What’s under that rock? Wells, Water, and Rural Resilience in Rockingham County, North Carolina
This is a project about rural life.
Over the following pages, you’ll find stories of rural life and resilience as told by electric pumps, fake rocks, and water bills.
These are rural voices. The following interviews were conducted by Elsewhere Museum Southern Constellations Rural Resident Artist Rimona Law with Rockingham County residents over the course of a week in April, 2018.
And this is a new archive. Perspectives have been excerpted and curated to best represent people and place. For more detailed accounts, visit full audio and image libraries online at goelsewhere.org/rural.
They control you when you buyin’ it from other sources. Now the county has a supply on some of the major roads they got water runnin’ out 220 and them people—I don’ think they have to go on it, but it costs them about $2,000 to hook on to the sewers and water supply. So that’s right much an advantage to having your own well.
Paul D. Knight
It’s just independence. And you know what’s in your water, if you have it tested and you don’t have anybody living right on top of you then you don’t have to worry about it. Years ago, there was a little country store every four or five miles, and they found out back in the eighties that a lot of those tanks leaked gas into the ground, and ruined a lot of wells. My aunt lived over on 65 in Bethany and she didn’t have any drinking water the last 30 years she lived in her house—she had to haul in all her drinking water. So I have some experience with how traumatic that can be.
Paula McColum
Justin Griffin
I prefer our water to bottled water, everything. The water in Greensboro—the city water’s terrible—it tastes like chlorine and fluoride, and where I was livin’ there was a certain time of day you could tell they just injected a fresh batch of chemicals into the water. And even the well water from here, it’s completely different, from, say, up at the Gambles’—flavor, color, everything.
Water should be free. I hate the idea that we have to pay for water—when ain’t nobody makin’ water. But someone gonna own water? And gon’ charge us for it? I have a business and we all gotta be on the same well—but as far as individual people, they have to live off their water. They can’t pay the bill, you gonna cut the water off?
Patricia Pratt
We really didn’t get clean water. Before we had the water softener, if you washed a load of clothes it’d be dirty, you’d get brown spots on them...we usually get our water from our daughter across the street. I do drink it. But not consistent, just to take pills or something, I don’t drink it to drink water...if you pour something in it you’ll see a lot of sediment. Our other well system I loved, but this one...it’s just not that good.
Martha Fields
It’s always a little unnerving to get your water from a well. Cuz you can’t see, where it’s coming from—you can only trust, and hope. When we moved here, 35 years ago, the water was great. It was crystal clear and tasted wonderful, and mostly it tastes—like I can’t taste anything. It’s a whole lot better than city water, even at its worst. We had the water tested for contamination...there was a little bit of coliform bacteria, mere, but very small amounts, and they kind of gave the impression that we shouldn’t worry about it. So we didn’t.
Lou Williams
Delois Watkins
Before we realized it, that the water was bad— we was drinkin’ it... I live here in Rockingham County, but my home, and my roots—I grew up in Pine Hall, which is Stokes County, across from the Duke Power lake. We didn’t know. We didn’t have sense enough to know...some of our ancestors and family, they couldn’t really read that good, so when Duke Power came up in them, own all up in their property, they sold out. Duke Power has given us a fit. At first they denied any claim to messin’ up the water. Now they have admitted it, but they turnin’ around starting chargin’ other people for their mess. They’re the ones that polluted the water. Over half of my family and friends have died out, we havin’ all types of meetins about the water, the coal ash cleanup...we really havin’ a battle.
Contributors Paul D. Knight is retired at 88 years old and was once an insurance salesman and tobacco farmer. His well, in use since 1968, was once inspected and declared the clearest water in the county—though this fact has never been fully confirmed. Paula McColum is the daughter of P.D. Knight and is an outspoken antifracking advocate. The well pictured for her portrait, at her childhood home, was hand-dug before the civil war. A punched well with an electric pump has long since replaced the old well. Justin Griffin likes to hunt and fish and is often found trailed by his dog, Scooter. The well his family uses is shared with another household and he swears by the taste. He prefers even his ice cubes to be made with well water. Patricia “Ms. Pat” Pratt owns Intrigues Salon in downtown Madison, NC. She grew up on well water but now drinks city water and says if she had the choice, she’d much rather drink from a well. Martha Fields formerly worked for IBM and taught for the Rockingham Community College GED program. Though the well she uses sports a mockrock cover, her old well is protected by an upside-down bucket. Lou Williams is an excellent fiddle player and gardener. She is a host of Elsewhere Museum’s Southern Constellations: Rural Residency. Her well water is enjoyed by many visiting artists, builders, cooks, and musicians. Delois Watkins lives in Madison, NC but her family and her heart lay in Pine Hill, NC, of Stokes County. There, she’s witnessed firsthand the horrific damage of the 2014 Duke Energy coal ash spill, along with decades of disintegrating community health, poisoned lakes, rivers, and wells, and property left valueless by water that’s no good for drinking. Delois offered incredible time, care, and generosity to this project. She agreed to share her name and photograph in order to shed light on the change her community desperately needs.
Ian Gamble is an artist, builder, and community organizer. Born and raised in Rockingham County, he founded the project, serving as Host and Facilitator of Elsewhere Museum’s Southern Constellations: Rural Residency.* Jay Gamble is an artist, gardener, and piano technician. Another Southern Constellations host, his time and knowledge of Rockingham County were instrumental to the depth of this project.* John Webster works and the M & M Pawn Shop in downtown Madison, NC. He was born and raised in Rockingham County and has lived on well water his whole life. He believes the most critical issue facing Rockingham is the lack of sustainable jobs.* Joe Fields is the Private Well Technical Assistance Provider for the Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project (SERCAP). He problem-solves technical problems and facilitates communication among government organizations to help well users keep their systems safe and functional. He encourages any well users in Rockingham County seeking financial, advisory, or technical assistance with their wells to contact him. He believes getting well water tested annual is just as important as a yearly doctor’s checkup. He provided essential guidance and generous context to this project.* This project is funded by an award from the North Carolina Arts Council and facilitated by the Reckon Holler Homestead and Elsewhere Museum of downtown Greensboro, NC. Learn more at goelsewhere.org. All interviews were conducted by artist Rimona Law, an artist and community organizer based in Portland, OR. All photographs, designs, and supplementary writing are original to this project. Send any questions or comments to rimonalaw@gmail.com or visit rimonalaw.com. Asterisk denotes contributors not pictured in this publication. These individuals are featured online at goelsewhere.org/rural. Background image depicts Delois Watkins’ hometown of Pine Hill, NC. Smokestacks of Duke Energy’s Belews Creek coal-powered energy plant can be seen on the horizon.