FAIRFAX HISTORICAL SOCIETY HOLDS INTERESTING MEETING

Although not many attended our Fairfax Historical Society Meeting on Sunday, May 15, 2005, the eight guests shown above plus Mike and I enjoyed some old Historical Audio Tapes immensely.

We did not listen to all the tapes, nor did we listen to an of them in their entirety, but heard enough to spark our interest.

Raymond and Ida Thomas spoke on one of the tapes as they reminisced about the Falls. They spoke of several electrocutions that occurred including the one of Francis Myron Perry, Jr. who died May 11, 1938 at the age of 43 while turning off a power switch at the plant. Francis was the grandfather of Barb (Perry) Norton and Jimmie Perry who used to live across from the Steeple Market. Lots of information about Fairfax Falls and the power plant on this tape.

Another tape that was quite interesting was an interview with Eliza Bevins Woodworth. She spoke of the old days when she lived on the Shepardson Hollow Road before their place burned. She talked about her 1926 Dodge, her first husband Ira’s meat peddling business and numerous other items.

We also heard some of the tape made by Cyrus Leach, who was 96 years old at the time as well as some of the tape made by Winona Spiller Leach.

Perhaps the tape that had the most information about old Fairfax was the one made by Clip Stewart. Clip started on Mill Street and went all the way up through town to the Buck Hollow Road, then back down through on the other side of the road identifying each place that was there in the old days. This is a tape that well deserves being listened to by a stenographer and the facts written down. Extremely informative with some humor injected into it. Clip related the story of a lady in town (he mentioned her by name) who went into one of the stores when he was about 12 years old to purchase a chamber (For those of you who are unaware of what a chamber is, there was one in every bedroom, so one did not have to go to the outhouse in the middle of the night). He talked about her having the store owner take one after the other off the shelf, until she found one of an appropriate size. Although from time to time there was some noise in the back ground, it was truly an outstanding tape to listen to. Clip was a very well spoken man and certainly knew the history of Fairfax.

I started off the evening by taking a few notes, but once Clip Stewart’s tape got under way, I put the notepad and pen down and just listened.

The meeting lasted a couple of hours and some wonderful refreshments were provided by our treasurer, Elaine Kirkpatrick