Our Mountain Heritage

There are many colorful tales that flow out of the Appalachian heritage. Marvin Sutton was one of those tales. Marvin was originally from Maggie Valley, NC. He became recognized as “Popcorn” Sutton. He was a moonshiner, bootlegger if you will. He was born on October 5 1946. He met his demise, by his own hand, on March 16, 2009. Sadly, he committed suicide to avoid a prison sentence.

Popcorn Sutton disagreed with the federal regime. He was able to “outrun” law enforcement most of the time. He told folks he felt it was his mountain heritage that gave him the right to do what he did.

He wrote a self-published autobiographical guide to moonshine production. He even produced a home made movie. His story was featured in a documentary that won a Regional Emmy Award.

If you want to know more about Popcorn Sutton’s legacy, you can find it all over the web.

What we remember most, is Popcorn’s honesty, (odd as that may sound), his public appearances, and his theatrical role that originated with his legend over the years. It was sad the way his story ended. He is gone, but he did make “dang sure, ” he was not forgotten.

Here’s the recipe we promised you:

Grandma Bessie’s no nonsense pound cake

 First, a little background, if you please. Grandma Bessie said “in the day you used what you had on hand, they did not have the convenience of running to a grocery at a whim.”

Ingredients: Flour, Sugar, Milk, Eggs, Butter

1 stick of buttler – 1 cup of sugar – 1 cup of flour – 1/4 cup of milk – 2 eggs (or 1 if you don’t have two) -( sometimes the hen is fussy)

Butter room temperature, mix it all together, 350 oven and bake until brown on top. Knife should come out clean.  It’s Done! (Don’t forget to grease and flour your pan)

Y’all don’t tell Grandma, but we added 1/2 tsp vanilla and grated orange peel (yum!)

And last but not least here’s your Haywood County Market Overview for February 2014 Market Overview by Price- SFR-Cond-TH- Haywood County as of February 28, 2014