Grandma Bell’s Kitchen

The photo above shows what the kitchen of my great grandmother Bell Bullock Johnson looked like. Here, my mother Dorothy (hands in pot), and her sister Emma Belle are standing in the kitchen of their maternal grandmother, Bell Bullock Johnson. They lived in Newport News, VA and their grandmother lived in the town of Ridgway in Warren County, NC.

My mother and her siblings visited Grandma Bell from time to time during their childhood, sometimes staying with her during the summer. This photo was taken in 1958 and during that year Mama turned age 14 and her sister age 12.

It look like Mama is washing her hands in this pot. During the time that this photo was taken, Grandma Bell did not have running water in her house. She either got water from a well on her property or from the spring nearby.

This photo was taken in 1959 in the kitchen Grandma Bell’s kitchen. Her youngest son Richard (right) is standing here with her youngest daughter Emma, who is my maternal grandmother.