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.