Mountain family homes in Rockingham County reflected the economic diversity of the Blue Ridge Mountains during the 1920s and 30s. The average family had 5 persons, comparable to the U.S. census average of 4.3 persons, and homes averaged 4.4 rooms, with the largest having eight rooms. Some homesteads consisted of only a few acres, while others spanned hundreds of acres. Data on Rockingham's pre-park homes indicated that 43 percent were frame construction, 35 percent were log, and 22 percent combined log and frame. The standard of living was similar to that of valley residents and much of the rural South during the Depression era. Regardless of house size or acreage, mountain residents maintained close-knit communities centered on strong family values, neighborliness, and self-sufficient living. Families used homemade lye soap for bathing, washing dishes, and washing clothing, repaired footwear with simple iron lasts, and usually made clothes from store-bought fabric. Laura Shifflett of Simmons Gap earned money for a Singer sewing machine by shelling walnuts, picking huckleberries, and riding side-saddle to Elkton to sell them, while her large spinning wheel remained in use for spinning sheep's wool yarn for warm winter garments. Children entertained themselves with wild grape vines, homemade toys, slingshots, stilts, pop guns made from elderberry bush branches, and treasured store-bought marbles, tea sets, and dolls. Families displaced from within the present park boundaries left behind reminders of mountain life, including rusted automobile and truck parts, abandoned steam engine parts, pieces of iron cook stoves, wash tubs, coffee pots, china plates, and other scattered remnants. Mountain families built a strong sense of community through schools, churches, stores, and businesses, traveled to nearby places to visit relatives and conduct business, and gathered for church and school events, lawn parties, front porch music and dancing, apple peeling, apple butter making, corn husking, butchering, Sunday gatherings, marble tournaments, and softball games in the road. Some homes also had hand-cranked Victrola record players and battery radios. Neighbors helped one another during sickness, construction of homes and farm buildings, and times of need. Doctors were summoned to mountaintops by store or church phones during the 1920s and 30s, and midwives, some licensed by the state, provided medical care and were often praised for caring for newborns for several days to assist mothers. A 1934 survey of residents still living in the park indicated that 80 percent were in good health.