A book about growing up in a simpler time

Rural Kentucky in the 1950s and 60s had more in common with 1900 than with 2000. The pace was slower and life was less complicated. It was a great time and place to spend a childhood, and I did. Entertainment wasn't easily accessable, so it had to be created, which resulted in many tales worth telling. 

 

It's fair to say that it was a very different world from today. Not just different in the sense of comparing the general conditions in America of that time to those of the present day; more specifically, in 1948 rural America was vastly different from urban America. This was before the full onslaught of suburbia. In Kentucky, there were few paved roads, other than federal highways, a few main state routes, and some town streets. In the country, a significant number of households didn't own a car. Farmers wore bib overalls every day except Sunday. Most still used horses to work their land. Electricity in the home was not universal, despite the depression era rural electrification push. Kerosene lamps lit many houses and lots of people cooked on wood-burning stoves.

 

Telephones outside the main towns were rare. Those who were "on the line," as they would say, had to share the same telephone line with as many as nine other households. Not only could a customer hear their distinctive ring, but also the ring of every other customer on their half of the party line. The ring could be a long, two longs, a long and a short, two shorts, etc. When their designated ring was heard, indicating the call was for them, a member of the household would pick up the phone and answer. It was a given that whenever the ringing stopped, several others would pick up and listen in on the conversation. It was considered entertainment as well as a source of local gossip. Sometimes breathing or other background noises made it difficult to carry on a conversation. It was not unusual for someone to interrupt and say, "How much longer will you be? I need to make a call." The lack of telephone privacy was a minor price to pay for having the convenience of talking to a distant person from the comfort of home. It was common to get a call with a message for a neighbor that didn't have a phone. Common courtesy dictated that it be delivered right away.

 

There were no carwashes or pizza parlors in the nearby small towns. There were no drive-in restaurants or drive-in anything for that matter. A fast food restaurant was one that didn't require the customer to wait while the order was killed before it could be cooked. People in and farmers in particular seemed to have more common sense than people today. They just dealt with inconveniences, solved problems and got on with life. Men changed the oil in the family car out in the driveway and did most minor repairs themselves. Folks ordered things from the Sears and Roebuck catalog by mail and patiently waited several weeks for delivery. Instant gratification was an unknown concept. People lived life at a much slower pace, and unlike today, were more self-sufficient, with little dependence on government for assistance. When help was needed, it came from the local community, usually neighbors or a church. When destitute, "going on Relief" was an option. Relief was the welfare of the day. Some food commodities would be provided, such as powdered milk and dried beans. Living on government assistance was only temporary, and the opportunity for it to become a way of life didn't exist. People wanted to avoid the stigma of being on Relief.general,

 

Newspapers and radio were the links to the outside world. Regular television broadcasting was still in the future. Very few homes had indoor plumbing, running water or central heating. Air conditioning was non-existent. Although the Barnes family had a car in 1948 and electricity in the house, the toilet was outdoors. Water was carried from the cistern in a bucket. The house was heated with a wood burning stove. My brothers used a manual crosscut saw to cut the logs into correct size pieces to fit into the stove. I'm told this brought no end of arguments. This general lack of basic amenities would not change for me until I left home at eighteen years of age in 1966. It didn't change for my parents until 1973 when they retired from farming and built a small bungalow. The lack of what could be called modern conveniences was not viewed as a hardship because it was the standard condition for rural Grant County residents of the day. Almost everyone was in the same situation.

 

I was born and grew up in the era of unlocked doors. Everyone in the community seemed to know everyone else. Driving along in a car always elicited a wave from people passed along the way. Even today, it is easy to tell the longtime residents, because they still wave at a passing car. It was rare to see an unknown vehicle in Cordova and even rarer to see an unknown person on foot. I don't know if people just trusted one another more than they do today or if they knew there was nothing worth stealing in a house whose occupants were as poor as themselves. Either way, the majority of doors remained unlocked, even when no one was home. In fact, I never lived in a house that even had a lockable door until I left home after high school. There wouldn't have been any point to lock the door anyway because the same skeleton key would fit every lock in the county. Car doors were left unlocked as well, and keys were usually left in the ignition.