Where did you live? My domain was between Huntington Park and the Warwick Yacht club, about a 12 mile spread... all neighborhoods and back roads. I now live in Hilton and my current 5 year old will have the same limitation with the only rule being “no crossing Warwick Blvd”. Probably also about 17 miles from Yorktown, but no safe way of getting there via bike.
Almost the same thing. The woods were a magical place when we were little.
We played in the woods near the swamp & Grapevine Bridge of the Seven Days Battles. We made forts, played in old earthworks, ate watermelons in the fields. Life was good.
Unless we wanted to take a nap, we were expected to stay outside. We even had a cup near the spigot in case we were thirsty. No need for that—we knew the locations of several springs and that water was always the best. :)
We knew it was time to come home when we heard the car horn blow.
I lived in Buckroe Beach and it was the mid-50s. The road between home to Yorktown was a very rural one or two lanes.