Insulation and decoration. Getting anything else would have been an expense they couldn’t afford - Appalachia was (and, for that matter, still is) one of the poorest regions of the USA.
I guess to expand further what was crazy to me was these were the people who were providing power and services to everyone else that they were not receiving themselves. Harlan County is coal mining country.
I grew up in southern Appalachia, and the 90s my grandma would take me with her sometimes to check in on this elderly woman who lived alone in a house without running water. She had a well in her front yard and hauled all her water by hand. She lived into her 90s there taking care of herself. She did have electricity, but not AC.
Now for clarity this was EXTREMELY unusual which was why my grandma would check in on her a fair amount, along with other members of the community. But it’s definitely not that far in the past in some areas, for some families.
Insulation and decoration. Getting anything else would have been an expense they couldn’t afford - Appalachia was (and, for that matter, still is) one of the poorest regions of the USA.
I remember watching Harlan County, USA and the community didn’t even have electricity or reliable running water in the 1970’s.
A lot places didn’t. My family comes from a rural location and there were places without telephone service in the 70s.
I guess to expand further what was crazy to me was these were the people who were providing power and services to everyone else that they were not receiving themselves. Harlan County is coal mining country.
Edit: accidentally a word
The house I grew up in didn’t get running water until the 70s when my parents got it and put in a well.
I grew up in southern Appalachia, and the 90s my grandma would take me with her sometimes to check in on this elderly woman who lived alone in a house without running water. She had a well in her front yard and hauled all her water by hand. She lived into her 90s there taking care of herself. She did have electricity, but not AC.
Now for clarity this was EXTREMELY unusual which was why my grandma would check in on her a fair amount, along with other members of the community. But it’s definitely not that far in the past in some areas, for some families.
That’s wild
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwIvn27PgsA
They say in Harlan country, there are no neutrals there. You’ll either be a union man or a thug for J H Blair
Unbelievable film
Pardon the late reply, but what would the walls themselves be made of? They almost look like layered cardboard there. Or maybe sheet metal.
Cardboard as a kind of drywall was sometimes used under the papers, but wood for the structure itself.