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Founded With Links to the Founding Fathers
Siblings Ruby and Joseph Saunders. "There was no place for blacks anywhere, but we had this," Ruby Saunders said of segregated times.
(By Gerald Martineau -- The Washington Post)
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But the ugly reality of segregated Virginia was apparent in the lack of municipal services, the dilapidated houses and the unpaved streets that turned into rivers of mud when it rained.
"There was no place for blacks anywhere, but we had this," Saunders said.
Today, the ramshackle old dwellings are mostly gone. There are streetlights and paved streets. The neighborhood familiarity that Saunders cherishes remains; relatives and longtime friends live all around her.
Now there's another issue: Developers are calling, and new, grander homes are going up. "We have a lot of pressure to sell," Saunders said.
Neighborhood demographics are also changing. "It's international now. There is every kind of group," Saunders said.
Residents say they welcome the diversity but at the same time enjoy the familiarity that comes with having long-established roots.
"I just love it. I've seen it grow," said Jeanne Paige, 79, a retired school secretary who has lived in Gum Springs all her life, except for two years when her daughter prevailed upon her to move to Atlanta.
"Atlanta wasn't home. I didn't like it. Here, I know almost everybody. It's convenient for me. I have my church. I can walk to the grocery store," Paige said.
The influx of new homes and families who don't have the longtime ties can create challenges for preserving Gum Springs' history.
"This community has struggled to maintain its identity, first when surrounded by slavery, then by neglect. People wanted to change its name," said Ron Chase, 55, an art teacher for D.C. Public Schools, a lifelong Gum Springs resident, and for the past 20 years the volunteer president of the Gum Springs Historical Society and the director of its museum.
"No one is against change, but people need to have an appreciation for what is here," he said.
Bill Middleton's family bought one of the new houses last year when they relocated from San Diego. "It was nice, secluded and quiet but really close to the city," said Middleton, a Navy chaplain. "Sometimes on Route 1 the traffic can get pretty thick, but you can always go on the [George Washington] parkway so you don't feel too stuck."
