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John Plashall’s Haunting Virginia Photography – Virginia Living

John Plashall’s Haunting Virginia Photography – Virginia Living

The history of a place is not just what is documented in books and displayed in museums.


Another world is often overlooked – in urban and rural landscapes, in cities and neighborhoods.

It is the churches and homes, town halls and schools, once the epicenters of family and community life throughout the Commonwealth, that have been abandoned. Now they are skeletons of what they once were, almost unrecognizable, with peeling paint, sagging roofs and broken windows – shells of a past life, often with no one to tell their stories. But for photographer John Plaschal, these abandoned places are magical. “There is nothing more beautiful,” he says.

John Plashall’s Haunting Virginia Photography – Virginia Living
Dr. Otto Clement Wright, a Richmond physician, built this magnificent Victorian building in Jarratt in the early 20th century. Many locals know it as the “Wright House,” even though it was purchased by the Owen family nearly 80 years ago and turned into a funeral home that operated for decades. The house fronted train tracks that ran parallel to South Halifax Street, and in 1917 Dr. Wright was tragically killed by an oncoming train on his way home.

The Richmond-based photographer recalls the first time he knew he had caught lightning in a bottle when he came across two crumbling schools, long since abandoned, that stopped him in his tracks. He explored Powhatan and came across what turned out to be James’ Belmead and two historic schools that once occupied the land. “Some say the ground whispers through their feet,” says Plaschal, “and that certainly happened to me.” He was so moved that he grabbed his camera and started shooting.

After a bit of detective work, he discovered that the schools were established in the late 1800s specifically to educate black children—St. Emma’s Military Academy for boys and St. Francis de Sales School for girls. The fact that

both being on property that had once been a plantation was a powerful irony. “The fact that almost 15,000 African-American students were educated on the grounds of a former plantation is a story that needs to be told,” he says, adding that he has initiated coverage on local news stations as well as CNN and CBS . It’s been a satisfying ride for Plashal, and it all started with committing a crime: trespassing.

That fateful day was a turning point for Plaschal, who has spent the past 13 years chronicling what many people find easy to drive past to overlook. He calls his work “Beautifully Broken Virginia” – also the title of his 2019 book – where he captures the soul of structures through the lens of his camera. From churches to mansions, asylums, prisons and restaurants, they are all abandoned. Mother Nature is doing her best to restore them – “it’s like she has a sixth sense,” he says, as vines snake through cracks in the walls and weeds engulf the paths. Tree seedlings are sprouting from rooftops and weeds are suffocating what were once gardens.

Gothic Revival Belmead Plantation on the banks of the James River in Powhatan
Belmead was built in 1840 by Confederate General Philip St. George Cocke, who hired New York architect Alexander Jackson Davis to design a Gothic Revival plantation on the banks of the James River in Powhatan. Jackson made his mark designing country homes in the Hudson River Valley for the upper classes—Tarytown’s Lyndhurst is perhaps his most famous—as well as buildings on campuses across the country, including VMI, the University of Michigan, and UNC Chapel Hill. Cocke died in 1861, and in 1897 the Belmead property was passed to the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, a Philadelphia-based Catholic religious order founded by Sister Catherine Drexel, who would become St. Katherine Drexel. Heir to the Drexel family’s vast fortune, she was deeply religious and devoted her life and fortune to educating Native American and black children across the country. Katherine Drexel was posthumously canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000, the second person born in the United States to be canonized.
The chapel is engulfed in ivy
Built with bricks made from nearby clay pits, the Chapel of St. Francis de Sales was meticulously designed with the help of Mother Catherine Drexel. Operating from 1899–1970, St. Francis de Sales School educated approximately 5,000 black girls over seven decades.
Bellmead Manor covered in snow
Belmead Manor was purchased by Louise Drexel Morrell—Mother Catharine’s half-sister—in 1893 and converted into the St. Mary’s Industrial and Agricultural Institute. Emma” in 1895. It was renamed the Military Academy “St. Emma’ in 1947. To this day, it is the only black Catholic military academy ever to exist. It trained more than 10,000 young black cadets over 77 years, from 1895-1972. Both schools – known as RockCastle – are credited with shaping the lives of 15,000 black students. The campus, which once included more than 40 buildings, has been abandoned since the 1970s when the schools closed.

He explores hollow shells that reveal little of what they once were, as well as the magnificent ornate mansions crumbling and dilapidated that may contain numerous artifacts of lives left behind. A pair of shoes, a suitcase, a newspaper, photographs are some of the clues he finds in the structures he explores – as if someone ran an errand and never came back. While hints may emerge, they raise even more questions that remain unanswered. Hamilton High School in Cartersville closed 60 years ago; its last class was dismissed in 1964. Now its 250-seat auditorium is empty, covered in dust and memories. What plays were performed on this stage?

Inside the chapel
Despite decades of neglect, the chapel at St. Francis de Sales School boasts Gothic Revival mastery
your best. Details include stained glass windows, carved panelling, an elaborate altarpiece, chapel parapet and Gothic-inspired arches, windows and columns.

Sometimes Plaschal is rewarded by meeting people associated with the abandoned properties he photographs. He does this through a practiced, domestic search, which he achieves by spending time in the communities he explores. “I interview loggers, bribe firefighters with doughnuts, strike up conversations with locals at diners, and approach customers at gas stations,” he says. “A lot of times I’ll just knock on doors. Rural Virginians are super friendly. All they want to do is accommodate me, especially when they realize my intentions to learn real about their community. And when he meets someone who actually grew up in a house or worshiped in a church or attended school — “that’s the icing on the proverbial cake,” Plaschal says, flashing a confident smile.

Richard Avedon photographed models, Ansel Adams, the landscape – all images of conventional beauty. But think of Scarecrow as more like Diane Arbus, capturing those on the fringes, people who were shunned and disrespected. Through Plaschal’s lens, the beauty is in the unconventional. His work introduces us to parts of our communities that otherwise remain ignored. And now, in a world where TikToks and Instagram posts set unrealistically high expectations—for what we see, what we look like, and what we consume—he reveals the beauty of what’s broken.

Photo vanity, sewing accessories and other everyday items.
If it weren’t for the ivy creeping up the wall and the peeling paint, this vignette looks like someone went out for tea. The marble-topped dresser with wedding photos prominently displayed, clothes casually tossed from an open drawer, spools of thread, underwear and an open book all seem frozen in time.
Abandoned living room
Though dilapidated by time, this living room, in an abandoned Richmond County farmhouse in the Northern Neck, signals the cozy nature of a well-inhabited space—from the huge wood-burning stove, assorted pictures, chandelier, draperies, upholstered chairs, sconces, corner cabinet, and Sheraton style dining chairs.

Journey through the abandoned underworld of Virginia

John Plashall has a corner of eerie Virginia, as well as an emotional connection to the sites he photographs – diners, shelters, churches, schools and homes – which he discovers throughout the Commonwealth. He says they represent Virginia’s “abandoned netherworld” that offers intriguing and mysterious clues about the people who once thrived in these forgotten and decaying places. His attachment to these

structures led him to note their unique appeal Beautifully broken Virginiahis 120-page art book of 80 affecting and haunting images he managed to capture during the dozen years he roamed the state. Listen to his podcast, dive deeper into “extreme landscape photography,” learn about upcoming shows and lectures, buy prints, and more at JohnPlashalPhoto.com.

Abandoned home in the woods
Photographer John Plashall came across this neglected beauty in Russell County. A once private home turned community center was abandoned decades ago. Today it is precariously positioned, tilted at a 45 degree angle to the mountain that supports it.

This article originally appeared in October 2024 a question.

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