The Red Flannel Rag

passed and enacted by Congress to ensure the proper enforcement of Prohibition. Uncle

Shirley told me, “Most people bought all their ‘drinking’ liquor at saloons in

Harrisonburg and just made enough moonshine for ailments before the prohibition law

was passed. Then after the Volstead Act, there was a big demand for illegal liquor, and

we saw it as a way to make money.”

Moonshine became very important to the people in Hopkins Gap. During the

depression years of the 1930s until the mid-1950s, it was the major source of income for

every family in Hopkins Gap family except one. I remember Dad telling me that out of

twenty-one families all but two made moonshine. One of the two fa milies who didn’t

make it was bootlegging it for other moonshiners.

Some of my fondest memories are of the times I had Dad and Uncle Shirley in the

same room and in the mood to talk about their moon shining days. These times usually

came after a big Sunday dinner of fried chicken and all the trimmings. After eating, they

would retire to the living room and lean back in their chairs to digest. I followed them

and sometimes got them started with a question. I always asked Dad first because

whether he t alked or not depended on his mood. If he wouldn’t talk, Uncle Shirley

changed the subject to deer hunting or something else. If Dad answered my first

question, then I knew I would be with them for a long time because Uncle Shirley always

liked to talk and tell stories.

I usually started with a question such as, “Dad, tell me how you all learned to

make moonshine.”

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