Mountain Memories from 1988

by

Step into the time capsule for a glimpse of the Southern Appalachians during Blue Ridge Country’s first year.

Thirty-five years ago, as the first issue of Blue Ridge Country was making its way into homes across the southern Appalachian region, lots of other things were going on as well.

As a part of our celebration, we’re traveling back to 1988—a time when the Asheville Tourists had a role in the baseball rom-com “Bull Durham,” when Virginia native Edna Lewis published her tantalizing cookbook “In Pursuit of Flavor” and a when a famous Supreme Court ruling settled a conflict between a porn king and a televangelist. What else happened in 1988? We scoured news feeds (the paper kind) to find out.

The Harlan Boys Choir is invited to the Capitol. Since its creation in 1965, the Harlan, Kentucky, chorale group has been entertaining international audiences—some as far away as Austria—with a pleasant sound. In 1988, for instance, the boys were invited to perform at George H.W. Bush’s inauguration the following January. According to an article published in The Washington Post that month, the choir offered a harmonious rendition of “This Is My Country.” Though one kid forgot his gloves and two others were running fevers, the performance left audience-goers hushed and teary-eyed.

January Blizzard pounds Upstate. Winter temperatures in Upstate South Carolina rarely dip below freezing. But in January of 1988, a massive low-pressure system developed over the Gulf of Mexico and headed north, bringing with it loads and loads of snow. According to an article in The Greenville News, Greenville—a place that receives three inches of wintry mix per year—was hit with an entire foot of the white stuff. The snow fell so hard and fast that an awning collapsed at The Clock on Wade Hampton Boulevard and scores of people were left stranded on I-85.

Supreme Court overrules Hustler Magazine v. Falwell verdict.  As a men’s pornographic magazine, Hustler was no stranger to controversy. But in 1983, owner Larry Flynt turned up the heat when he published a full-page satirical Campari advertisement that mocked televangelist and political commentator Jerry Falwell, Sr. Salacious as could be, the ad depicted Falwell as an incestuous drunkard who lost his virginity to his mother in an outhouse. The reverend sued the magazine and Flynt for libel, invasion of privacy and emotional damages. In 1984, a federal district court in Virginia ruled in Falwell’s favor. But four years later, the Supreme Court unanimously overturned the Virginia jury’s verdict against Hustler on grounds of First Amendment rights. 

Dolly Parton founds the Dollywood Foundation. Not one to rest on her laurels, Parton polished off an award-winning album in 1987 and then promptly founded the Dollywood Foundation the next year. Dedicated to helping native Tennesseans achieve educational success, the foundation has served many good causes over the years. In the early 1990s, for instance, Parton promised every Sevier County student in seventh and eighth grade $500 if they went on to graduate from high school. Known as The Buddy Program, the initiative reduced drop-out rates by 29 percent.    

The National Arts and Crafts Conference comes to the Grove Park Inn. It’s little wonder why the National Arts and Crafts Conference, an annual fête celebrating handicrafts, has been hosted at Asheville, North Carolina’s Grove Park Inn since February 1988. Constructed in 1913, the hotel is and always has been a bastion of the Arts and Crafts aesthetic. The conference began with about 300 attendees and now attracts 10 times that many.

Mast General Store expands to Boone, North Carolina. In the spring of 1980, John and Faye Cooper purchased a 19th-century provisions shop nestled in the High Country of North Carolina. Though the building was rife with cobwebs and decades of disrepair, the Coopers saw promise—a place locals knew as Mast General Store. In the years to come, the couple and their two children would breathe life back into the brick-and-mortar, stocking it with everything from Amish rocking chairs to buckets of Charleston Chews. In 1982, they expanded to a second location a quarter mile down the way. Then, in 1988, Mast General Store hit downtown Boone, with new stores being added over the years since in other great mountain towns.  

Tree of Peace is planted at the Sautee Nacoochee Center. Thirty-five years ago, Mohawk peace chief Jake Swamp planted a Tree of Peace at the Sautee Nacoochee Center in White County, Georgia. Though the tree withered during the Gulf War, a pin oak was planted in its place in 1991. According to center officials, the tree symbolizes the Great Law of Peace, an oral constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy that invites individuals to fill their hearts and minds with goodwill and a yearning for the welfare of others.

McCreary County (Kentucky) Museum established in Stearns. Housed in the former Stearns Coal and Lumber Company corporate headquarters, the 16,000-square-foot museum has been preserving local history since its founding in 1988. Today, exhibits feature everything from Native American artifacts to moonshining paraphernalia. There are also plenty of photos and documents related to Stearns Coal and Lumber Company, which operated in the area from 1902 to 1975. 

MerleFest begins a music tradition at  Wilkesboro.  Like sipping Cheerwine and going for Sunday drives, attending MerleFest is just what North Carolinians do. Hosted each spring in the darling town of Wilkesboro,  the Americana music festival attracts some 75,000 visitors and a bevy of big-name artists like The Avett Brothers, Dolly Parton, Willy Nelson and just about any Americana performer you can think of. And it all goes back to its iconic founder: bluegrass legend Doc Watson. A Wilkesboro native, Watson started the festival in 1988 as a memorial for his son, Merle, who died in a tractor accident on the family farm. Initially a small get-together, MerleFest soon emerged as a mainstay of mountain culture.

Jimmy Carter fishes for trout in Ellijay, Georgia. In 1988, former president Jimmy Carter offered The Washington Post an in-person tell-all from his 10-acre estate on White Mountain in Ellijay, Georgia. The article follows the civil servant as he fishes for rainbow trout in Turniptown Creek and points out dogwoods, wild honeysuckles and other floral species to the reporter. But the article isn’t all fun and games. In the feature, Carter also delves into his time in the Oval Office, giving readers an inside look at everything from the energy crisis to the Panama Canal Treaty.

Great Smoky Mountains Railroad starts chuggin’. Established in 1988, the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad invites tourists to experience the rugged beauty of Western North Carolina from aboard a locomotive. The train runs along Murphy Branch, a 116-mile section of railway stretching from Asheville to Murphy. Forged in the late 1800s, the branch line brought new ideas and conveniences to the landlocked hills. But carving a railway grade through the Great Balsam Mountains, a range with 6,000-foot peaks and dramatic ravines, was no easy task. Many incarcerated workers—95 percent of whom were Black—died while building the railway. 

Lee Smith publishes “Fair and Tender Ladies.” Writer Lee Smith grew up in Grundy, Virginia, a coal-mining town situated on the Levisa Fork River. As Smith reveals in her memoir, “Dimestore,” Grundy was a rugged, isolated place where children were raised to leave. Smith did just that, going on to study English at Hollins College and later teach in places like Nashville, Tennessee, and Durham, North Carolina. But Smith’s heart never left Grundy. That much is evidenced by her 1988 book, “Fair and Tender Ladies,” winner of the Weatherford Award from Berea College. Set in Virginia’s coal-mining country, the epistolary novel chronicles the hardscrabble existence of a mountain woman named Ivy Rowe and her long, winding path to liberation.

Caesars Head State Park takes flight. Each September, something strange happens at Caesars Head State Park in South Carolina. There, where the Blue Ridge Mountains plunge to the rolling foothills, thousands of migrating hawks flock to updrafts generated by wind currents. Naturalist Irvin Pitts first noticed this phenomenon (which is known as kettling, but looks like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 horror film “The Birds”) in the 1980s. A self-described “wing nut,” Pitts quickly organized a group of amateur ornithologists to conduct an annual bird count. In 1988, Caesar’s Head Hawk Watch program reported its first official yearly count to the Hawk Migration Association of North America and to Cornell University’s Laboratory of Ornithology. 

Bluestone National Scenic River established. Designated as a Wild and Scenic River in 1988, this 10.5-mile stretch of West Virginia’s Bluestone River affords unspoiled beauty. But experiencing that unspoiled beauty takes some work. To access the river’s edge, you have three options: navigate a treacherously narrow gravel road, hop aboard an aerial tram or lace up your hiking boots. No matter your route of choice, you’ll be rewarded with emerald water, sandstone cliffs and lush woodlands teeming with wildlife.

 The Dog Days leave Paintsville panting. Kentucky summers can be downright sweltering, but August 1988 was a particular scorcher in Paintsville, where temperatures hit an all-time high of 105 degrees. Locals tried their best to escape the oppressive heat, cranking their air conditioners up to full blast. Those without AC had to get inventive and seek refuge in Paint Creek, glass bottles of Dr. Pepper and bags of ice from the corner market.

Lawrence “The Legend” Dye begins his 192,400-mile ride. In 1988, Dye began cycling sections of the in-progress Virginia Creeper Trail. At the time, he was working as a state auditor and needed to burn off energy after eight long hours at a desk. But even after Dye left that job, he kept pedaling. In 2017, at the spry age of 84, “The Legend” logged his 192,400th mile on the 34.3-mile path stretching from Abingdon to Whitetop Station. Now in his 90s, Dye maintains his status as the Virginia Creeper Trail’s official unofficial ambassador.

The Green Bank Telescope collapses. On November 15, 1988, West Virginia’s Green Bank Telescope—a 300-foot dish used by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory to pan the sky for radio waves—collapsed without warning, leaving behind a sorrowful pile of twisted metal. Upon further inspection, scientists discovered that a metal gusset plate had gone kaput. Unfortunately, the wreckage was too far gone to salvage. A new telescope was later constructed in the 1990s.

“Always…Patsy Cline” musical debuts. Candid and heartfelt, “Always…Patsy Cline” is a musical based on the Virginia-born country star’s unlikely friendship with a fan named Louise Seger. The two met in a Texas honky-tonk in 1961 and hit it off, exchanging letters until Cline’s untimely death at age 30 in a 1963 plane crash. The show, which was created by Ted Swindley, debuted at Houston’s Stages Repertory Theatre in 1988 and has since been performed on stages across the country. 

Asleep at the Wheel’s “String of Pars” strikes a chord. With fewer than 500 residents, it goes without saying that Paw Paw, West Virginia, is a small town. But some big things have come out of this sleepy-eyed whistlestop, namely the Western swing group Asleep at the Wheel. Founded in 1970 by Ray Benson and Lucky Oceans (Reuben Gosfield), the band didn’t wait long to make their mark, opening for Alice Cooper and Hot Tuna that very same year. In the decades since, Asleep at the Wheel has taken home nine Grammy Awards, including their performance of Bill Monroe’s “The Old Brown Country Barn” for the 1988 Best Country Instrumental Performance. 

Chubby Checker performs at the Black Gold Festival.  It could be the most spirited soiree in Kentucky: the Black Gold Festival in Hazard. Launched in 1937 as the Hazard Coal Carnival, the event has since evolved into a beloved shindig with zany traditions like the Ugliest Lamp Contest and the Road Hazards Extreme Team Stunt Show. Over the years, the festival has also attracted musical virtuosos to the coal fields of Hazard. In 1988, for instance, Chubby Checker pulled flabbergasted fans on stage during his performance of “The Twist.”

“Trio” takes home a Grammy. What could be better than an 11-song album featuring Dolly Parton’s warm, twangy soprano? How about an 11-song album featuring Parton’s voice alongside the dulcet stylings of Americana folk musician Emmylou Harris and the honeyed tone of rock maven Linda Ronstadt. After more than a decade of attempted recording sessions, “Trio” delivered just that, wooing listeners with its distinctive sound. The album went on to spawn four hit singles and win a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1988. Ten years later, the threesome reunited to create their second collaborative album, “Trio II.” This melodic sequel also went on to win a Grammy. 

The story above first appeared in our July / August 2023 issue. For more like it subscribe today or log in with your active BRC+ Membership. Thank you for your support!