The Stealey Pool
Post by: Bryan Stealey
Town: Morgantown
Website: Reversing the Numbness
What looks crappier than an old, empty pool on a really crappy day? Not much. Case in point:
That’s the Stealey Pool, which was my summer haunt all the years of my youth. That place was awesome. Pretty much every kid in Stealey (including us Stealey boys) were members, and it was always one of the nicest places to swim in all of Clarksburg. Not only did spring mean the end of school, but it also meant the beginning of swim season and our daily trips up the biggest hill in the neighborhood to our beloved pool.
I was recently in Clarksburg for my Grandmother Stealey’s funeral, unfortunately, and my brothers and I spent a couple of hours driving around our old stomping grounds. It’s getting pretty run down in places, sadly, and I understand Clarksburg in general is going through some pretty tough times right now. Our trip up to good ol’ Stealey pool was an eye-opener. There it was, lonely, tired looking, its age showing in its peeling paint, its cracking concrete deck, it’s rusty fence. Add to that a gloomy day, a shallow pool of dirty grey water at the bottom of the deep end, and not another soul in sight, and the place just looked terrible. It looked dead, almost.
Even though the town is facing tough times right now, and I doubt the pool’s budget has an extreme makeover in the cards, I’m sure that the coming of spring will turn it into a completely different place. The surrounding hills will be lush with vegetation, the pool will be filled with clean, blue water, and the cracks in the deck will be hidden by slowly tanning feet of every shape and size.
I just love how spring makes dead things come back to life.
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May 22nd, 2008 at 10:55 pm
That’s a great post, P. (I call him “P” in real life. We actually call each other that. Long story.)
June 14th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Bryan,
What a gloomy pic of Stealey Pool. The Stealey Pool has gone through some changes in the past few years and we are trying to bring it back to life. It’s hard when members age and are unable to volunteer time, energy, and $$$. We are blessed to still have the support of the “Shady Tree Ladies” that keep us in line. You should stop by sometime this summer for one of our Wednesday night Family Nights where we cook as a family and enjoy the pool until 10pm OR come to one of the home swim meets (we may put you to work), also “Adult Night” where kids stay home with the sitter and we relive our youth! This is a wonderful place to raise kids in a place where we all look out for each other. A family membership is $350 for the summer and it is well worth it for my family to have a place to enjoy the summer with people who I know and watch out for them! Let me know if you would like to come back and enjoy the pool in your “more mature” years.
Bri