{"id":187,"date":"2015-06-28T20:18:46","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T00:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.girlnovember.com\/blog\/?p=187"},"modified":"2016-03-17T18:15:11","modified_gmt":"2016-03-17T22:15:11","slug":"adventuring-selma-plantation-leesburg-va","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.girlnovember.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/28\/adventuring-selma-plantation-leesburg-va\/","title":{"rendered":"Adventuring: Selma Plantation – Leesburg, VA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Wandering<\/a>

Wandering Around…<\/p><\/div> Last night I discovered a blog about abandoned Virginia locations<\/a>, and a nearby location called Selma Plantation. <\/p>\n

Selma is currently on Preservation Virginia’s “Most Endangered Historic Sites” list, and has been there since 2009. The former plantation, dating back to the 1800’s and the Mason family, has fallen into disrepair since the current owner, a developer building new houses nearby, filed for bankruptcy in 2008. <\/p>\n

Intrigued by the pictures on the Abandoned in Virginia site, I went looking for more photos. I came across LocationsHub<\/a>, which showed Selma when it was maintained and used as a venue; and Brad Johnson-Buchanan’s Tumbler page<\/a>, showcasing some fantastic interior photography of the property after it had begun to deteriorate.<\/p>\n

After a bit of web sleuthing, I was able to pinpoint the location of Selma off of Rt. 15 in Leesburg. It would be just a short drive to find it. Loaded up with our cameras, we headed out this afternoon.<\/p>\n

\"Selma<\/a>

Selma – Jun 2015
Driving Up<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Selma<\/a>

Selma – Jun 2015
A Bit Closer<\/p><\/div>\n

When we arrived, there were two large pickup trucks in front of the house. Because of this, we did not wander too close to the property, and stuck to the lower apron of the gravel driveway. The driveway appears to usually have a chain stretched across the driveway – this was not the case when we arrived. <\/p>\n

\"Selma<\/a>

Selma – Jun 2015
Closer Still (Telephoto)<\/p><\/div>\n

The trees and grass are very much overgrown, and after the rains we’d had in the past 24 hours, we were more comfortable keeping to the driveway than venturing into the weedy overgrowth. And well, we didn’t know who the people were in front of the house. It’s clear the house has deteriorated further than the photos I had seen previously. The top-most windows along the roof line are either misaligned or missing altogether. The gutters are sagging. The left corner of the house is completely overtaken by ivy. A lot more of the windows are now broken or boarded up. The exterior columns and stucco paint are peeling. The lights at the front door appear to be missing now.<\/p>\n

\"Selma<\/a>

Selma – Jun 2015
The Missing Swing<\/p><\/div>\n

On The Full Bouquet<\/a> blog, there’s mention of a swing where brides used to have their picture taken. I didn’t realize it until I got home and started going through the photos, but I appear to have found the tree with the swing, without having known it. Unfortunately, it looks like the swing is gone now; and just the ropes remain. <\/p>\n

\"Selma<\/a>

Selma – Jun 2015
The Barn<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Selma<\/a>

Selma – Jun 2015
The Barn Roofline<\/p><\/div>\n

This barn sits near the Selma Plantation house and as you can see is almost completely overtaken by vegetation. The roof looked intact from what we could see, but the cupolas are damaged and one appears to be missing its lightening rod. It was impossible to see the lower part of the barn to know if the structure is sound. There is another wooden building behind the barn, which is visible from between the single family homes neighboring it. Yes, you read that correctly. Recently constructed single family homes are what back to the Selma property. It makes me twitchy that this beautiful historic three-million dollar property is falling to ruin behind new construction. I don’t know what originally had been planned for Selma by the developer; I wish there was an easy fix to help get funds to save this historic location. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last night I discovered a blog about abandoned Virginia locations, and a nearby location called Selma Plantation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-road-trip","category-selma-plantation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.girlnovember.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.girlnovember.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.girlnovember.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.girlnovember.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.girlnovember.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.girlnovember.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.girlnovember.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.girlnovember.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.girlnovember.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}