11/26/2007 Resourseful

As an sequel to our already wonderful Thanksgiving celebration, Jason, Fox and I went to Pine Mountain, Kentucky this weekend to help our sister, Cassie relocate. (Fox didn't help as much as he paraded around for attention and was showered in adoration by his grandparents and cousin.) Cassie has moved far, far away from her former Oakley, NC residence. Geographically the distance isn't very far, thanks to the newly bridged gap (also known as I-26) between here and there. The drive wasn't draining, plus we had a killer Don Rawson and the Contrarians CD to listen to, like, 3 times in a row, but when we started crossing state lines it seemed like we should have had special intra-national passports of some sort.

The ride got interesting when we crossed the Virginia state line and escalated through out the rest of the trip to Bledsoe, Kentucky (still MILES from the Pine Mountain Settlement where Cassie now lives. PLEASE, google the Pine Mountain Settlement School). I couldn't figure out if these tiny towns were devastated by coal companies or if it was my own relative filter of prosperity causing me to make certain associations about these people and places.
As you can see this place isn't straight out of a Martha Stewart Living magazine, but these folks WERE decorating for the holidays. Most of the houses were in some stage of disrepair but all exhibited some evidence of an attempt. Notice the toddler bed on the roof of the modified modular home in image 3. That bed is serving some purpose; functionally or decoratively(?), and most houses had smoke escaping their chimneys, so I know that the inhabitants were comfortable enough. Not to mention the varitable, time-line chronicle of satellite dishes through time; those folks aren't missing CSI.

One of the houses I photographed had fantastic, vintage Christmas decorations ALL OVER their property. You could tell that they had put lots of effort and time into decorating for the holidays. The place overlooked a cut-out cliff left by the coal companies and was across the street from Mac's Rescue Mission and the Cheverolet Baptist Church. Private residences had more than just a home; there were outbuildings and impressive heaps of raw materials everywhere. I didn't see trash cans or public service pick up anywhere. I DID see ingeniously designed aluminum can recycling receptacles built out of old chain link fencing and pallets. Could these people NOT produce trash?

Were these people born resourceful or was it out of necessity? Did they determine the present day state of a "coal country" on purpose by capitalizing on their natural resources, or did they let their beautiful mountains slip slowly through their fingers as they were clinging to the almighty buck instead? I didn't see any piles of cash, mansions, Bentleys, or livestock for that matter; just tons of coal and train cars to ship it out. Where's all the coal money? Does mining coal make for a good, quality life? Do these people have any choice?! The paradoxical existence of this world aside the one sponsored by Macys and Whirlpool is too much for me to compute. How could such a remarkable section of our nation be trapped in this time warp?