Vacation with Aunt Pat
Aunt Pat has always been very high on my ’Favorite Persons’ list, mainly because I always knew that she cared for me. One example of this occurred during World War II when she invited Peter and me to spend a week with her in Perryman, Md. She was working at the U.S. Government’s Aberdeen Proving Ground and living in a renter room in a large Victorian house in nearby Perryman. Aberdeen Proving Ground is a 113-square-mile facility located on the Chesapeake Bay, adjoining the Edgewood Arsenal. It was opened in 1917 to test and develop military equipment.
Because of the wartime gasoline rationing, we made the trip to see her by train. Edee took us on the Baltimore & Annapolis R.R. train to Camden Station,and bought us tickets to Aberdeen on the Baltimore & Ohio R.R.. She took us down the stair to the north-bound train platform. She saw that we got on the train safely, and probably asked the conductor to make sure we got off in Aberdeen; then we were on our own. As soon as the train started, we entered the darkness of the tunnel under Howard Street. When we emerged from the tunnel at Mount Royal Station the electric locomotive used in the tunnel was uncoupled and a steam locomotive was coupled on. It was a great ride and adventure on the trip to Aberdeen, which seemed longer than it actually was ( probably about 1/2 hour).
When we got off the train in Aberdeen, Aunt Pat met us; and we got into a car, owned by a friend of Pat’s, for the trip to her boarding house.
The Victorian house where we stayed was only a few hundred feet from the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and every half-hour or so, a fast passenger train, pulled by a GG1 electric locomotive, would go speeding by. There would also be the slower and longer trains with freight cars bearing logos from railroads all over America. During our stay Pat took us up into the attic of the house where we could see all the cracks in the plaster caused by vibrations from these trains. ( In 1971 the PRR became Amtrack’s right-of-way between New York City and Washington, DC. and when I went to New York, I would look for that Victorian house, which stood beside the tracks until it was torn down during the 1980’s ).
Perryman had a small store with, I think, the little post office. It was just down the street that ran beside the train tracks from the house to the intersection with the main road. I would walk along this street while hoping a train would come zooming by.
Pat took us swimming in the nearby Bush River. The family she rented her room from, or friends of theirs, had a house overlooking the river. In the picture you will see Peter and me with Pat’s boyfriend at the road beside the river.
Behind the Victorian house were a number of chicken houses as this family was in the chicken and egg business. These building can be seen in the background in the photo of Pat with the owner’s dog. We explored these places and had a wonderful time with Pat who treated us to picnics and parties.
When it was time to return home to Linthicum, Pat’s boyfriend, who had a convertible and enough gas for the trip, let us sit in the back seat with the top down. What I remember most about our trip on the newly-opened Pulaski Highway was crossing over some overpasses that had the tops of young trees sticking up through the overpass openings.
When I think back on this trip, I realize that our aunt devoted a week of her vacation time to helping two young boys have a memorable vacation. I have other pleasant memories of Aunt Pat. Every time I open my 1947 Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary or my alligator-skin photo album, I remember that they were gifts from this very special person.
