The Same But Different

What Do You Think You're Looking At? #269

Jun 03, 2026

Facebook groups focused on people who grew up somewhere—“our memories,” “you know you’re from X if…”, “We’re from Y and we remember…”—are amazing resources for local history. I’m willing to be that in many cases, there is literally no documentation of some of the things shared in these groups, other than the posts themselves.

I often write about this sort of thing as mattering, not because bits of old local trivia themselves matter, per se, but because the endeavor of recording what existed, and where the present moment came from and how it evolved, is valuable. That sense of continuity, of existing in a moment in time in a long stream, is valuable.

In that vein, I saw this then-and-now photograph on a Culpeper, Virginia nostalgia group, with the caption: “c.1973, a view of the Precious Blood Catholic Church property from Red Brown’s Texaco, and a 2021 view from Brown Harris Wealth Management (essentially unchanged by 2023).”

The new picture is taken from the site of the old Texaco, which is no longer a gas station. The old church was demolished, and replaced with a new one. The building in front had its roof altered but still stands!

It sounds, from the church’s history bio, that they simply outgrew the old spaces, though the old structure may not have been in great shape:

In 1969, the parish acquired the Culpeper Terrace Motel and then in 1974 purchased the Nelson property at the location of the main parking lot. In 1979, Rev. Maurice de Castillon retired from Precious Blood after 25 years of service, and Rev. Leo Zonneveld, CICM, was appointed as pastor. In 1981, the parish started a building program consisting of the CCD building, the parish hall, and a new church with additional classrooms downstairs. The church was dedicated on August 15, 1983, by Bishop John R. Keating. Since 1985, the parish acquired four different properties in the church block for the expansion program; the expansion was completed by the end of 1991 and provides the growing parish with more facilities.

The building in front of the church, with the flat roof turned into a peaked roof, is present as early as 1958, the earliest NETR Historic Aerials imagery. I was intrigued by the possibility that that building might be an old piece of the motel, but I don’t think that’s the case; here’s a 1966 aerial shot, with the altered building circled. I think the old church is right behind it, and then the motel, which looks like it was more of a cabin court, was above it, on what is now the church grounds: