nostalgia | betsybeadhead

When I was growing up in Chattanooga, TN, there was a toy store called “The Castle”. This is because the owners had taken a normal brick building and added wooden shingles to it to make it look like a castle with turrets. It was where I was taken if I got a good report card or for my birthday – or just because I needed a toy.

I miss that experience of rooting around and discovering just that special thing that I needed. I never got anything really expensive because I was very aware of how much money my parent’s didn’t have. I appreciated them wanting to get me a gift, but I also knew not to take them for granted.

I did some digging and found a scan of a newspaper image of it.

Here is what it looked like before they added the shingles. I never saw it this way.

The owner was Frank May.

It was located at the intersection of South Germantown Road and Ringgold Road – so I saw it every day on the way to school. Smack dab right in front of me, coming down S. Germantown to go left on Ringgold Road was this castle, with a lit up sign that counted down the days to Christmas.

My husband and I went to Chattanooga (my hometown) to celebrate his birthday this year.

A view from the Art District, downtown Chattanooga.

A glorious sunset. Near the Hunter Art Gallery.

The glass bridge.

The horse made of driftwood.

Now on Missionary Ridge, crossing the South Crest bridge. This was part of my regular walking path when I lived here.

Seen on the way. They were digging up the sidewalk and putting in underground pipe.

A manhole on the way.

Steps.

A survey marker.

The steps to a Civil War memorial park.

While there.

I’m a little freaked out by the apparent young age of the soldier.

A neat marker.

The neighbors of the park have a deck that is cantilevered.

And they have built a playhouse for their child. I’m a little envious of it.

A view from the park a little further on. There was a house here, and it started to slide down the side of the ridge. The city took down the house and put in a little park instead. It was my destination point, and a nice place to rest. I wanted to show it to my husband.

More moss!

Back at Bragg’s Reservation. I played here a lot as a child. I’m not happy about this new building.

There was a school here. It became a museum, and then it was abandoned. The building burned down one day. They removed all the debris over time. I played here – around and over all of this, in all the incarnations, for much of my life. This was essentially my back yard. I had heard that there was a clause in the deed to the land that said the land could only be used for educational purposes, so to see housing here is disturbing. At least the building is in keeping with the aesthetic of the place.

You really can’t ever go home again. It just isn’t the same.