Momma loved to fish and picnic. She would frequently gather the kids in the neighborhood, and her friends and we would all go to White’s Millpond. White’s Millpond was located east of N.C. 903 about halfway between Palmyra and Scotland Neck. To get there, you traveled down a dirt road from a place called Sam’s Head.

As usual, there were others there when we arrived. Among them was an older man who fishing from a small flat-bottomed boat. He asked me if I wanted to join him in the boat, and I jumped at the opportunity. After a while, he said he was thirsty and picked up the bailing can from the bottom of the boat. He then leaned over to the water, parted the duckweed from the surface of the water and took himself a drink from the pond. Duckweed is a small green plant, which floats on the water and can cover large areas. After seeing all of this, I told him I was not thirsty.

The can used was a well known coffee can. It was the most useful byproduct of the retail business. The can was about a quart size and came with a reusable top. Many people used it for dipping both liquids and dry matter such as fertilizer. Oftentimes there was one at the well for drinking water from the well bucket attached to a rope for drawing water from the well. Some used the can for storing stuff such as nuts and bolts. I’ve even boiled eggs in one. Ladies used them for foot stools by grouping them together and covering them with a fancy embroidery cover. A man came into a large amount of money, had no trust for banks, so he put the money in a can and buried in his backyard.

Times change, customs change, and I have often wondered if we had used cremations back then instead of the usual funeral, when asked about his mother’s death, would the son say we had her cremated, put her ashes in a coffee can and buried it outby the smokehouse.

Milton Fields

Rocky Mount