CRMW is working on a large cultural project that will tell the story of the people and the
mountains they live in. In the meantime, please visit "Tending the Commons," a collection of
audio, video, and photos of people put together with communities on Coal River by folklorist
Mary Hufford, and features photography by Terry and Lyntha Eiler
Tending the Commons
Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia incorporates 718 excerpts
from original
sound recordings,
1,256 photographs, and
10 manuscripts from the
American
Folklife Center's Coal River Folklife Project (1992-99) documenting traditional uses of the
mountains in Southern West Virginia's Big Coal River Valley. Functioning as a de facto commons,
the mountains have supported a way of life that for many generations has entailed hunting,
gathering, and subsistence gardening, as well as coal mining and timbering. The online collection
includes extensive interviews on native forest species and the seasonal round of traditional
harvesting (including spring greens; summer berries and fish; and fall nuts, roots such as
ginseng, fruits, and game) and documents community cultural events such as storytelling, baptisms
in the river, cemetery customs, and the spring "ramp" feasts using the wild leek native to the
region. Interpretive texts outline the social, historical, economic, environmental, and cultural
contexts of community life, while a
series of maps and a diagram depicting the
seasonal round of
community activities provide special access to collection materials.
