THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 27, 1994 TAG: 9411240096
SECTION: HOME & GARDEN PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARCIA MANGUM, HOME & GARDEN EDITOR
LENGTH: Long : 115 lines
SCHOOLCHILDREN WHO grew up in Virginia Beach in the '50s remember field trips to the weather station at Fort Story, but since the Army was given use of the property in the late '60s, the public has rarely seen inside the house.
That will change Dec. 6 when the Cape Henry Woman's Club of Virginia Beach opens the old weather station at 734 Leyte Road for the club's annual ``Christmas in the Country'' tour. (Details on G?.)
``I remember going there from school and from camp when it was the weather station,'' said Virginia Beach native Sarah Ray, who now lives in Norfolk. Ray recalls climbing the stairs to the third floor to see the weather equipment several times as a child in the mid-1950s, and nostalgia may take her on a return visit to the house.
The Fort Story commander, Col. Franklin F. Wise, and his wife, Jeanne, have lived in the house for 1 1/2 years. They are history buffs and welcome the opportunity to allow the public back into the landmark house, Jeanne Wise said.
Gone are the barometers, charts and other weather equipment, she said, but ``it has widow's walks and porches on all four corners of the house, so that you have really a commanding view. When we have the open house, if anybody is willing to climb to the third floor, they can go out and see the view.''
It's that view that makes Wise equate it to living in a palace. She and her husband enjoy the water, the dolphins and the channel, especially from the north-facing sun room.
``It is a little scary when the weather gets bad, and you're expecting a hurricane,'' she acknowledged. But she also knows the house has survived a number of hurricanes, including one in 1944 with wind velocity recorded at 134 mph.
It was the strategic location at the point where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Chesapeake Bay that led the U.S. Department of Agriculture to build its Virginia Beach weather station there in 1918. It was known as the Cape Henry House.
During World War II, the Navy used the house as the Harbor Entrance Control Post. The Navy Signal Corps continued to keep weather records, which they sent to the airport, but they did not disseminate them publicly, because they were primarily concerned with safety and security, historical records indicate.
After the war, the house reverted to weather station use, but in the late '50s, weather bureau functions were reduced, and the Army obtained use of the ground floor and second story for its post commander, Jeanne Wise said.
In May '69 the weather bureau closed, and the Army took over the entire facility. The post's commanding officers and their families now live amid the house's history.
``We have all the blackout lights still in the house, although they're not functional right now,'' Jeanne Wise said. There also is a dining table stored in the basement that has old-fashioned swing-out stools, once used by weather station employees, she said.
The current living room was the office where the Navy troops were paid, and the basement was the recreation room with a pool table and card tables.
``We're supposed to also have a resident ghost,'' Wise said, ``although he's never made himself manifest to us.'' It is allegedly the ghost of a Navy chief who was called back to active duty service at age 70 and committed suicide in the southwest room on the second floor.
Those are the tales of history, something in abundant supply at Fort Story. ``A lot of history happened right here,'' Wise said. She and her husband, who majored in history, particularly like living so close to landmarks such as the First Landing Cross, marking the area where America's first permanent English settlers, the Jamestown Colonists, first touched the shores of the New World, and the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse built in 1791.
Because of the couple's nomadic military lifestyle, Wise said she is not able to furnish the house with many antiques. ``Basically my house is comfortably furnished for family living,'' she said.
She, however, does have a collection of ducks from around the world, including ones from Korea and Germany, one carved from ash from the eruption of Mount St. Helens and an antique decoy given to her by a hunter in Massachusetts. Also on display will be the Wises' oil paintings and etchings acquired during their military travels, and a couple of antique furnishings, including a 120-year-old highboy.
But the house itself will be the crown jewel of the day, set off by traditional decorations created by the Cape Henry Woman's Club. This year is the club's 32nd ``Christmas in the Country,'' according to Lou Townsend, club president.
Each year the club selects a house to decorate, and members make crafts and refreshments to sell to raise money for scholarship funds and other community projects, Townsend noted. This year they will set up shop in the basement of the old weather station.
Although the house doesn't date back to Colonial times, club members will be costumed in long dresses and dust caps to create the mood of an old-fashioned Christmas, Townsend said.
Thanks to the cooperation of the Wises and the Army, Townsend said, visitors will be able to step back a few decades in time and revisit the old weather station. MEMO: CAPE HENRY HOUSE
WHAT: ``Christmas in the Country'' home tour
WHEN: Dec. 6, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m.
WHERE: 734 Leyte Road, Fort Story, Virginia Beach
HOW MUCH: $3; Tickets available at the home or from members of the
Cape Henry Woman's Club. Baked goods and crafts will be for sale.
INFO: 671-9041 or 340-5441
ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Motoya Nakamura, Staff
The old weather station at Cape Henry, now home for the Fort Story
commander
Jeanne H. Wise, left, talks with Ruth Christian, center, and Ethel
Spruill...
Color photos by Gary C. Knapp
Bishop house in Lafayette Shores...
VanLandingham home
by CNB