Pond Hollow
lived with Mom's brother-in-law and sister - Stealie and Mae Hubbard Griffith in
two different homes in Balkan. The first house was in pond hollow and the 2nd house was
below Rectors and below the rail tracks near Clint Wilson and Sturdivants.
My Mother Eula Faye Hubbard Miracle married my step Dad in 1952 and we lived in
Balkan so D.H. Griffith could walk to work. We lived at the foot of the Balkan church
and our neighbors were the Tom Nelson family, John and Ethel Treboldi and to our
West was Jim and Dora Green Rector with their daughters Joyce and Glenda.
We lived in this house until the mines closed. Stealie and Mae Hubbard Griffith Family lived below the tracks near the Sturdivants. We moved to MIddlesboro but D.H. Griffith was called back to Balkan to work at a saw mill set up on Tom's Creek near Josh and
Myrtle Slusher family and we were their neighbors, plus, Laura Rogers and her son Junior
from 1954-1957.
Going up the main Balkan Rd when you passed the drain for the pond damn - when you went around the next curve (we lived, here) there were houses on both side of Balkan Rd. The closer you got to upper Balkan there were lanes that went off to the South side of
the Balkan Rd & there could be 2 - 4 houses on these lanes off the main road.
There were some 2 stories on the main road before you got to the big curve
near the barber shop. By 1956 most of these houses East of us had been torn down.
Leslie Rogers & family lived in Balkan East of us & they had moved down closer to the school. The Balkan commissary was still open in 1954, 1955 and I think 1956.
I don't remember the exact year but the post office moved to Roosevelt Miracle's
store at Tee Jay near the bridge going into Balkan.
I believe the last house standing in Balkan was Junior Collett's.
We moved from Balkan in 1957 & I went back to visit Uncle Stealie & Aunt Mae
& my cousins a few times before they moved to Board Tree.
It was not that far from Board Tree to Balkan but I had chores to do.
And I saw Alvin at the Balkan school.
I was only in 1 or 2 of the big houses near the commissary.
Junior Collett had moved to a house across the bridge in Balkan & lived there until
1975(?) & I was in it. I was never in any home East of the commissary. I was never
at 8 spot or 2 spot, etc. We were always West of the commissary.
I came back from S Vietnam in Dec 1970. I went to Balkan Pond twice in the Spring of 1971. Then, Sheriff Monk Green told me to stay out of Balkan - he sias you are
trespassing.
They had a road from the main Balkan road straight up the hill where the Sturdivant family had lived in the 1950's.
d/o Stealie & Mae
Pond side
From North to South
Last house 6. James Bowens
5. Granny Cox lived with granddaughter Dora Cox Hubbard who was widowed with 2 children - Margie Hubbard -b 1918 and Bill Hubbard -b 1921
Granny Cox moved out, then,
Granny Hubbard moved with her son & daughter in law - they had a baby while living there.
4. Green Family, they moved, then 1938-1949: Stealie Griffith, wife - Effie Mae Hubbard Griffith with chilren - Kathleen, Barbara, Alvin
My mother - Eula "Faye" Hubbard Miracle and me - David MIracle
3. Massey - son David Massey - moved, then Mildred and Pie Joe Nelson
2. John Frank Bowen & family
1. Tall man who died with a heart attack, then, family moved Arleva Green with daughter Edna Green (Edna Green married Ralph Bowen)
Arleva Green's husband was in prison for bootlegging
Last to First ( these houses faced the houses which backed up to the pond)
6. Alva Griffith, Grace Bowen Griffith with children - Jessie, Martha Beatrice, DH Griffith 9my step Dad), Ova Griffith, Stealie, Eulene, Clarence
5. 1930 - 1946: Claybourne Hubbard & his 2nd wife Ethel Lasley Hubbard, Effie Mae, Orville, JC, Eula Faye Hubbard (mom)
4. UNKNOWN - do not remember
3. Rosie & Albert Suppo
2. Froni Comproni - unlce of Jim Comproni
1. oldest son drowned in Cumberland River, then family moved
Amos Catron & family moved (John Catron and Amos Catron was Tilman "Til"
Smallman's older 1/2 brothers)
At the top before you turned into Pond Hollow were two houses facing each other
Dosini's & across from Dosinsi was the Millers (the Miller house burned) - no longer was there by the early 1930's)
when you drove past Jim Rector's house going toward the Pond
the rode went straight to Dosinis house - at Dosini house you had to turn right into
Balkan Pond Hollow or left & drive across the tracks to the houses below.
1930's Balkan - James Rufus Prater SR (Pat Prater's grandfather) and his family lived
two or three house East of Jim Rector. Either in the house we lived in in 1952-1953
or the house John & Etherl Trebodi lived in.