Memories of Orange

To the editor,
In early summer an elderly gentleman came into my gallery. He told me quite an interesting story.
Here it is in his own words.
––Linda Boudreaux Montgomery
Corner House Gallery

"I am an old man now; I will be 93 in September. Recently my daughter and cousin took me back to Orange, after nearly 85 years, to see what had become of my previous home. I was pleasantly surprised to find it well preserved as Corner House Gallery on West Main Street. The art gallery was open, and Linda Montgomery, the owner and artist, was very gracious to allow me to reminisce as we toured my previous dwelling.
"I expect no one is now living that I knew at the time I lived in Orange.
"My Father, Rev. W. G. Bates, Jr., moved to Orange, with his wife and two sons, Murrie and me (Woodfin), in 1923 or 1924. He was pastor of the Methodist church there.
"Our home, now known as Corner House Gallery, was the Methodist parsonage. When I lived there it had a small fenced-in backyard; behind that was a barn, a basketball goal and a sliding board. While there, we had an Eskimo Spitz dog that we named Spitz.
"Also behind the parsonage was a house which I believe was the Chunning home. They had twin boys about my age.
"As well as I can remember, the Methodist church bought a new pump organ while our family lived in Orange. I do not think Mother was the regular organist, but I remember my mother playing it because when she played, I pumped the organ. It was quite a chore for a lad to keep enough air in it. Mother had a beautiful voice and sometimes she sang solos.
"The Presbyterian church did not have Sunday school rooms as it does today. There were houses next to the Presbyterian church which have been replaced with the addition to the church. I remember one of the previous houses had a barn in the backyard with a hay loft and the boys my age and I played there in bad weather.
"Rev. Riley, the Baptist minister, lived several doors behind us. One day it was snowing and my friends and I were having fun throwing snow balls. We threw them at some men who were constructing a building next to the Methodist church (I believe they were building the Masonic temple). We thought they were playing with us because they threw snowballs back, but one man got angry and threw a brick at us. It hit the pavement in front of me, bounced and hit my head so that I was knocked out. Rev. Riley, who was coming down the street, saw what happened, grabbed the man and took him to the police. He was confined to jail until his trial. While he was in jail his house burned to the ground, so my father had the trial called off, thinking the man had been punished enough. I learned a valuable lesson myself!
"Mr. P. M. Watts held the position of clerk of the court in Orange, as well as I can remember. Sometimes at the lunch hour he came to our house and played a game called crokinole with me. It was rather amusing. Each player had 12 playing pieces ("men"). The "men" were wooden rings about the size of checkers except with holes in the middle. It was played on a wooden game board containing wooden pegs. One time when Mr. Watts and I were playing, I thumped my "man" to knock his off the board, it did that and jumped off the board and rung the cigar he had in his mouth! We both got a great laugh from that!
"The Harper family lived nearby in a home back off the road with a pasture in front of the house. The Harpers were very nice to the town's boys and let us play baseball in their field, and when it snowed we rode our sleighs there. The Harpers let my brother and me keep our pony there also.
"One day while we boys were playing ball in the Harper's field, a blimp, known as the Shenandoah, flew over and dropped out a parachute with letters tied to it. Sometime later we were very saddened to learn that the Shenandoah blimp had crashed in Ohio during a storm.
"I was in some sort of play at school and had to wear an awful looking devil costume. I was ashamed to be seen in it, so when my turn came to go on stage I was hiding and Dad came and found me. I remember I went on stage perfectly humiliated.
"Dr. Holiday and his family lived several doors down the street. They had a daughter who played with us and she taught me how to dance. She was older, but I remember having a crush on her.
"We also enjoyed the Baileys, across town. The town's water tank was in a field across the street from the Bailey house.
"Before he was a movie star, Randolph Scott was a student at Woodberry Forest. He rode horses with Marion DuPont. The DuPonts lived in the James Madison home. She and Randolph Scott rode in the county horse show. Marion DuPont was the only person I ever saw riding sidesaddle.
"The Cameron estate, which may have been equal to the James Madison home, was vacant when we lived in Orange. Most everyone in Orange cooked on a Cameron stove.
"My parents had many good friends, but after 85 years I don't remember many names.
"Some of this may not be exactly as it happened, but that is the way I remember it.”
Frank Woodfin Bates
Drakes Branch, VA