Duncan's Mills

After Stillwater, we drove along the Russian River to another of my childhood homes, Duncan's Mills. In the late 40's the population was 20. Interestingly, the old DeCarly's General Store is still the same as it was in those days! The only significant difference is that there used to be one of those old gravity-feed gas pumps out front. I remember how the gallons were indicated on the clear glass bottle at the top and you had to hand-pump it up with a long lever and then feed the hose to your car.

The little kids in town used to hang out in front of the store for the arrival of the Potato Chip truck (always hoping that the driver would find a broken bag which he would share with us all--amazingly, there was almost always a broken bag found inside the truck!).Even the inside of the store is pretty much the same, except they had large barrels of fruits, grains and a peanut butter bin. Check the old floor boards!
The original road wound around past an apple orchard where we lived. I used to catch grasshoppers and crawfish babies to sell to the passing fishermen for bait. Now the road is blocked off with a fence.
This is likely the house we used to live in!And this is definitely the one-room school I went to in the first grade. I even remember my teacher, Mrs. Wolfe, who I thought was very old since she had white hair, but she was very sweet and used to invite me on the weekend to her home in Jenner.