The hill to the south of the house carried the most activity of any. It was on that side that we would sleigh ride in the winter. We walked to the spring, crossed the creek and went up the hill a way to pick up hickory nuts for mother’s ice box cookies. Further to the east on the south hill we had a wondrous junk pile. All junk (not garbage) was deposited there. We had fun playing in it. Even further south was a wonderful wild cherry tree. We picked cherries every summer and this was used to make jelly, juice and even daddy made some wine!
The southeast area was the way we walked to school. Once we crossed the creek to the south we had a pasture and then woods to walk through. We had to cross a barb wire fence when we got in the woods, so Mahlon wrapped burlap bags around the barbs so we wouldn’t tear our clothes or scratch ourselves when we crossed. It was easy to cross if you were with someone. One person held up the top wire and while you pushed down on the second wire, you had a lot of room to crawl through. After crossing the “Goetz” creek at the edge of the woods, we had a pasture and then another fence. This fence was made of 6-inch wire blocks and in order to cross that, Mahlon cut an 18 by 18 inch hole so we could all squeeze through. There was an incline after that fence and then again pasture. This was the area where we had to watch for bulls. When we got through the pasture, it was a short walk through the woods to reach the back yard of the Oak Grove schoolhouse lot. The entire walk may have been two miles, but I am not sure.
