Sledding in Mount Airy in the Past

Sledding in Mount Airy in the Past. . , In Mount Airy, Maryland, there were three named hills. One was "School Hill," which went from the old school, now Mount Airy Elementary School, down Main Street to Prospect Road. Another was "Ridgeville Hill" that went from Main Street down Ridgeville Boulevard to Pike Crossing or Mount Airy Junction, about where the railroad track crosses S.R. 144 today. Finally, there was "Mount Airy Hill," which started at Pine Grove Chapel and went down Main Street to Hood Street and beyond. This hill was the best for sledding., My father, Marion V. Runkles, Jr., remembered as a kid back in the early 1920s sliding down Mount Airy Hill on a sled with metal runners. He could sometimes go into town almost to his father's mill, which was on the north side of the B&O railroad station. There at the mill, he and the other youngsters would find someone with a wagon going back toward Ridgeville and past Pine Grove Church. They would fasten their sleds or toboggans to the back of the wagon for a ride back to the church, where they would start all over again., Years later in the late 1950s and early 60s, when I was a boy, I lived on the west side of Hill Street by Hood Street. If you went down our lane and crossed Hill Street, you went directly down Hood Street. You have the idea. AS kids we would start our sled run at the top of my lane, cross Hill Street, and go down Hood Street. We would turn left onto Hotel Street and go all the way down to Grime's coal yard. The old coal trucks had high axles. IF one was going in or out of the coal yard, we would slide right under it. We just had to stay low. The truck drivers would help us line up with their trucks, when they saw us. What fun! Our sleds of choice had metal runners, but we also used toboggans and sometimes a metal tray from the school cafeteria would show up.