Pine Lake from the Air, 1930s

Above is an aerial photo of Pine Lake, taken sometime before 1936. The year and photographer are unknown, but I imagine developer Carl Shaub hired an aeronaut. Imagine a Stearman biplane or a WWI-surplus Curtss Jenny making a pass over what would one day be our fair city.

The view looks northward at a newly-laid-out grid of mostly empty roads. That's Rockbridge Road running horizontally in the foreground.

Click on the photo to blow it up or download it to your desktop and magnify it with your file viewer.


The streets running vertically are, left to right, Oak, Spring, Pine, Clubhouse Magnolia, Hemlock, and Spruce. The horizontal roads, from bottom to top, are Rockbridge, Poplar, Forrest, Dogwood and Lakeshore, which is just visible through the trees. The roads on the Flower side of the lake have not yet been cut. Beyond where they lie today Memorial Drive can be seen. The road intersecting Memorial at top middle is Hambrick Road. None of the roads in the photo seem to be paved.

You can orient yourself by looking at the diamond shape in the middle of the photo. The roads on either side are legs of Clubhouse Drive, which splits today and split then to leave space for the clubhouse, which is clearly visible in the diamond. A house can be seen on the corner of Clubhouse and Dogwood. I plan to take a stroll in that direction to see if the original house is on the lot. If so, it's one of the first few structures in Pine Lake.

If you look closely at the lot to the right and just below (on the photo) the Clubhouse, you'll see a grid of tennis courts that were placed where the maintenance building is today. I would have missed them if I hadn't been clued in by Dot Rainwater.

At lower left you can see what Dot (she came to Pine Lake at age 12, in 1936) identifies as Hogan's Grocery. It sits where Spring Drive intersects Rockbridge Road. You'll see Algood Road doesn't yet exist.

Look at Oak Drive, the leftmost street. You can see it once ended at Poplar. Today, Pine Lake Baptist Church sits where the intersection once was.

Some houses may be hidden by the trees. I can't see mine, which is why I think the photo predates 1936.

There are a few more structures visible within the city. There's a farmhouse near the top of Pine Drive and a small building at Forrest and Spring. A flatbed truck is parked across the street from the farmhouse.

Something is going on on Hemlock; the road widens around something. I can't make it out clearly, but it looks rather like a small building. Perhaps it's one of the community wells that were placed in the middle of the streets.

Notice the small roads winding through the landscape.

The city is lucky to have this amazing photo. Thank you, whoever gave it to Mayor Kathie DeNobriga (I think perhaps it was Wayne Wright).