Preservation Virginia Blog -- Preservation Virginia

A few weeks ago, the carriage house and the porches on the Obici House were demolished in preparation for transfer of ownership from the City of Suffolk to its new owner, who intends to use the mansion as a club house for the Sleepy Hole Golf Course. The City says it removed structural damage to ensure the house is safe before it can be made into a viable clubhouse.

In January, local residents and members of the Citizens for the Preservation of the Obici House were relieved that the City of Suffolk spared the Obici House from demolition and agreed to lease it to the operator of the surrounding golf course. , Recent developments have raised their level of concern and we all hope that no more of the original fabric of the house is demolished. City representatives stated that they are awaiting renderings of the final project and they anticipate the plans will adhere as close as possible to the historic nature of the house.

The Obici House was built in 1924 by Amedeo Obici, an Italian immigrant who founded the Planters Peanut Company. Obici opened up a peanut processing plant in Suffolk and helped make Suffolk the “Peanut Capital of the World" which is celebrated at the Planters Peanut Center and at the annual Suffolk Peanut Festival. Obici also founded the first hospital in Suffolk.

Obici’s grand two-story mansion is listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. The house still contains the original inlaid floors and crystal chandeliers and was, only a few years ago, a popular place for social functions such as weddings and parties. After several years of disuse, however, the house began to suffer from neglect and many feared it would be demolished. In 2009, Preservation Virginia added the Obici House to its Endangered Historic Sites of Virginia List to help raise awareness of concerns about the future of the historic site.

While portions have been demolished, the bulk of the house remains intact. Hopefully it will retain the remainder of its historic fabric so that the house will continue to remind residents and guests of the legacy that Obici left for Suffolk.

Preservation Virginia's nomination of historic family cemeteries to our 2010 Endangered List has generated a lot of interest across the state. To follow up, we are working with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources in hosting their cemetery preservation workshops across the state. DHR hosted the workshop in May and it proved to be highly successful. Follow the link for more information on cemetery protections and state cemetery laws. More information will be made available once plans for the workshops have been finalized.

Preservation Virginia has created a Google Map that contains general locations, images and a brief history of some endangered or forgotten historic family cemeteries in Virginia. If you know of a cemetery that you would like to add to the map, please contact Sonja Ingram at singram@preservationvirginia.org or 804-551-3249.

Subject: Mt. Calvary Cemetery Complex
Comment: Despite the years of neglect, we have now gotten civic leagues, my former students, additional volunteers to come forward to see what needs to be done to this historic cemetery. I am grateful for small things.
Posted on: 2010-06-24 17:05:54
Posted by: Anonymous

Subject: tombstones
Comment: See http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2010/06/17/STRANGEBUTTRUE-0924-weatherTombstones.aspx for article on tombstone weathering and relationship to climate and pollution
Posted on: 2010-06-24 17:06:24
Posted by: Anonymous

Her counterintuitive agenda undeterred, Susan launched headlong into marketing "marginal" houses—including in "slum" neighborhoods, downtown commercial buildings, even industrial relics. She and her husband bought a massive solid-stone Craftsman Foursquare for their home; she hung out her real estate broker's shingle in front of an 1890s Main Street storefront she refurbished herself. Later, Susan couldn't resist the possibilities of a turn-of-the-20th-century tobacco storage warehouse.

Eventually too she sold the Foursquare in favor of a 1912 former hardware store, complete with a loft apartment she shares today with her judge-husband. The local real estate community, skeptical a quarter century ago, today vies to get in on the "historic" market Susan helped create, especially the massive factories in the city's historic tobacco district.

While not yet fully realized, Susan Stilwell's vision of marketing this community based on its character and historic identity now is regarded as good business.

Subject: Susan
Comment: I'm thrilled that Susan has received this honor. No one deserves it more. She sold us a dilapidated house on Millionaires' Row here in Danville and we've been friends ever since (that the dilapidated house is now a beauty). Susan has held firm to all her beliefs in preservation and has preached the word far and wide. We're so lucky to have her!
Posted on: 2010-06-21 09:42:36
Posted by: Sarah Latham

Subject: A Great Lady
Comment: Susan has done so much for Danville!
Posted on: 2010-06-18 08:18:40
Posted by: Anonymous

Subject: fantastic lady!
Comment: Susan has done so much for preservation in Danville! SHe is a real powerhouse!
Posted on: 2010-06-18 08:23:45
Posted by: Anonymous

Comment: Susan is one of a kind. She is unwavering in her beliefs and is passionate about preservation and reclamation. Danville is lucky to have her.
Posted on: 2010-06-18 08:22:19
Posted by: Melanie Vaughan

The Mount Calvary, Mount Olive, Fisher’s Hill, and Potter’s Field Cemeteries in Portsmouth, Virginia provide the resting place for many African Americans. Those buried in the first three include prominent dentists, composers, preachers, educators, shoemakers, military veterans of the Spanish American War, Civil War, and World Wars I and II and other wars. The fourth holding paupers and strangers is a reminder of the social conscience of the community.

These cemeteries are located on Pulaski Street and intersected by Calvary Court, south of Interstate 264, just off the Des Moines exit at the dead end of Pulaski Street.

At one time, the Mount Olive cemetery had a black wrought iron gate. Above that portion was an arc-shaped sign reading, “Mount Olive Cemetery.” Many family plots originally had wrought iron fencing around them. But the sign is gone, and so is much of the beautiful wrought iron fencing enclosing family plots. The size of the cemeteries amounts to about 9 to 13 acres or more. The Virginian Pilot stated on June 25, 1998, that, “ a plot plan for Mount Calvary… showed more than 13,000 gravesites….old city records estimate about 6,500 graves in Mount Olive and another 15,000 in Fisher’s Hill.” Nobody knows how many people may be buried in the nearby Potter’s Field.

Earlier, four slate stones marked the pathways to the various family plots. Many families planted trees and shrubs for beautification. There is a tranquil beauty there, making it serene and peaceful in the presence of many names of prominent citizens of yesteryear. Many grave stones read like a “walking black historical tour.” Jeffrey T. Wilson, noted journalist; Israel Charles Norcom, educator; Joseph T. France, medical doctor; Lee Wise, architect; Hiram Simmons, composer; Ida B. Barbour, teacher; Nelson Proctor, city councilman; W. H. Pitts, minister; John W. Barnes, Masonic leader, Edwin Mingo, minister; Ashley Lewis, minister; John T. Fisher, Sr. undertaker; John Riddick, city councilman, and Thomas Davis, magistrate.

In 1879, the Mount Olive Cemetery, the oldest, was established when, “On May 5, 1879, a group of eight men called the “Mt. Olive Club, bought a few acres for $350 and started a cemetery.” (Virginian Pilot, Feb. 1953).

Preservation/restoration efforts have been off and on with several groups starting serious clean up of the neglected cemetery in 1974 through the efforts of Warren L. Holland and Hilda Watson. Over the years, 1980-1996 various other groups and students at I. C. Norcom High School, a Masonic Lodge, Boy Scout Troops, Clean Community Commission, and the Minority Police Officers tackled the overgrown cemetery. Mae Breckenridge-Haywood and Dinah Walters wrote a book about the cemeteries called: Inscriptions in Triumph, published in 2000. Because of the continued interest of the historic cemetery though out the years, by the various groups the cemetery has been a major concern for rehabilitation. Very recently, the cemeteries have a new friend in Christina Carlton, USN who was recently transferred to the Hampton Road area. Her hobby is recording cemeteries and posting that information online as well as cleaning the gravestones. Christina Carlton is a Saint.

Mae Breckenridge-Haywood is a Retired Librarian and President of the African American Historical Society of Portsmouth, INC. She is also a Historian for the I.C. Norcom Alumni Association.

Comment: Respect for family members kept many sites cleared for generations. Local health laws, bureacratic red tape, weather conditions did not keep these indiviuals from their resting family/friends. It is hoped that present/future preservation/restoration plans will keep in mind that personal dedication laid the groundwork (after 1963) for the mission of today..
Posted on: 2010-06-19 08:36:01
Posted by: CEJ,Jr.

Subject: Mt. Calvary Complex
Comment: Excerpts from message sent to me. I have driven and walked in the tall (1"+) grass three times since Memorial Day. I met several traditional family members who placed flowers on graves. A few of us agree thaat when the grass is cut damage will occur. Thanks to the city for removing the fallen trees across the pathways but note two dead trees are about to fall. Forty-five years later and the cycle continues but with noticeable improvements.
Posted on: 2010-06-24 17:04:37
Posted by: Anonymous

Subject: Mt. Calvary Complex
Comment: I will be back in the USA for the 4th of July weekend. And sometime between that Friday & Monday, I plan on doing a bit of refamiliarization within the cemetery. I would love to see as many people as possible out doing a bit of civic duty, but I do understand that many will have pre-arranged family vacations. I am not declaring a particular time/date that I'll be out there.Just gonna show up when I can. If my back can take it, then I'll do some mowing. What would be even better, is if someone manages to give approval to remove that last bit of fence at the back of the cemetery so we can clear the paupers graves. Or, if the city will go ahead and give approval, let us gain access to the graves through the PRHA? excerpts.
Posted on: 2010-06-28 11:33:54
Posted by: Anonymous

Subject: Your Google Map
Comment: The map is great. Will you eventually include the Mt. Calvary Complex on that map? Great idea. We do have a major problem in that the grass has not been cut for the last 35 days. It looks so bad, and Christina has done so much work in that cemetery.
Posted on: 2010-07-08 06:53:12
Posted by: Anonymous

Subject: Mt. Calvary Complex
Comment: The grass has been cut. I can drive through the cemetery and see grave stones... yahoooooooooo.
Posted on: 2010-08-26 13:31:53
Posted by: Anonymous

The Turning Point Suffragist Memorial is an initiative of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority. The Committee is an all volunteer group dedicated to honoring the lives of the suffragists who fought for the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

Subject: Christian Louboutin Shoes
Comment: Thans for the nice post.
Posted on: 2010-06-18 08:20:37
Posted by: Christian Louboutin

Subject: Christian Louboutin Shoes
Comment: Good
Posted on: 2010-06-18 08:20:10
Posted by: CL SHOES

Subject: Christian Louboutin Shoes
Comment: So cool!
Posted on: 2010-06-18 08:21:04
Posted by: Christian Louboutin

A judge has kept alive the battle to block a Wal-mart store near endangered Wilderness Civil War battlefield. Click above image for link to article.

Please see the cover story of the April 2010 issue of Preservation Magazine the fight to relocate Wilderness Walmart away from the Wilderness Battlefield and the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park.

Click on this link to see a recent interview of Rob Nieweg concerning the Wilderness Battlefield and the Wal-Mart that is slated for construction. Rob is the Director of the Southern Field Office at the National Trust for Historic Preservation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HURaXBYGLgY

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is mapping African American Historic Places in the Northeast Region. See Link Below.

Thomas Day was a free African American craftsman who was born in 1801 in Virginia and later moved to North Carolina. His work is represented in many homes in Southside Virginia and northern North Carolina. A new book has been wrtitten about Thomas Day. Join us at Union Tavern in Milton, NC, on May 23 to celebrate the publication of Thomas Day: Master Craftsman and Free Man of Color. Copies will be available for sale, and co-authors Jo Ramsay Leimenstoll and Patricia Phillips Marshall will be on hand to discuss their work and sign books from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. While in Milton, visitors will also have a chance to see examples of Day's fine craftsmanship.

Interstate 81’s passage through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia ranks as one of the most scenic and historic highway corridors in the nation. It passes through a largely rural landscape, dotted with historic communities and framed by dramatic views of the mountains in Shenandoah National Park and George Washington National Forest. From Winchester to Staunton, I-81 crosses hallowed ground in seven of 10 Civil War battlefields within the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District.

Efforts to plan for the future of the highway should recognize and preserve I-81’s iconic status, while addressing specific safety issues, congestion and capacity. All agree on the need to deal with the truck traffic that often overwhelms car drivers on the corridor.

But the current costly and destructive I-81 plan, approved by state and federal highway officials in 2007, fails on all accounts to achieve that balance. The state Department of Transportation (VDOT) determined, and the Federal Highway Administration agreed, that a one-size-fits-all solution – massive highway widening throughout western Virginia – was the only option for I-81. The $11.4 billion pricetag, to be funded by tolls on cars and trucks, represents the most costly highway project in the history of the Commonwealth.

The current plan calls for widening I-81 from four to at least eight lanes through 79 percent of the Shenandoah Valley and for adding a bypass around the City of Harrisonburg. The impacts would be severe, irrevocably diminishing the rural and historic character of the Shenandoah Valley.

The current I-81 plan would pave thousands of acres of prime farmland and battlefields and would intrude further on homes and businesses on the corridor. The new bypass would plow through an eighth battlefield in the National Historic District. Construction would degrade air quality, floodplains, streams and wildlife habitat. Tolls would place a new financial burden on local residents and businesses.

An alternative to the current I-81 plan has widespread support. Shenandoah Valley Network, civic and business groups, and more than 30 local governments have endorsed a lower-cost, lower-impact approach, Reasonable Solutions for I-81. Our plan calls for fixing specific safety “hotspots” on the highway, upgrading rail freight service to reduce truck traffic, stepping up safety enforcement and improving local road networks to relieve I-81 congestion in populated areas.

We’ve had some success in thwarting the current I-81 plan. In 2005, our coalition blocked a $1.6 billion federal earmark for truck lanes on the highway. In 2008, we convinced the General Assembly to require VDOT to secure the legislature’s approval before tolling I-81.

But the current I-81 plan stands. Its impacts already are being felt as VDOT builds any improvements to the “ultimate profile” of eight or more lanes. This can be seen today in Rockbridge and Montgomery Counties, where the need for a single truck climbing lane resulted in paving (but not yet marking) three new lanes “for the future.” Limited highway improvement funds could be stretched much further on I-81 if major widening was not the priority.

We need a new, reasonable plan for I-81. A plan that respects the irreplaceable natural and historic values of the Valley, is affordable in a time of budget shortfalls and is effective in the long-term task at efficiently moving people and good through the corridor. Working together, we can persuade our decision-makers to reconsider the current flawed, unreasonable plan for I-81.

Kate Wofford is executive director of the Shenandoah Valley Network. For more information on I-81, go to www.svnva.org/Interstate-81

Amedeo Obici was the founder of Planters Peanuts. He came to this country from Oderzo, Italy at the age of 12.

He started Planters Peanut in Wilkesbarre, PA but eventually moved it to Suffolk, Va because it was known as the peanut capital of the world.

He and his wife Louise bought Bay Point Farm and built an Italianate mansion in 1924. They never had any children and after Louise died, Amedeo had a hospital built in Suffolk in her honor. Amedeo continued to live in the mansion until his death in 1941.

After his death, the house was willed to his brother in law who lived in the house a short period before selling it. The mansion changed hands again and eventually it was bought by the city of Portsmouth. Portsmouth developed the 200 hundred acre farm into a golf course and rented the house out for weddings and special occasions.

Suffolk bought the property in 2002 and continued to run the golf course but the mansion fell into disrepair. In January 2009 there were plans to tear down the mansion. A group of concerned citizens came together and formed Citizens for the Preservation of Obici House. This group submitted a comprehensive proposal in response to an RFP that was put out by the city of Suffolk for renovation and reuse but in the end the city rejected all proposals. The group then submitted an unsolicited proposal and again it was rejected.

The city of Suffolk awarded the mansion to Ronnie Roundtree, LLC who is the current operator of the golf course and who was the one who initially wanted the mansion torn down so that he could build his golf clubhouse and grill.

Currently the mansion has been corded off by a chain link fence and continues to deteriorate. Time will tell what the city of Suffolk’s plans are or Ronnie Roundtree’s. The mansion is still in grave danger even thought it is listed on the State and National Historic Registries.

Susan Blair is a member of the Citizens for the Preservation of Obici House. Please visit http://www.obicihouse.com for additional information.

Saturday, April 24, 2010
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Union Train Station
103 River Street
& The McIlwaine House
425 Cockade Alley
Historic Old Towne Petersburg

VERNACULAR HOME LOCATED IN DANVILLE, VIRGINIA TO BE GIVEN AWAY TO QUALIFIED BUYER

This circa-1890 home, with its two-tier porch and 2,300 square feet of living space is located in the Holbrook-Ross Street National Register Historic District of Danville, Virginia. Just blocks away and within walking distance is the City’s famed Millionaire’s Row, the Danville Museum of Fine Arts & History, Danville Regional Medical Center, Averett University and Lady Astor House.

This house will be given away (with attached covenants) to anyone willing to restore it to its original grandeur. The house must be immediately stabilized on the outside and owner-occupied for a minimum of five (5) years. The estimate for stabilization is $45,000. State historic tax credits, real estate tax abatement, and rehabilitation assistance up to $20,000 to qualified owners are available. A completed application for this house must be returned and consideration is on a first come first serve basis. Please contact Susan Stilwell at heritageva99@hotmail.com or Dianne Morris at morridw@ci.danville.va.us

Please visit www.visitdanville.com, www.discoverdanville.com, www.danville-va.gov to learn more about our great city.

In our ongoing commitment to provide more forms of open communication and information sharing Preservation Virginia is pleased to announce its new preservation blog. The blog will provide a platform to distribute preservation news and information and create a forum for open dialogue within the preservation community.

Preservation Virginia has created this blog as a means of strengthening the efforts and fostering stronger bonds among preservation organizations, societies, museums, historic resource management firms, planners, elected officials, educators, architectural review boards,historic homeowners, preservation volunteers and anyone interested in historic preservation across Virginia.

The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format will be made available soon. 

If you have any news or information that you would like to post or you would like to be a guest blogger, please contact Sonja Ingram at singram@preservationvirginia.org or 804-551-3249.

This month's guest bloggers are Kate Wofford, Executive Director of the Shenandoah Valley Network and Susan Blair of the Citizens for the Preservation of Obici House.

Kate discusses the scenic and historic Interstate 81 and the issues surrounding VDOT's plans on widening the interstate. Susan writes about recent events that helped spare the Obici House in Suffolk from demolition and the future of this historic icon.