I grew up in a small town in upstate New York - Cobleskill, New York. Situated in Schoharie County, it is located about 40 miles from Albany, the state capital. It took about an hour and a half ride on a Trailways but to reach New York City. That was in the '60s.
Growing up, Cobleskill was bigger than Andy's Mayberry but still small enough to nurture a safe, peaceful childhood. The first part of my life was spent in Kansas and then New Mexico but from fourth grade on, I lived in a tiny village named Seward but my schooling, shopping and social activites were spent 9 miles away in Cobleskill.
My family moved from Seward to Cobleskill during my Junior year of high school.
Seward, named from a state governor, William H. Seward, was at one time a thriving community and a busy railroad stop. When the railroad stopped running through the town, Seward dwindled to a small village. As I understand, it has not changed much from what it was in the 60's when I lived there.
This photo, courtesy of a group on Face Book, shows an old view of the street I lived on in Seward. I am not completely sure about this, but the house with the wrap around porch on the right closest to the foreground could have been the house I lived in. It was owned by my Grandfather Borst. In the 60's, when I lived there, the street was paved and there were sidewalks. Adjacent to my home was a Methodist church which would be out of camera shot on the left. It was a wonderful place to grow up. I could walk to Ernie's Store on Main Street and for a dime, could come away with a whole bag of penny candy. Ernie was of German stock, gruff but with a soft side that children could easily see. Besides candy, I saved my allowance and bought comic books. Seward also had a one room school house which was still in use but I don't know who used it. There were swings and a slide there during school months and I took advantage of that. During summer vacation, the swings were taken down.
This is Main Street Cobleskill in 1968 - the year after I graduated from high school. Note the older model cars. The church steeple far down on the left is the Lutheran Church. And of course, there is the ever-present slush and snow that arrived in late November and never left until sometime around April.
Here is a shot of a much earlier Main Street looking in the opposite direction of the previous shot. Most of the stores had changed names by the time I lived there. You can barely see the gazebo in the far background, located in the town park. The gazebo was gone when I was there.
I have so many, many memories of this place. Newberrys was our department store and where everyone shopped. It had a lunch counter where my mother and I often stopped for a hamburger or usually, a grilled cheese sandwich. You could buy a drink called a "Lime Rickey" which was a lemon-lime fizzy drink that came in it's own decorative green glass. I didn't really like the drink that much but I loved being able to take the glass home with me.
I did lots of shopping here - Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve, several gold fish who, alas didn't last long in my care, and sewing notions. I bought my first Beatles LP - Meet the Beaties as well as their first single - I Want To Hold Your Hand. The store took up the first two floors of the big building, with the 3rd floor housing apartments. Later in '69, I lived in one of those apartments, overlooking the street. I was pregnant with our first child, my husband being stationed on a Coast Guard cutter and I had to climb 3 flights of stairs to get to my door. My fridge was the kind that had to be defrosted (every week!) and my washing machine had to be hooked to the kitchen faucet and the water drained into the sink. Many memories.
William H. Golding High School. I could write pages and pages of memories about this place! At the time, it housed the junior high and senior high; the junior high in a small section near the lunch room. The school had three floors, 2 gyms ( a big one and a small one), lunchroom, and beautiful auditorium with a back stage area. The auditorium was used for many activities - assemblies, movie shorts and serials during lunch time, band and orchestra performances, a yearly Student Council play and, of course, graduation.
Our class time was rigid. We were given 5 minutes to get from class to class between periods. At three minutes, a bell was sounded as a warning and at 5 minutes, the late bell. My senior year was fraught with tension as my gym class was on the first floor and right afterwards was Mr. Acheson's chemistry class on the third floor. He was famous for calling you out if you were late! Outside the school were fields for hockey, soccer and track. We had no foot ball team as many years before, a student had been killed during a game and the school ended all involvement in the game. I understand that today, foot ball has returned. To me, the most memorable part of the outside were the rows of lilac bushes in back. In the early summer, they were bursting and I loved the scent and lavender blooms. I have a love for that flower to this day.
Main entrance to the high school. As you walked in the door, to the left was a short hall with the school office and offices of the principal and vice-principal to the left and across from them, the two entrances into the auditorium. I understood that when a new high school was built somewhere out of town, my high school was used as administrative offices. Now it houses the middle school. I'm glad it is still used as a school.
The Park Theater - it looks today as it did when I used to go there with friends. It was located across from the park (remember the gazebo in a previous photo?). I saw Gone With the Wind there when it made it's theater circuit once again in the 60's. I saw the Beatles first two movies - A Hard Day's Night and Help. Like all movie theaters of the past, the Park features a cartoon, a short and then the movie. If you arrived late for the movie, you could stay and watch the first part over again. My first kiss happened in that theater from a boy who later lost his life in Vietnam.
Cobleskill Community Hospital - I was a Candy Striper here and later worked in the kitchen after school hours during my senior year. My job was to make the salads and peel potatoes! Later on October 15, 1969, my first baby, James Matthew was born there. It's quite a bit larger now, I understand.
This photo was taken along Main Street 100 years ago but my winters looked about the same. We would see banks of snow like this quite often in the winter, usually from the accumulation of one snow storm after another. I don't miss that kind of weather but I do remember how beautiful freshly fallen snow looked and I couldn't wait to make the first tracks in the snow out in my yard.
I hope you enjoyed a trip down memory lane with me today!
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