The First Store Bought Casket in Avery County

The other day, my mother in law and I were talking about the old times. As we traded stories, she passed along one that her aunt had told about my mother in law's grandfather. According to the story, he was a coal miner and died from lung disease at an early age, but somehow the family had enough money to buy a "store bought casket" for the funeral. Such a thing had never been seen before in that part of the mountains. The casket reportedly arrived by the Tweetsie railroad and was then carried by "the men" over the mountains to where the body was being kept. Folks reportedly came from miles around to see, not the procession, but the casket, this being the first store bought casket in Avery county.

Entertainment at its finest.