The Red Flannel Rag

several times that all four sides of the building were the same. There were no special

ridges or hollows to guide me.

Early Settlers and Blended Cultures

Germans from Pennsylvania first settled Hopkins Gap in the late 1700’s, followed

by the Scots- Irish in the early 1800’s. These two groups settled at opposite ends of the

five-mile- long gap in the mountains. By the mid to late 1800’s, two or three familie s

lived at opposite ends of Hopkins Gap — the Lams, the Kirkpatricks, and the Carrs.

Other family names distributed throughout the Gap included the Reedys, the

Shoemakers, the Finks, and the Rigglemans.

Between 1890 and 1900 three other families migrated west from Greene County

located in the Blue Ridge Mountains. They crossed the Shenandoah Valley and settled in

the Hopkins Gap area. The migration was slow with the men coming first and making

many trips back to Greene County before bringing their families and settling

permanently.

There were many stories as to why this wave of settlers migrated to Hopkins Gap

from Greene County in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the eastern side of the Shenandoah

Valley. My daddy and others claimed that Greene County was becoming too crowded

and that the men came to homestead land that was available in the Hopkins Gap area.

Another story was that three of the migrants were running away from Greene County

because they were wanted for crimes they committed there.

According to Grandma Molly, the first Shifflett settled the area during the Civil

War. She told me that my great-grandfather, Banks Shifflett, was a deserter from the

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