Horace,
If you took the road behind Taft Rudd's service station and walked up that hill about half-way, then took a left on one of those roads until you came to the woods (that would eventually take you to the pasture that would take you to Sunnybrook). There were some houses just before you got to the woods and my Dad rented from a guy named Cooper and everyone called it Cooper's Field...

Actually, as I remember it, that bunch of shacks was more often called "Shantytown" than "Skeeter Flats." And they were actually a LITTLE better than tarpaper shacks. They did, for instance have board siding on them, although they were cheaply and quickly made...definitely NOT for the long haul.

Also, there were some pretty "undesirable" folks who lived there at one time or another.

As to the exact location, those of you who can remember where Pine Street actually passed between the Box Mill and the "Settling Basin" of the water works and the area where lumber was always stacked can just keep on going toward the big pasture, which is where Shantytown was built.

My recollection is so clear I can ever SEE the clothesline that Jimmy Persons nearly decapitated himself on one day while I was chasing him. We were both on our bikes and he was looking back at me laughing because he was faster....WUPS! LOL

Jimmy remembers, too. I asked him.

I think I know where you are talking about now. There was a little road right there beside the Old Freewill church across from Mom and Dad Pressley's place that went way off up into the woods. I remember now there was a pasture on the other side of the church with an electric fence it came down to the road, Mt. Vernon Ave. I believe that cows could cross the road by walking in the creek under the bridge on Mt. Vernon and pasture on the church side of the road. I never explored that area but I now know where it eventually led. Never too old to learn new things just too old to remember them.

Horace

Not my girlfriend Horace, took too many 100 watt light bulbs to keep her happy and I was always broke. You were the money man with your paper route. MVB ES

Horace, You're right on. If I remember the Church was made into a house...