The second property we visited was an old historic home from the 1820's. The house is named Bon Aire and was officially made into an official Virginia Historic Landmark in 1966. The historical landmark branding means because of the historical significance either by events or just the age and condition protects the home from being remodeled. Any rebuild or repairs made would have to be done according to the old schematics of the home. I don't think it included any of the stand alone structures besides the "slave quarters" down the hill. So if you wanted to tear down barns and chicken coops you'd be able to. This was definitely "the house on the hill" there is mostly steep drops in the land surrounding the house. Regarding the items you see lying around the property, we don't know what is historical or what is junk. Some of the stuff is obvious but most of it was hard to determine if they came with the land or not.
A front view of the main house along with the plaque declaring the house a historical landmark.
These are the view from left to right from the front door of the home. We are in the inside of a large bend of the James River. The river is also connected to a large compound of 1,000 acres down river called Yogaville. You can see their lotus temple from the corner of the front yard.
These are the side and back views of the house starting from the right side of the main building. I din't have a clear shot of the left side of the house because of plant life that had grown in the way. I also had to take in from a little farther down the hill so I wasn't standing in all of the plant growth.
There were a number of separate building on the property including stables, chicken coops, and work garages. There was a lot of old antique like items that look like they're just waiting for someone to come along and restore them. Including an old ford firetruck from God knows when.
I didn't take any interior pictures of the homes we visited because people still lived in all of them and I felt strange taking pictures of the inside of their personal lives. This is the only picture I took of the inside of this home because there were 2 small doors filled with skeleton keys that went to various locks around the property.
Down the driveway and down the hill there were "slave quarters" with a firewood barn up in front by the driveway, a small storage shack directly behind, and then a much larger barn a little farther into the property. There were a shit ton of carpenter bees swarming around the front porch and had to walk right through their swarm to enter through the front door of the "slave quarters". My favorite thing was the outdoor fireplace in the corner of the house. It looks like a cool place to have a small personal cook out.
On the way to the barn from the slave quarters there was a patch of bamboo that had overtaken everything growing and standing in its path, including a jeep wrangler. An oak tree that reclaimed another jeep on the property, I hope not the same owner. I can't even to begin to imagine how that person felt coming out and seeing their jeep crushed by mother nature, just because she could. The barn was the same as the yard being filled with antiques waiting to be restored, in the barn the most unique item was probably the BMW Motorcycle. There were also a number of working kayaks and canoes and pull behind yard plows that need to be oiled up and used.
Inside the bamboo thicket there was only one tree holding its own against the bamboo. A cedar tree planted in a clay pot that was forgotten. When I see things like this it looks heroic to me. Like a single flower growing out of the sidewalk. It is literally the only living thing inside the bamboo and I dunno if you can tell from the picture but it touches the electrical wire and gives shade to the side shack.
The rest of this post are a bunch of random yard photos of poorly planned corals, different views of the property, and hill sides. Also included is one picture of the driveway to show the piss poor condition of the asphalt.
