Country Home Thoughts Memories and Traditions in the South

Imagine what life was like in this home

This little house reminds me of one that Grandma and Granddaddy lived in. Some of the walls were covered in newspapers as wallpaper.  We would stand and read the articles.

We never know just what memories our children and grandchildren will have of us. Let's hope we make the most of our time together so they will enjoy looking back on these times.

Today's post is about simple times memories and traditions in South Carolina.

Don't you just love old houses?  When riding by one out in the open I find myself wondering about the life inside them.  I imagine simple but hard-working times filled with activity. That's not too hard for me to imagine with the memories I have of spending time with my grandparents.

This artwork is called WashDay by Dona and Jerry Locklair 

This house in the painting reminds me of my grandparents. The front was lined up in that way and the back porch as they called it looked exactly like this.

 

If I didn't know any better I'd think Jerry knew my grandparents and their homeplace.  He said there were many like this back in the day and I wasn't the first to tell him that.

My grandparents' home was in a local community called Ebenezer.  In fact, my mama Dot was born in that house.  

The yard was filled with hydrangeas, Crape Myrtles, and Chinaberry Trees. The reason I love those so!  I do believe the happiest of times were spent in their home. I should say homes they moved several times because Granddaddy was a sharecropper. 

One thing that stands out most vividly is the hand pump on the back porch. Another would be the wringer washing machine. I mean when you watch the laundry going through the machine inevitably someone's arm would get caught in the wringer! The one below reminds me of theirs. 

Wringer Washing Machine, you can see one in action here or  Doug & Stacy's here.

The back porches usually had a hand pump.  There is something about water that draws children in.  A pump on the porch was a toy to be played with, or so we thought! 

There were five of us and you know we had fun drinking and throwing water at each other.  When we had to stop playing the porch would look like a pond.

I can still remember the taste of that water. It was the coldest and best I'd ever tasted.  I'd never quite had any like it before. No doubt one of the reasons I wanted a pump out here.

After a while, we'd hear grandma or grandpa say, "Y'all get you a bate of water and then get down from that pump shelf before one of you falls"! The things grandparents put up with seem to be the things we remember most! 

I'm excited to have my pump in!

I'm working on a surround shelf whatever you call this & will post on it later

Most people out in the country had small buildings 

One of them would be a smokehouse where they smoked their meats

They raised their own food or most of it and were very self-sufficient

If this swing could talk

This reminds me of a barn they had

I would watch granddaddy grind the corn from the cobs to feed his flock of chickens

Our present home has some of the same things that I loved about their place. When clearing the land here to build Gwen and I walked the driveway. It was filled with white sandy soil and surrounded by crops.  She and I both thought this place reminded us of their farm.  

Clothes on the line

Grandmama made some of the most useful and beautiful quilts.  She didn't waste a thing and that included granddaddy's overalls.  She would cut the old ones up to piece them along with other fabrics or older clothing no longer in use. They would be so heavy and as children, we could barely move beneath them!  We were warm by golly! 

Old barn

Guess it's time for the cows to come home.  I can see the beautiful Jersey cow named Sukie coming up from the field to eat and go to sleep. She had the best milk and grandmama made the very best sweet butter around.  Many came to buy her butter.

Time marches on but the sights, sounds, traditions, and the very way of life are not forgotten.  

You know I have many fond memories of my grandparents and their way of life.  It was a very simple time and they all were such hard-working farmers.  That was a very common lifestyle in the country in the south.