Basketball hoop and tire swing on Black walnut tree in the backyard of the home of Herman Williams, Sr., Clear Fork, West Virginia.

During black walnut season in 1995, we visited the home of Wesley Scarbrough's uncle, Herman Williams, Sr. on Buffalo Fork of Clear Fork. Wesley's cousin Herman, Jr. was there with his son, Nicholas, who cracked a few black walnuts using the permanent walnut cracking stone under the supervision of his grandfather. When black walnuts were in season we spied many coal buckets filled with the bright green fruit of the black walnut tree (Juglans nigra), and engaged in many conversations about how to process and serve black walnuts. John Flynn recalled that many children came to school with hands stained from the process of removing the green hulls. Jenny Bonds described a method of removing the hulls by first curing the nuts, driving over a sack full of them to loosen the hulls which can be then shaken out. Cracking the nuts requires a hammer and a concrete surface, reminiscent of the "nutting stones" found in local archeological sites. Mae Bongalis canned her walnuts, which Shorty, her son, cracked at his "walnut cracking station" in the basement. We sampled a number of delicious walnut confections, including Mae's black walnut pumpkin roll, Glenna Bailey's black walnut cake, and Shorty Bongalis's black walnut pie. Feeding squirrels as well as humans, nut trees in general are said to enjoy a special status on the forested tributaries of Coal River. "We were taught never to cut down a nut tree," as Virgil Jarrell, of Sylvester put it, "because they're good for the animals."
Event: Black walnut season.