Back home for a visit
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on September 6, 2015 1:50 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Billy Brown uses a camera on his cellphone to capture a photograph of a past classmate when whome he had lost contact from the memory boards at the Little Washington reunion Saturday at H.V. Brown Park. Brown, who now lives in Brandywine, Md., tries to attend as many of the reunions as he can.
To passersby on U.S. 117 Saturday afternoon, the scene at H.V. Brown Park on Elm Street may have looked like any other Labor Day weekend picnic.
But the 60-plus gathered there represented generations that once occupied a segment of Goldsboro long since disbanded.
Back in the day, Little Washington was a microcosm of its own self-sufficient little town. It cut a swath that extended from Miller Avenue to Elm Street, U.S. 117 to Center Street.
The self-contained community had everything it needed within walking distance -- restaurants, cab stands, nightclubs, shoe repair shops, beauty and barber shops, doctors, lawyers, schools and churches.
Formerly separate from the city of Goldsboro, it became annexed in 1915.
Things forever changed, though, when urban renewal was introduced in the 1970s. Many homes were sold and the landscape changed to make way for roads and businesses.
Leveled houses and paved highways, though, were no match for the indelible imprint already made on the hearts and lives of its residents, who have sought to preserve the memories and history in recent years.
In 2003, Doreatha Macklin and Dorothy Bowden set out to create a reunion event that has continued, first at Waynesborough Park, with a few years at the Dillard Alumni site, before settling on its current location every Labor Day weekend, at H.V. Brown Park.
Saturday marked the 13th anniversary of the gathering.
"This is where we were raised," Ms. Macklin pointed out. "We're standing right now on the street that I was raised on, Canal Street."
When she was born, her family lived on Raleigh Highway, she said. Her grandmother became ill, prompting Ms. Macklin's parents and brother to move in with her grandparents in Little Washington.
The atmosphere made it an idyllic place to grow up, she said.
"It was exciting because we played in the streets," she said. "We had a streetlight that we played under all the time.
"Before the highway, we played out in the graveyard (Elmwood Cemetery). Just before night, mama called and we knew it was time to get close to the house. So we would all gather under the streetlight until they made us come into the house."
Her younger brother, Carnell Reid, now lives on the northern end of the county. He also holds many fond memories of growing up in Little Washington.
"This used to be our play area. That's where I used to learn how to swim, in the ditch right there," he said, pointing to the edge of the parking lot on Elm Street. He also recalled there being a "sandpit" across the way.
"When they built this (U.S.) 117, they got that sand out of that pit," he said.
Reid also remembered playing in the cemetery and churches having baptisms in the Neuse River.
"They'd come down Canal Street, walk down to the bank of the river and have baptisms," he said.
The bygone era was also where he gained his work ethic, an example instilled by his grandfather, Morris Murphy.
"He gave me the incentive at about 8 years old, he used to get a mule wagon and they'd haul coal all over Goldsboro," he said. "After my grandfather died, my father took over the trade."
Little Washington was a bright reflection of the now-popular African proverb -- It takes a village to raise a child.
Billy Brown, 50, moved to Brandywine, Maryland in 1989. This weekend marked his first time attending one of the Little Washington reunions since 2009.
"My childhood was fun," he said, remembering being in chorus at Goldsboro High School and time spent with friends.
"We used to come out to this park, there were so many cars parked out here some Sundays," he said. "We all got together and talked, played basketball."
It was also an era when everyone stepped in to make sure a child was raised right.
"We used to get our butt whipped a lot," he said with a laugh. "Aunt Doreatha reminded me of that. It was fun, though, even though we got our butt whipped."
Mrs. Bowden has since passed away, but Ms. Macklin, who now lives in Dudley, said she will do her best to continue the annual gathering.
"It's just exciting," the 79-year-old said. "It's exciting but tiresome. They want to keep it going. This is a testament that they want to keep it going -- all these people that are here."