Christmas 2014

Best wishes for a joyful Christmas Season

and a safe and happy New Year!

Thanks to everyone who visited Photography In Place last year. We will be taking a short break over the Christmas holidays but will be back on January 5, 2015 to start our sixth year. Hope you will join us.

Signs of the season

Louisa County, Virginia 

Signs of the season

Louisa County, Virginia 

Visit Photography In Place Print Gallery to purchase a framed print of this picture. Individual prints and note cards are also available.  

Third Sunday - December 2014

Appomattox County, Virginia 

Wesley Chapel - 1828

Wesley Chapel was  built in 1828 and is one of the oldest churches in Appomattox County. It remained in use until 1939. The building was moved to Clover Hill Village in 1991 where it is the centerpiece of the historic village recreation owned by the Appomattox County Historical Society. Many of the original furnishings of the church are still intact.

Winter path

Greene County, Virginia 

Almost winter

Greene County, Virginia 

Submerged leaf

Greene County, Virginia 

Winter trees

Shenandoah National Park

Drip

Greene County, Virginia 

Last of the day

Appomattox County, Virginia 

Treeline

Greene County, Virginia 

Young Cherry

Greene County, Virginia 

Creek

Greene County, Virginia 

Arch

Greene County, Virginia 

Botanical #24

Greene County, Virginia

162 Main Street

Pamplin City, Virginia

The early morning sun slants across this dusty and neglected storefront. The door is padlocked. The store will not be opening this morning. Our visit to Pamplin City is over.

All of the photographs of Pamplin were taken on November 11, 2014.

In This Place: Pamplin City - Part Five

Appomattox County, Virginia 

The future of Pamplin City is cloudy, but the town could receive a boost with the completion of the High Bridge Trail State Park, a 34 mile long trail that would reach Pamplin along the abandoned Norfolk Southern railroad line between Pamplin and Burkeville. The trail could bring tourism to the town, encouraging new business to serve visitors who today by-pass Pamplin City on Route 460. and never even know it is there.

For more about Pamplin City, and other forgotten towns in Virginia, I highly recommend the book Lost Communities of Virginia (University of Virginia Press, 2011)

In This Place: Pamplin City - Part Four

Appomattox County, Virginia 

In This Place: Pamplin City - Part Three

Appomattox County, Virginia 

Tradition says that in the early 1700s, Indians taught the early settlers to make clay smoking pipes from kaolin, the red clay so abundant in the area.

The manufacture of clay pipes continued to be a key industry in Pamplin until the decline in the popularity of pipe smoking along with adverse economic factors forced the closure of the Pamplin Pipe Factory after the end of World War II. The Pamplin Pipe Factory, once the largest producer of clay pipes in the world, drove the prosperity of the town, and after the loss of this industry, the town began to fade away.

In This Place: Pamplin City - Part Two

Appomattox County, Virginia 

The fine old buildings of Pamplin have been empty for many years, and neglect has taken a toll, threatening to destroy the historic fabric of the structures. The crumbling architectural details still recall a time when Main Street was proud and prosperous, and life in this small town was good.

In This Place: Pamplin City - Part One

Appomattox County, Virginia 

Pamplin City is an almost forgotten Virginia town a few miles west of Appomattox. I visited there on November 11, 2014 to photograph Pamplin's Main Street buildings, all now empty or used for storage.

A fire in 1909 destroyed 33 wood-frame buildings in Pamplin City, prompting the town to pass an ordnance that required all future buildings to be constructed of brick. These sturdy brick buildings facing the railroad tracks were once the downtown heart of Pamplin City.

The Pamplin railroad depot was restored in 2004 and now serves as library and town offices. The depot is known as a combination station, designed to house both passenger and freight services.

Pamplin City is featured in the book Lost Communities of Virginia (University of Virginia Press, 2011). Most of the information I will be sharing this week came from that book.

Thanksgiving - 2014

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Wishing everyone a peaceful and enjoyable Thanksgiving.

We are taking a couple of days off over Thanksgiving and will resume our regular schedule on Monday, December 1st.

Snead barn

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

The Snead Farm was privately owned until the 1950s. The property is now part of Shenandoah National Park. The barn and root cellar still stand, and the foundations of the house are nearby.

What summer left behind . . .

Green County, Virginia 

Washpan

Clover Hill Village - Appomattox County, Virginia 

The Appomattox County Historical Society owns and operates Clover Hill Village. Various buildings and farming implements recreate rural life from before the Civil War into the early years of the 20th century. Even though the Village is now closed for the season, the grounds are open all year and I spent an afternoon there last week taking pictures. I had the place to myself.

More to come over the next few weeks. Have a safe and enjoyable weekend, and thanks for reading Photography In Place.

Antiques

Vera, Virginia 

Vera is a small community just north of the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park.

Truck, flag, sidewalk

Dillwyn, Virginia 

Last week I spent several days in the Appomattox, Virginia area. From my home base in the travel trailer I photographed in the Appomattox Court House National Park, the reconstructed Clover Hill Village, Pamplin City which is one of Virginia's Lost Communities and the Buckingham Branch Railroad headquarters in the town of Dillwyn. It will take me a while to process and edit the photos from this trip, but I thought I would share a few this week just to make a break from all the landscape/nature subjects that I have been posting recently.

Botanical #23

Greene County, Virginia 

Under the ginkgo tree.

Greene County, Virginia 

The ginkgo tree in our yard has shed its leaves. One day the tree was golden with turning leaves; the next day the leaves were thick on the ground under the bare branches. That's the way it goes with the ginkgo tree. Winter is suddenly here.

Third Sunday - November, 2014

Louisa County, Virginia 

Foster Creek Baptist Church - 1867

Columnar jointing

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia 

Columnar jointing is an unusual geological structure formed as volcanic rock cools and fractures into polygonal prisms, or columns. This photograph was made last month in the Shenandoah National Park. The formation is a short by steep hike off the Appalachian Trail near Compton Peak.

Get out and take a walk this weekend. No matter where you are, there is something to see. And thanks for reading Photography In Place.

Everyday things

Greene County, Virginia 

Not everyone is able to travel and photograph in exotic locations but there is beauty and interest to be found in the everyday things that surround us. Traveling to see new things can be stimulating, but seeing old things in a new way is a challenge that can lead to fresh vision.

By the lake

Greene County, Virginia 

Late autumn trees

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Botanical #22

Greene County, Virginia 

Our hostas finally succumbed to the first freezing weather of the season the other night.

End of season

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia 

Empty parking lot, scattered leaves, setting sun. The summer and fall season are coming to an end at Loft Mountain Wayside on the Skyline Drive.

Overlook

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia 

This photo was taken on October 29th from the Bacon Hollow Overlook on the Skyline Drive. Bacon Hollow is an old mountain community in Greene County, Virginia with an interesting history.

Have a relaxing and enjoyable weekend and, as always, thanks for reading Photography In Place.

Stone wall

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Two trees

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Late autumn

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia 

Along the Skyline Drive on October 29, 2014