NOTES – 1975 June

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 17: PUBLICATIONS PMSS
NOTES 1975
June

If we had to explain in one sentence the past, present and future of this school, we should say that Pine Mountain’s purpose is to work with the people of our area, and to try to realize opportunities not included in the scope of other agencies, public or private. All that we do is related to this one ongoing purpose.

NOTES – 1975 June

“Notes from the Pine Mountain Settlement School”
June 1975

GALLERY

TAGS: NOTES – 1975 June, Environmental Program, special weekends, playgrounds, community, building maintenance, gardens, gifts in kind, greenhouses, farm, sorghum, cattle, sheep, Spinning Bee, Appreciation Dinner, Mountain Folk Festival, Union Church, swimming pool, Chapel, Mountain Medicine Workshop, Ellwood J. Carr, Homecoming, Fall Color Weekend, College Winter Term in ecology, Rev. Alvin Boggs

TRANSCRIPTION: NOTES – 1975 June

P. 1

NOTES FROM THE
PINE MOUNTAIN
SETTLEMENT SCHOOL

PINE MOUNTAIN * HARLAN COUNTY * KENTUCKY

June         The Rev. Alvin Boggs, Director        1975

If we had to explain in one sentence the past, present and future of this school, we should say that Pine Mountain’s purpose is to work with the people of our area, and to try to realize opportunities not included in the scope of other agencies, public or private. All that we do is related to this one ongoing purpose. Every day is a new one, bringing calls for service, great and small. Here are some of the highlights for this spring:

[Image: Small drawing of a sprig of flowers.]

IN OUR ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM

Day-by-day, week-long, and weekend groups have continued. The spring wildflower and bird weekend in April came just at the right moment, when all the trails were blooming. People of all ages came from far and near, and even though it rained on Saturday, several long and short hikes in the woods were possible. We discovered seventy-five plant species in bloom, and heard and saw fifty kinds of birds. Altogether it was the kind of experience that asks for more. Next year we hope to have two wildflower weekends, one especially for families, another for more technical study, comparing the flora and fauna of Pine Mountain and Black Mountain.

ON THE GROUNDS AND IN THE COMMUNITY

The playgrounds are filled on most Sunday afternoons and many weekday evenings too, with young people and families from the community. Many of the men playing ball were students here not so many years ago when we cooperated with the County in operating the school for this community, until 1972. Many of the women, also former students, come along to visit with their friends, often with picnics, and to watch their children who play…

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…on the same swings, see-saws, and slides which they themselves once enjoyed when they were school children here. This is the center where they feel at home and know they are welcome. We rejoice to see the efforts of past years maturing in meaningful relationships with our community in this new generation.

Our own men have managed the whole job of maintenance and repair this year, even to such specialized jobs as a patio for Far House, a new walkway, and new roofing. They also built a fireplace for Open House outdoor classroom and camping shelter, reminiscent of Pine Mountain’s first open-sided School-in-the-Woods. No need for contractors!

There were two windfalls, gifts in kind from Harlan County friends, the first being a new boiler unit, which will keep Laurel House warm this winter. The second is a thermostatically controlled heat unit for the new greenhous,e which provided us with lettuce in February and tomatoes in April, and has produced plants for our garden and for sale to neighbors.

An experimental and subsistence gardening program is being revived, and the farm is fully used, though we still have to use old farm machinery dating back to the forties and needing replacement soon. We are keeping alive some traditional practices, such as sorghum making, and are doing it organically. We have a few cattle for the School’s meat supply, and we have recently acquired several sheep to add interest to visiting classes and to be shorn during the Spinning Bee.

In addition to their usual superb cooking and cleaning services for our programs, the Kitchen-Housekeeping staff served a special “Appreciation Dinner” one evening for many of our loyal, supporting friends from Harlan and surrounding counties. Well over a hundred persons in this area have helped the School this year.

A community group trained and accompanied by loyal Pine Mountain alumni participated in the annual spring Mountain Folk Festival at Berea College.

Volunteers from Union Church in Berea once again have helped to get the swimming pool and the playgrounds ready for summer use.

On two Sunday afternoons when redbud and dogwood were in full bloom around the Chapel, organ programs were offered for the public.

[Image: Small drawing of a “RHODODENDRON” flower.]

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We are particularly proud of community initiative and responsibility in projects of long-term concern to us. Some of our neighbors have asked for help in continuing kindergarten service for their youngsters, as a reduction in federal funds threatens to restrict the public school kindergarten program. We must again be alert to community needs as we explore every possible way to help our youngsters.

[Image: Drawing of a “TULIP TREE” flower.]

PLANS FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR include

The (first) Mountain Medicine Workshop, July 7-11. The workshop will be led by Elwood Carr, whom you may know as the most knowledgeable field expert on Medical Botany in the state. (Mr. Carr was formerly Director of the National Audubon Sanctuary at Versailles, Ky.) The July program will include plant identification, studies of plant chemicals and their properties, discussion of sanitation, disease, and first aid.

Homecoming, August 9. If you were here last year, you will remember the joyous reunion of former students and staff who came from the earliest year of the School (1913) to the present. They came from as near as our own creek and from as far away as Nebraska. This year, we hope for the same ones back and many more.

Fall Color Weekend, October 17-19. Of course, “fall color” at Pine Mountain is something that can’t be described — only experienced. The weekend is planned for older students, adults, and families, and we welcome all of our friends for nature study and for pure joy — learning and celebration.

College Winter Term I, December, date to be determined. This is the first of two winter terms for college students interested in the fundamentals of ecology, and in the environment and culture of the southern Appalachian region. We shall deal with the ecology of ponds, streams, fields, forests, and farms, including their effects upon people, and the effects of people on the environment. It is expected that Winter Term II will follow in January.

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[Image: Drawing of an “AZALEA.”]

For all these projects, WE NEED YOUR HELP. Economically, this has not been an easy time. We believe in simplicity, we believe in the full and careful use of all our resources, and we believe in the dedicated service that we must ask from our staff members. We even believe that the “penny-pinching” we have to practice is appropriate to our goals. Nevertheless, we must pay at least minimum wages, we must meet safety requirements, we must care for our priceless campus, and we must replace certain equipment.

Because I believe so strongly in the importance of the Pine Mountain Settlement School, I do not hesitate to ask if you can help in any of these special ways:

Come to participate in one of our special programs. We welcome your presence in the workshops or as visitors. Let us know ahead of time, and then come!

Send us a contribution.

Speak to a friend about Pine Mountain Settlement School, and/or send us names of people or organizations whom we might contact.

Remember Pine Mountain in your will.

Thank you for your interest and help.

Sincerely,
[Signed]
Alvin Boggs,
Director

Previous:
NOTES – 1974
Next:
NOTES – 1976

See Also:
BUILT ENVIRONMENT Guide
E. J. CARR PLANT CENTER Guide
EVENTS
EVENTS Guide to Ongoing Events
FARM and FARMING Guide
HISTORY PMSS Summary 1974-1975
HISTORY PMSS Summary 1975-1976

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NOTES Index