THE OLD SWIMMIN HOLE

Most small towns in my generation, had an "Old Swimmin Hole." The one in our town was unique in the fact it was made out of cement. The floor and the walls were made of cement. Some say it was an old building foundation and some say it was the old town water reservoir. It was a pretty good hike up North Fork to get there but we usually were not in a big hurry to get there.

The water was absolutely frigid when you first dived, or climbed or crawled in. After you had been in a while it felt good on a hot summer day.

The small stream nearby was diverted to fill the pool and when the pool was full the water just kept running over the top of the dam on the lower end. We always rationalized that this kept the water clean.

During my teen years the dam at the bottom was blown out with dynamite by one of the men who worked for the company. Of course shortly after it was blown out "gunny sacks" or burlap bags were brought up and filled with rocks and dirt and we again had our swimming hole.

There were a few girls that would go swimming at the swimming hole but not many and not often. One reason was that some of the guys did not use a store bought swimming suit, but just went in the suit they were born in.

There are a couple of things I always wondered about the Old Swimmin Hole. 1. Has anyone ever seen a picture of it? 2. Was it really an old basement. 3. Does anyone know how the old 2" x 12" x 20' diving board ever got up there?

If anyone following this blog, has some comments about the "Old Swimmin  Hole" in your home town how about posting a comment on it.

There actually was a Movie made in 1940 called the Old Swimmin Hole. It must have typical of a lot of them found around small towns in the good old USA.