Almost there: SHUTTERS ARE IN!!!

We spent the summer in Cuba visiting my husband's family. After returning in late August and getting kids back into the back-to-school groove I have been able to reassess this project. It's been three years since I first acquired the property and it has been quite a journey. My life has made unexpected demands on me and that there have been long stints that I could not work on either the renovation or the documentary. But this is the first time where I really do see that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. I am really almost there.

In July I was able to put together some funds to get the shutters made. I made it a point to get the historical hinges. They cost me almost as much as the labor and materials for the shutters themselves. Luckily, the vendor is someone I know and who believes in the project. They gave me a discount, but even with the discount it was definitely a pricey item: $25-$30/ hinge. Notice there are four per window opening. That adds up fast!

 

I had some disappointments with the quality of the work on the shutters, and even considered getting them redone. But, I am going to live with it. Perhaps by looking at the picture you can see what the issue is:

 

 ........see it?........no?.....

They are uneven. The carpenter made one side bigger than the next so they can lap, or fold over. It is true some people do shutters this way, but for the most part they are supposed to look even when they are open. It's part of the aesthetics. I considered having it redone and then let it go. They serve their function. The person who installed them also had a little mishap when installing the ones in the bathroom.

 

He underestimated the width of the wall and the bolts came through and damaged the tile. Still waiting to have that fixed. These disappointments are part of construction: things happen, there is miscommunication, different expectations and mistakes. With experience and better communication you can keep these to a minimum.

What the shutters have afforded me is the ability to finally finish the interior of the building. We removed all of the bars and can now secure the building properly against weather and theft. That means I can finish the painting, stain and seal the floors and ......actually begin to put things in the building, like tables, and chairs and art supplies!

 

Agua!!!!

Renovation has begun again. Getting plumbing to the building became paramount. My daughters are often with me and I got tired of sending them to the bush when they needed to use the bathroom.

The bathroom was an addition to the house made in the early 1900's, I'm placing it between 1920-1930.  It appears to have been done by cutting a hole out of the side of the building and adding a concrete block structure that is supported also by concrete blocks. Unlike the elegance in proportion of the original structure, this bathroom was done in a way that left it awkward. You have to step down 3 inches when you enter it. The ceiling is very low. The toilet is a little far from the wall. There is a window above the face basin. All this to say that we gutted the bathroom and made some minor adjustments in positioning of the toilet.

My original idea was to have a white bathroom, but when it came time to buy the materials at HD nothing of what I had looked at before was there. There seems to be a serious ordering problem in that store. So I settled for travertine tiles, 18"X24". Stone is a beautiful material. I'm satisfied but not thrilled.

We installed completely new plumbing in the walls and in the ground. I don't know if I would have changed even the sewer line if I didn't have to, but since the "Copper Thieves" stole most of the cast iron pipes that were partially exposed due to erosion, we had to. It cost $1200 in labor and another $400 in materials.

I never imagined how exciting it would feel to see water flowing into a toilet. It was surreal. Water in a toilet, in this house, that was so abandoned and neglected for years. It made me think of how amazing that must have been for those who also saw indoor plumbing for the first time. The foundation for the outhouse/privy/latrine is still located to the back of the property. I'm not sure what I will do with it yet.

In the interviews I did with residents of the area, many commented that up to the 50's when most people still had outhouses, that men would come in the nights to empty them out. One of the interviewee's said the she was a girl at the time and it was a bit scary for her because they would come in a big noisy truck and be dressed in dark clothes, long boots and gloves, and masks. I think she said they were called the "Night Soil Men". I have to go back and look, but regardless, I like the name and see it fitting.

My next civilizing feat is to get electricity to the building. The process has begun, but is incomplete. More on that later. For now I'm enjoying running water.

Interview: Suzette Bough James of 6B Fisher Street

6B Fisher Street, home of Suzette Bough James in Christiansted, St. Croix

Her house actually feels like it's more on King Cross Street, but she said that because they seemed to mark the houses based on where the front door opens to, hers is marked as 6B Fisher St. I thought that was interesting. Suzette or Suzie as she is most preferably called comes from a large and well established Christiansted town family, the Boughs. She is a retired art teacher who was born and raised in Free Gut, or Hillside as the neighborhood is most commonly called by the generation who experienced its heyday in the 1940's-60's. Every time I interview someone from this generation I yearn to have lived in that time. It sounds like a magical era, where everyone knew each other, and loved each other and looked out for one another. A time where although people lived with far less materially, they seemed to have a lot more joy, more sense of community and more dedication to family. She describes the town as beautiful, well cared for and full of life.

Suzette Bough James, resident of Free Gut, Christiansted

When I asked her about the earliest memory of her house she told me a moving story about the day her mother died. She said she was five years old and she remembers walking into the house for the first time without her mother in it. She commented on the way the jalousie windows (wooden louvered windows) were open and that later neighbors had come by to comfort her.

Although the windows have changed, they are now glass louvered windows and covered with iron grill work to keep out the burglars (she's had a few over the last decade), the view has not changed. We stood there imagining this class of Freed Blacks looking at the same view of the ocean and wondering what they thought, what they felt. We both agreed that their view must have reflected back to them a sense of freedom and tranquility.

View from "Hillside" at the home of Suzette Bough James

A Foreboding Interview: Dr. Elizabeth Rezende on Hill Street

A few weeks ago I did an interview with Dr. Elizabeth Rezende. She is an expert on Free Gut and wrote her dissertation on the history of the area. She suggested that we do the interview in front of a house on Hill Street near "London Bridge". It is a row house and fairly well maintained. That day we had issues with our equipment. One of the cameras kept stopping, but we were able to get it working again and did a fantastic interview. Dr. Rezende, or Betsy as she is most favorably known, is a wealth of knowledge and had so many stories to tell. One of the stories that stood out was about a woman who was for all intents and purposes, a pimp. She would groom young girls to be a "housekeeper' for Danes and would take the children of those relationships and groom them as well in an ever efficient cycle. But later that day I got a call from Rashad, our cameraman, to say the footage was lost. The memory card wasn't reading! Darn! We still had footage from another camera and good audio, but may likely have to do the interview again. However, it will have to be in another location.  Why? Because the building we did the interview in front of burnt down last week. Why? Because a vagrant had gotten in to the abandoned house next door and in using candles burnt the building. So the lovely woman, Ms. Sutton, whom we had to ask permission to film on her front stoop has lost her home of over forty years.  I once saw a picture of the inside of her house. The photographer Ted Davis had taken this amazing photograph of the interior of her home while she was conducting piano lessons. There was so much detail in that picture, you felt as if you were transported into another world. And now it's gone.

I have recently been advocating for new bill, the Antiquities and Historic Preservation Bill 29-0358. Some of the concerns of the bill are that it has a mechanism that could possibly lead to local people losing their properties if they do not fix or maintain them.  What I don't think people get is that if you just leave your building to the elements and the vagrants, you will lose your property anyway! It will rot, crumble, be burnt, scavenged, and deteriorate to such a condition that even if you wanted to sell you would not get much money for it, so then what was the point in trying to hold onto it?  When children are neglected by their parents because they are unable to care for them properly, no matter the reason, the children are put in foster care. Maybe that's what needs to happen to these buildings. But I hope that Ms. Sutton and what happened to her will convince our legislators that the status quo is not an option.

For those who are moved by Ms. Marjorie Sutton's story here are the details to help. St. Croix attorney Joel Holt has set up an escrow account so donations can be made. You can donate via PayPal by clicking on this link:

http://ddstudio.us/marjoriesuttonfund.html

OR, Checks can be made to: Joel H. Holt Esquire P.C. Trust Account, and put ‘Marjorie’ on the memo line.  Checks can be mailed to c/o D&D Studio, 55 Company St. C'sted, VI 00820. All funds will go to Marjorie Sutton.

Interview: Dr. Olaf "Bronco" Hendricks

House that Dr. Olaf "Bronco" Hendricks grew up in on Queen Cross Street, Christiansted.

Dr. Olaf "Bronco" Hendricks reminiscing in front of his childhood home in "Free Gut"

This is an exciting part of the documentary process for me: the interviews. I love talking to people and hearing their stories.  Recently I interviewed the well known psychiatrist, musician and talk-show host, Dr. Olaf "Bronco" Hendricks.  I've known Dr. Hendricks for many years, he was friends with my father. I also grew up with his son Kai. However, the interview we did a couple of weeks ago gave me new insight not only into his person, but into a fascinating community that he describes in the 1940's and 50's while growing up in Christiansted town.  During that time, "Free Gut" was known as "Upstreet" because these streets are literally located uphill or "upstreet" from the main sections of town.  During our interview he describes a nurturing, close-knit community and a childhood filled with romps in the street, swims in the reservoir, storytelling and stilt-walkers.  A community so close and so special that later in life many of them realized that although many of the families have moved from the old neighborhood, their bonds have remained.  They formed the group today known as the "Hillsiders" who meet annually. 

La Vaughn Belle interviewing Dr. Olaf "Bronco" Hendricks

One thing that struck me in the interview was when Bronco revealed that growing up they had no knowledge of the history of  "Free Gut". "Slavery was not something we discussed", he said.  Instead he learned about "Free Gut" on his own while he was in college.  We had a very interesting discussion about the possible causes of this collective amnesia as well as what could be done to reclaim this community. I look forward to being able to share all that and more when the documentary comes out!

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La Vaughn Belle & Dr. Olaf "Bronco" Hendricks at Belle's property on East Street. Looking at the original kallaloo bush.

Video Footage: Time, Place and Memory

This weekend the Virgin Islands Humanities Council held their signature event, the "We the People" conference with this year's theme, "Time, Place and Memory". As I am one of their grant recipients they invited me and two other documentary projects to present our works. Since I am in the very beginning stages of my documentary I presented two short trailers. One is already posted on this site. The other I'll post here which is montage of various footage. For me it was nuts, absolutely crazy, to put something together that quickly. I lost one full night of sleep. But it was a good exercise. It helped me wrestle with how I would weave the story together, how I might visually represent the previous owners, what do I want from my interview subjects.

Attending the conference reinforced for me how important it is to collect these memories. As I looked over the footage of my first interviewee, Gerville Larsen, a historical preservation architect, it made me realize that I really want to be able to access those memories, the personal ones, the smell of the place, if the street was shady, what did it feel like to breathe the air, was it heavy with heat, or light with a fragrance of bread baking or sweet from a ground littered with rotting mangoes. And although with this interview, even though I thought it went well, Gerville was articulate and passionate, it made me realize that I want to be able to access more, especially when I begin to interview people who actually lived in Free Gut.

I look forward to more interviews and research and continue to learn and improve production. Comments are most welcome on what you think about the footage so far.

Funding Trailer #1

This is a funding trailer I developed as a part of the application process for a grant from the Virgin Islands Humanities Council. Wish me luck!

I started with using Vimeo, which has a higher quality, until I realized that you could not watch the video using a cell phone.

The House That Freedom Built from La Vaughn Belle on Vimeo.

So I decided to also post on YouTube. So if watching from your smartphone you should be able to see this one.


Since this is also a production blog I will comment a bit on that. Most of the footage was shot by Jason Roberts, except the shot where I am sitting and describing the motivation for the film. Due to deadlines and scheduling conflicts I shot that myself in my living room.

I so need funding to get better equipment! But a wise friend told me this:"The best camera to get is the one you have". So I push on filming what needs to be filmed, but writing away like a mad woman to get funding to take the production up a notch.

Why we don't remember

The house is located in an area of Christiansted that is forgotten, abandoned both physically and psychologically. It is a part of an amnesia in our social memory. Why? Most people when they ask where the house is and I begin to tell them, don't have any visual references in mind. Their images and memory stop at about Company Street. Through my research I've learned that the town was designed to have a social, commercial and even racial divide. All the main buildings that had the most importance to colonial commerce were located near the waterfront. The laborers were placed in areas in the back streets. The first freed blacks were placed there by law in the 1700's as a form of urban segregation and control. How is it that we don't remember them? Them, the people who worked extra hard on Sundays, their only day off, week after week, to purchase freedom for themselves or for a loved one? How is it that we don't remember them?