Elvin Hatch is a professor of anthropology from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He has been in Alleghany for the past two summers not only studying this region but also trying to determine a focus for a book. Hatch says he has to "get a feel for the place" before he knows exactly what is important.

Alleghany will be the third anthropological study Hatch has done in his career. The first was of a small town in California called Shandon. His first book, "Biography of a Small Town" (Columbia University Press, 1979) was based on Shandon, using the pseudonym of Starky as the town name.

Hatch feels the use of pseudonyms is ethically important. "You can't say anything significant without embarrassing people," he said.

The second of his studies was performed in New Zealand in a town in McKenzie County called Fairlie. In the book McKenzie is referred to as South Downs, and Fairlie as a township therein. He began this study in 1981 and lived in New Zealand for three years.

"It's just gorgeous countryside," Hatch recalled. "I'm not saying more gorgeous than Alleghany because the fact is Alleghany, I think, is some of the prettiest country I've ever seen. I think that's why so many second home owners and tourists are discovering the place."

He is starting his investigations of Alleghany with politics and economics. He feels this is an interesting time, place and overall state for politics. Hatch feels that in North Carolina, even small towns, like Sparta, have a reach that stretches all the way to the White House.

The importance of politics in the South is something he hasn't seen equaled elsewhere. While finding out almost immediately that Alleghany County is at present predominately Democrat and leaning more and more toward Republican, Hatch said he still has no idea what the politics of the people were in California, nor did the question arise.

The economy of Alleghany is his second focus of interest. In New Zealand, as in Alleghany, their was a strong middle class and not much diversion of wealth. New Zealand was a very egalitarian society, in that they felt everyone should be treated the same be they wealthy or poor. Hatch wants to determine if the same is true here.

He is also interested in the origins of communities. Alleghany's start was in mainly subsistence farming. He contrasts this with the area of California he studied which came into existence only after the railroads were built and relied on the rails to sell what was farmed. This was a cash crop economy, raising mainly cattle and grain and selling both. Meanwhile, Alleghany probably would never had existed were it not for subsistence farming in which the people raised what they could in order to survive.

Hatch wants to find out the reasons for the difference. Besides the railroad, for instance, was rainfall a factor in the different farming practices? And why was moonshine not manufactured out west as it was in the mountains? These are the kinds of questions he tries to answer about a locality to find more about it. Most of his material comes from simply interviewing the people of the region.

"I am interested in what's happening. I'm interested, for example, in the number of new second homes built in Alleghany this year," he said. "I'm also interested in the ideas people have. People act on the ideas they have. They don't just respond to the real world as it is. They respond to the real world as they think about it. I'm interested in understanding people's thinking."

Hatch is thinking of calling Alleghany County "McKenzie" County in his book, an ironic reference to the county in New Zealand.

He says his books are not for popular audiences. The book will be printed by University Press "and they will be lucky to break even". He writes only for the value of the research, not for profit.

His books are used mainly by professors and students. Sometimes they are used as classroom materials. He and his colleagues study people all over the world.

His main focus is small town life, but his fellows have other interests. One is studying the middle class in Katmandu, India. One is studying the working class of China. Yet another is studying the British reaction to the "Chunnel" linking France and England.

"Anthropologists go all over the world," said Hatch. "I think I'd like to stop moving around. I think I'd like to settle down.

"I sort of like the mountain communities", he added.