The following are some notes taken from a recent conversation with Vernon (my notes are in bold):
During WWII, Vernon and his sister Juanita Pack pulled spikes from the abandoned, narrow gauge railroad for the war effort. "Uncle Andy built a wagon made from an old automobile. They loaded it with rubber-tires, and scrape metal. I remember hauling it to the Jumping Branch Post Office. Of course, we weren't paid- you volunteered for it."
"The railroad followed the bank below the road, passed the Old Mill, then up the road passed Andy Pack's [his uncle] grist mill. His mill was for his own personal use,a means to charge his own, home built batteries for power."
On the school house (I have an earlier post on its location):
"It had several teachers while I was there: Bum Pack, Basil Atkins, Beulah Tolliver, and Audrey Lilly [during the time he attended, late 30s-early 40's]. The school had 30-40 kids at any given time."
His memories of the Old Mill:
" Alex Pack was the third owner of the mill, after Sam Pack, who inherited from his father John R. Pack"
"I would stand in the doorway and watch the corn be ground, and then come down the shoot. To this day I love the smell of freshly ground corn."
Memories of town meeting:
"In the early days of the war, a group of men came from Charleston to speak about the Worker's Alliance of America. I can remember about 70+ people were in attendance."
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