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Old Plantersville Road By James Price and Bill Griffith Leaving the site of the Noah Griffith settlement you cross the now called FM 1486 road and take "Old Moon Camp Road" Old Moon Camp was built by R.W. Henderson (Mr. Bob) and wife Lois, part of the Noah Griffith survey. Bill says the name of the camp was on honor of the many Walker Fox hounds Mr. Henderson owned and a great enlarged picture of this dog hung over the fireplace in is hunting lodge. This camp, complete with caretakers, cabins, pens large enough to confine, house , feed and water more than thirty five grown dogs. One pen held the male dogs, one with females and another for the pups he raised. This complete settlement was about five miles south of Dobbin. James Price and Bill laughingly tell of one of the "Tenants" Mr. Bob had on his place at one time. James writes of "Moving Taylor" who lived in one of several houses on the south east corner of the Henderson place; one was a "shotgun" house lived in for one of his between moves by John "Moving John" Taylor. John and his wife Sarah had four children, Rosie, Rabbit, Ben and Cherry. Mr. Taylor got the name "Moving Taylor" because he changed residences at least once a year, sometimes more often. It was said by people who knew him that when John hooked up the team to the wagon to go to town or to visit the neighbors, that the dogs ran to get under the wagon, ready to move and the chickens laid down and crossed their legs waiting to be tied up, preparing to be put in the coop to move. This account was told by Clinton Griffith, a Montgomery High School graduate, 1938, who loved a good harmless fun story. Clinton said "Moving Taylor" had got home late, tired and hungry, and finding Sarah had fixed him a good supper. When he went to the table he found five cats that had just about wiped out all the good food. He said "Moving John" didn’t say a word, just quietly got his old "Long Tom" shotgun and eliminated the cats, dishes and table too! Bill Griffith tells one about one of the famous residents of Old Moon Camp, Mr Henderson believed that crows could talk, if confined and trained. He had a right-hand-man that handled Mr. Henderson’s business at the camp, when it was first built named "Tookie" as the lodge got bigger and bigger he had to bring in more help, a local black man named Jack Garrett was established in one of the houses in the camp and Bill Griffith went to work there during the summer months. One of the first jobs Mr Henderson asked of Bill was to capture him a couple of baby crows, that being no job for Bill, being raised in the woods and hunting as soon as he was big enough to carry a gun. He got the two crows, but only one lived to be grown. The crow was named "Old Jim", and he lived in a nice, adequate cage and soon began to prove that Mr. Henderson might be right. He learned to call "Tookie" pretty quick and then he would call Jack oh Jack especially at feeding time. Mr. Henderson believed that all his animals should have the best of food and "Old Jim" was fed the best, most nutritious dog food available and boiled eggs (which he loved). Bill says most of the time "Old Jim" talked a nice clean talk, but one day a new sentence came out unexpectedly, Mr. Bob is a S.O.B.!" James said "someone had taught "Old Jim" some bad language. It is not known who the teacher was, so says Bill." I talked to some people who knew Jack Garrett and they believed and that if a crows tongue was split he could talk. I raised a several crows myself taken from the nest and raised by hand, but I neither split their tongues nor shut them in a cage. Their is no fowl wearing feathers that can ever be smarter than a crow. Since it is impossible to tell by the eye which is the male and which is the female until they are grown and seen nesting, I have wondered if only the male crow could be taught to talk as is the case of the cockatiel and parakeet. "Old Jim" acquired quite a reputation and many more conversations were credited to him that were not a reality. "Old Jim" got very excited when the big job of feeding more than thirty five dogs took place every day and that crow was not going to let "Tookie" or Jack bring him his vitamin filled dog food and his favorite treat, boiled eggs, last! |
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©Montgomery
County News, 2004 |
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