Pierceville demolished
Published 4:22 pm Thursday, December 10, 2020
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- A 1968 photo of former slave living quarters on the Pierceville property in Smithfield. Credit: Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
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- A barn and outbuildings on the Pierceville property, photographed in 1972. Credit: Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
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- A 1968 photograph of a standalone kitchen building on the Pierceville property in Smithfield. Credit: Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
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- A 1968 photograph of an attached outbuilding at the Pierceville house. Credit: Virginia Department of Historic Resources
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- A 1992 photograph of the Pierceville house in Smithfield. Credit: Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
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- A 1972 photograph of the Pierceville house in Smithfield. Credit: Virginia Department of Historic Resources
Demolition of the Pierceville home at 502 Grace St. began on Thursday, Dec. 10.
Smithfield’s Town Council voted 6-1 on Dec. 1 to approve Mary Delk Crocker’s request to demolish the dilapidated 1730s-era Dutch Colonial farmhouse.
Crocker deeded the historic home to LSMP LLC — a company owned by former Smithfield Foods chairman Joseph W. Luter III — on Nov. 9.
Joseph Luter IV, son of the former Smithfield Foods chairman, wrote on behalf of his father that the senior Luter’s goal in buying Pierceville — as well as the former Little’s Supermarket, which was demolished last week — was to “improve the gateway” to the west end of Smithfield and that “critical to the success of revitalizing this part of Smithfield is the demolition of the Crocker house and outlying barns.”
“We have examined them and determined they cannot be salvaged or renovated; they are beyond repair,” Luter IV wrote.
In both properties’ place, Luter envisions “a high quality development” including office space, multi-family housing “for all income levels,” a “small boutique hotel,” townhouses, single-family homes, assisted-living accommodations and potentially, a walking trail built in conjunction with the Smithfield YMCA.
