Maces Spring is a small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Scott County, Virginia, United States, along State Route 614, in an area known as Poor Valley. The settlement consists of a small number of houses. There are no longer any stores in Maces Spring; its main claim to fame is its association with the

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

group the

Carter Family The Carter Family was an American folk music group that recorded and performed between 1927 and 1956. Regarded as one of the most important music acts of the early 20th century, they had a profound influence on the development of bluegrass, c ...

. Alvin Pleasant Delaney Carter, also known as Doc or A.P., was born in Maces Spring and in 1914 he brought his 16-year-old bride, Sara Dougherty, to live there. They are both buried in the graveyard behind Mount Vernon Methodist Church. A.P., Sara and A.P.'s sister-in-law, Maybelle Carter formed the Carter Family in 1927. Route 614 is now called the A.P. Carter Highway and two of A.P. and Sara's children, Joe (died 2005) and Jeanette (died 2006), opened a music hall called The Carter Fold on the Clinch Mountain side of the road. The community is part of the Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA Combined Statistical Area – commonly known as the Tri-Cities region. The A. P. and Sara Carter House, A. P. Carter Homeplace, A. P. Carter Store, Maybelle and Ezra Carter House, and Mt. Vernon Methodist Church are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as components of the Carter Family Thematic Resource.

References

Further reading