By Liesha Wessinger- Huffstetler
Imagine being an elementary aged kid and walking more than 5 miles, with a cow on a rope leash, to your Uncle Doc Huffstetler’s house on Old Ferry Road? Uncle Doc had no sons, and you had to stay there in the summer to help on the farm. You would pass Yoder Shealy’s fields, filled with hay, corn, cotton, or wheat. Yoder’s fields were in the Publix area. You could also wave to the cows George Hiller had in his fields and in the small triangular section on Virginia Street. He had a dairy farm, and lived at the Hiller House, now the Aquarius Salon. Uncle Lloyd and Lula Huffstetler could wave at you as you walk by with your cow in tow. Gore’s Dentistry is the site of their former home. Imagine walking all the way down Amick’s Ferry Road, a dirt road, and not seeing a single car. On Amick’s Ferry, the George Frick family lived before the old tin and wooden bridge across Bear Creek. Sid and Sam Stoudemire ‘s fields and homesteads were located on the other side of the bridge.
Yes, all this and more are the incredible memories held by Sonny Shealy. Sonny, born in 1932, graduated from Chapin High School in 1950. He has the honor of being Chapin’s first quarterback and also baseball. He played basketball in the old theater, where the teams had to run uphill and downhill chasing that basketball. Sonny Shealy and his family are rooted deeply in the area, as many other of the descendants of the original settlers from the 1750’s.
Sonny remembers Chapin when it was a real rural country town. Chapin Mercantile, owned by Worth Goza, was a swirl of activity. He sold clothing, farming supplies, live chickens, eggs, and meat. The folks could sell their eggs, cotton, meat, and any other products they produced at the store. A Chapin old-timer told me they bought arsenic at Goza’s store to mix it with old molasses to “poison the cotton.” Those pesky boil weevils had to be dealt with so the cotton crop could be productive.
A barn near Goza’s store was a resting place for mules and horses, after pulling the wagons into town. Techine Manufacturing is the site of the old barn. Goza’s store was located where the Crawford Center currently is today. Behind Sonic was the shed where the horse-drawn Herse was kept. Chapin had its own blacksmith shop.
The beautiful woven tapestry of the history of Chapin, and surrounding area, is deeply embedded in the 273 years of the history of original families, their lives, and memories. Next week, we will take another tour through the fascinating history of Chapin.
