“Often we carry the chains of bondage on our backs for a lifetime,
not realizing we also carry within us the key to unlock them.”
~ Terry Gordon
across Troublesome
One of the places dad lived as a young boy was a small hamlet called Dwarf on the banks of Troublesome Creek. Troublesome is a single mile short of being a river, so don’t let the word creek fool you. It’s mighty. Several of my aunts and uncles were born in Dwarf. It wasn’t a coal camp. The family moved there precisely because it wasn’t. Apparently my grandmother did not enjoy raising kids, boys mostly, in dirty, mean coal camps like Hardburly where dad was born. Dwarf was close enough to the mines that my grandfather could work and still be with the family. During last Saturday’s adventure we went through Dwarf to see the houses where they used to live. They’re both gone now, of course, but two of the swinging bridges across the Troublesome to “the island” remain, though only just (and it’s all so overgrown you can hardly see them). “The island”, as dad called it, is really a hairpin bend in the Troublesome that has silted up the tip of a mountain ridge with good soil. Dad said The Stacy’s, whomever they are, had a farm on “the island” where the swinging bridges led. The bridge in the bottom photo is where dad and his brother Randolph used to jump into the river when it was up. It’s a wonder they lived to double digits with stunts like that. Growing up in eastern Kentucky was hard back in the 1930’s and 40’s, but dad relishes telling stories about it, and I delight in hearing them. No matter how many times he tells the same stories I never get tired of hearing them. I always learn something new.
swing and jump
One response
Thanks for a wonderful enjoyable trip for Father’s Day. I hear dad’s stories all the time but enjoy seeing the places he tells about. BTW, you are the best of drivers and I thoroughly enjoy riding in the backseat and relaxing which I never get to do.
Looking forward to another (backseat) trip.