Communities, Welcome to Claiborne County, Tennessee
“No one could know all the damage that’s been done.” – Roxie Sells, grandmother and member of Save Our Cumberland Mountains
Friday, October 19th, 2007
A remembrance by Roxie Sells, a Tennessee grandmother and member of Save Our Cumberland Mountains.
Don’t ever let anyone tell you that land that has been strip mined can ever be reclaimed to anything like it was before.
We had never heard of strip mining before 1948 or 1949 when they started working not far from our home in northwest Claiborne County, Tennessee. We thought they had found a rich pocket of coal and when they got it they would leave. Never did we dream that 57 or 58 years later they would still be there ripping and tearing up what used to be such a beautiful place.
No one who was not blessed to be born and live there for 25 years could know all the damage that’s been done. But many people must remember when in the early spring of 1955, a sludge pond broke loose and did so much damage. I cannot remember exactly how many homes were lost, but three I remember well. One was a log house that looked like nothing could move it – but that flood did. The mother barely made it to a hill with her children. The older child of another family ran to a hill and watched as his home, his mother, and two little sisters were washed away.
Story contributed by Save Our Cumberland Mountains. Photo first published in the Appalachian Voice, provided courtesy of Southwings
