The Loyd Homeplace: Then and Now

After I wrote my book in 2007, I had a personal

desire to find out all I could about the old Loyd

Homeplace.  Though the house still stands, only

my 98 year-old father remembers it as it was in

his childhood.  On a visit there, he was able to 

call up memories of long ago to help me 

reconstruct where things were.  Click on the

map below to enlarge the image and see where 

such things as sheds, orchards, hog pen, 

barn, and the outhouse were.

A refurbished house now serves as the 

clubhouse for the Chateau Montagne

Apartments.  Through all the changes,

certain attributes are still familiar to 

my father.

The historic plaque on the front porch is

not 100% accurate.  We're not sure of the

exact year of the house's construction.  But

it wasn't built by my great grandfather Joseph

Alford Loyd.  It was built by his father, Jabez

M. Loyd and willed to Joseph A. Loyd.

Click to enlarge the plaque and note the

location's historical significance.

My father recalls very well a special room

prepared for circuit-riding preachers to stay

in when they journeyed to the Chamblee

community for revivals and other church

services.  This pump organ, which belongs

to our family, is like the one in the preacher's

guest room.

The timbers which form these steps are

likely 150 years old or more.

Some of the heavy beams supporting the

ceilings are likely the originals.

This is one of the house's 

original stone fireplaces.

You might think everything outside the house

would be different.  But my father said this

gigantic elm tree in back of the house was 

already huge when he was a boy.  He believes

it pre-dates the Civil War.  I wish that gnarled

trunk could tell the history it has witnessed.

I was thrilled to find a heavy growth of

resurrection fern on its massive limbs.

One of the house's original chimneys.

The original stone foundation.

Shortly after our visit to the Loyd Homeplace,

I took my father to a neighborhood park and

showed him Peachtree Creek, where he often

played as a boy.

A few miles away, the Battle of Peachtree

Creek was fought back in 1864, 148 years ago.

Daddy did not realize until I discovered it on

old maps that this portion of the famous creek,

which now winds underneath Interstate 85,

was at the corner of 600 acres of the original

Loyd property.

Many Loyds toiled on that land since 1821,

and the full story has not even been uncovered

yet.  But I am having the time of my life delving

into the story.  I have learned much about my

father and his family, especially his father and

grandfather, Joseph Carl Loyd and Joseph

Alford Loyd, pictured below.

They're the two on the right!

Old Time Games of the Loyd Grandchildren

In Mystery at the Loyd Homeplace I make mention of several favorite childhood games.  They were a big part of my life and especially those visits to Mama and Papa Loyd's.  I hope these will remind you of fun and games in your own life.  These are well worth sharing with our children and grandchildren.  Games, too, are part of our heritage.

FUN AND GAMES AT MAMA AND PAPA LOYD’S

These are some of the favorite pastimes when the cousins gathered at Mama and Papa Loyd’s.  The cousins were Annette, Terry, Vickie, Stan, Buddy, Ken, and Caryn.  As with many of the best games, winning or losing were usually not important to us—EXCEPT for Checkers!

Bum Bum Bum

Two teams face each other, some distance apart.  Alternately, each team decides on a certain activity or occupation to pantomime.  When the other team guesses it, they chase the opponents back to their home base and can capture players.  Half of the fun is the exchange of chants between the teams.  For example:

Team 1:  (As they walk forward side by side)

                    Bum, bum, bum, here we come, 

                     Bum, bum, bum, here we come,

                     Bum, bum, bum, here we ARE!

Team 2:       What’s your trade?

Team 1:       Sweet lemonade.

Team 2:       Go to work and show us something.

                    

Swinging Statues 

In an open field one of the older cousins—Buddy, Annette, or Vickie—would swing the rest of us around and around.  When released we would go flying off but had to freeze like a statue in whatever awkward position we found ourselves.  Sometimes players would tell each other what they looked like.

Rock School

A small group of players can play this wherever stairsteps are found.  The more steps, the better, and Mama and Papa Loyd had a bunch!  Players are seated on the bottom step, which represents kindergarten (in those days it was 1^st grade because few children went to kindergarten).  One, designated as Teacher, hides a small rock in one hand, then holds both closed hands before each “student” in turn.  If a student guesses the correct hand, he is promoted to the next step or “grade.”  It is an equal opportunity game—even the youngest has a chance to win.  I think there were enough steps to make it to college!

Freeze Tag

Standard Rules

Red Light, Green Light

A “caller” stands at one end of a playing area with his back to the other players.  When he calls “Green light” they can run forward.  When he calls “Red light” he will turn and any player caught in motion is sent back.  First player to tag the caller becomes new caller.

Checkers

(Mama Loyd called it “Checks”) - Standard rules.  This means once you have moved a checker and removed your hand you cannot take the move back.  As long as your hand is on the piece you may change your mind.  You MUST take an available “jump.”   If there are two options you may choose the more favorable, but you may never decline to take a jump.  There is no such thing as “flying kings.”   If interested in learning the secrets of “double corners,” contact the author.  I can’t explain it—I’ll have to show you!

Swap-out

(Mama Loyd sometimes called it “Swaps”) - The exact opposite of checkers.  The object is to LOSE all your pieces to your opponent.  It’s bad news to get a king in this game!

Dominoes 

We didn’t play dominoes—we just built towers and chain-reaction designs.

Red Rover, Red Rover

We didn’t really have enough people to play this game, but liked it anyway.  Two teams (we never had more than three players on a team) would form chains and call an opponent to try to break through.  For example, “Red rover, red rover, send Buddy right over.”  If Buddy caused the other team to break hands he “captured” one of the players he broke through and they join his team.  See why we didn’t have enough players?

Simon Says

Standard rules

Dollar, Dollar

Buddy and I recall a version of this game but we’re fuzzy on some details.  Mama told us the version she played as a girl.  A group forms a circle and hold their hands out as if praying.  They begin secretively passing a folded up dollar (or any other small object) from person to person while avoiding detection by one person in the center of the circle.  So all players are making passing motions at the same time.  This could be played indoors or outdoors, sitting or standing, by young or old.  Mama remembers her playmates chanting:

                    

                     Dollar, Dollar, how you wander,

                     From one hand unto the other.

                     Is it fair, is it fair,

                     To keep this dollar waiting there?

Mother, May I?

We usually called it simply “May I?”  One player, the “Mother,” stands some distance from the children in an open, preferably grassy area.  Mother assigns each child in turn a certain number of moves forward (even occasionally backward in our friendly game).  Sample commands could be:

          Take 3 Giant Steps. . .                Take 8 Baby Steps. . .

          Take 2 Umbrella Twirls. . .        Take 4 Frog Leaps. . .

          Take 5 Banana Splits. . .            Take 3 Somersaults. . .

          Take 2 Hops on one foot. . .       Take 5 Kangaroo hops. . .                                                              Make up your own!

Any unfortunate player who neglects to say “Mother, may I?” before moving must return to the starting point.  You definitely wanted to stay on Mother’s good side.  If she told you to take two Giant Steps BACKWARD, you should do it without whining or complaining—Mother could reward your patience and humility later!

Clouds

When we were finally tired of other games or the weather was just too hot, we might lie on our backs in the old pasture, imagining what each cloud might be.

The Principal Characters

 This photo of my older brother "Buddy,"

sister Caryn, and myself, was taken around 1960.

In the book "Mystery at the Loyd Homeplace," 

we would have been two years older: 13, 9, and 4.

"Buddy" and I are co-detectives in the family

mystery.  Caryn contributes to the story if not

to the actual solving of the mystery.

Here are Mama and Daddy, most prominent

in the opening and closing chapters of the book.

I've been told that I did a pretty good job of 

recreating characteristic conversations of both.

This is Mama and Papa Loyd, Daddy's parents

and my grandparents.  Their names are Joseph

Carl Loyd and Ethel Linnie Wright Loyd.

Most of the action of the book takes place at their 

country dairy farm and the nearby Loyd homeplace.

This photo was several years before our story takes

place and before Papa Loyd's crippling stroke in 1952.

Here are Mama and Papa Loyd on 

their 50th anniversary at Christmas 1963.

Papa Loyd loved having his family around

and lived about 12 years after his stroke.

These are Papa Loyd's parents and the

residents of the "Mystery House," the

Loyd Homeplace.  Daddy was very close

to his grandparents.  Joseph Alford Loyd

was born in 1855 and was 9 years old at the

time of the Battle of Peachtree Creek and the

Battle of Atlanta.  Mary Louvinnie Echols Loyd,

who everyone called Mollie, was a Civil War baby,

born in 1863, just a year before those same battles.

She was only 18 in this photo, he 26.  Both

seem older because of the serious demeanor,

typical of portraits of that era.

You will learn more about all of these characters

in "Mystery at the Loyd Homeplace." Additional 

information will be added to this blog from time to time.

If you haven't read the book, I invite you to

request a copy.