The Muse: May 2004

Amherst County Home Tour

The Amherst Museum will sponsor its second Historic Home Tour on May 1, 2004 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. This year the tour will feature homes in the larger Elon area. Homes included on the tour are: Speed-the-Plough, home of Rowland and Lori Girling; The Rock House/Cottage, home of Steve Freeman; Flint Hill/Twin Oaks, home of Wade and Martha Camden; Oak Lawn, home of Richard and Janet Wills; and Windy Hill, home of Carolyn Folkers. Elon Library, believed to be the first rural, free lending library in the Commonwealth of Virginia, is also included on the tour. Elon Baptist Church will provide lunch and will be open to tour. Block tickets for the tour are $12.00; individual house admission is $3.00; lunch tickets are $5.00. Those interested in purchasing lunch ticket need to contact the museum by April 24, 2004. --Judy Faris

• Oak Lawn The current structure was built in 1850 by Sylvester Burford, who owned much of the land extending from the house down to Harris Creek, about two hundred acres or more. His family cemetery is about a half mile further north of the home. The home boasts views of Tobacco Row Mountain. The lawn was shaded by a number of oak trees in earlier years, and several of these trees remain, and so the name Oak Lawn has been kept. The old livery stable and a small log cabin are nearby. The icehouse no longer remains.

  The home was later bought by the Wortham family, and about the turn of the century was owned by the Ewers. In 1954 the property was bought by Harrison and Elizabeth Nesbitt, who sold it to the Farmers in 1989. In 2000 the current owners, Dick and Janet Wills, bought it from the Farmer estate.

  This is a classic example of a nineteenth century home, originally a "four over four," or four rooms above the four ground floor rooms. Of particular interest are the fireplaces which have been identified as an "Improved Rumford" design, with a shallow and slanted firebox.

• Flint HIll The old plantation house, Twin Oaks, sits inside a broad curve of River Road and was once framed by two massive oak trees. The oaks are now gone, and the estate now is called Flint Hill.

  Flint Hill is two hundred years old. It is the typical Virginia "I" house of post and beam construction on a brick foundation with chimneys at each end. Additions to the house were made about 1830, again about 1900 and mostly recently in 1969. The Camden family has just this past year completed a renovation of the house.

  Of particular interest is the large stone fireplace in the basement with a food warmer built into the side and the remnants of a cooking crane. Also, there is evidence of a clay water pipe running from the spring to the house.

  The original plantation land was divided from nine thousand six hundred acres patented by the Reverend Robert Rose in 1744. Elias Wills built Twin Oaks about 1800 on his plantation of over six hundred acres which once included a grist mill on Harris Creek and a blacksmith shop on the road near the house.

• Elon Community Library The Elon Library opened in 1915 originally in a log cabin, but by 1919 a more permanent structure was built on land Mr. Charles Dameron deeded to the Elon Betterment League.

  Local residents, civic groups, and the state library contributed the volumes to stock the library. At one time the library housed over two thousand volumes.

  Chairs and small, round tables were furnished and also the long benches that had been used in the old Triple Oaks School.

  In 1965 the library was closed, but only temporarily. Miss Phyllis Lea’s determination to keep Elon’s library open paid off and her fund raising skills provided for the necessary repairs and renovations to the building. As a result, it was re-opened, continuing to serve the community into the 1970s, staying open at least one day a week with volunteer librarians.

  Many organizations contributed to the operation of the library, among them the Elon PTA, the Ruritan Club, the American Legion Post 100, The Elon Baptist Church and the Elon Presbyterian Church. In 1991 it was deeded to the Elon Baptist Church.

• Elon Baptist Church The Elon Baptist Church was organized in 1877 and met in the Red Brick Church (also known as the Union Church), which was the multi denominational church serving the Elon community. The Baptist congregation united with Cornerstone, New Prospect and Midway churches to collectively call a pastor.

  In 1908 a white frame church was completed and an educational building was added to the site in 1951. In 1964 the original church was replaced by the current building with additional Sunday School rooms, and in 1995 the current Educational Building replaced the earlier one.

  In 1897 the congregation joined the Albemarle Association. The church was supported by the Association’s Mission Board until 1949 at which time the congregation became financially independent and called the layman Randall P. Layne to preach and conduct services. An active church program included many youth activities. The Rev. Eugene C. Campbell became the church’s first full-time pastor in 1959. In 1964 the church transferred its membership to the newly organized Lynchburg Baptist Association.

• Speed the Plough The name of this farm is found in the Amherst records as early as 1850, probably coming from an old English Farmer’s Arms, God Speed the Plough. Col. Charles Ellis of Richmond bought the property in 1835. His daughter, Jane, married William Dearing of Rappahannock County. Mr. Dearing bought the property from Charles’ widow, Margaret, on November 16, 1850.

  The Mansion house is Greek revival style, originally a three-story, six room brick house built shortly after 1850. The Shelton brothers reportedly helped build the house from bricks created on the property. The roof is hipped and there are two chimneys, one on either side of the house, with six fireplaces. The interior walls are 3-4 bricks thick. The doorways are all paneled and the original front door has an unusual pattern of raised gothic arches on each panel. The rooms are two over two with a large central staircase/hallway.

  In 1925 Rowland Lea purchased the farm and he and his wife had an addition built to the north side of the house for a kitchen and dining room. In 1930 the front porch was enlarged. In the 1920s dry rock walls surrounded the yard, and between 1999 and 2003 Harold McFaden made new walls around the mansion house and guest house.

• Rock House The Rock House, or Cottage, was built in the early 1930s by George M. Stevens, Mrs. Rowland Lea’s brother. Mr. Stevens’ insurance business, located in New York City’s Manhattan district, represented such companies as Lloyd’s of London.

  Amherst area residents enjoyed the English hunt, as did Mr. Stevens and members of the Lea family. He was inspired to build the rock house, known as the Cottage, for his vacation residence. Also constructed were a barn for his horses, quarters for servants and other outbuildings.

  George Stevens and the Leas hosted grand square dances in the recreation room complete with wet bar. The room has a wall mural depicting Mr. Lea and Mr. Stevens in riding habit surveying the farm.

  The Cottage was designed appropriately after an English hunting lodge. The living room has a cathedral ceiling with hand-hewn oak beams, window beds, and a large stone fireplace. The metal arm and iron cooking pot in the fireplace were saved from the separate kitchen that served the brick house during former times. Leading from the living room to the recreation room below is a secret circular staircase hidden by a library door. The library door on the right hides a secret closet. The cottage exterior is adorned with stone terraces.

• Windy Hill Windy Hill Farm is known for its magnificent views of the Blue Ridge and surrounding countryside. Windy Hill Farm is the beautiful home and working horse farm of Carolyn Folkers.

  The Windy Hill location has been a working farm for over two hundred years and was owned in part and at different times by such prominent Amherst families as the Ruckers, Carters, Cheatwoods and Tinsleys. Ruth Wood Davis, wife of John D. Davis, Jr., acquired 1216 acres about 1930. Later her son James Wood Davis and his wife, Corinne, operated a cattle farm there, calling it Circle View Farm. James W. Davis was a Virginia State Senator from this district for many years.

  During the Depression years, the Davis family hosted community dances in the haymow of an old barn. Birthdays were celebrated on the lawn and an occasional wedding party was held at the house.

  Windy Hill began as a simple farmhouse in the early twentieth century. Additions were made to each end of the two-story house and a kitchen ell was attached to the rear. The comfortable home features a large dining and living area. Today these rooms are accented with rocking horses and other horse memorabilia.

AMHERST DURING WORLD WAR II

Storm clouds were gathering in Europe. In September 1939 the final blow came when Hitler marched the German Army into Poland. After trying to appease this dictator for several years, this was the blow that broke the camel’s back. England and France declared war on Germany. Within a year France was crushed and occupied by Germany. England was under nightly air raids. As the storm clouds thickened in 1940, the United States began its first peace-time draft. At this time, quite a few Amherst men volunteered for military service and left for training in the armed forces.

It was the fall of 1940 that Amherst got its first glimpse of war preparations when a huge army convoy transporting soldiers rolled through Amherst. (Route 29 went right through town then--no bypass.) They moved bumper to bumper for three days. They were enroute from Fort Dix to Fort Bragg for maneuvers. People lined the sidewalk and cheered the passing convoy. In December this convoy passed through Amherst on its return trip to Fort Dix. It started on December 6 and continued through town on the 7th and 8th.

Sunday, December 7, 1941, was the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. At our traffic circle, a large homemade sign was installed: Full Speed Ahead. Japan has bombed Pearl Harbor. As each vehicle rounded the circle they picked up speed, and those of us who stood and waved turned to each other and asked, "Where in the world is Pearl Harbor?"

The next day at school as many of us as could gathered around a small radio and listened to President Roosevelt’s address to Congress and the declaration of war on Japan and Germany; thus we entered World War II.

Everyone in his or her own way joined the war effort. Blackout curtains were installed in homes. Food was rationed such as beef, pork, canned goods, butter, sugar and flour; chicken was not rationed. Shoes were rationed. You were allowed three gallons of gasoline a week. Each man, woman, and child had a book of ration coupons. These coupons could not be squandered. If you left home to visit or go to college, you carried your ration book!

A number of men joined a group known as Minute Men who trained to protect us locally. Ladies joined Red Cross groups and made bandages. People gave blood and we prayed. It was during this time that people planted vegetable gardens known as victory gardens. In cities vegetables were planted in flower beds.

Everyone who had a loved one fighting lived in horror of receiving that awful telegram.

The war news was not good at the beginning. We lost the Philippine Islands, and island fighting in the Pacific was fearsome.

As the war progressed everyone knew that there would be a massive invasion of Europe--but when? Plans were made by local ministers that when that day came there would be a service of all the churches held in the Methodist Church (near the Courthouse) at 8:00 p.m. On June, 1944, that day arrived. Our men had landed on a beach in France. The fighting was fierce, and there were many casualties. That evening we gathered at the Methodist Church to pray. The church overflowed on that hot June night. People stood at windows looking into the church, they sat on the courtyard brick wall and stood on Court Street at the front. On that day our town and county suffered a terrible loss of life, wounded, and missing service men. That was the saddest day in the history of Amherst town and county, but for so many citizens the whole war had been a heartbreak. Yes, Amherst and the rest of the nation grieved for those who didn’t come home. Those of us who were lucky enough to have a loved one come home have a special place in our hearts for those who lost so much.

THANK YOU, READERS!

Already we are making considerable progress in identifying some of our previously unidentified photographs in the collections of the Amherst County Museum! After a slow start, last week we began getting incredible results from this experiment. Just after the paper came out, we got a call from a woman in Madison Heights who could positively identify two of the three individuals in a family portrait--her grandmother, Jane Toler Burks, and her aunt, Pidgie Burks (later married a Hitchens). She had never seen a picture of her grandfather and was thrilled because the third individual could only have been him. A visitor to the Museum later in the week confirmed this. The man in the portrait was Abraham F. Burks, a captain in the CSA. Also identified was the couple in the next portrait -- Thomas Burks, with his wife Myra.

It is a rare thing to be able to get identification for photographs after so a long time, and I am confident that such results could only happen in places such as Amherst County. I have found many of the county residents, both native and newcomer, enjoy the County’s heritage and have taken quite an interest in it, so perhaps it shouldn’t surprise me. But it demonstrates that Amherst County has that rare quality--residents willing to share their knowledge of the County to everyone’s benefit! Many thanks to the Amherst New Era-Progress for working with us on this project, and to you, the readers, for finding results for us!

--Holly Wilhelm

WHAT'S NEW...

...on our front porch. A volunteer who formerly served in the Presidential Color Guard has donated a new U.S. flag to accompany our new state flag.

... in our recent acquisitions gallery are an antique tool chest with tools accompanied by a set of 20 1/2 quarters Solid-Center Stem Auger Bits in the original wood box from the Irwin Auger Bit Company; sewing patterns and a handknit child’s suit reminiscent of the time when there were more stay-at-home mothers that made their children’s clothes; a Girl Scout uniform from the 1930s.

...in the library. We have received new copies of some Bailey Fulton Davis volumes, in particular, The Deeds of Amherst County, Virginia, 1761-1807 and Albemarle County, Virginia 1748-1763, The Deeds of Amherst County, Virginia, 1807-1827 Books L-R, The Deeds of Amherst County, Virginia 1827-1852 Books S-Z, and The Wills of Amherst County, Virginia 1761-1865. Another much needed resource is being created by a volunteer. This is the indexing of the 1864 Confederate Corps of Engineers map of Amherst County. Also in the library is a framed copy of A Map of Certain Prime Surveys in Nelson County, 1730 to 1800, which includes some of the northern part of present day Amherst County. The map, donated by its creator, Michael Crabill of Lovingston, Virginia, is accompanied by an index.

And of course, we welcome new members. These are Mr. and Mrs. Roger Beidler, of Amherst, Virginia, and Lynchburg Restoration, Inc, of Lynchburg, Virginia.

...our new look. We have done a good bit of work on sprucing up the inside of the Museum’s home, the Kearfott-Wood house. All the public service areas are downstairs--the permanent and changing galleries, the library and gift shop, and also the director’s office. This has been a popular move as many are delighted that they can do their research downstairs now, with the director close at hand if help is needed. Now we are looking forward to sprucing up the outside. The brick work will start this spring, and the Village Garden Club has already started working on our landscaping for this season.

...new exhibit, Local Artists--Local Places Currently in the Major Whitehead gallery we are showing the artwork of our local artists. We are pleased that so many have been willing to loan us their works of local places. There are several pieces of popular sites on the Blue Ridge Parkway including Lurie Dupuy’s "Indian Rocks" and Jane Norfleet’s "Purple Plum," and farms (William England’s "Flint Rock Farm" and Sally Eubanks "Walnut Hill"). Several old communities which are no longer existing are also featured. These are Sandidges and Fancy Hill, by Bonnie Davis, who also depicts Amherst’s ever-popular bateau on the James River in another work. "Woodson’s Mill" is the focus of Andy Puttagio’s oil on canvas, and Carl Gardner loaned his "Mountain Road to Geddes." Diana Rhode is showing "From the porch at Fairview" complete with the nearby gravestones, and Terrie Linton contributed "The Tyler Schoolhouse," to add to the Museum interest. The schoolhouse is one of the popular attractions here at the Museum. Jeannie Beverly’s "Snow on Big Piney" shows more of Amherst’s rural setting of today, while J.M. Harrison’s "Courthouse As I Remember It" presents one of Amherst County’s historic buildings as it appeared in 1890. And completing the selection is E. D. Rich’s "St. Luke’s Church" in Pedlar Mills.

Our Winter Lecture Series continues to be popular. This winter the lectures and discussion were about World War II. Member Bob Sales, a D-Day survivor, spoke about his experiences in the war on the European front. He has presented before, and always to a most appreciative group. The second in the series was a discussion of life in Amherst County During the war. Among the participants was Clare Wailes Webb, whose reminiscences are printed on page 3 of this newsletter.

--Holly Wilhelm

From the President

Dear Members,

Be sure to attend our House Tour on May 1 - and bring many friends! Judy Faris, chairman, has worked diligently for several months to organize a wonderful day for all of you, and we know you will enjoy it!

We have a new look at the Museum. Three rooms on the main floor have been painted and have new blinds, and the director's office and genealogy room are now on the first floor in order to be more accessible.

Local artists have a wonderful exhibit of Amherst County places, and we had a nice reception for them. Do come to see these paintings!

Remember our Yard Sale on June 5. Your generous donations of household items and baked goods make this a success. If you can help with the sale, please call the museum - 946-9068.

Thanks again for all you do for the Museum!

Kathryn Pixley, President

The Amherst Genealogical Society

The Amherst Genealogical Society will next meet on Sunday, May 2 at the Museum. The topic for the meeting of the Genealogy Research Group will be the Mays familyand associated families. The genealogy group meets regularly the first Sunday of every other month at 2:30. All Museum members are invited to take part in these discussions.

--Holly Wilhelm

Volunteers Wanted!

The Museum is seeking volunteers! We are looking for:

• Volunteers for our genealogical research service
• Library assistants to help with indexing projects
• Extra hands to help with special events
• Recyclers to pick up our recycling
• "Amherst smart" people to help with photograph identification
• Computer people to do some slide scanning
• Docents to greet and answer phones while the Director attends meetings

New projects are being added to the list as completed projects drop off the list. And of course, some needs remain constant! Let us know how you can help!

April 18-24 is National Volunteer Week!

I would like to extend thanks and appreciation to the wonderful volunteers at the Museum! You have done so much for the Museum, from answering phones, creating indexes and inventories, researching genealogical requests, dusting exhibit cases, typing and ironing, and more than I could imagine! Special thanks to Dolly Payne, Volunteer Coordinator, who has taught me that Amherst Museum volunteers are absolutely amazing! Many, many thanks!

--Holly Wilhelm

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