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Early farm life held exciting adventures for children.
Courtesy/Bath Township Historical Society
Imagine waking up to a rooster's crow, crawling from your bed, and entering a chilly barn to milk cows. As the sun rises higher, it's time to get dressed and walk to school. In the afternoon, your mother gives you extra chores: gathering eggs, churning butter, cleaning the barn, washing dishes, or other needed tasks. In the evening, you play horseshoes with your brothers and sisters before gathering around the dinner table to enjoy your mother's famous cooking.
Outside of these routines, children on the farm found exciting adventures in the surrounding landscape. Fields, hills, and streams transformed into imaginary lands that offered places to play and explore. Friends invented new games with ropes, hay, or whatever materials were available. Despite many responsibilities on the farm, children enjoyed their freedom, escaping outdoors to their favorite locations.
This research grew out of the 2011 Farming in the Valley oral history project. To learn more and explore related topics, visit the main page.
Feeding chickens at The Spicy Lamb Farm.
NPS/Ted Toth
Doing Chores
Since the first Western Reserve farmers arrived in the CuyahogaValley, farm children balanced chores with education. On larger farms, parents needed their children's help to manage the farm and sell its products. In addition, children went to school, participated in extracurricular sports and activities, and completed their homework.
On the farm, children had important responsibilities, from milking cows to picking and selling corn at a roadside stand. Their labor affected the success of the family's farm. To earn extra money, teenagers and young adults often got part-time jobs building roads, drilling wells, or working for other local businesses.
Childhood Chores
Dorothy Vani and her brother Myron Marfut describe their responsibilities on their mother's farm, located on Akron Peninsula Road.
Dorothy: I think I helped make the butter. We had a little butter churn. It was glass and it had paddles in it and you turned it and you made the butter that way.
Myron: Everything we did was by hand. I don’t care if it was—except for driving the tractor. And I was eleven years old when I started driving a farm tractor, plowing the fields, at eleven years old.
Caring for Horses
Carol Haramis, who owns and manages Heritage Farms in Peninsula with her husband, describes how she was responsible for taking care of horses when she was a child.
Saturday, Sunday mornings in summertime, horses had to be fed by eight o’clock. By the time I was a teenager, it was like, we don’t care how late you sleep in, but you will be up and out and those horses fed by eight o’clock. So I’d drag myself out of bed at seven o’clock on a Saturday morning, go down and do all the chores, and then come back and just kinda slide right back into bed and sleep until ten or eleven o’clock like most teenagers do.
Students and teacher in front of Ghent schoolhouse, Bath Township, 1911.
Courtesy/Bath Township Historical Society
Going to School
In the 1930s and 40s, with limited bus transportation in the Cuyahoga Valley, many students walked or shared a ride to school. The roads were unpaved. Dirt and snow made walking or driving slow and messy. Nevertheless, most children enjoyed learning and making use of the school playground.
They had school ‘bout like the Amish have it now. Within two mile, the schools are with each other, so they can walk to school, and we had to do the same thing. It finally got to where they had buses, but we walked to school. We lived under two mile. If you lived under two mile, why, you had to walk to school. We went to a one-room school. There was a school at Steels Corners and there was a school at Harts Corners; that’s where we live now. There was, I think, seven schools in the township altogether. And the schoolteachers, they boarded with the farmers ‘cause they had to be close to the schools so they could walk. I was janitor in the school at that time. ~laughs~ I had to keep the fire going in the potbellied stove and I had to clean, you know. I had to clean the floor every day. The teacher paid me out of her wages. I got two dollars a month for being janitor of the school.
Playground
Pat Morse talks about games she and fellow students played at their elementary school in Bath.
Oh, I always liked school. Where Bath Elementary School is now located there was what we always called “the portable” and that was a separate building away from the brick building, and you had a classroom on each side of the entry hall. So we could play ball over that building ~laughs~ and Andy Andy Over, and that was fun, and I think I remember the playground more than anything. ~laughs~ We used to have ice slides, if you can imagine letting kids now run and slide as far as you could slide, and they let us do it.
Unusual Places to Study
Carol Haramis, of Heritage Farms in Peninsula, describes how she did her homework outside in her favorite places.
We were expected—Weather permitting, we were expected to exercise the horses at least an hour a day, so which—that was a real hardship. You know, you’d say—I’d saddle up and, you know, head off to some trail, and got to the point where I had three or four places out on our farm and on the neighbor’s farm. It was not unusual for somebody walking through the trails, or riding their horses on the same trails I was on, to find me twenty-five feet up in a tree, doing my homework. And when I was thirteen, my parents bought me a really nice set of leather saddle bags that were big enough for my school books, because, you know, as soon as I had the stalls clean, I’d saddle up and I’d head somewhere. Part of it was, you know, goin’ to find someplace nice and quiet and fun to do my homework. And I think I would have been a really bad student if I had to sit in the house and do my homework all the time. I wound up gettin’ pretty good grades because I had really great places to study.
Fishing is a timeless pastime.
NPS Collection
Having Fun
During each season, children found time to take advantage of the Cuyahoga Valley's natural resources. After working under the beating summer sun, friends rang a bell to announce a swimming party. At the pinnacle above Hale Farm, children had pretend adventures, scaling the hill and forging new paths. Waterfalls, riverbeds, wildflower fields, and other natural features became a childhood paradise between two of Ohio's largest urban areas.
Many longtime residents of the Cuyahoga Valley have vivid memories of their childhood adventures (see below). Also click to hear additional stories about having fun in Everett.
Rope Swing
Pat Morse describes a rope swinging game she and her childhood friends invented.
We would swing in the hay mow in the barn. There were kind of raised towers, like, from where they stored equipment below. And the rope hung clear from the roof of the barn, and we’d go from one side to the other on this rope. When all of the girls were doing that, the boys were trying to knock us off of the rope. ~laughs~ And we thought it was such fun! ~laughs~
Playing with Fire
Pat Morse tells a story about the near disaster of building a dangerous bonfire.
One time we decided we were going to build a fire. These are the kind of things you did for entertainment when you had no TV. We decided we were gonna build a bonfire because it was cold. The easiest thing to catch fire was the straw in the barn, but we knew that would catch fire too much, so we went into the straw and hay mow, carried that straw, a trail going right outside to the barn door, and we built our fire against the barn door, and thought we were being so careful. ~laughs~ My mother didn’t switch me very often but that was one time. ~laughs~ Luckily she was looking out the window. Our kitchen window was just across the yard from the barn, and she saw this smoke, so she called and got the neighbors and everybody there to put the fire out. It did burn the barn door, but luckily that was all. It could have been horrible, really. Oh my goodness! But again, that was entertaining, so…
Cigars in the Orchard
Willis Meyers, who grew up on Steels Corners Road, shares a story about the dangers of smoking.
My neighbor was my same age in my grade, and we chummed together all the time. We'd go fishin' and... The grocery store was never locked, either door, front or back. And people'd stop in, get what they wanted, and leave us a note, you know, to what they got. So they went away on a Sunday and the store was open, and it was in the summertime. And the orchard—we had a pretty good-size orchard—and we went in there and got two cigars. We was just little. We went out there in the orchard under a shade tree and lit up them cigars, and swallowed all the smoke. We got sick ~laughs~ We was sick enough to die when my mother and dad got home. Dad looked at me and he could smell the cigar smoke. He said, "I oughta give ya a good whippin' but" he said" I think you're hurt enough" he said" without the whippin's." ~laughs~
Fishing and 4-H
Daniel Emmett of Richfield lists some of the fun activities he remember sharing with his childhood friends.
We walked down to Furnace Run and went fishing. All the boys in my neighborhood, we all played basketball and baseball. We were, most of us were in the 4-H club, which was educational and fun.
A Little Paradise
Josephine Davis describes the natural features that made her family's farm in Brecksville so special.
Down over the hill we had waterfalls and a pond, a spring-fed pond, and we had a crick. The waterfalls was a result of a quarry that had been there for years. When they cut out the stone, they automatically created a falls, which was very interesting to a young person. And in the creek—I played in the crick and turned up the stones and there were minnows in the crick and there were fish in the pond. I spent probably more than half of my life down over the hill by the waterfalls and the crick and the woods. We picked mushrooms, and in the fall of the year we picked hickory nuts and walnuts and hazelnuts, and of course in the summer it was berry-picking time. We had like our own little paradise or Garden of Eden!
Music at Home
Children also found entertaining activities indoors. Marjorie Osborne Morgan, who grew up in Everett, describes playing and listening to musical instruments with her family.
In later years, my mom and dad had a square-dance orchestra and had another man playing with them, and they went around to, like, the grange halls and played for dances on Saturday nights. We were all musicians. I played the piano, and then as I got older I played the trumpet. Yeah, so we had a very musical family, and that was one of the things that we used to do. My grandmother played the piano. Before that she would pop corn in one of those big iron kettles that you set down in the stove. And they always had those big, yellow, sweet Delicious apples in the cellar, and we could eat popcorn and eat those great big, good Delicious apples and listen to her play the piano. That was our entertainment.
A girl feeds a sheep at Oxbow Orchard.
NPS/Rick Santich
Animal Stories
Growing up on a farm meant living in close quarters with various livestock, including cows, horses, goats, turkeys, and feisty roosters. Rural life also meant more interactions with wildlife such as deer, coyotes, and skunk.
Longtime residents of the Cuyahoga Valley have many memories about their adventures with animals on the farm. Listen to the following heartwarming stories about children and their beloved animals, as well as tales of the farm's scariest creatures.
Riding Horses
For Carol Haramis, of Heritage Farms, taking care of and exercising horses was never a chore.
We had a huge maple tree that was right outside our kitchen door. And I would climb up the maple tree, probably three-quarters of the way up, and from that spot, you could see the entire farm. And so if Mom needed to get a message to Dad, because of course there were no cell phones then, I’d climb up the tree, find out where Dad was, come back down, saddle up my horse, and I’d ride out to get him. You know, that was always kinda fun because that meant I got to use my horse, you know, at different times. And the fun thing about growing up on a farm was, I mean, it was a different era. You didn’t have to worry about your kids being out by themselves. We’d get up on a Saturday morning and pack our peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich and go hiking in the woods, or get on the horses and go wherever. And the rule was, you were home, washed, in your seat at six o’clock for dinner, and if you’d been out on the horses, you were back in time that the horses were groomed, and they were cooled down and they were fed before you were in your seat.
First Riding Horse
Rena Fiedler, who grew up at Stanford House, talks about how she loved her small riding horse.
And I had all sorts of pets, of course, and Grandpa at one time got me a little riding horse, which was great. We just had great fun with that. Horse was named Ginger, and she was a small horse. I used an English saddle. We just rode all over, everywhere. It was wonderful! ~laughs~
Pulling the Cart
Philip Urbank recounts how his dog and later his goat pulled a homemade cart before he got his first real pony.
And if you look my name up in the dictionary, it says “a lover of horses.” So I kinda got started out early, and I got to likin’ to foolin’ with teams. So we had a cocker spaniel and a pointer dog, and with rags I made up a harness and I used them as a team. And then later on, Mrs. Durr gave me a small goat. And I took and got it so I could lead it. And I made a cart out of baby buggy wheels and an old crate and shafts. And I would lead it up way into the orchard and get in the cart, and the goat would run home. And one evening I just about wiped out one of my dad’s friends. And he says, “Phil, do you want a pony?” And I couldn’t even speak. I never even thought about wantin’ a pony.
Cow at Night
Willis Meyers describes running into a cow at night.
I used to play with my neighbor kid, and I went over there one night and I stayed too long and it got dark. I was scared to go home! ~laughs~ We went across a man’s pasture that had the cows in it. It was in the summertime. They was a black cow layin’ in that pasture, and you couldn’t see her ‘til you fell over the top of her—that’s when you’d know she was there. And I started home, and I was runnin’ just as hard as I could run ‘cause I was scared, and this cow was a’layin’ down there and I fell right over the top of her. And when I did, she jumped up. And boy, from then on… The next fence was four foot high and I think I just cleared that when I went over it, I was scared so bad!
Sprayed by a Skunk
Willis Meyers shares a story about being sprayed by a skunk before going to school.
Kids used to like to do trappin’ in the wintertime, you know. I walked cross-lots over there, and on the way over I’d check my traps to see if I caught anything. And this morning I had a skunk. You know what they smell like. I stepped on the trap with my foot to release him out of that trap, and of course I got the smell out of that skunk on my shoe. Well then I went to school, and we got in there, and after the school warmed up a little, the warmer it got the more that skunk was startin’ to stink. The teacher, she was tryin’ to find out who it was, you know. It was me, but I was the only one that knowed it. She’d walk around the room, you know, sniffin’, ~laughs~ tryin’ to find out who had that skunk on ‘em. The kid in the seat next me, she kept a’gettin’ in close to him, and close to him, and she finally decide it was him. ~laughs~ She made him get up and sit in the hall the whole rest of the day. And it was me. ~laughs~
Chickens in a Tree
Pat Morse, who grew up across from Hale Farm, remembers searching for eggs and cleaning up after roosting chickens.
Now, the ideal thing is to have free range chickens? Well, the Wilson’s chickens were strictly free range. ~laughs~ And our biggest sport with the chickens was to find the eggs. They laid ‘em all over. And we’d crawl under the barn and all over the place, looking for eggs, and then we’d have an egg fight because—well, the boys were always throwing it at the girls. ~laughs~ So that, we thought, was great sport. One time—which was, as I look back, was absolute stupidity but—as kids there were quite a few of us, and we decided we wanted this one tree. It was small enough that we could climb it but it was good in size. I should say, the limbs were low. Well, the chickens roosted in that tree. So our job was to clean up after the chickens. ~laughs~ Nobody else did, so we wanted that for our tree. So we cleaned up. ~laughs~ Kids today wouldn’t even give that a second look. They’d run the other way. ~laughs~
Chased by a Rooster
Pat Morse describes her encounter with a scary rooster.
In the yard, oh gosh – My favorite thing was to go next door to the twelve kids next door, and the barn was between the two houses, and there was a mean rooster in there! ~laughs~ And he was really mean! He’d attack you with his sharp beak. And one time I didn’t go out to the road—we’d usually go out to the road to get around the rooster. One time I did not go out there. I thought, “I’m not afraid of that rooster.” Well, he came a’chasing me, and chased me in the barn and I was against the wall. I knew I was gonna die! I just knew I was gonna die! ~laughs~ And Don Wilson came along, and he said, “Oh no! That rooster!” And he slung it clear across the hay mow and he saved my life! ~laughs~ I just thought he was the greatest in the world. ~laughs~
Mom Versus the Turkey
Dorothy Vani tells a story about her mother and the turkey on their farm on Akron Peninsula Road, near Boston Mills Road.
Dorothy: Oh gosh! Yeah, she, she had a gobbler. And he chased us! He chased her, he chased us. And the one day—She usually carried a stick. She always carried a stick when she was goin' to the back yard or whatever. And the one day, maybe she had a bigger stick or something, and that gobbler started chasing her, and she took the stick and went like that, and she hit him right across the neck and killed him. And she sitting—standing—at the sink when we came home from school. She's standing at the sink and she's pluckin' the feathers out of that turkey and saying, "I didn't mean to do it!"
