ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 29, 1996 TAG: 9612300060
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-16 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PARROTT
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
When Amy Chenoweth was a student at Virginia Tech, she used to leave her college world behind to visit her grandfather and other relatives in the tiny Pulaski County community of Parrott.
Now pursuing her master's degree in film and video at American University, she is still visiting this Pulaski County community - this time to film a documentary about it.
She became interested in an oral history of people who lived in this area early in the century "because my grandfather and great-grandfather were raised and grew up in Parrott."
She was close to her grandfather, Frank Doss Jr., who died in March 1995. "He had a great appreciation for the mountains. He sort of passed it along to his grandchildren," she said. She hoped to create a portrait on film of who Doss was through the stories of other people she interviewed.
"But the stories of other people are so interesting," she said.
Originally, she had considered doing the film just on the coal-mining once done in this area "but I hate to do a one-hour documentary on nothing but horrible coal-mine explosions."
Finally, the focus came to be on the Parrott community itself.
"Let's just say I've heard a lot of stories about growing up in the '30s," Chenoweth said.
"The stories that I love the most are the ones that are close to the ones my grandfather told me about growing up as a kid."
People roamed the region's mountains, came together for church socials, attended performances that would be considered bizarre,
even barbarous, today, such as that of the man with no arms who did a show at Belsprings School, using his feet to play musical instruments, open a soft-drink bottle, comb his hair. People living here today still remember things like that, she found.
"That was how they kept themselves entertained," she said. "It's a way of life that no longer exists now, because of technology ... . It's so different from my generation. It's so important to record it now so you can preserve these stories for later generations."
Despite the nation being in the midst of the Great Depression, people in Parrott found ways to cope from day to day. The recollections that Chenoweth has been getting in her interviews are not negative.
Some Parrott residents sought jobs in West Virginia when the mines in this region closed. Many families were used to farming when the mines were not operating, and continued to raise their own food.
"The overwhelming opinion is that no one really felt poor over here since they had food on their table," Chenoweth said. "It's remarkable how these people lived through hardship, and without batting an eye."
Some of her family members who still live in Parrott were able to give Chenoweth the names of some others to interview for the documentary. She found herself attending a lot of family reunions for material.
"It'll be more like using their recollections juxtaposed with what the town is today," she said of the hour-long film. "I'm trying to follow a group of people throughout the course of a year."
Parrott postmaster Barry Albert, a local historian himself, has been copying old photographs loaned by community residents. "He's very enthusiastic about the project and that helps," Chenoweth said. "Actually, we're always looking for more photographs."
The Coal Mining Heritage Association of Montgomery County has also provided information. That was the first group Chenoweth contacted, back when she was planning a documentary on just coal-mining.
"Virginia Tech has also been really supportive," she said. One faculty member even donated money toward some of the videotape she will be using. Chenoweth graduated from Tech in 1995. "There's a possibility of working with their students on the project later in the spring."
Eric Naughton, a Pennsylvania resident also in the master's program at American University, has been accompanying Chenoweth on her trips to Parrott to handle the filming or taping and the sound for the project. "I'm just doing this because we're the Dynamic Duo," he joked.
Musician John Carter, another Tech graduate with a love for this area, is doing original music for the project.
"Actually, the best part of all this is meeting all of my grandfather's old friends and getting the dirt on what he did when he was a kid," Chenoweth said - like tipping over outhouses on Halloween.
She and Naughton have recorded footage of a 1929 Model-A convertible that drove through downtown Parrott as part of the film. "We stopped a lot of traffic with that," she said.
She plans to finish most of her interviews by the end of May, edit the film and videotape during the summer, and complete the project by August.
The film will be the part of her master's program - actually the equivalent of a master's thesis," she explained.
It may not be her last project of this kind, however.
"I do have other projects in mind that are coming out of this area," said Chenoweth. "There's a lot of great history in this area."
People with old photographs that could be copied for use in the documentary can contact Barry Albert at the Parrott post office or call 639-9734. Chenoweth can be contacted in Washington about the project at (202) 965-3916.
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. PAUL DELLINGER/Staff. Filmmaker Amy Chenoweth andby CNBcameraman Eric Naughton (right) interview Chenoweth's great-aunt,
Geraldine Mullins (left). color. 2. Tipple of Pulaski Anthracite
Coal Co. mine on (then) Norfolk & Western Railway above New River.
3. Jack Kimbleton (left) and Keith Sifford (holding a horse) stand
on a Parrott street with H.S. McCoy home and store in background. 4.
Group of Parrott miners after work (left to right) are Garland
Kimbleton, Garfield Goad, Herbert Howell and Preston Goad. 5. World
War I soldiers from Parrott, top row left to right: Charlie
Cressell, Irvin Lyons, Percy Purdy; seated, left to right: Percy
Lyons, Gilford Dudley (a relative of one of the soldiers) and Guy
Sifford. 6. Second Parrott Post Office re-established in 1937
(previous Post Office closed in 1935 when mines shut down and the
company store, where it was located, closed). Left to right: C.A.
Pannell (postmaster 1937-1967), Bob Harris (a friend of his), his
parents and his son, Bobby. 7. After a bobcat hunt (left to right),
Jess Overstreet, Ribble Hamilton and Dave Tickle in front of H.S.
McCoy store in Parrott. 8. On the cover: Amy Chenoweth (right) and
cameraman Eric Naughton work on Chenoweth's documentary. Photo by
PAUL DELLINGER (Ran on NRV-1).