One of my greatest joys in doing this site....

....are each of the emails I get from people who grew up in Durham and tell me about their neighborhood / breathe some life into the places I post about. I've received quite a few recently, and here is one from Ted, in Dayton, OH - reprinted with his permission.

"This morning, 2/25/08, a few minutes before my 88 year old dad was admitted for elective knee replacement surgery, he presented his 61 year old son (me) with a printed photo of our old house, 416 Ashton Place. He said, "Ted, I think you will find this photo interesting". Yeah, to say the least! I cannot begin to tell you the memories this photo brought back to me this evening. His printer did not do justice to the print on your website so I recalled it tonight and printed a good copy. Thank you so much dad and Mr. Kueber (I hope that is right). That photo makes me very happy!!!

Please allow me to give you a few of my childhood memories of this house. I was 2-5 years old at the time (1948-1953). My parents and I, their first and only child, resided in this house with an older couple. I believe their name was Mr. and Mrs. Riddick (or something like that). They leased out the left-half to my mom and dad, and they lived in the right half. We shared the kitchen and living room. I remember we ate together. There was no tv but we listened to Mr. Riddick's radio together. Listed below are some of my more vivid memories of this place:

1. My dad and I used to shout down the street to hear our echoes rebound off of the old Chesterfield plant at the end of the street (seems like the direction was South).
2. My dad used to buy me small wire framed, silk-winged glider planes to toss around the yard. Some were bright yellow, others were orange, and yet others were green.
3. I am told that one Christmas my parents could afford little, but on Christmas morning I received a new tricycle and a chrome and leather 2-gun cowboy outfit complete with red cowboy hat and a black cowboy vest. They purchased no other gifts that Christmas, not even for each other. My dad worked for the Durham waste collection system just after getting out of the Army so cash was in short supply for this new family. They must have spent their last dollar on me.
4. One evening I remember rushing out of the house with my mom and dad to see a sort of fireworks show in the street. A dark huge (to me) coupe filled with young people was racing north up the street shooting sparks from the right rear wheel. I was told later that they accomplished that feat by mounting a full-cover metal tire carrier to the right rear tire. I guess that would set off sparks pretty good wouldn't it! What a racket.
5. One evening we were all petrified when my dad hid behind our bedroom door with a two foot long wooden baseball bat, waiting for a burglar to enter the bedroom. I remember dad shouting something. Next we hear a crash as the burglar ran out the back door, smashing out the screen door as he went. I remember the police being amazed at the bent over top of the sturdy wrought iron fence. Police surmised that the burglar bounded over it using one hand on the fence to catapult himself over.
6. I vividly remember the night my mom and dad were playing cards in the kitchen (left rear corner of the house) and a bat flew in the window. You have never seen such a commotion in all your life. My mom and Mrs. Riddick were cowering in a corner with towels over their heads while dad and Mr. Riddick swiped at the dive-bombing bat with anything they could get their hands on at the time.
7. I remember being in the bathroom one evening. We had an old cast iron claw-foot bathtub. I was sitting in the tub playing and a huge tarantula-sized spider made an appearance on the back edge of the tub a few inches from my arm. I screamed to high heavens. To this day I am not a friend to any spider! A few years ago when the subject came up, mom told me the huge spider was about a quarter inch in diameter.
8. For some reason I have a memory about me poking at a kitten with the business end of a broom. I believe the kitten was under the back porch, and I really think I was trying to do it harm at the time. What gets into little kids to do something like that?!

Thanks for the memories.

Ted

Dayton, Ohio

PS- I just got off the phone with my dad. He said the plant down the street was not a Chesterfield plant. He said it was an American Tobacco plant. I'm sure he remembers much more than me. He is very sharp for his age.

Oh, by the way, if you run into any information about a Garland Woodcraft Company in downtown Durham, that was owned by my uncle, the late A.B. Stone. He went by "A.B." because his name was really Alizah Bunion Stone."