Growing up in Kenvir was a valuable and joyful experience. The big tipple, the mines, and the old club house was gone when I was growing up. I just wish I could have seen Kenvir as it appears in the picture. It was hard times in the 50's and 60's with the mines shutting down amd lots of people moving away but for those of us that stayed we have memories that we will treasure the rest of our lives. So share your memories and stories of Kenvir, I'm sure there is lots to tell.

Ok, I'll be the first. Back when I was an itty bitty fellar growing up in Kenvir I loved playing in the creek. We lived next to the creek and myself and my partner in crime Danny Howard was always looking for snakes, crawdads, you name it ;) Plus in the summer if we got too hot we would accidentaly fall in :) There were a small patch of woods on the other side with a small cave on the hillside. We often wondered if Indians ever lived there :-? I was always afraid to go in it because it had some big rocks fall and I was kinda afraid one might fall on me so I stayed out of it. We were at the that stage of life where little boys carry BB guns. Well we each had one and we started shooting at birds one day. Well oh dead eye me hit one and there it lay motionless on the ground. I felt really, really bad :-( So we decided to dig a grave and bury the poor little thing, I think I was almost in tears as we said our prayer over its grave
o:) I never killed another bird with a BB gun. Danny left for Ohio about the age of 9 I guess but I'll always remember our little episodes such as this playing on the creek and in that little patch of woods. To this day when I go home I look over at our old house and remember those old times. What a good time I had growing up beside that creek.

Subject: When my Grandmother swept the Yard and Henrietta the Hen
Name: Doug & Bonnie Howard
Date Posted: Jan 2, 05 - 4:54 PM
Email: busybee10545@yahoo.com
Message: There are two things that always stands out in my mind and it was when My first cousin Lydia and I had pet chickens,We always was bringing home a Cat or Dog,and since back then,people just couldn't afford to get them vacinated and our parents was scared to death of Rabies,so it was awhile there they would not hear of us having a pet,but somehow we would manage to get a Chicken,I think Baker always gave us one,Well Lydia really loved this one little Hen,I think we called her Henrietta,or might been Pricilla,but we had a story book that we read alot by name of Henrietta the Hen,I remember she loved us and we sure loved her,she would ride on our handle bars on our bikes,we have pictures taken of us and her on our bikes,Well back then Meat was a Delicacy,and our Hen was fat and well taken care of and I know the older folks mouth was watering for a Big Fat Hen and Dumplins'They was a watching that Hen for weeks and I thought Oh No they for sure won't kill our Pet,Well Lydia's Mom Vina went out side and wrung its neck,and cooked it and made Dumplins,and they told us it was our Hen,and they was put here to eat and not as pets,We cried but had to accept it,When My Grandmother and Vina set the table and called us all in to eat,We just set and looked at the Chicken and each other,Not one could take the first bite,Vina said Oh well might as well throw it out because nobody could eat it,and so she did,I thought Henrietta died for nothing,and the other memory is I can close my eyes and see Grandma Gertie with her broom sweeping the yard,I would ask her why she swept the yard when it already had dirt on it,but I suppose it was paper and such on it and she was such a clean house keeper,Lydia do you still have these wonderful memories of a time when two little girls shared so much and we was just lik

Remember the days when the train use to come through Kenvir? I remember it coming about once a day and being a kid we always loved to have the engineer wave at us. Of course the 30 tipple was gone in my childhood but the train was still running up to 31 tipple. Me and Danny Howard were always playing on the tracks, not far from Lauries restaurant. One day we thought we'd try to wreck the train being the mischiveous little boys that we were. So we stacked these big gravels on the tracks and even put some glass on it too and waited so the train eventually came and we stood on the restaurant porch and waved and smiled at the engineer as the train went by and wondered why we didn't wreck the train So we gave up on that idea After the flood of 63 wiped all the bridges and a lot of the railroad beds out the train didn't run anymore I guess the railroad figured it wasn't worth their while to fix the tracks so the coal trucks took over. Those were the days my friends, I thought they'd never

I remember once when we were visiting at my my grandpa and grandma Daugherty,they lived to the right just as you crossed the bridge to #1 camp.anyway my brother Tommy about 6 at the time and me about 8 at he time,went down to the creek to hunt crawdads so we could have when we went fishing.now me I would just lift up the rocks and Tommy would grab the grawdads.all was going really well until,our younger brother age 4 decided to follow us into the water.mom had told him he couldn't go in the water but,you know how kids are.lol.well anyway his foot slipped on a rock and he started screming and saying a snake bit him.all me and Tom saw was a black stick that was hung on some rocks.mom came running to the creek and grabed him up and ofcoure yelled at me and Tom because we were older and you know how thats goes if you are older and something happens.at least we didn't get our fannies slapped.I don't think they took him to the doctor but,he was bleeding pretty well. he still has the scars on his leg.it is two small scars close together.he still to this day says it was a snakebut,like I say all we saw was a forked like stick.as a matter of fact,at thanksgiving this year he was here visiting and just had to pull up his pants leg to show me his scars and said,look were you and Tom let me get snake bit.my brother Tom,bless his heart has since passed away and,now I only have myself to defend the fact that I still say it was a stick and my brother Howard still says snake.but,no matter what we always had fun and I wouldn't change anything for all the love and fun we had growing up.I am very proud to have been born in Harlan county,Kentucky. :)

Love the idea of a journal for Kenvir Memories. I grew up in Ponding Mill and Kenvir. I have wonderful memories and still get homesick. To have grown up there with the wonderful people surrounding us something so unique and special. I wish my children had these experiences for memories.

Swimming in the creek in Pounding Mill during the hot months, and sweeping the rock bottom so it was pretty and clean. Going home to my grandma's biscuits and corn bread and hearing her stories of the good old days. We were living the good old days then and didn't know it. Just watched the movie Harlan County War, boy did that bring bac memories.

I hope a lot of people will share their memories of this magnificent place and the wonderful people that lived there.

My grandpa Charlie Neff and my grandma Peggy will always be alive in my heart. I look for others who may remember them and anyone who may have known my father Bill Allen and anything about him or his father Sid Allen.

Linda Allen
Adaneff@aol.com

i'm trying to get some old stories and pictures for dear old dad's 60th b-day. if anyone has some i would love them..

thank you

(two choc pies)
when I lived in kenvir. lived next door to the Baileys.lived in camp 1 house 19. my father and Roy Bailey were big fishing buddies.and some times my whole family would go camping at one of the big rivers.once when we went mr Bailey went mrs Bailey made two beauitful scratch choc pies. when we were siting up camp. I got to carry the pies down the bank to camp from the car. I was 9 or 10 years old. but fell and busted the pies to peices.boy was my dad mad cause he loved choc pie.he yelled at me along time said I was not careful.but Mr Bailey made me feel better he said it was ok.I always thought some day I would bake mr Bailey some pies and give back.but time gets away from us.but i will never for get the pies.this one of my favorites of things of kenvir. Mary Crick

One more of my favroits of kenvir folks.
My grand parents lived next row to our house 19. in camp #1.I belive we were 3rd row of houses from burning slate pile so their row was #4,about 5th house from creek and road side,my grand mother had two milk cows tied to fench of the yard and very close to our duplex toilets. know most who lived there knows what that is,and I don't know how the coal company let her get away with it but she did, she sold milk and butter, I helped her milk and churn butter,she was going to give me a calf, but my dad said no,that was no place to have a calf,but could not understand that when my grand mother had two.my grand father retired.they took cows and moved in private house on the creek by the bridge.their names were Annie and Byrd Daughtery.

Well I was born in Black Mt.Ky.called Kenvir by most from what I understand.I was born in camp#1 house #45 if I believe it was.We moved to camp#31 at mines #31 that I use to know as Kenvir.I get so mixed up when I get into some of these sites.I LOVE my home Ky.My Father&Mother were Herbert & Goldie Wagers maybe someone out their can remember.Mommy use to play ball and tag with us in the ally and I think every kid in the camp was their.If anyone may remember me or my family write me back.I new a Sue Laws,Sue Rains,George Marllow,Bonnie Childers,would love to hear from someone.;);)

Hi, my name is Bobby Sumner, I remember Herbert & Goldie real well. I don't remember the house number but they lived in the last house in the row, against the hill. I lived in the house straight across the back alley from them. It was also the last house in the row against the hill, it was #64. My front alley is the road going up to poker knob. Me and my brother Ralph played with Paul and Roy about every day, we were about the same age. You may remember my sisters- Frances, Thrishie, and Ruby, or my parents Josh & Maude Sumner.
Bobby Sumner

Our grandpa Daugherty gave all us kids nick names when we were young,so I thought I would share them with y'all.my oldest sister Mary,he called "Dude",my second sister we named "whildcat",and beleive me she lived up to the name,my oldest brother Clyde Jr.he called "Jaybird"the next brother Johnny,he called "Grand Pappy Spears"to this day,a lot of people still call him "Pappy"my next brother Willie,he called "Shadrack"next is me,he called me "Willie"for whatever reason,I don't know.as I got older,he changed and started calling me "Little Dude"I said grandpa how come you are calling me that for?,he said that I got to looking more like my oldest sister Mary that he wanted to call me "Little Dude",so I said ok.my next brother Tommy he called "Runt"I guess because he was so small when he was born.my youngest brother Howard he called "Buckle"once when we were living in Whitley County,Kentucky grandpa came to visit from kenvir and brought two hogs so he and dad to slaughter,he nick named everything,so we ask him what was the hogs name,he said "Runt" and "Buckle",this make my little brother Howard cry,but it made me laugh.my grandpa Daughety was a funny fellow sometimes.when we would travel and see horses,he would say "look at the cows",us younger kids would say grandpa those are horses,he would just laugh.this would happen with every aminal we saw.as we got older we relized he just did this to us so we would argrue with him.my dad,he called "Booty"he didn't have a nick name for my mom,guess he must have been afraid of her.LOL
Jean Daugherty Ginn

What I loved the most living in Harlan was that you knew each other.You never met a stranger.Some of your neighbors felt like family.If you needed help or something happen they was there.Taking long walks in the mountains on a hot summer day.Sitting out on the front porch on a warm summer night with friends and family.Things are slowed down relaxing there.People takes time to live.

I would like to let you no of one time me and kenneth was ask to burry a big dog.we had a dog get gone fore probly for about aweek and we found it and my dad Brown told me to go burry it and kenny help me and while we was doing that little chore after we got the grave dug I wretch over grab the dog by the tail and the tail of that dog came off.yep thats right it came off and me an kenny both got sick over that one but to this day we both still remembers that

Part 1
At the early age of 5 my father passed away due to injuries from a tragic automobile accident. The wake for his body was held at my grandparents house Jim and Wille Lockhart in Evarts where they lived at the time. After the funeral and burial for some reason I started living with them most the time. They moved to Kenvir or Black Mountain as it is called by the locals to a house that sat on a hill overlooking the coal camps. I remember sitting in my grandmothers lap as she sat in a rocking chair reading the bible to me and looking at a hole in the floor as she read. The house only had electricity, no running water or plumbing except for a drain that ran from the sink. There was a water pump outside where we carried our water from. They had a big bucket they'd fill up and sit it beside the sink and hung a dipper on the side, this was our drinking water. Of course if you took a bath you jumped in a number 3 wash tub after you filled it with gallons of hot water. My mother bought a nice house after my fathers passing that had all the nice things you'd expect a house to have. Electric, plumbing, running hot water and a modern bathroom. Mom remarried and the family was still growing so I guess because of this I still stayed with my grandparents a lot, it was more peaceful there. I loved the place on the hill because you could look out the back and see the camp below and out front was a big field with a dirt lane down the middle of it where Papaw put his garden. One spring I recall he got an old mule from someone and hitched it to a plow. I watched in amazement as he had the reigns around his neck and reigns in one hand plowing the fields with this mule. I thought to myself "boy that looks like hard work". They always had a nice garden and did a lot of canning every fall. We also had chickens so we always had plenty of vegetables, eggs and once in awhile a chicken to eat.

Part 2
Papaw worked in the mines so he didn't make a lot of money, just enough to pay the bills and put a little meat on the table. I would always ask him to tie my shoes and one day he said "look boy I'm going to show you how" so he grabbed the laces and crossed them and wrapped one under the other, made a loop, took the other lace and wrapped it around the loop, pulled the other lace through made another loop and pulled them tight. So after I tried it a couple times I did it ! To this day I tie my shoes the same way. It was at this place I learned to ride a bike, my cousin Ronnie who also lived with us had a small bike. One day he says "I'm going to learn you how to ride that bike" Ron is 4 years older than me. He put me on the bike and he says" I'm going to push you real fast down the road,( the dirt road between the fields ), and I'm gonna let go" I was scared to death but I wanted to learn how to ride that bike. Off we went, I don't know if it was the fear of dying or what but I didn't fall and after a couple more times I was riding like an old pro.
My Grandmaw and Papaw Dixon lived in number one camp so I'd visit them a lot to. Number one camp at the time had several hog pens. I remember two that sat beside the road. One belonged to Shorty Burns. I remember one cold day we heard he was going to slaughter one so being the curious kid that I was I had to watch this. Shorty had a big fire going with a big wash tub filled with boiling water over it. We all were gathered at the hog pen and shorty put a 22 rifle to the hogs head and shot it right between the eyes. After that I think I walked over to Grandmaw Dixons for a little while but came back out later to check on progress with the hog. He had it in this big tub of hot water and what he did after that I don't know, I'd seen enough.
Papaw and Grandmaw Lockhart moved from the house on the hill after living there several years and moved to a house right below it.

Part 3
It did have plumbing but no bathroom which very few of those camp houses had bathrooms in those days. I think the only houses then that had indoor bathrooms were the mining officials houses. In the winter time if you had to go potty Grandma always had the slop jar as we called it that sat near the kitchen cook stove. If it was really necessary you put your winter coat on and ran out to the outhouse. After living in this house a couple years they moved to number two camp, the house they just moved from had no place for a garden and Papaw had to have his garden. The new house had a nice open space in front and nice field out back that led to the creek so here he had plenty of room for a garden. Someone had built a bathroom on it but the only thing it had was the sink. After living there a couple years a couple uncles came in from Ohio and they took Papaws tiller ( he didn't have to use the mule anymore ) and dug a big dip hole behind the bathroom for a cesspool and lined it with brick. I got to be the lucky one to carry the brick. After the cesspool was complete they put a toilet in, so now we had a toilet and a sink in the bathroom but still used the number 3 wash tub to take a bath in. After a couple years though they did get an old claw foot bath tub and my uncles and Papaw hooked it up so now we had all the modern necessities. In June 1969 Papaw passed away and I graduated from high school. I was of draft age and knew I was going so I joined the army. I had a cousin that come down from Ohio to stay with Grandmaw until she passed away in 1983. I loved my grandparents and miss them dearly. I could never believe that when I was growing up that one day they would leave this earth. They were plain old fashion people that came to Ky from Tennessee and like most men Papaw made his living in the mines. I will always cherish the memories of growing up with them.

I got to tell you this! It was a hot summer day when my best friend and I walked up on the ridge behind Petra's grocery. At that time, someone was taking "Red Dog" from the slate hill over looking my house. (My house was directly across the Black Mountain Church) We thought it was fun to throw rocks at the slate. We walked to his grandmothers house to get a drink. As I sit at her kitchen table she told me to watch out for them "Wild Mountain Women". If one was to approach me, take her to the creek, pull your shoes off and start lifting rocks and look for Crawldads and try to catch "minners". If she pulls her shoes off and starts doing the same, Keep Her!!! If she don't help, run her off!!! Several years later, I was with an old girlfriend when we walked down to the creek. I pulled my shoes off and in I went... Next, I noticed she pulled her shoes off, rolled her britches legs up and in she went... SCARED ME so bad that I ran off!!!