Sunday, April 8, 2007

Willowdale Dairy, Jordan, NY

We have one of the Willowdale bottles - it has a pinkish color to it. Someone once told me where the dairy was but have since forgotten.

Does anyone out there have any Jordan jugs or crocks? Please send us photos. These are quite rare and quite valuable. Many people around town have some and our local antique shop, Cabin Creek( http://www.jordanny.com/cabin_creek.htm ) has some often. Peg at Cabin Creek also sells "A Stroll in Jordan, NY" which is a lovely architectural & historical guide to old buildings and homes around the village. The Jordan Erie Canal Museum has a wonderful collection of Jordan jugs and crocks.

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4 comments:

Dave Vrooman said...

How can I get a copy of "A Stroll in Jordan, NY"? Does Cabin Creek sell by mail order?

Maureen said...

Hi Dave,

We'll have Peg at Cabin Creek contact you via email.

Dave Vrooman said...

Linda:
I remember those days in Mrs. Bateman's class well. The ping pong paddle will never be forgotten. I do not recall ever being on the receiving end of it, but I do remember a large number of the class being made to stand up by her desk and using the paddle on themselves. I am almost sure that I was lucky enough to not be one of them. One other thing that I will never forget about her class room was the collection of National Geographic magazines that she had in the back of the room. Myself and most, if not all, of the other boys spent some time checking out the pictures of the native tribes found in them. Do you remember sliding down the hill next to Jordan Supply on cardboard boxes? We would go from the street down a small hill and then over the wall into the canal. It is great to hear from you after all of these years.

John Ehrlich:

I am way out here in Portland, Oregon again. This is where we moved to after leaving Jordan. I ended up back out here about ten years ago after years in Michigan, Florida, Oklahoma, and Washington.

The big paper drive. I no longer remember why we collected all of those papers. I think it must have been a fund raiser for a school trip or something like that. It seems like the whole hay loft of our barn was filled with bundles of paper. One evening a bunch of us were up there making tunnels in the stacks and having a great old time. We must have been making quite a racket because Miss Gilbert, who lived 2 houses down from us on Clinton Terrace toward Hamilton Street, came over to see what was going on with her papers. As you said, she was in charge of the event and was not happy with us for what ever we were doing.

That barn was the scene of many a day's fun. We had rope and chain "vines" rigged up so that we could duplicate many of the adventures Tarzan acted out on the screen on Saturdays. We also had an extension ladder so that we could get up to the coupalo on the roof.

One day we decided that we would all be pirates, but pirates needed a ship to board and take over. It was decided that we would tear some of the siding from the barn at the loft level on the side away from my house then use the ladder to climb up into and capture the "ship". Once aboard we could plunder all of the treasure and sail away. It was great fun for a few days until my dad discovered our latest escapade. I am sure that I did not sit down for a week after that. One thing for sure that was the end of my days a pirate.

As I can see from the satellite pictures that barn is long gone. The memories of those days we spent there will never be erased. It was Disneyland and more.

I used to have a picture of the 7th and 8th grade Yorker Club, Hiawatha Chapter with all of the names of the kids written on the back. I have searched and searched for it but can not find it. Do any of you remember that picture. That is the only class picture that I remember. Back then we did not have class pictures taken like they do today.

That reminds me. That same group of students went to Cooperstown that year. They took us to the Baseball Hall of Fame and the Farmers museum, home of the Cardiff Giant. Remember him?

That brings to mind another sporting event. Carmen "the Onion Farmer" Basilio, welterweight champ, was originally from Canasota, NY (just East of Syracuse). As I remember he was a relative or friend of someone at Jack's Reef who convinced him to come to the fall festival and be the referee for a fight card consisting of all us young prise fighters to be. Of course I was one of them. As a matter of fact, I think that I fought and lost to John Pinckney, after a grueling round. It was "the event" of that years festival. Of course all of us contenders got to shake his hand and get his autograph. I had mine for many years, but it has since gone its own way.

John Pinckey said that you had a picture of the boy scout troop. Can you get it to Maureen so that she can post it. I would really like to see it. Do you have names for those in the picture?

The time in 1980 when I visited Jordan I camped in Weedsport. There was a campground near there that we stayed in. Weedsport was the site of a ball game that I played in. I think that the grasshoppers of Jordan played a Weedsport team. I was the catcher. I no longer remember who else was on the team though. After the game the coach took the players for ice cream, but I went to the house where I thought my mother was visiting and waiting for me, and then ride to the ice cream parlor with her. I found out that she apparently was not expecting me and had already gone back to Jordan. I hitch hiked back home but by the time I got there the rest of the kids had finished the party.

John Pinckney said...

Mrs BAteman's punishment techniques were a marvel,nothing like being made to feel pretty foolish to make a point. I wonder how they would go over today. We certainly wouldn't want to damage anyone's inflated sense of self esteem.
My memory is that the paper drive was to raise money for the Yorker club, for a trip to the convention or something like that. I had kind of forgotten all the great fun we had with those piles of paper while they were there, but I do remember a lot of our adventures in the barn especially our pea shooter battles.