When I think back on my childhood neighborhood... it brings a smile to my face and conjures up sweet remembrances of home, family, and friends.
Our's was not a typical neighborhood of houses. We were not even considered a town. Rather, we lived in a rural area... a green little valley surrounded by pastures, ponds, and cedar. Our little place of heaven was called Spring Glen... located in Carbon County, Utah. The only green place in the entire county. It was home to less than 1000 people.
I knew our place as Rural Route 1. We lived on the south side of the mail route... Haycock Lane, on approximately 3 acres of land. The route was in a rectangle shape, about 3 miles around. Houses loosely dotted the single lane, surrounded by pastures, a dairy, ponds, a dry wash, canal, and the cedars. Our closest neighbors were our farm animals. Horses, cows, dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, sheep, rabbits, and sometimes pigs.
We were hidden from the highway... far away from traffic and noise. There were no street lights, only an occasional light from a barn and a night sky filled with millions of stars. It was the perfect place for growing up.
Here's a sketch of my neighborhood.
In the summers, we played neighborhood games such as hide 'n seek, annie-I-over, kick-the-can, softball, and red rover red rover. We slept out underneath the stars on the front lawn. We swung from the branches of the willow tree. We climbed trees, ate fresh fruit the orchard and vegetables from the garden. We played in the neighbor's pond... swimming, building rafts and catching poly wogs and frogs. We made boats out of twigs and leaves and floated them down the ditch bank that ran in front of our house. We rode bikes and roller skated. We played in the barn, chicken coop, and made secret passages in the haystack. We swung across the canal on a tire swing. We rode horses in the cedars and even to neighboring towns. We played in the dry wash for hours. After daily chores in the morning around the house and barnyard, we packed up a lunch and headed for the outdoors... not to be seen until dinner time. There were no worries in the 1960's. It was a great time to be a child.
There was only one store in our neighborhood. It was called the Blue Cut Service. You could get gas for .25 cents, penny candy, and candy bars for a nickle or a dime. After earning a dime or two from chores, us kids would run down the lane, about a half mile, and buy a treat. My favorite candy bar was "Zero". Still is to this day!
There was also only one church house in our neighborhood, and our family attended faithfully every Sunday. Primary, Scouts, and MIA were held on other days throughout the week, which we also enjoyed attending.
I attended school at the Spring Glen School House up until 6th grade. It was an old building, but I didn't know any different. I loved my teachers and loved to learn. Spelling Bee's and having Ms. Rowley read stories to us were my favorite things about grade school.
In the winters, the green pastures gave way to a blanket of glistening white snow. We found many opportunities for play in the winter. The neighborhood kids came together often to play fox and geese in the snow, go sledding and ice skating. One of my favorite things to do on a sunny, cold day was to knock off ice icicles from the roof's edge of the house and suck on them like popsicles.
Our weeks were filled with school work and neighborhood activities and plays centered around church and school. We gathered as a community to celebrate the birth of Christ every Christmas. Having a part in the Nativity was the highlight of the Christmas season. It was common to activity participate in acts of service for neighbors and those who were in need all through the year.
Reminiscing about my childhood days and the place of my neighborhood heightens all my senses. The sight of my childhood home, the sound of a bird's song and the clanging of the cow's bell, the smell of lilacs and the sweat of the horse, the touch of an ice cold icicle and soft bunny fur, and the taste of freshly picked fruit from off the tree makes me aware of just how lucky I was to live in the neighborhood of my childhood days.
Years have passed, but they have never dulled the memories of the place I call home. The little green valley, in the heart of Castle Country... Spring Glen.
Rural Route 1, Haycock Lane
My childhood home in the 1960's - 70's
Orchard of apple, pear, and apricot trees. The barn has long since been torn down. It sat directly behind the orchard and berry patch.
My Shetland pony - Stormy, grazing in the front yard underneath the Weeping Willow tree. My sister's dog - Pottyeta, holding on to the rope!
Our neighbor's pond
Cows in the pasture with the cedar hills in the background.
