July 12

Maintaining the Picnic Area.

Dad built this picnic area in its entirety by hand shortly after we moved into the little Kings Settlement house in the early 1950's -- and by "by hand," I mean that no power tools were involved. Excavation was by shovel, the rocks, no matter how big, were transported from quarries or abandoned farmlands by little (and also hand-made) trailer behind a sedan, and transported to this spot by wheelbarrow. The grilling fireplace was assembled stone by stone with no mortar except around the chimney and fire-brick firebox areas. When we, he and I, sneaked back onto the property for a peek in 1992, after it had been out of the family for a decade, the picnic area was unchanged and obviously well-used by its then-current owners. I suspect that it still is.
The pipe supports for the little tables that I'm painting in this picture fit into permanently-emplaced, larger pipes in the ground. This allowed them to be rotated while in use -- and to be taken away and stored for the winter.

Date: July, 1961
Location: Kings Settlement, New York
By: LH