White Elephant

White Elephant Antiques

Daughter and Father, Cynthia and Dan Beard on the front steps of the White Elephant.


A couple years ago, when I first started working at the News & Messenger (it was The Potomac News at that time) I would sometimes drive around looking for inspiration and something to sink my teeth into. At this point I have such a backlog of ideas to get to and work to do on them, I don't get to wander and look around much these days. But in those days I wandered and sometimes I found interesting things.

I came across the White Elephant antique store and literally did a double take when I passed the store on Bristow Rd. I had somewhere else to be but was sure to jot down a note on the location so I could come back another time. When I finally made the trip I found more antiques and books than I could believe could fit into a house.

Cynthia on the back porch.

I first met Cynthia Beard and it wasn't hard to strike up a conversation with her, as she is one of those people that has that gift of gab. She could talk to anyone. Her father, Daniel, on the other hand, was a little more reserved. Cynthia was more than happy to tell me as much history about the house as she could remember, and I was hooked. The house is 200 years old. It's survived the Civil War (Oct. 14, 1863, was the Battle of Bristoe Station, within a half mile of the house), and there's even a story that a Mosby Raider rode his horse up on the porch, shot a man in the hallway, and rode off. I suppose there isn't much of a chance to double check that story, but a Civil War buff came by one day to tell Daniel this story and who am I to dispute it? It just adds to the legend of the house in my eyes.

Hallway inside the Davis-Beard House. Did a Mosby Raider really ride up on the porch outside this door, shoot someone right here in the hallway and ride off? Doesn't seem that unbelievable to me. Could've been a different hallway, I guess.


I thought I could tell a story about Cynthia and her father running the store. But over the course of 2 years, Cynthia eventually left and Dan would run the store with help from his son, Eric. I'm not sure what happened to Cynthia, but I hope she's ok. I remember when I came to the house to shoot with my Speed Graphic, she told me repeatedly that she would love a print. I told her I would make one as soon as I was finished with my project. I think I'll bring one to Dan and if or when Cynthia comes back, she'll be able to see it.
Stories often work themselves out in a way you hadn't imagined initially. You see something, take an interest in photographing, but as you finish the project it's become something different.

Dan on the back porch



After a few months I wasn't seeing Cynthia anymore, so I started talking to Dan. After a few more visits I started recording our conversations. And after a few more I shot some video of them. At this point I began shooting video almost exclusively. With the new cameras available, the idea of an audio slideshow almost seemed quaint and I couldn't imagine the project without video. He gave me lots of great quotes. My favorite: "It was country at one time. When country wasn't cool." Ultimately, after almost 2 years of popping in on Dan when I had a free hour or so, I had quite a bit of material, but did I have any narrative? I believed I did. So over the past week (and after about 20 gallons of coffee) I assembled and cut through about 50 GB of audio, video and stills and created my latest multimedia project. But

Daniel Beard sits on his antique, handcarved American Walnut bed, handmade nearly 80 years ago for his father. Daniel and his late wife built a business of selling antiques from the first floor of their 19th century home in Bristow, VA.

I don't know why I gravitate to these stories. It's eerily similar to another project I finished at The Santa Fe Workshops with my partner, Laura Feged, several months ago called "The Door Opens and it Closes". It was a narrative of lost opportunity, progress passing the town by, aging...etc. In this case, the White Elephant Antique Store is perhaps a little more relevant and alive. The Davis-Beard House, as the White Elephant is known on the National Historic Registry, is no longer the hub of commerce it once was. It's an antique shop inside an antique home, part of a landscape that is rapidly being scrubbed away, one development at a time.

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