Ann S. Brown c 2025 It was a late summer morning about like any other. I was five years old and I lived with my Grandma and Grandpa Sturgill at their farm on Helton. Every morning Grandma got up and built a fire in the wood cook stove. Then she…
Ann S. Brown c 2025 “The Wedding Party” is the name of this old photograph. It was taken on a lovely fall afternoon in 1915. Family and friends of Cora Blevins and Tom Weaver had gathered at Cora’s house to celebrate their marriage. Cora and Tom had gone to the…
Ann S. Brown c 2025 We never know what the day may hold, whether it will be good or bad. Things were changing at the home of nine year old Maggie, but she did not know it yet. The date was November 3rd, 1907. There was a chill in the…
This morning, when I sat down to drink my coffee, I noticed the wild strawberry design on the cup. Instantly my thoughts were transported to our upper pasture land on the mountain in Virginia. Lots of wild strawberries used to grow there. That was seventy some years ago. My older…
Almost everyone loves old barns, I know I do. Quite a few of them still stand over the countryside. They are all different; showing various styles, strengths and personalities. Whether red, brown, white or gray and weathered, each one is special. Some have happy faces, others stand strong in times…
Horses are beautiful animals. Some of them have a grace and form that is striking. I love to watch them when they run across the field with their mane and tail flowing in the wind. It is almost poetic. Then there was Bonnie, our old brown work horse. There was…
Winter had passed and school was out for summer vacation. One day I was up at my friend Kay’s house to spend the afternoon. She wanted to go over to her great grandpa’s old farm where her dad was working about a half a mile away. When we arrived he…
One summer my Great Aunt Charity Ann had a visitor. She was a distant relative who claimed she could see your future by reading the palms of your hands – Charge .25 cents. A fortune teller in our community! My friend Kay and I, at ten and eleven years old,…
It was a chilly spring morning in May. A brand new day full of possibilities. After breakfast, Dad told my Mom that he was going to our upper pasture land in Virginia. He needed to check on the sheep, especially two late lambs that were born in April. I got…
My dad’s blacksmith shop set at the lower end of our meadow beside the dirt road. It was a small wooden building that held his tools and big equipment. During the winter months and the rainy days of summer Dad had lots of smithy work to do. Neighboring farmers brought…
