In the early 1900s, Christmas was an occasion when Waterford residents of different congregations came together to celebrate. According to recollections by late Waterford resident John Divine (1911-1996) in When Waterford and I Were Young:
“All three churches [The Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist, still standing on High Street in Waterford] shared in a Wednesday evening prayer meeting and all three had Sunday School picnics. The reward for going to Sunday School was two-fold: the picnic, when ice cream flowed abundantly, and the Christmas program, when we got an orange and a small box of chocolate drops.
The Christmas program also gave all of us amateur actors a chance to perform. Any similarity between our Three Wise Men and the real Magi was purely coincidental. Only the parents enjoyed that group of squirmy little boys singing Away In A Manger off key.”
Many holiday recollections center around special foods and feasts among family and friends. Divine remembers the special foods that came to Waterford during the holidays in the early 1900s, sold out of the meat shop operated by E. L. James and later his son Minor out of the Old Insurance office on Second Street:
“At Thanksgiving and Christmas, the meat shop handled oysters. The only time I ever ate oysters was at those two dates: at $6.00 per gallon, they were a real delicacy. Orders were placed about ten days in advance and they were received a day or two before the holiday. The gallon cans, packed in ice, were shipped up on the railroad to Paeonian Springs. Later, when Minor James got a Model T truck, he would drive to the wharf in Washington, D.C. to get them.”
When Waterford and I Were Young is available for purchase online or in person at our offices in the Old School.
