NOTES - 1982 - Pine Mountain Settlement School

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 17: PUBLICATIONS PMSS
NOTES 1982
Fall

NOTES 1982 Fall, page 1. Laurel House Stairway. [PMSS_notes_1982_fall_0011.jpg]

TAGS: Notes 1982 Fall, Environmental Center, photograph of Laurel House stairway, researchers, Lee Roy Anderson, James Greene III, Walter Oldendorf, John Lewis, Kentucky Humanities Council, Carrie Day, Gift Shop, alumni volunteers, 50th anniversary, community service, boards, farm, cattle, awards

NOTES 1982

“Notes from the Pine Mountain Settlement School”
Fall 1982

In this issue of the “Notes”…[are] some of the concurrent happenings which have kept the place a hive of activity.

TRANSCRIPTION

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[Featured image: Laurel House Stairway.]

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NOTES FROM THE
PINE MOUNTAIN
SETTLEMENT SCHOOL

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

Fall The Rev. Alvin Boggs, Director 1982

The services of the Pine Mountain Environmental Center have been in higher demand than ever this Fall. We cannot accommodate all groups that apply. The program is booked well into 1984, as more and more groups compete for weeks, weekends or days at the School. This exhausting but richly rewarding activity is still the core of the Settlement’s work.

In this issue of the “Notes” however we will share with you some of the concurrent happenings which have kept the place a hive of activity.

Pine Mountain’s past serves to educate the present and the future. Our cover picture is of Laurel House stairway. Perhaps it is symbolic of upward striving. It is also a sign of the continuing interest Pine Mountain awakens in those who come here. A major component in a master’s thesis by Lee Roy Anderson of the University of Louisville was a photographic exhibition of the history of Pine Mountain Settlement School with an accompanying historical account. After being exhibited in Louisville this beautiful exhibit was donated to the School. Another researcher, James Greene III of Harlan, has also used and expanded the school archives in writing a masterly study of the early history of the school. His work is almost ready for possible publication. Walter Oldendorf of the Berea College faculty has studied the boarding high school program of the thirties and forties and has given talks to learned societies in the educational field about lessons today’s educators might draw from the Pine Mountain past. He and John Lewis of Berea are preparing a slide tape presentation “Progressive Education in the Mountains — the Pine Mountain Experiment 1930-1949” with a grant from the Kentucky Humanities Council. Three other researchers have used our Archives to mine the treasures of Pine Mountain’s past. Carrie Day has written her memories of her years at Pine Mountain (1915-24) in a booklet entitled “The Love They Gave.”

Pine Mountain Gift Shop shares the skills of mountain people with those from outside the area. Local craftsmen who make dulcimers, folk toys, baskets, cornshuck wares, brooms, etc. sell their products in our Gift…

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….Shop. It is good to have three generations of a family producing crafts. The old skills are not dying out. On sale also are books on mountain culture and the environment, and stationary designed at the School.

Pine Mountain Boarding School Students of 1913-49 serve the present work of the School. Much needed repairs and improvements to both the Chapel and Laurel House have been undertaken by these Alumni. Their contribution has been not only in money and in kind but, in true Pine Mountain spirit, they have given many hours of work to transforming and restoring these much loved buildings.

Pine Mountain Community School Students (1949-72) are active in community affairs based on the Campus. They ran “T” League practices throughout the Summer. They supported Summer Day Camps for the children. They helped organize and run the Community Fair. Alumni and their families refurbished Burkham stage, and put on a play which some of them had written when they were in the tenth grade to celebrate the School’s Fiftieth Anniversary in 1963. The theme of the play was the early story of Pine Mountain School.

Pine Mountain Staff help to meet felt needs in the community. Many needs cannot wait for structured handling, but are brought to the School office as they occur, or are brought up in casual contacts in the community. Many government and state forms need interpreting and filling in. Obtaining birth records and school records are important. Many need assistance in filling in tax forms. Witnessing in land suits in court is one of the less pleasant assignments; helping to solve labor disputes is a more rewarding experience. Help has been given to those seeking Black Lung or Social Security benefits. Some of these tasks have been effected through the concerted efforts of the Neighborhood Northside Community Council.

Pine Mountain services to the region. Some of our administrative personnel serve on Boards such as the local hospital and clinic, Home Health service, health maintenance organization insurance, Southern States Co-Operative, Library, and the Community College “Swapping Meeting” –there are pastoral duties of which weddings and funerals are a great part.

Pine Mountain Farm. Our arable acres are used for pasture and crop land, and we hope serve our neighbors as a demonstration of good practices and best use of farmland. Vegetables and beef cattle enrich our diet and may stimulate neighbors to emulate our success.

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Pine Mountain Environmental work gains recognition. The Kentucky Society of Natural History has named a staff member “Naturalist of the Year”, and the Natural Science for Youth Foundation also gave an award recognizing the achievement and quality of our environmental work.

There is continual excitement about accomplishments at Pine Mountain. We believe we are offering our best to all who come here. We try to take advantage of every opportunity which comes our way, but in order to do so we still rely on your aid, and need it desperately. Costs for staffing and repairs mount and mount alarmingly, but we carry in our hearts the prayer “Teach us good Lord to serve thee as Thou deservest; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labor and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do Thy will.”

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Nativity Play December 12, 1982
January Term (For College Credit) January 4-28, 1983
Wildflower Weekend April 22-24, 1983
Black Mountain Wildflower Weekend May 6-8, 1983
Edible Plant Workshop June 3-5, 1983
Medicinal Plant Workshop August 5-7, 1983
Homecoming August 13, 1983