Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Bob Rivers' Observations Along King Street in Boone, 1950

“King Street” by Rob Rivers, August 17, 1950, The Watauga Democrat, Boone, N.C.

Odds and Ends: Man feeding coins into parking meter, as his lady companion hands him penny after penny from purse, inquiring each time, “Want more?” . . . Housewife bemoans the rapid rise in the cost of vittles in the raw and says there’s no sense in such . . . “Just plain hellishness, ‘twould appear to me.” . . . New display rooms of the Winkler Motor Company taking form, as strollers watch the work . . . Another patient group of sidewalk engineers hangs out right regularly at the Building and Loan building which is undergoing extensive remodeling. . . Group of children play in Boone Creek, as others engage in wrestling and even a touch of fist fighting, as the glorious institution of childhood carries on, a wholesome and unchanged carryover from a less harried era. . . Boats of most every description seen to pass through town this summer as Watauga dam provides a mecca for boatmen and fishermen. . . Lots of these little outboarders are seen trailing motor cars, some smaller ones are inverted over the tops of the sedans, but the other Sunday a huge trailer pulled by one of those might Mack moguls dragged through a beautiful little ocean-going cruiser, being shipped from the builders in Detroit to Eastern Carolina. . . Earl Norris and other highway workers repair the Poplar Grove road at the old laundry corner, and bridge crew re-floors the crossing of Boone Creek nearby. . . Both these improvements are of more than passing importance to one who regularly uses this stretch in his saunterings to and from work. . . Slightly nearsighted one plumps into plate glass door down at C.K. Marion’s Café. . . a rare tribute to the lad who does the glass polishing down there.

Unto These Hills continues to draw large numbers of Boone folks to the Cherokee Indian reservation. . . The spectacular outdoor pageant of the sufferings and tribulations of the Cherokees is good, decidedly so, and the stadium in which native stone is sued predominately, and the backdrop is the Great Smokies, enhances the worth of the stage presentation.  . . Local folks are particularly interested because the cast contains a Boone boy, Blanton Miller is one of the stellar performers with his professional portrayal of Tecumseh, fiery Shawnee warrior. . . Those who haven’t seen the show should make a trip over that way. . . There is no more spectacular ride than from Boone to Cherokee. . . Incidentally, we find that a number of Piedmont and eastern Carolina people are making the trip to Cherokee via Boone, on their return completing a sort of grand circle tour, which includes the noted parkway.

In The Old Days it was considered that when a man wore “Sunday clothes” on week days he had definitely “arrived” in so far as economic security was concerned. . . In later years the status of his wealth came to be measured by what sort of automobile he piloted along the pavement, or how many gadgets his home contained. . . We have found however, that a man’s financial troubles are most certainly over when he takes to writing his signature, deliberately, so that no man on earth can decipher it. . . Trucks loaded with coal, parked along the street, while out of state vendors stop passerbys and try to make sales. . . Onlookers try to figure out whether the standard six ton load is nearer four than five. . . Staccato bark of rifles Sunday afternoon at city dump, right smack in town, despite the fact there’s always been an ordinance. . . Need for truck lane around town grows greater as commercial traffic through the place increases. . . Heartening to know that such an artery is in the planning stage.

Bob Agle, who in his capacity as district executive for the Sams movie enterprises, is one of the town’s most consistent buyers of space in the Watauga Democrat, sends us this highly appreciated note: “May I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your new


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