Eleanor Roosevelt Hung Out With “Hillbillies”
As the Blair Mountaion battle was quelled by a President and fading from memory, another president’s family connected to their hillbilly roots. Eleanor Roosevelt’s father Elliot Roosevelt grew up in White Top Mountain, Virginia. He wanted his daughter to connect to her mountain roots, and to meet the community that shaped his life. She had visited there as a child but hadn’t been back. She didn’t have much of a memory of White Top.
After becoming First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt made good on that wish, visiting White Top Mountain in 1933. The “Ridge Runners,” performed for Mrs. Roosevelt, with a repetoire including “Happy Days are Here Again.” The group featured six-year-old Muriel Douglas Dockery, pictured in the foreground, on mandolin. First Lady Roosevelt sampled local cuisine such as ham and biscuits. After lunch, she visited the mountains and expressed hope to return to the area due to its beauty.
