Morning freight - Barboursville, Virginia

Summer Reading

I recently posted about Marilynne Robinson's Pulitzer Prize winning novel Gilead here. I just finished reading Gilead for the second time, after reading Robinson's most recent novel Home. Home is set in the same location, and with the same characters as Gilead. It is neither sequel or prequel,  but takes place concurrently with the earlier novel. While Gilead is a first-person meditation, Home is more of a traditional narrative. Both books are beautifully written and moving and difficult to summarize.

In  an essay entitled "Family," (from The Death of Adam, 1998) Robinson writes:

"We have forgotten solace. Maybe the saddest family, properly understood, is a miracle of solace. It seems to me that our multitude of professional healers and comforters are really meant to function like the doctor in a boxer's corner, there to slow bleeding and minimize swelling so that we will be able to last another round. Neither they nor we want to think about the larger meaning of the situation. This is the opposite of solace.

Imagine that someone failed and disgraced came back to his family, and they grieved with him, and took his sadness upon themselves, and sat down together to ponder the deep mysteries of human life. This is more human and beautiful, I propose, even if it yields no dulling of pain, no patching of injuries. Perhaps it is the calling of some families to console , because intractable grief is visited upon them." 

Even though this was written 10 years before the publication of Home, it is a perfect statement of the central theme of the novel.

Marilynne Robinson's writing stands in stark contrast to the facile and shallow treatment of religious and spiritual themes that is commonplace in literature and the arts these days. But far from being other-worldly, Home and Gilead offer a clear and deep vision of the sorrow and pain, the beauty and wonder of the world around us every day. It is this vision, this ability to see, that brings me back to ponder and re-read these books.

Home, by Marilynne Robinson, Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Picador, New York, 2008

Warehouse and siding - Barboursville, Virginia 

Towards the end of the 19th century, the railroad came through Barboursville providing a more direct route from Orange to Charlottesville. With a railroad depot, and situated at the crossroad of two major Virginia  highways, the town prospered until the middle of the 20th century, when new roads eliminated Barboursville's importance as a transportation center. By 1970, the town was almost vacant.

Today, the Norfolk and Southern Railroad still passes through. This disused siding and storage building are a reminder of the days when the trains stopped in Barboursville

Red house with green roof - Barboursville, Virginia

Color and Imagination

It was a cloudy and cool morning in November of 2007 when I saw this house just outside the small village of Barboursville. There was no sign of life around the place, but the mailbox looked new. The house invited curiosity, but did not look welcoming. It was vaguely mysterious, like an illustration in an old book of stories for children.

Yesterday, I drove by this house and found that it has been painted a respectable beige. The roof is no longer green and the story book mystery about the place has drained away with the color.

Just past this house, across the railroad tracks, lies the small village of Barboursville.

New Covenant Pentecostal Church - Charlottesville, Virginia 

Late summer, late evening sun - Madison County, Virginia 

Farmers Service Center - Madison, Virginia

C R Tanner and Sons opened for business in the 1950s, but I am guessing that this building is older than that. The former feed store is currently operated by members of the Tanner family as "Feed Store Antiques." The store was closed when I was there last Sunday to take these photos, but it looks like an interesting place to visit. I may try to return when they are open and get some pictures of the inside.

House and pick-up truck - Madison, Virginia 

Looking at these recent photos taken in Madison, one might get the impression that the town is shabby and rundown. I have chosen to photograph these old buildings because they interest me, but they do not fairly represent the town of Madison, which is a lovely small town.

Madison is the county seat of Madison County and has a beautiful brick Federal style courthouse dating from 1830 as well as several other well preserved late 18th and 19th century buildings. Like most small towns, the commercial core of Madison is almost gone, but the small town  flavor and charm have not been lost.

Madison is named for the Madison family who had extensive landholdings in what is now Madison County. James Madison is descended from this family and he became the 4th President of the United States, holding the office from 1809 to 1817. He retired to the family estate at nearby Montpelier.

The 18th Annual "Taste of the Mountains" street festival will be held in the town of Madison on Saturday, September 4th.