Blue Ridge Country September/October 2021 - 86

FLAVORS
HILTONS, VIRGINIA
Apple Butter, Fried Pies and Sausage
Gravy Serve a Higher Cause
This end-of-September Lord's Acre Sale celebrates the bounty
of the fall season in " the buckle of the Fried Pie Belt. "
By FRED & JILL SAUCEMAN | Photos by FRED SAUCEMAN
T
he boiling of apple butter in country churchyards
and the canning of the garden-clearing
relish called chow-chow in mountain kitchens
are sure signs of the coming of fall. In the Scott
County, Virginia, community of Hiltons, canning
and preserving the harvest are timeless
rituals. And they're high art.
When items like apple butter, chow-chow and pickled
yellow crook-necked squash appear at Hiltons Memorial
United Methodist Church during the annual Lord's Acre
Sale in late September, the entire community turns out.
Lord's Acre sales often double as harvest festivals.
And like many other hallmarks of Southern culture,
they grew out of difficult times.
In the spring of 2013, the Georgia Historical Society,
the Bluffton, Georgia, City Council and the Bluffton
Baptist Church dedicated a historical marker in Clay
County, recognizing the Lord's Acre movement. The
marker commemorates the time back in 1922 when the
Reverend H.M. Melton of Bluffton Baptist Church challenged
his congregation to set aside one acre of farmland
and donate the proceeds from crops raised there
to the church. Seven farmers did so. Not only did their
farmland thrive, but it seemed impervious to the boll
weevil that infested the county in 1923.
The publication of a Time magazine article in 1924
and the creation of the Lord's Acre Plan of the Farmers'
Federation of North Carolina helped spread the Lord's
Acre movement. The concept is now worldwide, growing
beyond farmland to include projects of donated
time and service, and sales featuring homemade goods,
arts and crafts.
The annual sale at Hiltons Memorial falls squarely
within that tradition. Apple butter, chow-chow, canned
green tomatoes and many other items are sold for a
higher cause.
" Our proceeds go strictly to pay off this new building,
this new Life Center that we have, " says church
member Andrea Roberts Lawson, an elementary school
guidance counselor in Scott County. " The Lord's Acre
86 BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM
team has paid tremendous amounts toward the principal
for the Life Center that houses our fellowship hall,
Sunday school rooms, and offices. "
Lawson says church members start planning for the
sale in January, and in the summer, they start canning
and crafting. " It's a yearlong labor of love, " she adds.
Each church member contributes a special talent,
too. For Lawson, it's making sausage gravy.

http://www.BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM

Blue Ridge Country September/October 2021

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