The Sunday porch: Danville, Virginia

Danville, Virginia farmhouse, 1935, Library of CongressFarmhouse on Michaux Plantation, Danville area, Virginia, 1935, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. (There are two more views here.)

I could not find out when this simple house* was built or if it still exists. It is somewhat similar to this house in the same area, which Johnston’s notes say was built between 1776 and 1850.

Michaux was one of eleven plantations in southern Virginia owned by the Hairston family, one of the largest slaveholders in the South. Its name probably indicates that the land was also once owned by a member (this one?) of the local branch of the Michaux family.

This is the kingdom that you find
When the brave eye-holes stare
impartially against the air. . .

Joy Davidman, from “Stark Lines-Resurrection”


*It reminds me of the old house or schoolhouse quilt block pattern.

2 thoughts on “The Sunday porch: Danville, Virginia

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