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Picture of the day - June 26, 2006
Uncle Clayton's House
The old Cook Family home place
Down in a "holler" in Widener Valley, Virginia sits an old two-story house that
holds a special place in my wife's heart. You see, this old house is where
Cheria's Granny and Granddaddy Cook and their kids lived before she was born. By
the time Cheria came along the Cook Family had moved up the holler into a bigger
house, but that isn't the end of the story...
 After
her grandparents moved out, at least two of Cheria's uncles lived in the the old one
over the years - including her Uncle Clayton.
Clayton Cook was quite a man by all
accounts. He was a highly intelligent and crafty person who loved to take things
apart to see how they worked - and then put them back together again. He most
likely would have made an excellent engineer had he been able to train for it.
Uncle Clayton was also pretty scrappy when it came to making a living. He could
do most anything to put food on the table, including raising a herd of goats
that used to "get out" all the time - and Cheria would have to help "round
them up"!
Cheria was Granny and Granddaddy Cook's first grandchild and she spent a lot of
time with them when she was a little girl. She was very special to her aunts and
uncles because she practically grew up with them as a baby sister. Cheria was
even told that Uncle Clayton and Aunt Mabel named her when she was born!
Well, yesterday afternoon Cheria,
Olivia and I decided to take a walk "down the
holler" to the old home place to see if it was still as she remembered it. For
the most part it was, and we took several pictures of the house and
outbuildings. Weather-beaten and chock full of bee nests, the old house that
Cheria remembers so well is still standing amid a sea of weeds that used to be
the yard.
The old dairy is still there as well, looking like you could just walk in and grab a jar
of green beans or a jug of milk...
The old dairy
Even the old wooden foot-bridge that used to carry Cooks and cargo across the
creek that Cheria and her "siblings" played in for hours on end is still in
place - covered with lichens and missing a few boards - but still there
nonetheless...
The lichen-covered foot-bridge
Cheria's Uncle Bob had told me about a water wheel that Uncle Clayton had built
and used to produce electricity. It had been placed underneath an outbuilding
near the creek, so when we got to the old home place I went looking for it...and
there it was just as I had imagined. Apparently there is nothing that Clayton
Cook couldn't build, including his own hydroelectric power plant!
Uncle Clayton's Water Wheel
Cheria and I really enjoyed our visit to the old
Cook Family home place, and I
think Olivia did too - although probably not as much as we did. Olivia isn't
exactly a "nature girl" as she is always quick to point out in situations like
this, and dodging cow patties as she walks isn't one of her favorite activities
to say the least.
But visiting that special place was a very emotional event for Cheria and her
eyes were filled with tears virtually the entire time we were there - and it's
easy to understand why. Some of her happiest childhood memories took place right
there in and around that creek as well as in the house that sits on the bank
above it. And some of her dear "brothers" and "sisters" who are no longer with
us were born and raised there. We could almost hear Uncle Clayton inviting us
in...
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