Many years ago Phil inherited his grandparents' farm bell. It was used on their farm in Andalusia, Alabama. In the early 1900's these bells were used for communication. It was placed on an old lighter'd pole just outside the kitchen door. It was rung for meals or to convey a prearranged message to family members working in the fields. It could also be used to signal an emergency with its loud ringing sound. Phil had Arde, our post and rail fence guy, bring us another black locust pole to mount the bell. Then he notched the pole and bolted in the mounting upright to hold the yoke. Everything was going along smoothly until Phil called me down to help lift the pole and place it in the hole he had dug. Problem! I couldn't budge that heavy pole. I called our neighbor, Dee Dee, and asked if she knew anyone close by who could help us. She brought another neighbor, Patrick, over to help. Together, the guys lifted the pole and placed it in the hole. The guys stood the pole up and it was way too tall! So they brought the pole down and decided to cut off about four feet. They put the shortened pole back in the hole and made sure it was plumb. Then Phil poured dry concrete mix in the hole around the pole. He wet it down and this pole will not be going anywhere! After a couple of days Phil decided to put up the bell. So he got out the ladder and heaved the bell and yoke up to the top of the post and upright. Finally he added the clapper. And he finished with a little of this bell's history. Maybe we'll use it to warn the neighbors of bears!
3 Comments
Larry Elder
5/6/2017 07:33:23 pm
Wonderful documentary on the new addition to Two Holt, Sharon. I know grandmama and granddaddy would be tickled pink with the old dinner bell having a mountain home with one of their grandchildren. Very well-done description of the whole mounting process, Sharon, but I couldn't resist blue-penciling your spelling of lightwood as "lighter'd." Many years ago, my curiosity about the word got the better of me, and I found it in the dictionary under "lightwood. " Of course, any good southerner knows the pronunciation (lighterd, pretty much like you wrote), but not many know the correct (or the citi-fied) way of spelling it. Forgive me, but like I said, the editor in me couldn't resist. One other note: Phil is a real brute to be able to lug that bell up and mount it by himself! And I know how old he's going to be in ten days!
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Sharon
5/6/2017 08:39:55 pm
Larry, I just can't bring myself to call it anything but 'lighter'd'. I had no clue how to spell it so I googled it and found it spelled like this on Wikipedia and a few other sites and went with it. It seems so...so...so uppity to call it 'light wood'! The Alabama girl in me just can't do it! Lol!
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Larry Elder
5/6/2017 10:24:51 pm
LOL! I see what you mean, it is spelled "lighter'd" or "lighterd" in a few websites. For sure, that's the only way I've ever pronounced it, regardless of how it's spelled! Leave a Reply. |
Phil & SharonMarried 40 years and hoping to enjoy many more! Archives
December 2019
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