I see kids in swimming, I watch and no longer do I immediately see the great fun in that.
Swimming, with just a little thought, I can remember swimming until I was forced to get out of the water. I wasn’t supposed to go to the public swimming pool in Albemarle, but Von Dale drug me there.
I remember the trip so well, we started from his house, down the hill and start up another, about a mile and we came to the ice plant. In the hot summer, we could go to the loading dock and the workers would let us scoop up the clean ice that had been shaved as they drug the 100 & 200 lb blocks around and onto the ice trucks.
From there with our prize of shaved ice in our hands like a snow ball we started down the rail road tracks. What fun to see who could walk the single track the longest? About a mile on the RR and down a bank thru a small field and the pool was waiting at Rock Creek Park. Cost 25 or 50 cents. We were there before it opened and the life guards had to run us out at closing. I do not know why it was so much fun but it was.
We also swam in what was called sh-t creek, and also Long Creek. I loved swimming and I still don’t know why, but it was such a thrill. Later in Valdese, it was Jim, Bub, Guy , Peter David and me in the Catawba river.
Then the last swimming was in the Catawba River at Belmont, about 50 miles on downstream from Valdese. Belmont had a RR Trestle we could jump and dive off, we had a favorite place under the trestle called the ‘Broke off’ which was a pillar from an earlier trestle. We also swam in the abandoned Rock Quarry. Some of these places trunks were optional.
We are getting ready to close Mark’s pool forever (for us) I hope. If the house sells before next spring we are home free. hahahahaha!
Nite Shipslog
PS:
'It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have
learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.'
- Ronald Reagan
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10 comments:
Great post! I was picturing you and your friends walking those rails, crossing those fields and then I closed my eyes real tight just in case you decided to go 'bareback' while swimming. I'll leave that visoin for Sherry. lol
You are very welcome about Live Writer. Someone tripped me off on it and I just depend on it so much. I have never learned to swim and I don't miss it at all. It is fun for the ones that know how.
What a lovely post ~ you brought back so many memories of days long gone ~ thankyou for that ~ swimming is still one of my favourite passtimes ~ Ally x
Hi Jack and Sherry,I was raised on a 160 acre farm with a creek running right through it so we had a great swimming hole to swim in. I didn't know of any swimming pools back then until I married and we moved to OPP, lol. I was raised down the road about a mile and haft from Pop.s fried Green tomatoes. It was fun growing up on a farm chopping and picking cotton by hand back then. I think they would call that child abuse now, lol. Yes we had to work in the field from the time we were old enough to use a hoe, but we love doing it (sometimes).You and Sherry take care, Jean
I still love to swim. But it takes some warm weather to do that so all ours are closed up around here til Memorial Day next year. I hope he has some good luck selling he house. Many are having a tough time selling right now in Ohio.
We didn't have any public pools near us so we just swam in the canals and rivers. We loved it though!
Jimmy
No swimming pools in our small country town so we would get a ride to the Medina river where it was called The Crossin'. People also washed their cars there.
Back home in Germany children have swimming lessons from grade five on for about two years - have to admit that all those years they were not able to teach me how to; learned that afterwards while swimming in the open sea.
Always two hands full of water beneath your keel and a good Sunday as well.
enjoyed walking down this memory lane with you, Jack! Although I never swam in anything other than pools, it was always so much fun and a great way to escape the heat by spending hours in the water!
Hoping Mark's house sells reasonably fast!
betty
Jack, we've had too many things in our lives that are so similar. At Campaign, TN we played in the old un-manned railroad depot, walked the tracks, swam in the run-off water that went under the trestle bridge, swam in the Rocky River at Bone Cave - and like you - was never allowed to swim in "public bathing" places! What memories. At Camp Meeting, we had three days for men and three days for women to swim in the lake at Wimauma.
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