Once Elegant

As in many rural areas, countless homes have fallen into decline here on the VA eastern shore through neglect or years of abandonment.

As we’ve travelled many back roads in and around these parts, it has always surprised me how once large family homesteads were left to fall apart through the ravages of time and nature.That decline also extended to a once elegant landmark motel located on US Rte. 13 in Accomac, VA — The Whispering Pines which had centrally-heated rooms and featured an in-ground swimming pool, dining room and soda shoppe, and tourist cabins. It was usually referred to simply as The Pines. Originally built in 1932 by the late Charles F. Russell, The Pines operated as a family business for 50 years; most of the seven Russell children and 12 grandchildren worked there as their first job. It also provided jobs for hundreds of local workers over the years. So well-regarded was The Pines that many regular travellers were known to schedule their southern route trips from NY to Florida around a stop at The Pines. It was known for gracious hospitality and good food. Local folks too often visited The Pines to dine or visit the soda shoppe. Celebrities stayed there, including the cast of the 1961 film, Misty of Chincoteague. Newsman Walter Cronkite and singer Diana Ross of The Supremes fame dined there. Years past, the Glenn Miller Band entertained at The Pines. After Russell’s death in 1963, the family continued running the business, selling it in 1972. In the early 1980s, owner Ralph Powers, was fatally injured on the grounds. Afterwards, The Pines was operated by several owners, and fell into extensive disrepair. In 2012, the property was sold at a tax sale for $27,000 in back taxes. But, on the day of the sale, the owner filed for bankruptcy; the property was encumbered in the bankruptcy process.THIS week, a fire of suspicious nature added to the deterioration and destroyed The Pines main building that formerly housed the dining room and soda shoppe. The block construction is all that was left standing. Several other buildings on the property remain standing in various stages of deterioration.As relative newcomers to the Eastern Shore, we were not familiar with The Pines grandeur as it was already well in decline in 2005. This week, blogger friend, Possum, featured a memory post based on personal experiences as a long-time resident.

Photos showing the decline and fire aftermath were taken by me. Background information and early photos of The Whispering Pines were obtained from sources that included the Eastern Shore Public Library. Also, Grenville, a former NJ firefighter, was at the fire scene as was local radio station owner, Charles F. Russell II, whose great-grandfather built The Pines.

Outstanding in Its Field

A previous, post A House is Not a Home , showed some old houses visible from our back road travels along the VA eastern shore. This post features a couple of houses we see every time we drive to the county library travelling the back road vs. Route 13.

This four-square house stands abandoned surrounded by fields that were once farmland. Four-square construction is described as solidly built, but the architecture is considered unimaginative. A foursquare has a square footprint  and was the style of many farmhouses.

A four-square house is characterized by a basically square, boxy design, two and one half stories high, usually with four large, boxy rooms to a floor and a center dormer. Other common features of four- square construction include a hipped roof and arched entries between common rooms. The layout was simple. The first floor consisted of a dining room, living room, kitchen and foyer punctuated by a center hall leading upstairs to four bedrooms and a bathroom. The bathroom was usually located between the bedrooms on one side of the house while the stairway separated the other two bedrooms on the opposite side. Some models included a bathroom on the first floor. The top floor was a large open space with one to four dormers punctuating the roofline.

Back to the house first shown in this post. A closer look shows that a new roof and dormer were put on, perhaps in an attempt to save the house from deterioration by the weather.

Stickers are visible on the windows of the new dormer.

But no other obvious repairs can be seen and the elements can freely enter through the house’s open windows. In time, it will most likely completely deteriorate.

Here’s a different place along the same back road – a building that has completely collapsed.

Here’s from another view in B&W and same view in color.

A House is Not a Home . . .

The lyrics written by composer Burt Bacharach kept going through my head while I was preparing this post. You may recall some lyrics to the song popularized by vocalist Dionne Warwick in the 1960s:

A chair is still a chair
Even when there's no one sitting there
But a chair is not a house
And a house is not a home . . . 

A room is still a room
Even when there's nothing there but gloom;
But a room is not a house,
And a house is not a home . . . 

For several years, Grenville and I would take long drives along the back roads of the VA eastern shore, especially when we first relocated here from NJ. It always amazed us – and still does – when we would come across homes abandoned by their former owners. Grenville would comment that “a good paint job and some windows were all that were needed.” Sadly, most of these homes would need a lot more attention and work – and love as well.

Abandoned farmhouses are a common sight along back roads.

Some would be lone sentries left standing in the fields, which years ago could have been family homesteads on productive farms.

Other homes would be well hidden by years of overgrowth, so that you really have to search for to see them.

Some come with a view – from all sides – claimed either by the passage of time or ravaged by fire and left standing to slowly disintegrate.

Many are left standing in open fields as if the former residents simply walked away.

This abandoned house provided a glimpse into the lives of former owners who left behind their belongings.

This house showed unfinished construction on the left side.

All the photographs shown in this post were taken either from the street or using a zoom lens. No private property was trespassed on and many of these houses can still be seen today – several years AFTER these photos were taken.

Better Days

There are numerous old and abandoned homes and farmhouses on the VA eastern shore. While driving along back roads, we have come across countless once-proud structures.

I’ve often wondered as to what made folks up and leave these places, but of course there’s no one around to ask. It’s been said that “if only walls could talk” surely what tales they would tell about the people who once lived within.

These two homes were both spotted during a recent weekend drive. Several blogging friends also enjoy photographing old homes, and these are especially for Elaine at Artic View and Mona at Montanagirl.

There is no shortage of similar homes in these parts; others will be shown in future posts.

This little house seems lost in the autumn colors which would have been even more striking with a clear blue sky.