Where the Men Meet: Tales of a Wytheville, Virginia Gas Station

Creator: Burris-Stanley, Theresa

: Houseman, Ronald Elbert

: Dowdy, Danny Jake

: Wolford, Jim

: Coe, Charles E.

Theresa Burris-Stanley was a frequent customer of Houseman’s Citgo in Wytheville, Virginia, and because of this, she was able to observe that a group of mostly retirement aged men seemed to meet and visit each other each day at that same station. Ms. Burris-Stanley could often learn details of road conditions, accidents, and various personal stories while she was there. She thought of that station a lot, and wondered why the men congregated there, when that started, what they talked about and that served as the basis for this project. This is among projects created by students enrolled in English 446 (initially English 452), “Appalachian Folklore,” 1981-2019, and in graduate level counterparts English 548 and 648 “Appalachian Folk Culture(s)” offered 17 fall semesters between 1987 and 2009. Minimally contain collector’s introduction and analysis, transcribed informant interviews, and excerpted and labeled examples of oral, customary, and/or material folklore/folklife collected primarily within the Appalachian region. Most include also tables of contents, informant information, indexes (outlines) of interviews, photographs, miscellaneous paper items, and indexes of informants, genres, and geographic locations. Accompanying audio recordings (several minutes to 2+ hours). Transferred to McConnell Library Archives & Special Collections from Appalachian Regional and Rural Studies Center, Fall 2013.