Page 13 - Robeson Living Spring 2019

Over time, improvements were made to the site, including bathroom in front of an old-time round oil heater with the
adding a playground and recreation building. The building wick in the bottom—remember? He borrowed a pair of
housed a juke box and was used for dances and roller skat- Mr. Mike’s long johns while he waited for Bobby Lewis
ing. The building was destroyed by fire in October 1967, to run down three blocks to Bummy’s house on Chestnut
and the entire site was closed around 1978. Street to get him some dry clothes. “Don’t think Bummy
has ever lived this one down! In truth, it’s probably a mir-
In June 2000, Lula Williams gathered memories of Mc- acle he made it out of the river at all.
Millan’s Beach for an article for “Robeson Remembers,”
a writing project of the Robeson County History Museum. “Some others in the group were Sim Caldwell and Torry
and Kenneth McLean. Kenneth remembers a really big
Williams said, “McMillan’s Beach was a landmark in snow in March of 1927 that was six inches deep with ice.
Lumberton for several generations—in fact, it was the only He says everything in Lumberton came to a screeching
place to swim and where most youngun’s learned how to halt except for kids playing in the snow and being pulled
swim from before the turn of the century to the ‘50s it had down Main Street behind Mr. John Fuller’s early model
a dance pavilion and was a popular place for dates to go to car! Kenneth and Bummy think the close call Bummy had
dance to the jukebox fed by many nickels. Then and ear- was a few years later than this.”
lier, there was a bathhouse where one could rent a basket
to store clothes while swimming and a canteen where all Jackie Oliver Utz recalls that Bunk Stone and her brother,
kinds of snacks, soft drinks, ice cream and other goodies John Hal Oliver, once caught an injured small alligator
were available. in Lumber River and brought him home. “They said the
alligator had been shot. “He stayed in the dog house until
“Crossing the river at the upper end of the beach was a my mother and I couldn’t stand it anymore! I was afraid
bridge with a platform underneath and a ladder going to go out the back door.”
down from the bridge to the platform. Erwin Williams Jr.
remembered that you could dive from the platform or if Jackie continues, “Bunk, John Hal, Clarence Townsend
you were really brave, you could dive from the bridge, but and Stanley Meares spent many hours in small rowboats
you had better have made sure that the river wasn’t low or wandering up and down the river. Often, they found
the water wouldn’t be deep enough! sharks’ teeth and seashells along the banks when the river
was low.
“The Boone family lived in the turn of the road just before
you got to the beach. That’s why the part of the water “It’s hard to believe when you see the river today, but my
with the deep water just above the main beach was called friend, Kitty Edens, and her cousin, David Edens, swam
“Little Boone.” There was a huge tree on the far side of down the river from McMillan’s Beach to the area now
the river that had a long rope hanging down from the upper known as Stephens Park. That was a dangerous and dar-
limbs and daredevils used to climb up and swing across the ing thing to do. A crowd of us anxiously awaited their
river on the rope and drop down into the deep black water. arrival at the end.”
Great fun!”
Riverside Garden
Frances Caldwell Dietzel loves to tell the following sto-
ry about a happening on the Lumber River a little further
downriver from McMillan’s Beach: “It seems that years
ago it snowed in Lumberton and the only hill around was
in the back of Frances’ house on Caldwell Street. A num-
ber of the then-younger set gathered there to slide down
the hill in the snow—two of the group had real sleds and
everybody took turns. One named James McLeod (better
known as “Bummy”) didn’t make the turn at the bottom of
the hill in time and ended up in the river—clothes and all!
He says that there was ice right at the edge of the bank! He
had on big boots and a heavy coat and when he managed
to get out of the river, his pants were frozen solid in under
one minute!
The downtown Lumberton riverside garden designed by
“The group took Bummy into the house to dry off in the Baker and Biggs.