Appalachian History

She had enough faith in the nurses, that if she had the nurses she’d have a live baby

Betty Lester, of Hyden, KY, served as a practicing nurse midwife at the Frontier Nursing Service, Wendover, KY, beginning in 1928.

Sometimes the laying out was performed by family members. More typically it was done by neighbors who came to a home for the death watch.

The county had no poor farm those days; county officials let paupers out to live at homes of whoever of responsibility made the lowest bid.

Westmoreland’s bankruptcy could still be felt in Southwest Virginia by now-retired miners, but it is unclear what the future holds.

It ought to be clear that poverty in the mountains of North Carolina is actually and relatively less than elsewhere in the state.