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"Mahala Collins Mullins Moonshine Cabin-Vardy TN in the mountains of Sneedville (Hancock County)

"Take me if you can" words of Mahala "Catchable but not fetchable" words of Sherriff

Mahala/Mahalia pronounced "Ma-Haley"

* The cabin originally sat up on Newman's Ridge (mountain behind where the cabin now sits). It was moved to it's current location in Vardy TN (just outside of Blackwater) for preservation in 1990. Reassembled 2000.

Mahala (sometimes spelled Mahalia) Collins Mullins (sometimes spelled Mullens) was perhaps the best-known woman in Tennessee in the late 1800s.

Mahala Collins Mullins was most known for 3 things: (1) Being the best moonshiner in the Appalachian Mountains (2) Being a Melungeon, and (3) For being a very large woman (weighing over 500 lbs). Newspapers often printed that she was the largest woman in the State of Tennessee.

It is unknown exactly when but thought to be sometime after giving birth to her 19th child, that Mahala became infected by what is believed to be lymphatic filariasis which led to the syndrome of elephantiasis in the later years of her life and led to her large size. The disease permanently enlarged her. She was 5'9" and eventually grew so overweight that she was unable to get through the door of her cabin, and rarely left her bed, but eventually was bedridden.

Mahala sold moonshine from her cabin which orginally sat atop of Newmans Ridge (sometimes noted as Walden's Ridge). Her family probably assisted or did the making but she was the one known to be the seller. Her cabin was 16 miles from the railroad, and more than 3 miles from the nearest spot accessible with a team and wagon. The rest of the way up was a rocky path. Near the foot of the ridge her cabin could be seen sitting on top.

Apple and peach brandy were said to be her specialties; the brandy was made from the Limber Twig and Northern Spy strains, purportedly apples that produce the smoothest taste with the least bite of any known to man. Her products received widespread appeal even from afar as North Carolina.

There was a Whisky Tree, near the ridge in Snake Hollow. One could ride by the hollowed out beech tree, put in 50 cents and take out a jug.

The first attempt made to arrest Mahala was in 1887. (Many attempts came after that). Since Mahala was too big to get through her cabin door, the only way to arrest her would be to take down part of her cabin and the law didn't have the right to do that. And if they would have been able to get her out of the cabin, she was too big to take down off the mountain.

Many times officers were sent to arrest her but all they could do was serve her papers to cite and threaten her. Every time officers came to arrest her, she would say" Take me if you can.” It is said she often joked that she wished the lawmen could get her off the mountain because she would love to meet the judge.

She was called "Aunt Haley" and is said to have been a very sweet woman. She delighted in having visitors call to see her (even if it was the law) and always had gingerbread and milk for visitors young or old.

Mahala was born near the place where her cabin sat and had never been off of the ridge. Her whole life consisted of the 3 mile radius of on top of the ridge around her cabin.

Mahala was 1 of 14 children born into the family of Solomon Collins, (one of the 3 Melungeon Collins patriarchs) and his wife Virginia Jane ‘Gincy’ Goins. Mahala was born around 1824. She married Johnnie (Johnny) Mullins, the grandson of Irish Jim Mullins (progenitor of the Newman's Ridge Mullins clan).

Mahala had her 1st of 20 children when she was 17 years old. Four of her children died as infants and 2 as young children. Mahala Mullins also buried 4 sons: Richard (born 1850) was killed when his gun misfired in a brawl and Ollie (born 1858) was killed during a shootout on Main Street of Sneedville by Sheriff Grant Jarvis. Her adopted son Burton (born 1847), a Union soldier, died at Camp Nelson Kentucky. Her son Elbe (born 1848) was killed in a fight over a moonshine still in 1879.

Her husband and sons were buried just outside the cabin door in the back yard, where she could sit in the doorway (since she couldn't fit thru it) or from her bed (once she was bedridden) and see the graves.

When Mahala was 50 years old she married a farmer named Samuel Johnson. Newspaper article says she weighed 550lbs at that time.

When Mahala was 70 years old, she was unable to walk, stand, or lie down; but only sit on her bed day and night. Beside her, she kept a cask of whiskey. A faucet was at hand where she could conveniently dispense liquor to all who came to the cabin and wanted to buy her liquor.

Mahala continued the sale of whisky until her time of death and wanted to be laid to rest beside the bodies of her husband and sons in the little plot in the back yard, known as the family burying ground of the Mullins (Mullens) family.

Numerous articles about her appeared in newspapers across the country about her life and death. (Some clippings posted)

In 1898, a week past Mahala's 75th birthday, she passed away surrounded by her children in this cabin when it sat up on the ridge.

When she died, the problem was getting her out of her cabin for burial. Eventually, a wall was torn down near her fireplace and she was carried out on her bed. She was not buried in a coffin, but the four poster bed where she died was modified by sawing off the posts and boarding up the top. Making her casket from her bed.

Mahala was buried outside her cabin, alongside her husband Johnny, their sons and all of the other children who died in infancy over the years on the mountain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*This area is known to be the home of many Melungeons.

The Melungeons were 'discovered' in the Appalachian Mountains in 1654 by English explorers and were described to live in log cabins with peculiar arched windows-such as the windows in the Mahala Collins Mullins cabin.

Melungeons are said to be tri-racial isolate groups of people thought to be of mixed European, African, and Native American ancestry particularly in the Southeastern United States. Historically, Melungeons were associated with the Cumberland Gap area of central Appalachia, which includes portions of East Tennessee (alot in Sneedville area), Southwest Virginia, and eastern Kentucky.

The ancestry and identity of Melungeons has been a highly controversial subject as they are of mixed racial ancestry. Melungeons have been defined as having multiracial ancestry. They do not exhibit characteristics that could be classified as those of a single racial phenotype.

Melungeons have been said to have been families of diverse origins who migrated, settled near each other, and intermarried, mostly in Hancock and Hawkins counties, in Tennessee, nearby areas of Kentucky, and in Lee County, Virginia. Their ancestors can usually be traced back to colonial Virginia and the Carolinas. They were largely endogamous, marrying primarily within their community until about 1900.

Melungeon are described as having dark hair and skin with light-colored eyes; stark contrasts in skin and hair color. Also having American Indian features or fine European features. Other Melungeon traits include a particular type of bump or ridge at the back of the head (usually just above the neck).

Being people of mixed ethnicity, in early censuses, many Melungeons were listed as FPCs (Free Persons of Color), blacks or mulattos. These terms led to rulings in which many couldn't own property, vote, or children attending same schools as white children. They were segregated in much same way as African-Americans were. The Melungeons were not accepted socially or legally by whites.

Melungeons’ origins are still being debated. Some researchers believe they descend from the lost colony of Roanoke, and ended up marrying into American Indian families. Others say the Melungeons descend from the legendary Welsh explorer Madoc, who supposedly explored the southern Appalachian region in the 1100s. Still others theorize that the Melungeons are merely a tri-racial mix of Caucasian Europeans, escaped African-American slaves and American Indians.

There are also different theories as to the origin of the word "Melungeon". Some researchers assume the word stems from the French word mélange, which means “mixture.” “Yet the word Melungeon as it’s pronounced today (that is, muh-luhn-juhn) exists in old Spanish folk songs and usually translates as a disparaging term for a poor person or someone from a socially lower class. It’s also pronounced identically to the Turkish term melun can and the Arabic melun jinn, both meaning ‘cursed soul’ or ‘one whose life has been cursed."

Copied, but fascinating Americana

Cool thanks nice read.

Excellent!!

That's a damn nice cabin.

Very good read! Thanks

Thanks for posting that. Never heard of them before. There have been a few other "sub-cultures" (?) in North America but like the Melungeons they were small and eventually died out through natural attrition and marriage.

Jackson Whites is another one.

Enjoyed the read. Learn something new everyday.... Thanks for the post.

Born and raised in KY. My mother's family was from Southeastern KY. Have seen various folks with darker complexions. However, have never heard the term "Melungeon"...

Did a quick google search. Interestingly, Abraham Lincoln shows up in multiple articles as potentially have been part Melungeon.

My mother grew up 1925 to 1941 in Bristol TN.
She said that looking up on the hills, if you saw a thin trail of smoke come out of the woods, they were making [whiskey].
She had the same accent as someone from Southern Kentucky.

...."Her cabin was 16 miles from the railroad, and more than 3 miles from the nearest spot accessible with a team and wagon. The rest of the way up was a rocky path. Near the foot of the ridge her cabin could be seen sitting on top."

She probably called on someone like Grandpa to deliver. Just my ignorant opinion.
One if his early jobs was transport of ethanol..... kind of like the same thing used in fuel these days. He didn't drive a big tanker though. It was whatever was common before the Dukes of Hazzard days.

Most guys aren't going to travel over the river and through the woods to buy liquor if they could buy shine local.

PS: I went back and read the rest of the story as paul Harvey said. That was before his time.
History is interesting.