Tom Shipley is an antique dealer operating out of his family's 19th-century Sharp's Country Store in Slatyfork, West Virginia. Descending from one of the county's earliest pioneer families, we hear of the lives of Tom's ancestors & their many rich folkways: a Presbyterian boy orphaned by an Indian raid; beekeeping in "bee gums;" a bear trap; furs & ginseng; maple syrup camp; and making apple butter. Then Tom gets into the origin of the 1884 store, describing the wares of its day. A plethora of stories are evoked from the eccentric taxidermy still hanging from the walls including one about a visit from the American Museum of Natural History. Towards the end, for his formal story, we get into the realm of the southern gothic, with tales about an orphan of the flu pandemic followed by visions surrounding the dead & near-dead. This episode, like the country store itself, is a true time capsule of Appalachian life.

Check out Sharp's Country Store for more information.

Excerpts read from Tales of Pocahontas County by G.D. McNeill

Archival recordings from Tom's private family collection.

Music provided by the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

"Barbara Allen"
Henry Reed Collection (AFC 1999/016)
Collected by Alan Jabbour
Performed by Henry Reed

"Farewell My Dear Brother"
Henry Reed Collection (AFC 1999/016)
Collected by Alan Jabbour
Performed by Henry & Gene Reed

"John Brown's a-Hanging on a Sour Apple Tree"
Henry Reed Collection (AFC 1999/016)
Collected by Alan Jabbour
Performed by Henry Reed

"Fare Thee Well My Dear Brother"
Henry Reed Collection (AFC 1999/016)
Collected by Alan Jabbour
Performed by Henry Reed

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