On Saturday, this photo was posted to the Bacon’s Castle Facebook page with a caption that noted it was from the 1930’s. I messaged the site coordinator to ask if she had any other info on the picture, and she said that it was in their archives, but she didn’t know any more about it.
I had never seen this before, and immediately my mind was filled with so many thoughts. Although we have many old family photos taken during the time my mother and her family lived there (1922-1941), the only one I can recall that was taken of the back of the house was this one.
That’s my grandmother, Mae Warren Ellis (and I think the dog’s name was Dick Shepherd), standing on the steps that you can see in the first photo. Those steps were just to the right of the ‘porch tower’ in the center of the original part of the house (built in 1665). To the left of where Grandma is standing, you can also see the columns and roof of that sweet porch.
On the far right, that white addition was a bathroom (water closet), obviously not original to the house. And I remember hearing that it was never in working order while the family lived there. Can you imagine a family of 14 with no running water or indoor facilities? From the time the children could carry a bucket, they would bring water in from the well. Oh, and there was also no electricity in the house until years later.
As I studied the new-to-me picture, I noticed the curtain blowing out of the window, so obviously this was taken during warm weather. And I wondered where the various members of my family were at this particular moment in time. My mom and dad had married in 1929, so she was no longer living there. They lived in the same community, though, and visited quite often (probably daily), so there’s a good chance she was there.
Many of Mom’s siblings were married during the 1930’s. Aunt Martha was married there on Christmas Day in 1935. And since most of them lived in the area, it’s possible that some of them were also visiting when this picture was taken.
Mom’s younger siblings were probably running around playing (after finishing their chores). Grandma was most likely canning vegetables, cooking, cleaning… I don’t think resting was in her vocabulary until evening time.
There are so many questions about that old photo that will most likely go unanswered: Who was the photographer? Was there a reason they chose to take that picture on that particular day? Who was in the house or on the property when it was taken? What was the actual date of the photo? If it were taken by a family member, why has no one shared it in the past? How did it come to be in the archives at Bacon’s Castle?
Oh, the stories that house could tell over the past 350+ years. And my family’s twenty years there seem like such a short time in the grand scheme of things.
Since we only live about 20 minutes from Bacon’s Castle, we drive up that way often. This was a photo taken of the back of the house a few years ago. After my family moved out of the house, the owner (my grandmother’s cousin, W.P. Warren) renovated the house and made many changes. After his death, in 1972, the house and property was purchased by Preservation Virginia and more renovations were made before it was opened to the public for tours.
The house is in much better condition now, but it just doesn’t have the charm of those curtains blowing out of that window.
~These Days Of Mine~
these days of mine 