The Mail Box - May, 1987

Issue: May, 1987

Dear Editor,
I can't wait each month to get your Mountain Laurel Paper. It brings back so many memories of my childhood days. I really enjoy it.

I sure would like to meet Hammie and Arlie Cockram. My wife is a Cockran. The name is spelled a little different. I have been to Mabry Mill. Do they live close to there?

Thank you and keep up the good work!

P.E. Hill
Princeton, West Virginia

Dear Mr. Hill,
Yes, Hammie and Arlie Cockram live near the Blue Ridge Parkway where Mabry Mill is located. You can write to them at Route 1, Meadows of Dan, VA 24120 and introduce yourself. We hope you do visit our area and get to meet the many wonderful people who live here.

Susan Thigpen, Editor

Dear Mountain Laurel,
If you could please have another ad in your paper from "Historic Crab Orchard Museum" to order books. I ordered several and really enjoyed them.

Z. Mullins
Clintwood, Virginia

Dear Mr. Mullins,
We do not have a current list of the books that are available at Crab Orchard Museum, but if you write to them, I'm sure they will send you one. Their address is:

Historic Crab Orchard Museum
3663 Crab Orchard Road
Tazewell, Virginia 24651

Their phone number is (276) 988-6755 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If you can visit them, it is really an enjoyable interesting way to spend a day.

Susan Thigpen, Editor

The Mountain Laurel,
Delighted to find the Quilting Pattern and article in the March issue and want to encourage more.

Could this become a regular feature, devoted to sharing and preserving local handcrafts? "WORK IS LOVE MADE VISIBLE" was one of the strongest lessons from grandparents living in those mountains ... What better way to celebrate them?

S.C. Ley
Bethesda, Maryland

Dear Mrs. Ley,
Thank you for writing. I'm glad you enjoyed the quilt article. Yes, we are very interested in articles about heritage handicrafts and will be printing more in future issues. We would like for our readers to send stories of old crafts they continue to keep alive.

Susan Thigpen, Editor

Hi,
First of all, I would like to say how much we enjoy reading The Mountain Laurel. My husband, my son and myself are very much in appreciation of our heritage and just "love" the country life in Floyd County, Va.

We are transplants in Floyd Co. from Roanoke County. All our lives we grew up in Roanoke City or County, but every chance (really each weekend) we got as children and young adults, we went to Grandma and Papa's farm on Back Creek in Roanoke County. The first opportunity we got to buy property in Floyd County (after 16 years of marriage) we jumped on the chance. Since then our lives have been greatly blessed. Good friends and neighbors have truly enriched our life.

Our family heritage is so very important to us and we love to share it with everyone we know and love. We love antiques, especially "handed-down family treasures". Our families still continues to have family traditions and always enjoy each time we get together for good food, great country music and keeping our family heritage alive.

Thank you "Mt. Laurel" for being there to continue our "good ole days".

E. Dearing
Pilot, Virginia

Dear Mrs. Thigpen,
We received our first issue of The Mountain Laurel and can say we truly enjoyed its writing. We have previously bought this paper at a bookstore near Reidsville, N.C. (the store moved). So my husband's sister gave us a present of a subscription to the paper. We were pleased to have it as our Christmas '86 present.

The articles in The Mountain Laurel are so interesting and down to earth that we look forward to each publication. We hope this paper continues many years to come. I grew up in Memphis, Tenn., yet I love the mountainous country of N.C. and surrounding states.

Add my husband and me to your list of devoted readers.

L. Cobb
Ruffin, North Carolina

Dear Mountain Laurel,
We do like your paper so well. Here is a subscription for my son. I am sure he will like your paper as we do. We love the hills too. My other son has a trailer there and my son-in-law is building a cabin there for summertime use. It is more like a house, but we call it a cabin.

The folks in the hills are such wonderful folks. I wish our family had moved there long ago, but I am too old now, being 92. I was there last summer, but I don't know if I'll make it this year or not, but I hope so.

My daughter gets your paper and I live with her and her husband.

Thanks for your wonderful paper. We enjoyed Elizabeth's journal. Thank you all for such good reading.

Best wishes to all,

L. McLellon
Suffolk, VA

Dear Mrs. Thigpen & Staff,
I would like to send a gift subscription to a friend [who] hails from the Saltville, Big Stone Gap area, but like me, is a transplanted Virginian.

Your publication is so enjoyable to receive and such a good "change of pace" from other reading sources. I wish you success in 1987.

Best Regards,

Mr. P. Hallman
Beavercreek, Ohio

Dear Readers,
Mr. Hallman is the former publisher of the Floyd, Virginia newspaper, The Floyd Press.