In The Surrey With The Fringe On Top!

What comes to mind when you hear the word, "surrey?"
Having grown up in a home filled with LP albums of 1950's musicals, I immediately think of the song,  The Surrey With The Fringe On Top, by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
What a great show with so many songs that draw you in to sing along! Honestly, that must be how so many children learned to spell 

O K L A H O M A !

O K…(no pun intended!) let's get back to the state of 

A L A B A M A ! 

and to our "time capsule" article written by Lora "Tee" Antoinette Weaver Ragsdale. 

Last week we began with a piece about the store in Lineville, and today we are going to look at what Tee wrote about their home life after her family moved from Lineville to Talladega. You will see how the surrey ties in to our post. 

When the family moved to Talladega in December, 1897, there were five children. We came in a surrey, and I will never forget seeing my first train. I was so frightened, I cried. Our first house faced Coffee Street on the lot where Heritage Hall and the library now stand. 

Picture from the internet

The first Sunday we were in Talladega our Father with Cabot and Kiser went to the First Baptist Church, and the family has been going regularly ever since. We did not know anything else but to get up on Sunday morning and dress for Sunday school and church. Father was the Church Treasurer for many years. 

When we moved to Talladega, it was a town of about five thousand. There were no paved streets or sidewalks in the residential area. The business section was on the square as it is today…

We lived in the house of Coffee Street for three years. then our parents bought a house at 305 Oak Street from Cecil Browne, a lawyer, for $2000. 

How happy we children were to have a house with a bathroom. The toilet had a long chain to flush the water. We had a cistern for drinking water and were not allowed to drink water from the faucet. 

The first day after we had moved into our new home, Father came home for noontime dinner and saw his four oldest children playing on top of the roof. We had gained access to the roof  through the trunk room and had climbed a ladder that was hidden in a small closet which led to the attic. From there, a ladder led to the outside entrance. The flat top had an iron grillwork around it. Our father went into the house and asked Mother if she knew where the children were. "In the yard, I suppose," she said. Papa answered, "No, they are not. They are on top of the house! We'll have to sell the house; the children are going to get killed."Well, they didn't sell the house, and I'm sure we were careful not to get caught on top of the roof again. 

Imagine seeing 4 children on top of this house! 

I hope you have enjoyed the second look into Tee's time capsule article. 

There is more to come in the next few weeks. 

Love,

Mariellan