NOTES – 1998

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 17: PUBLICATIONS PMSS Publications
Notes 1998
Summer and Fall

NOTES – 1998

“Notes from the Pine Mountain Settlement School”
Summer and Fall 1998

GALLERY: NOTES – 1998 Summer

The School’s founders envisioned a community fabric strengthened by the opportunities for interchange and common purpose which a School could provide. Pine Mountain works to continue such opportunities.

TAGS: NOTES – 1998 Summer, community program, weaving, folk dancing, 4-H, Little School, day camps, Homemakers’ Club, health fair, baseball, Environmental Education, Elderhostels, Intervention, Saturday School, West Wind renovations, snowstorm, playground, gasoline pump, Alpha Sigma Tau, archives, Trustees

 TRANSCRIPTION: NOTES – 1998 Summer

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

SUMMER 1998

Dear Friends,
Pine Mountain Settlement School is a unique and wonderful institution. Founded in 1913, it has always combined its mission as a social presence in the local community and in the southern Appalachian region with its goal of providing meaningful education as an innovative school. Throughout its history, the centrality of our namesake mountain with its expanse of productive bottomlands, clear creeks, and rare plant life has defined the life and work of this institution in ways which are rare in this century. The Settlement School remains beautiful because its buildings are harmonious with the landscape and because its activities seek to honor this land and the local community this land supports.

We hope this issue of the Pine Mountain Notes helps inform you about the particulars of the Settlement School’s work in the spring and summer of 1998. As you read, please remember that your generosity and your contributions enable the School to fulfill its varied purposes. Without your donations, the Settlement School could not continue its education or community programs, nor could it preserve our historic campus. As we look ahead with plans to build an outdoor pavilion and renovate Draper/Boys Industrial Building and with hopes of enhancing our programs, your contributions become even more crucial. And so we ask directly for your support — your good will and guidance and your financial assistance. Your contributions are tax-deductible and carefully used here at the Settlement School.

As always, we invite you to visit Pine Mountain. Eat a home cooked meal in Laurel House, rest your eyes on a lovely view of the mountains, and restore your soul.

In the spirit of Pine Mountain,
[Signed] Robin Lambert
Robin Lambert,
Executive Director

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Community Program   It’s no accident that the word “Settlement” is an essential part of the School’s name. In starting the School, Katherine [Pettit], Ethel deLong (later Zande) and William Creech intended it to be an institution which was a critical part of the life of this community. The School’s founders envisioned a community fabric strengthened by the opportunities for interchange and common purpose which a School could provide. Pine Mountain works to continue such opportunities. Last winter the Settlement School revived the longstanding community traditions of weaving and folk dancing. In a full scale January weaving class, interested local residents wove rugs, placemats and other pieces, and learned the entire process from winding warp to threading the looms. Their beautiful creations grace homes around the community. A newly donated loom, much larger than any we’ve had, can weave large rugs and throws. Another donated loom, long designated for community use, has been placed in the Laurel House “activity room.” On Monday nights Laurel House living room hummed as children and adults alike enjoyed dancing the Pattycake Polka and Virginia Reel. Great fun (and good exercise!) in the tradition of the early settlers of this valley.

[Photograph: Woman working at a loom.]

This Spring and summer saw the successful continuation of a 4-H program for fourth through eighth graders, and a weekly “Little School” providing school readiness and other activities for three- and four-year-olds. This summer’s community Day Camps had record numbers with as many as 80 local children participating in games, crafts, and environmental education activities in eight days of camp. The Homemakers’ Club has made several quilts as well as a number of craft projects. Pine Mountain continues to partner with the University of Kentucky’s Center for Rural Health to provide space for Body Recall and Low Impact Aerobics classes, and for an August health fair which provided health screening to local residents..

[Photograph: Children playing baseball.]

This summer saw the start of what we hope will be a new tradition at Pine Mountain Settlement School: a children’s baseball league. For the first time in recent memory, children on the north side of the mountain had an organized summer sport. With generous help from community volunteers, children improved their physical skills and learned how…

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…to be good sports in a team setting. The baseball games also provided great evening entertainment with lots of friends and family coming out to watch.

Environmental Education Program   Pine Mountain has always been first and foremost a school, providing educational opportunities where few existed. For the past 26 years those educational opportunities have been concentrated in the School’s environmental education program. With fewer and fewer children growing up in settings where the natural world is an essential part of their daily interactions, programs which help awaken students to the wonder and importance of the environment are increasingly important.

During the spring semester, 1447 children from 26 schools in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia got a chance to learn something new about our earth. In an academically-oriented, hands-on program, participants study stream ecology, geology, plants, and animals along with lessons on Native Americans and early European settlers. They also hike and start learning how to orienteer, rive boards into shingles, weave, and folk dance. Whether the group stays at the Settlement School for a day or as long as a week, most students go home with some new awareness of the natural environment and our human interaction with it. These opportunities are extended to adults and families three times each year in Pine Mountain “special weekends” and in periodic Elderhostels. 136 people participated in spring’s Wildflower and Black Mountain Weekends; even though heavy rains descended on Wildflower Weekend it was a relaxing and enjoyable learning experience. An Elderhostel in June was a real pleasure for Pine Mountain staff as we enjoyed making new friends.

Intervention   In a program which links Pine Mountain’s twin commitments to education and community, Intervention provides support to children in four area elementary schools. Five retired teachers work with the students on academic tutoring and enrichment activities. In one such activity, students at Beech Fork Elementary School in Leslie County visited the local nursing home with a performance of songs, recitations, artwork, and gifts of stuffed toys donated by the children. With two new grants, Pine Mountain was able to supplement the basic activities in Intervention with Saturday School and a week-long summer day camp which culminated in an overnight stay in Westwind Dormitory.

[Photograph: Three children sitting on indoor steps.]

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The Campus   It’s been a busy year of upkeep and improvement on Pine Mountain’s buildings and grounds. Westwind Dormitory has seen a general refurbishment with fresh paint, a complete remodeling of the basement bathroom, refinishing of the main stairwell, and new curtains in many bedrooms.

February brought a devastating snow-storm which brought down hundreds of campus trees, including the beautiful old oak tree by the library. (If you would like a piece of “souvenir wood” from this campus landmark, call the School and let us know; [it’s] saved for just such sentimental purposes.) By mid-summer most of the clean-up was completed.

With support from the county and help from community volunteers, Pine Mountain continued its playground improvements by sealing and painting the basketball and tennis courts.

Pine Mountain’s antique gasoline pump, reputedly the oldest working pump in Kentucky, had to be removed from service due to new guidelines regulating underground gasoline storage tanks. The pump, although no longer in service, still stands in its original location near Draper/Boys Industrial Building.

[Photograph: Man working on the gasoline pump.]

A group of Alpha Sigma Tau sorority sisters from James Madison University spent a week at Pine Mountain providing great help cleaning E.E. trails and library books. In recent good news, Pine Mountain received grants from the Kentucky Heritage Council and Fifth Third Bank to stabilize the roof to prevent further water and drainage damage to Draper/Boys Industrial Building. Draper is the last of Pine Mountain’s buildings to need serious renovation. This grant will preserve the building in its current condition while the School works toward full renovation.

Archives   Special thanks to all of you who have sent letters describing your memories of Pine Mountain, and other memorabilia, to the archives. We are very interested in building up the record of the Settlement School’s activities and of the people who were here as founders, staff, community residents, and participants, so please continue to contact us to share your memories. With deep gratitude, we at Pine Mountain wish to express our appreciation to all of you who support, guide, participate in, and make possible in a myriad of ways the work and enjoyment of the Settlement School.

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Fair Day
September 5, 1998

Fall Color Weekend
October 16-18, 1998

Community School Reunion
October 24, 1998

Nativity Play
December 13, 1998

[Image: Sketch of mushrooms and ferns.]

Board of Trustees

Mr. Patrick Angel, London, KY
Mr. Walter Blackson, Berea, KY
Dr. Tom Boyd, Berea, KY
Ms. Elizabeth Culbreth, Arlington, VA
Dr. James Greene III, Harlan, KY
Mr. Robert Hall, Clarksville, IN
Mr. R. Springer Hoskins, Corbin, KY
Ms. Lois Hoskins, Knoxville, TN
Ms. Gladys Hoskins, Harlan, KY
Dr. William Leach, Silver Spring, MD
Mr. Preston Lewis, Frankfort, KY
Ms. Mildred Mahoney, Pine Mountain, KY
Mr. Jack Martin, Partridge, KY
Mr. Steve McKee, Lexington, OH
Mr. Gordon McKinney, Berea, KY
Dr. Martha Pride, Berea, KY
Mr. William Ramsay, Edisto Beach, SC
Ms. Nancy Sather, Minneapolis, MN
Dr. Larry Shinn, Berea, KY
Dr. Ralph Thompson, Berea, KY
Ms. Janet Whitaker, Lexington, KY

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NEEDS LIST

16 case school milk cooler
Aquariums, any size, do not have to hold water
Spinning/weaving supplies: fleece, wool carders, yarn, warp material
Copy machine
Commercial washer and dryer
Commercial dishwasher
Twin sheets, blankets, mattress covers
Pillows, towels, shower curtains
Record storage cabinet
Twin mattresses
Chest of drawers
Stereo with turntable
Slide projector, Kodak compatible
Room dehumidifiers

[Image: Sketch of children and a teacher on a forest trail.]

GALLERY: NOTES – 1998 Fall

It’s true we have pressing needs here: the increasing costs of meeting safety and nutritional standards, the skyrocketing cost of insurance, and the constant challenge of protecting our historic campus bear on us daily. But we also have unique and rich resources for educational, environmental, community, and arts programming. – Robin Lambert [Director]

TAGS: NOTES – 1998 Fall, Larry Smith, photograph, Christmas, Nativity Play, Environmental Education, Fall Color Weekend, Fair Day, Community Singin’, Fall Gathering, karate, will form

TRANSCRIPTION: NOTES – 1998 Fall

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

FALL 1998

Season’s Greetings
Photograph [of snow-covered holly leaves & berries]
by Larry Smith, Former PMSS Instructor

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Dear Friends of Pine Mountain Settlement School,

We rejoice in the promise of this holiday season and wish you joy and comfort in the year to come.

The Christmas season at Pine Mountain has always been a time of tradition and celebration. Children taking candle-lighted trees to elderly neighbors and Santa on a white ox, the Mummers’ Play and minuet, ivy garlands and yule logs, all live in the memories of Pine Mountain students and neighbors. And again this year we prepare for the oldest of Pine Mountain’s Christmas traditions, the reenactment of the Nativity. Our neighbors will take their roles as prophets, shepherds, angels, Joseph, and Mary and join the scores of Pine Mountain students and residents who have presented the simple and beautiful Nativity Play compiled by Ethel deLong Zande in 1917. We invite each of you to join us in the darkened, pine-filled Chapel for this story of promise.

In this season of tradition and celebration, we remember and give thanks for the lives that have touched us. We celebrate the joys we have shared. We rejoice in the generosity of friendship and the bounty of nature. We stake our faith on promises fulfilled.

In the spirit of Pine Mountain,
[Signed] Robin Lambert
Robin Lambert
Executive Director

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FALL, 1998 NEWS
We enjoyed a warm fall with colorful leaves that lingered into November. A bumper crop of turnips and mustard greens escaped the “deer harvest” and have made delicious dining in Laurel House. Thanks to an overhaul of several campus furnaces, the downstairs of Laurel house and the third floor of Draper/Boys Industrial Building are both comfortably warm. New roofs are keeping the office and barn dry.

Environmental Education introduced more than 1400 youngsters to the rich complexity of our earth. Each new group bubbled with enthusiasm and wonder as they described the view from the summit of Pine Mountain, observed aquatic habitats in Issac’s Creek, and saw their first glow worm. Participants in Fall Color Weekend celebrated beautiful weather with hikes on Pine and Black Mountains, talks about plants and geology, visits to Bad Branch nature preserve, and an early morning bird walk.

We are proud of our community here at Pine Mountain and glad to sponsor activities which strengthen and draw us all closer together. At September’s Fair Day, more than 150 friends and neighbors brought exhibits of fresh and home-canned produce, needlework, and trophy deer antlers and enjoyed three-legged races, musical performances, and a cake walk. October opened with a Community Singin’ and closed with a Fall Gathering supper and game night. Local children are building their strength and agility in karate classes. Some 130 alumni enjoyed the second annual Pine Mountain Community School reunion. We are glad to announce that the central campus road now doubles as a safe walking track for neighbors and staff thanks to a new layer of “pea gravel” which makes it much more comfortable for walking. We are looking forward to community folk dances and crafts classes this winter and to building an outdoor pavilion this spring.

Pine Mountain Settlement School is blessed with an almost overwhelming number of opportunities. It’s true we have pressing needs: the increasing costs of meeting safety and nutritional standards, the skyrocketing cost of insurance, and the constant challenge of protecting our historic campus bear on us daily. But we also have unique and rich resources for educational, environmental, community, and arts programming. We look toward continually developing these resources as we extend meaningful educational and service opportunities to our near neighbors and to those far from Harlan County. Please help us continue to turn opportunities into realities. Your donations are tax deductible, conscientiously used, and much appreciated.

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Calendar of Events

Nativity Play
December 13, 1998

Wildflower Weekend
April 23-25, 1999

Black Mountain Weekend
May 7-9, 1999

Intergenerational Elderhostel
July 25-31, 1999

Homecoming
August 7, 1999

Fair Day
August 28, 1999
(Sept. 4th rain date)

Elderhostel
Aug. 29-Sept. 3, 1999

Community School Reunion
October 2, 1999

Fall Color Weekend
October 22-24, 1999

Nativity Play
December 12, 1999

Pine Mountain Settlement School
36 Highway 510
Pine Mountain, KY 40810-8289
(606) 558-3571 or 3542
Robin Lambert, Executive Director
_________________________________________

[Image: Sketch of children playing and family under a tree.]

For the convenience of those who wish to remember the Pine Mountain Settlement School in their Wills this form of bequest is suggested: “I hereby give, devise and bequeath the sum of…Dollars (or property properly described) to the Pine Mountain Settlement School of Bledsoe, Kentucky.”

Your generosity can continue to support Pine Mountain Settlement School well into the future through gifts to the School’s Endowment. Direct bequests, designation as life insurance beneficiary, Gifts of Stock, and all other gifts are allocated to the General Fund of the Endowment unless other instructions are given.

Contributions to the Pine Mountain Settlement School are tax deductible under Section 501 (c) 3 of the Internal Revenue Service Code of 1954.

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NOTES – 1997 [missing]
NOTES – 1996

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NOTES – 1999

See Also:
EVENTS
EVENTS Guide
HISTORY PMSS Summary 1998-1999
HISTORY PMSS Summary 1999-2000

Return To:
NOTES Index