I was 5 years old and I went out with my dad to catch crawdads. We were at Bluestone Lake. The last thing my mom told me before we left was not to get my pajamas wet which wasn’t a problem since we were wading. I followed my dad holding a plastic bowl and he had a net that he was catching crawdads in. When he would catch them he would put
them in my bowl. We were going to use them to go fishing.
We were on our way back to the camp and we were almost at the bank and the next thing I knew I was under water. I was not scared. I remember watching the crawdads float around me as they left the bowl I was carrying. I had no idea that I was in any danger. I was just floating in the water. I did not know how to swim and I didn’t even realized that I needed to swim!
Then my dad was carrying me to the riverbank and my mom was screaming and going crazy. She grabbed me and started to hug me and check me over. I thought I was in trouble because I got my pajamas wet! I had no idea what had just happened to me.
It turned out that she was the one who saw me go under. My dad had been leading the way because he was taking me around the deeper pools of water. I just took one wrong step and went under my mom said. My dad turned to me when my mom started screaming and he had to reach down in the water and pull me out by my foot. I was very lucky!
We never went back to Bluestone Lake again. I have heard that a lot of people have drowned in that area.
Can anyone tell me, if Bluestone Lake is near what would have been Bluestone, Tazewell County, VA before WV became a state? I am researching ancestors. Thanks!