BENJAMIN
J. CRAMER COLLECTION
1995 and undated
East Tennessee
State University
Archives of Appalachia
Box 70295
Johnson City, Tennessee 37614
E-Mail:
archives@etsu.edu
Telephone - (423) 439-4338
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
Title: Benjamin
J. Cramer Collection
Collection Number: Accession
No. 490
Physical Description: 1 file
folder
1 VHS
videotape
1
audiocassette tape
9 photographs
Creator: Benjamin J.
Cramer
Repository: Archives
of Appalachia, East
Tennessee State
University
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Provenance: The
Benjamin J. Cramer Collection was donated to the Archives of Appalachia by
Benjamin J. Cramer, Johnson City,
Tenn., on June 13, 1996.
Additions to the collection were donated on September 11, 1996, October 22, 1996,
and December 17, 1996.
Access: The collection is open for
research.
Processing
Information: This collection was processed by Brianne
Johnson and opened for research in April 2007.
HISTORICAL NOTE
The Benjamin J. Cramer Collection contains information and
research done by Cramer about the Carolina,
Clinchfield and Ohio Railway and its involvement with two communities, Lost Cove, Yancey
County, N. C., and Bumpass Cove, Tenn.
Lost Cove, located along the Nolichucky
River in Western North Carolina, took
its name from its location near the Tennessee
and North Carolina
border when surveyors were not sure to which state the community
belonged. Lost Cove was reportedly settled shortly before the Civil War by
Morgan Bailey. Lost Cove was a thriving Appalachian logging and farming community for about 100 years. The location and
terrain of the community were
difficult to navigate, and, when the railroad stopped making regular stops in
the community, residents were forced
to leave the community. The last
resident left the community in 1957.
Bumpass Cove, once a small mountain community
in Washington County, Tenn., had a long history of iron, lead,
zinc, and manganese mining. In June 1972, the Bumpass Cove Environmental
Controls and Minerals Corporation obtained a permit from the Tennessee
Department of Public Health, Division of Solid Waste Management, to operate a
sanitary landfill located in an old mining site near the head of the cove in Unicoi County.
Due to illegal dumping operations and concerns about health and environmental
issues, the landfill was closed in December 1979.
SCOPE AND
CONTENT NOTE
The Benjamin J. Cramer Collection contains research done by
Cramer on the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio
Railway (CC&O) and its operations around the communities
of Lost Cove, N. C., and Bumpass Cove,
Tenn. The research includes an
interview with Jack Hawkins, who worked for CC&O for forty years.
Transcripts of the interview and the audiocassette of the interview are also
included. The collection contains photographic prints of Lost Cove, N. C., and
one VHS videotape about the Bumpass Cove landfill.
The collection is arranged into three series, as follows:
Series I, Essay, undated, Small Collections Box 25; Series II, Audiovisual
Materials, 1995 and undated, Small Audiotape Collections Box 2 and Small
Videotape Collections Box 1; Series III, Photographs, undated, Small
Photographic Collections Box 7.
Important subjects
covered in the collection include:
Bumpass Cove (Tenn.)
Bumpass Cove Landfill (Unicoi
County, Tenn.)
Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway
Hawkins, Jack
Hazardous waste sites—Tennessee—Unicoi County
Lost Cove (Yancey
County, N. C.)
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series
I, Essay, undated, Small Collections Box 25.
Series I contains one file folder of research done by
Benjamin J. Cramer on the operations of the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway. The
series includes an essay “Reflections of the Clinchfield,” transcripts of the
interview with Jack Hawkins about his career with the railroad, and a glossary
of railroad terms. The series is filed in one folder located in Small
Collections Box 25.
Series
II, Audiovisual Materials, 1995 and undated, Small Audio Collections Box 2 (1
audiocassette tape) and Small Videotape Collections Box 1 (1 VHS videotape).
Series II contains one audiotape of an interview with Jack
Hawkins who worked for the Carolina,
Clinchfield and Ohio Railway for forty years. The audiotape is located in Small
Audio Collections Box 2. The series also contains one VHS videotape about Bumpass Cove, Tenn.,
and the Bumpass Cove landfill. The VHS videotape is housed located in Small
Videotape Collections Box 1.
Series
III, Photographs, undated, Small Photographic Collection Box 7.
Series II contains 9 photographs of Lost Cove, Yancey County,
N. C., which are filed in one folder in Small Photographic Collections Box 7.
BOX AND FOLDER LIST
Series
I, Essay, undated, Small Collections Box 25.
1. “Reflections of the Clinchfield,” undated
Series II, Audiovisual
Materials, 1995 and undated, Small Audio Collections Box 2 and Small Videotape Collections Box 1
1. Audiotape of interview with Jack Hawkins, March 14, 1995
2. Videotape of Bumpass Cove Landfill, undated
Series III,
Photographs, undated, Small Photographic Collection Box 7
1. Lost Cove Community, Yancey County,
N. C., undated