Ballads and folk songs collected in northern Hamilton County.

With the completion of the Chickamauga Dam, now being constructed on the Tennessee River near Chattanooga, many miles of the north end of Hamilton County will be along the lake front. Improved methods of transportation and communication have come; new and modern schools are being built. Yet, in the year 1939 many of the songs of our English and Scottish ancestors are to be found still living in the minds and hearts of the early settlers. In the north end of the county fifteen of the Child ballads have been found, some of them as complete variants as found anywhere in America. In addition to these, the people know many other imported ballads and songs which have been handed down orally from one generation to the other, as well as native folk songs and play-party songs they have sung and played as far back as they can remember.