A cool, misty, rainy day on the Blue Ridge of North Carolina…a sturdy log cabin for shelter…a warm fire in the fireplace. There’s a garden out back, planted with the seeds we saved from last year. There is a springhouse down below with milk from the cow fresh this very morning. The cow and her calf are in the pen out by the barn. Chickens and pigs or turning and scratching the fall garden plot. there is fresh butter being churned by the door. Momma is working on grannies loom, cloth for new clothes for the comin’ winter. The dogs are resting under the porch awaiting the next hunting trip into the woods up the hollow…Life is hard here on the Blue Ridge but really…what more could a family ask for?
Life on the Blue Ridge had its blessings even at the end of the 19th century when Martin and Caroline raised their children here. The cabin Martin built stands still in the little hollow off the Blue Ridge Parkway. The view of the rolling piedmont below and the cool summers must have been one of the things that kept the Brinegars on the Blue Ridge for their life together.
The little cluster of log buildings aren’t very imposing but they were home to Martin and Caroline for going on 50 years. Good years and bad, these buildings have weathered everything nature and man have thrown there way. Inside the cabin stands the loom Caroline inherited from her mother…The loom she used to make the cloth that clothed her family. The cloth that made the blankets that kept out the cold on those winter nights when the icicles would reach the ground from the eaves.
The 1900 census records show that Martin and Caroline raised three children in this cabin. First born was Alice, then Sarah in June of 1881. A son John W. was born in September of 1888. The spacing tends to leave one to suspect other babies were lost to the hardness of the times.
The 1920 census finds Martin and Caroline still in the cabin on the Blue Ridge with their grandson Verl (see comment below) at 7 keeping them company. It would not be hard to visualize the young grandson playing on the porch in the photo below. By mid decade Martin will be laid to rest in the little cemetery on a knoll above what is now the Blue Ridge Parkway. Caroline will continue to live in the cabin until the government purchases it for the new park. Not long after, she will again rest beside Martin.
The next time you are cruising the Blue Ridge Parkway and pass the sign for the Brinegar Cabin pull in and spend some time thinking about what it was like to be living on the mountain shortly after the Civil War…
Update May 2012:
Over the years since this post was first published I have been contacted by a number of Brinegar descendants. The latest to contact me, Miriam Sexton, sent along a photo of Verl Brinegar with his wife and in-laws….
In this photo, Verl Brinegar is on the far right. Beside him, to his left, is his wife, Delia Sexton. They stayed married their whole lives and had one baby, who died soon after birth, in 1949. Next to Verl and Delia are Delia’s parents, Cora Sturgill Sexton and John Robert Sexton (my grandparents). When Verl and Delia married, they lived in their own home briefly, then Delia decided that they should live with her folks. They spent the rest of their lives living in my grandparents’ home. Verl worked for the railroad company in Galax, VA. Everyone in this photo, as well as their baby who died, are buried in the New Haven Cemetery by the New Haven Church of the Brethren in Sparta.
via email from Miriam Sexton
You might be interested in these posts:
Thank you for this post! I am a direct descendent of Ms. Brinegar’s sister and would love to take a trip up to visit the cabin.
My Mother is a Brinegar. I live in Charlotte NC and just took her up to visit the cabin this weekend. She is from Midland Md. We will be attending the Brinegar days reunion this Aug. and look foreward to meeting up with some long lost “Kin”
I WOULD LIKE TO GET MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE BRINEGAR DAYS REUNION IN AUGUST SO THAT I MIGHT ATTEND. THANK YOU.
Earl I managed to track down this information:
My uncle was Verl Brinegar, who grew up in the cabin, raised by his grandparents after his mother died when he was very young. So it’s “Verl” not “Bearl” (the handwriting in old records is often difficult to read). It made me homesick just looking at your lovely photographs of the cabin. I have photos of Verl if you want to include one, and my sister has a professionally taken photo of Verl’s mother. Verl always felt that his grandparents did not receive adequate compensation when the Parkway took the cabin, but looking back now, I am so grateful that they did. The cabin has been preserved for future generations to enjoy!
Hi Mimi, thanks for the info. I’ll update the post.
I’m glad you like the photo’s. Here is another shot from a fall trip…Brinegar In Fall.
I would be happy to post a photo of your uncle here. You can email it to me at gary.boyd@appalachianmountaindreams.com.
Lovely photo of Brinegar Cabin in the fall! I will go through my photos and find the best one to email you.