It’s easy to take for granted some of the modern conveniences, such as the washer and dryer.  Recollections of how families took care of laundry before these machines were available certainly help me appreciate these machines. 

Fred Donaldson was born at Donaldson Farm in 1925 (today known as Donaldson-Bannister Farm) at the corner of Vermack Road and Chamblee Dunwoody Road in Dunwoody.   One of the wash pots from the farm is still in the family at his daughter Freda’s home and Donaldson recalls how it was used by his grandmother and his parents.

“The pot was filled with water, with a fire below the pot to bring it to a boil.  The wash pot had short legs.  It was made for the fire to be built around it instead of under it. Next, lye soap was added, followed by the clothes.  Small, but long tree limbs were used as paddles to push the clothes down in the hot water.  The clothes were lifted to another pot of clean rinse water.  Limbs were sometimes used to beat the dirt out of the clothes.  Then, the clothes were hung on a clothesline.

Sometimes blueing was added to the cool water. Blueing was a whitener that gave a blue tint to the white clothes. It could also be used by the family to relieve itching from bug bites.” 

Wash pots were also used for big cooking jobs around the farm, such as making lard and cooking chitterlings.  It was an essential part of life in every family.

In the 1930’s, Gene Adams lived in a farmhouse on what was then Old Lawrenceville Highway and today is known as Dunwoody Club Drive.  Wash day was every Friday.  Three large iron wash tubs were located down a hill behind the house, with a nearby spring as a water source.  Adams and his father filled the tubs with water and built a fire under each one.  Adam’s sisters and mother would bring the clothes down to the wash tubs and then a rub board and homemade lye soap were used to get the job done.

After washing, the clothes were hung out on a line.  If they were wrinkled a heavy iron was heated on the wood burning stove in the kitchen.  That wood burning stove in the kitchen was where all the cooking was done and helped provide heat to the home.  Having wood chopped and ready for the stove was another big job on the farm.

The first electric washing machine was invented by Alva J. Fisher in 1908 and was given the name Thor.  It was manufactured by the Hurley Machine Company of Chicago.  I imagine this was a luxury item at the time that most could not afford.  Besides that, electricity was a long way off in the Dunwoody area.  Several have told me electricity came to Dunwoody around 1940. 

There are no wash pots in my memory, but I recall my mom hanging laundry on an umbrella shaped clothesline in the 1960’s.  I am sure the washer and dryer that came with our next home was appreciated.  I remember many years later telling my mom I had no need to learn the skill of ironing, because no clothing would need ironing in the future.  I still think about that each time I need to touch up a clothing item with the iron.