My Quilt Tent – 1958

1958 july kris tent

I am standing in front of my tent made of a quilt attached to the former chicken house, at that point storage shed, in Nanny and Poppy’s (my Graham grandparents) backyard.  It was a June Saturday in 1958.  I was 11 and would turn 12 in August.  My cousin Barbara had her own quilt tent built over the wooden slide.

1958 June barbara tent

In the header we are eating lunch in the yard the same day.  Sitting at the table from L to R is my aunt Mary V., my grandmother, my greatgreat aunt Abbie, my grandfather at the head of the table (of course) me, cousin Dee Dee and cousin Marilyn on the end. My mother probably took the picture.

More posts about my grandparent’s house on Theodore.

T is for Theodore Street

Memorial Day and the Fourth of July

25 thoughts on “My Quilt Tent – 1958

  1. Oh what memories those makeshift tents bring back! My dad had canvas pieces from pup tents purchased after the war from an Army surplus store & we used to snap them together & drape them over our wooden swing set for a tent. Or we clothes- pinned old blankets to a beach umbrella slipped into a pipe Dad had set in the ground & made that a tent – & those tents became everything from forts & Indian teepees to space ships. Children have the grandest imaginations with no limits!

  2. You look rightly proud in that first photo and Barbara looks very ‘cool’ in her tent. I bet there are many happy memories to go with these pictures.

  3. A makeshift tent, a box, under the bed — I’m sure some learned psychologist has explained the universal appeal. I bet you girls were a constant source of entertainment for your parents and grandparents.

  4. Strikes a chord in all of us, those blanket tents. Ours was a “fort” in our imaginations and we even hung the blankets up in the winter when we were too lazy to make igloos.
    Loved this post.

  5. Interesting that they used the backing of the quilt for the outside of the tent. I would be interested knowing what the pattern on the right side was.

  6. My tent was a genuine army surplus pup tent which had a unique fuggy aroma unlike anything else I can think of. Maybe a bit like the odor of old style canvas basketball shoes after a semester of gym class. I would have liked a quilt.

  7. How wonderful to have photos. You have reminded me of building tents inside the house with sheets and blankets (mum wouldn’t let sheets or blankets outside!)

  8. Did you spend nights out in your tent? I can remember great sleepovers with my friend in the tent in the backyard we built from a canvas tarp. My parents entrusted us with a hibachi on which we toasted bread and cooked bacon. It was a grand time. You’ve brought back those memories.

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