We did not have raspberry and blackberry rows like the neighbor we helped, so I remember many days walking the edge of the woods to pick them. We spent a lot of time in the woods either gathering berries, hunting mushrooms in the spring, sleigh riding, and going to a place we called Devil’s Backbone and the Limestone.
Snakes had a tendency to scare me. If I saw them first, they didn’t bother me, but when I would go to pick berries and they’d slither at me or slide quickly, I’d screech a bit and run! I never came across any poisonous ones while picking berries but I do remember one while walking to the Limestone in the knobs that was a copperhead! I always looked in front of me before I moved forward.
Mushrooms were and still are a delicacy! However, not those wood’s centipedes that sometimes would slither out of a mushroom while you picked them or cut them open to soak in salt water. I think those were just as bad as the tomato worms! We still go mushroom hunting today and they taste great dipped in a milk/egg mixture with a coating of crushed crackers or corn meal.
The older siblings taught me what it meant to be adventurous and daring! Imagine being at the edge of the woods with trees everywhere in your path to a creek below; There is snow and a piece of Formica sled dragging behind you. Yep, we were sledding in the woods to see if you could dodge trees and jump the creek! Sometimes it took a little time packing the deeper snow down to get the path slick enough to fly, but it was fun! I remember one of the brothers smacking into a tree and he bled.
Another favorite pastime was walking to Devil’s Backbone. In the knobs between our home and Hwy 60 from Sellersburg to Borden was a worn path from years of ancestor travel. When our grandparents and neighbors moved to the area from countries like Germany, they walked the knobs and on the top of one ridge was a huge boulder. They would carve their names in this boulder and date it. We would read the names and think about the years past, imagining what it would have been like back then. It was history! It has now been destroyed by construction and it has saddened me and wish it was made known before they went in and destroyed it. Would have been awesome if they at least found a way to transport it somewhere safe!
Another area in a different direction of the knobs was a huge semi-circle limestone rock. We called it the Limestone. It is still there as far as I know and I really need to go back sometime soon. It was not as far back into the woods as the Backbone and you had to be careful when walking the top ridge too close or you would fall straight down over the top of it at least 100 or so feet. This is where I saw the copperhead! We usually traveled the worn path a distance above the Limestone and on around to the side where there was a narrower path into the Limestone opening. I really wish I had a picture of it! We would stand in this huge opening and look out into the knobs. God’s beauty came alive every time I walked the woods! It was as if you walked into a Limestone tunnel only 1/3 to 1/2 was left on one side and God placed it there for a wide open view of His creation! I would sometimes take a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and spend time talking to God. It was a peaceful place.
