Historic Biscuits

by Brady Hale

The majestic Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia are home to number of small counties and towns. Nestled right in the midst of them all is Franklin County. Named for the great Benjamin Franklin, it’s mostly known for its steep history of moonshinin’ and its proximity to Smith Mountain Lake. Franklin County has always been a rural, backwoods community and remains so to this very day. However, I know Franklin County for something totally different, the birthplace of the greatest biscuits ever made. To make this story make more sense let’s wind the clock back almost a century ago.

September 3, 1919 was a day that I obviously can’t remember, but it is a date that I will never forget. Why, you ask? On that day, some ninety-two years ago, my grandmother, Ola Scott, was born. As was often the case then, she was one of several children -- eleven to be exact, nine boys and two girls. Times were certainly different for her then, no T.V. or video games, not even electricity or motorized vehicles. Chores were aplenty. As most of her brothers were in charge of the outdoor duties of the farm, she and her sister Libby were responsible for most indoor and household chores.

Her early childhood was a typical one for a young girl growing up in rural Virginia at that time. School, chores, and church were the staples of her early life. Then in the early 1930s the deep depression ravaging the country’s great urban areas began to impact the rural South. Times were tough, work was scarce, and money was tight. Feeding a family of thirteen was not easy, and often just basics were available. Chicken and pork were normally staples, but with less money for livestock feed fewer animals were kept, and meat portions were smaller. However, one item was served with almost all meals, biscuits. Easy to make, cheap to make, and quite fulfilling, biscuits were a great solution. Wonderful you might say, a family tradition passed down from her mother to be passed on for generations, but unfortunately not the case.

Beginning in the late ‘30s my grandmother received training from a “finishing teacher.” This was actually was an initiative started by Franklin Roosevelt as part of his New Deal. He felt it necessary to refine the young women of the country in household basics such as cleaning, cooking, and some nursing skills. The warring nations of Europe gave him reason to believe that eventually the U.S. might be pulled into the unfortunate situation, and we needed trained young women to care for returning soldiers. My grandmother quickly enlisted the help of her “finishing teacher” to help her develop the skills necessary for baking the delicious treats. I’m sure you’re thinking OK, just biscuits, not that hard. Well, that simply wasn’t the case. Only a wood burning stove was available, and the biscuits had to be cooked on top. Just getting the temperature of the stove to the correct temperature was a difficult task. But hardest of all was achieving the perfect brownness on top which is what kept the inside so moist and warm.

That’s it -- Grandma’s great biscuits, which I thought were a family recipe, instead were literally the makings of an act of Congress. From Benjamin Franklin to Franklin D. Roosevelt to Ola Scott to me, her biscuits aren’t just good -- they’re historic!

Work Cited

Bowling, Ola S. Personal interview. 3 Feb. 2011.

Note: Brady Hale, who is from Radford, Virginia, is majoring in turfgrass management at Sandhills Community College.