The story behind Grandpa Jones Ginseng Hoe

Grandpa Jones Ginseng Hoe - photo by Jessica Bray

Kentucky natives, Grandpa Jones and the banjo-picking comedian David "Stringbean" Akeman, were nationally famous entertainers, and close friends.  They lived near one another in a rural area a few miles north of Nashville.

They hunted and fished together for years, and they also roamed the mountains in search of ginseng, the mystic herb which has for generations been dug in the Southern Appalachian Mountains and exported mainly to China, where it was (and is) highly prized - and very expensive.

This is the hoe which belonged to Stringbean, and which he and Grandpa carried on their journeys into the mountains digging "sang."  Early one morning, Grandpa went to "String's" house for such a trip and discovered the brutally murdered bodies of both String and his wife.  (Grandpa later commented, "It was a tragedy that sent shock waves among old-time music people across the country.")  One of the items found on the person of Stringbean was a check in the amount of $27.00 which he had received for some ginseng he had sold.

After the murders, a public auction was held at the home place - so close to the Jones' home that Ramona could hear the chant of the auctioneer.  Grandpa had gone hunting, and the person handling the estate called and told her to come up and get any personal items she wanted.  She choose the frying pan that they had used to fry the fish they caught together, and she choose this this ginseng hoe as a remembrance of the times String and Grandpa went digging ginseng.  Grandpa was pleased and kept it all these years but never used it again.  (This 'sang hoe was given to me by Grandpa in January, 1993.)

These days, the ginseng hoe is on display at the Museum of Appalachia in Clinton, Tennessee, along with many other artifacts of musicians throughout Appalachia.  More information on the museum can be found by going to www.museumofappalachia.org.  Be sure to check out our story behind Grandpa Jones' shotgun that is on display by clicking here.

Story behind Grandpa Jones shotgun

I recently took a trip down to the Museum of Appalachia in Clinton, Tennessee.  I was able to capture a few photos and stories in relation to Kentucky country music and thought I would share them.  Stay tune for more stories and photos!

Grandpa Jones shotgun in the Museum of Appalachia

Grandpa Jones was a well known comedian and singer on Hee Haw and a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.  Grandpa Jones was a native of Henderson County, Kentucky.

John Irwin Rice collected items for the Museum of Appalachia.  On display are many of Grandpa Jones personal items, including his shotgun.  Below is the inscription and story as told by Rice:

("There was times when we just about lived on the rabbits I killed with that little shotgun" Quate from Grandpa)

When we started talking about including him in the Museum's Hall of Fame, I told Grandpa I was interested in personal type items - things that represented his various interests, in addition to items relating to his musical and entertainment career.  So, one of hte pieces he selected was this 410 guage shotgun which belonged to his Father.  The following are some of the comments he made relative to this piece.

"My daddy bought that little shotgun when I was just a boy.  We lived on the old Todd place near Smith Mills, Kentucky.  We just moved from one little place to another back then."

"He bought it new from Lambert and Brisham Hardware Store for $9.98.  That thing's killed many a rabbit and it's a good thing it did, for that's about all we had to eat.  They was ten children, and I tell you times was hard.  I hunted more than the other boys - hunted about all the time when I wasn't working, and my brothers called me 'Dan'l Boone'."

Over the years, Grandpa acquired a large collection of expensive hunting guns, but his favorite was always a little shotgun he got from his father.  I was most pleased that he volunteered to let me have it for his exhibit - on January 31, 1993.

Stay tune for more stories of Kentucky country music musicians, instruments, and songs.  If you enjoy what you read, be sure check us out on Facebook and bookmark this website.

Kentucky Chautauqua presents Grandpa Jones: Country Musician and Comic

David Hurt as Grandpa Jones

Pine Mountain State Resort Park, together with Kentucky Chautauqua, will present Grandpa Jones: Country Musician and Comic at Pine Mountain State Park in the Ray Harm Room on July 21, 2015.  The performance will begin at 7:30 pm.

Louis Marshall Jones, better known as Grandpa Jones, was the son of Henderson County sharecroppers, but his destiny was on the road, not the land.  A singer, banjo picker, songwriter, and late in life, television star, Jones was constantly on the move during a musical career of more than 60 years.

Hard times drove the family north to Akron, Ohio in the late 1920s. Jones, who had a repertoire of songs learned from his parents and the radio, won a talent contest that led to regular work on an Akron radio station. That launched a career that lasted more than sixty years. It was during tours with country music star (and fellow Kentuckian) Bradley Kincaid in the 1930s that Jones developed the Grandpa persona he used the rest of his life.

Jones wrote many of his most popular songs. Like many old-time musicians, he struggled during the rock-and-roll craze of the 1950s—he toured Canada and tried his hand at early television. Beginning in 1969, television brought Jones fame as a member of the original cast of "Hee Haw," which showcased his skills as a vaudeville comic. Grandpa Jones was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1978. He never retired, suffering a fatal stroke after a performance at the Grand Ole Opry in 1998.

David Hurt portrays Grandpa Jones for Kentucky Chautauqua.  Hurt has picked the guitar and banjo on front porches from Reelfoot to Red river.  He has acted at Stage One in Louisville, as well as in Lexington theaters.

Kentucky Chautauqua is an exclusive presentation of the Kentucky Humanities Council, Inc., with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Other support comes from Christina Lee Brown, the Brown-Forman Corporation, the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, Lindsey Wilson College, and Toyota.