Memorial Day

Major General Jeff Bannister did not die in combat but he did die while still on active duty, much too young, as he neared retirement. So for Memorial Day weekend I'd like to remind my Floyd County friends, and especially my McHenry students, teachers, and friends, of this proud son of our school, our county, and our nation. 

45 Hazel Street

 My cousin Andy McCullough posted these pictures on Facebook on April 15, 2023. Oh my, this house holds such a beloved part in my childhood memories! 45 Hazel Street is on the corner of Palmetto Street in the little cotton mill town of Porterdale, just outside Covington Georgia. Osprey Mill if Bibb Manufacturing Company was just two or three minute walk up Palmetto and across Ivy Street.

Here is what Andy wrote:

Belinda, Laura [Andy's sisters] and I got together this weekend. Dad’s [Lavay McCullough] birthday is tomorrow. One place we visited was Porterdale (as well as Oxford where we lived when I was born). Here’s a few photos of 45 Hazel Street. I happened to meet the owner who drove up as we were leaving - a nice young black lady named Laquisha. I told her of Grandma Baird and Dad. She was very moved to know some of the history of the home. She said she felt blessed to live there.

And the comments on the post as of May 9, 2024:

Christen Melton

Is this where my great-grandfather Charlie Baird would have lived?

Janice Richardson

That is the water tower that my dad, Jerry Baird, climbed when he was about 3. Story is he about gave my grandparents, Charlie and Ruth Baird, a heart attack.

I have fond memories of eating Granny Baird’s tea cakes every time we came to visit

Deborah Shaw Lewis

That looks in much better shape than the last time my sisters and I drove Mama by that house.

Sandra Caruso

Andy, back in June of 2018 my daughter Vicki and I went to visit Aunt Ruth and later we went to Porterdale to visit the family homes. We met up with Beth who was our very knowledgeable tour guide so 45 Hazel Street was our first stop. It looked clean and taken care of but it looks better now. I took several photos of the houses, the mill, the church and the cemetery but they are all on my old phone. How nice to have been able to have that wonderful conversation.

Jane Baird Lathem

So many wonderful memories of that home!

Belinda Sward

It was both joyful and emotional to visit the places, homes and grave sites. Especially special to do this with Andy McCullough and Laura.

Janice Shaw Crouse

Much better kept!

In the sixties my folks, Charles and Ruth Shaw, bought at house cattycornered across the street from #45. It was a duplex and Mama Baird lived in the side toward Palmetto St. Aunt Mary and Uncle Pierce continued to live at #45. I remember visiting with them here on this porch after I was grown... maybe about 1970 or so.

There was a tiny flower garden in front to the right of the front steps. I thought of it as Aunt Mary's garden but it was likely as much Mama Baird's. I remember skating and hopscotch on the sidewalk out front. The front room behind the porch was Mama Baird's bedroom/sitting room. We did a lot of our informal visiting there. The front room on the right, I think, was Aunt Mary's bedroom and a sitting room. I loved all of Aunt Mary's little ceramic animals on the shelves. 

Of course in my childhood memories the wooden deck was not there. The small shed roof at the back covered an open porch on which a small bathroom had been enclosed on the left end. The the far gable at the back covered the kitchen. 

.

The two windows on the side toward the stop sign were the front sitting room that I think may have also been Aunt Mary's bedroom. Behind it was another sleeping room. I think it had been the "boys room" when my Mother was growing up there. There was a large (at least from a kid's perspective) central hall. I remember a cot at the back of it where I sometimes slept when we visited overnight. 

.

The front room at the far side was Mama Baird's room. 

.

There was a large Chinaberry tree in the back yard not far from the back door. It had a low crotch which made a great lair from which those hard yellow Chinaberries could be chunked at sisters and cousins. 

.

The house was built on brick pillars with open spaces between. Mama Baird used the relative spaciousness under the kitchen to store plants and bulbs over winter. 

.

There was an alleyway behind the house that served the folks on our side of Hazel Street and the folks on Ivy Street that ran parallel. Mother remembered when the alleyway gave access for the "honey wagons" to clean out the privies. The privies were gone in my earliest memories. The Osprey Mill took up the opposite side of Ivy.

For GrandShaw from Lillian

I wish this were dated. Perhaps Lillian was seven or eight? That would put it around 1995 or 96? It is a note that Lillian wrote to her grandfather, Charles Columbus Shaw, who died almost two years before she was born. She heard many stories about her granddaddy and was very sad that she had never gotten to know him. They would have been kindred spirits, that's for sure! Both really grabbed/grab life by the mane and rode/ride it joyously.

for GrandShaw

I Love you!

I wish that I could talk to you right now!

I wish I could see you!

from Lillian