Maces Spring, Virginia

Maces Spring is a small unincorporated community in Scott County, Virginia, United States, along State Route 614. The settlement consists of a small number of houses. There are now no stores in Maces Spring and its main claim to fame is its association with the country music group, the Carter Family. Alvin Pleasant Delaney Carter also known as "Doc" or "AP" was born in Maces Spring and in 1914 he brought his sixteen-year-old bride Sara Dougherty Carter to live there. They are both buried in the graveyard behind Mount Vernon Methodist Church. AP, Sara and AP's sister in law Maybelle Carter formed the Carter Family in 1927.

Route 614 is now called the AP Carter Highway and two of AP and Sara's children, Joe (now deceased, 2005) and Jeanette (now deceased, 2006), have opened a music hall called "The Carter Fold" on the Clinch Mountain side of the road. The Carter Family Fold features traditional country music every Saturday much like that sung and played by the Carter Family.

The community is part of the Kingsport–Bristol (TN)–Bristol (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 as components of the Carter Family Thematic Resource.

Further reading

• In The Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American Music, Nicholas Dawidoff, Vintage Books, 1998. ISBN 0-375-70082-X