Note: Date/Year estimated

My dad wanted land in West Virginia since his relatives lived in Beckley, WV. Three hours away, a 5.5-acre undeveloped property in Delray, WV, came to be known as Lot 46. The strip of property had access at both ends. The price was haggled down to $4,500, saving $500.

From my recollection, the property was on Cooper’s Mountain and was purchased from Cooper himself at his store. There was a very tiny post office in the area, that looked more like a shed.

I remember my dad’s brother was with us when we looked at it, and we were sitting on the back of my dad’s silver pickup truck, tailgate down, talking about it. Or they were. I was just a little kid. I recall that the property line went to a tree in the middle of a turnaround area. There were many steep hills, all dirt roads leading into the place, and lots of power lines. It seemed we were going to build a cabin on the back side of the property because it had a gentler slope, but we ended up doing everything on the other side.

The main thing my dad got from the property was wood, and lots of it. I remember how my back would ache as I kept stacking logs in the van, and how the heavy logs just kept getting thrown in. I had to be fast and keep up. There was lots of debris that would shake off as the logs were tossed in, sometimes getting into my eyes. I didn’t like it, but it had to be done.

We started out with a giant blue tent from moms parents. I remember that waking up and going outside, all of the light hitting the blue tent would put a blue tint on everything as you looked outside for a while. We all slept on sleeping bags.

Dad had a bunch of pallets and built an outhouse with a fiberglass roof so that the whole area was lit up during the day. A five-gallon bucket had to be emptied regularly, then simply dumped and buried a short way up the hill in front of the outhouse.

My brother and I took some of the pallets and built a playhouse further up the hill from the outhouse. My parents put up a tire swing for my sister that was more of a cradle.

My siblings and I would pick blueberries that were growing on the lot.

Todo…

• Better Playhouse
• Visit from Auth & Uncle in motorhome
• Generator going out each night
• Mr. Dave / Herb Doctor
  • Shooting a gun
  • The giant deck
  • Building his house
  • Scared Ladies turning up in the middle of the night
  • Throwing axes / knives
  • DC Protests
• Movies & Posters
  • Motherload & Freddie / Nightmare on Elm Street
• Digging vis Plowing basement
• Finding baby rats and bringing them home
• Long trips
• Gameboy
• Drilling the well and using it (danger)
• Neighbor who was hit in head with hammer
• Yellow Jackets on stump
• Getting Lost in the Woods
• Building the house
  • Laying out cinder blocks, watching crane
  • Putting rebar in walls
  • Wooden roof Joists
  • Tar on Roof
  • 12:1 pitch to stop leaks
  • Concrete floors in 4 sections
  • Windows
  • So dark, can’t see hands
  • Sidewalk
  • Steps with railroad ties
• Sleds on leaves
• Carrying water from spring up the hill
• Missing food
• Tire/swing at neighbors
• Last visit for a smoke