The Big House: On Tick Bite Rd

By Annie West

This book is about a young African American girl by the name Annie West and how she lived her life during the fifties in the town of Grifton North Carolina. How her mom had her to believe there was a Boogie Man that came out at night base on your bad behavior. And yet my mom could not understand why I was so scared of the dark. Her admiration was how she described the house (which is call the “Big House”) that she was born and raised in. During the 1950 and 60’s the population density for Grifton N.C. was 1,209. During that time the school was segregated, up until the 1970. During the 1960’s there was no food stamps, so family that was eligible could pick up perishable and non-perishable food for their family from a food bank program.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 12, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664131682

Annie West

Annie has devoted her life to an intensive study of charismatic heroes who cause the best kind of trouble in the lives of their heroines. As a sideline she researches locations for romance, from vibrant cities to desert encampments and fairytale castles. Annie lives in eastern Australia with her hero husband, between sandy beaches and gorgeous wine country. She finds writing the perfect excuse to postpone housework. To contact her or join her newsletter, visit www.annie-west.com 

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 by Annie West.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 10/12/2020

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

819111

CONTENTS

Acknowledgment

Introduction

A Little History of the Town of Grifton, North Carolina

History in the Year I Was Born

My Family

My Father

Description of the Big House

The Two-Story House on Water Street

The Second Home of My Young Life

While Living on Water Street

The Once All-Black Elementary School of Pitt County

A Long Tradition of Excellence

My Desire to Read

My Elementary Years

Hanging Out at the Big House

Living in the ‘50’S

My Two Pairs of Shoes

Scary Nights

The Contentnea Creek

Home Alone

Devilish Things

My Hair

Homemade Cakes

My First Bike

Dancing And Singing

Chop Wood to Build a Fire

A Snake and a Gun

Getting a Whipping

My Teenage Years

Trying to be the Boss

During the Years of Attending Savannah High School

The Year My Aunt Left North Carolina

The Years I Spent at Savannah School

A 4-H Club Member

Taken Company

Hanging Out at the Juke Joint and at the Ballpark

My High School Prom

1967-The Year I Lost My Grandfather

1968-The Day of a Wedding and the Day of Death

My High School Graduation Day

Tobacco Time

The Day I Left For New York City at Age Eighteen

My First Job at New York Telephone Company

Years Working at New York Telephone Company

A Jealous Co-Worker at New York Telephone Company

2009-In Remembrance of My Mom

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I am truly blessed and I thank Jehovah God for blessing me

and allowing me to write my first book. I am grateful to be

loved by my son, family, and friends. I would like to give thanks

to Xlibris for helping me publish my first book. Thanks.

INTRODUCTION

My name is Annie Belle West, better known to my relatives as Belle, as Ann to my friends, as Annie Belle to my classmates and of course, as mom to my son, and to my grandson, grandma. My son Terrence C. Conyers was born in 1980 and my grandson Jeremiah Conyers-Gratz, was born in 2004.

A parent always hopes that in some way, they will be their child’s hero. But I am blessed because I have a son who is my hero. I love you. Terrence and I will always be thankful to God that he has allowed me to be your mother.

Today I live in the town of Ayden, North Carolina. I moved here on February 5, 2000. I started this book on May 18, 2009, one month and fifteen days after my mom’s death.

I was born and raised in the small town of Grifton, North Carolina, of Lenoir County. My mom told me that I was born on a rainy Tuesday morning around seven o’clock on July 11, 1950, with a head full of hair, but didn’t remember how much I weighed. I assumed I was a normal size baby.

My mom told me that when I was a baby, she would have me sleep in her arm. She kept my baby clothes in a box underneath her bed, so one night I must have rolled over and fell inside the box. The next morning, my mom realized I was not in her arm and couldn’t figure out what had happen to me until she decided to check underneath the bed and pull out the box, and there I was, asleep inside the box on top of my baby clothes.

Another incident happened to me when I was a baby. My mom said to me that one night, her girlfriend came over to visit her. They were sitting on the porch talking when they noticed this man that they both knew and was afraid of coming down the street. They both jumped and ran inside. My mom realized that she had left me on the porch and told her girlfriend that she had to back outside to get her baby. When I became a teenager, my mom always described me as a tall shinny girl built with mostly legs.

image%201-.jpg

The Grifton Bridge taken in the ‘70’s

image%202.jpg

The same Grifton Bridge taken in 2010

A LITTLE HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF

GRIFTON, NORTH CAROLINA

Grifton is a small town that is divided by two counties, Lenoir County and Pitt County. These two counties are separated by a creek that runs through Grifton, called Contentnea Creek. This creek is a tributary of the Neuse River, bisectings Grifton Pitt County and Lenoir County. Contentnea Creek, must have served as the major crossing of the Contentnea Creek from Lenoir County to Pitt County between Jolly’s old field and Edwards Bridge. The Coward Bridge was destroyed during the civil war to impede the movement of the Yankee troops that eventually occupied the area sometime after 1863, (picture above). In 1974, graffiti appeared on the drawbridge over the Contentnea Creek, saying, Eat Mo Shad That has since become the slogan for the festival.

The town grew up along both banks, and the creek was a major transportation and commerce artery before railroads and roads were built.

Steamboats carried produce, fertilize and farm supplies up and down the Neuse River twice weekly between New Bern and Grifton.

Early names for Grifton reflect the influence the creek had: Peter’s Ferry (1755), Blount’s Ford (1764), and Bell’s Ferry (1850). Bell was Warren Bell, who operated a ferry back and forth across the creek and also manufactured furniture along its banks.

On June 3, 1875, our first post office was established under the name of Bell’s