A Journey South

So, on our way to the pen company sign, I spotted this wonderful abandoned motel somewhere between Colonial Heights and Petersburg. The Colbrook Motel (which seems to be closer to Chester – I googled it – but I’m not sure it matters).

The office and the rooms were boarded up and the only sign of life was a family of feral cats (not pictured).

Around one side of one of the blocks of rooms, I spied a few bowls of food and water so someone is looking out for them.

Went I went around the back, I discovered this cool old log cabin. I have no idea how it fitted in to the motel and probably predates it. It was clearly turned into more rooms. It was a very neat discovery.

The office had some nice details. Nothing says class like a cardboard sign wedged into the remains of a lit one.

I do love glass blocks. I love that someone went to the trouble to incorporate them into the design here.

The low point of this stop was getting out of my car and immediately stepping in an invisible (to me) pile of animal poo that would not get off the sole of my shoe and permeated the car for most of our trip that day. I would blame those feral cats but cats usually don’t poop so close to traffic and tend to cover it up. It could have been travelers taking a pit stop with a dog. Who knows? I’m just glad it was a fairly warmish day so we could ride with the windows down for most of it.

Ancestor Voyage

Today I brought my sister along on my motel trip because I had a particular destination in mind. I took photographs of a number of motels – a few abandoned, the majority still operating as motels – which I’ll share in future posts. We drove down Route 1 from the James River south through Colonial Heights and into Petersburg.

We had lunch at a coffee shop in an area that resembled Richmond’s warehouse district so much that I felt I hadn’t really left the city.

I did enjoy this photo over the toilet in the restaurant’s bathroom:

After lunch, we drove a few blocks to our destination: the Arnold Pen Co.

I know a lot about my mother’s side of the family (both maternal and paternal) but not my dad’s dad’s, the Arnolds. Recently, my dad gave me some family history information.  Some typewritten, some handwritten. Names, dates, census information.

Felix Arnold came to Petersburg, VA from Wurttemberg, Germany in 1860, just in time for the city to be practically destroyed in the Civil War. (If you’re interested, google The Battle of the Crater.) Felix was a butcher by trade and enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861. He was assigned to the 3rd Virginia Infantry Regiment, Company E – the Cockade Rifles under Captain Antrobus Bond. He ended up in the hospital a year later with various problems – leg ulcers and bladder issues, all of which sounds nasty, but he survived and went back to his family. They had 5 children, or 5 that were living when the census was taken in 1870: Georgianna, Leopold, Felix, Alexander, and a ward (or perhaps he was the son of Felix’s wife from a previous marriage), Charles Von Perz from Saxe Coberg. Eventually, Charles changed his last name to Arnold.

Felix’s son, Felix Jr., moved to Norfolk and had 7 children and it’s his line, I believe , that my father is related to. I still have a lot of family tree work to do.

Felix’s youngest son Alexander had a son name Remmie. They remained in Petersburg. Remmie was involved in local politics and was president of the Remmie Arnold Pen Co. I did a bit of research of my own and discovered that while the pen company building has been turned into loft apartments (natch), the original neon sign was refurbished and still hangs outside the apartments.

It was the sign we went to see and document.

Pretty cool.

Next time: the motels of Colonial Heights/Petersburg!