[Giles County Dulcimer #4]

[Giles County Dulcimer #4]

Owned and built by Sarah Ellen Skeets Kieff (Jan. 6, 1890-Feb. 11, 1949) and her husband William Michael Kieff (Mar. 28, 1886-Sept. 25, 1949), probably in the late 1920s. At the time, they were living in Lester, Alabama (Limestone County). The instrument was played with a small pearl-handled knife in the left hand and a plastic pick in the right, sounding like Hawaiian music, according to the current owner.

Sarah Ellen Skeets Kieff played "You Are My Sunshine," "Wildwood Flower," and "Little Brown Church." She played mostly at home, and sometimes sang, but mainly played the fiddle. She called the dulcimer a "harmonica."

Giles-4

Giles County, Tennessee

C

W., Minor Hill, Tennessee

Minor Hill, Tennessee

27 1/2" x 10" x 3 1/2"

25" x 1 1/2" x 1 1/2"

oak or walnut wood; dark stain; wood is about 1/2" thick, top nailed down; 15 frets; 2 nails in the fretboard at odd places; tuners are flattened on one end with a hole that held the string; large hole positioned behind the fretboard