When I was a girl, we lived in a community called Cedar Grove that had not too many years before been annexed into the City of Shreveport.
      This was a nice neighborhood, the former mayor lived just catty cornered behind us in his beautiful, old mansion; he was at this time a Judge in Shreveport.   His son and family lived next door to us.   The oldest of their daughters was and is still one of my Mother's favorite people in the world.   She would visit us sometimes and babysit us at times when Momma was shopping.
      Next to them was Spink's florist, a place where we loved to go with Mother to visit or buy or even get free plants.   Mrs. Spinks always encouraged us to learn about plants.
      Across St. Vincent was a pasture where the people on the corner across from Spinks would take their cow to graze during the day and back to the barn behind their house in the evening.
      When we went to town, it was to a strip of stores that included the A & P, Burts Five & Dime, a meat market, the Corner Drug Store, a hardware store, an Autolec, an ice house, gas stations, a library which was in a building that also housed the toy loan, a place where we went to borrow toys just like we did books, a post office, an ice cream stand which also sold hamburgers.   There were doctor's and dentists offices and a theater, I believe.   There were many other places that we weren't taken to so I don't really remember what they were.
      My Daddy had lived around Cedar Grove in it's 'hey day' and would say that he was going to town when he went to the stores in Cedar Grove.   Later, when we lived away from Cedar Grove and Daddy would actually go to Downtown Shreveport to take care of his business, he would say that he was going to Shreveport, somthing that we never could understand.
      Once a month, Mother would walk with us girls across the tracks to the Burts Five & Dime and we would spend our dollar allowances.   One time I wasn't able to go so the next Saturday, Daddy took me by myself.   It was nice to be able to shop with Mother but really special to get to go with Daddy, he usually took the boys or the youngest child when he went out.
      On my trip with Daddy, I must have been around seven, when we got into the store, he told me that he wanted me to look at everything in the store before deciding and that I should get something that cost a dollar as that would be a better item than getting several items with the one dollar.   I guess that would depend on your point of view.
      He very patiently walked me through the whole store and then we went back to the section where they had the paper dolls and I bought a kit that I could make into a Hansel and Gretal cottage with the paper dolls and furniture and outdoor surroundings.
      Mother would either get a ride or would take a cab or even walk where ever she went as we didn't have a car for many years.   Daddy always got a ride to work, he never enjoyed driving as he had a serious nervous condition that had been developed in the war.
      If Mother was unable to go out for some reason, she would phone Dupree's Grocery down Linwood, whom she had been friends with for many years, and they would bring our order to our home.   I can still see their son, a tall, skinny, red haired boy that would bring our groceries out and would always talk to us.
      We passed Calvary Baptist on our way to our little church, The Church of God, which was across the street from our elementary school, Atkins.
      Even in the first grade, we walked to school by ourselves, if necessary, I did many times.
      We moved from this neighborhood the Summer I was nine and forever after, that house was called The Old House.
      Although I'm very nostalgic about the old house, I can remember walking with a girl from my class in the second grade past it before my loyal instincts came into play and I told her that that was where I lived.
      When I pass the place where the house stood, I wonder how such a large house could have been on such a narrow lot.
      I've asked Mother about it and she's said it wasn't just that I was small that made it look larger, it really was a large house that pretty much covered the lot from one side to the other, excluding the narrow driveway.   I can remember an old stump being between our house and the house next door that was so huge, we would play store in the base of it.
      I have few pictures of the old house so I just have my personal memories of it.
      I've drawn it on my computer along with the block that we lived in, at least from the viewpoint of the people who were actual participants in our lives.
      It was a story and a half, not two story.   Daddy had worked in construction and was very particular about the way he would describe things.
      This particular story and a half will always be a two story to me.
      There were stairs and two large rooms, front and back with a large closet in between.
      Since the top of the house was used, the attic was on the sides of the rooms upstairs.   There were small doors on either side of the rooms that led to the attic.   These were mysterious places to us since we weren't allowed to go into the attic.   I can remember Mother keeping Christmas decorations there.  
      One time an insurance person or someone was calling on Momma and they were talking in the living room.   We took advantage of this and went upstairs to play.   We had to have special permission to go upstairs but we would sneak up there if no one was paying attention.   We definitely knew that that the attics were off limits but went into them, anyhow.   It was dark there and we just had the light from the room and were crowding my older sister so she missed her step and stepped through the ceiling.   The insurance man was standing directly under the place where her foot went through and the ceiling plaster and dust hit him directly on his head.   Mother must have called us down because I can remember us looking up at him with the white dust on top of his head and us laughing.   We were a little heathenish probably.
      At the top of the stairs, a balcony ran the length of the wall of the front room from the top of the stairs to the outside wall.   It overlooked the stairwell and in my little girl heart, that balcony had the connotations of all sorts of things for the imagination.   Maybe I'll have a balcony in my home, again, someday.
      There was a tall window in the wall over the stairs so it was always well lit during the day.
      The stairs had a landing just above the first few steps that came up from the downstairs hallway and when we first moved into the house, it was completely different looking.
      There was a door going outside on the landing which also had stairs going to the ground.
      When repairs were made on the house, not long after we moved there, this door was removed and a wall put up and the outside stairs removed.
      The front room upstairs had heavy sliding doors but I believe the back room only had curtains for a door. The middle room had a wall to wall pole that held army uniforms, old clothes, etc. hung there.
      There were two small windows in the front of the upstairs and I believe there were several in the back.
      When I was a baby, my Grandmother, we called her Big Momma, lived in the old house and rented the upstairs to people.
      Momma and Daddy and we kids lived in the upstairs for a time, I really don't know how long.
      When we moved into the house, Momma's cousins, Lovey and John, lived up there.
      They weren't there for long after we moved in because I remember an assortment of Aunts, Uncles, cousins and friends living there most of the time that we lived there.
      Mother and Daddy both came from large families and had scads of close friends.   We always tried to be there for each other.
      I honestly don't see how we all fit there.   I can remember there permanently being a bed in the living room.   Either a real one or a couch that let out into a bed.
      I don't know what Momma and Daddy thought about this but we kids just loved having them around.
      It must have been awfully crowded with so many people in the house, however.
      These were people who had survived the Great Depression and were used to such things, I'm sure.
      They would bring their own furniture and everything.  
      I'm sure the Lord blessed us in many ways for being open to helping people in need.
      The only bathroom in the house had a tub directly under the staircase and if someone ran up the stairs when you were in the tub, spiders would sometimes fall in the water.
      The tub, itself, was scary enough, it was made of tin that would be painted sometimes.   I haven't heard of this since; it was probably an afterthought.
      The little hallway outside of the bathroom had doors on either end leading to bedrooms.
      Directly across from the staircase that was next to the back bedroom, was the door to the dining room which was a long room, including the living room.
      The separate kitchen was behind the dining room.
      The house was always sunny with large windows in every room.
      There were porches on three sides after the small one was removed.
      The front porch went across the front of the house with cement steps.
      Connected to the front porch by a screen door was a screened in porch that went along the length of the living/dining room.
      The kitchen was pulled in somewhat, outside, but had it's own little screened in porch with outside screen door and steps.   There was also an outside door from the little porch that led to the back bedroom.
      In my mind's eye I can see large cement stones holding the house up all around, similar to cinder blocks.   The house was high above the ground.
      There were columns circling the front porch.
      There were five old pecan trees around the house which we harvested and spent Saturday mornings shelling for the many desserts Mother would make for us and our church sales.
      I'm sure the neighbors played in all the neighborhood yards equally but I remember the kids being at our house the most.   Mother would have an ice water container with a spout on it and we each would have our own different colored metal tumbler to drink from in the Summertime.
      This was probably a grand house in it's day.

Written by Ora Lea Harrison ~ 2004   Edited again ~ December ~ 2011
     


This is obviously not our old house but similar, never the less.


Memories & Musings
Sondance ~ Table of Contents