THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 10, 1994 TAG: 9409090501
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAIGE FLEMING, SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
LENGTH: Long : 137 lines
Traffic, tourists and commotion of the city fades as Mount Pleasant gets closer.
Forests filled with tall skinny pines and leafy poplars line the road. However, perhaps the best landmark to the Mount Pleasant section of Chesapeake is crossing the Intracoastal Waterway on North Landing Road. Crossing ``the canal,'' as locals say, and passing glassy amber-black fingers of water more like Louisiana bayous, the countryside soon turns into a patchwork of greens: soybean, corn and alfalfa fields, grass and trees. The farmland is veined by blacktop and dotted with houses and barns.
This is an area of large farms and close neighbors - a solid, stable community.
Oland and Carol Slabaugh have lived in Mount Pleasant for 28 years. They say the thing they like best is the ``real sense of neighborhood'' without the subdivision. ``There is a country atmosphere here and the neighbors share things,'' Oland says. Like most people in the Mount Pleasant area, Slabaugh has two vocations - he is both a farmer and a builder. He built his present four-bedroom, 3500-square-foot brick ranch eight years ago. Before that, the Slabaughs lived in the home next door, which they still own and lease. Slabaugh also is co-owner of Summit Construction.
The community extends to Fentress Naval Air Station and North Landing Road to the east, Albemarle Chesapeake Canal to the north and Centerville Turnpike to the west. This area is almost all farmland, much of which is divided into large parcels only occasionally interspersed with small lots and homes. From the Centerville Turnpike west to Great Bridge, subdivisions become more common, typical of the Great Bridge area.
Although not a typical subdivision, Mount Pleasant has a rather grand, if quiet, history. Robert Mast, a minister and Hampton Roads resident most of his life, moved to the area with his family in 1946. Mast, who wrote a small book titled ``Building at Mount Pleasant'' celebrating the 75th anniversary of the local Mennonite church, describes this area as one that ``symbolizes the romanticism that many people feel for rural areas they grew up in or around.''
This area also is home to Bergey's Dairy, which offers wholesome goodies and a tour of a working dairy farm.
Mast and his wife, Ester, acted as contractor and subcontractor while building their home just off Mount Pleasant Road. The cedar-sided three-bedroom, two-bath home is shielded from the road by a small field and a winding little gravel drive lined with pines.
One of the most interesting features of his home, Mast says, is the fireplace. It separates the open living room/dining room combination reaching through the cathedral ceiling. ``I got the fireplace from an old home in Norfolk that was being torn down. I reassembled it here. Now it has a second life,'' Mast says.
Although Mast says he did much of the carpentry work himself, he subcontracted the plumbing, heating and electrical work. Even though Mast also is a contractor, ``there are just some things you don't do yourself unless you're licensed,'' he says. ``Also, after having invested so much of yourself here, when you build a place with your own hands there are some emotional attachments,'' Mast says, ``and if there comes a time when my wife and I must leave, it won't be easy.''
According to Mast's history of the area, Mount Pleasant got its start after the Civil War. ``Mennonites came from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and other northern states looking for inexpensive farmland. They found it here where large plantations were being broken up into smaller farms.''
Harold Bergey echoes Mast's comments. Bergey grew up on Bergey's Dairy farm and has been a Mount Pleasant resident nearly all his 43 years. Over the years he has picked up some local lure. ``I think this whole area was known as Herring Plantation and was broken up after the war. . . . Years ago there was a saw mill and shipping dock at the canal,'' Bergey says. ``They would ship potatoes, strawberries and barrel staves to New York, Baltimore and Philadelphia.'' Bergey, who is pastor of the Mount Pleasant Mennonite Church, and his wife built their three-bedroom, two-bath brick ranch in 1977 with the help of a draftsman and subcontractors, later adding a fourth bedroom to accommodate a growing family.
``Originally, we were going to use the farmhouse that was on the site, we wanted to renovate it,'' Bergey says, ``but when we realized we just couldn't use it, we began tearing it down and found some interesting history. Old newspapers had been stuffed into the walls. One we came across was dated 1864 and was a page of personal ads appealing to Northerners to help people in the South find loved ones missing in action after the war. I think that says a lot about the age of the old house.''
And, unlike some areas, Mount Pleasant doesn't seem to be experiencing any sales slowdown. Tom Seddon of Long & Foster Realtors in Chesapeake, says ``it's difficult to catch property for sale'' out here, because it moves quickly. The homes in subdivisions don't stay on the market for very long, sometimes for as little as a week. Larger parcels of land, including the farms from Centerville Turnpike eastward, ``tend to be kept in the family sold to other family members or sold within the community without much advertising,'' Seddon says. ``You just have to be quick.''
It doesn't look as though things will change anytime soon, either. As Mast explains, ``the Navy has bought the development rights, so any land that's bought or sold cannot be developed. Perhaps the purpose is to keep the area from becoming like Oceana, where subdivisions seem to be encroaching into Navy space.''
But less development means more nature for walking, fishing and other recreation, Bergey says. The canal is less than a mile away, and there is a lot of boating and fishing. ``My family and I often go fishing for freshwater bass, perch and catfish. And on the weekends, especially in the summer, there are lots of boaters and people out enjoying the water.'' MEMO: ABOUT THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Public schools: Kindergarten through second grade, Butts Road
Primary; third through fifth grades, Butts Road Intermediate; sixth
through seventh grades, Great Bridge Middle School North; eighth and
ninth grades, Great Bridge Middle School South, 10th through 12th
grades, Great Bridge High School.
Shopping areas: There are several strip shopping centers within a 10-
to 15-minute drive.
Recreation: Several small parks are nearby. The Albemarle Chesapeake
Canal is north of Mount Pleasant Road and offers fishing, boating and
other water activities.
Assessments: Property assessments vary greatly, depending on the
parcel of land and the size of the home. Assessments range from about
$34,000 to $272,000, the Chesapeake assessors office reports.
FOR SALE
There are no for-sale listings now.
SOLD
A two-story vinyl-sided home at 659 Corapeake Drive, with four
bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths, sold for $139,000 in August.
A vinyl-sided ranch at 256 Downing Drive, with four bedrooms and 2
1/2 baths, sold for $133,000 in July.
A vinyl-sided ranch, with four bedrooms and three baths, sold for
$141,150 in August. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Ian Martin
Harold Bergey, right, has been a Mount Pleasant resident nearly all
his 43 years. With him are, from left, Ryan Waltrip, 14, a family
friend; Bergey's wife, Rose; and their sons, James, 11, and Jesse,
13.
The Bergeys built their three-bedroom, two-bath brick ranch in 1977
with the help of a draftsman and subcontractors, later adding a
fourth bedroom for the growing family.
by CNB