my little piece of history!

Hey, y'all!

I wanted to share with y'all a little piece of history. Some of you may have read about my grandmother, MaMa, passing away on 6/14...I did a little post in her memory...A couple of months ago my mom began the difficult task of cleaning out MaMa's house. MaMa was in a nursing home, and we knew she would never again get to go back home. Mom brought me a few boxes to go through and told me to keep anything I'd like.

I was delighted to find several of her recipes, written herself so many years ago. Those are priceless to me. Maybe one day soon I will share one with y'all!

What I'm sharing today, however, is a newspaper I found...and not just any newspaper. A high school newspaper, from my MaMa's junior year in high school!

Take a peek:

It says "The Traveling Talisman" and "published by the students of Travelers Rest High School." Both my MaMa and my mom graduated from Travelers Rest High School. Take a peek at the publication date and price:

April 17, 1936, and sold for a mere 2 cents.

One of the front page headlines reads "seniors make $45 on play"...Wow! I don't remember how much entry to a school play was when I was in high school...but I remember a football game was $5...just to put that in perspective! When I opened it up, the next little paragraph to catch my eye said "School to start at 8:25 beginning Monday"...I know it's difficult to read.

It says that school will begin at 8:25 each day to make it possible for the students to get out at 1:50. It goes on to say that "now that the fields are in shape to be worked, many of the students are needed at home as early as possible to help their parents." The fields! I just think of how different an afternoon was for me, just 2 generations later, after a day in high school. I had band practice, a part time job, friends to ride around aimlessly with...I thought I had days that were bad, but working in fields harvesting crops I was not! Talk about hard work!

On the back were a few advertisements from local businesses. This one for Williams Hardware caught my eye, as it is still in business--in the same location. In fact, there was also an ad for Williams Cafe. Why is that interesting? Travelers Rest has experienced a serious boom the last few years, and Williams Cafe was recently re-opened adjacent to Williams Hardware.

OH, and did you notice the phone number in the ad above? It's 4 digits. 7-9-0-5. That's it. Not 7 numbers like we have now for local calls!

Below that I saw prices listed for Renfrew Barber Shop. Renfrew is the mill community--aka, 'mill village'--where my grandmother lived, and where my mom was born. In fact, my parents were married at Renfrew Baptist Church, and one of the old mill offices has been renovated into an event space--where my wedding reception was held! Anyway, peek at the price of a haircut!

Twenty-five cents! Granted, that was for a man, as it was a barber shop...but still! And a shave was fifteen cents!

The other little odds and ends that I discovered revealed to me that my MaMa was quite involved in school. I already knew she was a fantastic basketball player. But I saw she also participated in the chorus! (I'm pointing to her name there, Dot Belcher)

I also ran across superlatives. I guess then they did superlatives for both the junior and senior class--my MaMa got 3 her junior year!

I hope you enjoyed peeking into history with me...I am so enthralled with these crackly, worn pages...they mean so much to me. To be able to hold this and peek into my MaMa's life, and know I can one day share it with her great-grandson...I don't even have the words! Priceless!