The Ole Swimming Hole

There's an age-old story that has been passed down by generations of kids who grew up near water. However, nowadays, with the younger generation being more interested in playing games on their computer screens, it might not be as common. This story took place in the late 1950s during a summer day, most likely in July. A group of kids from Mercer were hanging out at the railroad bridge on Burnt Mill Creek, specifically the trestle between Forest Hills Drive and Mercer Avenue. They were getting bored with their usual activities, so they decided to build a swimming hole by building a dam across the creek. After they finished, the water backed up and created a nice swimming hole that was about 5 or 6 feet deep. They enjoyed swimming for a bit, but then left to play on mosquito vines until it got dark.

The next day, a couple of them went back to the creek for a swim and heard some voices coming from the creek. They found out that some boys from Delgado were playing in their swimming hole without their permission, and had even left their clothes on the bank for skinny dipping. The Mercer kids were upset and decided to take revenge. They sneaked across the railroad trestle, grabbed the boys' clothes, and took off running towards Forest Hills Drive. They dropped the clothes along the way, but the Delgado boys never came back to their swimming hole again.

Johnnie Mercer's

The two summer's before I enlisted in the Navy were the ones that I spent as much time as I could at the beach. In my case that meant hanging out on and around Johnnie Mercer's Fishing Pier at Wrightsville Beach, NC. The first summer I worked for Eddie Pierce helping sand floors, but all my free time was at the beach both day and night. I would get off work around 5 on Friday and head for the beach. I would find me a place on the rail near the jukebox and dance floor. That was the place to meet the girls that had just come in town for a week or two on vacation. Of course there were the local girls that were there also and probably there to meet the guys from out of town. Those were the days of innocence and every day was an adventure.

The best times were when you were with that special person on the beach with a blanket or maybe a life guard stand and full moon with some soft music by Santo and Johnny playing in the background.

Departing for the Navy

On the 16th of September 1968, I embarked on a journey from Wilmington's Union Bus Station en route to RTC Great Lakes via RDU. When I come across pictures of the old bus station, it serves as a poignant reminder of the bittersweet memories of that day. As a son of a World War II veteran, I cannot begin to imagine the emotions that my father must have experienced at that time. Undoubtedly, it was one of those moments that life presents us with, where joy and sadness are intertwined.

Keep a positive outlook always.

My father at 12 years old

My father taught me a valuable life lesson - to make the best of what life throws at you. He and his siblings were orphaned at the age of 7 when their parents passed away within a month of each other. When he turned 25, he joined the Army in January 1941 and was assigned to the 1st Field Artillery Observation Battalion. On December 7th, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States entered World War II. My father's unit was highly decorated and received several citations, one of which was for being on the front lines longer than any other unit since the Civil War. They were on the front lines for over a year without a break, with a significant amount of that time spent directly in front of enemy lines.
 

After the war, my father returned home and got married to my mother. A year later, my brother Phillip was born with several medical problems and spent a large part of his short life in The Babies Hospital. Unfortunately, Phillip passed away about a year later, towards the end of 1947.

Soon after my birth, the trucking company where my father worked as a manager in Wilmington went bankrupt in 1952. We had just moved into a new house on Mercer Avenue when my twin sisters, Mary Katherine and Eva Louise, were born prematurely and did not survive. I believe my parents never fully got over this, along with the loss of my brother, and these events may have contributed to my being spoiled.

My father with my daughter 1972

Life went on and soon after, my father started working for Wanet Sausage Company, which was known for having some of the finest people in the area to work for. However, not long after we moved into our new house on the ICWW on Masonboro Sound, my father had a heart attack. Despite this setback, he was determined to go back to work. The company made a job for him that was easier and paid more money, which he worked from 1964 until 1970 when he had to stop working due to a stroke. Just the year before, they had moved back to town to be closer to the hospital, which may have saved his life. 

Around 1978, he lost his leg as a result of a clot in an artery. Again, the move to town may have been what saved him because of the time it took to get to the hospital. Sadly, he finally lost his fight with heart disease and passed away in June of 1980. 

Despite all these troubles, there were many good times. However, the point of this story is that throughout his struggles, I never heard my father complain or try to blame anyone. He always remained positive on the outside, no matter how he felt or what he thought on the inside. Although I try to live like this, I have never quite managed to do so, even though I learned this quality from him.

A Good Switching

Some of friends may have never heard of having a good switching (a real contradiction in words). You can take my word for it, there is nothing good about it. When I would misbehave and my mother would be sure to catch me she would ask "Do you want a good switching?" and of coarse the proper answer was not to say a word. If you did give a truthful answer it would just make thing worse because no one in their right mind would say that they want one.

I think the worse part of a switching was when you were made to go out in the yard and break off your own switch from one of the bushes in the yard. I made the mistake of taking a branch from a rose bush one time thinking that my mother would never use that. Well, she didn't but I got a couple of extra swipes with a belt she had near by. Didn't make that mistake again.

I can honestly say I never got a switching I didn't deserve but I did miss a few that I never collected on. Hate to let you more liberal minded folks know that the switching left no permanent scares and probably kept me out of quite a bit of trouble in the long run.

Kids today have most likely never had their hides tanned by having a good "switching"like some of us old-timers! Maybe if they had there would not as much need of our court system.

The Camp Fire

Jimmy lived across the street from me when I lived on Mercer Avenue. He was my best friend until the Atlantic Coast Line moved his family to Jacksonville, Florida. His father was a Ham (Amateur Radio Operator K4RVE) and worked at the ACL. That is where I got my interest in radio and years later I would also become an Amateur Radio Operator K4DPC.

Now that the statue of limitations are passed I can tell this story but in doing so I take full blame for what happened. I guess at the time we were  5 or 6 years old maybe 7 but no older I am sure. It was probably around the summer of 1955 or 56 and Jimmy Walker and I were building a camp on a hill in the woods behind the church between Mercer and Live Oak Avenues. We had picked an area on top of the hill at the edge of a young pine thicket because it was hidden from view. Next to this pine thicket was a broom straw field.

After picking our location we began collecting small pines and stripping them of limbs to make the framing of a tee pee like structure. To give it a little stability we used a large live pine in the southern wall. Once the framing was done we used green pine limbs with needles to cover the walls. After this was finished we dug an entrance under the north wall. Last we dug a pit the size of the inside about 10 foot across and 2 foot deep. The camp was finished and was hard to see even if you were close by. 

Now it is time for the camp fire which all camps must have. We were in the process of gathering sticks to build the fire when we realized we didn't have matches, so we sent Jimmy's little brother back to the house to get some matches. Upon his return we started the fire inside the camp made of pine straw. Now we were ready to cook, but again our planning fell short. Now this time we left Jimmy's little brother at the camp tending the fire, while Jimmy and I went back to the house to sneak hot dogs to cook. Just as we reached Jimmy's backyard we heard something. It was his little brother telling us to wait for him. As we turned and asked why he wasn't tending the fire, nothing we said really mattered at that point. Big columns of black smoke and flames were filling the sky. 

Thank goodness it was not far from the street and it form a natural fire break and things were a little different back then, no police involved, but you can bet the fire was no hotter than the seat of our pants went our parents got finished with us. Luckily the fire only burnt to the road and was put out by the local VFD.

Roland Grise Jr High School

This is not my handbook but the year I was
there the only difference was the date.

Roland-Grise Junior High School
School teams: Black Knights
School colors: Black and Gold

When we moved to Masonboro Sound it was quite a change. One of those changes was a new school. I was no longer in the Chestnut Jr. High district but was in the Roland-Grise Jr. High district. Roland-Grise was also one of the newest schools and along with that it had a reputation of being the school where the 400's where. Now you have to know 400's where the rich kids but not just rich but snobs and just by going there you might be classified as a 400. Strange as this may seem most of the money families at the time were at Chestnut, but who knows why kids think what they think. Once I got to Roland-Grise I found that they were just like the kids a Chestnut, a few from money but most like me with parents that lived from paycheck to paycheck. One thing I have found over the years it isn't how much money you have but the attitude. Many of the kids I thought were rich came from families that had no more or less than mind. Most no matter what were great kids and many friends with parent from all walks of life. I learned early that it isn't what you have but what you have inside that really matter. Guess that is one reason I don't get impressed to easy.

No longer a  Chestnut Street Bear I was now a Roland-Grise Black Knight. Later long after I left that campus some weak kneed administrator got scared that some poor weak minded politically correct simple minded soul would be offended and dropped the word BLACK. 

Even though my grades were not the best I was allowed on the track and field team and ran in the 440 relay, broad jump, and high jump. I was just average and by high school I dropped the idea of sports. looking back I probably would have been better in cross country. If nothing else it got me out of a few 8th and 9th periods.

This was the year that I met my first real girlfriend. In the 2 years at Roland-Grise 8th and 9th grades there were many crushes but there is one that I still wonder why in the world did you break up with her. The only answer I have is I still do stupid things. Guess it was for the best because the summer between 9th and 10th grade she moved away.

My favorite subject in the 9th grade was art and Mrs. Lynch brought the best out in me. She found what I was best at and worked with me on it. Between her and Miss Mary Adams I learned school could be fun and I really enjoyed the years at Roland-Grise.

East Wilmington Baptist Church

I lived  only a few house down from the church that we attended. During the summer we always had Vacation Bible School. This was during the day not at night like many churches do today. During these Vacation Bible Schools along with learning about what God had to say to us in the Bible we also got to make projects and have snacks. Snack time was my favorite, it was always grape Cool Aide and Jacks cookies. The projects might be a shadow box and we had to cut and measure the wood ourselves and no one lost a figure or maybe a mat to set a hot pot on. I found the mat I made when I was going through some of my late mothers thing. It is amazing what us parents will keep to remind us of our kids.

A very special place in time.

I have been reminded lately that I grew up in a very special place in time.The era I grew up in was probably the zenith of this countries time in history. If you were a child it didn't really matter if you were poor, middle class or rich you pretty much had many of the same experiences growing up. We all went to the same schools, there were almost no local private schools and really not much need for them. Back then public school still taught and taught you how to learn what wasn't taught. I have always said I'll put my first 12 years of schooling up against any high school graduate of the public school system turns out today. Give us a 100 question test that covers all the basics and I'll come out on top and this is probably true of any of my old class mates. How did the teachers ever make it through the year having to grade and figure grades by hand and no teacher work days back then. They didn't cancel school every time bad weather was predicted ether. If it rained you put your rain coat on, if it snowed you put warm closes not that I ever remember it snowing during school. I'm sure it did. It still amazes me at what some of our high school graduates don't know these days. The biggest thing we had to worry about was the A-bomb. Remember getting under your desk or going to the hall and tuck your head between you legs? How about all the buildings that had the air raid shelter signs on them. Thank God that it never came to the point in the Cold War that we needed any of that stuff.

A bike ride to Renovah Circle

After reading a few of the post about my 2nd grade class and reminded of how many kids were from the Renovah Circle area my mind wondered back to those days and I thought about me and a friend that lived behind me on Wayne Drive.

It was one summer morning after school had let out for the summer my friend and I decided to ride our bikes through Forest Hills. We took of down Wayne Drive toward the school to play in the creek that ran along beside Forest Hills School. As was usual with us the competitiveness did not take long to kick in. So as each of us pedaled a little harder and the speed began to build. We turned off of Wayne Drive onto Renovah Circle as we rounded the curve and were headed back to Wayne Drive my friend was pulling ahead. He kept looking back  and making fun of me for being on the loosing end of the race. About half way between the curve and Wayne Drive I noticed a parked car right in front of my friend, so I did what anyone would do while in 2nd place I pedaled as hard as I could while talking as hard as I could to keep his attention on me. It worked, as he peeled himself off the trunk of the car I passed him. Have to admit after I saw he was not hurt bad and his bike was only scratched, I did feel a little guilty, but the main thing was I won. Don't feel to sorry for him he paid me back more than once. The bike in the picture is the bike I was riding that day about a year later.

Chestnut Street Jr High School

I was not there during the 54- 55 school year but the
school was the same in 63 -65 when I was there.

Finally made it to Junior High School. 7th grade was a whole new adventure. For one thing Chestnut Jr High was at least 2 miles further from our home on Mercer Avenue. Forest Hills had been about a 2 mile walk but Chestnut was closer to 5 miles. My cousin lived the next street over and was what we called "in the county" so she could ride the bus though it was still a half mile walk to the bus stop for her. I lived in the city limits so I wasn't allowed to ride the bus. These days the kids can’t have the bus stops more than a block a part and even then the bus has to wait on some of them to come out of the house. The bus drivers back when I was growing up left you behind if you were not at the bus stop, no waiting. Maybe that is why this country has got so fat and soft. That’s another blog though. In any case if I got out of school and started to run straight home I could beat the bus because they had to wait for it to get there from another school and I did like running back then. Besides there were lots of things to do on the way home. First there was Pappy Gay’s grill for the best hot dogs in town, then on down Market Street there was Beaumont Grill and Mr Brocks Store and the park on Wayne Drive and on really cold days we could stop at the Carolina Motor Inn to get hot chocolate out of the vending machine. There were also several service stations we could stop by and watch the mechanic work on cars, two of these old buildings are still standing and there was always Burnt Mill Creek to play in on warm days just depended which way you took home and how fast you wanted to get there.

Student
Telephone Directory

Each school had sports teams and mascots, Chestnut was the Bears and the school colors were red and white. There were 5 Junior High School in the school system and we played our teams against each other. Many of the kids from these teams made it on to pro sports. Football was played at Legion Stadium  and if my memory is correct it was always a double header.  Each school had a baseball diamond and gym for basketball, so we mainly had 3 sports later when I was in the 9th grade they added track and field.

Each year there was a student telephone directory issued for a small fee. I wonder if anyone still has the same telephone number?

Chestnut had a special place the 9th graders could go that the other students were not allowed. If you were in the 9th grade you could cross the creek at lunch. If you tried that and you were not a 9th grader there was a good chance you might "fall" in the creek. Don't know if any other Jr. Highs had anything like that.

The Junior High system was a great system, you could make life long friends and you did a lot of growing up before you were thrown into high school. It was kind of like a farm team for growing up.

Moving to the sound

We moved to Masonboro Sound around 1963. It was quite a change from city living but I took it in stride and actually still had every thing the city had to offer a kid just entering his teen years and more. One of the things I would do in the evening just as the sun would go down when I lived in town is get a pocket full of rocks and go find a vacant lot and go Bat hunting. Bat hunting was an easy sport that did hurt any thing especially the Bats that were being hunted. I don't think  anyone can throw a rock fast enough to catch a bat by surprise. The process when something like this. First rock is thrown in front of the bat so that  he follows it down  and as the bat got close to ground the second rock was thrown. This is the one that was suppose to take him out of the air. I can't remember me or any of my friends ever hitting a bat, but it sure was fun watching them follow that rock to ground. The great thing about our house on Masonboro was there was a field straight across the street and there was no limit to the number of bats to be seen.

Burnt Mill Creek was replaced with  the Intercoastal Waterway, Whiskey Creek, the sound and the Atlantic Ocean. Guess this is were my love of aviation (no more airport to visit) and ships and water were merged. Only a few years later I would join the U.S. Navy and earn my green stripes of and Airman.

Schools changed instead of a Chestnut Street Bear I was now a Roland-Grise Black Knight. Later long after I left that campus some weak kneed administrator got scared that someone poor weak minded soul would be offended and dropped the word BLACK. Even though my grades were not the best I was allowed on the track and field team and ran in the 440 relay, broad jump, and high jump. I was just average and by high school I dropped the idea of sports.

Mrs. Lynch was my art teacher and I feel in love with art. Actually I was getting pretty good in Jr High. having a good teacher sure helped. To bad I could not have had a teacher like her in high school. My high school art teacher should have tried any profession other than teaching, she could make a kid hate ice cream. Nice lady but not a teacher. After one year with her I dropped art.

Then there was my first girlfriend. She lived in Harbor Villa about a mile away. Her family moved to Aurora  at the end of the 8th grade. Long distant relationships just don't last with 8th graders. By the middle of the 9th Grade to other girls were in my life though not at the same time. Paula came first and then I met Eva Pierce probably one of the sweetest girls I have ever known.

More on Chestnut Street Jr High School

It was Chestnut Street Jr High in the early 60s when I went to Chestnut. The newer building on the 23rd Street side housed  1-6 grades, that school was called Snipe's Elementary and the main and older 2 story structure which housed the gym and auditorium was Chestnut Jr High (grade 7-9). The building that was in the rear which was built about the time of Snipes was for shop, band, chorus and extra classrooms. The main building burnt in the 80s I believe and was completely rebuilt except for the outside walls from what we where told at the time. Makes me wonder where the asbestos came from that was used as one of the main reasons for destroying this historic site.

At this time there were 5 Jr Highs that competed with each other in sports, Chestnut (Bears), Tilston (Blue Devils), Lake Forest(Yellow Jackets), Sunset (Hornets) and Roland Grise (Black Knights). Later some weak kneed spineless administrator would drop the Black for fear of offending some poor weak minded soul. Because of this competition New Hanover always had some of the top teams and athletes in the state and many went on to the pro ranks. In those day colors only meant the school you attended not what gang you were in. Chestnut was Red and White, Tilston was Blue and white, Lake Forest was Green and Yellow, Sunset was Green and White and Roland Grise was Black and Gold.

Thing that are gone forever.

I wonder how many of these things you remember if you grew up in Wilmington, NC in the 1950s? In fact many of these things probably happened all over the country in the 50s and early 60s.

At the top of my list the Civil Defense siren. Every Saturday at 12 noon it would be tested and you could hear it all over Wilmington. Later in life I would discover that was one of many jobs the fire department was responsible for. In fact in my early career as a fireman on of the department I worked for still had a siren like the old CD siren we tested each Saturday at noon.

Then there was that smell that drifted over from the paper mill in Riegelwood if the wind was just right. Sort of a cross between a skunk and an over turned out house. Not near as bad as the smell we get from the chemical plant on highway 421 these days.

But there was another smell that was much better and that was the candy counter at H L Greens 5 and 10 Cents Store downtown. They kept the maple nut candy hot so that if you were anywhere in that part of the store you had to stop and buy some. Even though they didn't smell near as good the hot nuts they sold can't be matched anywhere today.

Remember the sweet roll at school lunch?

There was the sound of the tug boat horns talking to each other while working on the river.

What about that cloud of white smoke behind the county mosquito sprayer that all of us kids would run behind. Trusting that our government would never hurt us. Many of these same kids got a dose of Agent Orange years later still trusting the government to keep us safe.

Remember when water was free and didn't come in a bottle and soft drinks were all the same price? 5, 6, 8 or 10 cents depending how far back you can remember.

Buy a small Coke with shivers of ice in it (5 cents) pack of Tom's peanuts (5 cents) and a Moon Pie (5 cents). Then put the peanuts in the drink and you were on top of the world for only 15 cents.

Then there was and is the candy called Boston Baked Beans. Not from Boston, not baked, and not beans. So much for truth in advertising. They sure are good though. Then why did the government change the name of picnic ham to picnic shoulder?

I can still taste those S&H Green Stamps, bet I licked a million and put them in books so Mama could cash them in for something. Sometime I got something so it wasn't to bad. Anyone remember Palm Motor Oil at 25 cents a quart. Gulf, Quaker State and other major brand were 65 and 70 cents a quart. Palm was re-manufactured before such things were popular. Used to get it a Miss Daisy's Store after we moved to Masonboro Sound. 

Guess I should say a little about Miss Daisy and I will a little later.

Weather and other stuff

More proof that it isn't getting any warmer. This picture was taken 10 January 2011, except for the some missing trees it could have been shot in the 50's. I remember many a cold January and many a warm one also. Our area seems to run in 10 year cycles. The only white Christmas I remember her in Wilmington was in 1989. This road is in the middle of town now but back in the 50s it was the edge of Wilmington. new compared to me.It was completed in the late 1970s. Many times us kids would catch rides on the train that ran near by Mercer Avenue where I lived. The frieght trains ran through the city from the rail class yard on the northside around the edge of town and then to the State Port on the southside of town close to where this picture was taken. It was easy for us kids to catch a slow moving train and ride a short distance to another part of town. Tom Sawyer had his Mississippi and I had my Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. You did have to be careful not to catch it out past Kerr Avenue or you might wind up in Jacksonville, NC 50 miles north. Glad to say that never happened, but it sure would have made a good story.

Floyd

Floyd Harrell was my cousin, he was about 10 years older than me. I don't remember a lot about Floyd other than he was always nice to me and included me in  a lot of things he didn't have to, especially since he was  older than me. He was my father's sister's son. They lived the next street over from Mercer on Live Oak which is called Covil now. He attended Forest Hills, Chestnut and New Hanover High School.

By the picture at the left you can see that there was a few years difference in our ages. Even after Floyd married Lynn and they had a baby girl  he still treated me like a brother and included me in on lots of things. There was the sports car he had that he would take me riding in. A light blue TR3 and then there was the time I got to go down to the river where he worked he gave me a tour of the pusher tug  "Dam Yank". For a kid not yet a teenager that was really a big deal to be treated like an equal. But then that is the our family was. I was always treated like a brother by him and his sister Nancy. Of all my aunts, uncles and cousins they were and still are my favorites. Sorry to say at my age now only Nancy and I are still alive and I don't keep as close contact as I should with her, but I just don't seem to be able to get close to people these days like I once did.

We lost Floyd first in a barge explosion on the Cape Fear River in the early 60s. Then my father in 1980. In 1992 my wife of 20 years and I split. about 5 years later I married my childhood sweetheart. Then Uncle Bill passed away and next it was Aunt Callie And finally my mother and current wife's parents. That is the bad part about getting older, many of those you love leave you, sometimes by choice and sometimes not by choice. But it can cause you to put up a wall to keep from getting to close to people. Then if I had never known these people what a loss it would have been for me.

Floyd had a little Cushman or maybe it was a Sears scooter at one time and that is probably the reason I have had years of fun riding motorcycles and still do.

Sure do miss him and the rest of the family, but that is the way life is, so we better enjoy and spend as much time as we can with those we love here on earth until that time that we are all together again in Heaven.

Going to work with Daddy

My father drove a truck for a living, not a long haul tractor trailer, but a non tractor trailer type. He had a regular route that took him from Wilmington to Lumberton twice a week. It made for a long day because he stopped at almost every little  mom and pop store between the two towns and in those days every little cross roads had one or two stores. Many of these were as close as across the road from each other. He would work his way to Lumberton on Monday getting there around 6  o'clock and would spend the night in the Goodyear Hotel in downtown. My guess is it was probably the only hotel there in those days. Then Tuesday he would work his way back to Wilmington. Wednesday would be a short work day going just a little ways up highway 87 turning around just short of Carver's Creek and back to Wilmington getting home about 6. Then back to Lumberton on Thursday and home on Friday. It was hard work but he never complained even though the trucks he drove didn't A/C or automatic transmissions. Even though this was back before there were special days set aside to bring your kids to work he would take me with him 4 or 5 times a year. Sometimes between stops that were close together he would let me ride in the back of the truck. I can close my eyes now and smell the fresh meat that he delivered, much of it had only been processed the day before. During the tobacco season when we would spend the night in Lumberton I would wake up to the sound of the tobacco auctioneer chanting his bids and the smell of fresh cured tobacco. Seemed that was all that they had in Lumberton back then. Never have been able to understand how something could smell so good and then stink and taste so bad when smoked. Probably the reason I never took up the habit. I will cherish these memories of going to work with my father for as long as my memory holds onto this world. Watching him work taught me something that regular father and son outing just can’t do.

1960 the year my world changed

It was 1962 1960 a milestone for me as well as Wilmington the town I grew up in. I was one of the big kids at school being in the 6th grade at Forest Hills School, but things were getting ready to change. 1963 I would be at Chestnut Street Jr High and at the bottom of the pile being in the 7th grade. To make things worse it would be a larger school and many of my childhood friends would no longer be going to school with me. Some would go to one of the other Jr high schools but many would leave Wilmington for good. 1962 1960 was the year that the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad would be moving to it's new home office in Jacksonville, FL and taking many of my friends with it. For me the transition wasn't easy and for the town losing it's biggest employer was a disaster which some might say it has never really over come. Yes we have grown and have many new companies to employee workers, but we lost something that year that has never been regained. Up until the Atlantic Coast Line left it seemed Wilmington was just one large family. Maybe because every one ether worked or a member of the family, or neighbor worked there. The old office buildings took up over 2 city blocks of 2 and 3 story buildings not counting the passenger terminal and freight offices and ware houses. With it all figured in they covered nearly a third of what is now the downtown area. This was all vacant now and soon after passenger service ended and by the mid 60s the Hotel Wilmington would also close. It was one of the tallest buildings downtown. What I remember about it was those revolving doors.

Lighter Than Air

LTV or Lighter Than Air

Lighter than air is a term that is used for a type aircraft that was once used and is seldom seen these days except at races and ball games. In the 50's the US Navy still used Blimps to patrol the coast. They would fly in low over the coast, low enough at times you could wave at the crew and they would wave back. Most of us are familiar with the with the Goodyear Blimp, but the Goodyear Blimps of today are much smaller versions of the large ZPG ships that the Navy flew. Some as long as 350 feet. They would fly between Weekville Air Station and Florida. Weeksvile I just outside of an d a few miles from Tthe US Coast Guard Air Station at Elizabeth City , NC. The still service the smaller blimps in the remaining hanger. Sure miss the sight of them lumbering along the coast at 50 or 60 knots.

Walking to school!

Back in the old days and they really were since I am writing this at age 60. Anyway back in the old days it was still safe to let your kids even first graders walk the mile or two to the local school. To this very day I can remember many of the sounds and smells that we were accustomed to back then and even miss a little now. There was the 8:00 am steam whistle of the cotton mill that let us know we only had 30 minutes left before we had to be in class. That whistle went silent many years ago when the old cotton mill was closed. Then there was the smell of the paper mill. You really don't want to know what it was like. What you smell from the paper company these days is like a rose garden in comparison. In the spring there was the smell of all things becoming new again and in the fall that smell of coal burning in the school furnace. There was always a pair, apple or plum tree along the way to get a snack and there were always the wild blackberries in the spring. Almost everyone walked to school back then, even in the rain and the rare days it would snow. Yes we went to school if it snowed. Oh yeah you ate breakfast at home and studied at school.