Gadding About on the Marlann in the 50s

The Marlann on Lake James ca. 1950

I was in Shelby recently and looking through some old photos, and I ran across photos of our houseboat, the Marlann.  It took my father about two years to build this boat in his spare time.  My father a machinist by trade had worked in a shipyard during his younger years so he knew exactly what he was doing. I still have this book that Daddy must have referenced as well.

The boat was built in a spare lot between our house and our grandmother's house out in the country in Cleveland County.  Many of our neighbors believed that the boat would never float. I was about eleven or twelve at the time, and I can remember helping caulk the seams in the part of the boat that would be underwater. We would get under the boat and stuff strips of cotton in the seams and then the bottom was painted with creosote to make it waterproof.  I can still smell the creosote! So I BELIEVED it would float.

The four of us.  I think I was 11 and Martha 8, so this must have been 1948 (Photo courtesy of my sister, Martha Cabaniss). 

Daddy would be out on Sundays sawing and hammering and making lots of noise while most neighbors were going by on their way to church.  Looking back, I imagine this was very embarrassing to my grandmother (his mother) who was a devout Baptist like most of the family and neighbors. This was back when many believed one should not work on Sunday, but I'm certain Daddy did not see it as work. To him it was FUN!

It was built in the vacant lot between our house and Grandma Greene's (that's my sister's doll).

He named the boat the Marlann, after my sister Martha (the Mar), my mother Roslyn (the l) and me (the Ann from Patricia Ann).  I always thought it was a nice name for a boat.

When it was time to launch, it was a school day, and my parents wouldn't let me go to the lake and see it launched.  I wanted to go see that it floated and did not sink like some of our neighbors were predicting. My mother's brothers and some of Daddy's friends went along to help with the launching.  The boat was hauled on a lowboy trailer pulled by a semi-cab that belonged to a neighbor.  At Benefield's Landing at Lake James up near Morganton in the western part of North Carolina was where it was launched.  It slid into the water along two dollies that my Dad had built just for that purpose.  It went into the water to exactly the water level that was blackened with creosote.  I suppose his shipyard days helped with that.

The launching. 

This was the first houseboat on Lake James, and motorboats would ride around when we were out on the lake to just take a look at it.  Usually, we would spend weekends in the summer there.  It stayed anchored in the cove at Benfield's under the watchful eye of Mr. Benfield.   This was back in the 50s when there weren't many boats on the lake. During the day we would cruise around on the lake and at night we would anchor near one of the islands.

Anchored near one of the islands. At the left, you can see the back of a small motorboat that we used to get out to the boat. 

Out on the lake. 

Daddy fishing on the deck. 

Mama fishing on the deck. 

Daddy had installed a 39 Chevrolet motor to run the boat and he had hooked up water so that it was drawn up out of the lake and run through the motor in some way so that we had hot water for washing dishes.  There was a toilet but no shower.  We had to bath in the lake which as a child I didn't mind at all.  The motor was enclosed in such a way so that if you stood on top of it you were in the wheelhouse or at least you could see out of the wheelhouse.  There were large paddle wheels on either side of the boat that propelled it.  The room at the aft of the boat had four beds.  The two lower ones served as seats during the day, and at night the two canvasbacks of the lower beds pulled up to make top bunks.

Daddy looking out of the wheelhouse. Notice the outside light.  Lights were run by batteries. 

Inside taken from the aft looking toward the engine room/kitchen. (Photo courtesy of my sister, Martha Cabaniss).

Mama at the wheelhouse, and me on the deck.  

I didn't realize how talented my Dad was when I was young.  Guess I though just anybody could build a boat.  Now I realize this was quite a work, and I'm sorry that Daddy sold the boat.  I think the new owner did not maintain it and perhaps eventually it sank to the bottom of Lake James.  If divers were able to find the Titanic, maybe I could find some who might find the remains of the Marlann.  Shall I add this to my bucket list?

NO COTTON In Them Old Cotton Fields Back Home

This is what my Grandparents cotton field looked like in the 50s.

This past week I was back in Cleveland County where I grew up, and I drove by what was my Grandparents' farm when I was a kid .  The property is now owned by someone else, I'm not sure who, and the house seems to be in good shape, but not currently occupied. 


Cotton fields before the cotton is "ripe".

Grandma's house facing west.  The three windows upstairs is the bedroom where I would sometimes spend the night.

The front of Grandma's house. 

I actually lived next door to my Grandma's, but I spent a lot of time visiting with her in that house.  Back in the 50s her farm, about 50 acres, was planted mainly in cotton.  The land was tended by a family whose daughter was one of my best friends growing up.  My father did not farm, so I didn't have to pick cotton, but I did pick cotton for the tenants and got paid for doing so.  I actually liked to pick cotton, something none of my friends understood.  (I suppose if I had had to pick, maybe I wouldn't have enjoyed it so much.  But I liked getting PAID.) 




Those old cotton fields back home are now "planted" with solar panels.  It has been turned into a solar farm.  I understand that the landowner gets about $500 to $600 per acre for leasing the land.  Not bad since there's no work involved for the "farmer". 

Cotton now replaced with solar panel farm. 

But I was more than a bit sad to see the farm used this way and to see the area grown up in weeds otherwise.  My grandparents always had a beautiful lawn out front and the property was kept in pristine shape.  No more. 




The trip back to Cleveland County was a bit nostalgic, and Thomas Wolfe was right.  'You can't go home again."

Our Vintage 1950s Aluminum Christmas Tree

Photo of vintage tree from Go Retro.

Aluminum trees were first manufactured in the late 1950s.  We never had one, but an aunt had one, and I thought it was very pretty. The tree consists of a center pole with holes drilled in at an angle, to which branches covered in aluminum "needles" are attached. By placing the branches in the holes, a tree shape is formed.  A rotating color wheel is used to light the tree, because it's not safe to put electric lights on it. 

The trees were in common usage until the late 1960s when they fell out of favor. Today, however, they are once again becoming popular with collectors.  Check out this blog, Go Retro,  for more information about these trees.  Pink aluminum trees are very rare - according to AluminumChristmasTrees.net, only one out of every 10,000 trees made during their height in popularity were pink.

Our vintage aluminum Christmas tree at Chatfield house.

After we furnished our Chatfield house living/dining room with vintage 50s furniture and accessories, I began my search for one of these trees.  Luckily several years ago I found one in an antique shop. It is in perfect condition, and it even has the rotating color wheel.  Most holidays I set up and decorate this vintage tree in the Chatfield house as I did the other day when I was in Cleveland County.

Among My Fav-o-rite Things: Vintage Items at Chatfield

I enjoyed spending a few days in Cleveland County last week in our little Chatfield house.  We have much of the living and dining area furnished in vintage mid-century. Here are some things I like there:

1940s buffet.

1950s hatbox, 1940s teapot, and old microscope in bookcase. The early red tv not sure what vintage, my three-year-old granddaughter Grace, said: "I like your new microwave."

1950s chair with bark cloth cushion.  I like the "blonde" furniture of the 50s.

1950s candle holders.

Okay, I know these aren't vintage, but I like my red crocs.