157 pgs. photos. 2003. Upper elementary, middle school, high school. AR 4.0 MG.

Barnwell documents life among the farmers and craftspeople of southern Appalachia. He loves the land, admires its inhabitants, and is genuinely interested in these people and the ordinary, daily events in their lives.

The photographs are grouped into seven categories: the people and the land, tobacco, business and handicrafts, food production, winter, religion, and portraits. A section of oral histories, which are excerpts from conversations Barnwell had with his subjects, follows. These give valuable insights into their lives and supply a heightened context for the pictures. Among the activities captured on film are making molasses, hunting bear, plowing on steep slopes, piecing quilts, making brooms, butchering hogs, and baptisms in cold mountain creeks.

While the demographics of southern Appalachia are changing rapidly, Barnwell continues to honor and archive the lives of those who cling to the old ways and mourn their passing.

Curriculum Applications: 4th & 8th Grade Social Studies

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