Holiday greetings from farm country in the early 1890’s. Photographer Marie Kendall set up this enchanting tableau in the back yard of the family home on Greenwoods Road, opposite the entrance to Westside Road. Look carefully in the distance across the town meadow and you can see the houses that lined Laurel Way in a relatively tree-less landscape. The Kendall children—Helen, Claude and Cyrus—have harnessed an amazingly cooperative sheep for an unlikely dash through the snow. The sheep, however, is much more interested in the camera. On the far right lies a ripper, a sled about eight feet long which could hold a half dozen or more children. Rides on the ripper were legendary in snowy Norfolk winters. A favorite run began at the top of the hill near the intersection of Greenwoods Road and Laurel Way. Before automobile traffic dominated the thoroughfare, riders flew down Greenwoods Road, hoping to negotiate the big curves at the center of town, and ended up in West Norfolk, if they were lucky. Of course the return trip was much more arduous.

Ann Havemeyer

Photo copyright Norfolk Historical Society