Winter time years ago was fun for the whole population of Harlan, children and grown-ups alike. The winters were possibly colder because the river froze in December and didn't thraw until March. The people shown on the ice in the above picture were just above the mill dam in Harlan.

Children who went to school in the academy building "took to the river" to skate at recess and after school.

"We'd take a run and go down the hill and go half-way across the river," one enthusiastic old timer said. It was more fun to skate all the way home on the ice than to walk on the street.

Bonfire Provided Heat

A large bon-fire on the bank at dusk furnished heat and light for the skaters. As the picture shows, the ladies wore their hats all the time.

The first ice skates were homemade. Roller skates were not in existance. The long pointed frame was hard to keep on the skaters' feet. Kelly Harris, who worked in a blacksmith shop, made the skates.

Marion Howard and Tom ward were two proud people when their first pair of "store bought" skates arrived from a mail-order house. The price was $1.49.

One day Ward was gliding along smoothly when the ice gave away and under he went. Pretty soon icicles formed on his clothes. He thought he could keep on skating but he had to give up and go home.

Ordinary shoes were no good to skate in unless a place in the ice had been worn slick. Some oldtimers remember how the boys pulled off their shoes and skated barefoot. That didn't last too long.

"We had the most fun on Sunday afternoons", one of the skaters said. He told how people at Cawood went to school on the ice for about a mile. Another oldtimer told of going to church on the ice.

Down by the mill at the end of Main Street, was the crossing for horses and wagons going to Hagen, Va. When the river was frozen, teamsters drove their wagons out on the ice and across.

"Sometimes the horses danced and pranced. They were afraid of the slick ice, but before long a path would be made with their spikes. (The horses' shoes were shod with ice nails.) The finely chipped ice made the surface look like sawdust or sand.

Practically the whole town skated. Some of the well known residents who spent hours on the river were John Browning, Mary Ward, Clark Hall, Murph Howard, Jim Farmer, Ollie Lewis, Will Ward, Georgia Jones, Lizzie Blackburn bonner, Ora C. Cawood and Carrie Martin.

They traveled up and down the river for two or three miles. Sometime when the fishermen had the urge to fish, they would cut a hole in the ice.

Some of the familes in Harlan built ice houses and hauled hug chunks of ice on wagons and packed it in sawdust. Their supply lasted all summer.

Sunday March 22, 1953

Volume 52 Number 67

page 1

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