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A Place to Remember

June 7, 2012 By Talya Tate Boerner 8 Comments

I don’t think you see a town until you spend time walking around. Every place has hidden treasures to uncover, even those nearly invisible communities tucked among the corn fields hours away from the closest Dillard’s. You may need to squint to clearly see.
Presbyterian Church, Piggott, Ar

Flying down Main Street in a cool car driving somewhere better, the old church cornerstone is a blur, the cemetery overgrown, the dilapidated house with gingerbread trim faded. The town appears abandoned, a ghostly whistle-stop off the interstate. Small-town stereotypes come to mind leaving an empty feeling, a who-on-earth-lives-here feeling. Stopping at the single red light seems ridiculous with not a soul in sight. You have some place to be. Some place exciting. Some other place. But walking the neighborhood, studying the building design and reading the historical markers bring back life. A life. A history. Every place is someone’s home, someone’s place to remember. It crosses someone’s mind.

Faded mural on side of building

Last night I walked for hours taking pictures of this little town that at first glance appeared forlorn, forgotten, faded. A passerby waved and an old man said hello from his porch swing. A stone cottage surrounded by a sizable garden with rows and rows of vegetables and apple trees caught my eye. It was framed by a rock wall, crooked yet perfect. I coveted it. I considered knocking on the door to ask permission to walk beyond the stone wall. Tomatoes already grew heavy on the vine. Could I have garden tour and learn the secret to this abundance? Would the gardeners who live within those walls consider me crazy? Do I care? It was late so I thought better of it.

Piggott reminds me of Keiser where I attended grade school, trick-or-treated on Halloween and hung out with my friends on weekends. I’m sure travelers blow through thinking it to be a sad, depressing place. They didn’t know Vic and Bobby Don who always hung out at the gas station guarding the entrance into town, or Howard Ray who road his bicycle affectionately named Trigger, or the Shake Shack with slap-yo-momma Pizza Burgers. But we do. We were part of it. We remember cotton trailers lined up at the gin, Edwina’s Beauty Shop always smelling of perms, and Spin-the-Bottle in Nana’s dimly lit attic. We remember cheering on the Keiser Yellow Jackets. We remember.

talya
“Living in a small town…is like living in a large family of rather uncongenial relations. Sometimes it’s fun, and sometimes it’s perfectly awful, but it’s always good for you. People in large towns are like only-children.”  Joyce Dennys, Henrietta Sees It Through

Filed Under: Family, Farm, Gardening Tagged With: cotton, Keiser, Nana, Northeast Arkansas, Spin the Bottle

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Comments

  1. Kathy says

    June 7, 2012 at 9:11 am

    Love this post but also love Dennys comment at the end … how appropriate!
    K

    Reply
    • grace grits and gardening says

      June 7, 2012 at 1:20 pm

      Thanks Kathy!

      Reply
  2. Jan says

    June 7, 2012 at 9:37 am

    The memories of Keiser are with us forever. Loved having the chocolate pie for breakfast at the cafe and the Experiment Station circle drive was made by many new drivers, just the thing to do. I smile when I think of Bobby Swan..he always had a way to make everyone laugh, EXCEPT my mom when he used to throw a rubber snake in her car. She don’t play when it comes to snakes.

    Reply
    • grace grits and gardening says

      June 7, 2012 at 1:21 pm

      I’ll be driving through Keiser this weekend:)

      Reply
  3. Colene says

    June 7, 2012 at 12:05 pm

    Touching!

    Reply
    • grace grits and gardening says

      June 7, 2012 at 1:21 pm

      🙂

      Reply
  4. Anonymous says

    June 7, 2012 at 3:34 pm

    I always knew that you would get around to Keiser, and I knew in my heart that you were walking all around Piggott. “Every place is someone’s place to remember.” Love that. Talya’s Mom

    Reply
  5. Anonymous says

    June 7, 2012 at 3:47 pm

    Loved this one too, Talya! When is the retreat over? How’s it going? I know you have learned, taught, and enjoyed it immensely! I can’t wait to read your book and still think you should have your own tv show…one of those traveling, cooking, and history shows! It would be a HUGE HIT!!! Your cousin, Cindy

    Reply

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Talya Tate Boerner


Hi! I'm Talya. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (Now Available!)

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Talya Tate Boerner books
Gene, Everywhere

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