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The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 332
she guessed 15, saying “but that may not be accurate.” She said the church was small, but a good size for its day, because churches were small back then. She said the church had wood benches, not solid wood like they are today. She thinks the seats and backs may have been wooden slats, but she can't remember for sure. To the side of the pulpit was a choir loft with five or six rows of benches. The only preacher Edith could name whom she remembered preaching there was a man named Pharr. She said, “I can remember him because he stayed with us; he had a wonderful personality. He was an evangelist, not the regular preacher.” She couldn't remember a regular preacher. School. Edith Woodward remembered: During school [when it was in session], we got up in the wintertime and put on long stockings, a skirt, and a sweater. Girls didn't wear pants then. I went to the lower grades at Farley School. Then, I rode a bus to New Hope to high school. The first school bus I rode was black with seats down the side. The middle one had no back [it was a bench]. The windows were canvas and fastened down Hunting. Edith said she didn't remember her father hunting much. They sometimes had squirrels and quail to eat. Christmas. When asked for a memory of Christmas, Edith said: For Christmas, the last one I remember when I was a child, I received a Shirley Temple doll. All the family came to our house. We had a big garden [so many canned fruits and vegetables]. We had fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, and lots of other dishes. Family Gatherings. Edith said: In the summertime the Woodward kids, all raised there [at the Woodward homeplace], came home on Sunday sometimes. My aunts and uncles and all their kids. Mamma had to cook all the food she could get her hands on. They would all go hiking up the mountain and get hickory nuts, lots of them. [Were there any homes on the mountain?] No. Crossing the River. Edith said that people who lived in Pond Beat could cross the Tennessee River east of what is now Memorial Parkway. They could get a ride across in a skiff for 10 cents. At Ditto, “there was a white [man] who had a ferry on both sides of the river.” 332 - (4365)