Everyone is writing wonderful, inspiring posts about going forward and I'm enjoying them all. This weekend, though, I took a step BACK in time to remember some wonderful memories in Wantagh, Long Island, New York. It's where I was born and raised and certainly where I had an awful lot of fun!
I remembered that we had a few TREASURES left of the OLD Wantagh; the very one I grew up in and loved when it wasn't so modern and busy. And they are preserved. If you'd like to step, just for a moment, back in time with me you'll see a bit of Mayberry.
My old schoolhouse which we called The Little RED Schoolhouse. I'm not sure if that's the official name but now it's a historic site (and I'm feeling a bit PREhistoric writing this! Before we were put in the BIG school, if you lived really close to this one you had the privilege of going here. There were three classrooms-First, Second and Third grade. And a lunchroom. And that was the entire school. We had a huge rope hanging down in the middle and got to ring it every day....it would take two or three of us to get it to ring. Unlike the new, modern playground we had the old steel monkey bars. I didn't often get to play on them because I usually wore a dress. But the times were SO easy, fun and friendly.
They have preverved the Original Post office of Wantagh! Another treasure of Wantagh that has been preserved is its old Train Station. My brother went to Pratt in Brooklyn, a renowned school for artists and often I'd go with my mother to pick him up at the train station-THIS train station, now preserved. It is still fascinating to see and shows a bit of what Long Island used to be. Farmland. Acres and acres of land barely developed.
Wantagh is called The Gateway to Jones Beach and it also borders the famous (or infamous) Levittown where you could purchase a new home for just over $6,000. The returning GI's jumped on it. The two styles were either a ranch or a cape cod and my parents choose a ranch home that borders Levittown but was still in Wantagh. An article in Newsday a few years back claimed that there was only ONE home left in all of Levittown that had not been expanded or modified!
Here's a few shots, welcome to Mayberry:
The name fits: The Little Red Schoohouse; it's a daycare now.
The New, Modern playground.
I DID say little, right?
Sorry about the sign, it's historic as well! The year is 1876 when this farmland was donated by John Virsdall Garner; It was the very FIRST School in Levittown!
This building was the very first Post Office in Wantagh. It has also been preserved as a historic site.
This is the preserved site both the Post Office and the Train Station are on. It's wonderful that we have a bit of true history here.
The Original Station...
Maybe I had to take a step BACK before I could move FORWARD. I hope you enjoyed a little bit of my old hometown, Wantagh, Long Island, New York.
I LOVED this house--we had all the windows "super sized" :)
HAPPY NEW YEAR
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