New
Florence, PA
I
grew up in a tree-filled valley
and
New Florence, “down street,”
was
about a mile down Shannon Creek Road
and
over Town Hill. Population 1,000.
Most
of the houses were white
with
“New Florence green” porches.
There
were a few basic churches
and
two gas stations.
The
Dairy Nook where
we
kids sat in the booth and left spoons
balanced
on the edges of hot chocolate cups.
Or
we’d go to the drugstore where
we
liked to sit at the only booth
and
order ice cream for fifteen cents.
The
table underside was dotted with gum.
Deranaldo’s
where you could actually buy clothes.
The
bank with the drinking fountain in front
where
the do-nothings hung out.
A
small grocery store called “Pecks”
where
old guys and some young
played
pinball and drank coffee.
Across
the street, Trimble’s,
another
grocery store with a wooden floor.
The
post office had a bulletin board
to
post the town going-ons.
It
was usually empty.
Kavinaughs,
a little hardware store,
where
they also sold vegetables out front.
Down
past the “subway”
which
was really an underpass
for
the train tracks on top,
a
feed mill sat so long
it
looked like the wind would blow it over.
Kenneth’s
Funeral Home and the library.
Two
brick schools--an old red one where my Dad had attended
before
my Grandpa sent him out to the country school
because
the town teacher had it out
for
the rascally red-haired boy.
The
newer yellow one was where I went.
New
Florence doesn’t look like that anymore.
They
say they even have an Arby’s and a Dollar Store.
The
fountain still works but no one stands there.
The
Drugstore, Deranaldo’s, Dairy Nook, Peck’s,
Trimble’s,
the gas stations, the schools, they’re all gone.
Most
of the houses are still white
with
New Florence green porches.
