Aerial Photo of Garrett Property Circa 1930

[Jim Garrett]

(04-10-2013 09:47 PM)John Stanton Wrote:  Laurie. The original references to The Garrett Farm used the terms "Locust Hill". From that I have trouble relating the Farm House to the lanes of Rt. 301. I would hardly call that a "Hill". So, I poked around beyond the North-Bound lane , readily accepted as the Front of the farm, and found another "Lane" well down in the woods. (East of the House site). It is level, but much overgrown with trees. From this I conclude that both lanes of 301 are "New Roads". I went to that new found lane and looked back at where the house was. Now, that is a hill. I doubt if you could see the first floor of the house - you could not see the yard. Both lanes of 301 have been excavated in the Garrett Farm property, and straddle the house. The barn then would have been located somewhere IN or BEYOND the South bound Lane. (To the west of the house site.) The land beyond the south-bound lane is higher than the house site, so that lane is considerably below the level of the original farmyard. It would not suprise me to learn that the VDOT (Va. Dept. of Highways) set that road to miss the housesite, but it didn't miss the barn site. If this information is needed for some reason, I can check with VDOT to see if the original plans for the road are available to us. I am positive they exist - but can we look at them?

John, Great work. I had talked to Gilbert Brittle and Herb Collins about the construction of 301 and both said alot of dirt was moved around. I has assumed that the northbound lanes were the general proximity of the road and thought it ran very close to the house.

It would make sense that an ariel picture would exist from about the time A.P. Hill came into being.