Story

E Hog Killings

On the very coldest day of  the whole year  hogs were killed because there was no refrigeration and you had to pick a cold time so that the meat would not spoil before you could start the curing process. Again our pot was used for scalding the hogs so the hair would come  off  the skin real easy. The pot would be filled with water, brought to a boil, roll  killed hogs in and roll them over and the hair came off very easy .  The hog killing were the most work of anything.  The small intestines had to be cleaned and scraped so all the inside was removed . These  were used to stuff the sausage which all had to be make, the meat ground up and spices added and then stuffing the intestines through a stuffer.  The large intestines were cleaned with some kind of special cornmeal scrub and stuffed with liver pudding which had to be made also.  What we called the fifth quarter which was composed of the head, liver, lungs, feet and all assorted parts were boiled together.  Out of this we would make liver pudding with rice, hog-head cheese and scrapple.

I liked very much  the sausage and liver pudding – I never cared much for the hog-head cheese and scrapple.  I liked a meal out of the fifth quarter  before anything was made.  the feet were delicious when cooked and  flavored with the rest;  but are not too good if cooled alone. Family and friends exchanged these things when they were fresh so you usually had fresh meat from some source all the winter.  Mamma not only sent to those around but she used to send some to Charleston to Aunt Bobbie and her girls as well as the folks in St. Matthews.  The sausage could be hung up and smoked  and air-dried which made it last longer.  Daddy had a smoke house where he hung up the meat , built a fire on  the ground inside the house and that smoked the meat and cured it so that it could be kept year round without any refrigeration.  Much salt was used as the meat was packed in salt.  In later  years , Daddy did what he called a “sugar cure” and that cut down on the amount of salt used.  All of it was good and I can still remember  the great country hams  and sides that were cooked in vegetables.  All Vegetables were cooked in meat in those days in the “Low Country” and eaten on top of rice with liquid from the vegetables.  Mamma used to ask of a morning. : ” What do you want on your rice today?”

All fat was fried out of any fat meat or fat back and it was called lard  This made the lard which was stored in ten gallon cans and this was the shortening  used for the entire year and some of it sold in the store.   The meat left was called “cracklings”.  You can still buy them in stores today and they are called “munches”.  You can also put them in cornbread and I think they are very good there.

— “The Way It Was,” Chapter Two: “THE BIG ROUND POT OUT IN THE BACK YARD,” 1999

Story

Several summers we rented a cottage at Folly Beach and we would go down for a week and share it with Aunt Bobbie and her girls. Grandma and Grandpa owned a beach front house on Edisto Beach and we used to go there and spend a week during the summer also. I can remember getting up early and going in swimming and coming out to have a breakfast of grits and shrimp. Was that ever good?

– “The Way It Was,” Chapter 19: “Charleston, SC,” 1999

Photograph

(Editor’s note: The back of this photo reads “Aunt Bobbie.” The photographer’s stamp appears to read “S.M. Pearson, Woodruff, S.C.”)

Story

When we went to “town”, it was Charleston. We would say we were in town the other day. Beautiful city with personality, and charm all of it’s own. The property was sold and taxed by front footage on the street. So every body had a narrow deep lot which required a long narrow house to fit the lot so this was the way the Charleston house was born. It was a long narrow three story house with a porch on the side of 2nd and 3rd floors.. There was a front door at the top of the steps on second floor; so you could not go on the porch until someone let you in The bedrooms were on only one side of the house and a hall running down the other

Aunt Bobbie (one of Mamma’s sister ) had moved down there after her husband Jack Kinsey died leaving her with six daughters to raise. They had lived across the road from the Kinsey Cemetery where my Mamma and Daddy are buried. Aunt Bobbie ran a boarding house on King Street in one of those big Charleston Houses. The girls worked when they were old enough, Addie had a beauty parlor , Ray and Blanche worked for the Telephone Company, and the others found work where ever they could

We visited them in Charleston. I remember I was not afraid of the big city as long as I had Mamma with me. How safe and secure that made me feel. We used to take them Pork, vegetables and milk . Every time you went anywhere you were always holding a gallon of milk in your lap so it would not turn off and spill. I remember going to see them and I was wearing a brand new velvet dress Mamma made. The milk leaked somehow and before I knew it, I was soaked with milk. I went on but I did not have a change of clothes so I had to wear those clothes smelling of milk all day. No wonder that I do not like to drink milk. I was drowning in it.

Aunt Bobbie’s girls were older than J’Mae and I but they were always very nice to us. I can still remember the lemon meringue pies she always seem to have. I think she made them every day for her boarders because they were a favorite. Charleston had many lovely shops with so many people , trolley cars and movies. One day the girls took us to three movies .in one day. That was utmost as far as I was concerned.

In Charleston, they used to have colored (black) women vendors selling fresh vegetables, eggs, baskets that they had made early in the morning. You could hear them calling “Sievey Beans butter beans) ,okra, corn, tomatoes, peaches, squash, rutabagas, turnips, sweet potatoes, spinach, cucumbers, and the list went on. It may contain shrimp or fish. Aunt Bobbie would run out of the house and I would go with her and she would buy her fresh vegetables for the day.. The vendors are no longer there today. There were brick and cobblestone streets in Charleston.. All the new fads and fashions came out of Charleston in my eyes.

I had fine very straight hair. I thought if you had curly hair your problems were solved and you would have nothing else to worry about. Addie who now had her own beauty parlor said to me one day: “I’ve got some sample permanents which I need to try on someone. Next time you are in town, let me know and I will give you a permanent”. I went and she did and I would up with all this curly hair. I could not believe I had this permanent. They were given quite differently then. They filled your head with all these curlers and they had to stay in for about 15 or 20 minutes connected to electricity while it processed. It was quite an operation but I enjoyed the permanent a great deal.

– “The Way It Was,” Chapter 19: “Charleston, SC,” 1999

Photograph

(Editor’s note: We have three copies of this photo in our possession, each of them with slightly different comments on the back. Combining all of them, we have the following notes: “Back row, standing: Carey Dodd Smith (Aunt Kate), Hogan Dodd (Uncle Hogan, Grandpa’s brother), Elizabeth Dodd Fender (Aunt Lizzie, Grandpa’s sister), Minnie Anna Dodd Garris (Bee/Momma/Grandma’s mother), Augusta Dodd Hill (Aunt Gus), Lillian Dodd Kinsey (Aunt Bobby). Front row, seated: Jack Smith, Adeline Kizer Dodd (Bee/Momma/Grandma’s grandmother), Bessie Dodd Hiott (Aunt Bess), Joseph Hoffman Dodd (Bee/Momma/Grandma’s grandfather), and in his lap, Jessie Dodd Stack (Aunt Jess). Standing by his goat: Boyd Dodd. Keel was not born at this time.”

If this confuses you, click the “FAMILY TREES” tab above. That will help you straighten out who was born when, and how they’re all related.)