The Spruce Pine New Years Eve Blast

[@vwredsfan]

Wow what a wild story. Thank you so much for sharing.

[@laurakilmer8652]

We visited them about every summer for the last 30 yrs. I loved D. T. s coffee shop. so sad they have to rebuild along with a lot of the town. Love those people.

[@pughoneycutt1986]

I remember when you could buy dynamite at the general store without so much as a raised eye brow .in the late 50s times were really hard on cane river in yancey County there was 2 teenage boys who would dynamite the river on a fairly regular basis, and when they did the whole community would eat fish for a couple of days. We really looked forward to the sound of that dynamite.

[@lostonwallace1396]

I heard it from you guys via one of the old podcast audio formats, but I really enjoyed hearing this one again! LOL! We all do some crazy things in our teenage years, but this one takes the cheesecake. ;)

[@StoriesofAppalachia]

It's one of our favorites that we felt needed telling again for those folks who hadn't caught it before. Happy New Year!

[@mariedithappanaitis428]

My mother (Beth Bell) was living in Spruce Pine and was friends with Doug and Joe. These are her corrections: I remember this time well. It was meant to be a New Year's celebration with a little gusto. I have several disagreements with the two men telling this story. First of all, dynamite could not be bought and sold as easily as popcorn. Blaine and his wife Lee Blackburn ran Blackburn Hardware in Spruce Pine. They were two of the nicest and most responsible people in our area. They attended the Spruce Pine Spruce Pine United Methodist Church. Lee sang in the choir and taught my Sunday School class. Doug's father, Claude Green, worked in the mining industry in Spruce Pine and frequently needed dynamite. Doug and Joe told Blaine that Claude had sent them to pick up the heavy load of dynamite and they would deliver it to Claude. Doug was very persuasive (He became a lawyer) and Blaine believed him. The New Year's Eve party took place at Bess Swann's home. My sister, Kathy Miller, my cousin, Julia Pittman, and others attended the party. I don't think (I will research) that Doug and Joe were arrested. My grandfather, Charles Gunter, was Spruce Pine's Mayor and owned many of the town buildings. He knew the boys and their families and did not want their records jeopardized. It was a very foolish teenage prank, but thanks to the wisdom of those persons in charge of dealing with the incident, the impressive careers of Doug and Joe happened.

[@StoriesofAppalachia]

Thanks for the insights. We did get our information from the Mitchell County Historical Society, so you might want to contact them as well and let them know, too. Thanks for watching!

[@00buck2]

I remember it very well, Thank you

[@chrisnewton9325]

Spruce pine was devastated by the storm. Please pray for the people still suffering all this time later.

[@duckscustomgarage9239]

Thy mine Mica there in Spruce Pine.

[@sealyoness]

Isn't it like training puppies? You catch them in the act of doing what's wrong, show them where to do it..., how to handle more complicated situations. They become wise dogs.

[@StoriesofAppalachia]

That's it. And these two did quite well despite this early brush with the law (and disaster!)