Reunion Pictures

Doug Atwood Stories

Molasses Making

The sorghum was raised in the fields and chopped and brought in on a wagon. It was piled in a stack where the juice would be extracted.

A horse was harnessed and attached to a pole. As the horse walked around and around the two steel rollers turned. The pieces of sorghum were fed into two the rollers, which pressed the juice from the stalk.

The juice drained down and was collected. Buckets of the juice were carried to the barrel which hung on the outside of a building that contained the fire for cooking. The building had a door to enter and openings down the side for windows.

As they replaced the old wood fence with steel fence, the old rail was used as wood for the fire.

From the barrel hung on the outside of the building, the juice drained inside into a long shallow evaporating pan, which was probably stainless steel. The tray was divided with partitions and was heated by the fire. As the juice cooked and became thicker, the partitions were lifted to let it move down to other tray partitions. When it reached the end the juice had cooked down and had become thick. The molasses was poured into cans and sold.



Broom Making

The broom corn was raised for the top. After the tops was harvested, the rest was feed to the cows. The tops were bent over to keep the sweeps straight. Then the seeds were removed. A press held the broom together where a handle (saved from previous broom) and the top of the broom was wrapped with wire. The sweeps were then stitched with about four rows of string. The brooms were sold.

Honey Collecting

The Queen bee was put in the hive and the rest of the bees followed. A wooden box held the hive. When the honey was collected, the bees were calmed before collection with a smoker which was a can (about quart size) with some kinds of pump.

Grinding Grain for feed

They used an old car with a belt like those used on thrashing machines. The belt pulled the hammer mill. Every Saturday the grain was ground and collected in box under the mill. It was then bagged. Each farmer would grind enough for one week and would come back the following Saturday.

Jim Huffman caught fish which helped feed the family.

Other sources of money: Watermelons were under a big tree and sold for 3 cents per pound (some weighed 50 pounds), honey, eggs, and other farming endeavors.

Jack Huffman Remembers

My granddaddy James W. Huffman was a big man. He was strict, but also a friendly man. His kids listened to him, and us grandkids did to. I remember he drove a black 1937 Ford. We would go over there every Sunday evening when the watermelons were ripe. He had them laying there beside the house and would cut a couple big ones for us. For relaxation he would sit on the front porch in a big rocking chair and chew tobacco. On the farm they raised corn, oats, wheat and hay. They kept about 8 horses and a stallion. Granddaddy died after a stroke in 1950. He was in the hospital unconscious for about a week before he died. I remember seeing him in the hospital.

I remember Fannie, granddaddy’s second wife. She had a good personality and was really a talker. I also remember that she was a good cook. Granddaddy was the boss of the house.

I was about 21 before we moved to the farm in Stony Man. I was born at Ida. Dad and John Hoak built a grocery store in Ida and we lived upstairs. I was 3 weeks old when the store burned. There was a write up in the paper with headlines “Crying Baby Saves Family". I had the article, but can’t find it.

I was raised in Valleyburg across from granddaddy’s farm. I was about 7 years old when we got electricity. It was later when we had running water. I was a teenager before we got a television. On dad’s farm we had to do our chores. We did garden work, and fed hogs. I remember feeding the cattle when I was 7 or 8 years old. I helped to work horses too, jobs I could ride because I couldn’t handle the plow. Dad did some woodcraft in his later years. He made small pieces of furniture. The lumber came from Ida Hollow and the sawmill was on the farm.

I can remember when aunt Kathleen used to babysit us and she would always make me listen. I remember riding on the bus with her to the school in Luray. Daddy drove us to school in the bus he bought. It held about 20 people.



Molasses Making

Everyone raised their own sugar cane. I remember taking the horses to granddaddy's place before daylight on molasses day. I would ride one horse and lead another. The horses were used to pull the crusher that mashed the juice out of the cane. I remember granddaddy cooking molasses. He would stand there and skim off the top. It came down through a baffle, which is a wall or screen to deflect the flow of liquids. The juice started cooking up above and dropped in stages, then put in lard cans. Granddaddy had a reputation for being a good molasses maker, because he knew how to do it. I have a newspaper article about his molasses making.





Broom Making

I also remember granddaddy in the broom house making brooms. They raised broom corn on the farm to make the brooms. When the broom corn dried the seeds were removed. The machine pressed the broom corn and ran wire around the handle. They sewed the thread on by hand across the broom.

We had a Huckster business, which was to peddle or sell merchandise at bargain prices. We would drive to Washington, DC on Friday nights to sell chickens and eggs at the market on Saturday. Raymond Sours or Rufus Smith would drive the one and a half ton 1937 Chevrolet pickup truck. We would freeze in the winter because the heater in the truck didn’t work. We used a chicken plucker machine that cleaned the feathers from the chickens. We would pack the chickens in boxes of ice and have as many as 500 or more to sell. We would have 50 cases of eggs with 30 dozen each. The chickens sold for 35cents per pound and the eggs were 50 cents a dozen. Gas was 6 gallons for $1.00.

I remember going Bell Snickling when people dressed up in costumes and went to someone's house. They would have to guess who we were. We usually had refreshments afterwards.

I also remember Belling when the new groom had to ride on a rail or broom. I believe his new wife was pushed in a wheel barrow. Irene and I dodged them when we got married.

Robert (Johnny) stayed with us for awhile and went to school in Luray. I remember he used to ride old Dan the horse over to our house. One night after dark, when he was riding, Dan stumbled and fell. Dan got so staved up from his injury that he had to be put down. He was really old by this time.

Kathleen's Stories

My mother is the last living child of James Wm Huffman 3-25-1877 to 10-23-1950. This is the first story she blessed us with in writing:

By Kathleen Huffman Atwood Dorraugh

I grew up on the James Huffman farm on Ida Road in Luray. When I was young I had to do the milking of the cows and take them out to pasture. I had to get up early to milk, then run the milk through the separator to get the cream. The extra milk would be fed to the pigs. On Saturdays Dad would take the cream and sell it at the Creamery in Luray. Also we had eggs from the chickens, to sell for groceries. Sometimes I would have to walk the cows over to Oscar Bauserman's for more pasture. Usually we turned down behind the house to go to the mountain and creek. I went to the creek a lot. My friends Helen and Annie Hoak would go along and we would play in the water and watch the snakes swim.

My Dad was a loving father. My mother died when I was 10 months old. ( see My Motherless Mom) My brothers and sister helped to raise me. Dad would make brooms, homemade molasses, raise watermelon and cantaloupes to sell. He would gather the melons and start out early to Hollow Run and sell them. If someone didn't have the money, he would give them one.

In the Fall of the year Dad would start making molasses. He would get up early and work late. The horses would pull the sugar cane press and the juice would come out into a barrel trough. Then it was transferred to the molasses house where it was cooked in a big vat pan over the fire. Dad would use a big skimmer and stand there about all day watching it and keeping the fire going. We would pack his lunch and take it to him. When the molasses was done it would run off into a lard can. A cheese cloth over a sieve would catch all the pieces of sugar cane. It was a very exciting day. People would come by and watch. Dad would also make molasses for other people.


As a child, I remember a laughing spell while at the dinner table. Ray said to go out on the porch until I cooled off. When I came back in I could hardly keep a straight face, but I lived through it.

There was a big spring house on the property next door. I would take anything (food, milk) over there that needed to be cold. It also had the best spring water for drinking. My Aunt Flora Varner lived there and we would look after her, get her groceries and mail. Dad would take her to church on Sundays and she would give him 25 or 50 cents for gas.

Well, as I got older I got boy crazy and wanted to get married. Dad said if you could find a man like Harry Atwood it would be okay. So I did and had 5 lovely kids that I am very proud of. When I was dating, the boy friend had to leave by 10 pm. Dad would knock his wooden cane on the floor and that meant it was time for the boy friend to leave.







When Lloyd and Louise got married, I would walk over there and help with the kids. One day the kids were upstairs on a back porch, which they used for a playhouse, and there was a big black snake beside Jack. I grabbed Jack and ran with him down the stairs. A neighbor killed the snake and boy was it a big one.

When Bertha and Fred lived on the Printz place, I would walk over there and help with the kids. I went there one day when Doug was a baby and he was in the play pen with a pan of molasses. Bertha would put him there while she milked, then give him a bath when she finished. When they bought the Huffman place, I would walk down there and help Bert with things. Then my aunt Flora got sick and Bert took her in. Well, that was more work so I pitched in an helped as much as I could.

I don't remember much about growing up with Glenn and Melvin. They left home and got work in Pennsylvania. I do remember that when Melvin came to visit he always brought Hershey bars from the Hershey plant where he worked.

My step mother Fannie, was old and crippled with her legs hurting so badly. I tried to help her all that I could. We didn't have running water in the house so we had an outhouse, using chamber pots at night. My job was pot maid to empty them every day. We had to carry water from a well near the porch. Even without running water and inside bathroom we grew up happy.

Dad took in a girl named Emma Yates to raise. She lived with us until she got married, then she moved to Overall, Virginia. We would drive down to see her sometimes.

My sister Edna died young, she married Paul Gochenour from Mauertown, Virginia. They never had children. She is buried at Mt. Zion cemetery beside my Mom and Dad.

My Dad's favorite medicine was caster oil. It didn't matter what the pain was, he poked caster oil in us. It was really hard to swallow. I also used caster oil on my children. They didn't like it either.

I remember one day there was a basketball game after school. I asked if I could stay and walk home and Dad said no. Well, I stayed anyway, when I got home he met me under the pear tree with a twig and he spanked me. I didn't do that anymore. When he said no he meant it.

One day Robert and I took some rotten eggs down to the creek and threw them in the water. I got on the bridge and my head started to spin and down the creek I went. I finally got hold of a big rock and crawled out. We had hens to set on eggs to hatch little chicks, but if all didn't hatch we would destroy them.

Dad had a riding horse named Dan. The boys would ride him to wherever they wanted to go and when they arrived there, they let Dan loose and he would come home.

I remember when I started to school in the old school house in Stony Man, we had a very old teacher. I spit out the window and she saw me. She washed my mouth out with homemade soap. I sure didn't like that. We called her old lady Biggerstaff. Finally I got promoted to Luray school. My brother Lloyd drove for a while, then Sam Short drove too.

I would go home sometimes with my aunt Essie Varner and spend the night. I would also spend time with uncle Charlie Spitler and aunt Ella Strickler. It was a change from home.

In October of 1950 my Dad came to my house to eat lunch with the farmhands who were helping to pick corn. This turned out to be the last time we shared a meal together. When he was driving home on Farmview Road just a short distance from my house he had a stroke that caused him to wreck his car. My neighbor brought him to my house and my husband Harry Atwood and my brother Harry Huffman drove Dad to his home on Ida Road. The next day he was taken to the hospital. He lived less than 2 weeks after his stroke. He died October 23, 1950 and is buried at Mt. Zion Church of the Brethren in Luray, beside my mother.

Junior Spitler Remembers

My papa was Charles Spitler, Sr. Papa and uncle Jim (James W. Huffman ) owned 450 acres of mountain land called the Pinnacles. They would take cattle up to the mountain in May and leave them until fall. They would leave home about daylight and meet each other on the mountain. They would ride horseback up the mountain every two weeks to take salt and feed to the cattle. They had a cabin up there. The Appalachian Trail people wanted a trail through there, so they built a stone house near the spring and the property owners could use it. The government eventually took over the land for the park.

Uncle Jim's first wife was papa's sister aunt Kathryn (Katie) Spitler. I remember her as a very good person, who was friendly and a devoted mother of nine children. They were a very close family. She died at the age of 45 when her youngest child Kathleen was only 10 months old. After about 7 years uncle Jim married Fannie Hoak who helped raise the younger children.

Uncle Jim was a good Christian man who sat in the same church pew every Sunday. I believe his favorite seat was in the second row near the front of the church. He was a hardworking quite man and also a good mediator in solving conflicts. Uncle Jim was a stout man and hardworking farmer who liked horses, made brooms, and ran a molasses mill.













The molasses mill was down near the creek behind the farm house in Ida. The concrete block is still there today. My brother Clark who was a horse lover would stay with the horses that were used to walk around in circles to run the press. The sugar cane stalk was pressed between two round rollers. The rollers kept going as the horse walked in circles. The sugar cane juice was put in pans and then cooked.

Uncle Jim had cattle, work horses and raised grain. Old Dan was one of their most faithful riding horses. Dan is the horse that Melvin (Mike) rode to school. Mike and uncle Jim took the kids to school in a hack. The hack was like a wagon with a bed on the back with seats and was pulled by two work horses. Mike was the main one who drove. He liked to let someone else drive so he could shoot his slingshot along the way. One time coming through Stony Man he hit the telephone wire of old Mr. Andrew Comer and knocked out his phone service. I think Mr. Comer got after him for that.

Old Dan lived long enough for Harry, Ray and Mike to ride. One time Ray was up at Stony Man where we all gathered on Sunday. By golly, he would always bring old Dan who didn't like for two people to ride him. This Sunday evening Doc Spitler's daughter Melva and Mary Varner were there. Ray put both the girls on Dan and he started kicking up and threw Mary off. Melva was kind of a tomboy and she stayed on, but Mary couldn't stay on. I never forgot old Dan.





















Brooms were made from broom corn which was grown on the farm. The seeds were cleaned from the stalk and put in a broom machine. The handle was attached to the broom corn and uncle Jim would sew it. I have two original brooms that have never been used.

Vernon Huffman lived at the home-place of uncle Jim. Aunt Essie, uncle Jim's sister married Newt Varner, who was my wife Marie's brother. Aunt Essie and uncle Newt built a second house there near the home place.

The Varner sisters aunt Kate, Ellen and Becky lived across from the Ida farm. The old farm house had a long front porch and a cool spring house.

Growing up we used to play a game called Hidee Hoop (hide & seek) one person would hide their eyes while everyone else hid. The first person found was next to hide their eyes.

We had a General Store in Stony Man where we bought clothes and food. That was where we would hang out. We went to school in the old two room schoolhouse in Stony Man. We drove a pony and cart to school and carried drinking water for the school. We had a very strict teacher who walked very straight. Some of us called her old lady Biggerstaff. She lived on Doc Spitler's property. I understand Kathleen also remembers this teacher.

Still Looking for photos & stories

We are working on putting the stories from the booklet online. Coming soon! Please send your photos taken the day of the reunion so we can share them here with everyone.

Video taken at the Reunion