Feeding the farm family: Domestic outbuildings and traditional food ways in the Blue Ridge

Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc., The, Sep 2002 by Wyatt, Sherry Joines

Domestic Outbuildings and Traditional Food Ways in the Blue Ridge

During the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century, farmers in Alleghany County, North Carolina, relied on their farms to produce most of what they ate. The domestic outbuildings associated with their agricultural process are of exceptional importance in understanding the daily lives of the farmers as well as the relationship of the farmers to their environment. The various outbuildings on these farms are closely related to traditional food ways. Inherently perishable, food ways are an important part of understanding any cultural landscape, particularly one that was based on a subsistence or minimal-cash type of agriculture. The barn and agricultural fields can readily be understood as the sphere of work of the farmer, in the masculine sense. It may seem that the house, with its kitchen, would represent the woman's sphere, but this is only a small portion of her work world. Indeed, the woman's sphere of work is poignantly evident in the domestic outbuildings of the farm and is not confined to the house.

The eight case-study farms that this article is based upon were surveyed in 1998 as part of the author's master's thesis, "Up Before Dawn: Farms and Farm Ways of Allegheny County, North Carolina." Over fifteen farmers and people who had grown up on Allegheny County farms were interviewed. Their oral histories paint a portrait of farm life from the 1900s through the 1960s.

Historical Background

Alleghany County is located in the Blue Ridge Mountain region of northwestern North Carolina, near the Virginia border. At an average elevation of twenty-eight hundred feet, the rolling hills of the area can peak at heights of over thirty-five hundred feet, and the New River runs northward through the county into Virginia.

The earliest settlers arrived in Allegheny County during the 1790s and settled along the fertile New River valley.1 Many were descendants of Scottish, Scots-Irish, and German settlers from Pennsylvania, while others were descendants of English settlers from eastern North Carolina and Virginia. The rigors of travel in the area made subsistence agriculture, hunting, gathering, and gardening necessary to survival. Yet, the practice of this diverse agriculture continued for more than a century despite improvements in roadways and the increasing population of the area. The lack of a navigable river and the failure of attempts to bring a railroad into the county constrained the development of cash crop agriculture.

This is not to say, however, that changes in the agricultural practice had not occurred. Rather, there had been a definite shift during the nineteenth century away from the strict subsistence agriculture practiced by early setters to a more moderate livelihood that is best termed minimal-cash agriculture. The ultimate success of this type of agriculture is indicated by the productive and relatively prosperous period experienced by Allegheny County farmers around the turn of the twentieth century. This prosperity was certainly related to the construction of railroads in the counties surrounding Allegheny during the mid-1910s. Without a railhead of her own, however, Allegheny County still failed to develop a true, cash-crop economy. Instead, the minimal-cash system continued to be utilized until the mid-twentieth century.

Similar to subsistence agriculture, minimal-cash farmers relied on their farms to produce most of what they ate. With improved transportation in the region, many farmers were able to sell small amounts of extra produce at a local general store or transport the products to surrounding areas where rail transportation and markets were available. The modest amount of cash generated by these practices was used to purchase staple products such as sugar and rice.

One early export in the county was whiskey. Several government licensed distilleries existed during the 1880s and 1890s. These businesses capitalized on the easiest and most profitable way to transport the abundant local corn harvest to outside markets. A second small industry in the area was turkey processing. During the cold winter months, turkeys could be dressed, packed in barrels, and taken to the railhead in Galax, Virginia, for shipment. More common, however, was the practice of driving turkeys to market. Turkeys were driven by clipping the feathers of one wing to keep them from flying away and "shooing" them along the road. Unfortunately for the drivers, the routine of the turkey could not be overcome. As afternoon roosting time arrived, the turkeys would squat down in the road and refuse to move any further.

Several men throughout the county served as local livestock dealers. These men purchased livestock such as turkeys or cattle and drove them to the nearest market, often as much as thirty miles away. On a smaller scale, individual farmers had several means of earning extra cash. Families gathered a variety of wild herbs and roots to be sold at local general stores. Young boys shot squirrels and rabbits that could also be sold to the general store for shipment north during the winter and farm women sold extra butter, cream, and eggs. In the fall, men would often load a wagon or pickup truck with extra apples, chestnuts, cabbage, and other produce and drive "below the mountain" to peddle their products door-to-door in towns in the Piedmont and foothills area. The result of the livestock trade, in addition to the smaller scale peddling done by the farmers, was a productive economy.