Singleton remembers the bygone days of the old-timey gourd dipper

Long-handled gourd dippers.

(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere in Time.” The column below, which was titled “Making dippers was art” was originally published in the Aug. 28, 1997 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

A few days back while sitting around in the local coffee shop, the subject came up among the old timers about the art of making gourd dippers. Everyone who thought they remembered how to make a gourd dipper voiced their opinion. I don’t profess to be smart, but I do remember the procedure of selecting and making an excellent gourd dipper.

Aunt Lellia was an old black lady that my family took care of for a number of years. She had no family to care for her, so my parts took her under their wings, so to speak, and saw to it that she had a place to stay and clothing to wear and plenty of food to eat. Aunt Lellia had delivered me at birth due to the fact that because of bad weather, the local doctor wasn’t able to get to our house when my dear mother went into labor. Since Aunt Lellia delivered me, she always watched over me and took special care of me as I was growing up.

Aunt Lellia was the absolute authority on just about anything that happened around the farm community. She did almost all the doctoring and prescribing home remedies for the local farm folks. She knew all there was to know about the art of making quilts, canning fruits and vegetables, storing meat or anything that pertained to raising a family on the farm. She was also the absolute authority when it came to making gourd dippers.

As the gourds dried on the vines and the time came to gather and select the ones for making dippers, Aunt Lellia’s word was law. I can see her now, as she sat out on a large wooden bench out by the well. The womenfolk of the farm community would bring several gourds over for Aunt Lellia to inspect and supervise the making into a drinking dipper, or perhaps just an ordinary dipping dipper. Some would be made for the purpose of dipping up shelled corn, peas or maybe beans. Then, there were those made that the womenfolk used to dip water to pour on the flowers in the yard, when the ground was dry. She selected with great care those that were going to dip the hot molasses after it was cooked and ready to be put in the cans. These had to have special strong handles because a dipper of hot molasses was much heavier than just a dipper of plain water. So, great care had to be taken when selecting the gourds that had the strongest handles.

Special care had to be taken after the hole had had been cut in the gourd. The hole had to be the proper size. It couldn’t be too small because this would cause the dipper to empty too slowly. If the hole was too large, it would empty too quickly. It didn’t matter if the hole was large in the ones that were used for watering the flowers or dipping shelled corn or peas. The only concern was if the hole was too large, it would weaken the walls of the dipper bowl.

Those that were to be used for dipping drinking water had to have more special care. To keep the drinking water from tasting bitter like the gourd, it had to be boiled in hot water for a special time. If it was boiled too long, this would weaken the structure of the gourd. If it wasn’t boiled long enough, the bitter taste would yet remain in the drinking dipper. Aunt Lellia knew the exact time for these preparations.

Then, after the boiling of the new dippers, the inside had to be scraped with a special sharpened spoon. This would remove the loose tissue or fiber from the inside of the gourd. Only Aunt Lellia had a spoon that had been specially prepared for the scrapping of a new dipper. The edges of the spoon had been sharpened by her hands and no one dared to interfere with the inside scraping; this could cause a weak place in the dipper, if one didn’t know what they were doing. This was done by Aunt Lellia and no one else.

I can see it now; the long-handled gourd dipper, hanging out by the well on one of the posts that held up the canopy over the well. The heavy wooden bucket would be lowered into the deep well with the windlass. Then, slowly it would be pulled up by turning the windlass and bringing the large overflowing bucket to the top of the curbing. The gourd dipper would be filled by dipping it into the large bucket. And, the sweet taste of the cool fresh water was something to behold. Nowhere today, can water be found that tastes as this water did. And, the drinking gourd dipper only added to its flavor and freshness.

Since I was very special to this darling old lady, Aunt Lellia made for me a special drinking dipper. A small hole was cut in the end of the gourd handle and all I had to do was to fill the dipper then raise it up and let the water flow through the handle and into my mouth. All my friends in the community thought it a special privilege to get to drink out of my dipper. Nowhere else in the community was there a dipper such as mine; wanting to drink out of my special dipper was considered a special treat.

Yes, the art of making a good drinking dipper out of a gourd has passed into oblivion. No more do we go to the well and drink the fresh water from a special gourd dipper. No more do we draw water from the well on a hot day and take a dipper full of the cool fresh water and pour it over our heads to cool us. I am aware of the changing times but sometimes I think they have changed for the worst.

(Singleton, the author of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of 79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident of Monroeville, he was born to Vincent William Singleton and Frances Cornelia Faile Singleton, during a late-night thunderstorm, on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served as a U.S. Marine paratrooper in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964 and served as the administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from June 28, 1964 to Dec. 14, 1987. He was promoted from the enlisted ranks to warrant officer in May 1972. For years, Singleton’s columns, titled “Monroe County history – Did you know?” and “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a lengthy series of articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life magazine. It’s believed that his first column appeared in the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal. He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s other columns are available to the public through the microfilm records at the Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented here each week for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work and memory alive.)