Appalachian Experience

On our way to Rhode Island in October, we stopped to paint the Appalachians at the Hungry Mother State Park near Marion, VA. At the park we were welcomed by a friendly park ranger, Dixie Sheets. We were intrigued by the story of the legend of hungry mother. Legend has it that when Indians raided several settlements along the New River, south of the park, Molly Marley and her small child were among the survivors taken to the raiders' camp. Molly and her child eventually escaped, wandering through the wilderness eating berries. Molly finally collapsed and her child wandered down the creek until she found help. The only words the child could utter were "Hungry Mother." When the search party arrived at the foot of the mountain where she had collapsed, they found Molly dead. Today that mountain is Molly's Knob, and the stream, Hungry Mother Creek. When the park was developed in the 1930s, the creek was dammed to form Hungry Mother Lake.