On the Moraine, Part XXII

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

I want to take a little time out of the ongoing narrative to explain the Beaver Farm in those days. It looked nothing like it looks today. It was a rectangular plot of land, 286 acres, so almost a half section which would be a half mile by one mile.  

The farm buildings sat back the lane, almost centered in the land. All of it was on the north side of S.R. 506, except for a little sliver of about three acres at the southeast corner which now has a house trailer on it.

On the west side, there was a hickory woods that backed up to Charlie Flannery’s dairy farm. On the right side, there was a maple woods which abutted the Head farm. In the maple woods, was the ruins of a maple syrup cooking camp.  

Franklin Branch runs from south to north and discharges into Rocky Fork Creek about a mile further north. Franklin Branch cuts through a hill and a limestone outcropping about 2/3 the way across the farm. The Limestone forms a cliff and a small cave, accessible from the top of the cliff.   

My brother and I used to go over there to play on a Sunday afternoon. I could just squeeze myself into the little cave.

The tillable land was to the west of the farm buildings and a large permanent pasture was largely to the right of Franklin Branch.

The house was a substantial, well built old house sitting on limestone blocks – no basement. The smokehouse, nearby, had a small cellar which contained an electric water well pump and tank. The water line was buried from there to the kitchen, the only place in the house where there was running water.  

In the house, there was an electric water heater, so we had hot and cold running water, which is more than you can say for some of the old tenements in Manhattan. We had an outhouse. We had two wood-fired stoves to keep the house inadequately heated. In the wintertime, it would take most Saturdays for my dad, brother and me to cut enough heating wood to get through the next week.

Somewhere, I heard the house was built in 1812. I don’t know if that is true, or if I was dreaming. If true, it would have been the nicest house in the area. I always said it was built in 1812 and last remodeled in 1813. 

There was evidence that it had been piped for gas lights before electricity came along. Many of the electric fixtures were old gaslight fixtures that had been wired.

The farm is not recognizable today. It has been completely planted in trees (and not very good ones at that). It has been broken into at least four or five pieces with houses erected on them. I just don’t go by there very often – it looks nothing like what I remember, and it makes me sad.

Contrast this to the house in Troy we just left. Mother and Dad had completely redecorated it to a high level and added on to it. It had gas heat and indoor plumbing. There was a heated workshop building and a garage. It was on a fairly small city lot which I have described before.

The McNary Farm (164 acres) and the Beaver Farm (286 acres) put us right at 450 acres, with about half tillable. Welcome to the concept of dirt rich and cash poor.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.