The Family and Home Spirit of Smokey Hollow

The Family and Home Spirit of Smokey Hollow. Cascades Park. , "We grew up together. We had nothing else and nobody else. We had each other, and I think it made us all one." -Lester Oliver, former resident, The "Spirit Houses" in front of you are in the shape of a "shotgun" house, one of several common home types once found in Smokey Hollow and throughout the coastal south. Densely developed and often owned by whites, rental quarters offered single and double shotgun houses aligned in tight rows. Clusters of rental houses were occupied by extended families and friends who lived in close proximity and often shared a yard with common facilities and amenities. Shotgun houses took their name from a long, narrow plan and the way the rooms and doors all lined up for a view from the front porch straight through to the back. Opening the doors and side windows let fresh air move throughout the house. Many lived in these sub-standard rental properties, but some were able to raise enough money to buy and build modest homes. The more prosperous individuals built large homes around the perimeter, and a few occupied farms., Born one of eight children in a Smokey Hollow family, Elrea Dean Wilson lived in a converted slave cabin at 529 East Saint Augustine Street. "The houses were all in a row, and all of them were made just alike with three rooms, a kitchen and a back porch," she recalled. In her home, each room had two beds. The toilet was enclosed on the back porch. Water from a spigot filled a basin for washing hands and faces. At night, Wilson's family bathed inside in a tub filled with hot water heated on a wood stove. Fireplaces and kerosene heaters provided additional warmth., Domestic yards in Smokey Hollow were created and maintained for household chores, food preparation and entertainment. Many yards were characterized by a smut pot, also known as a boil pot, for washing clothes and cleaning chickens. Like other women in the neighborhood, Zella Johnson Gaines, who grew up in Smokey Hollow, remembered her mother working for a small wage by sewing and washing clothes at home for other families in Tallahassee. Using homemade lye soap, her mother and sister would wash the laundry in a series of iron pots in the yard. It was Zella's job to keep the fires hot and to rinse the clothes. The laundry would be hung to dry on a clothesline. They were careful to avoid the times smoke and ash from a train or the city incinerator would blow through. Clothes were pressed to a crease with heavy smoothing irons heated on the fire, and then delivered to their respective homes., "Our Grandmother, Pinkey Shears, would always have her doors open to anyone who was passing by and smelled her cooking. She would cook chicken and rice, collards greens and cornbread and desserts, like jelly cakes. Early in the mornings, the working men would stop by for a cup of coffee before they went to work. My sister and I learned how to cook with her when we were young, and we always helped out. That is just how our family was." - Essie Mae and Doretha Shears, former residents, Smokey Hollow's children never went hungry. They remember an abundance of fruit and nut trees, blackberry and blueberry bushes, vegetable gardens, and meals shared with one another. Holidays and celebrations were accompanied with singing and dancing, soul food and fish fries. Saturdays at the Curb Market, near the corner of Gaines and Madison streets, were spent buying and trading produce and socializing with farmers from the countryside. In the home, food was cooked in cast iron pots and skillets seasoned with oil. These treasured utensils were handed down through generations, and many are still in use today., At it’s peak in the 1940s over 600 people lived in Smokey Hollow. , Listed below are some of the family names. We apologize if a family name has not been included, despite our extensive research. , Allen, Millie . Amos, Wallace and Rubie . Ash, Charlie, Sr. and Ina . Ash, Leroy and Sophie . Baldwin, Dallas and Claudia . Beverly, Leroy and Ethel . Brim, Annie . Bronson, Porter and Sally . Brown, Emma . Bruce, Harry and Virgie . Bruce, Willie and Emma . Brundage, Victoria . Chaires, Jesse and Ethel . Chambers, James and Laura . Chestnut, Oscar James . Collins, Earnest . Colton, George . Costa, George . Commodore, Eliza . Cook, Apple, Sr. And Addie . Coon, Gertrude . Cooper, Bud and Ethel . Cruel, Lena Cook . Crumbie, David and Mary Elizabeth . Dean, Edmund, Sr. And Vesta . Farmer, Joanne . Fisher, Julius, Jr and Pleasant Mae . Fisher, Julius, Sr. and Annie . Fisher, Robert, Sr. and Willie Mae . Ford, Buster and Lillie . Ginwright, Jewel Mae . Glenn, Elizabeth . Griffin, Sandy and Annie . Hall, Lucius and Corine . Hall, Sarah . Hamilton, Monroe and Foxie . Harris, Freddie . Harris, Sammie and Joanne . Hartsfield, Richard and Mamie . Head, Gilbert . Hodges, Clifton and Hazel . Hunt, Lester and Mudda . Jenkins, Walter, Sr. . Johnson, Fred and Ruby . Johnson, Richard, Sr. and Lessie . Kelly, James and Alma . Kelly, Lewis, Sr. and Geneva . Kilpatrick, William and Irene . Lamb, Vance and Mary . Leon, Laura . Lester, Joe . Lincoln, Abraham and Ola . Lofton, Carrie . Marshall, Joe and Elouise . Miller, Louvenia . Mitchell, Victoria . Moseley, Joe and Virginia . McCormick, Annie . McCray, Virginia . McMillan, Major and Maybelle . McNeal, Roxie . Oliver, Henry . Oliver, Jaycee and Marie . Palmer, Rudolph . Parrish, Dan and Annie Mae . Parrish, Frank and Maggie . Penny, Edmund and Ella . Penny, Katherine . Penny, Mose and Sallie . Pollock, Cornelius and Pauline . Pompey, Julia . Powell, Laura . Quinn, C.W. and Daisy . Rivers, Bessie . Rivers, James and Shenezia . Robinson, Frank . Robinson, Ralph, Sr. And Marie . Sampson, Earl and Ethel . Sawyer, Susie . Shears, John and Elnora . Shears, Pinkie . Shears, Willie Lee and Vina . Simmons, Claude Bell . Simmons , Jimmy and Mercedes . Slater, Martha . Thomas, Ella . Timmons, Willie and Helen . Turner, Patsy . White, Boston W., Sr. and Jessie, White, Coretta . Wiggins, Allen and Dorothy . Wilkinson, Lucy . Wilkinson, Willie Mae . Williams, Henrietta . Williams, Ralph and Mary . Williams, Will and Willie Mae . Woods, Emma Lee, (captions) , Beloved household items were passed from generation to generation. The silverware set is made of genuine silver and was given to Jessie McCall White from her husband Boston W. White in the early 1950s. He wanted her to have a nice set to feed the numerous guests they had in their home. Items Courtesy of Miaisha Simmons Mitchell, Zella Johnson Gaines, Rosetta Brundage Griffin, and Velma White Larkins. Tallahassee, FL, 2014 Daniel Crotty, photographer, Row houses were home to residents in the 500 block of East St. Augustine Street. Some families on this street included the Brundages, Deans, Sampsons, Shears, and Thompsons. Smokey Hollow on St. Augustine Street, Tallahassee, FL, April 3, 1955. Dorothy Dodd, Photographer, State Archives of Florida, The residence of the Boston and Jessie McCall White Family was 619 East St. Augustine Street. Children were Vera, Velma and Boston Jr. Other relatives were welcomed here while visiting or attending FAMU. The Home of Reverend Boston W. White, Tallahassee, Florida circa 1963. Photo Courtesy of Velma White Larkins.