Cameron Park
(Written 11-25-2000)
The Cameron family owned a lot of land, and eventually deeded 500 acres of it over to the city of Waco for Cameron Park, which we enjoyed for many years.
Cameron Park had a wonderfully large and well-equipped playground with many tall swings with chains instead of ropes, see-saws, merry-go-rounds, jumping boards, slides, and lots more. We loved to play in the sand. That was the best playground I have ever seen, and we went there often, with family or just a bunch of neighborhood kids. I can still see my siblings and cousins playing there: Peggy, Bobby, Jimmy, Harris, Frankie and Jackie, Susan and Mark, and others.
At the playground was a large covered pavillion that we used a few times for the Thrower-Miles Family Reunion. I can still see in my mind’s eye Dad, Grandad Thrower, Joe Thrower, Jim Moody, Frank Snasel, Jack Arthur, Lloyd Ferguson playing dominoes or pitching horseshoes or washers while the women–Mother, Mama Thrower, Big Sister (Juanita), Bonnie, & Baby Sister (Faye)–visited and later laid out the prepared meal of fried chicken, meatloaf, vegetables, cakes, pies, and cookies, bread and cornbread, tea, sweet sassafras tea in a big ceramic crocks, and lots more. It was always a feast.
Other features of the park were the huge, really beautiful fountains, big enough for several people to swim or wade in. Also, there was a small zoo, including monkeys, ducks, some exotic chickens, and a big black crow that could talk. You could hear him from a long way off, saying, “Hello! Hello! What’s your name?” and such things as that. I loved to watch the monkeys. They had lots of thing to climb on and to swing on, including some car tires on ropes. One day while I was watching them the zookeeper came along with a bucket of food. Actually, it was just a bucket of slop. The monkeys all ran for the food and started eating. One of them picked up an onion and peeled off a slice of it, then put it in his mouth and started chewing. After just a few chews he spit it out and began to yelp and to jump up and down. He grabbed that onion, ran over to the water trough and began dunking it up and down into the water. (Onions were really hot in those days.) Jim Crow was a real hit until someone taught him some bad words and they had to get rid of him. But, I always enjoyed that wonderful zoo. Some of those chickens were really beautiful.
One other aspect of the park was just walking in the woods. There were tall trees. Grape vines were available to swing on just as in the Tarzan movies. The wild grapes were a deep purple and were tangy, but sweet. Delicious!