She might just be the sweetest person I've ever met. And little did I know (how would I?), but she was Popcorn Sutton's special lady friend for many years. She is a wealth of knowledge...and everyone loves her. She gave me a long list of names of folks that I should/must talk to, folks that would know where old-timers made shine.
After breakfast we got in the car with Ernestine and she drove us to her cabin (Figure 1) up on the side of a mountain. And what a view it has (Figure 2)! A good friend of her's, James Knight, also joined us. He lives at the bottom of the hill and is as friendly and knowledgeable as one could imagine.
She told us that this 75 acres had been in her family for a long time and that only recently did the cabin get built. In 2001 she took a three week trip to Scotland. When she returned Popcorn was waiting for her at the airport in Asheville. He drove her out to the property to show her the cabin he the community had built while she was away (Figure 3). She was surprised to say the least. Over the years Popcorn built additional buildings and add-ons to the cabin.
Figure 1: Ernestine's cabin a few miles outside of Maggie Valley, NC.
Figure 2: The view east from the cabin.
Figure 3: A sign Popcorn Sutton made listing all that helped in the construction of the cabin.
Ernestine told me that she was all but certain I could rent the property for multiple years for the field school. The property is perfect and I couldn't imagine a better place. There's the main cabin (Figure 1) with electricity, running water, toilet, shower, bed, wood burning stove, and an attic with room for one or two folks to sleep. There's a second cabin (Figure 4) that has electricity, a wood burning stove, but no water, and would work perfectly as a lab space. There is also plenty of room for students to pitch tents, an outhouse (Figure 5), and three storage buildings.
Figure 4: Ernestine's Quilt House would be ideal for the lab.
Figure 5: The privy. What's up with the crescent moons?
After looking around the property for a while we went over to Ernestine's house and talked for bit more. Soon we got in our rental car and drove to our little cabin deep in Pisgah for a relaxing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Crescent moons on outhouses? Well, ordinarily you would want shape of some sort cut out for ventilation and lighting. But lore has it that the crescent moon was cut on the doors of women's privies and a star or sun-shape on men's privy doors. All to differentiate the men's/women's latrines to an illiterate society. I don't think anyone has ever substantiated this with a primary source, but you would definitely want *some*thing cut into the door or wall for light and ventilation. It's hard to read the Sears catalog page you're about to wipe with in the dark.
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