December Gathering – Vallambrosa

On December 1, 2019, the Society gathered at historic Vallambrosa for our annual holiday meeting. R. Strother and Evie Scott, our hosts, welcomed us to their home for an afternoon of fellowship and food with a little society news thrown into the mix.

Homeowner Evie Scott (left) and Society President Christina Dunn (right) led the news portion of gathering

Vallambrosa was built in the early 1870’s by Dr. Charles Guerrant Massie and named for an ancestral Guerrant home in Italy. It was constructed of heart pine cut from the surrounding woods and has a foundation of brick which were manufactured on the site. Dr. Massie built the house after serving as a surgeon in the Civil War, when he returned to Goochland to practice medicine. He married Mildred Heath Guerrant, daughter of Colonel Charles Guerrant and his wife, Sarah Thompson Guerrant, of “Balquither” in Goochland County. Born in Goochland County on March 31, 1836, Dr. Massie was of Huguenot descent, a great grandson of John Guerrant, Jr. who was born in 1760 at nearby “Ceres” located close to the old Three Chopt Road. John Guerrant, Jr. was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1788; was commissioned Brigadier General of Virginia forces in 1793; and became President of the State Council and Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in 1805.

According to family records, the original house was comprised of four rooms, two upstairs and two downstairs, with a central hall running from front to back. An outside kitchen, smoke house, ice house, and servants’ house existed along with a barn which was already on the place when the land was purchased from Alexander Shelton in 1870. The house and dependencies were built by local workmen, without benefit of architect or contractor.

The former Perkinsville post office was relocated to the grounds of Vallambrosa and re-purposed as a tack room.

The lane to Vallambrosa passes through the entrance posts which were built from bricks of the foundation walls of Balquither. The wall around the family graveyard, within sight of the house, was built with rocks from the foundation of the old barn at Ceres.

This family home serving four generations, stands simply and serenely, cherished by the family and from its very beginning, known by relatives and friends for the warm hospitality they enjoyed there.

The property is still owned by members of the Massie family.

We thank the Scott family for hosting us for the afternoon and our members who brought a delicious array of hors d’oeuvres for tasting.

To read more about Vallambrosa, read Goochland County Historical Society Magazine Vol. 5, No. 2 “Vallambrosa” by Charlotte Taylor Massie.  Available for purchase at the Historical Center and online: Vol 5, No. 2.

World War II Soldiers Remembered: Elam Turner Salmon

July 1, 1917 – December 2, 2004

Elam Turner Salmon was born July 1, 1917 in Goochland. He was 23 years old when he registered in May of 1943. According to his Registration Card, we know he was 6 feet tall, and had blue eyes and brown hair and was living in Richmond, Virginia. He worked for E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. (DuPont)

He was with the 8^th Calvary Regiment serving in the South Seas. After the fall of Japan, the 8th Cavalry occupied the 3rd Imperial Guard Regiment Barracks in Tokyo.

 

World War II Soldiers Remembered: Richard Linwood Trice

August 6, 1921–October 22, 1998

Richard Linwood Trice was born at Hadensville, Goochland County, Virginia, on August 6, 1921. After attending Virginia Tech, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942 and qualified for flight school. After completing his training as a navigator, he was stationed at Bury St. Edmunds, England with the 8^th Air Force, 94^th Bomb Group. He served on a B-17 Flying Fortress, for a number of missions over Germany. In 1944 near Stuttgart, the plane lost an engine due to enemy fire. Unable to return to England and close to the Swiss border, the crew made an emergency landing at Zurich. Crews who landed in Switzerland ended up spending the remainder of the war in internment camps there. After interrogation and quarantine, Linwood, with other American officers, was interned in Davos-Platz, then, as now, a famous ski resort. There he stayed at the luxury Post Hotel and learned to ski, earning a “silver ski” medal of accomplishment. When he was discharged from active duty in 1945, he held the rank of Second Lieutenant.

Trice in Switzerland

World War II Soldiers Remembered: Matt Archer Allen

May 7, 1924–November 25, 1944

Matt Archer Allen was born May 7, 1924 in Cardwell, Virginia. He was 18-years-old when he registered in June of 1942. According to his Registration Card, we know he was 5 feet, 6 inches tall, and had black eyes and black hair. He listed C.C. Cochrane of Rockville as his employer.

He was serving aboard the USS Essex (CV 9) on November 25, 1944 when the vessel was hit by a Japanese kamikaze. The strike was on the port edge of the aircraft carrier’s flight deck and landed among the planes gassed for takeoff, causing extensive damage. The ship survived the hit, but Allen was one of 15 killed in the attack. His name is among those listed at the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond.

World War II Soldiers Remembered: Richard Snellings Cridlin

October 26, 1915–December 25, 1998

Richard Snellings Cridlin was born October 26, 1915 in Henrico, Virginia. He was 24-years-old when he registered in October of 1940. According to his Registration Card, we know he was married to Lucille Layne Cridlin, was 5 feet, 9 inches tall, and had brown eyes and brown hair. He listed Sylvania Industrial Corporation as his employer. His home was his wife’s family farm near Crozier, Va.

Taken in Paris, 1944

Upon completion of basic training, he was sent to Europe, where he took part in D-Day and the Liberation of Paris. He was then sent to the Pacific theater where he participated in the Battle of Okinawa, the last major battle of World War II. After the war, he returned to Crozier where he spent the remainder of his life.

World War II Soldiers Remembered: Clyde Bigerton Southworth

November 30, 1910–September 28, 1979

Clyde Bigerton Southworth was born November 30, 1910, in Goochland County, Virginia, to Thomas Mayo and Virgillia Clyde Pace Southworth. According to his Enlistment record, he was 6 feet tall and weighed 132 pounds. He was single at the time.

He enlisted on July 11, 1942. He had the places he was stationed engraved on his canteen including; Honolulu, Hawaii, Canton, Christmas Islands, Gilbert Islands, Saipan, Marshall Islands, and Okinawa. He brought home many photographs of his time in the Philippines. He was released on November 11, 1945.

When he returned home, he married Anne Pollard of Amelia County, on January 5, 1946

World War II Soldiers Remembered: James Harold Bowles

June 12, 1921–January 17, 2019

James Harold Bowles graduated from Central High School in 1940 and attended Virginia Union University from 1940 to 1942. Bowles was 20-years-old and a student at VUU when he filled out his registration card in 1942. Soon after that he began work as a civil service employee in Pennsylvania and Hawaii from 1942 to 1944. While in Hawaii, he joined the United States Army and served two years. He resumed his studies and graduated from VUU in 1948 and from Meharry Medical School in 1952. After his internship, he returned home to Goochland County and opened his medical practice.