Hoot 'n Holler Tree Farm

This is the road in front of Hoot 'n Holler. When I was 14 my friend, Claire Stopyra, and I started up our old Willy's Jeep and got it on the road...then it died. Neither of us knew what we were doing and started panicking since we were alone and knew we'd get in trouble if caught. Luckily Jerry Farrell, one of an all boy farm family that lived in the area, came along and got the Jeep started back up and parked where it belonged. I didn't say a word about this, but word got back to my parents & I got in trouble. After that Daddy saw to it that I learned to drive the Jeep, so I was able to drive a stick shift and today I still drive 4-on-the-floor!! This is a shot of Lake Wayne and the swimming pool. The lake was named after my younger brother. When we girls would complain that we didn't have anything named after us Dad always said the tree farm was named after my sister, Harley and me. I was Hoot and she was Holler. This is the old barn. Daddy used to let a farmer store hay in it and we kids would play in the hay loft. One summer when I was about 10 I fell from the top story of the hay loft and got a concussion. That's probably why I am how I am now. (Ha! I said it first!) The stone walls in this photo are dry set that an Italian stone mason named Acey Panachi (not sure of the spelling) laid for my dad the summer after he built the fireplace. John from Going Gently has inspired me to post these pictures since he is helping to build a dry set stone wall on the church land adjoining his property.

This was our summer home, Hoot 'n Holler tree farm. When Daddy bought it I was 4 years old and it was an old, dilapidated farm house with a barn, chicken coops, milk house. He remodeled the house a little at a time and had the fireplace built. Before that he had the Lake & pool dug. Then he had Christmas trees planted on about 60 acres all around us. The tall pines you see in these photos were tiny little trees when I was a kid. I was amazed when I went back to Pennsylvania and went to see the old place at how huge the trees had become. It was an idyllic place to spend time. I used to play in the creek behind the house even after the pool was dug, because it was full of frogs, crayfish (we called them craw daddies) and minnows which I would spend hours catching. In the winter we would toboggan, sled and ice skate on the lake. Sometimes we would have ice skating or tobogganing parties. Daddy's first cousin Doris,her daughter Sheila and best friend Helen had a trailer house at the farm for a few years too. I remember that Doris had the most beautiful garden where the pool was eventually built. She had a real green thumb. Also she had a section in the bottom of the barn where she stored a bunch of her stuff. We were told by Dad that we were NOT allowed to go into Doris' storage area. Well of course, you know the forbidden is always the most tempting. One time we were snooping and found that Doris had a cotton candy machine stored there. And there was a sign that not only said "Cotton Candy", but there was cotton candy on the sign!! Of course I had to sample this pink, cottony confection. Only problem was, this was not really cotton candy. It was spun glass made to look like cotton candy. Yes, I spit that out fast & that was the last time we snooped in cousin Doris' stuff.

The front body of water was our swimming pool, complete with white sand beach and dock with diving board. It was right next to our lake, Lake Wayne, which was stocked with bass, pickerel, bullheads, sunfish (bluegills) and bull frogs. There were also some good sized snapping turtles! Of course, that was 50 years ago and the pool has since been in decline. I guess there are still some fish in the lake. Daddy sold the house and a dab of lake frontage when I was in my 20's. That made me sad, as some of my best memories from childhood were spent at Hoot 'n Holler.

My 1st cousin, Mary, and me revisiting Hoot 'n Holler. Mary (my father's only sister, Auntie Vi's oldest) lives in Indiana but still had childhood memories of visiting us at Hoot 'n Holler.

All of these photos were taken in 2008 when Patrick and I went back East for my 40th high school reunion. I have other pics I want to share with you from that trip, but I'll save them for another time. I hope you've enjoyed the scenery from Pennsylvania's Endless Mountains and my childhood memories! Have a great weekend.

love, Cassie

PS-I forgot to tell you all that last Friday was my 2 year Blogoversary!!