Thursday, March 15, 2012

Tina Visits

Tina, my Urchin’s Totally Awesome Roomie from college, came to visit Da Urchin for a week.  I was working for most of the time Tina was there but was off for a day the Urchin was not, so I got to spend a day & a half with Tina.  So I drove down to Clifton after work one morning, slept a couple of hours & then Tina & I wandered around Historic Clifton checking out the cool houses.  The weather was awesome, warm & sunny.

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This is one of the smaller family homes in town.

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This one is average for the village.

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Almost all the homes are tin roofed & were enlarged early in their history.  They also frequently have more than 1 “front” door.  The homes were commonly also business establishments, so there’s a business entrance & a private entrance.  There’s also usually both a kitchen door & a tradesman/servant entrance. 

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Porches are also the norm.  So is a checkered history.  Several homes were illegal ordinaries during prohibition.

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This is my personal favorite.  Its one of 2 stone houses in town.  (My friends Carly & Dean live in the other.)  The stone was locally quarried.

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This Baptist church was built in 1910 to replace a smaller one.  Its one of several in the village in active use. 

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This Primitive Baptist Church was built in 1871 on land donated by a Freedman.  The village was founded by freedmen & a few buildings from that era still stand.  This church is still used on a monthly basis.

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Of course no village is complete without its Cat supervising the great & small, making sure they do their jobs.

Tina & I went to Old Town Manassas the next day.  We shopped at a fabric store (I found what I needed, she did not), did a McKay’s Used Bookstore run, had a great lunch at the Cajun restaurant and then visited  various art galleries & studios.  The day was ended with a grand meal with Carly, Dean, Urchin, Tina & I after an evening of playing with Urchin’s cats. 

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