2239 Bethlehem Church Rd.
Floyd, VA 24091The original property was part of 110 acres deeded to Crockett Ingles, grandson of Mary Ingles of the “Long Way Home” fame. Crockett was part of George Washington’s survey party, and the land was “on the waters of Terry’s Creek” When we bought the home in 1987, there was a large two-story wood-frame store beside the road (where the mailbox now sits). A reference was found to the store in the mid-1850’s as being run by Charlie and Pearl Sowers who lived upstairs. When we tore down the old store, we found part of the store had a hand-hewn soapstone foundation, with a cornerstone that reads “CW Sowers 1868.”
Around the turn of the 1900’s Peter Spangler, believed to be the builder of this house, purchased the property, selling it to Roy and Dolly Martin in 1917. The Martins operated the store, a dairy farm, and a tomato cannery that employed many in the area during the Great Depression, paying 10 cents an hour. At least five springs feed into the springhouse, and it provided water for all those endeavors. Even during several droughts the springhouse has never gone dry. In the 1950’s the Martins remodeled the house, digging out the basement and pouring a concrete foundation, bricking the exterior of the home, and adding the red oak floors and trim. They used the basement for canning in hot weather and the walk-up attic for spinning in the winter. The kitchen and breakfast room and bathroom were added at that time, utilizing a rear porch. Having a home with TWO full baths was a very unusual thing for that era.The Martins closed the store in the mid 1970’s. When the couple passed away, the property was divided up and sold at auction in parcels. The house and 10+ acres was purchased by their son Elvin Martin, from whom we bought it in 1987. Elvin was a heating, plumbing, and electrical contractor and rewired the house for us in 1987 to bring it up to code. In 1990 we added the family room and attached 2-car garage. The garage also has 220 service separate from the home. In 1995 we built the tractor/woodshed in the garden area. The garden area has some dwarf fruit trees (Jonathan apples, peach, and pear trees) and there are several winesap apple trees around the property. The garden area soil is quite rich. We have replaced all the galvanized steel plumbing with newer PVC pipes and new fixtures, updated all the fixtures and cabinetry in the kitchen and bathrooms. The windows were replaced in 1990 with double-pane vinyl windows that have low-e glass. Last year we installed a whole house water filter system and a sanitizer. We also switched to an outdoor wood furnace tied into the hot water baseboard heating system. The furnace supplies hot water to supplement the water heater, and there is a separate blower for the hot air in the garage as well.In 2002 we remodeled the walkup attic into a master bedroom/bath suite complete with nine skylights. The master bedroom has a separate office area that faces east so you can enjoy the sunrises from there. And with the southern exposure from the front porch, you can enjoy sunny afternoons and light breezes from spring through autumn. |
