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Sidney Skaggs Home and Latest Visit |
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John McCurdy - December 18, 2011 |
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This Sunday morning it's cold in Alderson, I was
not especially looking forward to going to church, although the last
three weeks are the first times we have gone in about 3 months. I
got up this morning and found Pearl was again having to use her cane
for walking. She had just quit using it after the five weeks
following her fall. Almost her first words this morning were, "I'm
not going to try to go to church, or to the Bostic's House ".
That was in reference to an invitation to the Old Sid Skaggs home
now owned by Rich and Ann Bostic. I had, several years ago, asked
them if I could come visit their home, they told me I could, just
call first. The home of Sidney Skaggs and his wife Eva, son C.P.,
and daughters Elizabeth, Mildred and my childhood sweetheart Elinor,
is a dear memory of my youth. It was almost the same as my home, as
many hours of the day as I spent there!
I suppose I'll go ahead without Pearl and visit them, although the
closer the times comes to walk onto their porch and knock on the
door, the more reluctant I'm going to be, something I hadn't
considered until now. I know that the room just to the left of the
door will no longer be Sid Skaggs library, with all the fascinating
collections on the wall, the arrowheads, the rattlesnake rattles,
the old pistols and rifles, the swords and books and other relics of
history will be gone. In the living room/parlor the old rosewood
parlor set won't be there, I'm certain, many pieces! And the Grand
Piano will no longer be in the space under the stairs and the many
musical instruments won't be lying in confusion everywhere around
it.
Probably about that time, I'll be choked-up and can't see anyhow, so
I won't miss the huge mahogany secretary that sat in the dining
room, in the corner beside the fireplace. The hidden compartments
that were a constant challenge from Elinor to find. I'm sure the
kitchen will have been modernized several times, but the sink where
I dried and Elinor washed the dishes so many times will likely still
be in the same spot, since plumbing is sort of hard to move. The
back stair should still be where they were, leading up to the back
porch, enclosed by lattice to shield it from the highway. I seem to
remember that all the bedrooms were on the second floor as were the
two baths. In those days, bedrooms were sorta outside of the public
domain!
Long gone is the barn, long gone is the wash-house and long gone is
the little dam in the creek where I cut my foot severely enough for
Dr. Mahood to put in six stitches that I can still feel and see. The
tree across the hollow behind which I was hidden when I shot "Grub"
in the fore-head and scared us both almost to death, still is there
as mute testament of kids foolishness!
My wife Pearl, and a long-time friend got into a discussion that
turned into an argument a few nights ago. We were discussing, who
had lived, in the period 1940-80, in the area between the railroad
and the Greenbrier River, those homes, many of them having been
removed as a aftermath of the flood of 1985 and for other reasons.
Soon, they as well as other things, will be forgotten chapters in
our history.
I am very appreciative of be invited to visit the Skaggs/Bostic
house once more, I just hope I don't become too maudlin in this
Christmas season, Perhaps the Bostic's will appreciate their home
even more!
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