John Brittingham - Hamlet
Posted: Tue June 17, 2014, 6:03 pm
Hamlet North Carolina was the perfect place to grow up. We left our keys in the car so we could find them. Everything was as it should be. John Shortridge said " Living in Hamlet was like growing up in a Norman Rockwell painting." He should know as he was often at the center of it all. Kids used to walk in and our of the Shortridge house like they owned it. Big John and Julia were welcoming to... all the kids and made them feel at home. I thought we were related until I was about 15 years old.
My family moved to Pinecroft when I was in the first grade. There was always something to do there. There were lots of kids. We made up the Pinecroft Gang. There was Richard Stone, Tony Mcollough, Bootie Pate and Rickey, Jack Robinson, Jerry Stutts, the Crook twins Donnie and Ronnie, Geroge Fetner, Kim Covington, Wyatt Pigram, Ronnie Gullege, Woody Gunter, Harry and Jimmy Bruner and quite a few that I have left out I am sure. There were a group that was a few year younger and some who were older. There was always something to do in Pinecroft. We played football, baseball, basketball, did the gocart thing, shot guns and archery, and climbed trees and did all sort of other things. It was like Disney World without money.
Then the day we all looked forward to we graduated from High School. It seemed like at that moment we flew from Hamlet like a covey of quail. We went in all different direction and in all manor of careers. Many of us went to the army, some to college and some to work. We turned around and it was all over. Those of us who left knew little of what we were giving up. Those who stayed wondered what they missed by staying. I am sure there was some of both. Going home gives us a chance to revisit old times if only for a day or two. I think that is a good thing. I will see you at the Seaboard Festival.
My family moved to Pinecroft when I was in the first grade. There was always something to do there. There were lots of kids. We made up the Pinecroft Gang. There was Richard Stone, Tony Mcollough, Bootie Pate and Rickey, Jack Robinson, Jerry Stutts, the Crook twins Donnie and Ronnie, Geroge Fetner, Kim Covington, Wyatt Pigram, Ronnie Gullege, Woody Gunter, Harry and Jimmy Bruner and quite a few that I have left out I am sure. There were a group that was a few year younger and some who were older. There was always something to do in Pinecroft. We played football, baseball, basketball, did the gocart thing, shot guns and archery, and climbed trees and did all sort of other things. It was like Disney World without money.
Then the day we all looked forward to we graduated from High School. It seemed like at that moment we flew from Hamlet like a covey of quail. We went in all different direction and in all manor of careers. Many of us went to the army, some to college and some to work. We turned around and it was all over. Those of us who left knew little of what we were giving up. Those who stayed wondered what they missed by staying. I am sure there was some of both. Going home gives us a chance to revisit old times if only for a day or two. I think that is a good thing. I will see you at the Seaboard Festival.