Farmhouse - Lydia, Virginia 

Old farmhouses are still common in this area. They are plain, wood frame structures built to accommodate large families. The most distinctive architectural feature is a large porch, which often wraps around two sides of the house. In the days before air conditioning, a shady porch provided respite from the summer heat.

I took this picture on a hot Sunday afternoon recently, and it reminded me of the farmhouses that I knew as a child. I never lived in a house like this, but friends and relatives did and I have fond memories of country kitchens with wood cook-stoves, a big shade tree in the yard to play under, and evenings in the porch swing, listening to the grown-ups talk in the dark.

As I drove down the road past this house, I thought about these things. There was not a soul stirring around the place and I drove on by, the dust rising in the heat behind me.