John T. Anvill was born in St. George, Tucker County, and has lived in the area his entire life. He was born to William Anvill and Loretta White, who were also lifelong residents of Tucker County. John was raised in a large family of nine siblings, consisting of one brother and seven sisters. Growing up in St. George, John attended school at Mount Olive, located three miles away from his hometown. He went through at least the eighth grade before taking civil service examinations, though he did not pursue a career in that field.

John "Tucker" Brown, born on July 25, 1938, is a lifelong resident of Avenue, Maryland, a small fishing village. He comes from a lineage of watermen, with both his father, Frank Brown, and grandfather, Sam Brown, being watermen. Brown began earning his own money at the age of eight, crabbing in the creek. He worked with his father until his father fell ill, after which he briefly worked for American Airlines before returning home to care for his family. Brown took over his father's fishing crew and has spent his life oystering and clamming up and down the bay.

subject: Flood control--Virginia; Flood damage prevention—Virginia; Buchanan County (Va.)--History; Grundy (Va.)--Social life and customs; Levisa Fork Basin (Ky. and Va.); Big Sandy River Valley (Ky. and Va.); United States. Army. Corps of Engineers.

Interview with John Lee Callis 

Interview with Dr. John Mattox, owner and curator of the Underground Railroad Museum

John Norwood McCarty (1916-2012) was born to a farming family outside of Lively in Lancaster County, Virginia. His boyhood interplay with steamboats involved raising produce that he and his family then delivered to the bustling steamboat wharf to board the vessels for sale. McCarty provided vivid accounts of a rural steamboat wharf community, from a cooperative grower’s packinghouse to the local Speakeasy.

Interview with John Redabaugh

Interview with John Reed, Stonewall Jackson Dam, US Army Corps of Engineers, Head of Publicity, Pittsburgh District

A local newspaper reporter, Haynes is owner of historic Hudgins House adjacent to the Crickett Hill Steamboat Wharf on the Piankitank River near the Gwynn’s Island bridge. She discusses the handwritten boarding house ledger dating from 1916 and overnight guests who came from far and wide.

Julie Archer was born on January 31, 1971, and is a native of West Virginia. She grew up near Parkersburg, in a suburb called Vienna. Her father, Gary Archer, worked in a heating and insulating plant and was involved in union organizing, which influenced Julie's early exposure to activism. Her mother, Karen Carpenter Archer, originally from Iowa, met Gary while working at the Pentagon during the Vietnam War. Julie pursued a degree in biology and developed an interest in environmental issues during college.