The day was cool, September in northern New York could go either way. The leaves have left the trees early, their branches waving naked in the breeze. The impending winter was looming while towns people dreamt of the warm days of summer disappearing. Hermon, New York was a small New England town, it was as old as the constitution itself. While having a small population, Hermon was very self-sufficient not depending on much outside help. The lands were rich and farming was rampant throughout the outlying areas. Dairy was the biggest business of the entire northern part of the state. Milk and cheese were sold by most farmers in the area, a few had chicken farms for the purchase of eggs and fresh chicken.  Every spring the smell of maple sap being cooked down to syrup, candies and a distinctive spread for toasted bread. The main street was filled with bustling business’s, from grocery store to an electrical shop filled with lamps and small appliances. There was a plumber’s shop, barber shop, hardware store, it seemed like a bigger town shopping experience in a small village setting.

Hermon was also very god fearing village as there were three churches, Methodist, Baptist, and Catholic. On Sunday mornings the town and village people, farmers alike filled the three churches to the roofs. The Baptists had their own parsonage for their pastor to live in, as the other churches needed preachers from other towns and villages to come in on Sundays.  The churches all had bible study for the village children , I think almost all kids under the age of 16 were enrolled to one or another.  Summertime’s saw almost every weekend with some sort of celebration going on. The fire departments of all the villages in the upstate area had field days they put on for moneys to keep their doors open. Being volunteer without much aid from state or federal governments they relied on donations to keep themselves equipped. The air was filled with a carnival atmosphere during these weekends, and usually the whole town showed their support.

Steven ran in front of his mom coming back from getting a few groceries. Jenny was a young wife, married straight out of high school as most young girls were. She had two children already, Steven and Lindsey. Most young couples would have stopped with a boy and a girl, Jenny had thoughts of a large family. She was almost nine months pregnant, expecting anytime for her third. Jenny yelled ahead “Steven you be careful and stay out of the road “. He replied still running away “ok mom “. Traffic being very slow in town, except on Friday afternoons, taking caution was merely out of redundancy. Jenny having her hands full with little Lindsey and a bag of groceries couldn’t keep up with Steven. Lindsey with her second birthday coming in December was kind of a  sickly baby more so than most. Not having any real severe medical problems, she just needed much more attention than her older brother.

Related articles

• Small Villages and Towns (itinerariesnow.com)
• Early spring in Deeside’s Glen Tanar (christinelaennec.co.uk)
• Serving our church body (thelundinfamily.com)
• Laurence Justice, Special Guest Speaker (sovereigngraceanniston.com)

• COPYRIGHT…

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This blog contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.