Original Press Release August 29, 1999

The Jones House Community Center, in celebration of Watauga County’s Sesquicentennial, is hosting a "Tea and Old Times" on Sunday, August 29, 1999 at 3:00 pm at the Jones House Community Center.

Special guest speakers, Lucille Wallace, Daisy Adams, Nora Wilson, and Doretha Greene, will be sharing their own memories as well as some "hand-me-down" memories of life in Watauga County in years gone by. What might it have been like to be a woman in this county fifty, one-hundred, or even one-hundred and fifty years ago? How did you feed your family? Where did you get your clothing? How did you deal with sickness? How did you heat your home? Where did you gather with friends and neighbors? How did you get from one place to another?

Daisy Adams is known for her many years of teaching in the county schools, for her community and church work, and for being the wife of Alfred Adams for the last 58 years! She was born an Austin and grew up in the Winkler's Creek area in a family which earned a living from farming and from the family-owned sawmill. Because of the opportunity of Appalachian State Teacher's College right here in town, she and her three sisters all became teachers. She taught in many schools in Watauga County including a one-teacher school in the Howard's Creek area followed by twenty years at Green Valley School.

Doretha Greene grew up on the coast of North Carolina but married a young man from one of the oldest families in the area. He brought her home with him to the family homeplace in Meat Camp where they have lived and raised their five children. She has become a major enthusiast of the history both of her husband's family and of her own on the coast, sharing the heritage with her children and children from the area. The family home, built in 1873, contains many memorabilia from the past, some of which she will be bringing to share with us.

Lucille Wallace was a Mast from the Valle Crucis area. In fact, her uncle Will originated the now-famous Mast General Store. She too taught for thirty-nine years in local schools while her husband worked for the North Carolina Department of Transportation. Lucille, as well as the other ladies, will be dressing in period costumes for Sunday's event.

Nora Wilson, who also traces her roots to the Mast family, was raised by an uncle and aunt. She married in 1931 and enjoyed a fifty-year marriage during which time she devoted herself to caring for her husband and varied other relatives who needed her help. She is known throughout the community for her strong participation in church and community.

These women have lived in this county for all or most of their lives and have gathered not only their own memories but, like us all, have listened to their mothers, grandmothers, and other women they’ve known talk about how life once was here in the mountains of western North Carolina. Over tea and light refreshments we will sit and chat with them and hear them reminisce.

There is no charge for this event. As a community center which is located in one of the oldest homes in Boone and listed on the National Historic Register, we are simply inviting you to come celebrate the history of our county with us. So that we may prepare, we do ask that you call 262-4576 (the Jones House Community Center) and let us know that you are coming, although reservations are certainly not required.