The Law House in film, Foote, Lake Washington, Mississippi

Overgrown drive welcomes paranormal investigators but no residents.

The Susie B. Law House, on Eastside Lake Washington Road, in Foote, Mississippi, has been empty for a decade or more and is deteriorating badly. I keep hearing that someone is renovating it but in April of 2017, it looked pretty bad. I wrote about the Law House in an 2014. Here are a few Panatomic-X film photographs of the house, taken on a gloomy day in 2014.

This was a handsome house originally, with symmetry and an imposing entry colonnade.

The original millwork came in kit form from Sears, Roebuck & Company.

Lake Washington from Foote.

The 2014 photographs were taken with a tripod-mounted Fuji GW690II rangefinder camera; light measured with a Luna-Pro SBC hand-held light meter. The square 2017 photograph is from a Mamiya C220 camera with 55mm Mamiya lens on Kodak Tri-X Professional 320 film.

Update: a very interesting web page describes the Sears Roebuck manufactured houses from the 1908-1940 era. The variety was amazing. Another web page, http://www.kithouse.org, describes research into kit houses around the USA.

Abandoned Sears Roebuck Warehouse, Vicksburg

Long-term Vicksburg residents remember when Battlefield Mall was the first mall in town. Sears Roebuck anchored the west end of the building, while other stores occupied the east end. When I moved here in 1985, only an ice cream shop and a drug store were left in the east section because the new Pemberton Mall had opened and most companies moved to the new location. But Sears was a full-line store and remained in its Battlefield location until about 1993 or 1994. The mall remained empty for a few years until the US Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District rented it, using it for office space.

If you were on Wisconsin Avenue, you could reach the Battlefield Mall by driving down a steep, narrow road called Battlefield Road (imaginative). The concrete building on the right was the Sears repair and parts center.

The parts and repair center was a rather severe brick and concrete building. For decades, it was one of the strengths of Sears that you could have their appliances and equipment repaired all over the USA and Canada. Their parts depots were amazingly well-equipped. And if you needed an item that was not in stock, it would be shipped to your local repair center at no additional shipping cost.

The building is closed and locked - fate unknown. And it has not been vandalized from what I could tell. Can anyone use such a warehouse in a town that is de-constructing?

Surprise: the old Battlefield Road has been dug up, as part of a project to make a connector road between Wisconsin Avenue and North Frontage Road (from the Vicksburg Post).

Most photographs taken with a Fuji X-E1 digital camera, except for the last frame, which is from a Nexus 4 phone.

Decaying Quickly: the Law House, Foote, Mississippi

A handsome white wood house faces Lake Washington in the hamlet of Foote.  Known as the Susie B. Law House, it has been neglected for 5 or 10 years and is decaying quickly. The vines are taking over, but at least in spring, you can see some of the structure.

The house is reputed to have been a kit home from Sears, Roebuck & Company.  If it was a kit, you can see the quality materials and the handsome windows. A Wikipedia article cites this reference: Hall, Russell S.; Nowell, Princella W.; Childress, Stacy. 2000. Washington County, Mississippi. Arcadia Publishing. It may have been "The Magnolia" Colonial design according to Searshomes.org. I am often surprised that we drifted away from these well-made kits with precision parts from a factory, and returned to a construction method where workers cut bulk materials on site. This latter method suffers from a lot of waste material and inefficiency (and, very often, sloppy workmanship). Look at the typical modern McMansion: you consider that precision craftsmanship??

The breezeway on the side was designed to let you unload a car with cover from rain or sun.  Someone has been here in the last few years, and the pillows looked reasonably fresh.

This was the only interior photograph I could take. A sign said, "No trespassing," so I did not venture inside. The roof is beginning to fail; see how the ceiling plaster is collapsing. It was plaster on wood lath.

A little hut in the side yard matched the main house. Was it a child's play cottage?

This is the view from the front yard of Lake Washington. It is a nice setting and superb for water fowl. Anhingas and Cormorants are common.

According to Wikipedia, the horror movie, Dark House, was filmed here in 2012. I have not seen it, but look at the official poster - it sure looks like the Law House. There is reputed to be a lot of paranormal activity here. Maybe I should return at dusk and take some more photographs....

Please click the link for some photographs of Mt. Holly, another decaying mansion just to the north.

Digital images taken with a Panasonic G3 camera with 9-18mm Olympus lens, processed with Picasa or PhotoNinja.

Update: Click the link for some film pictures of the Law House.

Update Nov. 2018: a very interesting web page describes the Sears Roebuck manufactured houses from the 1908-1940 era. The variety was amazing. Another web page, http://www.kithouse.org, describes research into kit houses around the USA.