Fun Times at the Barn!!!

By: John “Butch” Dale

Like many of you Montgomery county baby boomers, I grew up on a farm. It was owned by Damon “Skeet” and Bernice Wray, who lived in Darlington. Skeet was a barber and also owned the cigar store/pool room on Main street. His wife Bernice was a homemaker who was quite active in several ladies’ social groups. Dad farmed the 140 acres on “halves” and raised livestock, and we lived in the old farmhouse rent free.

On the farm there were two large barns, and during most of the year I think I may have spent more time in those barns than in our house. I believe the barn on the south side of the farm lot was very old, as it was constructed with heavy wooden pegged beams. I was told that it may have been a stagecoach stopping station on the old Lafayette-Jamestown Pike. Dad used two ends to store machinery, but the main section housed a grain bin and our pigs. I was never a fan of taking care of pigs, as my job was to clean out the manure and dirt that accumulated inside. After finishing, I often choked on the dust and ended up with a sinus infection, but the pay was good…a quarter for a half day’s work! But the worst job for me was when Dad and his uncles castrated the male pigs. I can still see those pigs squirming and hear their squeals as they met their fate. My job was to pour iodine on the razor cuts. I hated it…and NO “mountain oyster” supper for me either!

Dad told me one day that since I was good helper, I could make a clubhouse out of a small feed room in the front of the barn. I fixed it all up and made a sign…”The Captain Hook Club.” The barn roof was slanted in back, and by climbing on top of a feeder, I managed to get up on the roof. Many times I took my B-B rifle up there and shot at long catalpa seeds hanging from a nearby tree…or more often than not, just sat at the very top, hanging on to a lightning rod, gazing out over the countryside.

A second barn was located west of our house, and it was used for cows and to store grain. On the left side were stanchions for our four milk cows, and on the right side was a pen for feeder calves. The back section had three bins for oats, wheat, and ear corn. The roof was rather steep, so I couldn’t climb on top, but the barn was great for baseball practice. I spent hours throwing my baseball at a circle I had drawn on the north side of the barn, and I also threw the ball on the roof and let it roll down so I could practice my catching. Who says you need a partner? Dad hung a basketball goal on the south side, and my brother and I spent hours and hours playing basketball…even though the “court” was a chicken lot. Dodging chickens, corncobs, and chicken droppings, while dribbling and shooting, takes great skill!

But the most fun we had was up in the second story haymow, where Dad had stored hundreds of bales of hay and straw. We built tunnels, sometimes three layers deep, and hideouts…and used flashlights as we crawled through the maze. Hanging from the roof was a large hay rope, which was fun to swing out on…just like Tarzan! Unfortunately, one afternoon, I landed on a nail sticking up from an old board, with the nail going through my shoe and foot…not good! That’s when I discovered what a tetanus shot was all about.

On the south side of the haymow was a open window which was directly above the basketball goal, so of course it was only natural to see if we could drop the ball from the window and make a basket. Dad had also shown us how to make an “Indian dart” by placing three feathers in the large end of a corncob, and then sticking a nail in the narrow end. When thrown, the dart would spin and stick in the ground when tossed from the haymow window to our hand drawn target…and yes, we occasionally tried to hit an unsuspecting chicken, but thank God we missed every time!

It seems that many kids today enjoy spending their free time by watching TV, playing video games, spending time on a computer, or talking on their phones. Very few kids even grow up on a farm nowadays. And many of the “old-style barns” are gone, replaced by modern steel equipment sheds…with no haymows…kind of sad in a way, but I guess that’s progress.

In thinking back to my childhood days on the farm, I guess my favorite memory is just sitting up there in the haymow on a rainy day, reading my favorite book from the library and listening to the rain falling on the tin roof.

And when lightning struck close, I felt safe and secure in my favorite place on the farm…the old red barn. Our old house and the barns are no longer there, but when I drive down that road today, those pleasant memories come back…and I can’t help but smile.

– John “Butch” Dale is a retired teacher and County Sheriff. He has also been the librarian at Darlington the past 32 years, and is a well-known artist and author of local history.