While the nation tuned into protests and parades — and some faced violence — in the quiet Appalachian town of Clintwood, around a hundred people gathered on June 14 to celebrate something enduring: community.
They came to rededicate Echoes, a mural by Ellen Elmes and 13 local artists, recently restored with the help of our Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program. In the mural’s many stories, and in Saturday’s Mural and Mountain Traditions Festival, you could feel the pulse of a place that knows itself and cares deeply about its own. In that way, it was an ideal occasion to also celebrate Virginia Humanities’ 50th anniversary.
“If you think about that word humanities, and you take out the ‘I’ in the middle, you have human ties, and that’s what Virginia Humanities is about, and that’s what this project has been about,” Ellen said during the Echoes rededication. “It was about that back in 2001 when we had a class of 22 people who originated this design — they wrangled over it, thought about it, brought really great perspectives and opinions, to put all this together to represent this region.”
Artist Ellen Elmes speaks during the rededication of the restored Echoes mural outside the Jettie Baker Center.
Clintwood, population 1,300, is nestled in the coal country of Dickenson County, in Southwest Virginia on the Kentucky line. It made headlines in 1948 with the election of an all-women town council — the “Petticoat Government.” Today, its downtown is anchored by the Ralph Stanley Museum and the Jettie Baker Center on Main Street, both venues on the Crooked Road.
Mayor Danny Lambert, who has served on Town Council since 1992, helped make downtown “pretty” for the day: colorful baskets of petunias hung from light posts and the community center steps. Mayor Lambert was in many ways responsible for the day’s success; along with supporting the mural restoration, he recruited Jenna Taylor, then a high school student, to join Ellen’s Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Team with Renée Weinecke.
Many contributors wore multiple hats. Scarlett Gilley — aka DJ Katy Ray on WMMT 88.7FM radio — painted family names onto the mural’s cemetery scene, promoted the event on air, and came with four generations in tow. Local librarian Kim Rose organized a quilt display by the members of the Crooked Road Quilt; Kelly Mullins Rose, a Dickensen County 4H teacher, led a barn quilt workshop while reminiscing about teaching one of the day’s musicians as a child.
Sammy Yates, lead musician of the Clinch Mountain Echo, learned bluegrass jamming in Dr. Ralph Stanley’s living room. His grandfather, Frank Newsome, was in attendance with several family members including his brother Junior. Frank is a master of lining out a cappella gospel hymns in the Old Regular Baptist Style, for which he was recognized with a Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship in 2007 and a National Heritage Award Fellowship in 2011.
Kelly Mullins Rose (far left), a Dickensen County 4H teacher, led a barn quilt workshop. The Boys from Bristol, Easton Compton and Eamon Russell, are an up-and-coming bluegrass duet who performed outside The Well on Main. The boy’s grandparents lived in Dickensen County.
Other Virginia Folklife artists filled the day with music, storytelling, and demonstrations: Alice Gerrard and Sophie Moeckel (2024) joined Kay Justice (2016) for a set following Kathy Swanson Coleman’s (2009) storytelling; Erin Simons (2024) demonstrated broom making at the Ralph Stanley Museum.
Even the visitors had stories. A couple from Pikeville, KY arrived early, sharing photos of a mural the wife had painted in their bathroom — proof that the pull of art, like kinship, crosses state lines.
Erin Simons, who learned the craft of broom making through our 2024–2025 Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program, demonstrated at the Ralph Stanley Museum. 2024–2025 Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Team members Sophie Moeckel (left) and Alice Gerrard pose for a photo.
And then there was Jim Childress. Town council member, father to our planning partner Sara at the Jettie Baker Center, and creator of unique Steel Memories sculptures. His voice cracked as he described what Echoes means to him:
“I’m going to talk a little bit about who I am. And who I am is right up there. That’s my history. My grandfather Childress moved across this Pine Mountain when he was a kid, 6 years old, him and his family moved over here, and have farmed and done all these things. He worked for Ritter Lumber, if you’ve ever heard of them. That’s been I guess a hundred years ago.
My family was big on the military, you see the military over here on the side. I think I have eight uncles and then into me and my brother and cousins and all who have served our country in the military.
I see mining up there. My dad and my uncles were mining, as well as myself. I worked most of that in my life. I see dinners on the ground. I have been to dinners on the ground, and I love them. I have been to baptisms. I have been to the cemetery where I left loved ones, left them behind. I want to mention one — and when I get nervous, I cry, so bear with me.
One of the original painters, Bill Wallace, is no longer with us, and he was a dear friend and a great artist. Quilting. My mother made — that’s not her quilt, I’m sure — but she has one exactly like this. She was a wonderful quilter. You see Aunt Jetty up there. Jetty Baker was my aunt. The woods had a big influence on all of our people. We coon hunted, we possum hunted, we squirrel hunted, we rabbit hunted, we fished. I love to fish. Flowers. Everything up there, all that. I have White Star [Café] stories. I have stories of the theater and the courthouse.
All those things come down to what you see here today. All those things made me, made this community, made this town that I’m a part of, and I thank God for all of those things. My ancestors, my family, I come from two wonderful families. All these things are here. And I thank every one of you who came out here to be with us today, and that’s all I’ve got to say about that. Thank you.”
—Jim Childress
Our Mural & Mountain Traditions Festival was a demonstration of the local talent and care for community present in Clintwood, and in every pocket of Virginia. The day was also evidence of how closely communities are woven together and how public humanities events like these resurface and strengthen those ties.
All of these are little acts of care make our shared places feel like home. They also add to the deep well of local culture. If you tune in, you will notice these gestures more. And if you see it all around you, you might just be motivated to add your personal act of care to your hometown.
This is how you close the gaps between people. By growing the common ground between us, let’s reclaim it, stand on it, and plant seeds.
