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By LYT WOOD
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In 1974, Rick and Susan — “high school sweethearts” from Waynesboro, Virginia, alumni of William and Mary College, now husband and wife and parents of two children — moved to a remote farm in the mountains of West Virginia.
“We were right in on the last of the cheap land that was available in West Virginia,” said Susan. They paid for the farm with her wages from teaching in public schools, and with Rick’s wages from years of low-paying factory work.
Their move to the mountains was a search for “independence”, a “saner life”, a “healthier life”, and a desire to “be more in control of our own lives.”
These are the visions and the ideals of many modern homesteaders. But Rick and Susan were not idealistic, starry-eyed dreamers of a glamorized homestead scene. Physically and psychologically, they were well prepared to confront the primitive challenges of an extremely isolated, austere situation.
They had no support from their families, and little help with daily chores from visiting friends and relatives. They were sometimes snowbound for six weeks and longer. They had no electricity, no running water. “Try washing dirty diapers in the pond — thats really a trip,” said Susan.
For a while, the house was shared with her sister’s family — seven people in a four room house. She taught the children at home for three years.
Susan took a teaching job for one year at the public school the children would have attended. Her daily commuting in winter involved
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