Richmond :: FIELD REPORT :: ROUTE 1 PROJECT

Monday, October 9, 2017. Richmond, Virginia

I really thought that the GWARbar Facebook page was a joke but it is real. Three years ago they opened a restaurant/bar in Richmond smack dab in the middle of the neighborhood they called home during the early years when Sleezy P Martini hatched the heinous plot to take over the world. I have pictures and video of when they invaded Jamaica Plain in the late 80s at Green Street Station. That makes for a priority to digitize when I settle back home at the Norwood Space Center. Today's goal was to have my cheeseburger delivered to my table by GwarWoman.

At a stop sign toward the Virginia border, I began fumbling around for my cigarettes. A name popped up on my GPS that I had somehow missed during my virtual mapping - Soul City. Soul City, North Carolina. Now Sundays are slow for live music down South and I had already begun romanticizing about discovering the lost town of Soul City. I stopped and asked a couple of people if there was an actual downtown Soul City. You know, a Soul City general store? Soul City Visitors Center? A museum? Nightclub?

Nope. But a fascinating tale about an altruistic run at the creation of an independent African-American community run amok. The closest thing to music was that Lucinda Williams is the minister's name at the Soul City Baptist Church. A gracious lady from the local vineyard looked at me quite matter of factly and spoke, "There ain't no music in Soul City." Lots of great photo ops nonetheless.

HALLOW'S EVE

Do you know those elaborate Santa shows people put on their front lawns around Christmas time? Well, I came across one of those Halloween style passing through Vance County. It snapped my neck and I spun the van wheel back toward the South.

One of Berenice Abbott's most iconic shots from North & South series is the Ferris wheel on Daytona Beach. I had to stop at the Vance County Fair.

Photos: Charles White - richmond - 2017

Learn more about Richmond, Virginia below.