NOTES – 1974

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 17: PUBLICATIONS PMSS
Notes 1974
June and November

NOTES – 1974

“Notes from the Pine Mountain Settlement School”
June & November 1974

GALLERY: NOTES – 1974 June

The gas shortage period earlier this year was used as an opportunity rather than a reverse. Since buses could not bring children to Pine Mountain, as long as gas was available our van took our staff members to the schools…

TAGS: NOTES – 1974 June, linoleum print by John A. Spelman III, Chapel, community services, Environmental Education, gas shortage, The Green Book

TRANSCRIPTION: NOTES – 1974 June

P. 1

PINE MOUNTAIN
SETTLEMENT SCHOOL
INC.

[Image: Linoleum print of a fir tree landscape by John A. Spelman III]

P. 2

“Oh, this place is beautiful.” “I wish I could spend the rest of my life here!” “When I grow up, I’d like to do what you all are doing, showing people all the plants and things.” These are some of the responses we have heard in recent days to one of the most glorious springs and early summers we have had in years, rich in flowers and butterflies, bird song and the sound of running water.

There has been no lack of people to enjoy this with us. The Chapel has seen many weddings; our dining room, meetings of scout, farm and civic groups; our buildings, gatherings for Sunday School, folk dancing and recreation; our playground, parties of local ball players, and picnickers; the whole campus has been enjoyed by visitors interested in learning more of the Appalachian heritage, or of our approach to Environmental Education; by former students showing their children and grandchildren the place that meant so much to them, or by young people seeking employment on the garden crops – beans, potatoes, corn, tomatoes, sorghum.

Our limited staff still try to help neighbors with counseling in time of need, how to fill up government forms, how to get in touch with health services, advice on employment and personal problems. These are unimpressive services when listed in a letter, but are perhaps among the truest acts of friendship Pine Mountain has to offer to its neighbors. In the larger area also Pine Mountain staff members still serve on many county and state committees which serve to give wider opportunity to the people.

The Environmental Education program continues amply to justify our hopes. New schools are added to our list of visitors. Old schools repeat their visits. More apply for overnight. The gas shortage period earlier this year was used as an opportunity rather than a reverse. Since buses could not bring children to Pine Mountain, as long as gas was available our van took our staff members to the schools in this and surrounding counties. There, nature trails were set up, slides shown, children and teachers went with us to their own playgrounds and neighborhoods to explore some of the possibilities of outdoor teaching and to enlarge the children’s awareness of environmental values. Sunlight, wind, running water, and a few blades of grass are ample data for an exploration of energy use and sources, even in days of energy crisis! Dividends on this work on other school grounds have been a growth of interest among teachers, and an awareness and alertness among students coming to Pine Mountain from schools in which preparatory work had been done. To help teachers in other schools use the facilities they have, the environmental staff prepared “The Green Book: Teaching Ecological…

P. 3

…Concepts Outdoors,” which may be purchased from Pine Mountain for $1.00.

April and May have brought over a thousand people, young and old, to share with us the exhilaration of this spring, and to learn to appreciate some of the ways in which a grain of sand, a drop of water, a green leaf, are vital parts of the immense and marvelous complexity of the created world of which each one of us is a part.

It would be a joy to be able to report to you that everything was as full of promise and progress as the development of our program and the opportunities of serving our community might indicate. However, there are constant anxieties and difficulties to be faced in financing the work, however penny-pinching we try to be. With rising food costs, it is difficult to keep our rates low for visiting groups. Increase in minimum wages makes it hard for us to offer employment to neighboring young people who need our help. Fuel, materials for keeping buildings in repair, high price of insurance, salary scales, decrease in endowment income all seem to face us with a course of insuperable obstacles which must somehow be overcome, but because we believe fully in the value of what we are trying to do, we trust we will be given the means to carry on. Yet in this state of suspense we have to be wary of jeopardizing what we can do by taking on more jobs than we have people or money to handle, although we see so many needs and opportunities.

This letter brings our deep gratitude to all of you who have already contributed to our work this year, and our earnest plea to all our friends to help us continue to carry on this work.

Thanks to the generosity of our friends in the past our basic endowment of land, buildings and traditions give us much with which to work, in order to keep faith with the past, serve the present to the limit of our powers, and look forward to the opportunities the future has in store.

Yours sincerely,
[signed]
Alvin Boggs

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Pine Mountain, Kentucky 40864
June 1974

P. 4

PINE MOUNTAIN EVENTS

SUMMER 1974

– Notes For Your Calendar –

*****

August 10 – Pine Mountain Reunion
For Former Students and Workers

*****

September 7 – Fair Day

GALLERY: NOTES – 1974 November

Homecoming! The idea came from some of the old students who wanted to have a get-together for former students and workers. The invitation brought more than a hundred [attendees]. Every decade of Pine Mountain’s history since 1913 was represented.

TAGS: NOTES – 1974 November, farm, inflation, sorghum, Environmental Education, Peter Westover, Mary Rogers, Bill Branan, Lauranell Branan, Brit Wilder, Omer Lewis, Spinning Bee, Sarah Bailey, Kentucky Weaver’s Guild, Fair Day, mountain culture, Burkham Schoolhouse, volunteer painters, swimming pool, first homecoming, Nativity Play, Wild Flower Week 

P. 1

NOTES FROM THE
PINE MOUNTAIN
SETTLEMENT SCHOOL

PINE MOUNTAIN * HARLAN COUNTY * KENTUCKY

 NOVEMBER        THE REV. ALVIN BOGGS, DIRECTOR                 1974

These are crowded days for us, and we can give you only the briefest glimpses of some of our “times to remember”. But here are some notes about what has happened since last April.

[Image: A small sketch of an owl.]

The Farm. Perhaps this comes first in the record because we are especially grateful for our garden this year. It has been our main stay, and has enabled us to economize even in the face of inflation, during the past summer. We’ve had cane (our sorghum is first quality), tomatoes and potatoes, beans and sweet corn. It has been a good year on the farm!

The Staff. As some of you know the environmental specialist, Peter Westover, left in April. Mary Rogers handled a full program of study groups and workshops until August when Bill Branan came from Florida to serve as coordinator of Environmental Education. Like every other new member of the staff Bill has brought his own special gifts to Pine Mountain, and has adapted to our situation here easily and quickly. Even in so short a time reports are coming from group members who say, “I like the way Bill’s mind works” and “I like Bill so very much”. We all do, and we hope Bill and his wife Lauranell (native of Clay County) are here to stay.

After 25 years of faithful and excellent service as head of maintenance, Brit Wilder retired last spring, to be succeeded by his cousin, a former Pine Mountain student and our friend and neighbor, Omer Lewis. No one takes Brit’s place of course, but Omer has his own valuable place and we couldn’t have found a better successor for our maintenance head.

The Community. Old friends of the School would have especially enjoyed the Spinning Bee held last summer under the direction of Mrs. Sarah Bailey, neighbor and well…

P. 2

[Image: Small sketch of a bird on a plant.]

…known craftswoman. She and members of the Kentucky Weaver’s Guild led the 119 attenders through all the old time intricate processes of shearing the sheep, carding and spinning the wool into yarn, dyeing the yarn with vegetable dyes, and finally weaving the patterns. It was three days out of history!

Fair Day in September was one to remember, a glorious Saturday when folks came from all the creeks and many from across the mountain, too. It was another of those rare and beautiful experiences of relationship between the school and community. And as one neighbor said, “Fair Day always makes me feel like a youngster again”. Another said, “I can remember when I had my first ice-cream cone on Fair Day and that was a long time ago!”

We wish to acknowledge here with special gratitude the tremendous contributions of former students and now loyal neighbors who have met with school groups and church groups and workshop groups, sometimes twice a week, to help introduce our visitors to the culture of our region, whether it be by sharing with them some of the coal miners’ experience, demonstrating a craft, or by leading them in traditional folk games.

The Environmental Program. Since our last newsletter went out to you Pine Mountain has conducted 61 classes and workshops ranging in length from one day to five weeks. touching the lives of a total of 1859 persons — grade school children, high school students, college students, teachers and others including scientists and scholars. Although ours is not the only center for environmental studies in this state (there are four others), we have the largest natural area (800 acres) and our approach we think is somewhat different in its stress on the wholeness of human and natural life and their intertwined responsibility. We have many letters of appreciation from children and their teachers, but perhaps it could all be summed up in what one grade school child said: “I learned more in one day than I ever did in all my life. I learned a lot of deep things.”

The increased cost of paper, printing and mailing unfortunately makes it necessary to limit our mailing from the School to two each year. For this reason we shall need to include news of the environmental program in the regular November and April news- letters instead of printing extra letters dealing entirely with environmental education. We shall of course make sure that all those holding memberships in the environmental center receive copies of the general newsletter. Your inquiries are always welcomed and your interest in the program is deeply appreciated.

The Grounds. On the very day of the Spinning Bee, a group of thirty high school students came from a church in Michigan to paint the Burkham Schoolhouse for us. They even furnished the paint! These workers learned a good deal, had fun and made friends, and Pine Mountain is more attractive and more useful because of the mark they have left here.

[Image: Small sketch of a squirrel on a tree limb.]

P. 3

[There are possibly additional pages, but they are not yet found.]

Next:
NOTES – 1975

See Also:
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION Guide
FARM AND FARMING Guide

Return To:
NOTES Index