Bumps in the Road ( Things I Have Run Across)

The Calvertsville store was the center of social activity in my early childhood. There was more to it than that. Calvertsville was a small community that was the center of social, education, religious, and commercial enterprise for the portion of Highland Township where we lived. The Calvertsville General Store was the precursor of the giant Wal-Mart Stores of today. You could go there and purchase food, meats, clothing, dry goods, candy, over the counter medical supplies, hardware items, plumbing items and other miscellaneous articles. They also sold gasoline from hand pumped, gravity fed pumps located at the main entrance. Their motto could have been 'If we don't have it, you don't need it.'

There was a large porch on the store that served as protection from the rain and snow where people could rest and visit. Many times my dad backed our car under that porch to install the tire chains to help us get through the snow and over the 'big hill' that stood between the Calvertsville Store and our farm. Many happy hours were spent in that store listening to my dad and his friends gasconading (telling tall tales and funny stories). Friday night seemed to be the favorite evening for the best socializing, although any evening would find people gathered at the store.

On the West Side of the building was a garage where Otto Baker repaired cars. Later an icehouse was added. Still later, free movies were shown on the side of the building to entice people to shop there. The building still stands but it is long vacant. Someone parks huge trucks in front of the store now where the porch and pumps once resided. It seems so blasphemous to have those grotesque vehicles put next to an icon of my past.

Sitting beside the store was the Concord General Baptist Church where I attended Sunday School and received my early religious training. It was, and is, a frame building with white clapboard siding. The store and church shared a stone parking lot. Large concrete steps lead up to the main entrance. When I was a child, it probably would seat several thousand people. Something happened to make it shrink because now, it might seat a maximum of 150. I remember sitting in the auditorium during Sunday school while several classes were taught in the same space because there were very few classrooms. It truly took a tremendous amount of concentration to focus on my class.

The feed mill stood across the road from the store and church. Farmers would bring corn, which would be processed into feed for their animals. Farm wives would use the feed sacks to make clothing, dish cloths, wash cloths and other items. It was also a place of socializing. The hammer mill was located under the floor. A John Deere Tractor engine provided the power for the machinery. It was a 'Johnny Popper' or 'one-lunger' as we called them. It had no muffler and it would thunder throughout the community. When I was a little tasker, I was afraid to walk past the exhaust pipe when it was running. I truly thought that it might injure me in some way. The sound was louder than a cheap suit and tie.

Grain used to make the animal feed was poured into the hammer mill through openings in the floor. There were no guards or safety devices in place. One day my goofy sister (the Killer) slipped and fell into the opening. She grabbed the side and held on until the mill worker quickly yanked her to safety. I don't care what other people say or what you may read in the newspaper, I did not push her or trip her. Not that I didn't think about it! That's my story and I sticking with it. Besides the animals would not have eaten the feed with her in it. It would have tasted icky.

Just up the road was the school. It was a two-room brick structure, which housed grades one through eight with two teachers. The two rooms were called the 'Big Room' and the 'Little Room.' Why? One housed grades one through four and one housed grades five through eight. You figure out which was big and which was little. Students were asked to sit on the front row to cite, recite and cipher. I remember listening to the older students interact with the teacher when I was supposed to be reading or doing my work. I learned many things from them. It required amazing powers of concentration not to.

Goose Creek runs through the community. The two names, Calvertsville and Goose Creek, are used interchangeably to refer to the community. The stream is fed by several springs up through the hills and hollers north and east of the metropolitan area. The metropolitan area is composed of hills, hollers, houses and farms. We lived on a farm two miles north of the general store.

Such was my world as a child. It was the equivalent of a shopping mall and community center. Would that I could go back to the Calvertsville store to be greeted by Ralph Martindale and his family. How I long to reach into the cold water of the pop machine and get a six ounce bottle of kokoler (Coca-Cola). Then I would get a bag of salted peanuts, pay Ralph a dime for both, and go outside on the porch. After taking a seat on a nail keg, I would pour the peanuts into the bottle, take a long drink, lean back and enjoy a lazy, hazy summer afternoon. It doesn't get any better than that. However, as Sir Thomas Moore said, 'You can't go home again.' I'd like to try.