New River Reunion

New River Reunion by Jennifer E. Smith Word of mouth has it that Ancestor was a runaway slave who searched bravely through the wilderness for "the valley of Virginia." 28 Every three years, 200 members of six mountain families travel from the Big Apple, Philly, the Nation's Capitol, and other metropolitan areas to crowd Henry's Hollow in the unmapped town of Talcott, West Virginia. Each year, Uncle Phil, Terry, Louis, Aunt Mable, Francis, Rocky and Miss Dancy slip away from the circles of gossip and food and spirits and climb the hill to Red's old place and sip old-fashioned corn liquor for three days starting Friday evening. "It's a shame," the religious sector of the family complains, but no one ever pays them any mind because it's ritual now. Nobody expects their return to the group until early Monday morning. Reluctantly, they pile into cars and vans and buses and head home to where cheap Wild Irish Rose and Schlitz Malt Liquor are stocked at the corner store. The sober folk look to the storytelling that the older members always lead. And it is at the picnic area near the New Rivers that the old tradition, a remnant from mother-Africa, thrives. And to set the sons and daughters of Ancestor, named so because no one knows his or her name, in the mood, there is always a soft thumping in the breeze as the older kin tell our history. Ancestor was a true pioneer, ready to take on the West, even if it meant conquering only Western Virginia, but without a train, plane, bus, or subway to ride, it was challenge enough for any man. Why Ancestor set out to explore the steep terrain venturing west instead of north to freedom is both baffling and peculiar. No one's been told the story. The question causes uneasiness in the clan at reunion time. Nevertheless, it is always asked and then mocked in silence . But it wasn't just by some quirk in a family's history that Ancestor settled on the banks of the New River. Due to the mountainous terrain and not to the mercy of white folk, slavery never flourished in the Alleghenies and so, for the most part, the clan lived as poor freedmen rather than as poor slaves. Word of mouth, a six-generation oral history, has it that Ancestor was a runaway slave who searched bravely through the wilderness for "the valley of Virginia" and instead discovered this beautiful place by accident. "The Valley" was a settlement of self-emancipated blacks who lived in the ways and customs of the homeland. In the tiny village a leader was chosen, polygamy practiced, land farmed, and traditional tribal ceremonies celebrated in spiritual remembrances of Africa. However, it was not long before the whites, in search of more and more land, discovered them, destroyed their village, stole their crops, and returned them to slavery. Ancestor never found The Valley, but rather instead reasoned that the Native American Way would be the next best thing, so he or she hung out with the Cherokees. Ancestor later settled on a bank overlooking the oldest river, 355 million years old to be exact, on the North American Continent. Not that Ancestor gave a damn about the claim geologists would make over a century later about the New River, only that it would provide posterity with a beautiful site for the annual family gathering . The older folks say Spurgeon, our 93year -old fire-tongued relative, was immersed in the New River's foaming waters nestled between the Blue Ridge's ragged crest, and it was there that both his temperament and unpredictableness was confirmed. At every family reunion he tells a proud story, always a bit different though, of how, with his four shooter, he held off four threatening white men in town who wanted to see a nigger boy dance. Nearly seventy years have passed; those men are long since dead and only he lives to recall the incident . If onlv they had known that Spurgeon was blessed with longevity on the day of his baptism! The older and more faithful folks claim it...