Sulphur Springs

When I used to watch the Walton’s on TV, it reminded me of the summers we spent visiting my grandparents house in Sulphur Springs, Arkansas. I could never tell the whole story, but here is just a little of the story.

Sulphur Springs

 

My family always took a two week vacation in the summer to visit my grandmother, Lucy, and my grandfather, Frank, who lived in Sulphur Springs, Arkansas. We went every year from the time I was 6 years old (1949) until I was 16 years old(1959). We always took a lot of fishing trips to Grand Lake and Spavinaw Lake in Oklahoma while we were there. My grandmother was a wonderful cook so she would fry up the fish with fried potatoes, fresh turnips and turnip greens and Kentucky wonder green beans from my Aunt Edith’s garden, with home made biscuits. It was so good, it was hard to stop eating. My grandmother made home made biscuits for every meal, I just loved all the meals she cooked.

 

My sister JerrylDine and I (and my brother Craig later) would always play with the Eldred kids , Annette, Bill, Lucia Nell, and Rocky who lived across the street from my grandparents. One summer when I was about eight, Bill Eldred and I were down by the railroad tracks where we had laid some pennies on the tracks and were waiting on a train. We laid around in this large high grass field and sat on a rotten log waiting on the train to come by and pancake the pennies. The train finally came and we picked up the souvenirs and went about or business. That night, I was covered from head to toe with chigger bites. I had never been so miserable in my whole life. It made me so sick that I stayed in bed all day the next day. I tried to stay away from deep grass and rotten logs after that.

 

One summer when I was about 12 years old, Lucia Nell was just learning to kiss and she wanted to practice on me while I was there. I said sure let’s give it a whirl. So she commenced to practice smooching on me right then and there. I was loving this and it went on for a few days, but every time we would get going good, she would get excited and her nose would start to bleed. After about the forth nose bleed, she said that’s it, I can’t do this any more or I’m going to bleed to death. And so ended one of my finest summer vacation experiences ever. I guess I was just too much man for her.

 

When I was about 14 years old, my Dad and I started fishing the Cuyahoga Flats on Grand Lake. The water was only about two feet deep all over the area, and there was a lot of trees and brush in the water. We would use top water Jitterbug lures that made a lot of noise as you reeled them in on the surface of the water. There’s nothing as exciting as having a huge Large Mouth Bass bust a Jitterbug on the surface. We had a lot of fun fishing there in the summers and brought home many large strings of Large Mouth Bass.

 

Many times when we were there, the Huckleberries would be ripe and we would head out on foot to pick a batch. We new if we brought a big batch home to my grandmother, we would soon have perhaps the finest Huckleberry pie in the world to eat. Those were the days.

 

Down at the park in Sulphur Springs, Butler Creek had been damed with a concrete structure that made the best swimming hole in the country. We spend hours and hours swimming there in the summers. The water was deep adjacent to the flat topped concrete dam so you could dive off the dam into the pond. There was also a tree with a rope swing in it on the far side of the lake. It was the ideal natural swimming hole within walking distance from my grandmothers house. What fun we had.

 

Annette was a red head and she was about my brother Craig’s age. One time we went to the Lithia Springs to get some healing spring water for one of the neighbors and she told Craig she had a surprise for him. When we got to the Spring, she sang him a song that was a hit on the radio at the time. She sang …”Bimbo, Bimbo, where you gonna go ee ooo. I’m going down the road to see my little girly oooo…….” . I think she was telling him he was her Bimbo?

 

Precious memories need to be preserved for future generations so they can understand that you don’t necessarily need all the computer driven electronic devices available today to have fun and enjoy life, although I am enjoying one right this moment?

 

Pam in the park by the Black Sulphur Springs for which the town was named.

Bill standing on the dam of the swimming hole where we swam in Sulphur Springs. The rope swing was in one of the trees behind me.

Wild Huckleberries like we used to pick in the woods around Sulphur Springs.

 The Lithia Springs area in Sulphur Springs. People would come from miles away to get the water as they believed it improved their health.

Thanks for reading Sulphur Springs,

Hawg Jaw Bill