couple stands on snow pile, which is up to their roof

‘Snow so heavy we’d be without electricity for weeks’

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Hemlock, WV was once a booming town that boasted two school houses, a post office and a general store. Today, only a few homes and the Mt. Olive United Methodist Church remain.

According to Hemlock area resident Stacy Hinkle, the rough winter weather may have been why many Hemlock natives moved away. “It was pretty rough going with the snow and the higher elevation,” she said, noting that some moved far away and others went just over the mountain to Tallmansville.

“We didn’t have electricity at first,” says neighbor Lillian Wilke, who grew up in nearby Queens. “But even when we did get it the snow would be so heavy in the winter we would be without electricity for weeks.”

Heavy snow down a farm path in Hemlock, WV.

Wilke said a few lucky people had radios to entertain themselves through the long winter months. As a child, she remembers how every fall her grandfather would go and buy a keg full of salt fish that the family could eat throughout the winter. Salt fish consisted of cleaned fish soaked in a salt brine and stored in wooden barrels.

Despite the uncertainty of electricity and the rough winter weather, Hemlock area residents were no strangers to socialization.

Wilke remembers when the town would hold Box Socials in which girls would decorate a box and fill it with candies and cookies; whoever bought the box got to eat the goodies with the girl.

http://theintermountain.com/communities/hemlock.asp

More articles on dealing with heavy winter weather:

Thanksgiving 1950. The snowstorm of the century.(Opens in a new browser tab)

They would put up a quilt(Opens in a new browser tab)

4 comments

  1. Dave

    During my search I have come across your Hemlock history of a booming general store and Post Office. My grandparents owned and lived in the home behind the store during the 80s & 90s. they were Murl and Lydia Tenney. Their move was from only a mile or so away. (old Tenney homestead past the Carpenter school) I recall mention of the available indoor plumbing being a big motive deciding to move. Also, for some strange reason they must of thought that they wouldnt be as snowed in!! The store was eventually torn down. I have been told That the previous owners were Nuzum Garlow, and first originally owned by Eli Zickefoose. Would you happen to have any information on this once thriving business. Also wondering what the story is of this beautiful winter picture. Thank You Dave for any information you may have.

    Connie Mantz
    Medina OH

  2. Nuzum Garlow was not the owner of the store. My grandfather owned the store and was the postmaster. His name was Clare Edwin Garlow, called C.E. by many people. His wife, my grandmother, was Montie Pearl Zickefoose Garlow, and her parents were Eli and Nettie Leigh Zicefoose. My grandparents sold the store and house to Denley Carpenter in 1971, who later sold it to Murl and Lydia.

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