Old Photographs Depict Life in a Mountain Community Before the Turn Of the Century

This photograph was taken in 1890 and pictures shoppers at the Hillenberg & Kincer Store in Crockett, Virginia. Sindey Kincer's grandfather was Doctor Crockett Kincer, half owner of the store. Doctor was his actual first name and he was called "Doc." Click on photo or click here to see larger image.By Susan M. Thigpen © 1989

Issue: November, 1989

The Mountain Laurel is grateful to Mr. Sidney Kincer of Wytheville, Virginia for sharing his photographs and knowledge of the community of Crockett.

Photo # 1

This photograph was taken in 1890 and pictures shoppers at the Hillenberg & Kincer Store in Crockett, Virginia. Sindey Kincer's grandfather was Doctor Crockett Kincer, half owner of the store. Doctor was his actual first name and he was called "Doc."

Note the announcement for a minstrel show tacked to the upstairs wall. The shovels the men in the foreground are holding have all wooden handles.. The hand-holds are carved out of the single piece of wood that the handle is made of. A close look at the basket the man in the left foreground is carrying shows that it is split oak of the "egg basket" style.

Recent [1989] photograph of the Dix house on the hill above the Crockett Depot in Photo # 3.This building is still standing close to the present day post office and is pictured as it looked in the November 1989 BACKROADS tour.

Photo # 2

Recent [1989] photograph of the Dix house on the hill, above the Crockett Depot in Photo # 3.

Photo # 3

Photograph of the N. & W. Railroad Depot in 1872 in Crockett. The large house in the background is still standing today. It was the home of John Dix, the man the Kraut factory was named after. If you look between the depot and the white building to the right of it, you will see the Hillenberg & Kincer Store in the Photograph of the N. & W. Railroad Depot in 1872 in Crockett. The large house in the background is still standing today.background.