"The Ballad of Kent Steffie"

Kent Steffie main page | song

Very little is known about "The Ballad of Kent Steffie" or the railroad accident it describes. The words appeared in a history of Grayson County published in the 1970s, and they follow closely the conventions of other railroad songs. In fact, the lyrics fit precisely in meter with the Carter Family's railroad song "Georgie and the FFV."

Judging from the lyrics, Steffie's train lost its brakes and jumped the tracks. Photos of the accident are dated September 10, 1912, and one indicates that Steffie was crushed beneath the engine. At that time many timbering operations in the Virginia mountains used trains to haul out logs, and Steffie's train may well have run on a logging line. It is unknown if "The Ballad of Kent Steffie" ever went into oral tradition.