Only Yesterday: Walking Barefoot

Lexington, Virginia is a beautiful town now tucked into the crook of I-81 & I-64 in the western part of the state. My mother was born there and her parents lived nearby on an isolated farm in Bath County after their retirement. During my early youth I spent many happy days with them

My Maternal Grandfather

My Maternal Grandmother

and avidly listened to their stories of times past and events that occurred in and around Lexington.

Recently, I chanced upon a memoir written by John Seymour Letcher who was a contemporary of my grandparents and whose book has given me another, more detailed, view of life in Lexington at the beginning of the 20th century. Here’s an excerpt about the Covenanter Camp which, as shown by photographs in the book, my grandfather’s cousins attended along with the author.

During the late afternoon of a day close to the tenth of July during the years between 1910 and 1915 numerous small boys bound for the Covenanter Camp could be seen transporting by almost any means mattress rolls and small chests to the Sunday School room of the Presbyterian Church. [These] were piled in the Sunday School room and early the following morning were loaded into a large wagon drawn by team of horses for transport to the camp site a Copper’s Bottom, nine miles up the North River from Lexington, where an advance guard of councilors and older boys had gone several days earlier to pitch the tents and prepare the camp for occupancy before the younger boys and girls arrived. Very early the same morning groups of smaller boys would start walking the nine miles of dusty road to the camp. Because of the heat an early start was advised. Most of the boys were barefooted.

Only Yesterday in Lexington, Virginia - John Seymour Letcher (1974)

Yes, I agree, an early start would be advised.