Hubby and I had gone for a ride on Sunday looking for fall color. It seems the leaves here are a little late in changing this year and we didn't find much. We did happen to run across this rusty old school bus shelter at the intersection of two rural roads.
Back in the day these little buildings were your shelter in the storm be it rain or freezing snow and cold winds. It was a place to keep dry while you waited for the bus. Most had a little bench seat where you could sit down. You can see just the hint of one in the photo.
Growing up we lived along the main highway. The bus stop before my house was at the top of the hill where two rural roads converged on either side of the highway. The kids who lived up those roads had to come out to the main highway to catch the bus so they had a small bus shelter for years. My brothers and I were able to stand on our front porch out of the weather and wait for the bus. If it was very cold we could take turns stepping back into the house to get warm. We were fortunate.We could hear the bus stop at the top of the hill and then we had enough time to walk down our driveway and meet the bus.
Often this time of the year near Halloween mischievous teenagers would topple the bus shelters over. Looking back it wasn't right by any means but compared to some of today's pranks committed by teenagers it seems almost harmless.
These days I rarely see one of the old shelters. The buses stop almost at everyone's front door or parents transport their kids to and from school. They aren't practical in most places anymore and are a relic of an era gone by. Seeing this one this past weekend brought back some old childhood memories and a yearning for the good old days.
Linking to Rurality Blog Hop.
i've seen one wooden one here in texas. rather quaint. :)
ReplyDeleteI drove school bus for 15 years in suburban Seattle and there aren't any that I've seen, but getting out in rural areas (especially eastern WA) I see them all the time. We walked about 1/2 mile from our house to the bus stop as kids and shared a stop with some neighbor kids and I always wished we'd had a shelter instead of standing in whatever befell us weather wise on any given day... thanks for the memories! Thank you for coming by to share on Rurality Blog Hop #37!
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a very small town; we had one caution light but because we were the last house in the city limits we were close enough to walk to school..Isn't it funny, now that you mentioned the bad weather I don't remember what we did when it rained....I'll have to look into that......
ReplyDeleteI still see some of these shelters out in the country....
Fascinating post and creative photo ~ carol, xx
ReplyDeleteps. I walked to school in all kinds of weather ~ just dressed for it ~ now I see parents lined up to pick up their children ~ not safe for them anywhere ~ sad
I've seen several out on the dirt roads...but not many looked inhabitable...times have changed.
ReplyDeleteIt's cute, especially the little seat inside the shelter.
ReplyDeleteFirst metal one I've seen. In our neck-of-the-woods they were all wood.
ReplyDeleteWe saw some metal ones when we were in WV for Bud's race. The ones around here are made of plywood and not the metal ones. I bet it did bring back memories.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a metal one but there are still a few of the wooden ones around. It does bring back memories of other times when there were a lot of them around.
ReplyDeleteI still see some used when I drive out in the country.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the odd bus shelter like that here. Mostly we had to wait out in the open. Pictures like your old bus shelter bring back a lot of memories.
ReplyDeleteI see them a lot here in New Zealand since the population is quite spread out. Some of them are very creative, too.
ReplyDeleteVery cool, Carletta! I don't recall any of the bus shelters in Montreal being made of tin, so this is a real treat!
ReplyDeleteHI Carletta Lovely find and lovely memories for you.
ReplyDeleteGreat photo! I had to walk a long way to the bus stop and there was no shelter like this one; just a rock wall that we sat on while we waited. It was freezing in the winter. A shelter would have been nice!
ReplyDeleteThere are not too many around here either now. When I see the school bus dropping the kids off I usually see a mum in a car picking them up at the gate.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen one of these, but probably because I lived in the city. I've probably driven by one in the country before and didn't know what it was. How cool!
ReplyDeleteNice to know about your history on tin bus shelter...
ReplyDeleteI have never seen one before, or if I did, I didn't know what it was! Thanks for posting this and educating me! :)
ReplyDeleteA fine and very old part of our school culture now gone. It's worth photographing these to preserve how they looked.
ReplyDeletewow this is a real open ones eyes
ReplyDeletepicture alright. And story.
I am behind posting sorry.
Loved your picture and your memories~
ReplyDeleteLovely trip down memory lane....thanks for dropping by and have a super great weekend♥
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever seen a metal bus shelter quite like this. Very interesting patina. Nice photo.
ReplyDeleteCarletta,
ReplyDeleteOuthouse was my first guess. I have never heard of a school bus shelter.
From some of the stories my Mom tells of her elementary days a shelter like this would have been a life saver. Mom went to Catholic school and the girls were required to wear skirts year round.
I am much older than you but probably wouldn't have known what this was. But I have seen wooden ones. We see cars waiting at school bus stops quite often....I guess nobody works, because who could pick their kids up at 330?
ReplyDeleteI have been witness to these little shelters but never in one as I had to walk to school. (uphill, barefoot with a foot of snow on the ground) - No really I did walk to school. In high school we live 1 block short of being able to ride the bus, what a pain that was.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea what it was, we didn't have any shelter.
ReplyDelete