When Ruth Overstreet died, Pike County lost one of its true pioneers.

Just how long I have known Ruth, I don’t know.

But, I do know that she was the most interesting and the most fascinating “pioneer” woman I have ever known.

My first remembrance of Ruth stands clear. A handmade road sign on a hillside in Springhill read “Scuppernongs for Sale.”

I stopped. That was the first time I laid eyes on Ruth Overstreet.

She was a bit short talking and, in an attempt to make conversation, I shared with her that, when I was growing up, young’uns would go to the woods, climb trees and pick bulluses.

“What?” she asked in an irritated tone.

“Bullus..es.”

Ruth informed me that there are muscadines and there are scuppernongs! There is no such thing as bulluses. I was not about to argue with her.

In time, I got to know, better understand and admire Ruth Overstreet.

She built her own house there in Springhill.  She built it with a hammer, nails and a saw.

Her huge yard was her handiwork, hers and God’s. She planted every tree, every bush and every flower and knew the names of each.

She every bird and every bird call. She fed every critter that visited her paradise that she had created on the hill in Springhill.

It’s rather uncommon for a woman to plant and harvest a vegetable garden, and cut grass with a push mower.

Ruth was as handy in the house as she was in the outdoors.

She cooked the old-fashioned way; she swept with a straw broom and mopped with a rag mop. Ruth would spend hours weaving on her loom in the upstairs. She made rugs, some from bread, wrappers and tote bags out of blue jeans…

Ruth Overstreet lived a simple life in a simply remarkable way.