Monday, September 12, 2011

Memory Lane and Eckhart Mines

I love Facebook!  It's a way to keep in touch with family, interact with friends, and reconnect with long lost peeps from the past.  

I grew up in a small mining town...  Eckhart Mines to be exact.   We had an outhouse out back, got a dime for allowance every Friday, drank water from a rusty old water trough called Kelly's Pump, and weren't missed by our parents if we left the house early morning and didn't return till dark.  There are tons of stories from those of us who grew up in Eckhart, and someone started a Facebook page for those who grew up there.  It's been fun going down memory lane and reconnecting with  many who are just as nostalgic as I...  


Above photo:  Eckhart Hill.  

Every Friday, after my five siblings and I
were given our dime allowance, this is where we went.  The building in the middle was Dudley's grocery store.  There was a candy counter, coca cola machine, and Mr. and Mrs. Dudley who often would give us outdated lunch cakes, knowing we were poor. We'd sometimes have to scrape away mold, but boy were those cakes ever good!   Below Dudley's, was the Butcher Shop, then the Tabernacle.  The Butcher shop always smelled of bologna and fresh bread, and I remember many a warm summer evening when my friends and I would sneak into the Tabernacle to spy on the congregation of about a half-a-dozen,  giggling in the back pew and not really knowing what a tabernacle was.  Above Dudley's was the post office where I'd often be sent for our mail - PO Box 110 - I'll never forget the thrill it was to go in and find that I had a 'package' in back and know that it was my box of Mallo Cups that I had sent 500 'coins' in for six weeks earlier.   Fairdy's (another grocery store with the BEST candy counter) is missing, but was connected to the other side of the post office.  The sweet smell upon entering Fairdy's was one I'll never forget, along with the patience of the store owner as she filled up five separate sacks with the candy of our choice.  I'm sure she was happy when one of our choices would be a Black Cow or a Hershey Bar for 5 cents.  

I love to travel down Memory Lane.  But I love to hear about others adventures there as well.

What's  your favorite childhood memory?