Matheson Cove Memories

Bob and Minnie Matheson Ledford family:
left to right:  front row:  Granddaddy Bob and Grandma Minnie Ledford
middle row:  Reba Ledford Rigsbee, Robenia Ledford Merritt, Rena Ledford Matheson, and Ray
last row:  Reuben Ledford, Rondy Ledford, Ralph Ledford, and Robert Ledford


Matheson Cove Memories


Spinning mud,
marred to the axles
as it bounced
over ruts into
the Matheson Cove,
it splashed barefooted
through Hyatt-Mill Creek,
fished with a cane pole,
picked wild huckleberries
for jelly and pies,
robbed the beehive,
gathered eight children
around the supper table,
their names began with R,
spread sourwood honey
on catheads smothered
with fresh-churned butter,
gobbled bowls of roasting ears,
green beans, taters
and crumbled cornbread
into a glass of buttermilk,
hooked old Bess and Kate
to the plow and worked
the new ground,
grew red geraniums
beside the log cabin,
rubbed overalls on the board
until the hands bled,
scurried through the field
and fed the cattle fodder,
swept through the cove
scattering apple seeds
on Shewbird Mountain,
sawed its fiddle,
danced in the old red barn,
shimmied over the ridge
and turned the road
into a silver ribbon.
           --Brenda Kay Ledford