Cheatham Annex

Cheatham Annex is a cluster of cabins situated in the woods near Williamsburg.  One would never know, being there, that it's on a military base.  We went there many times, usually with another family and/or individual friends and it was always an adventure.    The photo, above, is of poor quality, but is representative of Cheatham Annex in the later years.  Besides my siblings, minus Don, Michael Tschudy is laying crosswise in the front and my friend, Kim, is on the far right.

Michael Tschudy roasting marshmallows.  Have I mentioned that we loved Janie and Michael Tschudy?  A lot.  A whole lot.  Besides the Tschudy's, other families often went to Cheatham Annex with us.   Other POW families - the Bradys, Mulligans, McDaniels - and other Navy families - the Kirkpatricks.    

The little kids (in this case, Mary, Lisa Brady, and me) slept in sleeping bags on the screened in porch, a perfect location from which to watch raccoons raid the trash cans.  You'd have thought they were bears or mountain lions for all the excitement they caused.

Staying in those cabins, where we could run free, no traffic, mom relaxed, with friends, is one of my favorite childhood memories.  In retrospect, it almost felt as if life were normal.   Not that I felt it wasn't normal at home, exactly, but the shadow of Dad's absence certainly hung over our household in King's Grant.  Staying in cabins in the woods was carefree.