Aug. 11, 2025

Now With Less Catholic: The Walker Sisters

Now With Less Catholic: The Walker Sisters

Hidden in the mist-shrouded valleys of Tennessee's Little Greenbrier cove, six remarkable women defied the march of progress for nearly half a century. The Walker Sisters—Margaret, Martha, Mary Polly, Nancy, Louisa, and Hedy—lived entirely self-sufficiently on their family homestead while the world around them transformed through two World Wars and the dawn of modern America. When the U.S. government began purchasing land in the 1920s to create Great Smoky Mountains National Park, these six ...

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Hidden in the mist-shrouded valleys of Tennessee's Little Greenbrier cove, six remarkable women defied the march of progress for nearly half a century. The Walker Sisters—Margaret, Martha, Mary Polly, Nancy, Louisa, and Hedy—lived entirely self-sufficiently on their family homestead while the world around them transformed through two World Wars and the dawn of modern America.

When the U.S. government began purchasing land in the 1920s to create Great Smoky Mountains National Park, these six unmarried sisters stood their ground against progress. Unlike the hundreds of families who sold their properties and relocated, the Walkers refused to abandon the only home they'd ever known. Their 122-acre farm, where they grew food, raised livestock, spun wool, and made medicine from mountain herbs, represented a way of life already vanishing from American memory.

After years of resistance, they finally compromised in 1941, selling their land but securing lifetime rights to remain in their tulip poplar log cabin. National fame arrived unexpectedly in 1946 when the Saturday Evening Post published "Time Stood Still in the Smokies," transforming these mountain women into reluctant celebrities. Visitors flocked to see their spinning wheels, handwoven cloth, and apple orchards—living relics from another century who ground corn in hand-cranked mills and heated their home with wood they chopped themselves.

One by one, time claimed the sisters—Hedy in 1947, Martha in 1951, Margaret in 1962, and finally Louisa in 1964. Today, their preserved homestead stands as a testament to independence, self-sufficiency, and the power of sisterhood. Hike the mile-long trail to their cabin and discover a story of extraordinary women who lived by their father's simple philosophy: "If God gave you two hands and a good spring house, you don't need anything else."

National Park Service – Great Smoky Mountains National Park: The Walker Sistersnps.govnps.gov
National Park Service – Historic Structure Report on the Walker Sisters Home (1969)nps.govnps.gov
Walker Sisters Place (Wikipedia)en.wikipedia.orgen.wikipedia.org


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00:00 - Introduction and Personal Updates

10:22 - Colorado Beer and Wedding Stories

20:41 - Walker Sisters and Family History

36:17 - Sisters' Self-Sufficient Lifestyle

43:10 - National Park Creation and Resistance

50:25 - Fame in Saturday Evening Post

57:09 - Final Years and Legacy

WEBVTT

00:00:16.132 --> 00:00:17.855
oh, hey there, oh hey there.

00:00:17.855 --> 00:00:19.216
How are you?

00:00:19.495 --> 00:00:19.835
I'm good.

00:00:19.835 --> 00:00:20.317
How are you?

00:00:20.457 --> 00:00:44.194
I'm good, I'm kate, I'm bradley and you just had a I just overextended my elbow for no reason on the history buffoons podcast yes, we are the history buffoons sorry about your elbow you know, I hit 40 and everything's downhill oh my god you've you've been 40 for a month today?

00:00:44.393 --> 00:00:45.134
Yeah, a month.

00:00:45.134 --> 00:00:48.948
Yeah, um, so my shoulder has been out of alignment.

00:00:48.948 --> 00:00:58.290
Yeah, um, so I work for a chiropractor now and they've been working on me, so they've been working on my pelvis like every other day.

00:00:58.290 --> 00:00:59.984
I'm seeing them three times a day a week.

00:00:59.984 --> 00:01:06.201
Yeah, um, they've been working on my pelvis because it's tilted anteriorly and rotated to the left.

00:01:06.201 --> 00:01:12.084
Jesus christ which makes one of my legs a little bit shorter than the other oh, is that why you have a limp?

00:01:12.626 --> 00:01:35.632
I'm just kidding um, my neck doesn't have like the traditional c curve it's straight, which is weird so I was like well, that's where all my tension's coming from that's why you get the headaches and whatever once in a while, yeah right and then um, and then my shoulder has been acting funny, so I've actually started like cupping yeah my shoulder.

00:01:35.671 --> 00:01:40.748
I cupped it here, I kept it one here and then I kept it like back here yep, you sure did.

00:01:40.748 --> 00:01:46.049
I can see the marks yeah, so I got adjusted yesterday, yeah, and it was right there.

00:01:46.049 --> 00:01:47.584
She's like oh, we got to put this back.

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I was like that's exactly where I got, well, I mean it was just a little validation, I was like, yeah, look at me go.

00:01:54.325 --> 00:02:01.266
I was like it wasn't muscular, but no, did I ever tell you that one time I donated plasma and I lifted up my arm?

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For did I tell you this?

00:02:03.549 --> 00:02:05.513
Yeah, the story is funny.

00:02:05.573 --> 00:02:13.854
Yeah, so, like when you donate plasma, you have to get your blood pressure taken and your pulse rate and whatever.

00:02:13.854 --> 00:02:16.045
So you lift up your arm to put the.

00:02:16.045 --> 00:02:17.530
What's the cuff thing called?

00:02:17.530 --> 00:02:18.664
Has that got a specific name?

00:02:18.664 --> 00:02:20.223
Or High blood pressure cuff?

00:02:20.223 --> 00:02:21.307
Is that what it is?

00:02:21.307 --> 00:02:22.191
I don't fucking know.

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I think it's just a blood.

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I don't think it's a high blood pressure cuff, I don't know.

00:02:27.245 --> 00:02:27.967
Anyways, I had to put that on.

00:02:27.967 --> 00:02:43.831
So you have to pull up your sleeve and you had cupped my arm like a few days or whatever before, like four or five days before, and I still had some really good marks on it and the girl's just like um, can I ask you where those bruises are from?

00:02:43.831 --> 00:02:47.844
I'm like sure it's called cupping.

00:02:47.844 --> 00:02:49.383
It's a massage technique.

00:02:49.383 --> 00:02:50.848
Oh, I've heard of that.

00:02:50.848 --> 00:02:51.610
Does it help?

00:02:51.610 --> 00:02:58.633
I'm like, yes, it helps a lot, especially because it was on my right arm, which is where I fell with Xavier all those years ago.

00:02:58.633 --> 00:03:02.408
So it does give it some relief when you do that for me.

00:03:02.408 --> 00:03:03.451
So again, thank you.

00:03:03.451 --> 00:03:07.990
But it was just funny because she's like looking at me like do I need to call the police?

00:03:09.580 --> 00:03:13.425
And just for the record, they're not bruises, they just look like bruises.

00:03:13.485 --> 00:03:14.604
No, they're not bruises at all.

00:03:14.604 --> 00:03:17.802
Yeah, Just for people who are like oh my God, I don't want to bruise from cutting.

00:03:18.163 --> 00:03:21.670
It has an appearance it's like a hickey mark.

00:03:21.972 --> 00:03:27.331
For the most part, yeah, I mean it's suctioned on just like you would for a hickey, basically.

00:03:27.331 --> 00:03:29.302
But yeah, it's not really.

00:03:29.383 --> 00:03:30.125
Or an octopus.

00:03:30.526 --> 00:03:31.187
Or an octopus?

00:03:31.187 --> 00:03:33.451
Yeah, why did it Puth?

00:03:33.893 --> 00:03:34.574
Because I wanted to.

00:03:34.574 --> 00:03:36.848
What kind of beer are you drinking today?

00:03:36.848 --> 00:03:39.521
So I have, oh it's so cool.

00:03:40.581 --> 00:03:49.328
I know we are in the pod loft so I'd like to say you might hear I'll do the best I can to edit it out in the background, but you might hear some buzzing.

00:03:49.328 --> 00:03:50.908
It's the air conditioner.

00:03:50.908 --> 00:03:52.330
We cannot turn it off.

00:03:52.330 --> 00:03:54.891
There's just no way, because we would die.

00:03:54.891 --> 00:04:00.596
So I apologize if the audio quality is maybe lacking here, but it's for our own comfort.

00:04:00.635 --> 00:04:02.597
Yes because it's hot outside.

00:04:05.760 --> 00:04:07.944
I'm sure all four people that listen to this won't mind.

00:04:07.944 --> 00:04:09.366
Hey, we're trying to grow, grow it.

00:04:09.366 --> 00:04:12.933
I'm hoping to get five next year so all right, it's not like that.

00:04:12.933 --> 00:04:14.783
Um no, I'm joking.

00:04:14.783 --> 00:04:16.589
You know that I joke a lot actually.

00:04:16.589 --> 00:04:22.889
I still remember when xavier's like stop joking, you joke too much I'm like but that's what I do.

00:04:22.889 --> 00:04:24.956
I just that's how.

00:04:25.016 --> 00:04:25.798
I cope, bro.

00:04:25.798 --> 00:04:29.170
Okay, so real quick, cause I don't have a story, but you have a story about your beer.

00:04:29.170 --> 00:04:33.850
I just have my classic Modelo, because you know it's like a, it's a comfort thing.

00:04:34.110 --> 00:05:01.076
It is a comfort thing, and so what I have today and I've had all week, and actually since last weekend, I believe um, I have a, a coors banquet, which is their first beer I do believe that they ever made, and it's still the only coors that's only made in colorado oh because they actually use rocky mountain water um oh yeah, brewed with 100 rocky mountain water since 1873.

00:05:01.076 --> 00:05:04.584
So I always like this beer.

00:05:04.846 --> 00:05:17.925
It's it's kind of around the timeline that I'm going to talk about today oh, perfect, yeah, but, um, so I decided, as much as I like my shandy I was able to get a case of this for the price of a 12 pack of shandy.

00:05:17.925 --> 00:05:19.588
So I'm like, yeah, sign me up.

00:05:19.588 --> 00:05:21.331
Oh, so I did that.

00:05:21.331 --> 00:05:29.028
Um, but the funny thing is the story I want to tell you and I might've told you this before, so sorry if I did, but no one else knows this.

00:05:29.028 --> 00:05:32.928
Well, al does, if he listens to this, because he was there.

00:05:32.928 --> 00:05:59.858
So Sarah and I got married out at Rocky Mountain National Park and after our wedding and everything that day, we were headed back to, or headed to, bracken Ridge to stay the rest of the week there and, um, alan Jillian came out to to our wedding and, uh, so I'm like, hey, if we see a bar on the way to, uh, where we're going, let's stop and have a beer.

00:05:59.858 --> 00:06:01.843
You know, post wedding beer and all that.

00:06:01.843 --> 00:06:06.392
And so we're driving along, they're following us, cause they've never been out there before.

00:06:06.392 --> 00:06:11.468
And, um, so, uh, we find this.

00:06:11.468 --> 00:06:17.850
It looks like a, basically a hole in the mountain, not a hole in the wall, because it was in the side of the side of the mountain, kind of thing.

00:06:17.850 --> 00:06:20.408
So it quickly pull over and stop and go in.

00:06:20.408 --> 00:06:21.644
It's cool looking old bar.

00:06:21.644 --> 00:06:30.581
It looks like it's been there for a long time, whatever Neat inside and so on.

00:06:30.581 --> 00:06:32.428
There was I don't know three, four, maybe five patrons plus the bartender.

00:06:32.428 --> 00:06:33.151
Do you remember what it's called?

00:06:33.151 --> 00:06:34.096
I really don't, unfortunately.

00:06:34.096 --> 00:06:34.879
I wish I knew the name.

00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:41.821
But, um, so we go in there and, like I said, this is the only cores that's only brewed specifically in colorado.

00:06:41.821 --> 00:06:45.752
If you get a cores light, it could been made at one of their other satellite breweries or whatever.

00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:49.288
So we go in there and we're like let's get a beer.

00:06:49.288 --> 00:06:51.446
Sarah doesn't really drink, so she didn't have.

00:06:51.446 --> 00:06:54.827
She wasn't going to have one, but Jillian and Al and I do, of course.

00:06:54.827 --> 00:07:08.382
And so we go into the bartender a little bit older lady, not like too old, but older and we go or she goes uh, what would you like?

00:07:08.382 --> 00:07:08.963
I'm like what do you got?

00:07:08.963 --> 00:07:09.564
You name it, I'll tell you.

00:07:09.564 --> 00:07:10.367
I'm like all right, do you have any ipas?

00:07:10.367 --> 00:07:11.187
We don't have any of those.

00:07:11.187 --> 00:07:17.706
I'm like oh, okay, then I said something else and I remember it's like no, we don't have that.

00:07:17.706 --> 00:07:20.576
Like, what do you have?

00:07:20.636 --> 00:07:27.973
yeah, like I feel like the first question should have been enough, yeah like how about we switch this role and you tell me what I can order?

00:07:27.973 --> 00:07:31.319
Yeah, and they had like so you've seen tap lines.

00:07:31.319 --> 00:07:36.524
You know you usually have all the handles they had on the wall, like the side wall, because the cooler must have been behind it.

00:07:37.047 --> 00:07:57.271
They had probably like eight to ten tap handles and only three actually had handles on it, so I don't think they they were using them all kind of thing and then she goes into her cooler and, um, and I've had banquet before and they come in the little stubby bottles when you get the bottle version and, um, she goes well, I got Coors banquet, I'll take that.

00:07:57.271 --> 00:07:59.427
And then I was like, yeah, that sounds good, I'll take that too.

00:07:59.427 --> 00:08:00.485
And Jillian's like I'll have one.

00:08:00.485 --> 00:08:12.824
She's like I only have two.

00:08:12.824 --> 00:08:13.225
So I had a banquet.

00:08:13.225 --> 00:08:14.168
I want to say jillian had a banquet too.

00:08:14.168 --> 00:08:15.170
And then, um, l had a papst.

00:08:15.170 --> 00:08:16.795
I don't think jillian and l had a papst.

00:08:16.795 --> 00:08:17.076
I don't.

00:08:17.076 --> 00:08:17.899
I guess I don't recall.

00:08:18.702 --> 00:08:28.992
I might be mixing it up a little bit I mean, you grew up in wisconsin, where there's craft beers everywhere, and colorado probably doesn't have that type of environment as at risk heavily.

00:08:28.992 --> 00:08:34.787
Uh, you are highly mistaken so what is the case with this beer or this bar?

00:08:35.086 --> 00:08:42.931
it's in a really out of the way fucking place okay, so where the patrons are more they're all neighborhood.

00:08:43.091 --> 00:08:46.861
It's a neighborhood bar, it's kind of a thing there's no neighborhoods around it.

00:08:47.102 --> 00:08:49.369
It's in the fucking mountains, off the side of a road.

00:08:49.369 --> 00:08:53.086
Yes, there's gonna be houses and stuff, but not like a traditional neighborhood kind of thing.

00:08:53.105 --> 00:08:56.182
So it's it's like the bare, the bare minimum is what they have.

00:08:56.182 --> 00:08:56.945
It seems so.

00:08:56.945 --> 00:09:01.982
Or they, the ones that everybody knows like bud, light and coors.

00:09:02.124 --> 00:09:02.905
I would assume they had.

00:09:02.905 --> 00:09:04.730
Well, I Well, I mean Coors banquet.

00:09:04.730 --> 00:09:15.195
But either way, I just thought it was really funny, because we're in Colorado where this beer is made at a bar not terribly far from even the brewery, which I know they don't get it directly from that, but that's not the point.

00:09:15.195 --> 00:09:19.049
And they had two of them, yeah.

00:09:19.049 --> 00:09:26.009
So we drank them out of their Coors banquet that day and then we went to Idaho Springs and went to this restaurant and had some more beers and did some flights.

00:09:26.009 --> 00:09:27.730
That was great, that was good.

00:09:28.172 --> 00:09:31.196
And then we discovered uh, uh, what is it?

00:09:31.196 --> 00:09:34.644
Broken Compass in Breckenridge, which is delicious.

00:09:35.407 --> 00:09:35.707
A bar.

00:09:36.409 --> 00:09:36.870
Uh, brewery.

00:09:36.870 --> 00:09:44.110
But they have since the first time that, so that was eight years ago, almost eight years ago time that, so that was eight years ago, almost eight years ago.

00:09:44.110 --> 00:09:49.462
Since then they've added a bar downtown breckenridge, but they also have their one that's a little on the outside of town, which is their brewery.

00:09:49.462 --> 00:09:53.072
So I like going to that place I'm gonna open my beer now.

00:09:53.072 --> 00:09:58.620
Yeah, let's do that, sorry okay, you could have been drinking this whole time well, I didn't want to interrupt with our.

00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:07.768
you know our tandem openings can't see on the screen, but Sorry about that.

00:10:07.768 --> 00:10:11.610
It's like he got a little animated while he was talking with his beer.

00:10:12.231 --> 00:10:12.471
I did.

00:10:12.471 --> 00:10:17.216
I was moving my beer, and now I have beer everywhere On my beard.

00:10:17.216 --> 00:10:21.048
Beer on my beard, that sounds like a country song.

00:10:21.129 --> 00:10:21.753
Let's do it.

00:10:21.753 --> 00:10:24.363
Let's make a country song.

00:10:24.363 --> 00:10:25.566
I got beer on beer on my beard.

00:10:25.566 --> 00:10:38.900
Anyways, sounds like it could be a brad paisley song or uh any country artist song pretty much okay, we are going to talk about the walker sisters.

00:10:38.900 --> 00:10:42.881
Walker sisters yes and this was suggested by Samantha.

00:10:43.402 --> 00:10:44.601
Oh, thank you, Samantha.

00:10:44.761 --> 00:10:49.462
Yeah, so the Walker sisters.

00:10:49.462 --> 00:10:52.004
We're going to talk about the whole Walker family briefly.

00:10:52.004 --> 00:10:58.346
Okay, so their father was born in 1841, grew up in the Smoky Mountains area.

00:10:58.346 --> 00:10:59.346
Oh, there you go Mountains.

00:10:59.365 --> 00:10:59.446
Yeah.

00:10:59.625 --> 00:10:59.846
Nice.

00:10:59.846 --> 00:11:16.571
So during the Civil War John was a Unionist and he enlisted at one point, endured like 100 days in a Confederate prison Didn't research into what prison, because that's not a pointed story and then Margaret King Walker, the wife.

00:11:16.571 --> 00:11:22.611
She was raised to be fairly self-sufficient and she passed that along to her kids.

00:11:22.611 --> 00:11:25.773
They did end up marrying in 1866.

00:11:25.773 --> 00:11:31.554
All right, and Margaret Jane was the daughter of Wiley King who.

00:11:31.554 --> 00:11:33.835
Wiley King, wiley King.

00:11:34.014 --> 00:11:35.254
Okay, that was quick.

00:11:35.475 --> 00:11:35.716
Wow.

00:11:35.716 --> 00:11:41.057
He was an early settler of Little Greenbrier, which is in the mountains.

00:11:41.557 --> 00:11:42.317
The Smoky Mountains.

00:11:42.417 --> 00:11:45.697
It is south of Knoxville and west of Gatlinburg.

00:11:45.697 --> 00:11:48.938
Okay, it's also right on the border of North Carolina.

00:11:49.639 --> 00:11:50.945
Oh, okay, so like the east side of Tennessee?

00:11:50.945 --> 00:11:51.707
Yes, gotcha.

00:11:52.320 --> 00:11:56.071
So Wiley had built a sturdy log cabin in the cove.

00:11:56.071 --> 00:11:57.903
So the cove is kind of like.

00:11:57.903 --> 00:12:19.793
This particular cove was like where two streams kind of intersected so they were kind of like right in the corner there gotcha yeah so he built the log cabin around 1840 and he used tulip poplar logs tulip poplar and some like red clay to help seal it up.

00:12:19.793 --> 00:12:20.914
Seal it up exactly.

00:12:20.914 --> 00:12:25.528
And this cabin is what the entire walker family would live in.

00:12:26.541 --> 00:12:28.226
And how big did the Walker family get?

00:12:28.942 --> 00:12:35.892
They had 11 children, holy balls, and they all were erased through adulthood, which was fairly rare at the time.

00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:39.629
Especially for 11, because usually you had 11, because you know you're going to lose a few.

00:12:39.629 --> 00:12:49.884
Exactly, honestly, exactly Sad to think of it that way, but that was a product of the times it is yeah, yeah wow, 11 kids and they all made it to adulthood.

00:12:50.385 --> 00:13:00.918
That's impressive yeah, for 1840s or whatever, yeah, or whatever 60s so john and margaret jane moved into that cabin in the early 1870s.

00:13:00.918 --> 00:13:07.600
Oh there you go and expanded it a little bit with like an additional like kitchen wing and they added a front porch.

00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:13.693
Um, john was pretty skilled craftsman and he was kind of a jack-of-all-trades kind of a guy.

00:13:13.693 --> 00:13:17.067
Okay, um, they named him, um he was.

00:13:17.067 --> 00:13:24.528
His nickname was harry john because of his beard yeah, I'm glad my nickname's not Harry Bradley.

00:13:24.528 --> 00:13:27.793
Doesn't quite flow off the tongue.

00:13:28.740 --> 00:13:28.881
No.

00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:35.090
But he could practically make anything from wood, from leather, from metal.

00:13:35.090 --> 00:13:37.345
He literally could do it all.

00:13:37.345 --> 00:13:48.802
He made his barn, his corn crib, his smokehouse, his pig pan, an apple storage barn, and he even had a blacksmith shop.

00:13:48.802 --> 00:13:49.383
Wow.

00:13:49.543 --> 00:13:51.125
Yeah, that's crazy.

00:13:51.186 --> 00:13:55.980
He was a devout Baptist and he also helped build their church.

00:13:56.501 --> 00:13:57.323
Oh well, there you go.

00:13:57.323 --> 00:13:58.626
Yeah, that's nice of him.

00:13:58.626 --> 00:13:59.107
House of God.

00:13:59.789 --> 00:14:00.091
Pardon.

00:14:00.091 --> 00:14:10.744
House of God House of God, exactly, and I think it was a little kind of a school house as well I would imagine back then yeah, I would, I would assume so yeah, I mean, it can only make sense well, especially for that time.

00:14:10.803 --> 00:14:21.389
Five days a week it's a school and one or two days a week it's a church yeah, for sure I mean multi-functional, and especially for that time, a lot of you know they didn't have traditional schools like we have.

00:14:21.389 --> 00:14:29.633
There was a one-room schoolhouse typically I always joke that my mom went to one because she's really old um.

00:14:29.773 --> 00:14:35.965
So he also had an orchard with like 20 different varieties of apples that's impressive.

00:14:36.004 --> 00:14:36.927
Do you have all 20?

00:14:37.607 --> 00:14:37.969
hell.

00:14:37.969 --> 00:14:40.594
No, I'm thinking honeycrisp.

00:14:40.594 --> 00:14:50.605
Honeycrisp was probably one of them he had peach peach orchards and cherry orchards and plum orchards how much land did he have?

00:14:50.605 --> 00:14:53.211
Approximately 122 acres.

00:14:53.211 --> 00:15:23.909
Holy shit, it could have been more, um, but by the time we actually get to the story that I want to talk about, which is um the siblings yeah, um, it was about 122, wow that's still pretty impressive yeah, the farm had chicken, sheep, goats, cows, hogs, basically anything that they could like eat, eat, eat or like produce stuff, produce exactly so they had meat, they had milk, they had wool, they had leather eggs, all that stuff exactly.

00:15:23.929 --> 00:15:28.605
Yeah, it works they also had a spring fed spring house.

00:15:28.605 --> 00:15:31.029
Have you ever heard of a spring house before I?

00:15:31.051 --> 00:15:32.600
don't think so I hadn't either.

00:15:32.801 --> 00:15:43.245
so it's actually a small building that's constructed over a spring, and the natural cold temperature of the spring is what would be the refrigerator.

00:15:43.245 --> 00:15:45.448
Oh, sure Part for their food.

00:15:45.729 --> 00:15:46.490
That makes sense.

00:15:46.571 --> 00:15:46.910
Yeah.

00:15:46.990 --> 00:15:48.153
No, I've never heard of that, but that.

00:15:48.374 --> 00:15:54.028
Yeah me either but they kept their like milk and and butter and some pig and some vegetables and stuff in there.

00:15:54.149 --> 00:15:54.571
Right, right.

00:15:54.591 --> 00:15:57.042
But yeah, I thought that was kind of like a natural refrigerator.

00:15:57.042 --> 00:15:57.881
Sure, yeah.

00:15:57.881 --> 00:16:06.649
So as they had 11 Walker children Jesus Christ, seven girls and four boys- Seven girls.

00:16:06.649 --> 00:16:07.570
Oh my word.

00:16:07.629 --> 00:16:08.811
I have one, and that's enough.

00:16:10.032 --> 00:16:13.394
She is a beast One of, yes, one girl, one boy.

00:16:13.554 --> 00:16:15.917
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah no that's what I meant.

00:16:15.937 --> 00:16:19.227
I have one girl yeah, that's seven girls, and she just turned three.

00:16:19.792 --> 00:16:20.214
She did.

00:16:20.214 --> 00:16:21.722
I can't believe she's three.

00:16:21.722 --> 00:16:22.764
I can't believe she's three.

00:16:22.764 --> 00:16:26.673
No, and then Xavier turns less than a month, turns seven.

00:16:26.692 --> 00:16:33.544
Seven yeah, so I don't remember what I said yesterday, but we said something and it's like it's another.

00:16:33.544 --> 00:16:36.687
Oh, sarah said something and he goes what's that?

00:16:36.687 --> 00:16:38.931
It's like it's another way to say blah, blah, blah.

00:16:38.931 --> 00:16:44.296
And he just turns to me and he's like another way to say poop is taking a dump.

00:16:44.296 --> 00:16:47.162
I'm like what the hell?

00:16:47.162 --> 00:16:50.490
I just could not stop laughing.

00:16:50.490 --> 00:16:57.506
I'm like you are a hundred percent correct, buddy at least he didn't say take a shit no, no taking a dump.

00:16:57.687 --> 00:17:05.599
That's hilarious it was so funny because and then sarah didn't hear it she's like and he doesn't like you to repeat stuff because he like thinks he'll get in trouble or something.

00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:06.826
It's like no dude, you're totally fine.

00:17:06.826 --> 00:17:08.406
I don't mind that you just said take a dump.

00:17:08.406 --> 00:17:11.328
Honestly, I've said way worse things in your presence.

00:17:12.280 --> 00:17:14.269
So have I by accident yeah by accident.

00:17:17.046 --> 00:17:24.488
But so then I told her because I'm like I'm going to tell mom it's fucking funny I didn't say fucking at the time, but it was hilarious Take a dump.

00:17:25.209 --> 00:17:28.814
Go and poop is the same thing as taking a dump Another way.

00:17:28.814 --> 00:17:30.980
Okay, that's awesome.

00:17:30.980 --> 00:17:40.952
Okay, so Margaret Jane, the mother, she was kind of known as, like an herbal healer or herbal doctor of the time.

00:17:40.972 --> 00:17:43.395
So they didn't go witch Exactly.

00:17:43.395 --> 00:17:48.746
Her mother was very similar, so her mother kind of passed it down, that knowledge, to her.

00:17:48.746 --> 00:18:00.925
Nice, it's really sad that like stuff like that isn't passed on like I don't really know what I'm gonna pass on to my kids, but I hope it's something probably humor, sarcasm oh, in spades there.

00:18:00.925 --> 00:18:05.775
But um like if I ever need something sewn up, I have to bring it to my mom.

00:18:05.775 --> 00:18:14.008
You know it's like because I don't think sarah even really knows how to do it I don't sarah got a sewing machine for like christmas, like four or five years ago.

00:18:14.067 --> 00:18:16.340
It's still in the box like that's cool.

00:18:16.540 --> 00:18:23.807
We should probably sell that I think I have one of my mom's really old ones, but I haven't opened it yet yeah, it's, uh.

00:18:24.048 --> 00:18:27.887
It's just sad because, like you know, I learned stuff from my dad and I've learned stuff from my mom too.

00:18:27.887 --> 00:18:30.546
But you know it's not like things like that.

00:18:30.546 --> 00:18:34.384
Where you can I don't know common skills you would could put to use.

00:18:34.664 --> 00:18:37.109
Okay, I know what it is, what Drumming?

00:18:38.752 --> 00:18:39.294
And it's funny.

00:18:39.294 --> 00:18:46.752
So, like when I had Xavier, had xavier, I had high aspirations of making him learn, not making him.

00:18:46.772 --> 00:18:49.924
But yeah, teaching him the drums, see if he would be involved or whatever.

00:18:50.566 --> 00:18:51.950
I really think it's gonna be vesper.

00:18:51.950 --> 00:18:56.568
Yeah, because she always wants completed drums and she'll sit down and like that.

00:18:56.568 --> 00:18:59.346
Even that first time where she counted out four, I'm like what the fuck?

00:18:59.346 --> 00:19:00.913
Yeah, how do you even know to do that?

00:19:00.913 --> 00:19:01.295
Yeah.

00:19:01.295 --> 00:19:07.092
So I have a feeling like he might give it a go, but he's to get too frustrated and just give up on it.

00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:09.323
You need to foster that relationship, I think.

00:19:09.463 --> 00:19:23.309
I do, but I really think Vesper is going to want to try and play the drums, so I'm hoping one of one of two, if not both, will take on the legacy of drumming, which is fun, okay, anyways.

00:19:23.940 --> 00:19:35.509
So Margaret, uh, margaret Jane, the mother, um, she would kind of treat like mountain, uh, treat illnesses with mountain remedies, yeah, Okay With what she had available, exactly.

00:19:35.509 --> 00:19:43.692
And she liked to boast a lot that the farm, the family, hardly ever needed to go out to see an actual doctor because of this Sure.

00:19:43.692 --> 00:19:57.325
So there is a kind of a funny story about margaret, pardon me, margaret jane fucking tastic she once caught a weasel in the act of chilling, killing one of her chickens, oh yeah.

00:19:58.027 --> 00:20:05.971
So she grabbed the weasel and the weasel like clamped down on her hand and she was like unable to pry the weasel off.

00:20:05.971 --> 00:20:15.711
So she plunged her hand into a tub of water until he drowned, commenting sooner or later it would have gotten loose.

00:20:17.393 --> 00:20:20.355
Wow, okay, it's pretty badass, I know, I know.

00:20:22.840 --> 00:20:24.545
I've never seen a weasel in person, have you?

00:20:24.744 --> 00:20:25.205
I don't think so.

00:20:25.205 --> 00:20:25.708
No, I don't think so.

00:20:25.708 --> 00:20:26.569
No, I don't believe so.

00:20:27.030 --> 00:20:27.913
Maybe they don't exist.

00:20:28.519 --> 00:20:29.867
Maybe it's a Mandela effect.

00:20:29.867 --> 00:20:31.880
Okay, anyways.

00:20:32.079 --> 00:20:39.112
So they had four sons James, Thomas, William, Wiley, John Henry and Giles.

00:20:40.413 --> 00:20:42.826
Giles, like G-I-L-E-S.

00:20:42.826 --> 00:20:45.163
Yeah, that's a unique name.

00:20:45.163 --> 00:20:46.847
Why didn't he get a second?

00:20:46.887 --> 00:20:51.906
name or giles, giles or giles giles tomato, tomato at this point.

00:20:52.347 --> 00:20:53.790
Why didn't he get a second name, like all the?

00:20:53.811 --> 00:20:56.124
rest I don't know I find that weird.

00:20:57.145 --> 00:21:02.984
I mean, I don't know, it just seems strange to me that because what were the other ones?

00:21:03.726 --> 00:21:09.104
john james, thomas, william wiley, john henry and jazz jazz.

00:21:09.806 --> 00:21:11.289
Do you think jazz likes jazz?

00:21:11.751 --> 00:21:41.865
I don't know okay, and then they had seven daughters margaret named after her mother, mary poll, luisa, but I think I've heard seen it pronounced luisa, or I'm getting another story confused with this because I've I've been reading a lot recently no, that's, that's understandable.

00:21:41.865 --> 00:21:48.338
I get it yeah, I'm pretty sure it's uh louisa maybe it's louisa.

00:21:48.338 --> 00:21:51.784
We'll say louisa, we're american by golly.

00:21:51.784 --> 00:22:01.847
Okay, so louisa, and then sarah caroline and heady hey, another heady another heady, not heady green obviously okay.

00:22:01.928 --> 00:22:04.501
Is it spelled the same way h-e-t-t-y i-e?

00:22:04.501 --> 00:22:06.446
Oh, h-e-t-t-i-e.

00:22:06.507 --> 00:22:15.708
Yeah, interesting so the children all attended school in the winter, when the farm chores were fairly light, and they learned the basic reading, writing and arithmetic.

00:22:15.708 --> 00:22:16.490
Arithmetic, yeah, mm-hmm.

00:22:16.490 --> 00:22:23.227
Otherwise, the kids' education was more in like the self-sufficiency of being on the farm.

00:22:23.587 --> 00:22:23.909
Gotcha.

00:22:24.976 --> 00:22:40.248
So all four Walker sons and one of their daughters, sarah caroline, all went off to wed oh sarah caroline was the only daughter to have married the other six did not the other six never did never.

00:22:40.248 --> 00:22:48.135
That's weird yeah, so the other six daughters remain single and they stay on the family farm through adulthood.

00:22:48.557 --> 00:23:00.239
That's wild, yes okay so they, mom and dad, basically raised them with the mantra of if god gave you two hands and a good spring house, you don't need anything else and you don't need anybody else.

00:23:00.239 --> 00:23:02.522
So they're just like fuck it.

00:23:02.983 --> 00:23:04.007
Yeah, we're staying here.

00:23:04.007 --> 00:23:12.734
Yeah, we're self-sufficient yeah, we don't need no man independent women okay, stop that shit all the women who were independent.

00:23:19.663 --> 00:23:20.345
What's that from?

00:23:20.345 --> 00:23:22.969
Is that destiny's child?

00:23:22.969 --> 00:23:32.848
Yeah, okay, go me, go for you for knowing I hate that, I know that okay.

00:23:33.309 --> 00:23:39.883
So they were taught to like trust in their hard work and their faith and just rely on themselves.

00:23:39.883 --> 00:23:43.411
Essentially, right, um they so.

00:23:43.411 --> 00:23:50.263
In 1909, the mother, margaret jane, passed away, and then, in 1921, john, the father.

00:23:50.263 --> 00:24:00.076
He passed away at age 80, but in John's final years he took steps to make sure that the homestead would go into the hands of the rest of his family.

00:24:00.076 --> 00:24:01.018
Sure so.

00:24:01.018 --> 00:24:08.338
In 1909 he deeded the farm to his unmarried daughters and his youngest son, giles.

00:24:08.338 --> 00:24:14.178
I don't know why, just Giles, but that's what happened I kind of like that name now.

00:24:14.198 --> 00:24:24.442
Yeah, I might have to get a cat named jazz so, if I recall, nathan says it that way, jazz, yeah, I think it's from buffy the vampire slayer, the the librarian.

00:24:24.482 --> 00:24:27.839
His name is giles- I would not know that it's a great show um sarah recently re-watched.

00:24:27.839 --> 00:24:28.825
I don't know if it's a great show.

00:24:28.825 --> 00:24:30.855
Sarah recently rewatched.

00:24:30.855 --> 00:24:32.881
I don't know if it's a rewatch or a first watch.

00:24:32.881 --> 00:24:33.964
I guess I don't know that for sure.

00:24:33.964 --> 00:24:38.461
She recently viewed that entire program and every time I walk in I'm like fucking.

00:24:38.461 --> 00:24:42.464
A so no, it's for other people Maybe.

00:24:42.816 --> 00:24:44.121
Maybe a great show for me?

00:24:44.121 --> 00:24:45.096
Not so much.

00:24:45.096 --> 00:24:57.285
I watched it through the entirety and I watched all of the offspin of Angel in its entirety, but haven't gone back another time to watch it Because some of the Angel and that show overlap for a while right, yeah.

00:24:57.855 --> 00:25:01.063
Did you ever actually see the original movie that the show?

00:25:01.143 --> 00:25:01.784
was based on.

00:25:01.884 --> 00:25:02.846
No, that's too bad.

00:25:03.147 --> 00:25:06.602
Okay, so their father.

00:25:06.602 --> 00:25:11.762
Okay so, once their father died.

00:25:12.035 --> 00:25:13.340
Yeah, he put the deed and all that.

00:25:13.515 --> 00:25:20.201
Brother Giles signed over his share to the remaining sisters, and that was approximately 102 acres.

00:25:20.201 --> 00:25:21.345
Oh wow.

00:25:21.345 --> 00:25:23.701
Okay, so he got his share and then he's like go ahead and have it.

00:25:23.701 --> 00:25:26.366
Why, I don't know, I didn't look it up.

00:25:26.366 --> 00:25:35.569
So highly unusual arrangement for six unmarried women at the time to own such a substantial amount of land and et cetera.

00:25:35.569 --> 00:25:42.188
But of course they learned every possible resource from from their yeah, from their parents.

00:25:42.315 --> 00:25:44.058
So was it 102 or 122?

00:25:44.098 --> 00:25:44.480
22.

00:25:44.480 --> 00:25:45.563
Sorry, 122.

00:25:45.563 --> 00:25:54.902
So um once their parents were gone, the Walker sisters basically said that it was the hardest but kind of the sweetest years of their lives.

00:25:55.343 --> 00:26:06.836
it was four decades worth of complete self-sufficiency wow yeah, okay so the sisters fed and closed and clothed themselves almost entirely off of their land.

00:26:06.836 --> 00:26:07.497
That's wild.

00:26:07.497 --> 00:26:16.865
They plowed their own fields, raised livestock, grew all these vegetables and fruits, preserved a ton for for winter.

00:26:16.865 --> 00:26:18.147
Sure um?

00:26:18.147 --> 00:26:32.679
One of them said our land produces everything we need except for sugar, soda, coffee and salt, and by soda they meant baking soda right, I figured it wasn't traditional like a Coca-Cola, no, I totally thought Coca-Cola at first.

00:26:32.679 --> 00:26:33.942
Yeah, you would have, I know.

00:26:34.163 --> 00:26:34.324
Yeah.

00:26:34.565 --> 00:26:34.945
Yeah, Anyways.

00:26:34.945 --> 00:26:38.964
So every other necessity they supplied themselves.

00:26:39.125 --> 00:26:41.201
Okay, I mean, that's pretty impressive.

00:26:41.301 --> 00:26:41.482
Yeah.

00:26:42.055 --> 00:26:47.020
I mean, obviously it was set up prior to them, so it's not like it was some revolutionary thing, but nothing to take away from them.

00:26:47.101 --> 00:26:49.584
It's pretty impressive that they were able to keep it going.

00:26:49.605 --> 00:26:52.147
Yeah, exactly Be self-sufficient off of their land.

00:26:52.147 --> 00:26:53.730
That's, that's pretty great yeah.

00:26:53.769 --> 00:26:56.480
So, um, they also spun wool.

00:26:56.480 --> 00:27:00.799
Wow, they wove cloth, so they made their own clothes.

00:27:01.943 --> 00:27:15.284
Um, they forged all their herbs and roots and used um, they use all of that for like medicine and they tried to sell some of this a little bit eventually.

00:27:15.284 --> 00:27:17.690
Did any of them kind of take?

00:27:17.690 --> 00:27:21.980
On mom's uh medicine woman traits or they just kind of learned the basics and kept they, I think they?

00:27:22.060 --> 00:27:22.402
they look?

00:27:22.402 --> 00:27:24.086
No, I think one of them might have.

00:27:24.086 --> 00:27:27.740
I don't remember if I if I wrote that down or not they all go which?

00:27:29.682 --> 00:27:34.410
so, with their parents gone, they already said all that.

00:27:34.410 --> 00:27:35.215
You dumb shit.

00:27:35.215 --> 00:27:38.441
Scroll down, jesus christ.

00:27:38.441 --> 00:27:42.688
They built and maintained their own fences.

00:27:42.688 --> 00:27:50.586
Yeah, they cooked on wood stoves, hauled water from springs, they had over a hundred apple trees.

00:27:50.586 --> 00:27:59.113
They would make apple butter and jellies and brandy and pies and they basically had apples at every fucking meal.

00:27:59.113 --> 00:28:00.336
We're talking fried apples.

00:28:00.336 --> 00:28:01.500
We'll talk an apple pie.

00:28:01.500 --> 00:28:02.603
We're talking apple cider.

00:28:02.603 --> 00:28:10.244
We're talking apple sauce apple apples apple apples apples and the apple actions I like apples a lot.

00:28:10.404 --> 00:28:27.358
I just don't like cooked apples, which is weird, um, like I don't like apple pie, really yeah, I tend to not yeah my mom used to make apple crisp when we were younger, and you have it with ice cream it was delicious, don't get me wrong, but I'm like yeah I didn't care for it.

00:28:27.679 --> 00:28:30.223
Yeah, um, but I like a good cold apple.

00:28:30.223 --> 00:28:34.419
But again, I I do eat hot food, obviously, but I don't like a lot.

00:28:34.419 --> 00:28:49.365
And uh, yeah, I don't know, I just like a cold apple slice is delicious, whereas like if it was cooked on something like so anyways so they would shear wool from their sheep, and then they also grew cotton and flax.

00:28:49.365 --> 00:28:51.429
Like flax seed oil.

00:28:54.179 --> 00:28:56.925
So flax is more like linen.

00:28:57.446 --> 00:28:57.708
Right.

00:28:59.277 --> 00:29:03.968
So it's made from like flax fibers and that is linen, Right I?

00:29:04.008 --> 00:29:04.327
get that.

00:29:05.135 --> 00:29:08.744
Inside the cabin they could have up to five spinning wheels.

00:29:08.744 --> 00:29:10.756
Wow, yes.

00:29:11.116 --> 00:29:26.213
That's wild martha was skilled at carding wool carding carding, like she had to like check its id, or I mean, what is that?

00:29:26.213 --> 00:29:26.314
It's?

00:29:26.334 --> 00:29:29.741
a process of like detangling and aligning the wool fibers.

00:29:29.741 --> 00:29:31.405
That sounds fucking tedious.

00:29:31.405 --> 00:29:39.564
So I'm I'm imagining these two brushes and she like kind of like brushes them to kind of align them and make sure.

00:29:39.564 --> 00:29:42.280
Yeah, I think that's what that is.

00:29:43.655 --> 00:29:44.298
I believe you.

00:29:44.298 --> 00:29:46.424
I don't know if it's right, but I believe you Same same.

00:29:47.416 --> 00:29:48.421
But Martha was also.

00:29:49.076 --> 00:30:12.280
she was the one that kind of made a lot of the clothing um, and she sold sewed their wool from the stock did each, did the six of them each kind of have their own like role yeah, kind of, but they all knew like pretty much everything sure, but like you know, I'm sure you take your best talent in this field and make them do that and then take this one's better at this kind of thing.

00:30:12.301 --> 00:30:13.305
This is what I was thinking.

00:30:13.914 --> 00:30:16.865
Obviously they all knew a lot of the processes and whatever.

00:30:16.865 --> 00:30:21.025
Yeah, but I don't know if Martha was better at making clothes.

00:30:21.266 --> 00:30:22.900
Yeah, you're in charge of making us.

00:30:23.194 --> 00:30:24.460
Hey, I need a new shirt, Martha.

00:30:24.460 --> 00:30:29.246
Yeah, exactly I don't have a hot date tonight, because I got everything I need right here.

00:30:32.934 --> 00:30:33.435
I need a new shirt.

00:30:33.435 --> 00:30:33.676
Get on it.

00:30:33.676 --> 00:30:36.060
Margaret the oldest, um so well, she.

00:30:36.060 --> 00:30:44.743
She would be running the spinning wheel she would also twist wool yarn that would become woolen socks for the family, right?

00:30:44.743 --> 00:30:50.045
Um and then, oh so, okay, margaret, she's the oldest one, right?

00:30:50.045 --> 00:30:51.874
She's kind of like the ceo of the cabin, so, um and then.

00:30:51.874 --> 00:30:53.582
Oh so, okay, margaret, she's the oldest one, right?

00:30:53.582 --> 00:30:56.124
She's kind of like the CEO of the cabin, so to speak.

00:30:56.454 --> 00:30:57.779
CEO of the cabin.

00:30:57.799 --> 00:31:03.625
She was calm, she was devout and she kind of ran the homestead, so to speak.

00:31:03.954 --> 00:31:06.143
She kind of took over where Pop left off.

00:31:06.143 --> 00:31:08.654
Yeah, she ran the spinning wheels.

00:31:08.976 --> 00:31:11.444
She tended to the cows in the garden.

00:31:11.444 --> 00:31:27.977
At one point they get a little famous, which I'll tell you about, and there was a photographer around and he wanted a picture of the sisters with their sheep, and their sheep kept running away from them.

00:31:27.977 --> 00:31:29.117
Their sheep, like, kept running away from them.

00:31:29.117 --> 00:31:36.240
And so one time Margaret says as long as someone's around with pants on, they're not going to come around.

00:31:36.661 --> 00:31:38.422
So they had to take their pants off AKA.

00:31:38.781 --> 00:31:40.742
The sheep aren't familiar with men.

00:31:41.784 --> 00:31:42.403
I got that.

00:31:42.403 --> 00:31:45.506
I mean I just thought it'd be funny to say take your pants off.

00:31:45.506 --> 00:31:50.948
But no, I mean I would imagine they wore traditional, like dresses at the time.

00:31:50.968 --> 00:31:52.169
Yeah, more or less yeah.

00:31:52.509 --> 00:31:58.672
Because since they hadn't I mean pop's been gone for a while, yeah, and the brothers so, did the brothers like move away?

00:31:58.672 --> 00:31:59.932
Then that got married.

00:31:59.932 --> 00:32:03.297
Even jazz, I think so.

00:32:04.419 --> 00:32:10.910
I didn't really didn't look into them because that wasn't my stories about the remaining six sisters.

00:32:10.910 --> 00:32:13.836
Reminding six?

00:32:13.856 --> 00:32:15.400
And what sister got married and went off?

00:32:15.961 --> 00:32:19.748
sarah caroline that's right or sarah carol.

00:32:19.748 --> 00:32:20.674
Yeah, sarah caroline.

00:32:20.674 --> 00:32:23.858
So then we've got martha.

00:32:23.858 --> 00:32:28.684
She was kind of like the crafty one she's crafty, and she's just my type.

00:32:29.045 --> 00:32:29.806
She's crafty.

00:32:29.806 --> 00:32:31.407
That's bc boy son.

00:32:31.607 --> 00:32:42.234
Oh she, she weaved, she was a seamstress and she was kind of built for the kitchen okay so built for the kitchen?

00:32:42.295 --> 00:32:42.997
was she an oven?

00:32:42.997 --> 00:32:44.561
I mean, what the fuck?

00:32:44.561 --> 00:32:45.987
What does that?

00:32:45.987 --> 00:32:53.060
Mean she liked being in the kitchen well, I do too, because that's where the food is at fair I mean, I'm not wrong.

00:32:53.301 --> 00:33:12.328
No, so during world war ii she actually knitted socks for her nephews overseas and joked quote ain't every soldier in germany can say this old maid aunt, this old maid's aunt, old maid aunts, old maid aun raised the socks off of a rocky mountainside.

00:33:13.316 --> 00:33:14.519
I feel like you just had a stroke.

00:33:14.519 --> 00:33:15.664
I think I did.

00:33:15.664 --> 00:33:17.742
I might have if you kept that up.

00:33:17.742 --> 00:33:23.446
So how many nieces and nephews did these six sisters have from their other siblings?

00:33:23.446 --> 00:33:25.040
Did you find anything like that?

00:33:25.194 --> 00:33:30.959
No, I didn't go into that All right, I like the wording you used.

00:33:30.979 --> 00:33:38.584
It makes, makes you sound better, but that wasn't a part of my research just wanted to be straight and narrow on that.

00:33:39.546 --> 00:33:45.981
I didn't go into that martha was warm and she was chatty and she was dependable.

00:33:45.981 --> 00:33:47.723
I'm fucking warm all the time.

00:33:47.743 --> 00:33:49.626
I'm fucking hot, especially up here.

00:33:50.587 --> 00:33:51.068
Then we have Nancy.

00:33:51.068 --> 00:33:58.123
Nancy, she actually died somewhat early, she died in 1931.

00:33:58.163 --> 00:33:58.284
Oh, wow.

00:33:58.454 --> 00:34:01.163
Yeah, she passed away in her early 50s, oh wow.

00:34:01.875 --> 00:34:02.479
And that was.

00:34:04.477 --> 00:34:07.405
I didn't read into that, God fuck.

00:34:10.936 --> 00:34:14.485
I will not accept your new term, for that wasn't a part of my research.

00:34:14.485 --> 00:34:25.498
Um, I did not read into that but her grave is on the mountainside oh, that makes up for what you didn't research thank god, I'm gonna go visit it.

00:34:25.498 --> 00:34:25.757
Now.

00:34:25.757 --> 00:34:27.420
Which one was?

00:34:27.420 --> 00:34:27.800
Which one?

00:34:27.800 --> 00:34:28.262
Was that again?

00:34:28.702 --> 00:34:41.710
uh, nancy, nancy, nancy we also had mary paulie, who kind of went by paulie, yeah, she died in 1945, okay, okay, end of the war, yeah, um.

00:34:41.710 --> 00:34:55.567
And also she kind of passed away just before they started becoming like having a name for themselves, which I'll tell I mean, I feel like they had a name for themselves the whole time louisa yeah was kind of the poet.

00:34:56.228 --> 00:35:11.452
She wrote a lot but she didn't know it she wrote a lot about mountain life and faith and, um, she had a lot of poems that she really liked I am unfamiliar with a lot of religious denominations.

00:35:11.492 --> 00:35:18.106
I guess we'll call them I don't know if that's the right word um, what is like baptist to a catholic?

00:35:18.106 --> 00:35:22.057
I think they're catholic light now with less catholic.

00:35:30.465 --> 00:35:32.467
Wow, is that what it is?

00:35:32.467 --> 00:35:40.119
Because, like I was raised my parents weren't very religious, but they were light religious as well.

00:35:40.119 --> 00:35:48.780
Um, so, like we went to a, uh, presbyterian church and I was, you know, confirmed and all that, whatever, I don't didn't care.

00:35:48.780 --> 00:35:58.976
Um, and obviously you have like roman catholic, which is like super catholic and all that stuff now and whatever, and you have lutheran and you got all these other ones.

00:35:58.976 --> 00:36:06.742
I just I don't know, like, yeah, where it falls all together, because you know, obviously, a lot of faiths, especially in the christianity.

00:36:06.742 --> 00:36:08.980
Obviously there's, you know, other faiths as well.

00:36:08.980 --> 00:36:12.094
Um, they all like overlap.

00:36:12.094 --> 00:36:17.378
It's like a venn diagram thing or whatever the fuck they call those and, yeah, they have some similar similarities.

00:36:17.378 --> 00:36:21.907
I just didn't know where baptist falls compared to like catholicism.

00:36:21.907 --> 00:36:31.086
Yeah, I think it's now with less cath.

00:36:31.146 --> 00:36:42.257
Louisa was petite and she was wiry, but she was gentle and she played like peacekeeper a lot when things were going wrong kind of a thing Did things go wrong a lot.

00:36:42.257 --> 00:36:43.539
No, I don't think so.

00:36:43.940 --> 00:36:44.782
Did you not look into that?

00:36:45.083 --> 00:36:45.242
No.

00:36:45.503 --> 00:36:45.724
Okay.

00:36:46.164 --> 00:36:46.626
Hedy.

00:36:47.608 --> 00:36:47.807
With an.

00:36:47.907 --> 00:36:48.168
IE.

00:36:48.168 --> 00:36:52.545
The baby of the family was also the sassiest of course usually they are.

00:36:52.585 --> 00:36:53.255
Look at my daughter.

00:36:53.255 --> 00:37:05.088
She's the youngest and holy fuck sass that's why she has a shirt that says little miss sassy pants, sass out of her ass, sassafras yes why'd you have to say out of her ass.

00:37:05.088 --> 00:37:06.436
That's inappropriate.

00:37:06.436 --> 00:37:07.559
She's three.

00:37:07.559 --> 00:37:08.461
For fuck's sake.

00:37:10.164 --> 00:37:21.119
Hedy was sharp witted, she was strong and she had zero fear of like doing the big quote unquote manly type jobs.

00:37:21.119 --> 00:37:25.746
Okay, she cracked jokes a lot, stuff like that.

00:37:25.746 --> 00:37:29.025
She was the humorous one Humorous.

00:37:29.025 --> 00:37:33.653
So those are the sisters Right by the late 1920s.

00:37:34.715 --> 00:37:35.677
It's going back in time now.

00:37:38.384 --> 00:37:39.967
Well, fast forward, well, whatever.

00:37:42.016 --> 00:37:45.085
You mentioned deaths in 45, so that's fair, that's fair.

00:37:47.335 --> 00:37:49.202
Momentum was kind of building in the area.

00:37:49.202 --> 00:37:57.483
More people moving to the the well, they wanted to create a new national park oh yeah, that hasn't happened yet.

00:37:58.804 --> 00:38:11.181
The great smoky national park, it's not a thing yet no, but um devil's tower would have been a national park already devil's tower, that's wyoming yeah, I know, I know where it is.

00:38:11.181 --> 00:38:13.036
Yeah, I've been there so why?

00:38:13.097 --> 00:38:15.001
why is that pertinent to what we're talking about?

00:38:15.001 --> 00:38:19.123
Because national parks were already a thing yeah, they wanted to build a new one.

00:38:19.204 --> 00:38:30.007
They wanted to create a new one right, that's all I'm saying is they were a thing already, is all yeah so I didn't say it wasn't oh my word, we're fucking getting derailed right now.

00:38:31.809 --> 00:38:38.452
So where the sisters were, little green briar kind of lay in the boundary that the government was looking at.

00:38:38.452 --> 00:38:48.663
So in 1926, congress authorized the desire for a new park, the great smoky national mountains, the great smoky mountains national park.

00:38:49.215 --> 00:39:01.382
I like how you said it condescendingly and you fucked it up um and so Tennessee and North Carolina was going to be a part of that.

00:39:01.402 --> 00:39:07.836
Sure, so they began purchasing about a half a million acres of land for the park.

00:39:08.197 --> 00:39:08.418
Right.

00:39:09.085 --> 00:39:12.195
Thousands of local families had to leave their homestead.

00:39:12.195 --> 00:39:17.873
Some of them went willingly, others were forced out by eminent domain, which is bullshit.

00:39:18.496 --> 00:39:22.094
I think I mean I I'm so glad they have the parks that they have today.

00:39:22.193 --> 00:39:22.394
Yeah.

00:39:22.644 --> 00:39:24.693
Because I like going to national parks.

00:39:24.693 --> 00:39:25.869
I think they're fucking great.

00:39:25.869 --> 00:39:28.893
Like there's a boatload I still need to get to.

00:39:28.893 --> 00:39:45.070
But it's kind of shitty how they kind of did that to some people Because this was their land and like generations like the walkers, right, you know lived on this since the 70, 1870s and all of a sudden you gotta go.

00:39:45.070 --> 00:39:49.304
Yeah, because we're making this, you know, sacred land yeah or whatever.

00:39:49.364 --> 00:39:51.550
Do you remember the last time we talked about eminent domain?

00:39:51.550 --> 00:39:57.826
Oh, dear no it was um centralia, pennsylvania that's right.

00:39:57.885 --> 00:40:01.190
Yes, yeah, I was gonna say it wasn't a part of my research, but yeah, that's right.

00:40:01.190 --> 00:40:05.014
Yes, yeah, I was going to say it wasn't a part of my research, but yeah, that's right.

00:40:05.014 --> 00:40:09.460
Yeah, I mean, I understand it and I get it, but at the same time I don't get it.

00:40:09.460 --> 00:40:11.447
Yeah, don't understand it.

00:40:11.467 --> 00:40:14.056
So the Walker sisters are like now we ain't leaving.

00:40:14.385 --> 00:40:15.630
No, they're like fuck that noise.

00:40:16.485 --> 00:40:22.003
And they held out while over200 other families sold and moved.

00:40:22.304 --> 00:40:22.465
Sure.

00:40:23.085 --> 00:40:36.920
So by 1933, almost all the surrounding properties had been bought and the Park Commission again turned to the Walkers and appraised their homestead at about $5,000.

00:40:36.920 --> 00:40:38.621
Oh God, okay.

00:40:38.925 --> 00:40:39.909
What's that today?

00:40:40.704 --> 00:40:42.625
$123,000.

00:40:42.804 --> 00:40:45.153
That's fucking bullshit.

00:40:45.153 --> 00:40:47.291
That is terrible.

00:40:47.291 --> 00:40:47.592
What?

00:40:47.592 --> 00:40:48.385
That's?

00:40:48.385 --> 00:40:51.103
A lot of land For that little amount.

00:40:51.103 --> 00:40:52.811
That's fucking insane.

00:40:53.565 --> 00:40:59.297
So agents try to trade with the sisters, kind of hoping to persuade them to relocate.

00:40:59.644 --> 00:41:00.929
But they like their location.

00:41:00.929 --> 00:41:01.271
They resisted.

00:41:01.271 --> 00:41:02.375
They're like thanks for the offer but no thanks.

00:41:02.394 --> 00:41:04.061
Yeah, to persuade them to relocate, but they liked their location.

00:41:04.061 --> 00:41:04.925
They had everything they needed.

00:41:04.925 --> 00:41:06.829
They're like thanks for the offer, but no thanks.

00:41:06.829 --> 00:41:16.577
They've been sustaining on this land for decades For generations really so, with enough land acquired, but not all.

00:41:17.264 --> 00:41:23.903
The park was officially established as a unit of the National Park Service in 1934.

00:41:23.903 --> 00:41:29.644
Okay, okay, and at this point it was added to the list of actual US national parks Nice.

00:41:29.644 --> 00:41:36.498
So as the sister story spread locally, they garnered some sympathy for standing their ground.

00:41:36.498 --> 00:41:40.494
Authorities were kind of wary of the bad publicity.

00:41:40.494 --> 00:41:48.416
Um for like this brand new national park and you guys suck because you're like booting out people whatever tainted.

00:41:48.556 --> 00:42:03.273
It's supposed to be this good thing, but they tainted it with like, hey, get the fuck out of our new park, right, exactly so the park commission um decided not to file a condemnation lawsuit against the walkers, even though they had the power to do so.

00:42:03.273 --> 00:42:07.393
They had the power to force them out, is all that's saying.

00:42:07.505 --> 00:42:12.228
Yes, it is an eminent domain lawsuit, yeah, which is again kind of shitty.

00:42:12.228 --> 00:42:13.873
Yeah, but they didn't do it.

00:42:13.873 --> 00:42:20.177
Surprisingly, yeah, so it would have painted the park in bad light obviously.

00:42:20.338 --> 00:42:25.092
Yeah, and they were trying to sell this as a new Look at this new, shiny, newfangled thing.

00:42:25.092 --> 00:42:29.547
You want to come here and spend some money, whatever.

00:42:29.768 --> 00:42:32.871
So for several years the Walker sisters stayed.

00:42:32.871 --> 00:42:34.490
There was no bargain or whatever.

00:42:34.490 --> 00:42:46.556
The National Park couldn't be fully consolidated without the Walker Farm, but the sisters wouldn't budge, and it wasn't until 1939 that negotiation started again.

00:42:46.916 --> 00:42:47.217
Okay.

00:42:47.465 --> 00:42:49.625
And by this time the sisters had an attorney.

00:42:49.625 --> 00:42:55.974
It was probably a friend, you know that lives down the street, but there's some butter.

00:42:55.974 --> 00:43:04.817
So in 1939, their land was appraised at $5,466, which is about 135135,000.

00:43:04.836 --> 00:43:06.300
One up 12 grand in this day and age.

00:43:11.144 --> 00:43:14.248
But the sisters countered by demanding $7,000.

00:43:14.269 --> 00:43:16.492
$173,000 in today.

00:43:16.492 --> 00:43:17.795
That's not a lot of fucking money.

00:43:18.556 --> 00:43:21.420
Park officials were like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

00:43:21.420 --> 00:43:25.626
That's a lot of money back then.

00:43:25.626 --> 00:43:37.150
Yeah, a lot of the other locals had accepted much less price per acre that's their fault yeah, so, but the walkers were like so what this land?

00:43:37.150 --> 00:43:41.335
Is our land is this land, is our land this?

00:43:41.436 --> 00:43:42.958
land is your land.

00:43:42.958 --> 00:43:43.539
Wait, that's.

00:43:43.539 --> 00:43:44.460
That's not a good thing.

00:43:44.925 --> 00:43:50.916
This land is your land, fuck from california to the new york, I don't know.

00:43:50.916 --> 00:43:53.065
Islands, I don't know I.

00:43:53.385 --> 00:44:01.679
I have not heard that or sung that song in decades so same well done on that, but let's move on, shall we?

00:44:02.018 --> 00:44:05.744
so finally, in late 1940, a compromise was reached.

00:44:05.744 --> 00:44:31.753
President franklin d roosevelt officially dedicated great smoky national great smoky mountains national park in september 1940, and soon after the walker sisters agreed to sell 122 acres of their property for 4750, so not even the original appraised price of 5 000.

00:44:31.753 --> 00:44:38.048
Why did it go down 250, I don't know, but in today's money it's about 717 000.

00:44:39.170 --> 00:44:40.831
That's still not enough.

00:44:40.831 --> 00:44:51.340
I mean, I live on just over two acres and we paid on a house obviously on the property A lot more than that.

00:44:51.760 --> 00:44:54.264
Yeah, jesus Christ.

00:44:54.264 --> 00:44:56.347
So the deal came with a condition.

00:44:56.347 --> 00:45:09.474
Okay, the sisters received a lifetime lease to continue living in their cabin and using a small surrounding parcel of land for the rest of their lives.

00:45:09.474 --> 00:45:14.518
So, in other words, the US government owned the land, but they got to live there.

00:45:14.518 --> 00:45:19.702
They got to live there until every last one of them passed, and then it would officially go to the government.

00:45:20.621 --> 00:45:21.702
Oh, okay.

00:45:23.045 --> 00:45:25.891
Well, that's a little different, which is also what a lot of people did in centralia.

00:45:26.431 --> 00:45:39.929
yeah, they had these lifetime leases yeah, okay, so I mean I get that, so they were able to still live off the land they had smaller use of the land but they still were able to.

00:45:39.929 --> 00:45:43.197
Instead of having 100 apple trees, they had to.

00:45:43.706 --> 00:45:52.409
Whatever it might have been, yeah, you know, okay, gotcha so the official transfer of the land took place on january 22nd 1941.

00:45:52.409 --> 00:46:10.561
Okay, right, as tenant on national park land, the walker sisters now had some regulations right they, so they couldn't hunt, they couldn't fish, they were restricted to like certain parts to cut wood, but not other parts which I get.

00:46:10.641 --> 00:46:11.804
Yeah, man, that sucks.

00:46:11.844 --> 00:46:36.632
They've been hunting and fishing on this property for decades but now it's all protected, yeah yeah, wow, that's fucked up they could keep gardening and raise a limited number of livestock, a few cows and chickens, but they had to adapt, without the hog hunting or letting their cattle roam freely, which they used to do, sure, but as a pretty large adjustment.

00:46:36.632 --> 00:46:41.773
The Walker sisters still thrived, right, right, and they didn't want to push anything.

00:46:43.244 --> 00:47:00.088
No, because they just wanted to honestly live on their land yeah is what it really ultimately was right so the first few years after the 1940 um exchange, um they lived quietly in their little cove, um they've they kept a low profile.

00:47:00.088 --> 00:47:06.505
But in april 1946, so one of the sisters had passed by now- the year before.

00:47:06.505 --> 00:47:17.327
Yeah the saturday evening post, one of a popular magazine of the time yeah feature a story on the walker sisters okay okay.

00:47:17.327 --> 00:47:26.753
The article was titled time stood Stood Still in the Smokies, and it was written by a journalist, john Maloney, who had visited the sisters earlier.

00:47:27.273 --> 00:47:27.574
Okay.

00:47:28.155 --> 00:47:32.757
So Maloney portrayed the walkers as like living relics from another century.

00:47:32.978 --> 00:47:34.079
Well, I mean the way they lived.

00:47:34.079 --> 00:47:37.521
Yeah, honestly, because they just I'm sure they didn't have a car right.

00:47:38.001 --> 00:47:38.121
No.

00:47:38.382 --> 00:47:41.405
I would assume, no, because where?

00:47:41.405 --> 00:47:41.887
They lived.

00:47:41.887 --> 00:47:48.284
They didn't need one, they just walked around their property, whatever we're going, we don't, we don't need roads okay, we're back to the future.

00:47:48.284 --> 00:47:51.088
It is um jesus.

00:47:51.088 --> 00:47:54.652
Uh, why?

00:47:54.652 --> 00:48:00.257
I just I was gonna say something and now I have nothing.

00:48:04.025 --> 00:48:04.105
Okay.

00:48:04.105 --> 00:48:07.431
So Maloney says.

00:48:07.431 --> 00:48:21.094
He opens the article with quote deep in the mountains of East Tennessee the Walker sisters are still living in the early 19th century and finding it not so bad either End quote Well, that's all they knew, yeah, so they wouldn't find it bad at all, they didn't.

00:48:21.114 --> 00:48:22.123
They didn't find it bad at all, they didn't.

00:48:22.123 --> 00:48:23.528
They didn't need no nothing else.

00:48:23.528 --> 00:48:24.831
They didn't need no nothing.

00:48:24.831 --> 00:48:34.059
I mean shit, we got everything we need right here I don't need no man I got two hands and a cool box house thing.

00:48:34.059 --> 00:48:35.706
Whatever what the was the name spring house.

00:48:35.907 --> 00:48:37.489
Okay, oh, the spring house.

00:48:37.489 --> 00:48:44.402
So maloney um treated the sisters in his article out of respect.

00:48:44.402 --> 00:48:50.777
He describes spending a leisurely afternoon with margaret, who was 75 at the time do they have tea and crumpets?

00:48:50.777 --> 00:49:12.025
No, that wasn't part of my research martha, who was 68, louisa, who's 62, and heady, who was 56 and he watched them perform like their daily tasks, as their pioneer ancestors basically would have right the article painted a picture of the sisters kind of grinding meal in a hand.

00:49:12.085 --> 00:49:23.280
Crank uh corn mill cutting wood for the fire, shearing sheep, drying sheep skins suddenly you said sharing she sharing sheep.

00:49:23.300 --> 00:49:24.340
Like, why are they sharing them?

00:49:24.385 --> 00:49:28.391
that's weird spinning thread, etc.

00:49:28.552 --> 00:49:37.880
Right, so the readers of this magazine were fascinated like I want to go see this, yes, so they did it become an attraction, they kind of did.

00:49:37.922 --> 00:49:38.483
that's wild.

00:49:38.483 --> 00:49:48.135
Yeah, they were living in a log cabin with no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and people are like, how, I want to see this.

00:49:48.135 --> 00:49:49.969
Yeah, I want to see this.

00:49:49.969 --> 00:49:51.811
Well, I mean, you can think about it.

00:49:51.811 --> 00:49:56.177
We had supermarkets and department stores and radios and cars.

00:49:56.847 --> 00:49:58.342
So this article came out in 46.

00:49:58.342 --> 00:49:58.664
46.

00:49:58.664 --> 00:50:00.045
So I mean, you think about it.

00:50:00.045 --> 00:50:04.530
By that time a lot of people had not lived that way in a very long time.

00:50:05.231 --> 00:50:11.536
They might have had their father and or even grandfather that did, but a lot of them did not live that way.

00:50:11.536 --> 00:50:17.922
So to this is like this newfangled old thing, basically because they're like wait what, this still exists.

00:50:17.922 --> 00:50:20.451
Yeah, I only read about this shit.

00:50:20.451 --> 00:50:34.967
Yeah, that's wild that you know people would be like I need to fucking find out exactly what's going on with these walk assistance so what millions of readers really liked were the personal anecdotes and quotes from the sisters that they that were included in this.

00:50:34.989 --> 00:50:37.253
Do you have some examples, probably?

00:50:37.253 --> 00:50:43.317
Oh, jesus christ some of them were about, like their stubborn mule.

00:50:44.385 --> 00:50:46.550
Like are they talking about the sisters, or an actual mule?

00:50:46.831 --> 00:50:47.713
An actual mule.

00:50:47.733 --> 00:50:49.318
Okay, do they have a name?

00:50:50.706 --> 00:50:51.389
I don't think so.

00:50:51.389 --> 00:50:55.313
Oh dear, okay, you ask such weird questions.

00:50:55.313 --> 00:50:59.311
How many nephews did they have?

00:51:00.045 --> 00:51:01.030
I don't fucking know.

00:51:01.144 --> 00:51:18.726
I said nieces and nephews to be fair heady the youngest with an ie joked about her, her nephews in the army and having wool socks sent to them and being old maid, aunts and everything and they're like oh my god, we love that so much.

00:51:18.726 --> 00:51:26.599
Um margaret commented that the sheep, come you know, if there was a man nearby Around pants, yeah.

00:51:26.599 --> 00:51:28.469
So, anecdotes.

00:51:29.871 --> 00:51:30.815
Anecdotes abound.

00:51:30.994 --> 00:51:31.516
Mm-hmm.

00:51:31.516 --> 00:51:43.409
Margaret also described their mule's obstinance, his stubbornness, and she said none of us can cuss at it, it, which is the only thing that's going to get this mule to do anything.

00:51:43.409 --> 00:52:02.114
None of none of them cussed none of them at all no but, that means, the mule just doesn't do, it do anything they didn't let a shit slip no, nothing wow, they were devout baptists catholic light so the saturday evening post.

00:52:02.653 --> 00:52:24.947
It was a sensational article sold so many copies it gave this walker sisters now national publicity overnight exposure yep letters began pouring in from people who had read about them, letters tourists who visited the new mount smoky mountains park suddenly had like a human attraction.

00:52:24.947 --> 00:52:34.972
So by the late 1940s thousands of visitors started coming around to their little homestead it's kind of like a human zoo yeah, yeah.

00:52:34.972 --> 00:52:38.838
So all of a sudden, attention was everywhere.

00:52:38.838 --> 00:52:41.010
The sisters valued their privacy.

00:52:41.530 --> 00:52:56.286
Right, we are not a museum, we're not a zoo we're not an attraction and streams of like these uninvited guests kept showing up and the walker sisters reportedly put out a keep out or a no trespassing sign at the end of their, their lane.

00:52:56.286 --> 00:53:00.134
Sure, and of course that didn't stop the admiration.

00:53:00.134 --> 00:53:01.275
No, of course not.

00:53:01.275 --> 00:53:12.936
People came with gifts, aw, they called out greetings, they were eager for a glimpse of the sisters, and realizing that turning everyone away was probably a little bit futile.

00:53:12.936 --> 00:53:23.554
And they noticed hmm, I wonder if we could make some money, I mean not exorbitant, just like a little side gig To help pay for some, you know, baking soda.

00:53:24.565 --> 00:53:27.856
What the kids would call it a side hustle, side hustle exactly.

00:53:28.505 --> 00:53:32.235
They took down the sign and replaced it with one that said visitors welcome.

00:53:32.755 --> 00:53:33.418
Of course they did.

00:53:33.965 --> 00:53:43.605
So for roughly the next decade, 1946 through the mid 1950s, the Walker sisters became park ambassadors and entrepreneurs oh well, there you go.

00:53:43.646 --> 00:53:44.668
I mean, why not?

00:53:44.867 --> 00:53:51.188
yeah, at that point so they began selling their homemade items and treats to the tourists um.

00:53:51.188 --> 00:53:53.974
They had their apple pies and crochet doilies.

00:53:53.974 --> 00:54:01.880
They had some handmade like children's toys made of like corn husk dolls kind of a thing I want a doily do you?

00:54:02.402 --> 00:54:03.545
can I get a bacher sister?

00:54:03.545 --> 00:54:07.001
Doily, sure do you think they're still around there's probably music.

00:54:07.021 --> 00:54:10.730
Well, there is a museum, so you might see a doily there.

00:54:10.730 --> 00:54:13.375
Spoiler alert fuck uh.

00:54:13.375 --> 00:54:54.083
Louise's handwritten poems were also available to buy one of a kind so the national park service, um, initially erected an informal sign on the main highway, which was route 73, posting the way to the sisters homes, so it made it easier for the tourists to find and on peak summer days the sisters might have received like dozens of drop-ins, curious families, and a visitor in 1948 might find all five sisters on the porch sewing shelling beans, ready to chat about the olden days that are still in.

00:54:56.266 --> 00:54:57.231
How do you shell a bean?

00:54:57.231 --> 00:55:02.215
Is that just like take the seeds out, or what's shelling a bean?

00:55:03.177 --> 00:55:24.027
yes, that's exactly what shelling a bean is wasn't a part of my research so as the years wore on yes, we're in the 50s, yeah the hospitality kind of was starting to become a burden well, you know they weren't getting old.

00:55:24.849 --> 00:55:28.978
Well, you said the youngest one was in 56 yeah, 50s.

00:55:28.978 --> 00:55:31.588
So I mean, yeah, another decade.

00:55:31.588 --> 00:55:42.353
She's in her late 60s, now mid to late 60s, and the other one, the oldest one, was in her, would have been in her 80s or close to right um, let's see, here she was what did I say?

00:55:42.353 --> 00:55:52.376
68 or no 72, I don't know she was 75, the oldest was 75 yeah, so a decade later she'd be 85.

00:55:52.458 --> 00:55:53.820
I mean, yeah, fuck yeah.

00:55:53.820 --> 00:56:03.518
So the walker sisters were aging and by 1950s the number kind of had dwindled a little bit.

00:56:03.518 --> 00:56:07.494
Hedy died, the youngest died in 1947.

00:56:07.514 --> 00:56:08.637
Oh wow, really that's wild.

00:56:08.724 --> 00:56:16.710
Martha died in 1951, and that left Margaret, the oldest, and Louisa, kind of the middle child, to perform all the farm work and the constant interruptions with tourism.

00:56:16.710 --> 00:56:17.010
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:56:17.010 --> 00:56:19.152
So by 1953, margaret was 82.

00:56:19.152 --> 00:56:21.514
And the constant interruptions with tourism, yeah.

00:56:21.514 --> 00:56:26.137
So by 1953, margaret was 82 and Louisa was 70.

00:56:26.137 --> 00:56:26.878
Damn.

00:56:26.878 --> 00:56:30.400
And they finally decided I think it's time we rest.

00:56:30.800 --> 00:56:32.262
Yeah, I think we're done.

00:56:39.744 --> 00:56:45.248
So in January 1953, the two surviving sisters talked to the park superintendent and they took down the visitors welcome sign at the end of or on the highway.

00:56:45.248 --> 00:56:45.972
Yeah, okay.

00:56:45.972 --> 00:56:55.195
So in their letter they explained that they were kind of no longer physically able to entertain crowds as much and and keep up with all the chores.

00:56:55.195 --> 00:56:57.427
And right, they're old, I mean.

00:56:57.427 --> 00:57:02.858
So they said, quote there's just two of the sisters lives at the old home place.

00:57:02.858 --> 00:57:05.324
One is 70, the other 82.

00:57:05.324 --> 00:57:07.364
And we can't receive so many visitors.

00:57:07.364 --> 00:57:11.387
We can't make souvenirs to sell like we once did Last year.

00:57:11.387 --> 00:57:12.411
We had so many people.

00:57:12.411 --> 00:57:16.014
It kept us busy from sunup till sundown besides our own work.

00:57:16.014 --> 00:57:22.356
Right, and they also added we may want to receive them again, but we want to rest a while.

00:57:22.956 --> 00:57:23.577
I don't blame them.

00:57:23.577 --> 00:57:29.157
I know that's nice that they recognize that and said you know, we're too old yeah.

00:57:29.157 --> 00:57:32.474
Let's kind of we need a break, we're tired yeah.

00:57:33.226 --> 00:57:37.621
So the road sign was removed and the visitors started to trickle off.

00:57:37.621 --> 00:57:40.208
You know Right, and it was.

00:57:40.208 --> 00:57:41.833
It became quiet again.

00:57:41.833 --> 00:57:44.487
Trickle off, you know right, um, and it was.

00:57:44.487 --> 00:57:44.927
It became quiet again.

00:57:44.927 --> 00:57:52.608
Neighbors still came by to like check in on them, and family members would visit from time to time the younger brother, giles um, who had given up his share earlier.

00:57:52.608 --> 00:58:00.831
He would occasionally stay with them and, uh, eventually he he did end up staying with him for a while and then his health failed and he died as well.

00:58:00.971 --> 00:58:01.472
Oh Jesus.

00:58:01.773 --> 00:58:07.063
So in December 1962, Margaret passed away in the log house.

00:58:07.282 --> 00:58:08.005
That's the oldest one.

00:58:08.306 --> 00:58:09.456
At 92 years old.

00:58:09.456 --> 00:58:15.797
Wow, jesus and Louisa lived alone in the cabin for a while, tending to the fireplace and et cetera.

00:58:15.797 --> 00:58:20.635
She died in July 1964 at the age of 81.

00:58:20.635 --> 00:58:24.195
Jesus, yes, in july 1964 at the age of 81.

00:58:24.195 --> 00:58:30.621
Jesus, yes, according to the agreement, yeah, the property fully reverted to the national park service upon louise's death yep, which is what it was supposed to be.

00:58:30.922 --> 00:58:36.293
Yeah, so so their cabin yeah, still exists, I figured as much.

00:58:36.293 --> 00:58:39.679
Yes, I would imagine it's a an attraction.

00:58:39.798 --> 00:58:47.539
Yes, at the park so if anybody knows of this area, it is located in the park near Metcalfe Bottoms, which is around a little stream.

00:58:47.539 --> 00:58:52.514
Visitors can hike to it, which is a moderate trail about a mile long.

00:58:52.514 --> 00:58:58.536
Okay, the original log cabin, the spring house and the corn crib still stand.

00:58:58.536 --> 00:59:08.938
Oh, wow, they are maintained as historic sites, sure, and the place was added to the national register of historic places in 1916 excuse me, 1976.

00:59:08.938 --> 00:59:09.739
Oh, that's cool.

00:59:09.820 --> 00:59:15.949
yeah, so, margaret the oldest yeah she was born in 1870, died in 1962.

00:59:15.949 --> 00:59:17.070
She was 92.

00:59:17.070 --> 00:59:24.117
Yeah, mary polly, or polly, she was born 1875, died 1945.

00:59:24.117 --> 00:59:24.938
She was 70.

00:59:24.938 --> 00:59:30.065
Wow, martha was born 1877, died in 1951.

00:59:30.065 --> 00:59:31.148
She was 73.

00:59:31.148 --> 00:59:37.574
Okay, nancy, she was, uh, born in 1880 and died in 1931.

00:59:37.574 --> 00:59:38.677
She was 51.

00:59:38.677 --> 00:59:42.501
Louise was the last to pass.

00:59:42.501 --> 00:59:46.876
She was born in 1882 and died in 1964.

00:59:46.876 --> 00:59:47.927
She was 81.

00:59:47.927 --> 00:59:54.838
And Hedy, the younger, she was born in 1889 and died in 1947, and she was 58.

00:59:54.838 --> 00:59:57.692
And that is the story of the Walker sisters.

00:59:57.771 --> 00:59:58.454
That's crazy.

00:59:58.454 --> 01:00:07.827
I mean it's kind of cool that I'm glad they held out and were able to eventually work out a deal where they still got to live there even though it wasn't their land kind of thing.

01:00:07.827 --> 01:00:18.371
Yeah, um, I mean, their family lived there from the 70s and it's nice that they were able to live their lives out on this property.

01:00:18.431 --> 01:00:39.858
So and there's I don't know if it's like HGTV or A&E or something like that, but there's a couple like shows that feature um the sister story and then they like go through tours of the cabin and there's like family friends that are still alive that will say, oh yeah, I grew up, you know, over here and we, we would come over and help them with their chores and dah, dah, dah dah.

01:00:40.139 --> 01:00:45.202
I would assume they still have some family alive today then if they had nieces and nephews and all that stuff.

01:00:45.202 --> 01:00:50.215
So that's good to hear as well, but have you ever been to the Smoky Mountains?

01:00:51.206 --> 01:00:55.536
I think I've driven near-ish because I've been to North Carolina.

01:00:56.465 --> 01:01:01.250
Well, I mean, I've been to North Carolina too, but I flew there, that's fair, I did fly.

01:01:01.250 --> 01:01:03.117
Yeah, to north carolina too, but I flew there, so that's fair.

01:01:03.117 --> 01:01:14.402
I did fly, yeah, but um, I wonder if sarah I'm pretty sure, because sarah used to live in tennessee for for a bit yeah, I'll have to ask her, yeah, if she's ever been to that park or anything, because she and I like to go to national parks.

01:01:14.443 --> 01:01:21.007
I love going to national parks yeah I typically tend to visit the same ones because I like going to the same, like colorado or whatever.

01:01:21.007 --> 01:01:24.375
But yeah, I really want to go to uh Yosemite.

01:01:24.375 --> 01:01:26.318
I'd like to go that.

01:01:26.318 --> 01:01:27.541
And what's the uh?

01:01:27.541 --> 01:01:29.786
Is it Glacier National Park?

01:01:29.786 --> 01:01:30.467
Is that what it's called?

01:01:30.467 --> 01:01:33.333
I think up in is that Montana?

01:01:33.333 --> 01:01:35.637
No, no, no oh, that's Denali.

01:01:35.637 --> 01:01:37.432
Denali National Park.

01:01:37.432 --> 01:01:38.456
That sounds right.

01:01:38.456 --> 01:01:40.003
I'm getting them all confused.

01:01:40.003 --> 01:01:44.552
Yeah, no, I definitely want to go to Yosemite, though I've never been there.

01:01:44.552 --> 01:01:46.414
What's the other one?

01:01:46.954 --> 01:01:47.815
There's Yellowstone.

01:01:47.856 --> 01:01:48.617
Yellowstone.

01:01:48.617 --> 01:01:49.719
I'd like to go there.

01:01:49.719 --> 01:01:58.474
I've never been there either, so those are two on my radar for the hopefully not too distant future, but I'll probably go to Colorado next.

01:02:00.306 --> 01:02:02.012
How was your Coors Banquet?

01:02:02.626 --> 01:02:03.750
It reminded me of the mountains.

01:02:04.090 --> 01:02:05.315
Good, yeah Good.

01:02:05.405 --> 01:02:07.512
Now I want to go to the mountains.

01:02:07.532 --> 01:02:08.034
I know you do.

01:02:08.525 --> 01:02:09.429
How was your Modelo?

01:02:09.871 --> 01:02:10.574
It's delicious.

01:02:10.574 --> 01:02:12.028
I have a little bit left.

01:02:12.411 --> 01:02:12.632
You do.

01:02:12.632 --> 01:02:14.612
Yeah, you're about to finish it, yeah.

01:02:15.945 --> 01:02:17.110
Well, that's all I got.

01:02:17.632 --> 01:02:19.748
Well, I suppose All right, buffoons.

01:02:19.748 --> 01:02:21.170
That's it for today's episode.

01:02:21.751 --> 01:02:25.018
Buckle up, because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you.

01:02:25.018 --> 01:02:33.036
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01:02:33.284 --> 01:02:34.610
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01:02:34.610 --> 01:02:39.336
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01:02:39.336 --> 01:02:43.394
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01:02:43.394 --> 01:02:45.327
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01:02:45.648 --> 01:02:57.887
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