Appalachian History

Hemlock, WV was once a booming town that boasted two school houses, a post office and a general store. Today, only a few homes and the Mt. Olive United Methodist Church remain.

According to Hemlock area resident Stacy Hinkle, the rough winter weather may have been why many Hemlock natives moved away. “It was pretty rough going with the snow and the higher elevation,” she said, noting that some moved far away and others went just over the mountain to Tallmansville.



“We didn’t have electricity at first,” says neighbor Lillian Wilke, who grew up in nearby Queens. “But even when we did get it the snow would be so heavy in the winter we would be without electricity for weeks.”

Wilke said a few lucky people had radios to entertain themselves through the long winter months. As a child, she remembers how every fall her grandfather would go and buy a keg full of salt fish that the family could eat throughout the winter. Salt fish consisted of cleaned fish soaked in a salt brine and stored in wooden barrels.

Despite the uncertainty of electricity and the rough winter weather, Hemlock area residents were no strangers to socialization.

Wilke remembers when the town would hold Box Socials in which girls would decorate a box and fill it with candies and cookies; whoever bought the box got to eat the goodies with the girl.

http://theintermountain.com/communities/hemlock.asp