I found another writing of my Aunt Connie, that I would like to share, & that alot of you will find farmiliar......
She writes on September 6th 2003 :
On my way to a store in Bantam , I decided to take the scenic route , so I went by LaGrotta's rd. On the crest of the hill and looking to the right was the most beautiful view of rolling hills, one could almost visualize being in the Smokey Mt. or the Blue Ridge Mt. of Virginia. Nearer the road were brown Swiss cows feeding in the pasture. Half a mile further I came to Couch Rd. and as that is my old stomping grounds, decided to see what had changed. I met two boys about the age of 11 , one of them knew me and asking the other boy his name , realized that I knew his parents. I told them that all the land on the right useed to be a pasture for our cows and that I lived on the farm where the red barns are and that the roads were all DIRT ROADS. One boy said he wished he had lived then....what, no computers?....
The first change on that road , it is macaadamized much of the way , other changes were beautiful houses , set back in the woods for privacy . So many new houses and all on the land where we had our cows and horses...bringing back memories of the many times I went with my brothers to get the cows or get them to the pastures in the morning .
My happiest memories are when I had my black pony and on a Satuday afternoon I would ride up to Jack Corner Rd. to Rabbit Hill Rd. and down Tanner Hill, up Break Neck Rd. past Above All , where I was born, then going down the West Rd. .... which no longer exist....and comming out on Reed Rd. I would go on to Uncle Perry's and Aunt Min where I knew I would get something good to eat , such as a piece of pie or a delicious cake , just baked that morning and a cup of tea with sugar and milk .
By that time it was getting late in the day , so I mounted the pony and stopped at the watering trough to let her have a drink . Then up over Sackett Hill ...no other road then...down around the hairpin curve and back to 341 past Tannners Farm to the end of Jack Corners Rd. and down Couch Rd. to home and always managed to be home at supper time. In all that rideing I seldom met a car......the roads were all dirt , and were not hard topped until several years later.
Such a beautiful day it has been and I did get my groceries and in time to see the Red Sox beat the be-jabbers out of the Yankees!
I hope to find more of my Aunties' stories , so that we all can go back to a time that was alittle more slower and peaceful. My Aunt died a few months before her 94th birthday on May 11th .
There's no road named after her or my family, like the ones so familiar that she mentioned but I hope the next time you travel down a DIRT ROAD you'll think of her , and how much my family ment to the region......
