Wooden Train
Frank Norris's grandfather made this wooden train for Frank's father, in about 1917.
On our facebook page, we asked our readers to finish this sentence for us: My grandfather made his own ________. Do you (or your family) still have it?
Here are some of their responses:
Ron McFarlane: Butter, cottage cheese and sausage. All long gone. Food is funny that way.
Marsha Wagoner: A wagon in 1911. Yes I still have it.
Leslie Shelor: Banjos! And a guitar, fiddle. We still have some of them.
Amy Porterfield: Shadow boxes; both of my aunts have one; so do my mom and sisters.
Michelle Jephcott: Liquor, and I’m pretty sure it’s LONG gone. lol
Frank Norris: A wood locomotive and coal tender from my dad. It has moving parts, including the drive wheels; I still have it.
Don Jones: His own flavored sodas when his franchise would not allow him to. I have a bottle of his orange soda from 35 years ago.
Janis Jaquith: Dandelion wine and beer, during Prohibition. All gone!
Dave Cole: Banjo! Still have it, 50 years later.
Wanda Cromer: The table that sat under the wall-mounted crank telephone. Still have it.
Regina Allman Scotten: Grandpa made his own pottery and many other things. Most importantly he made his own way in life. Family members still have some of his pottery and many have his stubborn streak.
Linda Maischein: Put his own bowling alley in the basement of his house!
Frances Elliott Laney: Walking cane and yes, I have it; he passed away in 1958.
Sherri Clemons: Grandfather and grandmother clocks.
Graham Lee Wiatt: Homes. I know of one on the way to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Joseph C. Miller: Moonshine. Of course all long gone, have to resort to store-bought now.
Cynthia Patteson: Corner china cabinet, dining table and chairs; all of walnut. My brother still has them in his home.
Doris Dunavan Reedy: My great-grandpa made beautiful furniture out of wild laurel. I have a little table he made. Grandma made tiny little pioneer clothes.
Laurie Winder Gerstemeier: My great grandfather made fireplace screens and pokers; he was a blacksmith. My brother has them. I have two horseshoes from him.
Sue-Jim Orsak: Mom’s father was a carpenter and she still has a kitchen-full of his cabinetry.
Carrol Brennecke Wood: Horseshoes. I have one.
Lisa Gilchrist: Mine flew airplanes like the Snoopy’s Sopwith camel ... I do have a propeller from a biplane of WWI that was his.
Kimberly Lee Richardson: A desk and chest he made, and handcrafted tobacco pipes.
Linda Hansen: My grandfather made a dollhouse for my mother when she was a little girl. I inherited it when I was a little girl.
Susanna Connelly Holstein: Trouble. And yes, I’m pretty sure we still have some of it around here somewhere.