Hannah Fentress

 I am happy to count Hannah Fentress as one of my neighbors.  Hannah's husband Joseph moved to Woodstock in 1952, having purchased the house and property that is today 604-612 Woodstock Road.  Hannah and Joseph married after the death of his first wife, Emily (d. 1965) and Hannah remained a Woodstock resident until she died in 2001 at the age of 91.

If you think it odd that I consider a woman who died 10 years before I moved here a neighbor, then I beg your favor in this matter.  Woodstock is defined not only by the present, but also the past; and there are neighbors still living here that remember Hannah.  We both traveled along the same road, and I wonder if someday my road will lead to where she is.

I don't know why Hannah wrote this short biography less than two years before her death in 2001, but it fills me with awe to think that I know neighbors who knew Hannah -- who recalls leaving her birthplace in a covered wagon.

Thanks to Mark Robison who sent me this document and photo back in 2013.

History of my Life

I was born in Portland, Oregon in 1909, on December 13. Just think if I had been born nine years sooner I would have lived in 1900 and 2000.

We left Portland in 1911 in a covered wagon. Not many people had cars then. We went to Illinois by train in 1915. My Mother's people lived there. Her sister took us someplace where we sat on a bank. I was five years old and I thought that it was the end of the world. The fifth child was born there. We went to Charlotte, N.C. in 1920 to see my Father's family. In 1920 my brother was born. We were living at Camp Green. We had a well there and the soldiers would stop and get a drink of water. There was a persimmon tree by. They were nice and rosy cheeks but by no means ripe. They looked tempting. I don't know how many soldiers tried them but some did. They got a very bitter mouthful as they are supposed to be soft and brown.

We came to Ocean View, Norfolk. We purchased property and put up a tent my Father built sides to, and finally had nice house. We moved several times but finally settled in Glenrock where we built and I married in 1929.

I went to work for the City Manager of Norfolk as a cook. They found out that I was going to get married and asked us to go to their Summer House in Accomack County.

We bought 100 chicks right away. The first night the rats got half of them. The next night they got the rest. That was the end of our chicken business. They had a yacht and paid my husband to take them out in it. They had oyster floats where the crabs shed their shells. They had clams and fishes, also. People were not there always. We had the place to ourselves especially in winter. They had a Methodist Church. We picked strawberries in the Spring when we came back to Norfolk.

I went to work at the Navy Yard. I had a little machine that I set up my own work. When they were laying the women off, there were eight left. I had a piece of material the size of a thimble. I made each of us a thimble and the boss, too. After that I went to work in a clothing plant in the coat department. Each piece of the coat was made separately and then put together. 

When that closed down I took in children and kept them until I was past seventy years old and settled down to be a housewife.

I was baptized at fourteen years and have been going to the same Church for seventy-one years. Praise the Lord!

At the time that I was taking care of children I was getting married again. I had four children from the same family that I had kept over four years. My fiance told their Mother that we would take them if we could adopt them. She took them back. The youngest; Debbie, kept crying for me. Her Mother said we could adopt her. She is now forty-two years old and has helped me a lot, although she has been married eight years. They haven't any children, yet. I will be ninety years old in December. Praise the Lord that I can still keep house and go to Church each Sunday.

Burt and Della Hunter

Deed records form the backbone for much of the research found in these posts. But there is so much that a deed does not say: were these people good neighbors, well liked in the community? Were the grantors friends of the grantees, or family; or did the transaction take place between anonymous persons who never met?

I really enjoy finding connections that extend beyond mere real-estate transactions. I was gratified to learn that the Olivers, Harrisons and Steeles were not merely neighbors, but family [1]. I received similar good news when I met recently with sisters Debbie Yancey and Ruth Barrett to look through their old photo albums. Debbie and Ruth are daughters of Perry and Helen Kight and former Walker Road residents. Debbie contacted me after reading this blog to let me know that Burt and Della Hunter were her grandparents.

My first introduction to Burt and Della, beyond the 1941 deed for their property on the south side of Walker Road, was from my interview with Mary Anne Harrison Smith. Della was the neighborhood gossip who kept Mary Oliver from her chores; Burt was the Jack-Sprat-ly fellow who was falsely accused of leaving Della's undergarments on the clothes line (they had actually been pranked by the Harrison children). Thanks to Debbie and Ruth, I learned much more about Burt and Della; and they passed along some photos of Woodstock from the 1930's to the 1970's that I am pleased to share with you now.

In the 1930's Burt and Della Hunter were tenant farmers on the Perdue (later Walker) farm along what is now Sterling Road. When Jesse Parkerson purchased the 150 acres of woodland along the east side of Woodstock Road in 1940, he enlisted Burt Hunter to show the 4 and 8 acre parcels to potential buyers; identifying plots and pointing out property boundaries. In exchange for his services, Mr. Parkerson conveyed a 1 acre plot along the south side of Walker Road to Burt. As a result, Burt and Della became the first homeowners on the east side of Woodstock Road.

 

This house, located in what is now the front yard of 501 Sterling Road, was first made known to me as the Perdue home from the 1920's. Burt and Della occupied this home as tenants of the "Walker house" (as it came to be known) in the 1930's. That's Burt and Della's daughter, Helen Kight. That's the river on the other side of the house.

 

Della, tending chickens on the Walker farm, pre-1941. She is probably standing about where 512 Sterling Road is now, and we are looking southwest, toward where Sterling Court is today.

 

That barn is behind what is now 524 Sterling Road, in the east-bound lane of I-64. Burt and Della were the last tenants to farm the land along Sterling Road. Subsequent owners kept cows and horses until the mid-1960's.

 

The Hunters' new home after 1941, at the corner of Woodstock and Walker Roads. The house was of modest rural construction, with some of the roof joists still covered in tree bark. Bathroom facilities were outside. The house was torn down in the mid-1970's, and today that plot of ground is 5881 Walker Road.

I date this photo prior to 1945 because the Jimmy Steele house (now 568 Woodstock Road) doesn't appear to have been built yet. It should be on the other side of the car. The farm beyond is the Oliver farm at this time, or the 500 block of Woodstock Road today.

 

This is Helen "Snookie" Kight (elder sister of Debbie and Ruth, daughter of Perry and Helen Kight). If we take a guess at her age (I'll say 3?) then this picture is ca. 1946. That is the Jimmy Steele house to the right, and the former Oliver farm beyond. The Olivers (in their late-60's by this time) sold their farm the year before and bought Jimmy Steele's house.

 

 

Snookie again, with Woodstock Road behind her and the former Hastings farm on the other side of the road (E.V. Williams Construction owned it at the time this picture was taken; ca. 1958). During the E.V. Williams years, this property was used as a borrow pit and a trash dump. Today the land in view here is 613 Woodstock Road, Woodstock Cove Park, and a lake.

 

Walker Road, ca. 1970. Note the vehicle travelling on I-64 in the distance. The Kight house is on the right, occupying the eastern half of the Hunter property. The Kight house was demolished in 2011 and 4 brand new homes occupy that land today.

 

Neighbors: Mary and John Oliver, with John surrounded by his grandchildren, Mary Craddock (on his left) Joan Craddock (on his right) and an unidentified little one in front of him; The Olivers' daughter Elsie Craddock is front row left, with Burt and Della Hunter on the right. That structure in the background is the garage for the Jimmy Steele house, which still faces Walker road today.

 

--

ENDNOTES:[1] I may be making references that newer readers are not familiar with. For a good overview of Woodstock's history, including notable names and dates, see my PowerPoint presentation.

 

 

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Henry Driskill -- The Mayor of Woodstock

George Henry Driskill was born May 15, 1900 and grew up just a few hours west, in Keysville, VA. He married his sweetheart Alice in his early 20's, and in his late 20's he moved to Norfolk to accept a job offer from the Ford Plant on Indian River Road. He and Alice rented a home on the river in the historic Oaklette neighborhood, but by the 1940's he wanted land of his own. In 1947 he purchased 8 acres of partly cleared, mostly wooded farm land on Providence Road in rural Kempsville, where spent his non-work hours bird hunting, then rabbit hunting, then drinking, then herding goats; all the while earning the admiration of his neighbors.

Henry retired from the Ford Plant in 1965; and by this time, Kempsville's transition from rural to residential was underway. I-64 construction would overtake his neighbor's property within the next couple of years; and by the late 1970's, most of the farm land around Henry's patch had given way to home construction.  Henry's neighbor Harry Davis donated part of his property on the other side of Providence Road to the city for the development of Woodstock Park. You can read some of Henry's thoughts on the changes in a Virginia Beach Beacon article from 1981 here -- page 1, page 2, page 3.

Henry Driskill died on May 23, 1988. His wife Alice died just a few years later, in December of 1991.   The Driskills had no children of their own, so the land was left to a good friend, a self-described "adopted grandson". Richard Spreder did the reasonable thing and sold the land for development, but he insisted that the new right-of-way that serviced the new homes be named in honor of Henry and Alice.

Henry and Alice, 1965. Henry is admiring his retirement present from the guys at the Ford Plant. I am told that one of their favorite married-couple activities was dynamiting tree stumps.

Before retiring, Henry purchased a car from the Ford Plant for Alice -- a 1964 Galaxy 500. He dubbed it "Miss Alice". It is in pristine condition, with just over 20K miles on it. It is currently under the care of the adopted grandson.

The Driskill residence on Old Providence Road, ca. 1980.  You can see "Miss Alice" in the garage.   The view from the overpass inspired Mr. Driskill to refer to his property as "Driskill Valley"

The same view from the same location in 2013. Trees have grown since then...

looking north, on the property line separating Driskill's property from Avalon Church of Christ.

Next door, neighbor Eloise Cesil's house was in the path of I-64 construction. Henry helped her move her home out of the construction zone and then provided a parcel of land for her to live on. When development began on Driskill Court, this house was moved to Pungo.

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The Dowdy Farm

I had a great Sunday afternoon conversation with the Rev. Dan Dowdy of the 600 block of Woodstock Road. Dan has been a Woodstock resident since 1951, when his father Joseph Dowdy purchased a 4 acre lot that stretched from Woodstock Road east to present-day Rodney Lane (the southern half of Parkerson lot #16). Dan shared a few great pictures of Woodstock from the early 1960's, and he has given me permission to share them with you.

 

April, 1960 -- Dan's father, Joseph Dowdy, farming the land that is now 614 thru 618 Woodstock Road. Facing east -- those trees in the distance will eventually give way to Interstate 64, which will cut the Dowdy farm right down the middle. Progress...

 

Dan's sister, Ellen. There is no date on the photo, but if we take a guess based on her apparent age, this picture is probably circa 1954. That house behind her is the Fentress residence at 604 Woodstock Road, though a different house occupies that property now.

 

July, 1961 -- Standing immediately east of the U-shaped driveway at 616 Woodstock Road, facing west. Today that distant field is Woodstock Cove park and lake; and 617 and 621 Woodstock Road are right across the street. That's Betsy, staring at the camera.

 

April, 1964 -- Dan's father purchased this house at auction for $300. The house originally occupied land on Oak Terrace Drive that was in the path of Interstate 64 construction. The house was moved from there to its current location just off Woodstock Road. According to the City Assessor's Office website, the house was built in 1941, which makes it the oldest (surviving) house in Woodstock. There is a hand-written note on the back of this photo that says, "Moving Day from Oak Drive -- on my 41st Birth[day]."

 

May, 1971 -- Standing on the Dowdy property, facing east. That truck in the background is travelling on I-64, which at this time is visible from Woodstock Road.

 

These photos are a great example of why this blog exists: to record the memories of those who lived here before us, and share them with those of us who are new to the community (like myself). If you have access to any old photos that you would like to share here, please e-mail me at garockey@gmail.com.

 

Thank you, Pastor Dan!

 

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A History of Woodstock -- PowerPoint

Dear Readers:

It may be bad form to publish incomplete research; but then again, I'm not a historian, so I'm not concerned about loss of credibility with my (non-existent) historian peers. I'm acting on the (perhaps tenuous) assumption that there are others in my neighborhood who are as interested in its history as I am. I'm also looking to put this research to work, to draw the attention of people who actually know what they are talking about.

This Power Point is a presentation of most of my research to date. It presents the history of Woodstock from 1833 to the present as told by property deeds, Ancestry.com and the first few personal interviews I've been able to arrange. I do hope to expand this presentation in the coming months and years, so check back periodically.

I've moved the slide show over to Google Slides, so you can view it here.

When the presentation opens in a new window, click "present" in the top right corner to start the slide show.

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Old Photos and Tax Returns

I live a tragic irony. I absolutely love old photos, but I am a terrible picture-taker. It's not that I take bad photos; as a communication major, I had some education in shot composition, lighting, and so forth. My problem is, I let moments pass by too easily without taking the time to document them. I am too short-sighted to make the effort to tell people to stand still while I go grab the camera out of the drawer, point and shoot. The iPhone helps a bit, because now I have at least a mediocre camera with me at all times.

This shortcoming of mine causes me to value the shutterbug in others all-the-more. I am immensely grateful to Lacy Tuxhorn of Chesapeake for this particular photo, because it is a photo of my house taken shortly after it was finished in 1964:

I don't think Lacy actually took this photo, but she graciously sent it to me in response to a letter I mailed to her after tracking her down through real-estate records. I really love this, because the little bit of land visible here has changed dramatically since 1964. The original owner built an addition in 1971 that added a living room with a big bay window, and a sunroom that totally enclosed the front porch. The trees visible in the distance are right about where I-64 is now, and Sterling Drive is years away. My next-door neighbor hasn't built his house yet; the open field to the right is now obscured by tall pine trees, thick brush and a brick ranch. The roughly three-quarters of an acre that was the back yard was subdivided in 1996 and now hosts three homes on Sir Michael Dr.

Lacy is the daughter of Kenneth "Paul" and Mildred Charlesworth. Mr. Charlesworth, a World War II veteran and employee at the Ford Motor Plant on Indian River Road purchased this lot in 1962 and began building his dream house. I never knew the Charlesworths, but when I found an instruction booklet for the 1966 Federal Tax Return in the attic during the home inspection (with the address label still attached), I knew I had found the names of the people who first called this place "home" ... and I had to learn more about them, the house, and the neighborhood. That address label on that tax return booklet was the spark that led to everything you will read on this blog.

One day, when I stand in heaven, I hope to hand this moth-eaten booklet to Mr. & Mrs. Charlesworth, have a good laugh, and share with them how much my family enjoyed living in the house they built.

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