NOTES – 1999

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 17: PUBLICATIONS PMSS
Notes 1999
Spring, Fall, and Winter

NOTES – 1999

“Notes from the Pine Mountain Settlement School”
1999 Spring, Fall, and Winter

GALLERY: NOTES – 1999 Spring

Here in the coalfields, that challenge is to balance a livable economy today with the need for a healthy environment, which will make possible a livable economy tomorrow. – Robin Lambert

TAGS: NOTES – 1999 Spring, Katherine Pettit, Ethel de Long, Environmental Education, education, community, recreation, mill dam, Green sisters 

[insert] 100th anniversary, Katherine Pettit, Burton Rogers, symposium, Mary McCartney, Annie Miller, George W. Green, John S. Bailey, Harlan County, early schools, Hindman Settlement School 

TRANSCRIPTION: NOTES – 1999 Spring

P. 1

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

Spring 1999

[Photograph: Katherine Pettit]
“This has been a wonderful world to work in.”

Katherine Pettit
1869-1936
Co-founder of Pine Mountain Settlement School

P. 2

Dear Friends of Pine Mountain,
One-hundred years ago this May 1st, Katherine Pettit made her first trip to Harlan County. It was on this trip that she promised to one day return and build a school.

Katherine Pettit was not the only one exploring Harlan County at the turn of the century. Timber, coal, and rail interests would soon usher in a century of profound change for the land, economy, and culture of the southern coalfields. Miss Pettit could not turn back these changes, but as a settlement worker, she understood her task as helping affirm the lives and support the opportunities of mountain children and families in the midst of these changes.

Katherine Pettit and her co-workers pushed the settlement movement in new directions. They applied its approaches in rural areas and gave settlement work new emphasis by centering it in schools. As a person of her own time and circumstances, she brought to her work values and ideas formed outside the mountains in the particularities of her own upbringing. Yet, she was also ahead of her time. She succeeded in creating a context in which people of many different backgrounds could share their lives and their unique knowledge on an equal footing with each other and in so doing could begin to address critical issues of their time and place.

Twelve years after her first trip to Harlan County, Katherine Pettit, along with Ethel de Long, returned to the north side of Pine Mountain to fulfill her promise to establish a school. She had already accomplished much in Hazard and Hindman. Here at the head of Greasy Creek, she would again make a difference in the lives of thousands of people. Miss Pettit’s beautiful school endures and her legacy challenges us all to the work of our time.

Today a large part of our challenge is to better understand, appreciate, and protect the earth’s bounty and mystery. Here in the coalfields that challenge is to balance a livable economy today with the need for a healthy environment, which will make possible a livable economy tomorrow. We must recover and invent ways to educate our children so they live in hope and meaning. In the mountains and beyond, that means, in part, creating schools which better honor the culture and personal knowledge children bring with them. It means demonstrating that we believe in the great capacity of our children’s minds and hearts and that…

P. 3

…we will uphold our adult responsibility to shepherd their development in ethical, reflective ways.

We are at the turn of another century, in another time of cultural and economic transition. Everywhere, but especially in rural areas, we must engage our young people in defining how our communities will function in the 21st century. We must refashion education so that students can do the real work which makes communities vibrant and healthy; in so doing we might spring open young minds to the economic and personal possibilities of staying or returning home. In all our efforts, we must embrace and celebrate opportunities to know and learn from people different from ourselves.

This is the work of our time. As Pine Mountain’s environmental education program continues to awaken its participants to new understandings of the natural world, we seek ways to deepen and expand its impact. The Intervention program, Little School, and Day Camp are part of our established efforts to improve educational opportunities for community children and we explore opportunities to cooperate with local schools to expand those efforts. The children’s baseball league, woodcarving classes, and other neighborly activities help weave our lives together in community. We reach out in collaboration with other groups in the area in such activities as the Harlan County Farm and Craft Market. And for the 4000 guests each year who visit Pine Mountain from around the state and country, we strive to provide the hospitality and interpersonal exchange which can enrich us all.

Pine Mountain is bolstered by Katherine Pettit’s vision. And we are supported directly by you. We need your financial support to deepen and broaden our efforts as well as to maintain our strong programs and historic campus. This is a critical time. Opportunity knocks. Yet we face difficult choices. We struggle to keep our program fees modest at the same time we must address rising costs and the need to honor our committed capable staff with decent wages and benefits. Please remember Pine Mountain. Help keep the vision thriving.

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

P. 4

[Photograph] The mill dam at Harlan, May 1, 1899, the day Katherine Pettit would first cross Pine Mountain. The three little girls clustered on the right are sisters: Ethel, Eva, and Mabel Green.

This spring marks two milestone anniversaries of interest to Pine Mountain. One hundred years ago this May, Katherine Pettit first became acquainted with the north side of Pine Mountain, and ninety years ago, Burton Rogers was born in Sherman, Connecticut. We are celebrating with a special program, picnic, and dance party on May 1 (the day Miss Pettit first crossed Pine Mountain). We are also planning a symposium on settlement work and the twenty-first century to be held in April, 2000.

Miss Pettit’s journey resulted from an invitation from Mary McCartney, a teacher at the Harlan Presbyterian Academy, who had learned that Miss Pettit was interested in mountain issues and liked to “tramp.” This was not Miss Pettit’s first trip to the mountains. She had visited Hazard in 1895 and had subsequently become involved in traveling library work through the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. Each summer thereafter she had made a trip to the mountains to visit and distribute flower seeds, pictures, and temperance tracts. Interested in undertaking a more permanent work and eager to see a new part of the region, she had quickly accepted Miss McCartney’s invitation. Accompanied by a friend, Annie Miller, Miss Pettit arrived in Harlan by way of Hagan, Virginia, the nearest railhead in late April. The women stayed several days at the home of George W. Green, a local merchant (a few years later a young Franklin D. Roosevelt would stay there, too). On May 1, John S. Bailey guided the women to the top of Pine Mountain to the trail that led to Straight Creek. They spent the next three weeks exploring the region, often staying at night in the homes of Miss McCartney’s students.

Harlan County in that May of 1899 was still a rural society. Cut off from quick access to the outside world (the railroad would not arrive until 1911), Harlan Countians produced most of the things they needed themselves. Barter played a significant role in economic transactions with ginseng, beeswax, eggs, and other produce used in buying goods. Logging was the only significant industry as logs could be floated down the river when the water was up. Those with timber to sell often used the proceeds to…

P. 5

…build a frame house, but the majority of people, particularly on the north side of Pine Mountain, still lived in the single and double log houses of their forebears. Though the county seat boasted some twenty business establishments, a handful of lawyers and land agents, and several brick buildings, the outlying countryside looked much as it did earlier in the century. Apart from the Presbyterian Academy in Harlan and the Black Mountain Academy at Evarts, school consisted of the one room variety taught largely by people of limited education and experience. The typical school term was five months, extended occasionally by subscription. As the women visited along Straight Creek, they were struck by the effort it took to make a living from the rugged terrain — everyone in the family had to work in the fields. Isolated from modern health care, families had to face typhoid, trachoma, and other serious diseases. Many children did not survive to adulthood. Despite these hardships, the people were gracious and displayed an innate courtesy which the women found appealing. “People did not always know what we meant when we asked to have prayers, but in the morning, when we asked the price of lodging, the invariable reply was, ‘Nothing but a promise to come again and stay longer.’ ” In one home, they bandaged a sore hand with a handkerchief which years later was shown to a young Pine Mountain worker as a treasured object. The natural beauty of a place barely touched by human hands was also striking — the laurel in bloom and the whippoorwills calling. “Do you remember,” Miss Pettit asked Miss McCartney years later, “how you could hardly get me away from the trillium? I had never seen so much before.”

Visitors on the north side were infrequent, and women a real novelty. As they made their way west, news of their coming and of Miss Pettit’s interest in doing some sort of educational work spread east reaching Big Laurel. So men set out to find her, catching up with her as she rested on top of a ridge. They told her of the needs at the head of Greasy and begged her to come start a school. Interested, Miss Pettit explained that she had to be back in Lexington for her sister’s wedding but would come one day and look things over and see what she could do. Events, however, took her on a different course, for upon her return to the Bluegrass, she was caught up in plans for a summer tent settlement at Hazard under the sponsorship of the Kentucky Federation of Women’s Clubs. Out of this settlement and two succeeding ones in Knott County came the Hindman Settlement School in 1902. It would be twelve years before Katherine Pettit would come to look over the head of Greasy and fourteen before Pine Mountain would open “in,” as she would later say, “fulfillment of a promise of long standing.”

Burton Rogers‘ journey began in 1942 when he and Mary and their infant son first came to Pine Mountain. Over the next fifty-two years, Burton would serve in many capacities, most notably as Director from 1949-73. Although he now makes his home in Lexington, he attends Board meetings when he can and serves as an elder statesman and a source of wisdom to the rest of us. We wish him a happy birthday and many happy returns.

Dr. James Greene III
PMSS Board of Trustees

P. 6

NEEDS LIST

Complete 3-pt. hitch for tractor
Electric roto-rooter
Radial arm saw
Hammer type 1/2″ drill
1 Ton flat-bed dumptruck
Commercial washer/dryer
Portable steam cleaner
Small cement mixer
Portable band saw
10 ft. heavy-duty step ladder
Duplex copier with reduction/enlargement
Stainless steel mixer w/stand

____________________________________
NEWS FROM PINE MOUNTAIN

Environmental Education    Some 1500 children and adults representing 35 different groups are taking part in environmental education activities at Pine Mountain this spring. They study stream ecology in Isaac’s Creek, learn plant biology as they hike the mountain, and observed snakes, turtles, and field mice in animal class. We are privileged to be joined in our teaching staff this spring by two great interns, David Reckess of Poughkeepsie, New York and Bill Schultz of Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

Community Program    This spring sees the second year of the Pine Mountain Children’s Baseball League. Sixty children, ages five through twelve, are participating in the league which emphasizes skill building and good sportsmanship. Homemakers Club, Little School, woodcarving classes, folk dancing, and a community supper round out a full activities schedule.

Intervention    Five retired teachers work with 100 children in four nearby elementary schools providing academic support, enrichment, and special activities. This spring the group enjoyed Saturday School at Pine Mountain.

Campus    This spring architect Mark Hawkins has been on campus designing a new outdoor pavilion and developing a renovation plan for Draper/Boys Industrial Building. We are excited about the possibilities for these improvements to campus. We are also expanding the School’s gardens and participating in the Harlan County Farm and Craft Market.

We invite you to participate in any of Pine Mountain’s activities. They are listed in the Calendar of Events. Plan to come to Fair Day or Fall Color weekend or participate in one of Pine Mountain’s Elderhostels. You can even bring a grandchild to Elderhostel in July, just call us for information.

Robin Lambert, Executive Director
Pine Mountain Settlement School
36 Highway 510 — Pine Mountain, KY 40810-8289
606-558-3571 or 3542    E-mail: pinemountain@kih.net
www.kih.net/pinemountain

___________________________________________________________
Calendar of Events

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
Oct. 22-24, 1999

Nativity Play
December 12, 1999

GALLERY: NOTES – 1999 Fall

Now, at the end of the century the Settlement approach still offers meaningful perspectives on community work. Indeed, many of its emphases seem fresh and promising.

TAGS: NOTES – 1999 Fall, organ recital, Schuyler Robinson, Burton Rogers, Holtkampt-Miller organ, Bill Schultz, scholarship fund, Creech family, Henry Creech, Delia Creech, Henry and Delia Creech Fund, Intervention program, Day Camp, Community Day Camp, Environmental Education, Pat Begley, crafts, Randy Wilson, artist-in-residence, Elderhostel, Intergenerational, Symposium on Settlements, water jack, West Wind, Big Log, outdoor pavilion, gardens, drought, community program, will form

TRANSCRIPTION: NOTES – 1999 Fall

P. 1

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

FALL 1999

[Photograph] Handmade quilts and bountiful harvest
displayed at PMSS Fair Day

P. 2

Dear Friends of Pine Mountain Settlement School,

Summer of 1999 saw a new wave of media interest in southern Appalachia. President Clinton was in neighboring Perry County in July, and Jesse Jackson was in the region in the spring. This interest is prompted, in part, because the coalfield mountains — like much of rural America — have benefited little from the economic growth and opportunity generated in the 1990s.

In these circumstances the approaches of the Settlement philosophy become especially important. Since their beginnings in the late nineteenth century, Settlement institutions have sought to bring all kinds of people together in ways that helped everybody — community residents, Settlement workers, and guests — learn from and enjoy each other. They have worked to address interests and needs of neighborhood residents in ways that build on community strengths. Settlements encourage everyone — not just targeted groups — to participate, contribute and benefit. They help create and celebrate beauty, and they trust in the promise of interdependence and neighborliness.

Pine Mountain Settlement School, founded in 1913 by Katherine Pettit and Ethel de Long, was one of the first applications of the Settlement approach in a rural area and in the context of a school. Pine Mountain has always pioneered new educational endeavors, and over the years has also sponsored efforts related to health, economic opportunities, literacy, environmental awareness, arts and crafts, and recreation. Now, at the end of the century the Settlement approach still offers meaningful perspectives on community work. Indeed, many of its emphases seem fresh and promising.

Our activities at Pine Mountain reflect the Settlement approach. Fall Color and Wildflower Weekends, Nativity Play, Community Day Camp, the Intervention program, Homemakers Club, woodcarving classes, the children’s baseball league, and the environmental education program are some of the activities and programs which bring people together at Pine Mountain. This coming June (June 1-3, 2000) a symposium at Pine Mountain will engage graduates and staff of settlement institutions, community residents, artists, musicians, scholars, and other interested people in reflection on what Settlements have meant in the 20th century and what possibilities they hold for the 21st century.

P. 3

Of course, there is much work that needs doing, and there are many, many possibilities. As a non-profit Settlement institution, we depend on the willingness of a wide range of people to enter into this work, directly through their participation as well as indirectly through their financial support. Our resources are always stretched as we strive to continue our current programming, maintain our beautiful aging campus, and meet the daily expenses of a diverse organization. As we contemplate the future, we want to be a leader and an example in our local community and in the region. In order to do so we must expand our efforts. By creating new ways for all kinds of people to live and work together, responding more fully to community interests and needs, and working toward economic improvement, we will accomplish a Settlement goal of improving all our lives. The current work and future opportunities of Pine Mountain Settlement School depend on the financial support of those who share our values, so again we ask your financial assistance.

In the spirit of Pine Mountain,

[Signed] Robin Lambert
 Robin Lambert
Executive Director
[Image: Sketch of children and a supervisor exploring in the woods.]

P. 4

NEWS FROM PINE MOUNTAIN, SUMMER, 1999

Summer, 1999, saw a number of new and expanded efforts here at Pine Mountain. They kept us all busy, and their promise and success are invigorating and challenging. We appreciate your help toward building on these efforts.

Organ Recital and Dinner. Pine Mountain’s summer concluded with a gala evening of gourmet food and great organ music on September 17th. The organ recital featured Schuyler Robinson, University of Kentucky Organist, in a program of Walther, Shearing and Bach. Burton Rogers, Pine Mountain Director Emeritus — whose 90th birthday we were helping celebrate, rededicated the School’s historic Holtkampt-Miller organ. Intern Bill Schultz and the cracker-jack kitchen staff of Pine Mountain prepared the sit-down dinner. The rest of the Pine Mountain staff along with several community residents and friends from the Harlan Area Performing Arts Series decorated the dining hall, served guests, and made the evening a charmed experience for everyone. [Photograph: Schuyler Robinson and Burton Rogers standing in front of the organ.]

Scholarship Fund Announced. The family of Henry and Delia Creech established a memorial fund this summer. Income from the fund is to provide scholarship assistance for qualified local students to participate in educational programs here at the School. Henry Creech, a son of Uncle William and Aunt Sal, was active in the formation and development of the School and served on its Board. Henry and Delia met when she came into the valley as a teacher several years before the School was founded in 1913. Both of them were lifelong loyal supporters of the School. The Henry and Delia Creech Fund replaces an earlier, now depleted, fund which was established after Henry’s death in 1960 to assist young people from the valley to attend high school and college.

P. 5

Intervention Program Still Seeking Support. Day Camp for the Intervention program kicked off the busy Pine Mountain summer. Intervention is a tutoring and enrichment program sponsored by Pine Mountain with students in four neighboring elementary schools. Day Camp is an annual part of the program and provides academic enrichment and cultural activities here at the Settlement School. Five retired teachers work with the program which involves about 100 students. Because of a glitch in our funding cycle we are still working to secure support for Intervention for the spring semester of this school year. Your support will help keep this important program going.

Day Camp Participants Entertain Community with Music and Dance. Pine Mountain’s Community Day Camp involved eighty-five community children ages five through twelve (and lots of community volunteers who helped make it all possible) who spent an intensive week at Pine Mountain. The children participated in in-depth environmental education activities, made all kinds of new and traditional crafts, and enjoyed folk dancing and swimming. Pine Mountain staff member Pat Begley introduced the children to clay crafts. And, Leslie County musician and storyteller, Randy Wilson, spent the week as artist-in-residence and worked with children on song, dance, and dulcimer playing. The camp culminated with a community pot luck dinner and musical performance by the children. More than 100 parents and neighbors brought delicious food, and we were all impressed with the children’s music! That night 22 children spent the night in Westwind Dormitory and enjoyed telling stories and recounting the week’s events.

Children and Grandparents Together at Pine Mountain Elderhostel. July brought 13 children and 15 grandparents to Pine Mountain for our first Intergenerational Elderhostel. During the busy week, the participants hiked, toured the area, made beautiful crafts, studied the ecology of this part of the mountains, and enjoyed a grand time together. We sure enjoyed having everyone and look forward to the next Pine Mountain Intergenerational Elderhostel, July 30th through August 5th, 2000. For those of you who are interested in Elderhostel, but prefer the more traditional group, don’t worry. We are still sponsoring Elderhostel for people 55 years and older without children involved. The next scheduled Elderhostel is August 20-26, 2000. Look for us in the Elderhostel catalog or call the Pine Mountain office for more information.

P. 6

Symposium on Settlements Scheduled for June 1-3, 2000. The Settlement movement began in the late 19th century as a way of bringing all kinds of people together for mutual benefit and addressing community concerns and interests in collaborative fashions. Katherine Pettit, a co-founder of Pine Mountain Settlement School, was one of the first people to apply Settlement approaches in a rural area and in a school. Many Settlement institutions, around the country, and especially in southern Appalachia, were formed in the early 20th century and continue working today. The Pine Mountain Symposium will celebrate the accomplishments and legacies of the Settlement movement with music, dance, art, and discussions by settlement workers, graduates, and community residents. But the symposium won’t simply be a look back, it will be a chance for participants to think about what Settlement values say to the 21st century. Look for more information in upcoming publicity or call the school for details.

Campus Dilemmas Pose Challenges. Summer, 1999, was punctuated with a series of building problems that necessitated some creative responses. There’s no way around the fact that Pine Mountain’s beautiful campus is aging and needs constant loving attention. This summer the original coal-fired water jack which provides hot water for Westwind dormitory went out. (Were we glad it wasn’t mid-winter!) Replacing it was no easy matter since water jacks are no longer made, the furnace room is too small for a standard boiler, and our tank was coated in asbestos. But with creativity, flexibility, and patience through the summer, hot water has been restored and Westwind service was only minimally interrupted. We hope the new hot water heater will last as long as the first one did. To add to our worries, Big Log House took a blow to the foundation when a boulder released by a work crew on the road above us hit and cracked the foundation. Everything has been repaired and is as good as new. Work continues on the designs for the new outdoor pavilion. We are very excited about the prospects for this beautiful and functional new structure.

Drought Spares Pine Mountain gardens. Despite the unusually high summer temperatures and very dry conditions, Pine Mountain’s gardens produced bountifully with record corn crops and the most beautiful green beans ever seen. Unfortunately the drought curtailed the Harlan County Farm and Craft Market, but we hope to keep working on it next summer.

P. 7

Community Program continues to thrive. The number of children participating in Pine Mountain’s Little School, a one-hour school-readiness program for three and four year olds, has tripled. A community day camp for junior and senior high school students was a big success. The Pine Mountain Homemakers Club remains active and has made and raffled another beautiful quilt. Pine Mountain Fair Day in August brought local residents together with wonderful displays of garden produce and crafts and musical talent. We all enjoyed the games and activities as well. The cooler weather has drawn many community residents to evening volleyball games. And, woodcarving classes have expanded to two nights each week.

Environmental Education staff stayed busy through the summer with day camps, Elderhostels, and workshops for teachers. We are in the midst of a busy fall schedule of groups and activities.

Share Pine Mountain With Your friends. If you know someone who would like to come to Pine Mountain, be sure and tell them about all our upcoming activities. The Calendar of Events in this issues of the Notes tells what is happening and when. Don’t forget to make plans for yourself. Also, if you know someone who would like to know more about Pine Mountain, call or send us their name and address and we’ll get them on the mailing list.

______________________________________

NEEDS LIST

Electric roto-rooter
Radial arm saw
Hammer type 1/2″ drill
Washer/Dryer
Portable steam cleaner
Small cement mixer
Portable band saw
10 ft. heavy-duty step ladder

______________________________________

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.

P. 8

2000 Calendar of Events

[Image: Sketch of acorns and leaves.]

Nativity Play
December 12, 1999

Wildflower Weekend
April 21-23, 2000

Black Mountain Weekend
May 5-7, 2000

Intergenerational Elderhostel
July 30-August 5, 2000

Homecoming
August 12, 2000

Elderhostel
August 20-26, 2000

Fair Day
August 26, 2000 (Sept. 2nd rain date)

Fall Color Weekend
October 20-22, 2000

Community School Reunion
October 14, 2000

Nativity Play
December 17, 2000

Pine Mountain
Settlement School
36 Highway 510
(606) 558-3571 or 3542
Pine Mountain, KY 40810-8289

Robin Lambert
Executive Director

[Image: Sketch of mushrooms, ferns and a lizard.]

GALLERY: NOTES – 1999 Winter

[QUOTE]

TAGS: NOTES – 1999 Winter, holiday greetings, PMSS staff, Ben Begley, Lorraine Browning, Helen Harris, David Shepherd, Faye Turner, Judy Lewis, Sarah McIlquham, Paul Creech, Dorothy Ashley, Harless Barton, Pat Begley, Roger Turner, Debra Callahan, Joyce Scearse, Mary Dresser, Matthew Boggs, Sophia Turner, Ginger Morelock, Asbel Browning, Wanda Shepherd, James Griffith, Mildred Mahoney, Robin Lambert, Richard Albin, dulcimers, artist-in-residence, Pauline Boggs, Green Hills, Chapel, oral history project, Nativity Play, Trustees list

TRANSCRIPTION: NOTES – 1999 Winter

P. 1

HOLIDAY GREETINGS
FROM
PINE MOUNTAIN
SETTLEMENT SCHOOL

[Color photograph: Creech Cabin by Mildred Mahoney.]

P. 2

Wishing You

BEN BEGLEY, ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION DIRECTOR; LORRAINE PEACE BROWNING, KITCHEN SUPERVISOR; HELEN HARRIS, KITCHEN; DAVID SHEPHERD, JOY MAINTENANCE; FAYE TURNER, BOOKKEEPER; JUDY LEWIS, COMMUNITY PROGRAM LOVE COORDINATOR; SARAH MCILQUHAM, KITCHEN; PAUL CREECH, FARM: DOROTHY ASHLEY, THROUGHOUT THIS KITCHEN: HARLESS BARTON, HOLIDAY SEASON MAINTENANCE; PAT BEGLEY, ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATOR; ROGER TURNER, FROM ALL OF US MAINTENANCE; DEBRA CALLAHAN, SECRETARY; JOYCE SCEARSE, KITCHEN; MARY DRESSER, ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATOR; IN THE SPIRIT OF MATTHEW BOGGS, FARM; SOPHIA TURNER, KITCHEN; GINGER MORELOCK, OPERATIONS COORDINATOR; ASBEL BROWNING, FARM; WANDA SHEPHERD, PINE MOUNTAIN KITCHEN; JAMES GRIFFITH, MAINTENANCE: MILDRED MAHONEY, VOLUNTEER; ROBIN LAMBERT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.

P. 3

Dear Friends of Pine Mountain,

As we approach the holiday season here at Pine Mountain, we look back on a fall full of both new and traditional activity. We were very pleased to welcome musician, storyteller and instrument maker, Richard Albin to Pine Mountain. Mr. Albin stayed at Pine Mountain through much of September and October while he worked as Artist in Residence at Green Hills Elementary School, our neighborhood public school. He and children in all grades worked together, but he concentrated his effort with fifth and eighth graders who built dulcimers from recycled materials. “It was wonderful. It was a fast-paced four weeks. He gave the kids more than just a musical instrument; he gave them self-confidence that they could play that instrument, and they now are learning to play. The kids loved it, and they loved him.” Pauline Boggs, fifth grade teacher said of the experience. We were glad to have Mr. Albin as our guest at Pine Mountain and glad of the work he did at Green Hills. He also performed a concert of traditional and children’s music in the Pine Mountain chapel. [Photograph: Teacher and students working on a dulcimer.]

We welcome Ginger Morelock as the new Operations Coordinator of Pine Mountain. Ginger will help with many administrative aspects of the School including fund-raising and archival preservation and development.

We plan to begin a formal Oral History project in January. If you or someone close to you knew Katherine Pettit, Ethel de Long, William Creech, or Mary Rockwell Hook, or has otherwise unique information about Pine Mountain, please contact us.

Our regular programs continued with more than 1200 children participating in Environmental Education; seventy five people enjoyed the Fall Color weekend. We celebrated the Fall season with a community pot luck supper in October. The Homemakers Club, Little School, and woodcarving classes stay busy.

As we make preparations for the Nativity Play on December 12th, we come full circle to some of the earliest and most enduring Pine Mountain traditions. In the Nativity Play we are quietly reminded of the wise foresight of our founders, the sustaining power of simple beauty, and the grace by which we all live. Please remember us this holiday season.

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

P. 4

Calendar of Events

[Image: Sketch of manger scene surrounded by wreath.]

Nativity Play — December 12, 1999
Wildflower Weekend — April 21-23, 2000
Black Mountain Weekend — May 5-7, 2000
Pine Mountain Symposium —  June 6-10, 2000
Intergenerational Elderhostel — July 30-Aug. 5, 2000
Homecoming — August 12, 2000
Fair Day — August 26, 2000
Fair Day (rain date) —  Sept. 2, 2000
Elderhostel — Aug. 20-26, 2000
Community School Reunion — October 14, 2000
Fall Color Weekend — October 20-22, 2000
Nativity Play — December 17, 2000

PMSS Board of Trustees

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

PINE MOUNTAIN
SETTLEMENT SCHOOL
36 Highway 510
Pine Mountain, KY 40810-8289
Phone/Fax: (606) 558-3571 or 3542
Robin Lambert, Executive Director
Website address:
www.kih.net/pinemountain
Email address: pinemountain@kih.net

[Image: Small sketch of deer, setting sun, and holly.]

Front Cover Photo: Creech Cabin by Mildred Mahoney

Previous:
NOTES – 1998
Next:
NOTES – 2000

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

Return To:
NOTES Index