The keeping of the world longest fire in Holbert Cove
I have the newspaper for this story if anyone is interested:
The Keeping of the fire For 164 years the Morris family in Saluda kept `the oldest fire in the world` burning The mythology of nearly all early peoples contains some account of accidental or supernatural happings which first revealdd fire to human beings. Because fire was so hard to produce, custom soon became common of keeping a public fire, which was never allowed to die our With the magic of fire mankind could keep predators away and sit in comfort and security. He could cook his food and have warmth and light. Around the circle of fire grew fellowship and communion. Families gathered around the hearth for secruity, warmth, food, litht and a sense of togatherness So it is not strang that the preservation of fire was an essential part of the life of people who first moved into Western North Carolina. Matches----the safe, dependable and economical kind----were not commonly available until World War 1. The flint and steel method of firemaking could be time-cosuming and difficult. Newly married couples always took some fire with them when starrting a new home. If a fire went out people had to `borrow` fire from a neighbor. Jack Jones of Fruitland tells the story his father, Hix Jones told him about borrowing fire `In 1892, when Daddy was about 10-years-old he spent the night with his sister Julie and her husband Frank Justus. They had only been married a short time. Julie and Frank wer the parents of Earnest Justus, former principal of East Henderson High School. `Being newlyewds they neglected the fire that night and the next morning it was out. The weather was bitter cold with about five inches of snow on the ground. `They lived about three-fourths of a mile below Frank`s parents (William Davenport Justus and Nancy Pittillo Justus) in a small cabin not far from today`s Peter Guice Bridge which crowwes Green River. `Frank and Julie sent Daddy up to Mr. Justus to get some fire so they could have some heat and cook breakfast. He went on up there and grought some hot coals from their house back down to the house on a piece of bark. `He said he figured they knew how to start a fire with a piece of flint and steel and some charred rag of black gunnpower, but they thoutht it would be faster to just have him go after some. `The oldest fire in the world` For 164 years four generations of the Morris family kept a fire going in the Holbert Cove area of Saluda that has been called `the oldest fire in the world` Billy Morris, who died in 1944 at the age of 84, spent his life keeping the fire going The original `chunk of wood` was laid in 1780, Morris told writers in the 1930s and 40s. The Morris fire became so famous that Billy was asked to appear on a national radio show out of New Yory City and his story was written in newspapers across the country. Ed Leland of Saluda took Morris to New York City in 1937 for the radio show `He talked a few minutes and played a fiddle on the radio, Leland said On the
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Edwin Peeler 4/10/07
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misty estrada 9/04/09
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Re: The keeping of the world longest fire in Holbert Cove
Edwin Peeler 3/26/10
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Re: The keeping of the world longest fire in Holbert Cove
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Re: The keeping of the world longest fire in Holbert Cove