I grew up in Peach Tree Settlement. Some settlements were named for the most prominent families who lived there. Other took the names of the trees, vines, or creeks that dotted the landscape. My little settlement was named for the abundant wild peach trees that grew there.
If you didn't grow up in the South in the early to mid 1900s, you might not know what a settlement is. A settlement is a small, tight knit community of people who are in some way related biologically or socially. But settlements were much more than a neighborhood for African American families.
Settlements were often a maze of sparsely populated dirt roads, wooded trails, and narrow paths. Some families lived within eyesight each other. Others lived farther apart and more secluded. But, no matter the distance, everyone knew each other and in times of crisis, celebration, or worship they gathered together.
There weren't any fancy houses in the settlement. A few houses had paint, asphalt shingles, and a water well. Most, however, were small, unpainted, and tin roofed. Whatever condition or size of your house, the front porch and front yard were your living room. It was a gathering place where people shelled peas, snapped beans, and peeled pears. It was where you laughed and talked with your neighbors, where teenage boys courted their sweetheart, and where old men and women rocked and spoke in low tones about the troubles of the world. When the sun set the front porch was a quiet, cool place to gather your thoughts and unwind for the day. Sometimes in the distance you might hear someone singing a mournful hymn or a harmonica playing the blues. Almost everyone would stop to listen. Some hummed along and patted their feet while others fanned away the heat and wiped away tears.
Some houses in the settlement have been lived in by family members for generations. There is a comfort in sitting in a house where your grandmother was born, or playing the the creek where your father was baptized, and knowing where your ancestors are buried. You feel something deep inside you stir when you walk where they walked and when you smell the pine trees that rocked them to sleep at night and woke them in the morning with a peaceful soul.
In settlements people wave and say good morning or good evening when they see you on the front porch. And if they don't see you, they honk their car horn to say hello. When you haven't been seen outside for a few days they stop to check on you. No one is invisible in a settlement.
There are some unwritten rules in a settlement: If your neighbor doesn't have a car, you offer them a ride. When there is an emergency your phone is available for others to use. You feed whoever children are at your house at mealtime (and discipline them if necessary). When someone in the settlement dies you get to their house as quickly as possible. You cook, clean, comfort them, and you stay as long as necessary.
There are a lot of things about a settlement that aren't seen or heard; they are felt. You know you are loved and always welcome in the settlement you grew up in. The settlement takes your heart to a place of comfort, belonging, and a sense of peace. YOUR ROOTS ARE THERE IT IS HOME
