My memories of Porterdale

Kay (Kerbow) Piper
May 2004

            I was born at the Porterdale Maternity Hospital on July 27, 1949.  My parents, Herman and Gladys (Haggard) Kerbow both worked in the Porterdale Mill as did my grandparents on both sides of the family.  The week I was born, my Mama and I were the only patients in the entire hospital.  I understand we got the royal treatment! 

            My earliest memory of Porterdale was when I was a toddler and we lived on Oak Street.  We were fortunate to have one of the few televisions in town and every child who lived on our street would come over and watch the Howdy Doody show.  There would be little bodies all over the floor and my Mama welcomed every one of them.  One of the little boys who would come over is now Rev. Harold Henderson who is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church just outside Porterdale. 

            From there, we moved to one of the “new” houses that were built on the western side of the river.  The house sat on top of the hill across from where Burger King is now located, but that house was torn down some years ago so that Georgia Power could put power lines through the property.  Our neighbors were Jimmy and Ruby Lee Cason, Irby and Sarah Sharpton who was a nurse at the hospital, and a family by the name of Sanders who had moved into Porterdale as he worked for Georgia Power; they had a little girl named Diane.  Jan Cason and Diane Sanders were some of my first playmates. 

            We later moved to a house on Broad Street behind the Porterdale Baptist Church and our neighbors were J. B. and Bertice Barker and their family, the Aubrey Savage family, and the Alexander family who had a son whom everyone called Tip.  It was while we lived there that I started to school.  Mrs. Jordan was my first grade teacher.  All summer as Mama and Daddy tried to prepare their only child for school, they told me all the wonderful things I would get to do at school but the one thing that stuck in my mind was that I would learn to read.  Mama left me in my desk crying that first morning and I cried off and on all day.  When at last I got to go home, I told them I wasn’t going back to that school because I didn’t learn to read!  

            I remember going over to Standard Pharmacy with Mama to buy my school supplies and I remember how good my new paper, pencils, and workbooks smelled.  Yes, they had to buy my workbooks as they were not provided by the school at that time.  My new school clothes were purchased at either White’s Dept. Store in downtown Porterdale or at Deitz’s on the square in Covington.  In those days, girls were not allowed to wear pants or shorts to school.  All young ladies wore dresses with layers of starched crinolines underneath.  I remember the feel of the new clothes and the smell of my new leather shoes. 

            Melody Barker, her older sister Judy, Louise Savage, and I formed a club.  My Mama would make “tea parties or picnics” for us and at the opening of each meeting we would recite the following, “Early to bed, early to rise; makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”  I’m sure we had no idea what it meant but we had the best times together.  Our house had lots of steps in the front and we would play games like Rock School, hopscotch, jump rope, and in the heat of the summer we would go underneath the house (which was high off the ground and there was no underpinning) where it was cool and play house with our dolls.  On wash day, we made “toad frog houses” on our feet which we would make from mud as the wash water ran down the back alley that was not paved at that time!  I got a pair of roller skates one Christmas.  I would wear one and whoever I was playing with would wear the other one and we would skate all day!  I still remember how the sandspur would hurt and burn when we got into them! 

            One of the best things about going to school in Porterdale were the wonderful lunches that were prepared by Mrs. Effie Boyd, who later ran the restaurant in the Welaunee Inn.  We had freshly made soup and chili, homemade yeast rolls, and my favorite were the graham crackers with peanut butter on them and topped with a marshmallow.  She would place them under the broiler to melt the marshmallow and they were wonderful! 

            I love playing on the playground on which the Porterdale City Hall now sits.  We had the best swings, sliding boards, and jungle gyms.  I don’t remember going to the gym to play until we got to the upper school which began with sixth grade.  B. C. Crowell made each of us feel that we were his favorite student but you would incur his wrath if you dared step onto the gym floor before you had taken off your shoes!!!  I briefly played basketball for B. C. but quickly realized that I needed to stick to music as I had NO talent for sports! 

            From the time I was in first grade, on Saturday mornings Mama and Daddy would let me walk down to Mrs. Lillian Jeffars’ beauty shop which was located in the back of the Anderson Building next door to the dentist’s office.  She would shampoo and set my hair and I felt like a “big girl” going there by myself and sitting among the ladies of Porterdale who were there getting all sorts of things done to their hair.  My mother’s oldest sister, Doris Haggard (now Hatchell), with Mrs. Chestnut had a beauty shop in the Bank of Covington building on the square in Covington.  Mama and I would occasionally go there on the Callaway bus and that was a real treat!  She had a big horseshoe-shaped magnet tied with a piece of yarn and she would let me go around and pick up all the bobby pins that had fallen onto the floor.  In those days, women received “electric” perms.  They sat underneath a contraption that looked like something from outer space and it smelled AWFUL! 

            When I was finished at Mrs. Lillian’s, I would walk around to the drug store where Skinny Reynolds would wait patiently as I chose candy from the candy case… one piece at a time!  From there, I’d go next door to White’s where I would look at EVERY View Master reel until I chose the right one.  Bobby Smith and Mrs. Ivey never seemed to mind that it took me quite a while to choose just the right one.  When my Saturday routine was completed, I walked back home up Broad Street past the ballfield and I would eat my candy as I walked.  I doubt I ever ate much lunch on Saturdays!  On Saturday evenings and every Christmas Eve, we went to eat at Clarence Henderson restaurant.  What a treat it was then… and it still is! 

            You know, Mama and Daddy never worried about me for a minute as I went on my routine every Saturday morning.  We knew everyone in town and our police officers Eddie Lee Digby, Ray Potts, Leroy Bailey, and Robert Lummus watched out for all the children in Porterdale.  These days, we don’t even allow our little granddaughter to play out in the yard by herself!  Oh, for that time of innocence again. 

            Christmas was a magic time in Porterdale in those days.  You knew when the lights were placed on the large fir tree in the big island across from the Baptist church, when the star was lit on the water tank on the lower end of Poplar Street, and when Mrs. Martha Ramsey’s Christmas scenes would begin to go up in all the grassy islands through the village that Santa Claus’ arrival was not far off!  Some of Mrs. Ramsey’s scenes that I remember were Christmas Carolers, Santa’s sled and reindeer, snowmen, and large candles.  The best part of Christmas in Porterdale was the Christmas program in the gym!  The eighth graders would pack large shoe boxes with fresh fruit, candy, and nuts.  Each year, the boxes would be covered with a different Christmas paper.  I still have one of them.  A huge Christmas tree would be set up on the gym floor and it would be decorated with the most beautiful decorations.  The boxes would be stacked in a circle around its base.  Everyone would be there.  Choirs from local churches joined as one and sang the beautiful music of Christmas.  School children sang and recited scriptures and poetry.  Bibb officials would speak and then we would each receive our Christmas box.  I did not realize until I was grown that Santa was not as generous to all the children as he was to me.  There were some children in Porterdale for whom their Christmas Box was the biggest gift they would receive.

            I loved going to the grocery store/“company store”.  There was a grill in the front where you could buy the best hot dogs and hamburgers.  My favorite place in the store was the butcher shop located in the back of the store.  There was sawdust on the floor and it smelled so good. 

            I also remember going to the gas station, which we called the filling station.  All the attendants were dressed in crisply starched uniforms and they cleaned your windows, checked under the hood, and check the tires without having to be asked. 

            I remember at shift changing times, there was a line of traffic that stretched from Porterdale to Covington and from Covington to Porterdale.  I remember the sound of the hum of the machinery.  I remember when the whistle would blow and you could hear it all over town.  Before the whistle, there was a bell that was rung… we have that bell.  My maternal grandfather, Charles (Mr. Charlie) Haggard had it for years and it came to us when he died. 

            I remember when there was sickness or a need in the community, my mother along with other ladies from our church would take food, clean a house, and anything else that was needed.  I remember when Mama and Daddy would get dressed in their formal wear to go to Eastern Star and Masonic events.  I thought my Mama was the most beautiful woman in the world (she still is) and that my Daddy was the most handsome man (he still was until he died). 

            I became the pianist of the Porterdale Baptist Church when I was 13 years old.  I loved it when once a year the churches in the village would meet together on a rotating basis and have one big service.  On those occasions, even the balcony at the Baptist Church would be filled.  On Sunday mornings, you would be awakened by the sound of the beautiful chimes coming from the Methodist Church.  Cars would be parked all up and down Broad Street and on all the side streets as people gathered to worship.  It was not unusual for people to have to sit in the balcony of the Baptist Church on a regular Sunday. 

            One of the highlights of each Sunday morning was seeing what hat Mrs. Ruth Brooks would wear.  I was in awe of her collection of hats and she always looked like a million dollars!  As a little girl I was absolutely enthralled to hear Mrs. Jorde Tanner play the organ.  She played beautifully and when she would play the chimes, I felt as though my little heart would literally jump out of my chest! 

            I could go on and on but I will close by saying that if I had the opportunity to go back in time and have the ability to choose where I could grow up, I wouldn’t change a thing!  There was not nor has there been since a place like the model village of Porterdale.  It is those memories that drove me to develop a ten-year revitalization program for Porterdale.  I call it “Let Sweep it Clean!”  Although Porterdale will never be what it once was, I believe it can come back and be a model of a town that almost died but because the love of its residents and former residents made a come back so big that it will be an example of revitalization that can be copied throughout the nation where there are many former mill villages that have died. 

Kay Kerbow-Piper

“Porterdale revitalized… Catch the vision!”