Morning All, I stumbled across this article in a box of goodies and started typing it so as to preserve it on disc. I've typed about half but will to shut down now and head out now for a bite to eat, I will get to the other half when I can. Other than siting the author as the original source, I don't know where or how the article was published so it you can help with that it would be much appreciated. I thought this might also help to strike up a conversation. For example in the early 1900's my dad also lived on Albany Avenue and attended the Quarterman Street School, but I had no idea any of the major street names had changed. Imagine State Street once having been called Brewer Street. Well enjoy, and let me know if you're "chomping at the bits" or "faunching at the bits" for the other half. The latter of these sayings I first heard from a Waycrossian. Kati Smith GAWARE List Admin SEGAKIN List Admin kimis@bellsouth.net http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~elverspeak/ http://www.rootsweb.com/~gaware/ Memories of Early Waycross By Margaret Bates Summerall Although Waycross was not my birthplace, I lived here as a child during the first two decades of this century and have vivid recollections of life as it was lived during that era. Waycross could then boast of streetcars, a livery stable, a blacksmith shop, a Chinese hand laundry, an opera house, a baseball park, a racetrack, horse and buggy transportation, mostly unpaved streets, few sidewalks and many trains. My parents came to make Waycross their home following their marriage at the turn of the century. My father was a traveling salesman with territory in South Georgia and North Florida. Travel for him at that time had to be via railroad. Waycross was the logical location for it was literally the "crossing of the ways" with railroads extending in every direction somewhat like the legs of an octopus. During the months we were in Waycross we resided at the Phoenix Hotel because of its nearness to the railroad station located across the tracks from the present station and nearer to Brunel Street. I do not remember living at the Phoenix but I remember well our next home. "The May House" which was a family hotel, located upstairs over what is now the Elliston Drug Store. A favorite playground while we were at the May House was across Parker Street under some sycamore trees which bordered the lot where the Bunn building now stands. Mother had a nursemaid for the children and each afternoon after we were bathed and dressed she took us for a stroll. Our route was usually across the canal spanned by wooden bridges and back via Pendleton Street. Both streets were almost entirely residential. I attended church and Sunday school classes: they all met in different sections of the large church auditorium, and with all the teachers talking at once; it faintly resembled the humming of an active bee hive. Two people in my early church experience made a profound impression upon me, which has lingered throughout the years: Mrs. Ada Barnes Perham (Mrs. A. P. Jr.), my Sunday school teacher and Mrs. T. B. Atwell, Sunbeam leader. At the age of five, I was enrolled in a private school taught by Miss Bessie Wright. It was on Alice Street, now the site of the Kress Store. Instruction was devitalized and the twenty or more students were of different ages with varying levels of achievement. I was in the "Primer Class". Most of my school day was listening to the older children recite or writing numbers on my slate. The private school satisfied keen desire to attend school. The older children in the May House were in public school and when my mother made application for me to be enrolled there, the school superintendent, E. A. Pound remained adamant to all pleading. I had to be six years old. Waycross, at that time, had just one school for all grades, one thru ten. It was known as the Central School and was located on the block bounded by Mary, Pendleton, Isabella, and Lott Streets which is now known as the Monroe Block. I remember that at the time the grounds were enclosed by a high picket fence which kept the children in and the roving cattle out. Each grade had a garden spot which was planted for beautification and for nature study. "Uncle Charlie" Redding a relative of Dr. J. H. Redding had a moving picture theater on Mary Street next to the present site of Churchwell's Men Shop. Uncle Charlie was interested in children and in an incentive for high scholastic achievement. He gave a monthly pass to each student with all "W's" (Excellent), then the top on the report card, which was issued every four weeks. Films in those days were silent and rarely over one reel. After the first school year my parents set up house keeping in a house in the 500 block of Albany Avenue. That area was known as "Old Waycross", since it was first to be settled. All of Albany Avenue at that time was residential. I remember the stately homes on that street which was shaded by large oaks. The yards were swept clean (no lawns) and flower beds and paths were bordered with inverted bottles of bricks laid with the ends projected. The same type of homes could be found along Pendleton and Tebeau Streets, Carswell Avenue and across the railroad on Brunel, Gilmore, Reed and Williams Streets. Living in that area I attended the Quarterman Street School, which had been recently built to accommodate Waycross' growing population. As a walker to school, I crossed Oak Street (then Parallel Street), State Street (then Brewer Street - named for Judge H. P. Brewer, whose name was on the corner of Brewer and Alice), and Butler Street (name unchanged). There were four teachers at Quarterman with only four of the eight classrooms being in use. To be continued.