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.

A Country Store: Henry A. Wilgus' Piper Cub Adventures

            My mother, May, (May Wilgus Boggs Wetterau) told me that when she was about twelve, the stress of her mother’s illness caused her to lose the ability to speak for a short time.  It was a terrible ordeal of suffering.  Henry decided to take his three children, May, Bill and baby Grace,  to Washington, D.C. for a short trip to relax and give everyone a break.

 While there, May and her brother Bill both had five dollar plane rides.  The fee was expensive in those days, but Henry had curiosity for new things.  May said there was a sign in the plane that read “knock on the window if you want to do loop-de-loop”.  Henry asked her if she was brave enough, and she said yes, but, thinking about it again, Henry decided not to try it this time.  It was their first plane ride.

            It appears that a barnstormer came to town about eight years later.  The term “barnstorming” comes from the practice of flying over rural towns to attract people, and landing at a local farm.  It was typical for the pilot to make a deal with the farmer to offer joy rides for a couple of dollars, or sometimes there would be a show of aerial daredevilry.  Charles Lindbergh was an early barnstormer.

 Henry has a picture in his notebook of “the first plane to land in High Woods”.  The two men and little boy are not identified, but Henry is leaning against the propeller.  The field is probably across Glasco Turnpike from the High Woods store.  

Henry’s notebook indicates he took lessons and learned to fly that Piper Cub.  He also took aerial pictures of High Woods.  The pictures demonstrate the openness of the land in 1937.  The picture of the location of the store at the crossroad of Glasco Turnpike and Dutch Town Road shows the beginning of a town center.

 

            This Carpe Diem was, no doubt, the result of Henry’s experiences in the previous decade.  Huntington’s Disease takes a while to kill, and its progress includes both physical and psychological disintegration.  It is possible that my mother became the focus of her mother’s frustration and torment.  I will never know, because she rarely spoke about her mother.  Thanks to Henry’s notebooks, I do know he followed his interests with gusto.  He had a twinkle in his eye, and he loved women.  He flew a plane, and went to war as a sailor.  For a while, he was the center of the small community of High Woods.

            Henry loved High Woods so much that he made up a slogan “High Woods.  High and Healthy!”  He had it printed on a billboard, and fashioned signs from old tires painted white.  Before the 1960’s everyone took the slogan as a reference to the invigorating nature and beauty of the surrounding area.  After the 60’s, the signs were all stolen as an enhanced meaning came to the word “high”.