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.
