When we moved out to Penn Cove Park, it was just starting to be a development. The first two or three streets were built up, but that is all. We lived in a little tiny brown house behind the store that was also the resort. They had 5 or 6 little vacation cabins that they rented out every summer. The resort was right across the street from the beach, and we were right behind that. We could play in the woods, run on the beach, build forts out of driftwood, fish, climb the cliffs, dig caves, climb trees and swing as far as we dared from the tippy top. LOVED it. Every day was an adventure. Summer was the best time, because we could ride our bikes everywhere!!
Our bedrooms were up in the lofty type attic. And we each had our OWN ROOM!!!! It was the first time ever that I did not have to share a bed with Phyllis. I could wake up and not be peed on!! I Had my own room and my very own bed!!! the windows opened out like shutters, and the eaves were right there, and you would bang your head on the roof if you stood up to close to the edge.
I felt just like Jo in Little Women!! We did not have TV back then, hardly anyone did, and we had to make our own entertainment when we could not go out because of the weather. I discovered reading. I read all of Nancy Drew, Little Women, Swiss Family Robinson, Misty of Chincoteague, Black Beauty, and I found Laura Ingalls Wilder!!! I was in Heaven!!!
When it got dark, I would take my books and go behind the big huge chair that Mom had, and lay back there snug up against the built in bookcases, and read by the light on the table. I was hidden, and it was my special place. I would also play with my Jennie dolls back there, on the bookcases and listen to the radio. I remember the SHADOW KNOWS, And the LONE RANGER, And THE WHISTLER, and some soap opera that Mom would listen to. It was so special.
One winter it snowed really deep, and we were allowed to go play in it. We did not have a sled or anything so the landlord made us one really fast out of left over wood pieces. We drug that sled up to the hill, and played for hours sliding down that hill. One kid from a few streets over said there was a big huge hill over there, called Butterbaugh hill, and we snuck over to it. It was the HUGEST hill we had ever seen. The traffic was blocked off of it and kids could slide down it safely...EXCEPT you were not to go into Mrs Harringtons Yard. She would yell at you. No one wanted that, so we tried really hard to stay out of her yard. I did slide into it once, and was scared stiff, so I ran home as fast as I could.
This time was only a mere 2 years until we got transferred back to Hawaii, but when I think of childhood and home, that is where I think of. We were free. We were Happy, we were allowed to play like real kids. There were farm kids, and Navy Kids, And the Dutch kids, and the Contractors Kids. (they were just building the rest of the base and the housing area) I made friends with these people and kept in touch with them until we came back. I felt like I was a part of the place, like I was born to be here.
We did not get transferred back until I was a sophomore in High School, and things had really changed. The Park was Grown, and all built up, there was no more rentals in town, We had to live in Housing, (brand spanking new Capehart housing) and the town was a growing and bulging place. Growing so fast, that no one really had a game plan, (and they still don't) so it just became fair game to build anything anywhere. the streets were all paved, and so many people had moved in that it was almost like every other Navy town. The house we lived in was old and worn out, and Butterbaugh Hill was just a tiny little bump!!! the beach was still there but the magic was gone. It was time to move on.
It was a magical time back then, and I thank God that I had the chance to experience it. When I tell people what it was like they just look at me all amazed like I would or COULD remember all of that.
I can though...Just cant remember yesterday!!!
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