Chapter Five, The Lay of the Land

(My Cousins lived in the red house with the green roof)
Woodsdale started at the little intersection where we lived. Not really, but we thought it was the center of the Universe. As we got older the universe expanded. At the bottom of the street was a large park where baseball and football games could be held. In those days there was no little league, you made your own teams, made the bases, and figured out a social system that let it all work. The church and grade school were right across the street from the park. Along the edge of the park was the creek. The creek provided endless hours of entertainment looking for sewer rats, fishing, and getting wet when you were not supposed to. Walking on the ice in the winter was a great adventure.

There were all sorts of interesting paths, and landmarks everywhere. There was a small greenhouse beside the big steps that led up to the National road. An old trolley line right of way led through the woods and came out in another part of town where the theater was located. At night after a scary movie it was common for the older kids to jump out of the woods and scare the bejusus out of us.

Little stores were scattered all around. One of my earliest memories was going to the grocery store at the bottom of the street. To get the cereal on the top shelf you had to use a grabber device. Beside the grocery store was the drug store. The drug store was an old fashioned one that served ice cream and had the old soda fountain. Next to the drugstore was a tiny Gomer Pyle gas station. The National Road went by the edge of Woodsdale. This was one of the biggest and most important highways of the day. All night tractor trailer trucks could be heard shifting to make it up the hills.

At the bottom of the street was Bethany Pike. Bethany Pike lead to Oglebay Park. On the Pike is where I learned the art of hitch hiking. Hitch Hiking was the only way to get to the swimming pool at the park. There were buses that ran through Woodsdale. Riding a bus was an adventure when we were young and did it by ourselves. We got to know the bus drivers and figured out how to get to town on the bus for a quarter.

As we got older we kept straying farther from home and finding more and more ways to get in trouble. There was the railroad tunnel, and the railroad bridge. One of the most important landmarks was the “Hill” or Stratford Hill as it was officially called. As young explorers we used to dress in all the old army equipment, pack some peanut butter sandwiches and explore the Hill. Once back home we bragged about how far we got on the hill. An old Indian path ran along the top of the hill. Pushing the limit of the know universe on the hill was our equivalent of going to the pole, or up Mt. Everast.

Looking back on those days it almost seems kids are deprived now of interesting neighborhoods. We had an endless supply of places and things to explore.