A Country Store: A High Woods Summer Swimming At The Patch.

The Patch was a popular swimming destination.  It was a deep place in the stream.  To get there you had to descend a steep path through the woods. It had been a favorite place for High Woods kids for decades.  My mother, May Wilgus is shown below.  The year is circa 1928 as she looks about 12 and she is wearing a 20’s style bathing suit, probably wool knit.  The other photo shows one of her friends, probably her cousin, Shirley, pointing to the swimming hole from the cliff above.  There is a shaft of sunlight, and the sandy beach is on the right.

 It looks the same as it looked in the 1950’s when it was an almost daily destination for our little family, mother, May, brother, Norman, sister, Meed, little brother, Mark, and me, Diana, plus our close friends Kit and Gunny Evers. 

Our car would arrive and all the kids would dash for the path leaving my mother to carry towels, picnic baskets and other necessities.  Often, there would be a father present such as Alf or Alan, and they would lug the heavy burdens as we kids ran down the path.

Along the way, there was a fossil place, an outcropping filled with fossils, and we would stop to see if there were any new ones.  We took them home and made little collections of them here and there in our yard in Woodstock.  With a little direction, I suppose it might have been a profound learning experience, but instead it remained a curiosity.

There was a sandy clearing at the end of the path, and, of course, a beautiful pool.  There were shallow spots along the edges, but the middle ran to a depth of over six feet.  A prominent shale cliff hung out over the water that allowed cannon balls, and dives.  The water was cool and clear.

We went there pretty much every day during the summer.  First, there would be a stop at the Wilgus store for provisions:  large slices of bologna, while bread, peanut butter and jelly.  Beer for the adults, lemonade for kids.  (My mother did not approve of soda).

There were occasional encounters with wildlife.  We were carefully warned about copperheads, so an occasional encounter with a hog nosed snake caused extreme anxiety as they make a huge display when frightened.  Water snakes would swim through unmolested on occasion.  A sandy spot near the little waterfall seemed like a nice spot to sit, but is loaded with leaches.  We called them bloodsuckers.  There were water striders, dragonflies and horseflies.  My brother, Norman, would search for Dobsons on the rocks near the edge of the stream.  They look like little lobsters, and wiggled around when touched. 

I enjoyed catching little pinheads in a cup.  Trout and bass were plentiful in the stream.  Crows were our favorite bird, and we would run around caw cawing whenever we heard them. 

A picnic fire would mean hot dogs, and everyone would rush off to find a good roasting stick.  Dessert would be marshmallows set on fire, burned to a crisp on the outside but soft and gooey and delicious inside.  The rocks around the fire could suddenly explode from the heat on the moist layers inside.  We were lucky to have no burning incidents, but it could be a very startling experience. 

The ride home in my mothers Jeepster (see picture below)  was itchy and sandy.  There was no need to bathe at home since we had been in the water all day, and, in the summer, it was not at all unusual for our well to go dry.