A Child’s Perspective of Oxford in the 1950s
by Kathy Harwell Hunter
I was blessed to have lived in Oxford, Georgia from 1950 to 1960 and have the fondest memories of a place that could be compared to the love and security that Earl Hamner wrote about on the Walton's T.V. show. Even though I was only between the ages of three and thirteen at the time, I still consider my time there to be formative, especially as it pertains to my Christian values and appreciation for history, especially Georgia history.
I lived across the street from Allen Memorial Church, Pierce dormitory, and Haygood dormitory; next door was Frank and Gladys Nolley and Lula Freeman. I loved being able to walk out my door and down my driveway and right over to the church. I gave my heart and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior at age eight when J. Hamby Barton was the pastor at Allen Memorial. I remember sitting on the porch at the parsonage on Emory Street and reciting the Beatitudes as part of our memory work to join the church.
I remember the saints at the church and the impact they had on my life! I loved "Miss Sarah" and "Uncle Nath" Thompson and how he would "Amen" a good point in the sermon. I wanted to grow up and have blue or lavender hair like some of the older women in the church. I remember Miss Mary Culler White being a missionary in China.
One of my happiest memories was Friday afternoons at Mother Budds, at four p.m. when we had "happy hour" at her big stone house. She taught us Bible stories using a felt board. We had Kool-Aid and brownies and sang songs with Mother Budd playing the piano using all her fancy cords. I was shocked as an adult when someone said, “Let's go to happy hour,” and it wasn't for Bible stories and Kool-Aid!
Growing up in Oxford with dirt roads with no zoning was very interesting. I loved our neighbors, the Nolleys! I played every summer with Gladys and Frank's grandchildren. I especially enjoyed Nellie Mae Robinson, who was a year older than I. She came down from Atlanta to stay with her grandparents for the summer. I loved that the Nolleys had kerosene lamps, a wood burning stove for heat and cooking, a real ice box with ice delivered by an ice truck, a well, and an outhouse! I saw Gladys wring a chicken's neck and wash her clothes in a wash-tub with scrub board. They had hogs that we “slopped” with our corn cobs, and cantaloupe and watermelon rinds. In the fall I watched them slaughter those hogs and they shared the best sausage that I have ever eaten. Frank taught me to milk his jersey cow, Nancy, and I saw her give birth when I was 10 years old. I got a marvelous education by living next to the Nolleys. I watched Gladys churn butter and heat her flat iron on the wood stove in order to iron her clothes. She’d then use it to iron Nellie Mae's hair. I was in awe of all I saw. I loved this family like my own.
My Daddy, C. Lee Harwell, taught at “Emory-at-Oxford,” as it was called in those years. My mother had also been the school nurse much earlier than Mrs. Haynes. Daddy taught history at Emory-at-Oxford my entire time in Oxford. I loved growing up on the Oxford campus, walking to Seney, and walking home with my daddy, playing school in the empty classrooms, riding my bicycle and buying Cokes from the Coke machines! I loved every building on that campus. I remember the wrecking ball used to bring down Pierce Dormitory. I remember that Sarah Haynes Standard and I had a joint birthday party in Few Hall as our birthdays are a day apart, although I am a year older. I loved the old library and can remember the old wrought iron spiral staircase and the musty smell.
I loved Mrs. Hinton and the books she always gave us as gifts that I treasured. I loved the old gym with the track that was above the basketball court and the pole you could slide or climb down. I still remember the first time I was able to do it. I remember A, B, and C Company and watching them play football and basketball. For some reason, I always liked B Company the best. I loved going to the formals with Mama and Daddy in the gym and how the students used parachutes to decorate the ceiling so it looked like clouds. My grandmother made a long dress for me to wear and I felt like a princess.
I loved the Co-Op, walking to the Huddle and Mrs. Ellis. It was fun seeing the penguin-shaped salt and pepper shakers on the counter that advertised "Kool Cigarettes.” I can still remember the taste of those great hamburgers right off the griddle. I loved the juke box and watching college students hanging out and shooting pool. I loved walking to the old post office and waiting for Mr. Williams to bring the mail back from the train station. I remember Mr. Wilbur Harwell, the postmaster. In my opinion, he was the epitome of a true southern gentleman. I also loved "Cotton" Harwell at the General store next to the post office and going in for a coke and peanuts, or a nickel bag of candy -- which was a huge amount, since most were 2 for a penny. Cotton was such fun and always teased us. One time Sarah Haynes Standard and I were playing on some bags of grain and found some kittens. Cotton told us if we could catch them, we could have them, so we did and we both went home with a kitten.
It was a time when you could ride your bike all over Oxford and feel safe. Everyone's parents felt they could correct you or ask you to stay for lunch. We played outdoors all day and night after supper during the summer. It was a delightful childhood!
I was blessed to go back to Oxford in 1965 as a freshman at Oxford College of Emory University. There had been some changes since we moved away in 1960. I lived in Haygood Hall my freshman year, and in the new girls dorm my sophomore year. I loved being there as a student and will always look back on Oxford with the fondest memories. I often dream of Oxford and love to visit there. When I do, Sarah and I usually make a trip to the Oxford cemetery. I still like to visit the Confederate cemetery, too. I hope Seney will never be torn down! I hope Virgil Eady's record of Coke's drunk at parent's day picnic will never be broken! I hope Old Church will remain a wonderful historical landmark. I pray that my children and grandchildren will get to see the beauty of living in a place that, in my heart, is "Walton's Mountain" and "Camelot" all rolled into one place!
I lived across the street from Allen Memorial Church, Pierce dormitory, and Haygood dormitory; next door was Frank and Gladys Nolley and Lula Freeman. I loved being able to walk out my door and down my driveway and right over to the church. I gave my heart and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior at age eight when J. Hamby Barton was the pastor at Allen Memorial. I remember sitting on the porch at the parsonage on Emory Street and reciting the Beatitudes as part of our memory work to join the church.
I remember the saints at the church and the impact they had on my life! I loved "Miss Sarah" and "Uncle Nath" Thompson and how he would "Amen" a good point in the sermon. I wanted to grow up and have blue or lavender hair like some of the older women in the church. I remember Miss Mary Culler White being a missionary in China.
One of my happiest memories was Friday afternoons at Mother Budds, at four p.m. when we had "happy hour" at her big stone house. She taught us Bible stories using a felt board. We had Kool-Aid and brownies and sang songs with Mother Budd playing the piano using all her fancy cords. I was shocked as an adult when someone said, “Let's go to happy hour,” and it wasn't for Bible stories and Kool-Aid!
Growing up in Oxford with dirt roads with no zoning was very interesting. I loved our neighbors, the Nolleys! I played every summer with Gladys and Frank's grandchildren. I especially enjoyed Nellie Mae Robinson, who was a year older than I. She came down from Atlanta to stay with her grandparents for the summer. I loved that the Nolleys had kerosene lamps, a wood burning stove for heat and cooking, a real ice box with ice delivered by an ice truck, a well, and an outhouse! I saw Gladys wring a chicken's neck and wash her clothes in a wash-tub with scrub board. They had hogs that we “slopped” with our corn cobs, and cantaloupe and watermelon rinds. In the fall I watched them slaughter those hogs and they shared the best sausage that I have ever eaten. Frank taught me to milk his jersey cow, Nancy, and I saw her give birth when I was 10 years old. I got a marvelous education by living next to the Nolleys. I watched Gladys churn butter and heat her flat iron on the wood stove in order to iron her clothes. She’d then use it to iron Nellie Mae's hair. I was in awe of all I saw. I loved this family like my own.
My Daddy, C. Lee Harwell, taught at “Emory-at-Oxford,” as it was called in those years. My mother had also been the school nurse much earlier than Mrs. Haynes. Daddy taught history at Emory-at-Oxford my entire time in Oxford. I loved growing up on the Oxford campus, walking to Seney, and walking home with my daddy, playing school in the empty classrooms, riding my bicycle and buying Cokes from the Coke machines! I loved every building on that campus. I remember the wrecking ball used to bring down Pierce Dormitory. I remember that Sarah Haynes Standard and I had a joint birthday party in Few Hall as our birthdays are a day apart, although I am a year older. I loved the old library and can remember the old wrought iron spiral staircase and the musty smell.
I loved Mrs. Hinton and the books she always gave us as gifts that I treasured. I loved the old gym with the track that was above the basketball court and the pole you could slide or climb down. I still remember the first time I was able to do it. I remember A, B, and C Company and watching them play football and basketball. For some reason, I always liked B Company the best. I loved going to the formals with Mama and Daddy in the gym and how the students used parachutes to decorate the ceiling so it looked like clouds. My grandmother made a long dress for me to wear and I felt like a princess.
I loved the Co-Op, walking to the Huddle and Mrs. Ellis. It was fun seeing the penguin-shaped salt and pepper shakers on the counter that advertised "Kool Cigarettes.” I can still remember the taste of those great hamburgers right off the griddle. I loved the juke box and watching college students hanging out and shooting pool. I loved walking to the old post office and waiting for Mr. Williams to bring the mail back from the train station. I remember Mr. Wilbur Harwell, the postmaster. In my opinion, he was the epitome of a true southern gentleman. I also loved "Cotton" Harwell at the General store next to the post office and going in for a coke and peanuts, or a nickel bag of candy -- which was a huge amount, since most were 2 for a penny. Cotton was such fun and always teased us. One time Sarah Haynes Standard and I were playing on some bags of grain and found some kittens. Cotton told us if we could catch them, we could have them, so we did and we both went home with a kitten.
It was a time when you could ride your bike all over Oxford and feel safe. Everyone's parents felt they could correct you or ask you to stay for lunch. We played outdoors all day and night after supper during the summer. It was a delightful childhood!
I was blessed to go back to Oxford in 1965 as a freshman at Oxford College of Emory University. There had been some changes since we moved away in 1960. I lived in Haygood Hall my freshman year, and in the new girls dorm my sophomore year. I loved being there as a student and will always look back on Oxford with the fondest memories. I often dream of Oxford and love to visit there. When I do, Sarah and I usually make a trip to the Oxford cemetery. I still like to visit the Confederate cemetery, too. I hope Seney will never be torn down! I hope Virgil Eady's record of Coke's drunk at parent's day picnic will never be broken! I hope Old Church will remain a wonderful historical landmark. I pray that my children and grandchildren will get to see the beauty of living in a place that, in my heart, is "Walton's Mountain" and "Camelot" all rolled into one place!