Visiting the Grape Arbor

A shady little room stood at the very end of the garden at the brick house on Park Street. It was an interesting structure, made from poles and heavy wire. A muscadine vine was planted at two corners and a scuppernong vine was planted at each of the other two corners. In summer, the growth from the four vines covered the entire top and sides of the structure (an area of about 12’X12’), making the enclosure a shady “room.” Grapes approximately the size of a nickel hung in profusion from the top. They were lush and juicy with distinctively different tastes. Not only were they good to eat, but the preserves and juices made from them were exceptionally good.


The grape arbor became a magical place to “hang out” and play make-believe for creative children who at that time had no TV, no video games, no movies. The room became a cave on a dark gloomy day where all sorts of scary creatures could be imagined, a fortress for a carefully orchestrated battle, a palace where the prince took his princess rescued from the wicked ogre, a hide-out with neighboring children when the occasion called for it. But the area most often became a play house. One could live in splendor within the shady “walls” of that grape arbor. It was an edifice anyone with a vivid imagination would appreciate. Bricks and blocks of wood were put to use as stoves and tables and refrigerators. Tin cans and bottles became cooking utensils. The grandmother who lived in the house on Park Street would regularly surprise her grape arbor neighbors with a picnic. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with Kool-Aid and homemade walnut cookies for dessert were the usual fare. The grandmother would lower her long lanky body on to the brick chairs, set the food on the wood block table, and partake of a repast the likes of which one rarely enjoyed. The meal was usually followed by a story concocted in the grandmother’s imagination, taking the children beyond the realm of reality and farther into the wonderful world of make-believe.

One could not ask for a more magical place!