During the last few years I've spent a lot of time reflecting on life .... the people, lessons, events, places, and decisions which bump or pull one along life's course. Once in a while something special happens when you're young that affects the remainder of your life. For me, that something special was Greenbackville, Virginia. And now, as an artist and senior citizen, every time I do a maritime painting, I still think of my days in Greenbackville.

Grandmom & Grandpop's house on the left

Greenbackville as viewed from Franklin City in 2008

I was born and raised in Baltimore and moved to Bel Air, Maryland for my high school and college years. But my fondest memories are from the summers that I lived with my grandparents in Greenbackville, a verynearly the same age as me and my brother Ernie. I didn't understand much of what they said at the start of the summer, but we were always laughing. And after a month-long visit I found myself talking just like them and enjoying the simple things of this small town. Things like watching Grandmom with her outdoor bonnet, prepare Sunday chicken dinner by starting with a live chicken and a hatchet. One quick whack on the chopping block and the headless chicken would jump around in front of us for its finale.

Pop's Store as seen in 2008. In 1955, there

was a storage building in the back and

another to the right with an outhouse adjacent

to it. The porch was not enclosed ... just wide

open with a couple of benches.

There