Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1907-04-18
NOTES BY OBSERVER.

NOkGS 0x O0SGNVAkAs
The removal Of the old building
near the corner of Princess and Wash
ington streets. on the property now
owned BY Samuel J. Hodges. takes
away an old landmark from that part
Of the town. designated for many years
as Frog Island" It was very an
cient frame structure a story and a
half high. and in the days of long ago
was the scene Of many a revel. Its
passing calls to mind the many changes
that have taken place in that neigh.
borhood since Observer wsa a boy.
A generation ago that was busy
neighborhood, Snyder's blacksmith
shop occupied one corner. Helfsrstay's
wagonmaker's shop another. and John
Keesecker's place was near BY. The
old Snyder chop still stands. but it is
empty and quiet. The two other
shops have fallen into ruins. A new
blacksmith and wagonmsker's shop
occupies what was once the famous
garden Of John Snyder. and the prop
erty has passed into other hands.
All of the old settlers have died or
moved away. John and "Coon" shy.
der, splendid specimens of physical
manhood, lie low in their graves
Not one of the F.yma family is lef
in the community. Henry Cook
us and his houssho d are gone.
OF the old:timers, John Keesecker Is
the only one left and it was 80 lonesome
for him that be moved to the extreme
other end Of the street.
*
On the lot occupied by the house in
which NJ. P Crowl now lives, was the
old mash house-a very, very old
dwelling occupied by Uncle Kicker,
an aged negro as ancient as his resi-.
dence. "Uncle Kicker" claimed to
be over a hundred years old, and he
looked it. He-was most venerable i'll
appearance, with bushy, snow-white
hair that gave him patriarchal ap-
pearance. Observer remembers the
exciting occaaon many years ago
when he was baetised in the river at
me foot of Princess street. He ca me
up out of the water shouting, his
white hair like halo about him, and
the negroes broke out into an old
time hymn that thrilled the big crowd
that was present.
X X
This was long before railroad was
thought Of for Shspherdstown. up
the ma 'sh" was the favorite trsmping
place of boys who were not afraid of
snakes, and swimming in the run was
a favorlte summertime diversion. But
you couldn't get boy up the mash
after night. 1t was popularity be-
lieved that the will the wisp hover
ed over that section, and woe to the
boy who once got a glimpse Of that
fearful an mysterious light. "Uncle"
Jordan Norris used to tell strange
tales of the will-o'.tue-w isp. He
came mighty near getting caught once
himself. 1t was leading him on and
on, and there's no telling what would
have become of him had he not thought
Of the charm just in time, and, throw
ing himself fat on the ground and
turning his pockets inside out, broke
the spell. All Of the boys would like
to have tried the charm. but they das-
sent. Even the boldest spirits among
us baked when night came on.
y
There was a graveyard up the
mash too-a negro graveyard, and
spooks were no doubt lingering around
ready to coniure fellow. Some Of
the boys who were once afrai id of that
graveyard are now elderly men, but
they still have their superstition about
it, and more than half believe that
the manufacturing shops never have
and never cansprosper because they
are built on the site of that negro
graveyard.
There was good reasons for calling
that end of town Frog Island. There
were millio rs of frogs up the ma 'sh,
and what concerts they used to give !
From the first warm DAYS in April
until cold weather set in these green.