Abandoned house - Albemarle County, Virginia 

Most often abandoned houses are found on back roads and out-of-the-way places, but this old house stands just a few yards from Route 29, the busy four-lane divided highway that is the main north/south route in this area. I drive past it every day going to and from work.

The house is so overgrown that in the summer it is almost completely hidden by the foliage, and even in the winter it is easy to miss. It was a substantial old house, capable of housing a large family in comfort and some style. It was built on a field-stone foundation and the chimneys are also stone. The construction suggest that it was built in the first decades of the twentieth century, or perhaps even earlier . In its current state of neglect, it is doubtless beyond repair, but yet it is hard to imagine why such a substantial building has been left to the elements.

It was raining when I drove by yesterday, and and the faded house was just visible in the brown weeds. A lone forsythia was blooming in the yard.

Charlotte Hall School - St. Mary's County, Maryland 

This one-room schoolhouse dates from around 1820 and is located on the grounds of the St. Clement's Island Museum, on the lower Potomac River. The first settlers landed at St Clement's Island  on March 25, 1624 to establish the Maryland  colony.

Public School No. 18 -  Fauquier County, Virginia 

This is the last one-room schoolhouse in Fauquier County. After the Civil War, the Virginia constitution provided for the establishment of free public schools and schoolhouse #18 was built in 1887 near the town of Marshall. It was closed in 1963. The building has been restored and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a Virginia Historic Landmark.

This picture of the school in a state of neglect was taken around 1973. That's my oldest daughter in the lower corner of the frame. I probably fussed at her for getting in my picture, but now, of the several shots I have of this old building, this is my favorite. It is one of the few time she looked eager to go to school.

Mountain stream - Greene County, Virginia 

Walker Evans - Ferry and river men - 1936 - Vicksburg, Mississippi 

In the spring of 1936, Walker was in Vicksburg Mississippi photographing for the Farm Security Administration. James R. Mellow, in his biography of Evans writes:

". . .Evans developed a vestigial affection for the southern landscape and he viewed his Vicksburg sojourn as a special one. Late in life, asked by a young southern writer and photographer, Bill Ferris, if he remembered Vicksburg, he remarked, 'Of course I remember Vicksburg. You know, to someone who hasn't been there before, it has a tremendous appeal to the eye. I can understand why Southerners are haunted by their own landscape and are in love with it."

 Modern tow boat at Vicksburg, 2006 

Vicksburg waterfront - 2010


Walker Evans photo is from the FSA collection at the Library of Congress - LC-USF342-001308-A
Vicksburg waterfront  2010 - photo by Allan Leese, copyright 2010. 
Excerpt from Walker Evans by James R. Mellow, Basic Books, 1999

Dunkum store - Green Springs, Virginia 

Green Springs was the scene of a 1914 murder that lead to one of the most famous trials in Virginia's history. The original store burned down on the night of the murder, was later rebuilt on the same foundation and now stands vacant.  Read more about it  here.

The photo above was taken in August, 2010. Shot on Fuji Acros Neopan 100 film  with the Pentax MX camera

At the Amtrak station - Charlottesville, Virginia 

Spring is not easy.

One day the air is warm and sunshine calls us outdoors. Only the brown grass and bare trees remind us that it is not summer. Another day, a cold and damp wind blows in from the north and the sky is leaden with thick gray clouds. It looks like it might snow. The yellow blossoms on the forsythia shivering in the cold are the only reminder that we are not still in deep winter.

Transitions are often difficult, but spring will triumph. Frogs will awaken and sing; the mockingbird will flash his wing-bars and go courting; the sound of lawn mowers and the smell of wild onions will fill the air. The outline of the mountains will be softened by the new leaves, and ants will invade the kitchen. It happens like this every year, but it can be touch and go for a while in March when spring grapples with winter.

Tonight, a cold rain is falling. We will see what tomorrow brings.