Chesterbrook VA 1947-56 - Photo #13

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Me, Ricky James, Tommy James, my brother Dennis, coonskin hat. January 1955. The house behind is the Walkers' house. It burned down some time before this, and then was rebuilt with a splendid addition on the back, including a roofed porch. I slept right through the fire. My parents told me the next day that everybody was doing all they could to get the Walkers out, screaming, throwing rocks through the windows, but just then they drove up in their car -- I think they had been to a movie -- so nobody was hurt. The next house had a lot of turnover, many families... One father was a professional (minor league) baseball player, another was a former B-29 crewman... The next house is the country estate of the well-to-do Chittendens, who predated the postwar housing boom.