The Mountain Laurel

The Mountain Laurel was a monthly small-town newspaper published in Meadows of Dan, Virginia, that focused on current events and past traditions of mountain culture in Patrick, Floyd, and Carroll Counties. The title Mountain Laurel was intentional, as “Laurel” means honor and distinction, a description reflecting the people and place of the Appalachian Mountains. This paper was personable, with contributors that spoke to the audience. “We are not writers or publishers,” it explained, “but simply people who wish to describe the beauty, character, honor, humor, and charm of the people and place we appreciate and enjoy so much.” The Mountain Laurel contained columns on mountain life, workmanship, advertisements for cabin and cottage building kits, recipes, poetry, music, local business shout-outs, almanac-style calendars and even data charts on fishing. It was an all-encompassing product of the valley, and the people who contributed to it.

Every issue of the Mountain Laurel included a section titled “Mountain Memories” dedicated to oral histories of mountain people. One elder, Mr. Matt Burnette, described his experience hauling chestnuts to Stuart to be put on the Dick n’ Willie rail. American Chestnuts went extinct in the early 20th century, but through Burnette’s story, the importance of the chestnut was imparted to the modern reader, as was the significance of railroads that no longer exist.

In another “Mountain Memory,” a man and his friend, George, ventured from North Carolina to Fairystone, Virginia, to pick up alcohol. When they arrived, a bootlegger called Mr. Burk offered George a jar of moonshine. He drank it and immediately began coughing, which went on for about ten or so minutes until he finally came to. Mr. Burk offered George another drink which he promptly refused. “I believe he kept a special jar for people like George,” explained the writer, “Something little better than poison to be administered only when there was a need, either to start a fire or teach a city slicker a lesson about pretenses and mountain people.”

In the Mountain Laurel’s first issue, there was a column dedicated to the humble chicken titled “Chicken Day USA.” In this article, the writer illustrated the life mission of a chicken and its place in the world. Chickens were described as brave, hard workers, used by American farmers as a means of production while not being appreciated for their contribution. The writer argued, “Why not the chicken for our national bird – a bird of peace, not war?”

These opinion pieces are a particularly endearing segment of the paper and there is an earnestness in the mountain humor represented through these writings. Mountain Laurel is unique in its goal of preserving a backwoods past. It presented an image of mountain people and culture with gentleness and love that did not cling to a sense of national pride but instead celebrated the social connection that grew through labor in areas often forgotten. It celebrated the picturesque towns nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains from the perspective of those who lived and toiled in the region.

This ideal of a homeplace was also introduced in the Mountain Laurel through its “Backroads” section. Each month the editor would choose a backroad to write about, one that held stories about the families who spent their days traveling those roads. Backroads were the original roads, never paved, that led isolated communities to each other.

Usually, the “Backroads” section began with an explanation about the significance of the roads and the people that took them. It asked the reader, “Why take backroads rather than the main roads?” Backroads have twists and turns and visual icons that locals are familiar with and use when giving directions to out-of-towners. The “Backroads” section provided detailed directions so readers could find and experience each issue’s highlighted backroad. There was so much love in the descriptions of the backroads, of the hills and abandoned tobacco barns, the creeks shared between fish and cows, in a path that locals knew like the backs of their hands. Having all of this captured in a community newspaper is a blessing.

Throughout the years of its publication, the Mountain Laurel started to introduce supplemental collections to its readers. This included booklets of all the “Mountain Memories” sections from its first year, excerpts from its “Backroads” sections bound into one travel guide for visitors, a collection called Mountain Recipes outlining recipes in the paper, even VHS tapes produced by the editors that provided a spoken historical narrative of the area and revealed special locations significant to each backroads journey. Most of these materials have been collected on the Mountain Laurel website and can also be found on eBay or in old bookstores in Southwest Virginia and beyond. You can find a digitized collection of the Mountain Laurel on Virginia Chronicle.