Walnut Day: An Annual School Holiday

For years, one of the most anticipated days of the year was Walnut Day. A designated holiday each autumn, it was a popular competition to collect the most walnuts from the campus trees. Several weeks before the holiday, the boys hunted for the fullest trees on campus. When Walnut Day arrived, on a signal from the principal, they ran for their trees and collected the ripe nuts by shaking them from the branches. After gathering bushels and bushels, they hulled them and put them away to dry. The hulling process left the boys with black stains on their hands for days. The walnuts were generally kept until the winter when the boys gave them to the squirrels or used them to make taffy. Because it was a school holiday, after they collected nuts, the boys spent the rest of the day exploring, camping, and hiking in the woods.