The Mountain Laurel
The Journal of Mountain Life

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from the
Heart of the Blue Ridge


Interview of Bob Heafner (Audio)

By Bob Heafner © 2005

Online: June, 2005

This year, 2010, marks the 75th anniversary of The Blue Ridge Parkway and still the gravestones of the former slaves buried in The Slave Meadow have not been replaced.

In June of 2005, I received a call from Philip E. (Ted) Coyle, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, Western Carolina University, who was employed by the National Park Service to document the fact that slaves or former slaves were buried in The Slave Meadow at Meadows of Dan, Virginia.

We met on June 18, 2005, and the attached audio file is the complete unedited interview of me, Bob Heafner, regarding the unmarked slave graves on National Park Service land bordering the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Click here to listen to the interview.

Note: There is a short pause once you click the play icon before the interview begins.