No doubt, some psychologist has taken notice of the fact that we need a place to hide away, sometimes with our friends, and has declared it to be a fundamental human need worthy of extensive scientific study. And that may be true. But all I know is one of the common bonds I had with my childhood friends was the desire to build various forts.
The fort could take many forms. The simplest was perhaps the depicted indoor model, consisting of chairs, couch cushions, blankets, and any other raw materials which could be corralled within the confines of your home.
Winter time brought on the opportunity to create a splendid, but temporary structure: the snow fort.
If you were raised in a northern clime, you probably know a lot more about childhood snow forts that me. Winters in northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas afford one or two snowfalls of four or more inches on average, and these tended to disappear within hours. But we got an occasional foot or more of the basic building substance with infrequent snowstorms. When the dice were rolled so fortunately for us, we quickly sprang into action.
The snowfall would usually be in temperatures within a few degrees of freezing. Therefore, it would pack well. You could quickly form it into makeshift blocks and create walls. These would make for excellent protection in snowball wars.
Deep drifts would often form in ditches and such. This afforded a truly wonderful opportunity: caves. You could dig cavities big enough to get your entire self inside! Of course, if you stressed the packed snow too far, a collapse would inevitably occur. But our snowfalls were too meager to ever produce any consequences worse than some snow down the neck. Brr!
We also built forts out of limbs, leaves, and grass. I have fond memories of an effort by most of the fourth grade class at White Rock Elementary in little Jane, Missouri circa 1969. There was a stand of trees at one edge of the school property, including some short locust and osage-orange (or bodark apples, as I knew them) species. It turned out that there was a stand of three of the shorter trees that just happened to form a good fort frame with their branches.
There were ten or so of us boys who banded together and harvested good fort-building material: branches, dried sage grass, pine needles, etc. We created as a team the most bodacious fort that there ever was. It had a roof made of thatched sage grass, walls made of limbs and filled in with grass and pine needles, windows for spotting the enemy, and even a floor of pine needles.
That proud structure was the spot we all ran to when the recess bell rang. It lasted an entire fall, being abandoned when several days of rain washed most of it away.
Today, I work in a Dilbertese cubicle that is quite fort-like. It has an offset entry, forcing the enemy (i.e. manager types) to make a tight turn to get inside. In the meantime, my strategically located wall-mounted hard drive platters with their brilliant mirror finishes have given me a preview of the invader. By the time they make it to my physical presence, I am prepared to deal with the intruder with no surprises.
My fourth-grade fort lives on.
Comments (4)
I’m far from a psychologist but I have to agree with thier feelings on this one. I remember building snow forts in the winter and then it was a new adventure in the summer. My friends from a past long ago would seek adventures far away that would take hours to explore (less than a mile from the security of home!) either in the woods at the end of the street that should have been called a cul-de-sac as it just stopped in anticipation for the new highway that is now considered a local road. I remember forts made out of large boulders that the highway workers piled in a location only known by my closest friends as we were sure that even the highway workers even forgot, the location as they just moved up the highway. Thinking back to that time we were nuts as any slip of the boulders would have had disastrous results. Inside the boulder fort we felt that it was our own personal secure area that no one knew about and we were safe form all the elements. That is except for the occasional snake and we all knew that all snakes were poisonous and could kill in a matter of seconds. One year after a long cold winter we came back to the fort for the last time as the boulders moved and destroyed the fort. We had a few more years of adventures before we started to separate and move on to create new friends and adventures. Psychologists’ idea of a personal place that we all feel comfortable can be just about anywhere as I can imagine. When listening to music and your eyes are closed can be a personal and safe place even when listing to an MP3 player on a crowded train. How about transferring your thoughts and mind to a place that you always wanted visit but know you will never have the chance as the pyramids have already been built and you can only read about or see it in a movie. You can be sitting in a cubical in a crowded office and your computer can put you in far away places. Your adventures will always be with you in your mind even if the physical reality is now impossible. Memories are very personal to each person. I have always been fortunate that I suppress bad memories and only remember the good ones. As I age I notice even remembering the good ones is getting very hard. There was a statement made in a movie with Donald Southerland as a Tank Commander going to some village in Germany for the anticipation of a percentage of the loot at the end of the adventure. One of his men said something and immediately Donald Southerland said “No Negative thoughts!” What a statement! That is how I want people around me to feel. Only the good memories and best thoughts need be expressed thank you! My best memories will be of my wife and how just smelling her hair is worth all the memories I will have in my life time even though it only takes a second. Share your memories with a loved or special friend and they can also have been part of your personal fort.
Posted by R. Capelle | April 11, 2007 12:15 PM
Posted on April 11, 2007 12:15
I live down here where the snow doesn't come and the land is so flat we don't have big boulders to hide behind. Our forts existed just the same, cardboard boxes, discarded pieces of plywood and piles of leaves did the job. Tearing the fort down was as much fun as putting it up and playing in it!
Posted by Micki | April 11, 2007 10:18 PM
Posted on April 11, 2007 22:18
Not much snow in SE Texas. But does anyone else remember building Christmas tree forts by collecting discarded trees in January?
Posted by Kevtuck | April 14, 2007 3:05 AM
Posted on April 14, 2007 03:05
We had snow in Maryland, but never did any snow forts! The indoor fort and the tree forts were staples! We had this big old pine tree that we would throw plank boards in for a floor! We could take our GIJoes up there too! Many a day we converted the whole downstairs at my Grandmothers house! Girls weren't aloud in! If we were teenagers, I am sure that rule would have been abolished! Today and many years now, I have had the privilege to actually play in real, old military forts being I am a Civil War reenactor! Spent many a day at Fort McHenry, Fort Washington, Fort Foote, and many other forts! Many with ghost stories a plenty!
Posted by Rivers End | June 10, 2009 10:14 AM
Posted on June 10, 2009 10:14