SPOOL FURNITURE

HOW MANY PEOPLE REMEMBER SPOOL FURNITURE?

This picture shows my younger brother, Richard, and me enjoying some time outside on a warm summer afternoon.  Pictures such a these bring back pleasant memories of our youth that we have forgotten about.  Sometimes, if we study these pictures in detail, we will see items that give a special meaning to us about the picture.  In this picture, notice the table and chairs that my brother and I are using.  These pieces of furniture were known as spool furniture and were just two of the many pieces of this furniture at my maternal grandparents house in Unionville.

Spool furniture was constructed using simple basic materials: empty wooden sewing thread spools, wood, nails, all thread metal rods, washers and nuts.  During the years after WWII, times were hard and people were very frugal and used materials similar to how we recycle today.

My grandparents constructed this furniture from materials that they found around their house and store in Unionville.  The wooden spools came from the many spools of thread that my grandmother, Dell, emptied while sewing clothes for the family.  The wood that was used in constructing this furniture probably came from the wooden crates used for shipment of fruits and vegetables for the store.  (Side thought - My grandfather, Tut, carved out some of the coolest slingshots from the end pieces to these crates)  The rest of the material used for the furniture was found in the store stock.

Some years before my grandparents house was sold and torn down, I was exploring the root cellar underneath the back bedroom and rescued the only two pieces of spool furniture that were remaining.
Below are pictures of these that I have rebuilt to be as near to the original construction as possible.

We use these two corner tables on our back patio and I always enjoy telling the story of how I rescued them from being thrown in the trash.  They bring back memories of my growing up in Unionville and I hope that some of my descendants will appreciate them in the same way that I do.

A VISIT BACK TO UNIONVILLE

My daughter, Lynne, and I made a day trip back to the Unionville area this last week.  The purpose of the trip was to visit several of the cemeteries in the area where our Colvin ancestors are buried and get record photos of tombstones for our research.  Lynne has become addicted to family history research just like her mother and father.  We are so thankful.  Now my wife and I will know that there will be someone to take care of all of our research and it will not be thrown out as happens so many times.

We visited four cemeteries: Old Colvin Cemetery, Thomas R. Colvin Cemetery, Colvin-Barmore Cemetery and Unionville Cemetery.  The first four were small cemeteries and we got photographs of all of the tombstones in these.  The Unionville Cemetery is quite large and I have many photos that I have taken there before, so we just tried to fill in the missing ones.  Only one more cemetery that we need to visit, the Katy Cemetery.  We will have to make that another day.  This cemetery is off the main road and quite a hike for an old man.

We went by our old Colvin and Jones store for a visit.  The above picture is the way it looks now - many memories in that place.  Mr brother Richard has cleaned around and inside the store and opens it up on most Saturday mornings in the summer for the eldery men that grew up around Unionville to gather, drink coffee, and reminisce about the good ole days.  I made a trip over one Saturday last year and really enjoyed visiting and talking with people that I went to school with and knew when I was growing up.

Whenever I visit Unionville, I get nostalgic and begin to think how different life was back in that time.  Many of the things that we experienced our children will never get to enjoy.  Later, we stopped at a service station in Dubach to get some nurishment to keep up our strength.  As I browsed the shelf looking for something to snack on, I ran across a "Stage Plank".  How many remember "Stage Planks" and "ROC Royal Crown Colas".

As we were getting back in the vehicle, my daughter asked me what I got to snack on.  When I replied a stage plank, she had no idea what I was talking about.  Our young people today are missing out on some of the better things of life.  By the way, they did not have a "Power House Candy Bar" so I had to settle for a Snickers.

Family History Research is Fun!!!!

Happy Ancestor Hunting.

A UNIONVILLE NEW YEAR'S EVE CELEBRATION

 As I sit here in my living room and the time to welcome in New Years 2012 approaches, I listen to the fireworks exploding and remember a Unionville New Years Eve that will forever be etched in my family's memory.  The following is the story of that night:

NEW YEAR’S IN UNIONVILLE

New Year’s Eve was usually a quiet celebration in the small community of Unionville, Louisiana in the 1950’s.  But there is one New Year’s Eve celebration that will be long remembered by the Colvin, Jones and Roberson families.

For several years there was an impromptu fireworks display put on by our Jones family and the Roberson family from Shreveport.  That celebration brought excitement to the local community and passersby on the main highway through Unionville.  Uncle M R Roberson had some connections and was able to get a huge supply of all types of fireworks.  When Uncle M R, Aunt Theo and their two sons Ernie and Mickey would come for a visit during the New Year holidays, they would bring enough of these fireworks for us to put on a first class fireworks display.

When Uncle M R would open the trunk of the car, all of us would gawk at the unbelievable supply of firecrackers, cherry bombs, sky rockets, roman candles, aerial bombs and sparklers.  Each of us would select the fireworks that we wanted and place them in cardboard boxes ready for the night of the fireworks display.  On the day set for the big fireworks show, each of us would choose our position for the display.  The location for the display was the high bank on the side of the “tee” intersection of Highway 167 and 822.  This high bank was across the highway from the Colvin and Jones Grocery Store and the parking area gave plenty of room for passing traffic on the roads to pull off and watch the show.

Once darkness had fallen, we would all take our positions and get ready to start the show.  Now, this was not really a real organized type of show so everyone just did their own little show.  But, once the show got to rolling it was very impressive and many people driving along the highway would pull over and stop to watch.

On one New Year’s Eve when I was a young teenager we had an unexpected, spectacular and unexpected closing to the show.  The show had been going on for about an hour and everyone had used about half of their fireworks.  It has gotten black dark and as I searched around in my box for the fireworks that I wanted to use I could not see very well.  Being a young man who acted first and then later thought about what repercussion his actions would have, I decided that more light was needed for me to find the fireworks I wanted.  The first thing that came to my mind was a sparkler, so I grabbed a sparkler, lit it and stuck it down into my box for light.  What happened next was a total shock to everyone including myself.  As I stuck the sparkler into the box it set off some of my fireworks in the box and I jumped back and dropped the sparkler into the box of fireworks.  What followed was the most spectacular New Year’s Eve fireworks display ever in Unionville as all of the fireworks started exploding and going in different directions.

TAKING A WALK WITH GRANDFATHER "TUT"

A Picture With Many Memories And Much Unionville History

This picture is full of memories and history for me.  First, this is a picture of my brother Richard taking a walk with our Grandfather Ernest "Tut" Colvin which brings back many pleasant memories from my childhood.  Tut always had time to spend with his grandchildren, whether it was a simple walk or taking us on one of his fishing trips.  His time spent with us will be memories that will stay with us for our entire lives and have molded our lives such that we know the importance of spending time with our own grandchildren to create these type memories for them.  They are walking toward my grandparents' house from the main highway (Hwy 167) that passed through Unionville.  I would guess that the time frame for this picture would be around 1950 gauging from my brother's age and the fact that the main highway seems to be paved.  The structure in the background was a frame for a brush arbor that my grandfather constructed each year to shade his watermelons that he sold on this corner.  This entire structure was covered with tree limbs which provided a cool shade in the hot summer time to peddle the watermelons.  In later years my parents build their house just beyond the two large oak trees just behind the structure.  Also, notice the road sign beside the highway on the right side of the picture.  Enlarging the photo I found that the sign read "Vienna 7 and Ruston 11".  Our highways and road signs have certainly come a long way in the years since this picture was taken.

The Beginning

Unionville, Louisiana had always been the home of my maternal grandparents Ernest and LaDell Colvin, better known to everyone as "Tut" and "Dell".  My grandfather Tut farmed and ran a "mom and pop" service station/grocery store at the intersection of Highways 167 and 822 which was downtown Unionville.  Downtown Unionville at that time consisted of the store and my grandparents home, which was located next to the store.  There will be many more stories associated with the store and my grandparents that I will share as my blog continues.

My move to Unionville came about in 1949 when I was eight years old and my family moved from Linville, Louisiana to Unionville.  My family consisted of myself, my father Garland, my mother Ruth, my younger brother Richard and my sister Penny.  I will share the reason for this move in one of my future blogs.  We settled in at Unionville and my father became a partner in the store, which was named Colvin and Jones at that time.  We lived with my grandparents until 1953 when my parents build a new house across the road from the store.  My brother, sister and I grew up on this corner and this blog is some of the memories that I have of how life in rural North Louisiana was in the 1950's and 1960's.

Visit my blog regularly -  My plans are to post new stories frequently.  Also visit my "Unionville Gang" page, which will be stories of group of youngsters living around Unionville as they were growing up.

Map of Unionville, Louisiana