Suffolk Living magazine

suffolklivingmag.com

sights a coach tour, snow and a little magic

march/april 2014 • vol. 5, no. 2

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mar.-apr. | 2014 contents EDITORIAL R.E. Spears III Editor Tracy Agnew News Editor Matthew A. Ward Staff Writer news@suffolklivingmag.com

ADVERTISING

Earl Jones Marketing Consultant

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Shelby Palmer Marketing Consultant Leanne Hundley Marketing Consultant Nathan Richardson Marketing Consultant

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Imagine the fun you could have seeing the sights this summer in a customized, two-bedroom, twobath $2 million luxury apartment on wheels. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the stuff of fantasy, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s built right here in Suffolk.

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PRODUCTION Troy Cooper Designer

ADMINISTRATION Steve Stewart Publisher

Suffolk Living is published six times per year

by Suffolk Publications, LLC. P.O. Box 1220, Suffolk, VA 23439 www.suffolklivingmag.com (757) 539-3437

Magician

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Janet Goldbach retired from magic years ago, but sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still got a few things up her sleeve.

Now, you see itâ&#x20AC;Ś.

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Lighthouse

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Back when the Nansemond River was used for commerce and transportation, mariners had a light to show the way.

WHERE AM I? | Guess the location correctly and you could win a $25 gift certificate.

sights A COACH TOUR, SNOW AND A LITTLE MAGIC

march/april 2014 t WPM OP

GET TO KNOW | Linda Bunch

cover photo by R.E. SPEARS III

Advertising rates and information available upon request.

Subscriptions are $20 annually in-state; $25 annually out-of-state; $30 for international subscriptions.

Please make checks payable to Suffolk Publications, LLCâ&#x20AC;˘ P.O. Box 1220, Suffolk, VA 23439

6 suffolk living

what to do

civil war tours led by Kermit Hobbs

Continuing Through March 22 From Suffolk’s best-kept culinary secrets to national award winning restaurants, the Spring 2014 Suffolk Restaurant Week promises a savory blend of the city’s signature flavors. Participating eateries offer three-course, price fixed menus at the deluxe ($10 lunch/$20 dinner) or premier ($15 lunch/$30 dinner) levels for lunch and/or dinner.

No coupons, vouchers or tickets are needed— simply order from the Suffolk Restaurant Week menu. For a list of participating eateries and more information, visit www.suffolk-fun.com.

Through April 18 The Suffolk Art Gallery is hosting the Suffolk Art League’s 30th annual Suffolk Photography Exhibit, a juried exhibition of photographic work. The exhibition is free and open to the public, and the gallery is located at 118 Bosley Avenue. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. Call 514-7284 for more information.

Through April 19 The Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts is hosting a showcase of young artists and authors in partnership with Sister Cities International. The “Connect Globally, Thrive Locally” exhibition is

Send us your news To submit your calendar or news item, simply email it to: news@suffolklivingmag.com

free and will be open for viewing from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The Suffolk Center is located at 110 W. Finney Ave. Friday March 21 The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge will host a Spring Owl Prowl at 7 p.m. Meet at the Washington Ditch parking lot. You will be walking less than a mile, but wear sturdy shoes and dress for the weather. The event should last about one hour. It is not appropriate for the very young, and pets are not allowed. Call 986-3705 to register for this free event.

Saturday March 22 Riddick’s Folly will hold its annual Hidden Treasures appraisal show at the National Guard Armory, 2761 Godwin Blvd., from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visitors can have antiques and heirlooms appraised for $7 per item. Call 934-0822 or email rfcurator@verizon.net for more information.

Saturday March 29 A biologist from the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge staff will lead a guided bird walk at 7:30 a.m. Participants should meet at the Washington Ditch parking area. Call 986-3705 to register for this free event.

The Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts will host a 2 p.m. performance of the children’s musical “One

Night in Frogtown,” which has received rave national reviews for its heartfelt story, drumming, singing, rapping and be-bopping the values of cultural diversity. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children. For more information, visit www. suffolkcenter.org.

Saturday April 5 Suffolk historian Kermit Hobbs will lead tours of important Civil War sites around Suffolk. The morning tour, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., will visit the Nansemond River overlook, the site of Fort Connecticut, Deserted House Battlefield and the site of the home of Judith Kilby Smith, the only civilian casualty of the Siege of Suffolk. The afternoon tour, from 1 to 4 p.m., will include the overlook, Fort Stevens, the Hill’s Point Battery site and Fort Rosencrans. The cost of the morning tour is $12 for members of the Suffolk-Nansemond Historical Society and $13 for non-members.

Prices for the afternoon tour are $15 and $17.

For more information, cal 539-2781 or visit www. suffolkhistory.org.

The Suffolk Tourism Department will host a Great Dismal Swamp Safari from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

This tour is led by a biologist specializing in the swamp’s unique habitat. Learn about the history, lore, vegetation and wildlife of the swamp on this tour, which includes a brief walk to Lake Drummond. A small snack and beverage are provided. This tour is not recommended for very small children. Reservations are required, and

suffolk living

7

what to do tickets are $10 for adults, with a $2 discount for seniors, military and children.

Call the Suffolk Visitor Center at 514-4130 to reserve your spot.

Monday April 7 The Suffolk Art League will hold its annual Bridge Luncheon, featuring fashions from Denison’s from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Suffolk Art Gallery, 118 Bosley Ave. For ticket information, call 925-0448.

Thursday April 10 The Suffolk Art Gallery, located at 118 Bosley Ave., will hold a Poetry, Prose and Pizza event from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The popular event features open-mic poetry and prose readings, with noted local poet Nathan Richardson leading the proceedings. Sign-ups for time at the microphone begin at 5:30 p.m., and the event is free. For more information, call 514-7284.

Saturday April 12 Suffolk Parks and Recreation will host Eggstravaganza! from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Bennett’s Creek Park. The event is geared to children 10 and under, and the park will be filled with entertainment, including a petting zoo, pony rides, crafts, games and more. Peter Cottontail will arrive at 11:15 a.m. and will be available all morning. Bring your camera!

Thursday April 24 The Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts and the Nansemond River Preservation Alliance will present “River Talk” a panel-driven discussion of the issues surrounding protection of Suffolk’s waterways, at 7:30 p.m. The free program, “Opportunities for Suffolk: Wetlands, Wildlife, and Sustainable Development” will include an audience Q&A session. River Talk is free and open to the public.

Poetry, Prose and Pizza

8 suffolk living April 24-26 The popular Great Dismal Swamp Birding Festival will be held. The event is a three-day celebration that includes guided bird walks, narrated bus tours, photography workshops, children’s activities and more. The Virginia Society of Ornithology has scheduled its annual meeting to coincide with the Birding Festival and is partnering with refuge staff to coordinate activities. To register for the festival or for more information, visit http://www.fws.gov/ refuge/great_dismal_swamp and follow the links or call 986-3705.

Saturday April 26 The American Diabetes Association will hold the Hampton Roads installment of its annual Tour de Cure fundraising bicycle ride in Suffolk for the third year in a row. Registration is $25, and participants must raise a minimum of $200 in order to ride the 10-, 30-, 65- or 100-mile routes. Start times are spread from 7 a.m. to noon to give everyone a chance to have fun at the post-race party. The start and finish lines — and the party — will be located at King’s Fork High School. For more information or to learn how to register, visit www.diabetes.org/ hamptonroadsvatour.

Friday May 2 Riddick’s Folly House Museum will hold its 16th annual fundraising Folly Ball from 7 to 11 p.m. at Cedar Point Country Club in North Suffolk. Dress for the event is black tie optional, and tickets are available by calling 934-0822.

Shake, Rattle & Roll

Sunday May 4 Suffolk Parks and Recreation will celebrate military Family Appreciation Day from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Bennett’s Creek Park. There will be entertainment, games, crafts and more to help thank members of the U.S. military and their families. For more information about this free event, call 514-7267.

The Suffolk Humane Society will hold its sixth annual Mutt Strut Dog Walk and Festival from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Camp Arrowhead, the YMCA’s conference and outdoor center at 275 Kenyon Road. The popular free event is a major fundraiser for the society and includes a pledge walk, police dog demonstrations, pet health screenings, canine games and contests, rescue

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groups, entertainment, food, vendors and a silent auction. This is a family friendly — and petfriendly — event. For more information, visit www. suffolkhumanesociety.com.

Saturday May 10 Sweet rides will line both sides of North Main Street in downtown Suffolk during the sixth annual Shake, Rattle & Roll Spring Car Show, open to the public from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The show is free for spectators and $25 for those wishing to enter their vehicles. There will be music, food, vendors, contests and live music, and awards for the car show will be presented at 2 p.m. For more information about registration, call 514-4130.

suffolk living

9

suffolk scene 48th Annual Freedom Fund Celebration

The Nansemond-Suffolk branch of the NAACP held its 48th annual Freedom Fund celebration on Feb. 23. Pictured clockwise are, from left, Suffolk Treasurer and award recipient Ronald Williams, President Costellar Ledbetter, Co-Chair Seneca Bock and Virginia State Conference President Carmen Taylor; member Ronnie L. Ledbetter, Secretary Paula Scott and Freedom Fund Chair Rosalind Lacy greet guests; Suffolk Clerk of the Court Randy Carter and Charles Gates talk before the event; supporter Marie Hill, 93 years old, receives an award of recognition for completing her GED, pictured with her daughter Mary Hill; NAACP essay contest winner Drew Phillips, a freshman at Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fork High School.

Photos by The Kalbee Group/Kentra L. Bileâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

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suffolk scene

Paws for the arts

The first Paws for the Arts banquet raised about $10,000 for the Suffolk Humane Society on Feb. 1.

Pictured clockwise from above, Reggie, owned by Mike and Fran Duman, was a hit with the crowd; auctioneer Bert Chittum sells items as Trey Freeman and Rhonda Jones show them off; guests Nora Butler and Missy and Kevin Marven wait for the program to start; Joseph Enoka Pai and therapy dog Sarge arrive at the event.

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12 suffolk living

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suffolk scene

Suffolk Sister Cities

With a theme celebrate the Carnivale de Venezia, elaborate masks and jovial friends were the order of the evening during a Suffolk Sister Cities banquet in March at the Planters Club. Among those enjoying the festivities were (clockwise from below): Hannah York, 15, and Lauren Bagby, 12, were fairy helpers for the event; Dawn White, Grace Taylor and Mitzi McCoy; Monette and Bobby Harrell; Jane and Michael Jackson and Heather and Jerry Kent; and Susan Blair and Gin Staylor.

PHOTOS BY R.E. SPEARS III

14 suffolk living

through the lens: timothy korchak

D

elivering pizzas for the Papa John’s Pizza on North Main Street in Suffolk gives Timothy Korchak a lot of time to look through his windshield at the sights of Suffolk. Once the pizzas have found their customers, he finds time to record some of the things he’s seen along the way. And even though he’s comfortable behind the lens of today’s advanced expensive digital SLR cameras, lately he finds himself enjoying the simplicity of whipping out his cellphone, snapping a photo and uploading it to a gallery on the internet. Here are a few of our favorites that he shared with us. Email Korchak at tkorchak@aol.com. To have your work considered for publication on this page, whether you’re an amateur or professional or anything in between, email editor Res Spears at res.spears@ suffolknewsherald.com.

suffolk living

15

in the news

watching washington story by R.E. Spears III submitted images

Big changes are afoot along West Washington Street, and city officials hope the results will help spur a revitalization of the entire downtown area.

Contractors are busy at work in the commercial buildings that line the south side of the 100 block of the road, converting abandoned storefronts and shuttered second-story space into loft apartments and renovated retail spaces. Monument Construction, which has completed several other similar conversions of old Suffolk buildings, is the developer. When the project is complete, there will be about 6,000 square feet of renovated retail, commercial and professional space available, along with 68 new loft apartments.

A couple of blocks away on West Washington, contractor Armada Hoffler continues its work on a new City Hall building and E911 call

Artist's renderings of the new city hall, at top, and the new downtown library, at right, show off the revitalization city officials expect in the corridor after the two new government projects are complete.

center, a project that altogether will account for a $35-million investment by taxpayers by the time it’s complete.

The new facility will occupy the north side of West Washington from Henley Place to North Street and will encompass 115,000 square feet of space across two stories. It will completely replace the existing City Hall building, which is nearly 50 years old and suffers serious structural problems that have limited its usefulness during the past couple of years. When the new facility is complete, the old one will be torn down, and the property will be converted to a parking lot.

Suffolk officials hope the new City Hall and yet another project in the works in the vicinity will provide a further boost to that part of the West Washington corridor.

Property has been purchased and plans are

being developed for construction of a new library on the south side of the road, between South and Lee streets.

The new library would replace Morgan Memorial Library a couple of blocks to the west. That facility is a converted furniture showroom, and it has outlived its usefulness, according to city officials. At an estimated cost of $20 million, some of which would be from the state, the new building could include such amenities as a café, a local history museum and a genealogy center.

And if the current planning continues to bear fruit, a partnership with Paul D. Camp Community College could result in the inclusion of college-level academic resources and opportunities in the new building. Such a facility could then be the cornerstone of a small downtown academic campus. ←

16 suffolk living

Jen March

The Winter Wonderland reader's scenes from suffolk's 2014 snowstorms

of suffolk

Paul Olson

Kendall Fairlie

Sydney Wash

Sean Bilby

suffolk living

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Susan Blair

Susan Jaworski

Karen Cornett Lori Harcum

18 suffolk living

Crystal Wiedenhoeft

Lynn Forehand Karen Cornett

Kim Phelps

Karen Cornett

Kimberly Wade

suffolk living

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a sight to see story by Tracy Agnew photography by R.E. Spears III & submitted

I

f you’re living it up in your RV this spring, you might think you’ve got the best fourroom apartment on wheels that money can buy — until you spot one of these babies on the road.

They’re the envy of wanderers and tourists everywhere. Campers want to be them; people want to own them.

These luxury coaches, designed and built in Suffolk, seamlessly combine the arts of automotive technology, electrical engineering, cabinetry, painting and interior design.

Amadas Coach/Featherlite Coaches builds these bombshell buses on Obici Industrial Boulevard, where they take shells of luxury coaches from Prevost and outfit them with anything the

customer wants, from hot tubs to mirrors with hidden televisions.

The best NASCAR drivers and biggest names in country music are among their regular customers.

“Probably half of the Cup drivers are in Featherlite products,” said Amadas vice president Jimmy Adams, referring to NASCAR’s

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Featherlite Coaches always have different paint schemes on the outside, Jimmy Adams said. This is the company's show coach. Courtesy Photo.

elite circuit.

But there are plenty of less-recognizable people with enough capital to make their dreams come true. Many of them have done well in sole proprietorships, Adams said. Others frequently come from the upper tiers of the trucking, oil and finance industries, as well as fast-food franchise owners. Amadas-branded

coaches also are sold to companies as marketing tools on the road.

Amadas Coach started in 1997, a spinoff of Amadas Industries, which has been making peanut-harvesting technology in Suffolk for more than 50 years. It started after becoming majority owner of another coach building company. Amadas Coach acquired Featherlite

— and the considerable customer base and intellectual property that came along with it — in 2009, after the downturn in the economy hurt Featherlite’s business and left it ripe for acquisition by a company that had prided itself on slow but steady growth.

Since that time, many big names have visited Suffolk to take delivery of their new coaches, See COACHES page 23

22 suffolk living

Featherlite and Amadas coaches are loaded with special features that evoke envy from anyone who's ever wanted to hit the open road with all the comforts of home. Clockwise from above, moodsetting decor in the company's show coach; the "salon" in the show coach, shown in a promotional photo, includes plenty of sitting room; the company's logo on a coach owned by a medical company; a roomy shower stall; the technology on each coach is controlled by two iPads that come with it; even the faucets are top-of-the-line.

suffolk living COACHES continued from page 21

learn how they work and take them for a spin around town. The company’s NASCAR customers include Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon, legendary team owner Rick Hendrick and more.

Musicians who have traveled in Featherlite coaches include Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, Hank Williams Jr., Keith Urban and the Dave Matthews Band, although the market among musicians for actually owning their own coach is drying up. These days, many prefer to lease, Adams said.

These are far from your average RV. The shell alone, which comes with a temporary driver’s seat as its only amenity, costs $500,000. Fully outfitted, the finished product can run from $1.8 to $2.3 million, depending on the options.

And the options are almost limitless. Anything that can fit on the coach is fair game, and that includes the space under the living area and on top of the bus.

Many clients outfit the belly of the bus with an outdoor entertainment center, including television, refrigerator and grill. But some want extra storage — if they ditch the grill, they can use that space as a garage for a four-wheeler, golf cart or motorcycle.

On top, slide-up rails can be installed that make the bus a safe venue from which to watch the race, and it wouldn’t be unheard of to have a television and fridge up there, either.

But in the middle is where the living really happens. Two iPads that come with the bus control the electronics, which can even include a 60-inch flatscreen television. Many have a guest bathroom as well as the master bathroom, in addition to two or three couches, one of which can fold out to make a guest bed. Some coaches have kitchens that are capable of churning out a Thanksgiving feast, and a washer and dryer are pretty standard equipment.

All of this is put together at the Amadas facility in Suffolk. A client visits with Adams and his employees to pick out everything he wants, from floor and wall coverings to where he wants the couch. Some clients travel to Suffolk for this visit, but others meet Adams elsewhere. Adams takes a show coach to about a third of NASCAR’s races each year to meet the drivers where they are.

“It’s hard to sell these things from a brochure,” he said.

From there, engineers develop floor and building plans, and a small army of about 30 employees goes to work on the Prevost shell, making it exactly to the customer’s specifications. Teams of woodworkers, electricians, painters and others work together to make the client’s dream a reality.

While a new coach can be quite pricey, some trade-ins are available for less than seven figures. NASCAR champion Terry Labonte’s old coach, for instance, now is owned by a local guy, still sporting an inspection sticker from Labonte’s home state of Texas and a tan-and-black paint scheme.

Adams said Suffolk is a strategic location for the business, because it’s centrally located to many tracks on the NASCAR circuit and features the Suffolk Executive Airport a scant two miles away, making for convenient and discreet travel for the clients.

It also has an abundance of water, which is important, because the marine industry translates well to building luxury coaches.

“These things have more in common with a yacht then they do an RV,” Adams said, noting several employees have come from marine concerns.

Each coach takes about six months and 10,000 man-hours to complete. The location finishes about six to eight a year, but Adams said the company is ramping up its hiring to be able to do 12 a year, meaning more big names than ever before will be in Suffolk to pick up their new vehicles.

So if you spot a shiny new coach driving down the road or catch a sighting of your favorite short-track hotshot at a local eatery, don’t wonder how they got there. Thank Amadas. ←

The employees at Amadas Coach are more like artists than technicians, creating each luxury vehicle especially to each client’s specifications. From top, Jason Edwards, Josh Davis and Gary Combs work on projects at the company’s Obici Industrial Boulevard location.

23

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26 suffolk living

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suffolk living 27

where am I?

I

n each edition the Suffolk Living staff provides a challenge of sorts, testing how much of Suffolk you really know. We photograph some location in Suffolk that is readily accessible and open to the public, and see if you can tell us where it is.

If you know where this photo was taken, submit your answer, along with your name and contact information to news@suffolklivingmag.com. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re right, you will be entered for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to any one of our partner advertisers.

So, if you know where this is, let us know. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re right, you could be a winner.

Go out and enjoy Suffolk!

28 suffolk living

Now you see me... story by Matthew A. Ward photography by R.E. Spears & submitted

W

hen guests arrive at Cherry Grove Plantation on Chuckatuck Creek, the gracious lady greeting them has a magical history they wouldn’t suspect.

Janet Goldbach, who lives on the guest ranch with husband Richard, was a 7-year-old New Yorker when her father decided she should audition as a magician.

DuMont, a pioneering commercial television network, was offering the role. A tulip bulb company wanted to sponsor a show, and “a child who was 8 years old who could do magic” was required, Goldbach said.

Her father was president of a title and abstract company and also a top magician. He knew Harry Houdini when Houdini was president of the Society of American Magicians, according to Goldbach.

“My father was fairly young, and he was in the society as well,” Goldbach said. “After the meetings, Harry would bring my dad aside to help him with his magic.”

The world-famous Houdini took the younger Frank Clinton under his wing. “Dad said Harry was really not a very personable person, (however) for some reason he saw something in him.”

Janet Clinton — who would keep her maiden name for the stage — auditioned and got the part, reputedly debuting as the youngest child to perform magic on television, just after turning 8, in 1947.

Goldbach described her father, who diligently prepared her for the performance, as a man dedicated to his art; the year he retired from magic, she said, he played 412 shows.

“He’d come home from regular work and have dinner, and both my mom and my dad would put on their evening clothes — mother a gown and father a tux — and off they’d go to play shows.”

Goldbach, who would also go on to perform for military audiences, said her father viewed being a magician as a way to express his patriotism after the death of his brother in World War I. “He went out almost every night and played shows for the USO,” she said. “He felt that was his way of helping.”

A hit in front of the cameras, young Janet Clinton was invited to be a contestant in various television talent contests popular at the time.

She won them all, and her career continued gathering steam. “I See MAGICIAN page 29

suffolk living 29 MAGICIAN continued from page 28

performed for children, and I performed for families and adults; I changed each show according to the ages,” she said. “I did a lot of birthday parties, and often I would have three or four shows in one day, which is a lot of packing and unpacking.”

The tricks Janet Clinton performed were always very visual, she said, adding, “My whole way of thinking about entertaining was to do just that — to entertain, not to fool.”

Magic, she said, should be “something that makes you just have a good time. Everyone can forget the things going on in the day and enjoy coming into a magical world.”

Goldbach, who as Janet Clinton was chronicled in “Cosmopolitan,” “American Girl,” “Junior Scholastic” and other national publications, said she was probably the world’s only magician who never cared much for card or coin tricks.

See MAGICIAN page 30

Janet Goldbach stands in her attic with some of the tools of a trade that consumed much of her time for 42 years. The storage space is crammed full of memories, including old costumes, top hats, puppets and other accoutrements of her time as a magician.

30 suffolk living Janet Goldbach’s father, Frank Clinton, was a magician and performed with her mother, Ruth Clinton, keeping a hectic schedule of coming home from his regular job, having dinner together as a family and then heading out to perform. The year he retired from magic, he had performed 412 shows. He got his daughter her first gig as a magician when she was 8.

MAGICIAN continued from page 29

One time, Goldbach said, she and her dad divided her daughter into thirds. “I removed her middle and put it on a shelf,” she said.

Despite her professed dislike of card tricks, she described one she performed: Three cards selected by an audience member are shuffled back into the deck before Janet Clinton tosses the deck into the air, impaling the three cards on the end of a sword on the way back down.

“For me, that’s a more interesting way of finding the cards,” she said.

Janet Clinton and Richard Goldbach married in 1960. As well as New York and now Suffolk, they have also lived in Massachusetts, Alabama, Norfolk, Pennsylvania and London; Janet Clinton has been known and loved as a magical performer in many places.

In Mobile, Ala., she became known as “the South’s leading lady magician,” and adopted the stage character “Pixie,” whom children would call

out (Hey, mom, there’s Pixie!) as she walked down the street.

For a span of her career, Goldbach said, she averaged 250 shows a year.

The International Brotherhood of Magicians named her Stage Magician of the Year for 1985.

“My favorite library shows were here in Suffolk,” Goldbach reflected.

“The children were so much fun.”

Janet Goldbach now paints. She has studio space at Smithfield’s Arts Center @ 319. Her landscapes and portraits adorn the walls of her home.

Having retired at the age of 50, she no longer performs magic, saying she realized retirement had to be “all or nothing.”

“I finally decided to let it go,” she said. “My family comes first; the magic now is a wonderful thing to reflect on, and if there’s a magician around I want to talk and talk to them. It was a big part of my life.”←

suffolk living 31

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32 suffolk living

get to know

Suffolk's artistic eye story by Tracy Agnew photography by R.E. Spears III

W

henever art is displayed in public in Suffolk, chances are good Linda Bunch has something to do with it.

As executive director for the Suffolk Art League, she coordinates several gallery shows every year at the Suffolk Art Gallery on Bosley Avenue, sometimes lending her own creative clay work, always handthrown, that frequently features natural motifs such as leaf patterns.

It was little surprise to anyone, least of all her mother Betty Glasscock, when Linda became a clay See BUNCH page 33

BUNCH continued from page 32

suffolk living 33

The Suffolk Art Gallery, a city facility that has a successful public/private partnership with the Suffolk Art League, is home to most of the league's events and exhibitions.

BUNCH continued from page 32

artist. The propensity was obvious from her earliest choices of playtime activities.

“I have fond memories of mud puddles as a child,” said the diminutive and short-haired Bunch, who has a ready smile and is quick with a plug for Suffolk artists and their art. “My mother always said she always knew where she could find me; she looked for the closest mud puddle.”

Betty Glasscock, too, was an artist, a musician who also enjoyed fabric art and ceramics. But her understanding of the creative gene didn’t stop her from making her children do what was right.

Upon finding Linda and her sister Lisa playing in a mud puddle one time when it was time for children’s choir practice, Betty Glasscock simply hosed the girls down and sent them across the street to the church.

Her mother’s wasn’t the only creative gene Bunch inherited. Her paternal grandfather was a painter, and her father Sam Glasscock still enjoys woodcarving.

“I came from quite a creative family,” she said.

Bunch’s first job threatened to upend that family legacy, however. In high school, she worked for a Chuckatuck company that made microscope slides, a gratuitously technical and tedious process for a creative

mind like Bunch’s. She got away as soon as she could and, after graduating from John Yeates High School in 1976, earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Virginia Commonwealth University.

She returned to what she considers her home in Suffolk, though she spent her first year in Germany after being born there during her father’s military service.

Her first employment in the arts world was at a hobby ceramics shop at Carrollton’s Nike Park. She soon moved from being a volunteer at the Suffolk Art League to being its executive director.

Though her job ranges from writing grants to hanging art to sending out postcards reminding folks about the next show, her favorite part of the job is the people, including the dozens of volunteers who help make the league’s events happen.

“It’s just interesting finding out how they came to be here, how they developed and the way they create art,” she said.

She especially enjoys working at the kids’ workshops the art league holds (“We encourage them to create any way they want; grass doesn’t have to be green,” she said) and promoting the importance of art in society, particularly in education.

“Every leader is an artist,” she said. “If you can only do what people have already done, where would the Apples and the Microsofts be?”

34 suffolk living

shining a light Larry Saint presents his scale model of the Nansemond River Lighthouse to a packed house in at the CE&H Ruritan Hall in Eclipse.

Long-lost Nansemond River lighthouse 'rebuilt'

S

pend countless hours building a scale model of a lighthouse that was almost lost to history, and you probably would want to exercise extreme caution around table edges.

Larry Saint, a financial adviser from Smithfield who used to live in Suffolk’s Sleepy Lake neighborhood, is fortunate he learned this lesson early in the proceedings — though he learned it the hard way.

The lighthouse that warned mariners of danger a few feet beneath the surface was located near the mouth of the Nansemond River, north of Pig Point and east of Barrel Point.

Like the other five lighthouses on the Lower James, which lit the way from the mid-1800s through the 1930s, it didn’t look like your stereotypical lighthouse — those of the Outer Banks, for instance.

But before Saint started on his half-inch-to-the-foot model, most folks knew much less about what the Nansemond River Lighthouse and its siblings looked like. The tide of history had ebbed.

Saint presented his model during a recent installment of Suffolk River Heritage’s River Talk, held at the CE&H Ruritan Hall in Eclipse. He now plans to put together a book on the topic with Phyllis Spiedell, John Sheally and Karla Smith, a trio that has been chronicling local history in an ongoing series of publications.

A chance encounter at Smith’s house with the original lighthouse plans

story by Matthew A. Ward photography by Matthew A. Ward & submitted

set Saint on 18 months of researching and building.

Smith, chairman of the heritage group, said she obtained the diagrams from a friend who worked for Ron Pack, developer of Smithfield Station.

Pack, Smith said, had tracked them down from the Coast Guard, for architectural design purposes.

“I started with Karla’s plans, did research, and set out building it,” Saint said.

He started with the pilings, in the same way crews constructing the actual lighthouses did when they used capstans to “screw” the piling foundations of the screw-pile lighthouses into the riverbed.

“It took me a while to get the turnbuckles and the supporting cables correctly to scale,” Saint said.

It was about at this point that a sickening turn resulted in a lesson learned.

“I stupidly set it on the side of the bench. I turned around to do something else, and it fell off,” Saint reported. “I had to start all over again.”

But Saint came back stronger, and the completed model features decking, a central spiral staircase, windows with shutters and interior shelves. He even miniaturized the rope-and-pulley system lighthouse keepers would use to hoist the launches they used to ferry between their workplace and the shore.

See LIGHTHOUSE page 35

suffolk living 35 LIGHTHOUSE continued from page 34

At top, this photo of the Nansemond River Lighthouse, credited to Maj. Jared A. Smith and dated May 21, 1885, is kept at the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News. Above, Larry Saint built a scale model of the Nansemond River Lighthouse from plans originally obtained from the Coast Guard archives.

He described how modeling the Fresnel lens — Frenchman Augustin Fresnel’s 1822 invention that revolutionized lighthouses with greatly improved efficiency — was one of the greatest challenges. Saint overcame it by turning a scale version from basswood, creating a mold from it, then doing a resin pour.

While many hobbyists would have been content to just build the model, Saint visited the National Archives in Washington, D.C., digging up a plethora of information on all the lighthouses of the Lower James, which also include Deepwater Shoals, Point of Shoals, White Shoal, Middle Ground and Craney Island.

He also scoured secondary material, piecing together the history of lighthouses down the ages to the Pharos of Alexandria.

The Nansemond River Lighthouse cost $15,000 to build in 1878, according to Saint.

It was positioned at a point where shoals altered the depth from 25 to only two to four feet. Light first shone out from its kerosene lamp on Nov. 1, 1878.

Though the fact it was built after the Civil War spared the Nansemond River Lighthouse, Confederate raiders disabled the James River lighthouses that did exist then, for the purpose, Saint said, of putting Union mariners on the back foot. Rebel forces had the local, inside knowledge of where shoals lurked, whereas the Yankees were much more disadvantaged by darkness.

Saint also researched lighthouse keepers, and they apparently weren’t in it for the money or the lifestyle. For instance, Saint said, Rufus Potter received an annual salary of $575, the equivalent of $14,000 today. But they also were provided room and board.

Saint was able to document six keepers of Nansemond River Lighthouse through 1911, including Ella Edwards, who took over from her late husband.

The lighthouse keeper’s life, according to Saint, included monthly inspections and keeping the lighthouse clean and orderly.

In winter, a fire roaring in the potbelly stove in his small room was not enough for a lighthouse keeper not to see his breath, according to reports, and ice floes — often responsible for the demise of the lighthouses — made the structures shudder and shake.

“It was a tough life for them,” Saint said.←

36 suffolk living

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suffolk living 37

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Last edition’s Where Am I?

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Stand in one part of this building’s parking lot and you’re in Suffolk. In another part of the complex, you’d be standing in Portsmouth. Not far from there is where am I? the Chesapeake I city line. So it’s appropriate the building shown in the photograph is called the Tri-Cities Higher Education Center. Jerry Manning knew our photo was taken at the building on University Boulevard in North Suffolk.

For having his name randomly chosen from those who guessed correctly in the January/ February edition of our Where Am I contest, Manning wins a $25 gift certificate to the advertiser of his choice. For this month’s challenge, see Page 27. suffolk living 39

n each edition the Suffolk Living staff provides a challenge of sorts, testing how much of Suffolk you really know. We photograph some location in Suffolk that is readily accessible and open to the public, and see if you can tell us where it is.

If you know where this photo was taken, submit your answer, along with your name and contact information to news@suffolklivingmag.com. If you’re right, you will be entered for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to any one of our partner advertisers.

So, if you know where this is, let us know. If you’re right, you could be a winner.

Go out and enjoy Suffolk!

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38 suffolk living

scrapbook

FIRST CHURCH: One of the earliest church sites in Suffolk is on Western Avenue, where the Anglican Church was. This memorial now sits in its place.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Photo Courtesy of Suffolk Nansemond Historical Society

suffolk living 39

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