Chapter 1 - Letters from Florida
Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5,
Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Biography of Editor
Experiences of Auto Tour
from Ephrata to
Florida
John H. Weaver Writes
An Interesting Letter from Ephrata Man Received Here
The following interesting letter was received at the "Review" office written by John H. Weaver, of Ephrata, R. D. 4, who is now located at Kissimmee, Florida, R. D. No. 1, Box 115. Many of our readers are acquaintances of Mr. Weaver and his family, and will read this letter with pleasure.
Kissimmee, Florida
R. D. No. 1, Box 115
Nov. 26th, 1925.
To: "The Ephrata Review" and friends at home:
If you fail to get a personal letter from me, take it for granted that I mean you, personally, when you read this.
Well, after all the preliminary arrangements were completed, such as tuning up the engine of the Ford, and blackening the Ford's body with some enamel purchased at Sprecher's Hardware Store, (which made her look like new), attaching to the left running board a cupboard filled with all kinds of good eatables from home, and things purchased at the Ephrata stores, including such articles as chicken and ham, (in cans), all ready to eat, oat meal, potatoes, sweet potatoes, mush, pies, cakes, butter, preserves, etc., etc., our camp stove, gas lantern, tent, one cot-bed (for grandfather) and one bed to fit in the machine, a lot of bed-clothing and my carpenter tools, we were ready for our trip to Florida. We had no special destination in Florida in view when we started out.
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Our Bethany Road Home
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On the evening of November 3rd, a number of our friends, relatives, and neighbors gathered at our home, between Ephrata and Akron, near Diamond Station, to pay us a farewell visit on our trip and sojourn in the land of perpetual summer, where the oranges and bananas grow. Brother G. S. Eberly, of Akron, took charge of this "separation meeting" as moderator. He read the 37th Psalms a Scripture lesson for the occasion. This 37th Psalm never before made the same impression upon me as it did at this time. Several hymns were sung, and we had prayer and several talks by a number of the men present. These prayers and addresses helped us all along the way on our journey, and give us much courage every day as we go along. All the farewells; "safe journey", "good luck", and "safe back again" ring in our ears whenever our minds run back home.
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Snow at Ephrata
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On the morning of November 4th, after reading a short Scripture passage, and prayer, we hurriedly arranged the few things needed for our trip, as well as things at home for the winter, bid our children good-bye, and we were off. As we passed thru Lancaster, we stopped at the John W. Weaver book store (Now Provident Book Store), in the Mennonite Mission church, on Vine St., and got a number of tracts on "What We Believe", which proved helpful to me, particularly so because a "plain" dressed person is not known of in Florida as well as the people we get in contact with in Pennsylvania, and I am usually taken for a preacher. (John and his wife Magdelena and her father Elam Landis wore the special garb worn by the Mennonites of that era. These were dark and severely plain clothing.) By the way, the place we are staying at here would be a rather poor place for a preacher, because I have tasted no chicken since the three cans in our cupboard were exhausted (we are boarding).
We left Lancaster and went by way of York to Baltimore. We got a tent at Baltimore, as the tent we had ordered for the trip failed to arrive at Ephrata in time. A certain gentleman piloted us through Baltimore at lightning speed. We appreciated the favor alright after it was over, but I am sure that if I would drive like that in Ephrata, I'd soon become acquainted with our new Chief of Police, Mr. Haas, who I have never met. I am sure I would never have gotten through this city in less than 3 hours if left to myself, but this way we got through in 30 minutes. Every man tries to cut in ahead of you, and if you don't do the same you will be left.
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Lena and her Father
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We pitched our tent 18 miles north of Washington, D.C. for the first night at a camping ground. That night we had a cold reception. We retired about 8:30 and slept until about 1:30 the next morning, when we woke up by reason of the cold coming through the bottom of our cots. We made a search for more clothing, until finally I found I had put on two union suits, shoes and stockings, and an overcoat over my night clothes, all of which had to come off again in the cold morning air, in order to dress properly for the continuation of the journey. The rest of the party carried on comparatively the same way. Of course we expected some experiences like this, but we were going south, where the weather is warmer.
We had breakfast and started off for Washington, D.C. At Washington we asked a gentleman how to find the Capitol building and the White House, and our way out of the city, going south. We followed his instructions very carefully, and soon found ourselves leaving the city by way of Pennsylvania Ave., and 14th Street, going south by way of Alexandria, and on to historic Fredericksburg. We were surprised to find Fredericksburg a city of few modern improvements. It reminded me of Terre Hill, Lancaster county, about 25 years ago, when I was a boy with its boardwalks and old-fashioned 2-storied frame houses.
I remember quite well, how when as a boy going to school, we studied about Fredericksburg. I had conceived the idea that this city must be a modernly-built and well-kept city, which idea of course, I kept until now. Fredericksburg was a great slave-selling center before the Civil War and they tell us that at Charles and Commerce Streets, was located the slave auction block.
As we drove through Virginia, we were wonderfully impressed as to the awfulness of the slave traffic and everything that went with it. All along the way we saw thousands of slave log cabins, the average size of which I judged to be 16 by 16 feet in dimensions, and 16 feet high, only one story high and the only opening a door about three feet wide and five feet high, provided with heavy hinges and a good hasp-hinge lock, to be operated from the outside only.
The roads in Virginia are a hard clay sand, and as you drive along it gives one about the same sensation as we used to get when we were boys and rubbed our bare hands over mother's washboard.
We stopped at Logan's Cabin, Virginia for the night. This is 30 miles south of Richmond, Va.
November 6th. Last night we were under cover with our machine at Logan's Cabin, a filling station and free camp. We, however, paid 50 cents to drive into the shed, and it was well worth the price. It was not as cold this morning as it was the previous morning. It started to rain at about 4:00 A. M., and we were glad for the shed. There were ten machines camping out in the open. They had a very unpleasant time of it. At about 5:30 A. M., we began to stir around and to prepare for another day's drive. As we moved around our machine, we found we had had very close bed partners, for there was a young man sleeping along side of our Ford on the bare ground. When I spoke to him, I found that he came from New York State, and that he was bound for Florida on foot, and begging rides along the way. We gave him breakfast, and told him to get on the "grind" for the day again, as he could not expect any further favors from us. We all slept very well during the night, and after we had had our breakfast finished, and the old Ford replenished with oil and fuel, we were off for another day.
At about l0:00 o'clock, the sun came out bright and hot. We opened the curtains, shed our wraps, father Landis put on his straw hat, and we thought the cold spell was broken, and that we were in the land that knows no chill. But wait! perhaps we are mistaken. We went on by the way of South Hill, Boydton, Clarkille, across the State line to Soudan, continued to Durham, N.C., and stopped at Burlington at a free camp for the night. Here we had no shelter (except our tent).
We always had a warm meal in the morning and evening, and lunch at noon. After supper we retired and felt comfortable for it is warmer climate now, and we went off to sleep. About 3:00 A.M. I heard rain on the tent top, but it was soon over and I went off for another snooze.
November 7. On this morning it was pretty cloudy and rather warm, but we decided that it wouldn't rain right away, and we set our breakfast on some kind of a water tank, and were just ready to eat, and then it began to rain. We hurriedly got everything under our tent, and ate only a little because our tent does not shed the water as well as we expected that it would, and we had not put it up as carefully as we should have but we did not get wet, for the rain soon stopped. We slapped things to their places in and on the machine, got gas and oil, and again we were off.
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Draw Well in S.C.
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We drove clear across North Carolina on this day, by way of Salisburg, Charlotte, Belmont, Kings Mountain, crossed the state line at Grover, and stopped off at Blacksburg, S. C., for the night. Blacksburg is a city with a population of 1600. When we drove into the center of town, we found the business center about the size of that in Ephrata from Sprecher's to the 5 & 10, comprised of stores of various kinds, and two banks. The curbs were well filled with automobiles of the cheaper kind. Just as we were entering this town I found that our lights would not function properly, and it started to rain. Well. we had enough of outdoor camping in the rain, and we looked for cover. The town has only one hotel, and that was not filled. We got two rooms for $3.00 (cheap). We got our supper at the hotel eating place, and put the Ford in the garage. By this time It was raining very fast, and we were glad for the comfort of the place.
On Sunday, Nov. 8th, it was still raining, and we stayed at the hotel, and did not drive on Sunday, but wrote letters, looked over the Sunday school lessons, and fixed up for another week's run South.
Here at Blacksburg I found that one of our tires was giving way and we replaced it with a new one, had the lights fixed and were then ready to go on. It stopped raining at noon, and we walked out. We asked a man where the 1,600 people of the town lived, because we saw that the city was very small. He said, "O, all 'round he'e in de woods," making motions with his finger as he pointed out a few scattered houses (or huts). The people of this place are, however very obliging and hospitable. "Cap" instead of "Mister" is the way they address you.
Monday morning, Nov. 9th was nice and clear, and real cool. We left Blacksburg about daybreak, and made a run of a few hours before breakfast. We stopped, unpacked our luggage, got a good meal, prepared for some future meals, such as boiling mush, eggs, potatoes and sweet potatoes and dried our tent which was still wet from Saturday morning's rain. We took a few pictures here, and ate our breakfast standing in the sun, but shivering with our overcoats and wraps on, for it was quite cold. Grandfather Landis does not wear his straw hat any more. It is not summer here yet.
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Georgia Mother and babies.
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Well, we packed up again feeling fine, enjoying the trip immensely and knowing that the weather will soon be warm, for we are now well on toward the South. We went on through Spartansburg, Greer, Greenville, Anderson, across the Savannah river into Georgia, on to Hartville, Royston, and stopped 18 miles north of Athens, for the night at a free camp. Here the man offered a bed for two of us for 50 cents and father Landis set up his cot in the man's store room in the bargain. This was the best place we struck yet. They looked to be poor people. 'The house was newly built, after the Southern fashion. One story with four rooms; one store room, one sleeping room, and a kitchen, and a room for tourists. The man told me the house cost him $350. We will never forget those people. They were very nice and tidy. It was the only place that we stopped at yet that was fit to stay at with my wife. (The sanitary conditions at the free camps and hotels don't suit our taste.) They built a fire in the hearth for us, and we each had a chair in our room, a stand, a coal oil lamp, pen and ink, and a very clean, comfortable bed. Say, we did not get that much with a $5.00 bed.
Yours very respectfully
JOHN H WEAVER
Introduction, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5,
Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Biography of Editor