Cooperative Living June 2017 - 33

After the original
White House burned 1925,
J. Roy Nichols purchased the
estate in 1931 and built the house
that stands there now in 1938.
Terry Wayne and Peggy Harris
Johnson bought the house
in 1979.
according to Johnson. J. Roy Nichols
purchased the estate in 1931 and the house
that stands there now was built in 1938.
Nichols and his family farmed the land
until the 1960s. Nichols sold 90 acres of
the property on the west side of Route 626
to Sam Goode. Terry Wayne and Peggy
Harris Johnson bought the house in 1979.
Descendants of Sam Goode still live on
the property purchased from Nichols in the
1930s. Sam's grandson Jeff and his family
live in the old family home place, and son
Norris rents a house about a mile down the
road. Norris Goode fondly remembers his
childhood in White House and talks about
his father, who he called granddaddy.
" About 1936, granddaddy started
construction on the house that today still
stands, a clapboard Depression-style
cottage of 1,200 square feet with three
rooms upstairs and five down, " Goode
says. " It still has the two by beams that he
milled and were so hard it was difficult to
drive a nail in them. " The 30-by-40-foot
house was finished in 1938.
Goode also remembers what it was like
before modern conveniences. He says the
family used Aladdin lamps for light and
that he had to haul water, two buckets at a
time, from a springhouse about 75 yards
down the hill from the house.
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" Southside Electric Cooperative brought
electricity to Huddleston in 1939, and we
got running water and indoor plumbing.
My mother continued to cook on a
beautiful Bluebird wood stove that still sits
in a shed out back of the house. It was
several years before she finally broke down
and agreed to an electric one, " he says.
Sam and his brothers operated Goode
Brothers, a lumber business that harvested
the yellow pine trees that once dominated
the landscape. According to Norris,
Marion, the oldest brother, was the
salesman. He would go on the road and
sell the lumber wholesale to builders and
suppliers. They hauled lumber to Roanoke
to market and to Huddleston, where it
went aboard the train bound for Norfolk.
Sam's brother, Arthur, ran the planing
mill and another brother, Charlie, drove
the truck. Norris even helped out by
writing paychecks for the workers when he
was 14, because he had good handwriting.
Marion and Arthur Goode established a
cannery for Smith Mountain Brand
Tomatoes at the south fork of Routes 608
and 626. Tomatoes were popular at that
time, and the Goodes' was one of 52
tomato canneries in Bedford County.
The Goode Brothers also established
an egg business, and each brother kept
hundreds upon hundreds of chickens,
which together made for a rather large
operation. Norris himself raised Guernsey
and Black Angus cattle before going to
school at Richmond Professional Institute
(now Virginia Commonwealth University)
to study art. He worked at Piedmont Label
Company in Bedford for 42 years.
There are still some working farms in
the White House/Huddleston area, but
most of the businesses now are geared
toward Smith Mountain Lake residents and
tourists. Smith Mountain Lake State Park
and Mariners Landing Resort are just a few
miles west of the White House corner.
Jeanette Childress, who opened Lake
Retreat Properties in 1980, says the
opening of the State Park was a fantastic
opportunity for the White House area and
provided the spark that fueled the growth
for the area. Lake Retreat Properties has
been in business at the White House
Corner since 1980. The company started
with a broker and a couple of agents who
listed and sold property and also offered
waterfront homes for short-term vacation
rental. The actual building that houses
Lake Retreat was originally a boat sales and
repair facility owned by Dan Callahan.
Reminders of White House's rich history
are still visible today. The old Owen Store
June 2017 | Cooperative Living | 31
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Cooperative Living June 2017

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