Old places that once said "HOME"

A few weeks before Christmas, my sisters and I visited our hometown to celebrate the holiday with daddy. 

As we slowly drove down Main Street, I noticed many of the older homes were no longer standing and it made my  heart a little sad.

I sure wish I had taken pictures a few years ago of all those lovely houses that I remember so well and can still see only in my mind.

 I thought the big old house where the Williams family lived was such a lovely place. 

The two story gray house where the Haney family lived when I was growing up or the home of Mr.Razor as my daddy recalls in his day, it's been gone for years, but I still look for it when I come through town. 

The blue house on the corner, Ann and Splo Toy's two story house and the home of Sy and Sally Martin are just a few places that stand out in my mind.

Even though some of those houses have been gone for years, and some were torn down just a year of so ago I expect to see them when I visit my hometown.

The photo below is where my best friend, Missy Petitt's grandmother lived and was such a beautiful home in its day.  Missy and I spent many hours relaxing out on that front porch.

Most remember this house as the home of the late Jenny Petitt, she is the only person I know that ever lived there, but this old house has some history and was built a long, long, time ago.

The young man standing in the forefront is David Petitt, the son of Connie Leinberger Petitt and the great grandson of Jenny. Connie took this photo in Jan. 1985 and shared it with our readers on Sharpsburg of Yesteryear.

For the younger folks and new citizens of Sharpsburg, this house is no longer standing. 

A few years ago there was some kind of shop that occupied the building and not long ago it caught fire and was eventually torn down.

It was located on Main Street next to the little red brick(The Mexican Store or home) across the alley from the Citizens Bank.

In the 1880s this house was owned by  Mary Stephens, the widow of Joseph, both pioneers of Sharpsburg.

Mary and her daughter Emma Stephens Elgin and Mary's brother Henry lived in the house according to the 1880 census. 

I remember reading in my research a few years ago that Mary operated a boarding house here. 

Henry is listed in the census as a Grocery Merchant. 

Sealy and Nannie Peck are listed as servants. 

 Emma is widowed with a six year old son William. (Emma was married to Gano Elgin)

Will, as he was called by the towns people in the 1920s, was referred to as the town only recluse because he was said to have only come out of the house after dark. 

In his book "A Time Remembered" Woodson Knight described the house as being old, and was weathered and gray. 

Emma passed away at home on May 1, 1931 at the age of 77. 
Will continued to live in two upstairs rooms of the house until he died there on August 30, 1936. At that time John Flora and his family occupied the house.

Will Elgin was a first cousin to  Waller Sharp.

 

A Journalistic Journey

 Although this column isn't about Sharpsburg, it is written by a Sharpsburg girl. I had lots of fun during my time spent as a journalist, something this small town girl never dreamed she would get to do.

I reckon I should add my first jobs, that will make this column about Sharpsburg for sure.

My very first job was picking peppers for, ugg their names escape me right now! 

They never picked me to go back the next morning so I must have been a terrible worker.

Then there was the time Mrs. Glennie McQuithy hired me and Claudia to wash the basement windows in her and Mr. Stanley's new house.  I remember she brought us a galvanized bucket and some rubbing alcohol and seems like some vinegar to clean the windows.

A few years later, Dwayne would let us help him pull tobacco plants for Omar Ratliff and put in hay. 

In the fall we got to help Dwayne strip Mr. Omar's tobacco, and back then we tied hands and I had a terrible time tying mine, so my hands were always an ugly mess!! 

One time Mrs.Polly, Omar's wife, hired me and Dwayne to put up a swing in one of the back yard trees. We were working along pretty good and about had the job done when Mrs.Polly came to check on us and she decided we needed to pull the rope up a little more. As she was showing us where the rope needed to be we realized she had dog poop on her hands and was getting it all over the rope. Well, me and my brother started cracking up laughing. Low and behold if Mrs. Polly just decided to fire us right then and there.

Sometimes daddy would take us down Flat Creek to gather walnuts and I probably drove him nuts and my siblings too because I spent the entire time singing at the top of my lungs, this tune,  Daddy Frank played the guitar and French Harp, sister played the ringing tambourine, mama couldn't hear our pretty music, but she read our lips and helped the family sing. That's all the words I could remember and I sang those lines over and over and over again. I bet if you listen carefully on a windy day you can still hear my echoes, hahaha.

When April and I were in our teens, Ed Catchings, my sister Claudia's father in-law, hired us to help them work in their tobacco. We sure had a lot of fun working for the Catchings family. I was not very good at following the setter or dropping plants from the setter, matter of fact I was horrible at those two jobs. I also hated to pull plants, and didn't really care much for topping or chopping out the fields. But I loved housing season!! I have many fond memories of being in the stripping room and can almost smell the tobacco leaves and the wood smoke. Those were the good old days I tell ya!

As the years went by I held too many jobs to tell about before Tisha hired me to work for the Messenger.

A Journalistic Journey

Being a journalist allows for some fun and exciting opportunities, most of which would never come my way if I wasn't working for a newspaper.

One event I can recall is when Tisha and I got to take a hot-air balloon ride.

We floated almost 3000 feet up in the air, over the Ewing-Fleming County Fairgrounds while the fair was in full swing.

Afterwards we both admitted that we were scared, but it was an amazing experience.

One year Debbie and I, and my oldest daughter Natalie, went out to watch a country music video being shot at the Goddard Bridge. Mark Brown, lead singer of Sawyer Brown, had written a new song was making video inside the bridge.

It took an entire day to shoot just a few seconds of live video, and if you weren't there you would never know that split second scene in the finished product was from the Goddard bridge.

We were allowed on the singers bus for an interview, and Debbie still laughs at me to this day because, when we sat down to talk, I was at a complete loss for words!

A year or so later, the Messenger Crew met up with the legendary John Anderson at the Poppy Mountain Festival and got to chat with him back stage.

When former President Bill Clinton was on the campaign trail for Hilary, he and their daughter Chelsea were in Maysville. I was granted an interview with the former first daughter at Capronis’ on the River but there were just too many folks rallied around Bill at the Mason County High School for me to talk to him, but i did get some cool pictures that day.

On my drive home, Clinton’s Secret Service men were in a black SUV directly behind me and I saw them turn to the right towards the Flemingsburg McDonald s. We had gotten news that Clinton would make an appearance at our local Dairy Queen so I headed to the DQ, but when I got there a couple other media outlets told me Bill Clinton had decided to make his next stop in Rowan County.

So,with that news I drove back to the office and dropped off some papers and took the back road that runs behind the dairy queen.

Just as I drove passed the little road that turns into the back lot of DQ, I spied two Sheriffs cars blocking the road and low and behold if I didn't spot Bill Clinton himself coming out the back door of the restaurant!

I was ticked off, but should have known competition had played a trick on me and I fell for it.

Tisha and I also attended the special humane society benefit dinner at Caproni’s where Mason County Native Cindy from Survivor was the special guest.

Kentucky Joe was another nice person I had the opportunity to chat with when he was a guest at the Fleming County High School.

Now, what is sad, is we didn't get to attend the special screening of George Clooney’s movie Leatherheads and George along with Renee Zellweger were the guest of honor.

But, that was probably a blessing in disguise since I would have been so star struck that I would have not been able to utter a word.

As a journalist, I have had the chance to be in the same room with a few celebrities, and it is exciting to see and watch famous people, but what makes the journey more interesting, is all the stories told to us by local folks.  March 24, 2016

A news worthy home

 

                    If I could choose any house along main street as my own, this would be the one!

Still beautifully maintained, this lovely place was once the home of William Barker. 

Mr. Barker was the father in-law of the towns newspaper owner, James Clyde Nelson. 

J.Clyde was just 27 years old when he started his publication, The Bath County World, which he published and edited from May 1892 until 1914 in this very house.

After he ceased the  papers operation, he wrote a correspondence column, Sharpsburg of Long Ago, for the Owingsville Outlook.

James Clyde was married to Medda Barker. Medda's mother Joanne, was the granddaughter of Moses Sharp.

In his book A time Remembered, Woodson Knight said he could always tell it was getting near Christmas time when Medda was seen around town wearing her Christmas pin on her hat!!

I have updated this post to add the following information written by Woodson Knight

On the other side of Dr. Conway’s house lived Judge Nelson, his wife, Miss Meddie, her sister Miss Nettie and their elderly father, Mr. Barker.

Judge Nelson, who presided over “City Court”, was a former country newspaper editor and lawyer of sorts.He was a highly intelligent man and with his velvet, resonant voice, a superb speaker.

An avid student of the Bible, he led Sunday School at the Baptist Church and taught class for adults.

Miss Meddie was an immaculate little woman, friendly, ever-busy and a leader in the church too.

Miss Nettie was my Sunday School teacher and was, in the terminology of the day, an old maid.Mr. Barker stayed indoors most of the time and smoked his pipe incessantly.Mother used to say she disliked going to the Nelson’s home because the air was so heavy and pungent, made that way by the tobacco smoke. I think I remember correctly that Mr. Barker, who never had to wear glasses and attributed his good eyesight to the fact that he never rubbed his eyes, gave up smoking at the age of 90!