Memories from a 2004 trip with Betsy Decherd Lane, by Helen Leavitt Campbell

Thursday Betsy and I took a taxi to Ainab and back. We chose the driver who’d taken us to the cemetery. He was so nice, somewhat educated and unobtrusive.

Takes no time to get to Ainab, our road is paved and has same configurations, first part doesn’t seem as steep, the last push seemed very steep.

Looking out to table mountain and the path to Shemlan you see many houses in cut stone or in concrete and Table mtn. is partially forested. Our grove is skimpier with trees, tennis court grassed and neglected. All properties are fenced in barbed wire or stone. Crawford and Dodd house in good shape and occupied. Crawfords have a big iron gate closing it off. A caretaker for that house came out and without our asking took us on obscure paths all around each property. Kerrs and Closes totally neglected and in severe disrepair. Our house is the only one non-existent. The rock is there and we located a piece of ceramic tile in the ground that had to be the maids toilet. Cistern in place, open and half full. I took pictures of everything. Was it sad to see it? I didn’t feel much of anything except remembering the past and the good times growing up there. So it had changed and I accepted that. Didn’t want to explore to find the cement roads because the caretaker went out of his way to show us around. Definitely worth that second trip to Ainab because  without someone to take us around, I wouldn’t have wanted to trespass. Standing at the car place and looking toward the big tree is a huge mansion in cut stone, long driveway, gated and guarded: it’s between Dodds and Kerrs but half way to big tree.

Leavitt house Remnants

Leavitt house cistern and dining room 

View of new houses from Leavitt house



Close house

Kerr house

Villa between Dodd and Kerr houses

Dodd house

Entrance to Crawford house (looking toward tennis courts), Arab family in residence

Crawford garden

Parking lot & tennis court

Helen Leavitt Campbell's response to Dorothy Kerr's Recollections

Dear Dottie, Greetings after how many years? A Northfield reunion I think. I am enclosing memories of our childhood and my teenage years in Ainab, imagining that most of you will have similiar recalls...The years start in 1934 and for me go to 1945 and 1947 and a summer of 1959 when Marga and I spent two months with my parents and our collective kids. We had our house and Marga's family rented the Close house.

Here are some memories...Shouts of "Car..car " when visitors drove up our steep roadway and we raced from our homes to reach the parking lot before the car...cracking snobars...climbing trees...Big TREE...cement roads built by our big brothers...tennis for all and competitive matches...Sardines after dark with Mr. Dodd...campfires and Sunday sings with the adults...endless games of Monopoly and other board and card games...family picnics to the outer groves, lahm mishwe, majedra and watermelon on the menu...360 degree view from the top of the hill behind the Dodd house.and playing on those rocks....all day hikes to Tom Sawyer, the Jisr and Fizur for swims...Saturday hikes over the Hills to Shemlan and baseball...walking the grove path at night with lantern and flashlight...gorgeous views of Beirut from the Close house...pumping chore to bring water from the cistern to a tank in the attic...collecting shrapnel on the mountainside from British warships shelling.the Shouf mountains.during WW ll...sleeping in the shack with Marga along with katydids that jumped on our mosquito netting...and I hated the spiders on the walls!!!

How safe and independent we felt during those summers and what an amazing and beloved community'. I hope you all can relate to some or all of this. Best to all you Ainabies. Helen Leavitt Campbell.

Ainab kids with Virginie (?), 1934?

L to R: Marga & Helen Leavitt, Peter & Bruce Dodd, ? , Ray Close

Summer vegetables, from the Dodd family archives

Donkey delivery was the next best thing (after cars)

L to R: Garabed, Molly Crawford, Bruce & Peter Dodd