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Half-True
Tales of the Oil Region
Peripheral Visions
The Legend of Ronnie Watermelonseed
The following story was discovered while I was doing research for
another book. I was trying to learn more about the oil boom days of
northwestern Pennsylvania. I was speaking to an elderly gentleman about
the stories he had heard when he was young. While he was giving the
history of some local buildings, he suddenly stopped. He asked if I had
heard of Ronnie Watermelonseed. I started to laugh, but he was
serious. He said the story was fairly well known at the turn of the
century, but had somehow been forgotten. This is the story he related
to me.
It started back before the war. For years there
had been secret groups in the north who believed that our country’s
freedoms were meant for everybody. Now, even though slavery had long
ago been abolished in the north, there were many northerners whose
livelihoods were linked to the southern plantations. These people would
cause trouble for anyone supporting freedom for the slaves.
The
safest way for the freedom groups to exist was to keep themselves
secret.
There was a boy who lived in Pennsylvania. Being born in
hill of northwestern Pennsylvania he had never really heard about
slavery. He had always been taught that he should be proud of the
freedoms that he had in the United States. And he was proud. His name
was Ronnie. Every once in a while Ronnie would see someone in town who
had very dark skin. Ronnie would sit outside the hardware store and
listen in as these folks would tell stories about some far off place.
Ronnie asked his dad why these people looked different. He was told
that they came from Africa. Ronnie didn’t know where Africa was but
figured it was a long way off. The stories the men would tell must have
been about Africa, but they always just called it ‘down south’. Ronnie
always wished he could visit Africa.
One year he got the chance to
take a trip with his dad and uncles to Georgia. They told him it was
going to be a long trip. And they said Georgia was ‘down south’.
Finally, Ronnie would get to see Africa.
The journey did take a long
time. It seemed to Ronnie that the further that they traveled, the more
dark people he would see. Finally, his dad announced that they were in
Georgia. Ronnie thought Africa didn’t look much different from home.
It was hotter. As they were passing fields, he saw large group of
people working. When they got to town Ronnie noticed something else.
Most of the white people in town were well dressed while the dark people
had old worn out clothes. Ronnie asked his dad why they wore such old
clothes. He was told it was because they were slaves. He asked what
that meant. His father told him that some of the white people had paid
money to have them work for them. Ronnie asked how much the dark people
got paid. His father explained that the “coloreds”, as he called them,
didn’t get paid. The white people owned them and they had to work for
them. The next day they travelled out of town to a farm. At the farm,
Ronnie saw some dark people being treated very badly by some whites.
Again he asked his dad why they did that. His father said they
sometimes had to punish the slaves if they didn’t work. Ronnie decided
he didn’t like Africa. He asked his dad when they could go back to the
United States. His dad said they were in the United States and that
Georgia was just another state like Pennsylvania. His dad said they
didn’t know the way and didn’t have anyone to help them. And if they
got caught, they would be punished severely.
During their trip back,
Ronnie did a lot of thinking. As they were passing through Maryland,
Ronnie noticed huge fields of watermelons. He had grown watermelon back
home. The thing about watermelons, once you plant them, they’re hard to
get rid of. Ronnie had seen that they kept coming back every year and
they would spread all over the yard. And just by spitting the seeds
anywhere, a new watermelon plant would grow.
This gave him an idea.
It wouldn’t be until several years later as a young adult that he would
be able to put his plan into action.
For years he had carefully
planted watermelon on the hillside below his house. Each year, he would
gather the seeds from every melon he could. The last year’s harvest had
yielded over fifteen bushels of seeds. He had also been studying maps,
and now knew the geography of his country very well. He had decided the
best way for the slaves to travel would be off the beaten path. While
it would be more difficult to find their way, it would be the safest.
And he had a plan that would keep them from getting lost. Using his
maps, he studied the terrain and found the best route where no other
roads had been built. He set out with a horse and his seeds. When he
first entered a slave territory, he began dropping the seeds. He had
figured how close to drop them and still have enough for the trip. In
places he would need to turn, he would plant the seeds closer in a row,
pointing the direction.
Before he had left, he had contacted a secret
group who let him know who he should see when he got to the Deep South.
Just when he was nearly out of seeds, he reached the Deep South. He
contacted the man who was also trying to help the slaves. When he first
told him his plan, the man laughed. He laughingly called it the
Watermelon trail. As Ronnie explained the benefits of watermelons not
only marking the trail, but providing food and water, the man began to
understand. Ronnie warned the man that only the slaves should know
about the watermelons. If the slave owners even suspected the use of
watermelons, the plan would be ruined. He let the man know where the
trail began and what time of the year to follow it. He also said he
would make a yearly trip to check the trail.
Ronnie returned home,
not knowing whether his trail would ever be used.
Later that fall,
Ronnie received a letter. It was from the man in the Deep South. The
man stated that during that summer, the trail had worked marvelously.
He and his group had helped over 1,000 slaves to freedom. And he was
looking forward to the next season. But he also had a request. There
were many slaves who could not get close enough to use the trail. He
asked if Ronnie could make branches to the trail and cover more area.
He also gave Ronnie the address of a farmer who would supply as many
seeds as he needed. The next spring Ronnie set out again. His trials
continued to be built for years, and many slaves found their way to
freedom thanks to Ronnie. But all this time the exact way the trails
were marked was kept a very close secret.
Even today, very few people
know of this trail. For years, there has been a connection between
American blacks and the watermelon. Usually this has been used in
racial jokes. However, those using it have never really understood the
secret that the watermelon actually held in the history of slavery.
(Verse from the Song of Ronnie Watermelonseed)
Come on, Ronnie, plant them seeds
We ain’t got time to spare
We
gotta show them folks the way
‘Cause slavery just ain’t fair
Copyright Edward D. Clark, Jr.
edward@pennsmart.com
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