Past Playgrounds

My playgrounds as a young child were the clay banks leftover from the strip mining behind our house between Indian Head and Normalville, Pennsylvania. Now, before you think everyone in Normalville is normal, let me say it is in Fayette County and the village wasn’t named for that reason. Schools that taught teachers how to teach and what to teach in the 1920’s through the 1930’s were called normal schools. They were much like teachers colleges today. There was a normal school In Normalville and thus its name.

Those clay banks were like elongated ripples allowing water to accumulate in the valleys making perfect places for frogs to lay their eggs and raise their young. Catching tadpoles and watching them swim, grow appendages and turn into frogs from a mass of gelatinous eggs with a small black “yolk” fascinated us as kids.

The world of playgrounds expanded to the neighbor’s yard and the tinkering with old cars, building of clubhouses, toboggans, and homemade weight sets were the norm. As we became mobile by riding our bikes or walking the two miles to Indian Head it expanded even more. Collecting old soda bottles along the way gave us spending money when we arrived at Resh’s Red & White store. Usually, there was money for one quart bottle of pop, one or two candy bars, and maybe a small box of matches.

By this time, swimming holes were certainly within the circle of playgrounds. One was close while two others were at the end of a 2 plus mile walk or bike ride. One bike excursion, we surprised a woman standing in the open door of her camper/trailer completely sky clad.

Traveling by car with our parents, we were able to use the grounds of Fallingwater as a place to explore. My great uncle was groundskeeper there and while our parents visited, my brother and I saw some of the behind the scenes of the Frank Lloyd Wright house. I was given a private tour of another Wright house, Kentuck Knob when my brother-in-law delivered home art work to Mrs. I.N. Hagan. The gracious lady led us through the structure, pointing out its unique features.

While in the U.S. Navy, A bit more of the world was opened to me: Florida, Great Lakes, and Iceland. Traveling with our church group and tenting, much of the western states, northeast and some provinces of Canada became a playground. Playgrounds are what and where you make them. Life isn’t always about work.