If you look closely, and in the right places you can find remains of 2x4's and plywood scattered around several trees in Lucy. Like most, the Lucy boys loved to play war and army. We all know that every good soldier needs a fort to scope out the enemy, defend when under attack, and sometimes simply a place to just hang out.
Stevie, Mike, and I built several of these forts all over each others properties. We started this at an early age because I remember the first fort consisted of cinder blocks and a plywood covering. We even found a piece of venting tin to make a chimney. It more so resembled an igloo rather than a fort, but we weren't big enough to climb trees so it had to do.
Once we were able to climb trees, excuse the pun, the sky was the limit. We of course started small with a few boards here and there and places to sit. It was a fort per say, but it more so resembled a deer stand. However, as most contractors do, we went larger and higher. Over the years we constructed multiple tiered forts that in some cases had up to four different levels. There were steps nailed all in the base of the tree to help get around these levels. We could care less about "hurting the trees" but I will tell you we became major "tree huggers" when some of those steps broke while we standing on them.
My proudest fort that I built still stands today. It stands today because no one else can get up there and tear it down. In the back of my parents house is a great oak tree. I climbed that tree as high as I could climb and constructed a little make shift watch tower with an old Memphis State stadium seat anchored to it. Roughly 60ft in the air I could see a good portion of Lucy especially Mike and Stevie's houses on Oakhurst. Most importantly it allowed me to fend off any intruders that were planning attacks or whatever my imagination constructed up at the time.
- Steve Childress
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