Suffolk, Virginia... That is, As I Remember it: 2017

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Suffolk [High] School

Suffolk [High] School, Suffolk, Virginia

This is the school my mother Alice Wingfield Whitley Watson said she attended. This was the red-brick school before the building of Jefferson. I remember going there when it was some sort of city office building. It was on the south-east corner of Saratoga Street.

For a fuller "history," or chronology of Education and Schools in Suffolk, See:"A History of Education in Suffolk and Nansemond County, Virginia," a Master's Thesis from 1957 by Robert Bell Moore.

Monday, September 18, 2017

Keeping down the dust...

The Water Wagon in Suffolk was like this one from St. Croix Historical Society

"And then we...living on Pinner Street at that time. Seems to me the number was three hundred and nine Pinner Street. And it was right across the street from old John, John B. Pinner. He was the peanut man and his son John F. Pinner built a house, built his home right down on the corner which is still standing today-- the corner of Finney Avenue and Pinner Street. And ah, I used to play with Dick Hume. (Hume?) Dick Hume. Richard Hume his name was. H-U-M-E, uh-huh. Edward Everett , Jack Pinner. And Jack Pinner down there... that was...he and Edward Everett, they were somethin'. They had ponies and we didn't have any! (Where did they keep them?) I don't know. They kept them somewhere around there. I don't know just where they kept them. But they rode 'em every day. (They kept them in town?) Right! Sure did! Pinner Street didn't always have that roadway like you see it now. It sure didn't! I'll tell you now crude it was. Ah, this is long before your time.... The water wagon used to come down Pinner Street and ah, a great big water tank you see. And it had like a cup on either side. And the whole spout was shooting down just like it hit into a saucer and that threw the water as you do it like today with a water spigot. They watered the street to keep the dust down (It was dirt?) It was a dirt road! (I'll be damned!) Yes sir! It shore was! (Pinner Street?!) That's a long time ago id'n't it? And, and that how we could ride out there on those horses, so, I had... I guess I rode Edward Everett's horse, pony, and Jack Pinner's almost as much as they did. Because they were the kids I was playing with you see." ---S. Burch Watson, from an interview June 9, 1979 about growing up in Suffolk about 1915.

The Birthday Party

October 5, 1953

208 Katherine Street, Suffolk, Virginia

This was the birthday of Dolly Watson Carr, daughter of Dolly Bell Watson and Charles Brosia Carr, Jr. My Train Table in the Background, a portrait by Fred Hamlin of my Sister, Dolly Bell Watson in the background. My Mother Alice Whitley Watson had made the Cake. I am the second from the left, below me is Doug Johnson? Dolly's cousin. Larry Martin who lived just behind us on Highland Avenue is in the pointed Hat. "Miss Dolly" is blowing out the candles. The Hurley sisters are behind "Miss Dolly." There were three Dollys in the immediate family: Dolly Ann Bell Whitley who was my grandmother, my sister Dolly named for her, and of course Dolly my niece named for her mother. So, we came up with "Miss" Dolly for her! I just noticed the Jamestown Exposition Commemorative Plate of 1907 on the wall in the background. I have spoken of this in a previous post.

George Mason School

Hmmmm.... 'been a while.... Going through an old scrapbook which I had taken apart and put the old pictures in files, I discovered these from 1951-1953. Most were friends I played with in Kingsboro during the third grade. MISS [which was stressed at the time for all unmarried teachers (as there were no men teachers at the time)] Roxie Dunning was our Teacher. Help me remember who they are...