Lynchburg: You Can Never Go Home Again—But You Can Still See Them

Eighteen years, two homes in Lynchburg, Va. I was born in Virginia Baptist Hospital, and lived my first four years at this modest brick ranch, which my parents moved into in 1954, when it was spanking new.... Below: the just-completed house on Gorman Drive; mammer Evelyn with her lil' ones on the living room hearth; and at the living room window on the day of my baptism.Remarkably... oddly... sadly(?)...more than 40 years later, that house has not changed one iota. Why, there's even an old-fashioned TV antenna sticking out from the roof. Retro!Just before my fifth birthday, the parents built a new house less than two miles from the previous home. I lived there until college days; they remained from 1966 until 1998, when they moved one mile away to their current digs at Westminster Canterbury in Lynchburg.Above, the family outside the home on July 4, 1976, Bicentenntial Sunday. Below, seasonal views in the late 1970s.

Below is the house in August 2010, painted white, with an additional master bedroom added to the second floor (with elegant dormer windows). Looks nice...And, ugh, in 2011... Apparently, the current owners have forgotten to hire a gardener. Too much!