Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Swimming in the Cheat


Raise your hand if you have been swimming in the Cheat. This had to have happened after the 1st of June because we were never allowed to go barefoot until the ground cracked and that was always after June 1st. We hiked through the back trails and down the “hollow” to arrive at the intersection of Route # 119 and the New Geneva road. At that time, the McClain Sand Company was located there on the Cheat River. We crossed the road and went downstream a little way. And there was a beach just below the sand company. There must have been 10 or 20 kids who went swimming there then. Some were from the countryside and some from the town of Point Marion. We walked on the barges of the sand company. I once fell off the barge when I was 5 or 6 years old and Bob Fowler who much have been 14 or 15 years old (I’m guessing) jumped in and pulled me out so I wouldn’t go under the barge. Thank you, Bob! Once Margy Diehl and somebody else, I forgot who, swam the rivers. This is the point where the Cheat and the Monongahela Rivers come together and it is a long way across where they meet but swim across and back they did.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you know the original name of this beach. Before it was discovered by the girls the boys all skinny dipped there. They called it "Bare Ass Beach." My Dad told me it was a say day for the boys when the girls started showing up to swim.

Anonymous said...

I meant to say a Sad Day.

Blosser Hill said...

I didn't know that is what it was called. Must have been many a kid who swam there. Wonder if they still do????