University of Virginia Library

Dodging Poison Ivy In The Petting Pits

By BARBARA HAND

Flapper skirts, raccoon coats and the Charleston raged
throughout the country in the 1920s.

Offering much more than this to the spirited post-war
generation was the usually conservative Charlottesville. When the
students weren't dancing the Charleston to music booming from
their Victorias, they may have been frequenting the infamous
Petting Pits.

On the hillside between Memorial Gymnasium and Alderman
Library once stood two large excavations where ice was stored for
University use. Wooden structures were built around the pits to
better retain the cold.

When ice storage was no longer practical or needed, the old
pits were abandoned and remained unnoticed until cows began to
disappear around their perimeters.

The frequency of these mishaps led the ingenious livestock
owners to tunnel a pathway from the bottom of the pits to the
adjacent road creating an easy exit for their unfortuitous cattle.
Wooden ladders were installed leading up to the pits.

The animal dilemma solved, the pits now gained a new
usefulness as romantic youth discovered their unique setting.
Always seeking a place of privacy and shadowy seclusion, the
gallant University men and their frail charges sought the old ice
pits for heart-throbbing romance. The sturdy ladders conducted
them to the pits' boudoir with the tunnel nearby providing a
convenient means of emergency escape.

"I got the worst case of poison ivy I have ever had at the
Petting Pits," admitted Mabel A. Talley, the snowy-haired
reference associate in Alderman Library.

A lifelong resident of Charlottesville, Mrs. Talley remembers,
"There was poison ivy all over the ladders leading down to the
Pits... there just wasn't any way to avoid it."

"I don't think my mother every knew where I got that awful
case of poison ivy," the spirited librarian recalled.

"In those days you didn't have much time for fooling
around," she explained, "By the time you climbed down the
ladder to get to the Petting Pits, you weren't as peppy as when
you went down."

Mrs. Talley noted that the popularity of the Pits predominated
in the 1920's because "It was the novelty of some place to
go." Though all the corners of the secluded pits one might spot
romantic silhouettes, she emphasized, "We weren't as
pre-occupied with sex then."

Surprisingly, the Petting Pits weren't usually frequented at
night. "If you had an afternoon date you might go. In those days,
you needed a kerosene lamp to do any running around at night."

"Going to the petting pits
was like going to Stiffhall," the
librarian added, indicating
another of the University's
major attractions during the
Roaring Twenties.

Located in back of Peabody
Hall, Stiffhall housed cadavers
for the medical students.

"If you had a date with a
med student, he would
sometimes take you to Stiffhall
to show you the parts of the
body kept in some type of

formaldehyde," commented
the experienced Mrs. Talley.

"Once I had a date with a
med student. . . he reached
into his pocket and pulled out
a finger. They liked to see the
girls jump."

An invaluable source of
knowledge about the 20's, Mrs.
Talley was at her prime during
that period. Her home being close
to the University, she "was
running around with the
students in those days."

"We really had no place to
go except parties around the
University. Someone would
have a Victrolas. . . we'd take
up the rug and make our own
dance floor."

Since the University men
didn't have cars, the streetcar
and walking were the main
means of transportation. "If the fellow had money, though, he
might rent a horse and buggy on a Sunday afternoon," she
explained.

On only four nights of the year were Charlottesville's femme
fatals allowed to stay up late. The justification for such larks?
None other than the four big "German" dance
weekends...Openings, Midwinters, Easters and Finals.

"For the first three Germans, the University boys would invite
the type of girl he didn't plan on marrying. He was just out for a
good time." As Mrs. Talley put it, "They just wanted a date with
someone they could maul."

But for finals, he would bring the gal whom he really liked and
admired. The "imported" girls would stay in boardinghouses, where
they were closely chaperoned. On Friday afternoon before a
major weekend, hundreds of University gentlemen would be
waiting at the train station for their dates.

While the highlight of our present day big weekends might
be mudslides, the University in the 1920's would feature
magnificent formal dances held in Fayerweather Hall (which also
served as the University's gymnasium.) Dancing to the music of a
top name orchestra, Virginia gentlemen would be decked in tux
and spit-polished shoes.

It is no wonder that students resorted to the Petting Pits for
any more serious indulgences.
The virtuous young girls of
yesteryear certainly weren't
allowed in dormitory rooms.

And most of the boarding
homes required the girls to be
back by 1 a.m. at the latest. It
was either Petting Pits or a few
quick pecks in the corner of
the dance floor.

But Mrs. Talley firmly
contends that "we just didn't
think of sex like you young
people do today. If he held
your hand, we called him
'fast'."

Though the transition was
slow, the "golden era" of the
twenties began to fade with
the approach of modern
technology.

The automobile took the
University couples to remote
lover's lanes. And med students
apparently tired of seeing their
dates jump when they pulled
fingers out of their pockets.

So the Roaring Twenties
came to an end, leaving only
memories of smooches in dark
corners and a bad case of
poison ivy.