obie York, David Nantz, Roger Turner – as they work to care for the buildings and grounds and to keep us safe. On the trails and by the streams, I watch our environmental education teachers – Ben Begley, Pat Begley, Kellie Phelan, Valerie Osborne – introduce children and adults to the wonders of the natural world.

In the office, I am lucky to work with Deb Callahan and Faye Turner, who take care of keeping the school running smoothly. Later this fall, their creativity and cost-saving skills will be evident in the new playground features they have designed for younger visitors.

The new stone bridge over Isaac’s Creek is a beautiful and appropriate addition to the School. We’ve nearly completed construction plans for renovation of public restrooms in Laurel House and the installation of a new, more efficient heating…

Front cover: Wildflowers are (clockwise from upper right corner): Yellow Fringed Orchid (Habenaria ciliaris), Spotted Coral-root (Corallorhiza maculata), Club-spur orchid (Hibernia clavellata), Nodding Pogonia (Triphora trianthophera), Canada Lily (Lilium canadense), Spreading Pogonia (Cleistes divaricata).

P. 3

…system. The Creech Cabin has undergone needed chinking and daubing work and is in better shape than it has been in years.

Our schedule for fall is busy, with school groups scheduled every week through the first week in December and the Arts weekend and Fall Color weekend in October. We are especially pleased that local schools are coming for extended visits which are made possible by a generous grant from the Berea College Appalachian Fund.

We are working to complete our 2005 schedule by the end of November. We’ll post this information on our web site (www.pinemountainsettlementschool.com) and include the schedule in our first 2005 edition of The Pine Mountain Notes. I hope you’ll plan to visit us. We’d love to see you.

In the spirit of Pine Mountain,
[Signed] Nancy R. Adams
Nancy R. Adams
Executive Director

Preservation School

This summer’s two weeklong preservation workshops drew 24 people to the campus to learn how to repoint stone and preserve log structures. The repointing class, taught by internationally recognized conservator Dr. James Adams of Toledo, Ohio, used Big Log for hands-on sessions. The workshop included several lectures, a field trip, and demonstrations. The log structure class was taught by Moss Rudley, who works for the National Park Service’s historic preservation training center in Frederick, Maryland. The class removed the old daubing from Creech Cabin, added new chinking and redaubed the 1850 structure. Partners in this year’s workshops were the Kentucky Heritage Council and Preservation Kentucky, who provided student scholarships and technical help.

[Photograph: “Above: Participants in the log structure class learned about many aspects of preservation and applied that knowledge to work on Creech Cabin.”]

[Two photographs: “Above and left: At Big Log, the stone steps and lower areas of the chimneys were used as the hands-on learning projects for the repointing class.”]

P. 4

Pine Mountain Archives

This summer, Pine Mountain has been fortunate to have the volunteer services of Fern Hall Hayes, Helen Hayes Wykle, and Ann Angel Eberhardt to work on the preservation, organization, and cataloging of the School’s archival materials. The goal is to stabilize the deterioration of the collection by archivally housing the papers and photographs, and then to organize the collection so it may be systematically retrieved. Ann and Helen also will attempt to digitize selected materials and make those materials available on the Internet. They are looking for funding sources that might help with this project.

[Photograph: “Ann, Fern and Helen in the archives storage room at Pine Mountain.”]

Fern, Helen and Ann all have a long history with the School. Fern came to Pine Mountain as a student in 1936 and graduated in 1939. She married Bill Hayes and they both worked at the School until 1954. Helen, their daughter, was born in the School’s infirmary with Dr. Emma Tucker as the attending physician. She lived at Pine Mountain until age 12, when her family moved over the mountain to Putney. Helen is now associate professor/public services librarian/coordinator of special collections at University of North Carolina at Asheville.

Ann’s father, August Angel, was printing instructor at Pine Mountain in the 1930s. Her mother, Susie Hall Angel from Viper, Kentucky, was a student at Pine Mountain and later served as a housemother. Six of Ann’s aunts and uncles also attended the School. Ann’s parents were married in the Pine Mountain Chapel in 1936. By 1942, Ann was a toddler on the campus and her brother, Michael Angel, was born in the school infirmary. Later in life, her father, August, provided much of the School’s materials from his print shop in Viper. He was also Secretary of the Alumni Association. Ann’s brother Patrick, currently serves on the Settlement School board. Until Ann’s retirement and move to London, Kentucky in 2002, she worked for 18 years in the central development office of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

P. 5

Learning + Fun = Day Camp

Every summer, Pine Mountain staff and volunteers provide two weeklong day camps for community youth. Camp activities include making crafts, playing games, and exploring the natural lands at the School.

[Photograph: “Above: Megan Epperson, a community volunteer, helps younger children with their bird house project.”]

[Photograph: “Right: Older youth go with School staff on guided hikes to nearby areas, such as this trip to Bad Branch Falls in Letcher County.”]

Pine Mountain Community Scholars

In June, Pine Mountain’s community coordinator, Judy Lewis, and her sister Deborah Cornett, successfully completed the Kentucky Folklife Program’s Community Scholars training, sponsored by the Kentucky Arts Council and Southern and Eastern Kentucky Tourism Development Association. The purpose of the series is to train community residents to document, preserve and present the culture and history of their community. For their training project, Judy and Deborah chose to document parts of The Pine Mountain Settlement School history using historic photographs and oral history interviews with longtime School employees. We are pleased to be able to call on Judy and Deborah to help with development of public information about the Settlement School and surrounding area.

[Photograph: Judy Lewis.]

P. 6

Reading Camp: A Success in Our Book

We knew Reading Camp was having a positive effect on students before it was over. Midway through the weeklong camp, some children asked if they could postpone lunch to complete their reading activities. At bedtime, some wanted to stay up and read. At week’s end, they wanted to know if they could come to next year’s camp.

[Photograph of a large group of Reading Camp students and staff.]

This summer marked the first year for Reading Camp at Pine Mountain Settlement School. The purpose of the camp is to work with rising third and fourth grade students who struggle with reading fundamentals and to boost their self confidence. Local principals and teachers recommend students for camp.

This year’s Reading Camp was a partnership that included the Episcopal Diocese of Lexington, Christ Church in Harlan, Alpha Sigma Tau National Foundation, and Pine Mountain Settlement School. The Episcopal Diocese of Lexington was the primary force behind the endeavor. Members of the Diocese raised money and provided learning center materials and books for the children.

Three years ago, the Diocese directed its mission work toward improving the low literacy levels in eastern and central Kentucky. Statistics show that when students’ reading skills are weak, they also fall behind in other subjects and are more likely to drop out of school. The Diocese began its work by sponsoring a Reading Camp at Cathedral Domain camp in Estill County. This year, the Diocese added reading camps in three locations: day camps in Danville and Hazard, and the residential camp at Pine Mountain Settlement School.

P. 7

At the Pine Mountain camp, the students spent the mornings rotating among six learning centers. Each center focused on a particular aspect of reading or writing. In the afternoons, the students took environmental education classes led by Pine Mountain staff. Evening activities included a presentation by Kentucky author George Ella Lyon, who volunteered her time to talk with the students about how she wrote her children’s book, “Weaving the Rainbow.” The students also heard about the process of writing and illustrating a book from artists Jeff Chapman-Crane and Sharma Chapman-Crane.

[Photograph: Small group of seated in a circle.]

At bedtime, volunteers read to the children from Raold Dahl‘s book “The Twits.” One morning, two volunteers dressed as Mr. and Mrs. Twit paid a visit to the learning centers, sending students, teachers and staff into laughing fits.

One tangible item the students left with the Settlement School is a beautiful quilt which features squares of the students’ favorite books. Sybil King and Charlotte Floyd, of the Alpha Sigma Tau National Foundation, spent the afternoons and evenings during camp piecing this lovely quilt. The quilt is now displayed in Laurel House for all visitors to enjoy.

[Photograph: Two volunteers from the Alpha Sigma Tau National Foundation, work on piecing together a quilt.]

In follow-up conversations with local principals, teachers and parents, we have heard only positive comments about the impact of the camp. The most common comment is that students appear to be more confident and ready to learn. Some students have shown improvement in first term grades.

We want to thank the many volunteers who taught classes, and served as counselors and helpers. Several Pine Mountain friends also contributed money toward scholarships that helped make this wonderful experience possible for our area children. The Berea College Appalachian Fund helped to pay expenses for teachers and volunteers. On behalf of the School and the Reading Camp partners, we offer our most heartfelt gratitude.

P. 8

Seed money donated for Reading Camp

Pine Mountain Settlement School has received a generous donation from Glenna Sawyer Rice of Berea, Kentucky to use as seed money for summer reading camps at the School. Glenna is a retired reading specialist who learned about Reading Camp from the School’s annual appeal letter last year. After reading the letter, she called to say that she might be interested in volunteering to teach at the camp.

During camp, Glenna taught students in a small group setting in the mornings. She took a personal interest in each student and spent her afternoons thinking of exercises and games that could help each one overcome reading difficulties and gain confidence. She shared in their joy as they showed improvement.

Included with Glenna’s donation was a beautiful note, which reads in part, “As I thought of all the little bits of magic that occurred all over the reading camp last week, I have been excited and renewed. I’m sure I wore a non-stop smile all the way home, and I haven’t stopped telling my friends about it.”

Glenna intends her gift to be put into a Pine Mountain Settlement School Reading Camp Fund. She suggested that the funds could be used as a challenge grant to match other donations for the camp.

Following her suggestions, the Settlement School will use a portion of Glenna’s gift as matching fund. The remaining money will be used for matching funds in coming years. For contributions of $50 or more, the Glenna Rice Reading Camp Fund will contribute $10 toward student scholarships for next summer’s camp.

Contributions should be designated for Reading Camp, and may be sent to The Pine Mountain Settlement School, 36 Highway 510, Pine Mountain, KY 40810-8289.

The School wishes to publicly thank and acknowledge Glenna’s gift of time and money to help children in southeastern Kentucky.

P. 9

Control of Invasive Plants on James E. Bickford State Nature Preserve

The Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission staff, in cooperation with Settlement School staff, have begun to eradicate four invasive plants that have taken root on the James E. Bickford State Nature Preserve on Settlement School property.

[Image: Small sketch of “Kudzu” leaves.]

The four invaders are Rosa multiflora (multifloral rose), Celastrus orbiculatus (oriental bittersweet), Microstegium vimineum (stiltgrass), and Pueraria lobata (kudzu). Because invasive plants are so aggressive, they pose a threat to native plants, including endangered species.

Staff have mapped the locations of these invasive plants and applied herbicides to kill as many as possible. Herbicides are being applied by hand to targeted plants. In some cases, application requires that the plants be cut and the herbicide put directly on the cut stem.

The eradication effort will be ongoing and is part of Pine Mountain’s commitment to good stewardship of its natural lands. We want to thank Joyce Bender, Kyle Napier and Byron Brooks of the Nature Preserves staff.

We also appreciate the efforts of Kentucky Country Day School students who pulled oriental bittersweet from the wooded side of Schoolhouse Hill. They filled a pickup truck bed eight times with the uprooted invader.

Pine Mountain Ballad Songbooks Still Available

Copies of the “Traditional Songs & Ballads of Pine Mountain Settlement School” are still available in the School’s gift shop and by mail order. The mail order cost is $24.90, which includes shipping and handling. To place a mail order, please send a check made out to Pine Mountain Settlement School, and mail to: 36 Highway 510, Pine Mountain, KY 40810-8289.

P. 10

Welcome Back!
Pine Mountain Alumni and Friends Return for Annual Homecoming

[Photograph: “Left: Fred Hall (left) (1948-49) and his brother Robert Hall, who graduated in 1949, the last senior class of the boarding school years, continue to be involved in Pine Mountain activities. Fred serves on the board of trustees and is treasurer of the Alumni Association, and Robert makes delightful children’s toys for the gift shop.”]

[Photograph: “Below: Three of the most faithful attendees at Homecoming are Gola Mooney (1931-35), Alafair Meeks (1928-35) and Elizabeth Arnold (1936-38).”]

[Photograph: “Left: Jack [Martin] (1942-47) and Mary Ann Martin of Partridge, Kentucky enjoy the company of friends and a good lunch.”]

[Photograph: “Left to right: David [Martin] (1946 graduate) and Pat Martin, Ruth Shuler Dieter (1940 graduate) and the Boggs sisters – La Ange, Germaine and Shirley attended Saturday’s lunch and alumni meeting.”]

P. 11

How you can help Pine Mountain Settlement School

Since its founding 91 years ago, Pine Mountain Settlement School has served as an educational and community center. The School and its programs are supported by earned income, contributions, public and private grants, and an endowment.

We welcome your financial support of Pine Mountain. If you want to make a contribution, you may choose from several options: a direct contribution, a contribution to the endowment, and transfer of stock. You might also consider naming Pine Mountain in a bequest or life insurance policy.

Contributions. Direct cash contributions support the Settlement School’s on-going program and help to maintain its historic buildings and archives. The School is a non-profit organization. Your contributions are tax- exempt to the fullest extent allowed by law.

Contributions to the Endowment. Gifts to the endowment help to create a secure future for Pine Mountain Settlement School. The endowment is managed so that it provides interest income while the principle is protected and allowed to increase.

Transfer of Stock. Stocks can be transferred directly to the endowment. Gifts of stock are normally tax deductible for the value on the date they were given. A gift of stocks can provide a tax advantage for the donor. Please contact Pine Mountain before you transfer stock so that we can complete the required paperwork.

Bequests and Life Insurance. One of the most generous and enduring gifts is to remember Pine Mountain in your will or to list it as a beneficiary of your life insurance policy.

Needs List

From time to time, Pine Mountain has needs that fall outside the regular operating budget. Those interested in helping with these items may contribute part or all of the cost.

Gently used 6- to 8-passenger van
Vegetable storage cooler – $2000
Commercial washer & dryer – $1800
Chest-type freezer – $400
Tow behind lawn sweeper – $250
Portable 14″ chop saw – $100
Twin bed sheet sets for West Wind – $20 each

P. 12

2005 Calendar of Events

Wildflower Weekend    April 22-24
Black Mountain Weekend    May 6-8
In the Footsteps of Lucy Braun    June 8-12
Reading Camp    July 10-16
Alumni Homecoming     Aug. 12-14
In Search of Wild Mushrooms     Aug. 19-21
Rags to Rugs Weaving Workshop     Aug. 19-21
Quilting Workshop     Aug. 19-21
In the Footsteps of Lucy Braun     Aug. 24-28
Weaving for Beginners Fair Day    Aug. 26-28
Fair Day    Aug. 27
Community School Reunion    Oct. 1
Fall Arts & Crafts Weekend    Oct. 7-9
Fall Color Weekend    Oct. 21-23
Nativity Play    Dec. 11
Appalachian Family Workshop     (to be announced)
Preservation Schools    (to be announced)

You can keep up with Pine Mountain news on our website: www.pinemountainsettlementschool.com

To make reservations for events or to receive information,
please call between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The number is
(606) 558-3571 or 558-3542.

You may also write to:
Weekend Coordinator
Pine Mountain Settlement School 36 HWY 510
Pine Mountain, KY 40810-8289
or e-mail: pinemountain@earthlink.net.

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