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June 6–July 29, 2022
SFA Film Residency ⟶
October 21–22, 2022 (tentative)
2022 Fall Symposium: Barbecue

Oral Histories

The SFA oral history program documents life stories from the American South. Collecting these stories, we honor the people whose labor defines the region. If you would like to contribute to SFA’s oral history collections, please send your ideas for oral history along with your CV or Resume and a portfolio of prior oral history work to annemarie@southernfoodways.org.

< Back to Oral History project: Carter Family Fold

ORAL HISTORY

Peggy Hensley, Relative and Volunteer

Carter Family Fold

Peggy Hensley’s great-grandmother and Janette Carter’s great-grandmother were half-sisters. Even so, Peggy considers herself more of a friend than family. But that doesn’t stop her from volunteering at the Carter Family Fold every Saturday night, taking tickets and helping to celebrate the Carter Family’s musical legacy.  Peggy also has a role in the annual Carter Family Memorial Music Festival, which takes place every August. For years Peggy, as a member of the Hiltons Ruritan Club, made and served traditional Appalachian foods, such as cornbread, soup beans, and a popular boiled-dressing coleslaw that’s now known as Carter Fold Cole Slaw. Her connection to the Fold has solidified her appreciation for the place, the people, the music, and the food. And it’s also made her realize that “different people from a lot of different backgrounds appreciate the same things we do.”

Date of interview:
2009-02-21 00:00

Interviewer:
Amy Evans

Photographer:
Amy Evans

Download Transcript

“

"We did have a lot of people who would ask for our recipes, like our coleslaw recipe, so we decided it would be a good idea to ask a lot of people that come to the Fold [to share recipes]. So many of the people that have recipes in that cookbook [Recipes from Carter Country] are no longer with us here at the Fold, so it’s a nostalgic thing to go back through it." - Peggy Hensley

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