This new series of photos represent Take in Hollow residents and their lives.
Take in Hollow ~1952
This is a picture left to right Lacy Bolen, Ira Clyde McBride,
in front of Ira is His son Ira Wayne McBride the little girl by her self is Loretta Ellen McBride this picture was taken at Take-In-Hollow , WV around 1954
Elmer McCoy provides this excellent recollection of Life in Take In Hollow...
I'm Elmer McCoy, we lived in Sullivan and Take-in
was the direction I usually took when I was allowed
to leave the house after school or church. I had a
cabin on top of most of the hills there, the valley
teemed with pheasant and though the squirrel was
sparce my brothers and I could usually scare up a
dinner that was fittin' with mama's kitchen touch.
The old wood cook stove gave a flavor to the meals
that I've missed ever since dad went electric.
I knew Lacy and Dorothy and Mr. McBride, as I
passed their places in my adventures. There was an
old mine shaft at the mouth of the hollow that sank
to 300+ feet straight down. Jim Wilson was
suspected of killing Betty Todd and dumping her body
into the shaft. I was present when the police found
her and recover the body. Jim and Betty was
residents of Sullivan, and Jim was married to
Betty's sister.
Ray Wilson and I were friends and fellow
explorers, I bet Lula, Ray and Jim's sister, a
quarter, that Ray and I knew where Charlie Miller's
moonshine still was and was caught by Charlie trying
to take the evidence to her to collect the win.
Instead of finding favor in the fair maiden's eyes,
I sat striped and embarrassed as she came to the
house to collect and laughed at me for being
grounded.
In one of the houses that sat on the Sullivan
side of the Hollow, Frances (Fox) Holt shot James W.
Nicewander as he and a friend tried to beat the door
own to Bessie Martin's. Fox was already there and
no trial occured. My dad and I took him to the
hospital and at 14 I literally carried Mr.
Nicewander into the hospital and was handed scissors
and told to cut his shirt off. He had been shot
from behind and I still remember the shot that
didn't quite clear the skin as it passed through.
I know these are bad things that I've written
but life was hard and the people had to be to cope.
Ray Wilson's dad was one of the coal miners who
brought the union into the hills. If you haven't
already, check out the movie "Matewan". That was
the life that we survived. But the Hollow was a
refuge for us as kids. We knew the danger but we
knew the trails too. It is one of my best memories.
The last time I went hunting up in "Take-in" I saw
a black panther. I didn't even raise my Gun, it was
beautiful. Raymond Tyree and I watched in amazement
as he looked at us a long moment and unhurriedly
turned and was swallowed by the forest. Raymond was
Crippled in an auto accident shortly after that and
died a few years later. These are the memories and
ramblings of an old hillbilly. The term used to be
an insult but today it is a badge of honor. The
wimps didn't survive and a whole lot of the fierce
people fell too. I am Blessed.----------------Elmer
McCoy.