Living in the 60s in rural Virginia
Nice to see you again, Louis, and thanks for stirring up an old memory!
We lived in rural Virginia when I was a child. Every household on our two-mile-long road shared our party line. Now, that wasn't very many households - I believe, nine - but still, if my memory is correct, those 9 households equaled 27 people all sharing one phone line!
I also remember that phone numbers weren't all numbers back then. Ours started with the letters GA (which stood for Garden) followed by 4 numbers I don't recall. Because of the letters in phone numbers, the rotary dial phones had letters assigned to each number, which your image doesn’t show, so I added a photo that does.
You didn't mention those party-line sharers who would pick up very surreptitiously and listen in on conversations! Once my sister got in trouble for planning a secret rendezvous with a boyfriend over the phone line. An adult neighbor was listening and reported her plans to our father. That was probably a good thing but clearly illustrated that phone conversations were never private. I remember my father telling the neighbor that he appreciated the information but would appreciate even more if she didn’t eavesdrop on our phone calls!
