A Lark Through Clarke

Recollections of a Home, Past and Present

Posted on Sunday, November 29, 2009 by Kathy Fisher in History, Long Branch
Tags: History, Long Branch

My mother had loving memories of her time at Long Branch.  When she visited the house after moving back to Virginia in 1997, she was amazed at its transformation, following the Harry Isaacs restoration, from a state of disrepair to museum-quality luster.  I think she had mixed feelings, stemming from her perspective dating back to the early 1930s.  She used to say that Long Branch was first and foremost, a home.

Long Branch as it appeared in the mid 20th Century.

As Christopher Fordney aptly writes:

Although Long Branch is today furnished with elegant antiques and exudes the quiet dignity of a museum, it has above all else been a home.  Its rooms have known the cries of newborn babies, the exuberant pounding of children’s feet, the roar of party conversation, and the solitary voices of its elders recounting the family legends, some verifiable, some not, that are so much a part of the history of an old home.[1]

As I walk through Long Branch today, the house still evokes the ambience of past generations.  The views of the countryside from the windows are still the same, and as you wander along the original floors, you can almost sense the souls of the families who lived there.  The view from Bordens Spring Rd. is just as compelling as it was when I visited the house in the 1950s –60s.  Back in those days, finding it was always a challenge.  You’d meander along a country road, probably Route 624, if you were lucky enough to find it, and then, suddenly, the house and cupola just appeared, perched magnificently on the hill—a breathtaking sight that I will never forget.  Whenever I bring friends to see Long Branch, I insist  they are treated to that amazing view.