Smithfield

In 1637, Arthur Smith patented 1450 acres in Isle of Wright County, VA.  In 1750, Arthur Smith IV had the land surveyed and laid out as a town with 4 streets and 72 lots.  Each lot was sold for today's equivalent of $7.  Smithfield has a wonderful historic district that is listed on the National Historic Register.  It has a delightful mixture of Colonial, Federal, Georgian and Victorian homes and buildings.

This is the Pembroke Decatur Gwaltney, Jr. House, a Queen Anne style of Victorian architecture.  It was built in 1876 for P.D. Gwaltney Jr. who restarted the meat curing packing company started by Mallory Todd.

As above.

Same as above.  It took over two years to build with its turrets, towers, gables, stained glass windows, tiled roof, and portecochere.

Detail from above.

This is the Thomas House, build about 1889 for Richard Thomas, a prominent Smithfield lawyer and historian.

The original part of this house was built in the 1870s or 80s. Victorian additions were made by the Todds who owned and lived in it from 1888 to 1908.

Built in 1881 for R.E. Boykin.

I believe this is the Folk-Gwaltney-Moore house built in 1875 in the Victorian style. Its back yard has access to the Pagan River.

The Dutch-roofed section was built before 1752.  In 1821, the two-story annex was added.  The William Folk family owned the house for 110 years.

Not sure about this house.  I think it is the Holloway house built in 1897.

As we walked the streets we were impressed with walkways, entrances and gardens that welcomed and added a sense of peace to the street.

Statues were common.

Headquarters of Smithfield Meats.

They serve really good food, especially their fried green tomatoes!

Closer perspective.

This was one of the first buildings to be erected in Smithfield.  It was the home of Captain Samuel Wentworth.  It was unoccupied for over 40 years before being restored in the 1950s.

Detail from Christ Episcopal Church built in 1830.

A black and white image of the above.

Erected in 1826 as a private school for you men.  In 1872 it became a public school and later a Masonic Lodge.  It was restored in 1963 and is now used by Trinity United Methodist Church.

There are vast open areas around Smithfield and all of them are easily accessible.

By far the largest magnolia tree we have seen.

Smithfield has always been a river town.  This is one of several marinas on the Pagan River.

Smithfield hosts a car show on Main Street on selected Friday nights.  Tom, of course, was there.

I don't remember who this important gentleman was.  The detail in the sculptures is impressive.

Smithfield Ham is processed in Smithfield.  No surprise that these 'porkers' are found around town with art depicting various aspects of Smithfield lifestyle.

Detail from above.

Finally, we took a lot of photographs of things we saw along our numerous walks.  Fun stuff.

Taken through the front window of our coach.  Friendly neighbor!

Playing at the car show.

Good night!

Williamsburg and Berekley Plantation

How could you be in the Norfolk area and not have breakfast in Williamsburg?  It was founded in 1632 as Middle Plantation, a fortified settlement between the James and York Rivers.  We expected to find lots of historical 'stuff' to photograph.  So, we took the ferry and drove into Williamsburg.  Wow!  This place is now so commercial that it reminded me of a Disneyland-ish theme park.  In fact, the basis of Williamsburg's economy is tourism and it is Virginia's largest tourist attraction.  But, unless you want to spend a lot of money for a tour, get on a big bus, and go spend the day with tourists . . . well not what we had in mind.  We decided to follow the advice to just walk around main street and have breakfast at one of the local restaurants.  Even then, the boutique shops, while lovely, are not historic but rather an upscale version of Sedona. 

This is the back entrance to the Visitor Center.  The place is huge, filled with just about any tourist memorabilia that you could want.

Thomas Jefferson is a common subject for statues in just about any town in Virginia.

One thing that struck me was that almost every building, new and old,  had some form of 'gables' as part of its architecture.  Not something you see back west.

This band was playing at the street fair just outside the restaurant where we had breakfast.  They were really good.

Notice that stainless steel guitar.  Classy!  Foot stompin' . . .

From the front steps the 1726 Georgian mansion is an impressive building.  It is the birthplace of Benjamin Harrison V, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and of William Henry Harrison our country's 9th President.  It is also the ancestral home of Benjamin Harrison, our 23rd President.

You have to walk a ways back to get a better photograph of the house.

This is where one buys their ticket to tour the main house at the Berekley Plantation, or for less money, tour the grounds.  We opted for just a self guided grounds tour as we were running out of time.

Side view of the main house.

I was enthralled with the gardens!  Wow, there is a lot of planning and tending in these large open spaces.

As you walk across the large open space you are heading to the James River.  Access to the river was very important to the early settlers as it was the way they could transport their agricultural products to other parts colonies and even as far away as England and the rest of Europe.

The James River is impressive to a desert rat!!

Paths such as this led back to the main house past gardens planted with corn and tobacco (for showing tourists).

Just in case you, like me, needs a bigger font.

I would imagine that restoration of these properties is not cheap and it is ongoing!  Most plantations are funded by charging for tours and from sales in their gift shops.

On our way across the James River we passed a ferry just like ours!

When we drove onto the ferry we were quickly told by an employee, eyeing our cameras, that we might want to check out the osprey nest located very close to the ferry.  There are three chicks in the nest and this parent was feeding them, tearing apart something that I could not see from the ferry.

Yeah, one of my few birds in flight that actually turned out!

When we come back to visit my brother Ken we are going to spend more time in Williamsburg.  We may even pay for a full day ticket and join the tourists!!  Well, maybe.

Fort Monroe

The English Explorer Captain John Smith came ashore in what is now Fort Monroe in 1607.  Just two years later a small group of settlers built a wooden structure that would hold 7 mounted cannon.  We can appreciate how very early on this site was valued for its strategic defensive location.  By 1619 the area had become a landing place for slaves arriving from Africa.  This location is steeped in some of the most significant events of our nation's history.  The fort was named in honor of President James Monroe.

If you were to visit the National Park Service website dedicated to Fort Monroe you would see an aerial photograph of the 7 sided star stone fort.  It is the largest stone fort built in the United States.  The moat still surrounds the stone structure.

The National Monument includes 565 acres that, in addition to the actual Fort, include beautiful homes, bike and hiking paths, an elegant senior living 'hotel', a marina and more.

These historic homes were once occupied by Admirals and Generals.  Now they are most often privately owned.  The flags were out in force on this July 4th.

We have seen many, many instances where two flags are flown at equal height.  This is the only one that included a British flag.  Usually we see the United States and the Confederate flags flying together.

One of the real advantages of our current nomadic lifestyle is that we often are presented with new information that we simply do not understand.  An example of this is the very common representation of both the United States flag and the Confederate flag flying side by side.  We sought to understand what it meant.  The best I can offer comes from a collection of explanations I have gotten.  For one thing it represents the importance of history to a people that live in this state, especially in rural areas where families have owned their land since before the Confederate War.  They are proud of their heritage, whether they supported succession or not.  Secondly, this is a very conservative area of the country and people believe strongly in preserving, recognizing, and honoring their past, a past that includes for many families, a horrific Civil War.  Much more could be said, but suffice it to write that the two flags, as they fly them, do not represent defiance or an act of treason.

Owen, my nephew, and I wanted to step out and get a shot of this building.  We could not tell from the back what the building was used for but we thought it would make a cool black and white image.  It did!  Black coal, white steam, overcast sky, a repetitive geometry in the fence, reflections off the water . . . We had a lot of fun talking about contrast and its importance in black and white images.

The barracks part of the fort (inside the stone walls) is really seeing the effects of time and neglect.  A few areas are slowly being restored, but for now it offers a stark contrast to the beautiful homes, some of them just across the street.

Another candidate for some black and white photography.

These are not the old cannons!  At one time Fort Monroe was the site of the US Artillery School.

This is the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse, built in 1802.

At one time the building in the back was an elegant hotel.  It now houses very upscale senior living accommodations.

From the well traveled walkway one can look across the bay and see Navy ships.  This aircraft carrier is one of three in the harbor at this time.  We were told that it is not typical to have so many in port.  This photograph was taken through strong haze across the bay.

We saw this Coast Guard Vessel several times as it patrolled up and down the port.  Ordinary citizens can use the harbor but there are some restrictions on how close they can get to the Navy ships.

A very interesting old ship moored along the road out of Fort Monroe.

We stopped along the way.  I know you are shocked by that!  My high key interpretation.  I kinda liked it!  It was pretty amazing to see how quickly Owen, who is just a beginning photographer at age 10, caught on to how light is captured and the notion that one needs to watch their histogram for clues about how one metering. 

Owen showed he could do it with 'normal' key.  He is going to mature into a great photographer.

Tom always prefers the darker images.  We had quite the fun time at this stop.

Celebrating July 4th.

Tom was playing around with his fisheye lens.

From the car going over the James River Bridge and looking some distance to the shipyards.

Image captured while driving across the James River Bridge.