Maeburl Tincher
“Oh My Graham County Home, my happy mountain home.
“No other place on earth so dear to me.
“From the gorge of Nantahala to Unaka’s highest dome,
“From Tapoco west to Cherokee …”
Ironically, we were taught this official patriotic song by a music teacher from New York in her thick, northern Yankee brogue.
Looking back, it occurs to me that she knew the treasure we had in ways we did not.
Through song, she taught us not only to love our county heritage – but our state heritage as well.
“North Carolina, North Carolina, Heavens blessings attend her.
“While we live we will cherish, protect and defend her …”
I think she may have felt sorry for us mountain children, but soon found out that we had been tempered by the great depression and our tenacity was something to be reckoned with.
We worked hard, played hard, ate good and slept with unlocked doors. Community living was at its best in an era when neighbors were always available to help one another. We needed each other and we knew it.
Men in the community would gather to help other men clear the land for cornfields, potato fields or other projects. We called it “a working.”
We also had a beautiful elementary schoolhouse. It was a two-story rock structure with an open mezzanine design. It had a large auditorium in the middle that would seat about 250 people in comfortable folding chairs.
School rooms flanked the auditorium, both upstairs and down. Balconies overlooked the center and led to each classroom, which had large multi-pane windows with mountain views. The balconies also led to a cutout, which extended over the front doors.
From this porch, you could see the water fountain below and adjacent football field.
The stage across the back was adorned by tall burgundy, velveteen curtains. It was not uncommon for children to play on stage while waiting on the busses to return for “second load” riders.
When I was four years old, I caught my first glimpse of our beautiful school. My brother Leonard Moody took me with him one day to get a “snapshot.” My older sister Corena Nelms dressed me up, curled my hair and added bows as the finishing touch.
I had never heard of a “snapshot,” nor seen a camera before. So, I didn’t know what to think of the situation. When I saw the contraption, I wondered if I was going to get “shot” or have a “picture” made!
I’m proud to have been raised in a good community, with Godly parents, in a beautiful area with knowledgeable schoolteachers who recited the Lord’s prayer and taught us the importance of reading devotionals before class each day. We also had good doctors, lawyers and gospel preachers.
I am very blessed by the hand of God to have grown up and – in my golden years – return to “My Graham County Home, my happy mountain home. No other place on earth so dear to me.”
Maeburl Tincher writes a monthly column for The Graham Star. She is a native of the Jack Branch community.