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These images have been generously shared by members and sponsors of the Watauga County Heritage Museum, Inc. (WCHM), and are the property of their respective owners. We welcome photos from your family’s archives… just contact us and let us know you’d like to share!

Click on any image to view larger slideshow. ENJOY!

The building of the Tweetsie Railroad trestle and track. Photo courtesy of Diane Cornett Deal.

The building of the Tweetsie Railroad trestle and track. Photo courtesy of Diane Cornett Deal.

Tweetsie Railroad

The building of the Tweetsie Railroad trestle and track. Photo courtesy of Diane Cornett Deal.

The building of the Tweetsie Railroad trestle and track. Photo courtesy of Diane Cornett Deal.

Tweetsie Railroad

The building of the Tweetsie Railroad trestle and track. Photo courtesy of Diane Cornett Deal.

The building of the Tweetsie Railroad trestle and track. Photo courtesy of Diane Cornett Deal.

Tweetsie Railroad

An old house in the woods that is on our property. No one has lived in it for decades, but the daffodils come back every spring. The man who built it, Copna Greene, had a store and a waterwheel to grind corn. The house was built in the early 1900's at the place where Long Branch flows into Wildcat Creek in Deep Gap. Photo courtesy of Judy P. Moretz.

An old house in the woods that is on our property. No one has lived in it for decades, but…

Copie Place

Yes, there was a train in Deep Gap and it was a regular gauge track. My grandfather and some of his brothers bought two engines and some track from the Hassinger Lumber Company. When they finished logging in the Todd and Ashe County area, they sold the engines and tracks. Grandpa and his brothers called it The Deep Gap Tie and Lumber Company. They bought railroad ties, lumber, tanning bark, furs, etc. from the community and shipped them via their train into Virginia. Their tracks intersected with the Ashe County Train which went into Virginia. Alas, the Great Depression came, the Ashe train took up the tracks leading toward Deep Gap and the Deep Gap Tie and Lumber Company was a train spur to nowhere. The Ashe train fell apart, too. The DGTLC sold the tracks and the engines to, ironically, Japanese scrap metal dealers who needed metal for their militarization movement. My dad sold his train whistle, which he had been given, to ASU for $20. Dr. Dougherty used it on the steam plant to signal the beginning and end of classes. They still used the whistle in the 1960's at 8:00, 12:00 and 5:00 when I was there, but the IBM clocks signaled the classes. I don't know what happened to the old whistle. Uncle Virgil used one of them on his lumber planer at Deep Gap, too. Photo courtesy of Mary E. Moretz.

Yes, there was a train in Deep Gap and it was a regular gauge track. My grandfather and some of…

Deep Gap Tie and Lumber Company c. 1925

Four children from long ago. Photo courtesy of Mary E. Moretz.

Four children from long ago. Photo courtesy of Mary E. Moretz.

Earl, Ralph, Beulah, and Glen Moretz c. 1907

Stoney Fork Greenes. All the Greenes are related. They added the (e) to keep from getting confused in written documents with the Greers. Photo courtesy of Mary E. Moretz.

Stoney Fork Greenes. All the Greenes are related. They added the (e) to keep from getting confused in written documents…

Elster Greene and His Horse c. 1915

Back Row Left to Right: Pansy Cornett Greene (teacher), Mary Jane Eggers (Jessie), Lena Mae Cornett (Harmon), Geneva Cornett (Johnson) Barbara Greene (Eggers), Edna Cornett (Hodges). Front Row Left to Right: Catherine Greene (Hardy), Opal Cornett (Hampton), Earlene Hicks (Holtzclaw), Lucille Cornett (Clark), Helen Waters (McGuire). The names in parentheses denotes their married names as adults. The two Greene girls were sisters and daughters of the teacher, Pansy. Photo courtesy of Diane Cornett Deal.

Back Row Left to Right: Pansy Cornett Greene (teacher), Mary Jane Eggers (Jessie), Lena Mae Cornett (Harmon), Geneva Cornett (Johnson)…

Mountain Dale Baptist Church c. 1941; Girls Sunday School Class

Note: these Sunday School Class pictures were taken in front of Charlie Cornett’s home where the classes were held on his porch. The Church was just forming and did not yet have a building. Church services were held in and old store house across the road from Charlie Cornett’s home. The store was run by Charlie Cornett, who was my Great Grandfather. Back Row Left to Right: Ellard Cornett, Boyd Cornett, Clay Norris, Albert Cornett, Don Cornett (Brother to Boyd and to Edna from the girl’s class), (children of Burlie and Ida Waters Cornett), Rose Dugger Cornett, teacher (and mother to Lucille Cornett in the girls class). Front Row Left to Right: Charlie “Clint” Cornett (my Dad, who goes by Clint but was named after his grandfathers Charlie Cornett and Charlie Phillips. His parents were Rev. Clyde and Blanch Phillips Cornett. And they were Charter members of Mountain Dale Baptist Church), Emory Cornett (son of Roby Cornett), Albert Waters (son of Henry and Mamie Cornett Waters — Albert had a brother named Clifford and they were co-owners of Waters Brothers Construction, known for building and paving lots of roads around these mountain counties), Lewis Hicks (brother to Earlene in the girls’ class picture). Photo courtesy of Diane Cornett Deal.

Note: these Sunday School Class pictures were taken in front of Charlie Cornett’s home where the classes were held on…

Mountain Dale Baptist Church; Boys Sunday School Class

Deep Gap/Gap Creek. Photo courtesy of Mary E. Moretz.

Deep Gap/Gap Creek. Photo courtesy of Mary E. Moretz.

Ralph Moretz with prize oxen c. 1916

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