Serendipity! Once Again

The abandoned Norfolk, Franklin and Danville Railroad station in Drewryville, VA
(click to enlarge)

In 2013 while trying to come up with a title for this blog, the word 'wandering' came to mind as being appropriate as that is one of the things I enjoy most—wandering and exploring places I've never been or just through the countryside.  I'd rather unexpectedly discover something than go out on a structured journey with specific destinations.  The term 'serendipity' comes to mind as to why I enjoy wandering.  My definition of serendipity is an unexpected and pleasant find.

Meet Dennis Whitby, 63 years of age.  Drewryville, Virginia resident, former volunteer fire chief, civic leader, storyteller and holder of much of the regional history.  Indeed, an unexpected and pleasant find.  Talking with him for thirty or so minutes was interesting and educational.

Dennis Whitby, my 'serendipitous' host and ersatz Drewryville historian.
(click to enlarge)

Recently I was out wandering and happened to drive through the small unincorporated and sparsely populated area of southern Virginia by the name of Drewryville.  I've been there before.  There is an old Norfolk, Franklin & Danville railroad station there, a post office, a volunteer fire department, a couple of long ago abandoned stores and a few houses.  No crossroads.  No traffic lights.  When standing there making some photographs, everyone who drove by waved even though they didn't know me.  It's that kind of place.

I stopped in Drewryville to make a couple of photographs of the old railroad station and that is when I met Dennis Whitby.  I'll call this meeting 'serendipity!"  What a pleasant man with a host of stories of Drewryville and its history.

Speaking of the volunteer fire department, Dennis was a former chief as was his father and now is his son.  The fire station is the only building in sight that looks as though it is in excellent repair.

The Drewryville Volunteer Fire Department building.  By the looks of it, you can easily tell the 
firefighters care about their building, equipment and their first responder tasks. (click to enlarge)

The fire station is located right next to the old abandoned railroad depot.  Dennis told me about how the old depot had been abandoned for many years and the volunteer fire fighters wanted to buy it to preserve it as well as use it for additional storage.  No longer owned by the railroad, it had been purchased by one of the local men.  When the fire fighters approached him to buy the station, the owner wanted an exorbitant amount of money for it.  Way above its value.  He wouldn't budge on the price.  That is until the county realized it hadn't been taxed for more than 10 years and was still on record as being owned by the railroad.  (Dennis had something to do with that, I believe!)  The county sent the owner a large tax bill.  The next thing that happened was the owner contacted the fire department and offered to sell it for $1800.  That included everything that was in it as well.  When they cleaned it out, they found enough scrap inside that they were able to sell it for more than $3000.  How fortunate!  The volunteer fire department has plans to fix it up, paint it and use it for many years instead of letting it slowly crumble from neglect.

Directly across from the fire station is the now abandoned Drewryville U.S. Post Office.  You can't
see it in this photo but the top floor was irreparably damaged by a fire, conveniently and quickly
extinguished by the volunteer fire department directly across the street.   The post office building was originally the "Bank of Drewryville." (click to enlarge)

Directly across the street from the fire department building is the old U.S. Post office, which is now abandoned because the building caught fire.  I guess it is pretty convenient to have a fire department directly across the street so the men jumped into action and extinguished the fire as quickly as possible.  The post office itself on the first floor was not damaged, but the second floor was damaged beyond repair so the building, still marked as the post office, sits condemned and abandoned.  Oh!  Also, Dennis told me that the building was originally the Drewryville bank!  Over the front windows is the original sign molded in concrete with a post office sign covering the first word on the left.  Another interesting tidbit of local history.

With no post office, what do the locals do for mail?  Well, the U.S. Postal Service parked a mobile post office across the street from the building and that has served as the local post office for the past several years.

The new U.S. Post Office, mobile version! This photo was from a previous visit and when I asked
where the truck was, Mr. Whitby told me it was out being serviced.  The upshot is that when
the truck needs fixin', there is no mail in or out of town! (click to enlarge)

Adjacent to the old post office/bank building are a couple of abandoned stores.  According to Dennis, when they tried to find out some history behind who built, owned and operated them, they found some old signs painted on the interior wall indicating that Mr. Drewry himself was the proprietor a century ago.

This photo give a better view of the fire damage to the post office building.  The small, dark red
building to the extreme right was once owned and operated by Mr. Drewy himself over a century
ago. (click to enlarge)

One additional interesting fact Dennis passed on to me.  The house located behind the fire department building was an old Sears Roebuck Catalog home.  Many don't know it but decades ago one could order an entire home (in pieces) from the Sears catalog and have it delivered to your lot to have it assembled.  Fascinating!

I'm not sure and neither was Dennis Whitby as to which of these was the Sears "catalog house."  The 
house in the background is made from decorative cement blocks while the other is clapboard.
(click to enlarge)

Of course the entire area became populated because to the railroad.  If you know your American history, that same thing happened all across the United States in the 19th century.  The railroad was granted land.  The railroad was built and then towns sprung up along the rail line.  As what has happened across the country in the late 20th century and into the 21st century, when the railroad abandoned those same rail lines, many towns dried up and disappeared and just a few families remained in the area.  The same happened with Drewryville.  Very few people now live there.

Just a few years ago, it seems, I had photographed trains running
along this line.  Now, it joins so many other rural shortline
railroads in abandonment.  Unfortunately, that abandonment
spells death for many of the small towns along their routes.
(click to enlarge)

I hope you enjoyed this little story and also understand why I so much enjoy just getting out, wandering and meeting just plain good "folks" out in the countryside.  My thanks to Dennis Whitby as I thoroughly enjoyed meeting him and learning about Drewryville, Virginia!

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com. 
 

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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