Sometime before 1955, we moved into a little house on Oakland Avenue (Number 60) . The house was situated about midway between Clement’s Bridge Road and Evesham Road, one block east of the Black Horse Pike.

The map above shows the neighborhood as it exists today. The driveway and garage were added later and the space behind the house was occupied by the railroad track mentioned in a previous post. Not long after we moved in, a rose arbor with gates was installed to provide access to the railroad right-of-way from our yard and from the neighbor’s yard. This structure was constructed primarily by my uncle Mike (Krist) and Uncle Joe (Smith) with moral support and beer supplied by my father, who was not particularly handy.

Directly across the tracks was Pete’s Bar, owned and operated by the Skiba family. Pete Skiba was a year or two younger than me and we were friends and playmates throughout childhood and adolescence.

The Toyota dealership shown on the map was originally a cornfield, and was developed into a supermarket sometime in the late 1950’s. Across the street from the supermarket, and still existing today, was Gardner’s Funeral Home, most notable because on Halloween they always gave out candy apples, which were not to be missed.