Appalachian Figures
Pine Mountain Settlement School began with a local farmer’s gift and a plainspoken promise. William “Uncle William” Creech of Harlan County wanted a school where his neighbors’ children could learn without leaving the valley. In his own words he had “heart and craving that our people may grow better,” and he put land and effort behind the idea.
A life told in his own hand
Creech left a short autobiography that anchors the facts of his life. He was born on the Poor Fork of the Cumberland on October 30, 1845, served in the Union Army late in the Civil War, and in 1866 married Sally Dixon, remembered at Pine Mountain as “Aunt Sal.” He settled on the head of Greasy Creek and raised a large family there. Late in life he turned his energy toward bringing a school to Pine Mountain.
Planning a school in the valley, 1911–1913
The school was not conjured from legend. It was planned in letters. Early correspondence in 1911 and 1912 shows the Creeches working with local leader A. E. Boggs and reformer Katherine Pettit to secure the site and recruit teachers. These documents trace the practical steps from offer to institution, including fundraising and site decisions that carried the project into 1913.
When the deed work and site planning came together in 1913, Pine Mountain took shape on the ground. Contemporary land records and planning files at Pine Mountain document the “Planning and Site Indenture,” while the clerk’s office in Harlan County keeps the deed books where researchers can verify the transfer today.
“Uncle William’s Reasons”
Creech also spoke to potential supporters in fundraising broadsides that circulated in the 1910s. In one widely reprinted passage he explained that he had deeded his land to be “used for school purposes as long as the Constitution of the United States stands,” a succinct statement of intent that appears in Pine Mountain ephemera and later summaries.
Building a campus and a program
From 1913 forward, Pettit and educator Ethel de Long worked with architect Mary Rockwell Hook to lay out a coherent campus that fit the topography. Stonemason and teacher Luigi Zande contributed to several of the best known structures. The National Historic Landmark nomination outlines the buildings, materials, and the collaborative labor that raised the early campus.
Last illness and burial, May 1918
By spring 1918 Creech’s health failed. Pine Mountain records preserve moving first-hand accounts written as events unfolded. Co-director Ethel de Long Zande described the journey to a Louisville hospital and Creech’s death there; secretary Evelyn K. Wells detailed the funeral that brought the community together at Pine Mountain. These letters are preserved with images and full transcriptions.
Remembering “Uncle William”
A decade later the school marked Creech’s gift with a stone drinking fountain on campus. The Bassett photograph album from about 1928–29 includes a labeled image of the “Creech Memorial Drinking Fountain,” a small monument to the man whose words and land made the school possible.
Why the gift mattered
Pine Mountain was the rural adaptation of the settlement ideal. Over time the school shifted from a boarding model to a community day school, then to environmental and cultural education. State and national authorities have recognized this continuity of purpose and significance. The campus was listed on the National Register and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991.
How to verify the record
Researchers can corroborate Creech’s life and gift in public records. Kentucky maintains death certificates from 1911 to the present through the Office of Vital Statistics, which provides ordering instructions. Harlan County deeds can be searched through the county clerk’s portal, and statewide deed, will, and court microfilms are indexed in KDLA’s guides. Census schedules for Harlan County in 1900 and 1910 are cataloged by the National Archives and can be consulted through NARA partners.
Sources and Further Reading
Pine Mountain Settlement School Archives. PLANNING for PMSS (letters and site documents, 1911–1912). pinemountainsettlement.net
Pine Mountain Settlement School Archives. “Uncle William’s Reasons” and related ephemera quoting Creech. pinemountainsettlement.net
Pine Mountain Settlement School Archives. WILLIAM CREECH: The Death Of (letters of Ethel de Long Zande and Evelyn K. Wells, May 1918, images and transcriptions). pinemountainsettlement.net
Pine Mountain Settlement School Archives. Kendall T. Bassett Photograph Album II, c. 1928–29, image labeled “Creech Memorial Drinking Fountain.” pinemountainsettlement.net
Pine Mountain Settlement School Archives. LAND USE 1913 Planning and Site Indenture (site and deed context). pinemountainsettlement.net
Harlan County Clerk. Records portal for deeds and other land instruments. Harlan County Clerk Office
Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Office of Vital Statistics. Death certificates, 1911–present, ordering guidance. Cabinet for Health and Family Services
National Archives Catalog. U.S. Federal Census schedules for Kentucky, 1900 and 1910, Harlan County. Harlan County Clerk Office+1
National Park Service. Pine Mountain Settlement School, National Historic Landmark nomination and registration form. NPGallery
NPS, National Historic Landmarks Program. List of NHLs by State: Kentucky (designation date December 4, 1991). National Park Service
SAH Archipedia. “Pine Mountain Settlement School” with architectural and historical overview. SAH ARCHIPEDIA
Pine Mountain Settlement School, institutional history pages. Pine Mountain Settlement School
ExploreKYHistory, Kentucky Historical Society. Historical marker entry for Pine Mountain Settlement School. Explore Kentucky History
Berea College Special Collections & Archives. PMSS microfilm and finding aids. Berea Library Guides+1
James S. Greene, Progressives in the Kentucky Mountains: The Formative Years of the Pine Mountain Settlement School, 1913–1930 (Ohio State University dissertation). Rave OhioLink
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