William Fenwick Giannini's Reflections of Howardsville
A native of Howardsville, Bill has shared some of the pictures he has taken since he and his wife Alice returned to live near his family home at Mt. Alto some years ago.
The Old Fenwick Home Place
Granddaughter Caitlin Jumps for Joy While Visiting her Grandparents
Memories from Mt. Alto
Lily Sweeney is on the left and the man on the right is unknown. Lily was married to Henry Sweeney, seated. Mr. Sweeney built the house he lived and died in in February of 1950. His house is located a quarter of a mile east of Mt. Alto Baptist Church cemetery on Rt. 735, about three miles north of Howardsville. Henry was a carpenter and built some houses locally and after he died and his wife died, Ernest Armstead purchased the house and some land, but later moved to Armstead property on Rt. 735 just northeast of the old Fenwick school house which is located about 200 yards northeast of the Fenwick cemetery. Randy Smith and his wife later purchased the Henry Sweeney house. This information and copy of the photo by William Fenwick Giannini. Bill says he remembers in the 1940s when Henry Sweeney would come by his house in his 1936 Ford coupe. "...he never really learned to drive since he 'rode' the clutch all the time and the car engine was screaming as the clutch was slipping. I liked Henry --he was a kind, gentle and smart person. His wife sold homebrew which she kept cool in a bucket in the well..." Bill points out that Mrs. Sweeney was careful about who she sold to.
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Here is a reflection from Bill of Mount Alto about Fred Cobbs. Fred was an especially well known and colorful figure around Howardsville and a top drawer fisherman.
A I ...became a friend of Fred Cobbs about 1941 (when he was about 40 and I was 12 years old). He started renting a house from my grandmother (Mary Spicey Thomas Fenwick)...The house Fred rented was about half a mile from where I lived and I found out that Fred was an avid fisherman on the James River around Howardsville, VA. We fished often using my small wooden boat and five horsepower motor. He educated me about how and where to fish, told me the names of the fishing A holes@ on the James where old timers he knew used to fish and had told him about such as A Hughes= Deep Water@ , A Dr. Fagen= s Home@ etc. also told me about A green@ fishing worms (slimy with a strong perfumey odor) and where, when and how to dig them. These worms live only along the banks of the James River in our area and are the best all around bait for the fish living in this river. There are three types of catfish, two types of suckers, mullets, shiners, chubbs, silver perch and an occasional peral in the James.
Fred was very intelligent and attended school at Howardsville through the fifth grade I think. He eventually went to work for the C&O railroad up the James at Gladstone, VA in the huge switching yards there. He was apparently being trained to be the yardmaster or assistant yardmaster there. He was very humorous and got along with everyone. He could make a listing of box cards etc. numbers (a manifest) with the train moving -- writing on from memory after the final cars passed.... He was unbeatable at checkers. In later years Fred did income tax for many of his neighbors. I was Fred= s friend until he died from prostate cancer... Fred called me about a half an hour before he died and talked as if he was okay. He is buried in a cemetery on the hill in Scottsville. He never married.@
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Welcoming spring -- flower photographs from Bill Giannini
