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["The town of Helvetia, West Virginia, population 59, was founded by Swiss-German immigrants in 1869. In the late 60s, around Helvetias centennial, town matriarch Eleanor Mailloux worked to revive many of Helvetias Swiss traditions, co-founding the Hutte Swiss restaurant, collecting a cookbook of community recipes, and restoring the Fasnacht celebration as a public event. Helvetia also has a long-standing cheese making tradition, practiced in private homes, and in the semi-public Cheese Haus, which now is located in an old renovated mechanics garage. Documentation of foodways traditions in the community is part of the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance. Learn more: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/Also see Emily Hilliards piece on Helvetias seasonal celebrations via The Bitter Southerner: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginia Read her piece on the Hutte Restaurant, Something Good from Helvetia, for the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/something-good-from-helvetia/ and NPR piece on Fasnachts foodways traditions: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/17/386970143/swiss-village-west-virginia-mardi-gras-feast-fasnachtLearn more about Helvetia via the website maintained by Helvetia resident Dave Whipp: http://www.helvetiawv.com/"]%

13. Hand painted crest of a saint on the exterior wall of the Helvetia Cheese Haus

Identifier:
4224.Helvetia.Photo.007.3.18.17
Title:
Hand painted crest of a saint on the exterior wall of the Helvetia Cheese Haus
Date:
2017-03-18
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Cheesemaking, Food habits, Helvetia (W. Va.), foodways, Painted signs and signboards
Location:
Helvetia (W. Va.)
["The town of Helvetia, West Virginia, population 59, was founded by Swiss-German immigrants in 1869. In the late 60s, around Helvetias centennial, town matriarch Eleanor Mailloux worked to revive many of Helvetias Swiss traditions, co-founding the Hutte Swiss restaurant, collecting a cookbook of community recipes, and restoring the Fasnacht celebration as a public event. Helvetia also has a long-standing cheese making tradition, practiced in private homes, and in the semi-public Cheese Haus, which now is located in an old renovated mechanics garage. Documentation of foodways traditions in the community is part of the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance. Learn more: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/Also see Emily Hilliards piece on Helvetias seasonal celebrations via The Bitter Southerner: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginia Read her piece on the Hutte Restaurant, Something Good from Helvetia, for the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/something-good-from-helvetia/ and NPR piece on Fasnachts foodways traditions: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/17/386970143/swiss-village-west-virginia-mardi-gras-feast-fasnachtLearn more about Helvetia via the website maintained by Helvetia resident Dave Whipp: http://www.helvetiawv.com/"]%

14. Looking in the window of the Helvetia Cheese Haus, which houses industrial cheese making equipment

Identifier:
4224.Helvetia.Photo.008.3.18.17
Title:
Looking in the window of the Helvetia Cheese Haus, which houses industrial cheese making equipment
Date:
2017-03-18
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Cheesemaking, foodways, Food habits, Helvetia (W. Va.)
Location:
Helvetia (W. Va.)
["The town of Helvetia, West Virginia, population 59, was founded by Swiss-German immigrants in 1869. In the late 60s, around Helvetias centennial, town matriarch Eleanor Mailloux worked to revive many of Helvetias Swiss traditions, co-founding the Hutte Swiss restaurant, collecting a cookbook of community recipes, and restoring the Fasnacht celebration as a public event. Helvetia also has a long-standing cheese making tradition, practiced in private homes, and in the semi-public Cheese Haus, which now is located in an old renovated mechanics garage. Documentation of foodways traditions in the community is part of the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance. Learn more: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/Also see Emily Hilliards piece on Helvetias seasonal celebrations via The Bitter Southerner: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginia Read her piece on the Hutte Restaurant, Something Good from Helvetia, for the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/something-good-from-helvetia/ and NPR piece on Fasnachts foodways traditions: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/17/386970143/swiss-village-west-virginia-mardi-gras-feast-fasnachtLearn more about Helvetia via the website maintained by Helvetia resident Dave Whipp: http://www.helvetiawv.com/"]%

15. Round wire tool used in cheesemaking, hanging in Helvetia's Hutte Swiss Restaurant

Identifier:
4224.Helvetia.Photo.017.3.18.17
Title:
Round wire tool used in cheesemaking, hanging in Helvetia's Hutte Swiss Restaurant
Date:
2017-03-18
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Food habits, foodways, Restaurants--Design and construction, Helvetia (W. Va.), Restaurants--United States, Cheesemaking, Cooking, Swiss
Location:
Helvetia (W. Va.)
["The town of Helvetia, West Virginia, population 59, was founded by Swiss-German immigrants in 1869. In the late 60s, around Helvetias centennial, town matriarch Eleanor Mailloux worked to revive many of Helvetias Swiss traditions, co-founding the Hutte Swiss restaurant, collecting a cookbook of community recipes, and restoring the Fasnacht celebration as a public event. Helvetia also has a long-standing cheese making tradition, practiced in private homes, and in the semi-public Cheese Haus, which now is located in an old renovated mechanics garage. Documentation of foodways traditions in the community is part of the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance. Learn more: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/Also see Emily Hilliards piece on Helvetias seasonal celebrations via The Bitter Southerner: https://bittersoutherner.com/my-year-in-helvetia-west-virginia Read her piece on the Hutte Restaurant, Something Good from Helvetia, for the Southern Foodways Alliance: https://www.southernfoodways.org/something-good-from-helvetia/ and NPR piece on Fasnachts foodways traditions: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/02/17/386970143/swiss-village-west-virginia-mardi-gras-feast-fasnachtLearn more about Helvetia via the website maintained by Helvetia resident Dave Whipp: http://www.helvetiawv.com/"]%

16. Helvetia Cheese sign on the porch of the Hutte Swiss Restaurant

Identifier:
4224.Helvetia.Photo.020.3.18.17
Title:
Helvetia Cheese sign on the porch of the Hutte Swiss Restaurant
Date:
2017-03-18
Creator:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Restaurants--Design and construction, Food habits, Restaurants--United States, Helvetia (W. Va.), foodways, Cooking, Swiss, Painted signs and signboards, Cheesemaking
Location:
Helvetia (W. Va.)

Listen to Audio

17. Oral history of Henry Rice

Identifier:
4224.RiceHenry.AudioInt.4.30.16
Title:
Oral history of Henry Rice
Date:
2016-04-30
Creator:
Rice, Henry
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Morels, Canning and preserving, Cheesemaking, foodways, Hides and skins, Restaurateurs, Food habits, Turkey hunting, American ginseng, Helvetia (W. Va.), Deer hunting, Wild leek, Trapping, Tanning, Cooking, Swiss, Pickling
Location:
Helvetia (W. Va.)
["Henry Rice was born in Helvetia, West Virginia in 1978. He is the daughter of Catherine Irene Mailloux and grand-daughter of Eleanor Mailloux, the co-founder of the Hutte. His daughter, Morgan Rice, was also interviewed for this project. Henry Rice cooks for the Hutte Sunday buffet, and works in construction. He is also an avid hunter, trapper, ginseng and ramp digger, morel mushroom hunter, and a collector of old bottles and other artifacts.This interview is part of a series of interviews conducted with foodways practitioners in Helvetia, West Virginia, as part of the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance. Learn more: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%

18. Transcript of oral history of Henry Rice

Identifier:
4224.RiceHenry.IntTranscript.4.30.16
Title:
Transcript of oral history of Henry Rice
Date:
2016-04-30
Creator:
Rice, Henry
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Canning and preserving, American ginseng, Cooking, Swiss, Wine and wine making--United States, Wild leek, Pickling, Deer hunting, Morels, Cheesemaking, foodways, Food habits, Restaurateurs, Turkey hunting, Tanning, Trapping, Hides and skins, Helvetia (W. Va.)
Location:
Helvetia (W. Va.)
["Vernon John Burky was born to a Swiss family in Helvetia, West Virginia in 1925. He grew up speaking Swiss on his family farm, where his parents raised animals and managed a sawmill, and his grandparents operated a cheese house. They made Helvetia cheese, a type of Swiss cheese, similar to Emental, that was made throughout the Helvetia community and a staple in the diet of residents. As a child, Burky raised chickens and tapped maple trees on his family farm. As an adult, he was an active winemaker, a common pursuit in the Helvetia community. During his working years, Burky worked as a truck driver for a saw mill and a coal company. He learned to play fiddle as a child and started playing in the Helvetia Star Band, the local dance band for generations and the namesake of one of the villages two dance halls. He still plays in the group, which performs regularly for Helvetia square dances and events. Yeah; just kept that smokehouse full of smoke all day and night. Theyd put a big hunk of wood on it; it wouldnt burn but it--they had fire under it and it would sit there and smoke that little room half as big as this. They just smoked up tight. They had the sausage on rods; nothing could come in or get up on there. There it would sit; it was just dried up real solid and my uncle was--I stayed with my uncle when I was in high school. And he said, hey Vernon; come over here. (Laughs) He had rheumatism and he couldnt move around. He was in bed all winter. Go up there to the smokehouse and get me a link of that sausage. (Laughs) And Id go up and clip one of them off and bring it down. Hed get a hold of one piece and put the rest under the pillow and hed start eating that. He wasnt supposed to have red meat because of rheumatism.This audio slideshow is part of a series of interviews conducted with foodways practitioners in Helvetia, West Virginia, as part of the Helvetia Foodways Oral History Project in partnership with the Southern Foodways Alliance. Learn more: https://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/helvetia-west-virginia/"]%

19. Audio slideshow of Vernon Burky speaking about making Hevetia cheese

Identifier:
4224.VernonBurky.Video.001.11.14.16
Title:
Audio slideshow of Vernon Burky speaking about making Hevetia cheese
Date:
2016-11-14
Creator:
Burky, Vernon
Contributor:
Hilliard, Emily
Subject:
Cooking, Swiss, Helvetia (W. Va.), Swiss Americans, Cheesemaking, Dairy cattle
Location:
Helvetia (W. Va.), Randolph County (W. Va.)