In this painting I’m returning to a theme I explored once before, many years ago, with my nieces as subjects. The current painting has my grandkids waiting at the Ice Cream Window at B&Js Carryout.
One reason I have painted B&J Carryout in Accokeek many times is that, to me, it seems the one location in “downtown” Accokeek where there is a genuine “sense of place”.
A “sense of place” is a characteristic that some geographic places have and some do not. The term is often used in relation to those characteristics that make a place special or unique, as well as to those that foster a sense of authentic human attachment and belonging. It is hard to fake and too often planned development fails to take it into account. Right now, Royal Farms is proposing a chain gas station/convenience store across Livingston Road from B&Js. Besides being out of scale with our little center (the project has 58 parking places!) and its likelihood to interfere with the ability of the Accokeek Volunteer Fire Department to aid the community with fast responses to emergencies, I think the real reason I oppose the project is that it will be detrimental to our sense of place. Once a sense of place is destroyed, it doesn’t really come back.
