DEARLY DISCARDED A Love Song Cheyenne Nolan
will the circle be unbroken?
T
he foothills are low and swooping and roll like thunder across the eastern coal fields.
these hills are ancient mountains once as tall as the rockies worn like fingernails digging through the clay and loam. the mountains in the west are newer rugged and gray; they are striking, but the gentle mountains of green pine and blue mist settle in the heart in a different way. they wake and stretch their limbs across the east; fingertips brushing newfoundland and toes dipping into alabama. at its navel is kentucky.
»» John Simpson, Sr. »» Born 1762 in Fermanagh Co, Ireland. »» Died 21 May 1841 at age 79 »» Interred in Cornetts Chapel Cemetery »» John arrived in America “about the time the tea fuss began.” He landed with his family in DE and then moved to PA until just before the Revolution. In NC, he enlisted in the US Army in 1780 and served a total of 17 months. After the declaration of peace, he moved to Green Co, TN and then Clay Co, KY in an area which later became Laurel Co, then Jackson Co. He supposedly left his first wife because “she poisoned his best horse.”
T
he layers of rock that formed the hills & hollers slipped under one another, caressing and folding over themselves until they began to marble like agate. long ago before they came together they were the shore of a great sea. my father, sister, and i would walk along our long gravel driveway and d i g through the sediment of the tall tall hill we lived on and scrabble stone brachiopods and crinoids out of the earth. the little ones were placed upon the shelf or mantle, and the large ones greeted you from the steps of our front door. the summers where rain was seldom and the layers of sandstone didn’t wash away as frequently i would bury my plastic dinosaurs in the yard and excavate their fossils the next day.
»» Levi P Johnston »» Born 5 Sep 1863 in Jackson Co, KY »» Died 30 Aug 1898 at age 34 »» Interred in Casteel/Johnson Cemetery »» Levi was a County Judge of Jackson Co. He returned home with a friend and, not finding his wife there, grabbed his rifle and began to pursue her. He found her as she returned from her mother’s home a short distance away, shot and killed her, and then turned the gun upon himself.
M
y favorite color is the pale blue of sky peppered with clouds especially the lighter shades on the horizon only visible when you climb to the top of a hill. but deep green is home. even when autumn lovingly drapes a gold and ruby quilt across the hills’ shoulders some of the patchwork stays ever green. even when winter’s bare hands r e a c h up through the dirt with white diamonds ringed around her fingers some of them are adorned with emeralds instead. we’ve had ice storms that glove the branches in crystal, where trunks of trees and electrical poles sp-li-t under the weight. even through whiteouts and blackouts, green was home.
»» Lizzie Morgan »» Born 6 Mar 1891 »» Died 8 Jun 1948 at age 57 »» Interred in Greenhill Cemetery »» Lizzie’s grave is inscribed with “HERE I LAY MY BURDEN DOWN / CHANGE A CROSS INTO A CROWN.” Her cause of death is listed as “metastatic carcinoma of lungs due to carcinoma of breast.”
T
here was a time when i hated the twang of a banjo and the untrained d r o n e of bluegrass singing.
it is not a sound meant for everyone to enjoy. it took me years before i heard the beauty in the notes of a hymn to the mountains. it took even longer to hear the murmur of the creek and the whisper of the pines between those notes. it took even longer to hear the slight lilting accent of the mountains roll off my own tongue.
»» Eliza Minter, nee Carmack »» Born 8 Aug 1851 in TN »» Died 24 Sep 1907 at age 56 »» Interred in Minter Cemetery »» Eliza died of consumption. Her obituary in the Berea Citizen reads, “she was an excellent woman, a devoted Christian, having been a member of the Methodist Church many years, and loved by all who knew her... she had lived a life so pure that she had no fear to walk through the valley and shadow of death.”
T
he hollers are cauldrons where cast-off ingredients roll down the sides of the bowl and swirl lazily together.
it is a culture of coming together: united we stand divided we fall. jackson county was founded sixty-six years after the commonwealth was. it is a quilt of land gifted to us by counties clay estill laurel madison owsley and rockcastle. myths from the ancient mountains themselves mixed with those from the highlands moors savannahs and black forests of the old world. appalachia is rich with folklore passed down by mouth forgotten only because it was never written down.
»» Armina Rader, nee Bowling »» Born 17 Nov 1866 in Jackson Co, KY »» Died 29 Aug 1898 at age 31 »» Interred in Walnut Hill Cemetery »» Her first husband, Dr. John Rader, was shot and killed by Tom Smith likely in a string of killings in what is known as the Breathitt Co. Wars. When Tom Smith was publicly hanged, Armina held her three small children above the crowd so they could see the man who murdered their father. Her second husband was Levi P Johnston, who killed her and then himself in a fit of rage.
The mountains are a place of weird and wonder. their dips and peaks provide hiding places for the mysterious. tales of granny witches black panthers haints and devils wind through the g a p s between the hills. some legends are s p r e a d across the region, while others are familial. they are the result of both cultural superstition and tales to keep moonshine stills undiscovered.
»» Thurman Dunigan »» Born 23 Nov 1899 in Jackson Co, KY »» Died 8 Apr 1918 at age 18 »» Interred in Dunigan Cemetery »» Thurman traveled to Ohio and enlisted in the army. He served only 1 month when he caught pneumonia, then lived only 5 days. His brother was with him when he died; the last word he spoke were that he did not feel sick, and wanted to go back to his company, as he did not want to miss the roll call.
M
y papaw told me that, when he was a child, he watched something huge and white and woolly l e a p from the ground straight up onto the roof of the old barn that stood on the corner of ky-30 and blackwater road. my mother said she saw something similar; as has my little sister. whether the wild and wonderful exists or not, there’s a certain heaviness in the air of the forests.
»» Perry Welch »» Born 14 Aug 1865 »» Died 5 Aug 1932 at age 67 »» Interred in Medlock Cemetery »» Perry was a free mason. His grave is inscribed, “remember dear friends as you pass by / as you are now, so once was I / as I am now you are sure to be / prepare yourself to meet me.”
»» Pryce Venable »» Born 13 Apr 1919 in Jackson Co, KY »» Died 3 Jan 2002 at age 82 »» Interred in the Venable Family Cemetery »» Pryce was a WWII U.S. Army Veteran. He was widely regarded as a master musician, and built ten custom banjos during his lifetime. They are considered to be prized possessions. He is buried alongside his wife Ada, and their grave is inscribed with the notes and lyrics of “Unclouded Day,” a traditional gospel song. “Oh, they tell me of an unclouded day.”
O
ne spring, i traced my family tree to its rural roots. but it’s always been rural, from the roots to the branches to the leaves. even so, we know very little: but, etymology of our surnames means our ancestors crossed the atlantic from ireland, scotland, england. my father told me over the phone that we don’t know much about them because “they were buried so deep in the hollers nobody could get to them.” that voicemail plays in my head on repeat.
Photographs and prose poetry by Cheyenne Nolan.
Captions collected from
FindAGrave.com database
of Jackson County cemeteries. Photographs taken in
Jackson County, Kentucky using a Minolta XE-7 and
Kodak Portra 400 ISO 35mm film. Minimally edited.
Special thanks to Luke Shepherd during this part of the process. Created under the direction of Professor Meena Khalili,
The University of Louisville, Hite Art Insititute,
ART 574 – The Bookform. Fall 2017.
Body set in Bookmania 9/13.
Captions set in Inconsolata 7/11. Printed on Neenah Moonrock 70T. Saddlestitch binding. Handmade with love in Louisville, KY.