Taylor Barnhill:
Everything sped up. As new consumerism, a new kind of having money and the subsequent consumerism
related to that came more into play, it replaced traditional values and things – making your own stuff,
putting up your own food, working on your own truck to repair it and keep it in order. Now you could
drive down to Freddy Henderson's and he'd do it, because the road was paved. Or you could drive over
to Flag Pond or wherever. Now I can get to that new store in Erwin, Tennessee, so let's go there and
buy groceries. Glendora's business began to fall off, because she was the grocery store. So all of
those shifts in consumerism and value placed on being able to be self-sufficient and do things yourself.
Suddenly you didn't have to do them because you could go buy them. Not only did you have more money
because you were working outside the county, but you now had, you could get there in half the time.
- Taylor Barnhill, member of the Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition and a Madison County resident
Interview with Rob Amberg, November 29, 2000. Southern Oral History Project, UNC.
Click here to access the full interview.