This newspaper photo from 1975 shows young men harvesting pumpkins on Walden's Ridge.
The photo was part of a two-page feature in the Chattanooga News-Free Press published on Oct. 26, 1975, in the Weekend section.
The photo, by newspaper photographer Robin Hood, shows young men from the Shepard's Lane Boys Ranch loading pumpkins into a trailer pulled by a tractor on the property of land-owner John Wooden.
"John Wooden stood joking and laughing and clicked his hand-held counter" each time a pumpkin went into the trailer, said the first paragraph of the article by Barry Parker.
The article noted that the harvest was expected to yield about 1,400 pumpkins, which were bound for sale in Knoxville. It noted that besides pumpkins, the Walden's Ridge harvest that year included apples, tomatoes, corn, cabbage and watermelons.
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In a lyrical description of the work at hand, Parker wrote, "It was double-time work — the kind of job that is fun the first few trips back and forth and sweaty, hard work after that. The arms grow heavy, the pumpkins grow heavier."
A large pumpkin from the fields would fetch $5 at retail in 1975, the article said.
The photograph was part of a box of color slides recently found at the offices of the Chattanooga Times Free Press. All were shot in the autumn of 1975.
To see more photos from the "Remember When, Chattanooga?" series visit ChattanoogaHistory.com or follow the public group on Facebook.
Remember When is published on Saturdays. Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com.
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