by Guest Sun Feb 28, 2010 6:29 am
dangrsmind wrote:Blou wrote, "The first one, the one with Farmville in it goes to the location of Poorhouse Farm, which the road takes its name from. That farm was the actual Prince Edward County poorhouse farm. There were farms like that all over the state. A bit about it here under VIRGINIA L. AND CHARLIE LOUIS JONES, JR.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]The second link is pretty close to the target. The house on the East side of the road immediately to the South was for sale recently and its address is 1408. It must have sold or been taken off the market, because I can't find it listed any more. I compared a Google street view with the picture and it was definitely that house. It looks like a factory built home set on a base with a fake stone surround. The link that used to work is this:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] maybe someone who is both skeptical and motivated can track the picture down. Any lurking real estate agents with a MLS link?
Sam would have been very visible to any number of people if he were stuck across from any of those driveways. A car on a country road at night is audible for a good half mile and visible for more depending on the terrain and the positions of observer and observed. The houses are really pretty close together in the 1400's, which is why I earlier suggested he may have started to see too many houses and decided to turn back if he were looking for someplace secluded. If instead he was just hoping to finally get turned around, there were several opportunities. The fact that he did get stuck illustrates just what a pain it can be to try to turn around on a VA country road at night. I have been in exactly that same situation before and nearly been stuck.
Poorhouse Road most definitely doesn't go to Rice. It's only connection to Rice is that's where that area's mail is addressed. Its northern end is at US460, and its southern end is at what Google mistakenly calls county road 696. In Virginia, the only counties with county roads are Arlington and Henrico counties. The rest are all state roads unless they are within the limits of an incorporated city. Towns may have roads too I'm not sure and I digress.
Remember that until fairly recently, rural Virginia counties did not have 911 access, and therefore many, many of the roads had no names, just numbers. Even now that most roads are named, some people still refer to them by their old numeric names. Sam's behavior that night suggests two possibilities, to my mind: 1. I agree the theory that he might have been scoping out a place to hide and get some sleep before journeying on to Richmond, or 2. (and being a local, I have to say the following makes a lot of sense to me) -- there are a LOT of popular shortcuts from Farmville to Richmond, mainly used by those who commute for work or school. The shortcuts are tricky, and all involve rural roads/country roads. Now, I have no idea what route Mark and family took when bringing Sam from the airport the first time, but perhaps they used one of these shortcuts and Sam was attempting to retrace the route. Or, he may have asked locally what is another route to Richmond (perhaps he was trying to avoid 360 and other main roads, where he was more likely to be pulled over). If memory serves me correctly, there are lots of twists and turns involved in these shortcuts, and roads of a similar sound/rhythm might confuse. For example, there is one way to Richmond down Church Road, or Old Church Road. There is also a Pleasure House Road somewhere in the area. Red House Road, among others. An utter alien, and not in a stable sort of mind, Sam may have become confused/disoriented, and wound up taking the wrong road.