Middleburg Life, January 2016

PRSRT STD ECRWSS U.S. POSTAGE PAID BURKE, VA PERMIT NO. 44

Postal Customer

Volume 33 Issue 9 • January 2016 www.middleburglife.com

Inside:

Turner Smith John Pennington Nicholas Nicastro

SHEILA JOHNSON HAS A LOVE AFFAIR WITH MIDDLEBURG COVER PHOTO BY: JUSTIN KRIEL

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WWW.ATOKAPROPERTIES.COM WWW.MIDDLEBURGREALESTATE.COM

M i d d l e b u r g

Middleburg 540-687-6321 | Purcellville 540-338-7770 | Leesburg 703-777-1170

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10000 MOUNT AIRY RD, UPPERVILLE, VA - Extraordinary brick colonial on 50+ gorgeous acres in prestigious Greystone. Over 9000 sq. ft. of spectacular living space featuring 3 beautifully finished levels. Heated pool, tennis court and brilliant gardens overlook a picturesque pond with fabulous mtn views,in a private & secluded location. $3,999,000 Peter Pejacsevich Scott Buzzelli 540-270-3835 540-454-1399

466 MONTANA HALL LN S, WHITE POST, VA - 200+ acres south of RT 50 in Clarke Co. Historic farm, 705 acres, being divided one time. Parcel offered includes main house (8000+ sq ft) attached 1 bedroom “Coal House”, 1 tenant house, 4 car - 2 level garage, summer kitchen/guest house, Ice House/wine cellar, rolling pastures, fantastic views of the Blue Ridge Mnts, VOF esmt, barn, outbuildings, 2 ponds, spring house, VA historic registry. $3,000,000

2558 BISHOP MEADE RD, BOYCE, VA - Turnkey farm in Clarke Co. Horses or other livestock. Magnificent views. Updated 5488 sq ft 3/4 bdrm house, 11 stalls attached to indoor arena, 135 fenced acres, water in every field, 4 wells. Five acre pond with large barn/machine shed. Irrigation system. Would make great vineyard or organic farm or horse operation. Super rideout in Blue Ridge Hunt country. One hour to Dulles and 66 miles to Washington, DC. $2,950,000

Anne McIntosh

Anne McIntosh

703-509-4499

703-509-4499

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20022 TRAPPE RD, BLUEMONT, VA - Reduced! Beautiful 136 Acre Horse Property, Upperville area, Loudoun County. Attractive, updated & comfortable 4-5 Bedroom Main House, open spacious rooms, good flow, & wonderful views. Pool. Guest House. 8 stall Main Barn, 4 stall additional Barn. 2 Bedroom log Cabin. 100’ x 200’ Arena. At the foot hills of the Blue Ridge, in Piedmont Hunt Territory. 42 Acres not in Conservation, 94 Acres in conservation, as are the neighboring Horse Farms & properties. LO8578798 $2,950,000

35679 MILLVILLE RD, MIDDLEBURG, VA - Beautiful stone home on 40+ acres just minutes from the town of Middleburg. Goose creek runs through the property. This bright, spacious 4 bdrm 5 bath house is perfect for entertaining.

Open floor with spacious light-filled dining room and living room that open up to decks and views of Goose Creek. Exquisite 8-stall stone horse barn with tack room. Additional guest house and lot available. $2,800,000

23545 OLD MEADOW LN, MIDDLEBURG, VA - Hard to find minutes from town, private and protected, all brick Georgian built in 1998. 10’ ceilings on first floor, coved ceiling, lovely molding, 2 gas fireplaces, 4 bedrooms, 4 1/2 baths, new sunroom, great kitchen, 3 car garage w/ workshop, circular asphalt driveway on 7.75 acres. Perennial gardens with stone walls, flagstone terraces and views. Home is in excellent condition. $1,385,000

Mary Owen Chatfield-Taylor

Peter Pejacsevich 540-270-3835

Peter Pejacsevich 540-270-3835

540-454-6500

694 FEDERAL ST, PARIS, VA - Fabulous historic property in the heart of Paris. Zoned Village Commercial. 1.7+ acres consisting of a main residence/ showroom with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. 2 bedroom Guest House/Rental Property and two smaller buildings for retail, office space, or storage. $695,000 Peter Pejacsevich 540-270-3835

Scott Buzzelli 540-454-1399

Scott Buzzelli 540-270-3835

11558 HUME RD, HUME, VA - Beautiful Hume area, under an hour to DC; 4000+ sf living space on 3 levels.

10.2 ac with paddocks, pond & horse stable. Outdoor living spaces, hardscaping, perennial gardens. Large deck overlooks Cobbler Mtn and valley, kitchen flows to covered porch. First floor master, generous great room with soaring windows catch the morning light, LL family & guest room.

Perfectly maintained. $690,000 Carole Taylor

703-606-6358

www.middleburglife.com

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Scott Buzzelli 540-454-1399

3085 RECTORTOWN RD, MARSHALL, VA - MAKE AN OFFER! COUNTRY CHARM. Come see this gorgeous 3BR/2.5BA cottage in Rectortown. Works well as weekend retreat or for full-time living. Amenities include Viking range, soapstone counters, hardwood floors, wonderful front porch/second level porch with lovely views, wood-burning fireplace, fenced backyard. 2200sf. 10 minutes from Middleburg, Marshall, I-66.

60Min. to DC. $524,000 Walter Woodson 703-499-4961

TWO LOTS FOR SALE

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January 2016

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10087 JOHN MOSBY HWY, UPPERVILLE, VA TWO LOVELY BUILdINg LOTS AVAILABLE! PARTIALLY WOOdEd WITH VIEWS! PERcS fOR 4 BEdROOM HOUSE. cONVENIENT TO ROUTE 50, ROUTE 17, ROUTE 66 ANd 40 MINUTES TO dULLES AIRPORT. fIVE MINUTES fROM UPPERVILLE RESTAURANTS TO EAST ANd PARIS TO THE WEST. TEN MINUTES TO VILLAgE Of MILLWOOd. gREAT LOcATION fOR SEcONd HOME. BOTH LOTS ARE LOW MAINTENANcE. 13 HUNT CT, MIDDLEBURG, VA - Ultimate quality!

Immaculate all brick townhouse w/ high end upgrades & finishes. Recently refinished HW floors, built-in bookcases, beautiful crown molding, Wi-fi thermostats & Ralph Lauren lighting fixtures throughout the house. 3 fireplaces, 4 levels, beautiful light-filled kitchen. Mins from restaurants, shops & wineries in historic Middleburg! Fantastic location. Must see to fully appreciate! $499,000

Peter Pejacsevich 540-270-3835

Scott Buzzelli 540-454-1399

590 KENNEL RD, BOYCE, VA - Charming authentic log cabin on five acres in Clarke County south of RT 50. Potential for horses, huntbox, private lot, surrounded by land in easement. Beautiful wood flooring, beamed cellings, front porch.

Constructed in 1997, recent new HVAC throughout. Perfect for weekend get away or couple wanting to downsize. Within 5 minutes of village of Millwood, 50 min to Dulles airport, 20 min to Winchester. $355,000 Anne McIntosh

703-509-4499

2.21 AcRES ANd 3.23 AcRES $225,000 EAcH

ANNE McINTOSH 703-509-4499

HERE’S to a SWEET ‘16

Middleburg

Leesburg

Savings & Solutions with 105 years of Insurance Service

C. Fred Kohler

540 687 6316 Does your insurance need sharpening?

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22849 Middleburg Life 2016.ai

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1/5/16

7:55 AM

www.middleburglife.com • January 2016

American Pharoah, no mowing, selfie sticks, Sophie La Giraffe, Anne Burrell, anything with salted caramel, craft soda, gender reveal, t r a n s g e n d e r, ginned up, Pear Port, new colors for 2016 are: Simply White Submitted from Benjamin Glamping is the combination of glamor and camping.

Moore, Ivory Keys from Behr, Alabaster from Sherwin-Williams and Cappuccino White from Glidden, Toto toilets, black rice, wearing your slippers to the Food Lion, coloring books for adults, photographer Bill Cunningham, Cynthia Erivo, swimmer Courtney BarPhoto © by Vicky Moon tholomew, panda Venice is forever. cubs, polar bears (maybe forever), Waverly, the Great British Baking Show, faux fur clothing, Harry and Snowman, colortura, Oliver Sherwood, Protecting natural areas, rescue dogs or people rescued by dogs, Christmas bird count, American made products, King Arthur, locally sourced food and flowers, Gluten free, faux follicles, salt, The Grateful Dead 50th anniversary tour, cappuccino, charm bracelets and necklaces, heated lotion dispensers, re-gifting, Uber/ Lyft, vinyl, Willie Nelson’s Bio, volunteering, Misty Copeland, The Good Wife, The Americans, Empire, Crown Royal, Oysters, viewing parties for the Middleburg Parade, nude lip gloss, faux fur blankets, Adele, box seats at The Kennedy Center, cut succulents instead of flowers, incense, Venice (always), Submitted Creed and Sylvester Stallone, SatSaint Isidro is the patron saint of urday Night Live, red hair, LeBron, farming.

Marty Baron, Howard Stern signing back with Sirius for another 5 years, glamping, women driving Game of Thrones, Jennifer trucks, Saint Isidro, Kirk Cousins Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Serena Wil(guess who did this one?), black liams, Steph Curry, Justin Bieber, with navy, duck boots, orange wine, Rio 2016, Ricky Fowler (guess who leggings, Hoverboards, S’well thought up this one? With a secret bottles, brussel sprouts, Sriracha nod to his agent in Middleburg), sauce, Pour-over coffee, Not Your Saratoga Garlic, anything from Father’s Rootbeer, sour beer, IPAs, Saratoga, the Cavendish banana, Vinho Verde, shopping local, winerwalnuts, Jay Gruden, John Wall, ies, garden to table Hacking, Jason Day, wearable Lindsay Vonn, Ovie, Tony Bennett/ tech, Periscope, brands with a Lady Gaga, Amazon Prime’s Little cause, pop-up shops, pop-out town- Man, Tom Brady, Hamilton (as in homes, political correctness, fla- Alexander, the musical), yellow diamingos, body positivity, 4K TV monds, Spotlight.

Moore, Clemens & Co

M i d d l e b u r g

Each year, we call upon a secret select group of friends, family and fashionistas to help formulate what is "IN" for the January issue of Middleburg Life.

(We do not list anything or anyone as "Out" because this is all about a positive experience.)

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VICKY MOON

M i d d l e b u r g

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Editor and Advertising Director (540) 687-6059 vickyannmoon@aol.com

LEONARD SHAPIRO

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dulcy Hooper Richard Hooper Betsy Burke Parker Emily Tyler Sophie Scheps Marcia Woolman

To Advertise middleburg Life Call Vicky Moon 540.687.6325

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Doug Gehlsen Crowell Hadden Sophie Scheps Douglas Lees Karen Monroe

DESIGNER: Elisa Hernandez PUBLISHED BY: Greenhill Media LLC

Middleburg’s oldest and most respected locally owned and operated newspaper covering the people, lifestyles and trends of the countryside 112 W. Washington St. P.O. Box 1770 Middleburg,VA 20118 (540) 687-6325 www.middleburglife.com All editorial matter is fully protected and may not be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the publisher.

All unsolicited manuscripts and photos must be accompanied by return postage; the publisher assumes no responsibility. Middleburg Life reserves the right to reject any advertising. Distributed in Middleburg, Upperville, Aldie, Millwood, The Plains, Rectortown, Delaplane, Paris, Boyce, Leesburg, Marshall and Warrenton.

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Photo by Janet Hitchen

January 2016

or email: vickyannmoon@aol.com

www.middleburglife.com

So Little Space, So Many to Thank

Columnist & Feature Writer

in

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BADGER LEN

Love is all around us But don’t feed truffles To your camel

The Chocolate Seller 10 South Madison Street, Middleburg, Virginia

540-687-3909

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By Leonard Shapiro For Middleburg Life

t’s a new year, a time to start fresh and list resolutions we’ll probably break

by Valentine’s Day. Still, in the spirit of the season, we’d like to wish one and all a very happy new year and offer heartfelt appreciation to so many.

So thank you, thank you, thank you: To drivers who didn’t pass on double lines on our country roads and obeyed the 25 mile an hour speed limit within Middleburg’s town limits. And Aldie. And Upperville.

To everyone who feeds the parking meters.

To dedicated town employee Marvin Simms for keeping the village spotless.

To all concerned working to complete the road and pipe work on Washington Street, despite heat, cold and rain (but so far, thankfully no snow). Wouldn’t it be nice to have it done by Easter, if not sooner?

To so many selfless charitable organizations that help feed and house countless folks in Loudoun and Fauquier counties, among so many other good deeds all around.

To n u m e r o u s d e e p - p o c k e t e d benefactors who are constantly asked to donate, and keep on giving and giving and giving, year after year after year.

To all the local and regional conservation and preservation groups working to keep the countryside glorious.

To the spirited Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church men’s choir for their unique and inspiring gospel sound.

To the vendors and consumers who come to the Middleburg Farmers Market every Saturday morning. We could use more of both.

To Mary Kay Garwood for organizing the volunteers at The Pink Box and spending countless hours helping visitors discover the wonders of our town.

To Police Chief A.J. Panebianco and his officers for keeping us safe and maintaining the peace, always with amazing grace and even a bit of good humor.

To Mayor Betsy Davis, all the Town Council members, town administrator Ma r t h a S e m m e s a n d e c o n o m i c development director Cindy Pearson for all they do to make Middleburg such a fabulous place.

To the Middleburg Business and Professional Association for sponsoring so

many terrific events throughout the year.

Shakespeare in the Burg is a favorite.

To Community Center executive director Katy Tyrell and event coordinator Olivia Rogers for dramatically expanding its services,and love those concerts on the steps.

To Melanie Mathewes and her dedicated staff at the National Sporting Library and Museum for making their facility a memorable destination for scholars, residents and visitors.

To our long-time friend and neighbor, weather television personality Willard Scott, for pushing us all toward the century mark. And let’s wish him a well-deserved and very happy retirement.

To Ann Northrup and her staff at Team and TEEN Saturday at Hill School for making a difference in so many young lives over the last 20 years.

To all those students at Hill, Middleburg Charter and the local high schools— Middleburg Academy, Wakef ield, Highland and Foxcroft— for all their community service projects.

To all those mostly friendly folks at the local Safeway, but only if they add a deli counter.

To all the locals who shop local.

To the superb staff at the Middleburg Library for always going the extra mile to obtain books, help with research and offer computer solutions, all the while developing countless programs for young and old alike.

To everyone who has the good sense to cease griping about their new neighbors building their dream home, just like the dream home the griper had built not that long ago.

To Jim Herbert and all the other volunteers who help make the Middleburg Christmas Parade an absolute must-see annual event. And just a suggestion: Ask former Coach Stop restaurant owner Brian Jillson to be the grand marshall for next year’s parade.

To President Chris Miller and the PEC, and Middleburg’s Scott Kasprewicz for all they’ve done to help preserve and eventually revitalize 400 acres from Gilberts Corner all the way up to Mount Zion Church.

To the owners of Creighton Farms, arguably one of the least utilized golf courses on the planet, but only if they offer locals a chance to play every once in awhile.

To Windy Hill executive director Kim Hart and so many local benefactors for all they’ve done to provide affordable housing for so many hard-working residents.

To the Community Foundation of Loudoun and Western Fauquier for providing a vehicle for so many to give back, some in perpetuity.

To all of our fabulous writers, photographers and advertisers for making 2015 our best year ever, including a record 72-page issue in December for Middleburg’s oldest locally-owned newspaper.

To our loyal readers who tell us they can’t wait to get their hands on our next issue. We wish you all a happy, peaceful and prosperous new year.

Got a good story or photo idea? Pass it along to Badgerlen@aol.com.

Writer Nicholas Nicastro’s Hell’s Half-Acre

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themselves is a mystery.

Were they run down and executed by a posse of vengeful Kansans as they tried to flee to Indian-held territory in Oklahoma?

Did they manage to escape, only to be arrested later for other crimes? Were they really related to each other, or were they just a gang of grifter opportunists posing as a family? Was their motive simple robbery?

Or do the odd stories of devil-worship and necromancy hint at some other, even darker motive?

Using this true historical underpinning, Nicastro, who is married to Maryanne Newton (daughter of Linda Newton), weaves a vivid tale of the Benders’ misdeeds and misfortunes, set against the backdrop of the post-Civil War Midwest.

On land already soaked with the blood of

Jayhawks and Bushwhackers fighting over the introduction of slavery, this sort of mayhem offered an entirely different brand of maniacal murder.

And so, the Benders lived quietly unnoticed for many years as, one by one, prairie travelers disappeared.

Born in Astoria, N.Y. in 1963, Nicastro recently held a talk and signing at Common Grounds in Middleburg.

“I sold more books than there were people in the room,” he said. He holds a B.A. in English from Cornell University, an M.F.A. in film-making from New York University, a Masters in archaeology and a doctorate in psychology from Cornell.

He’s also worked as a film critic, a hospital orderly, a newspaper reporter, a library archivist, a college lecturer in anthropology and psychology, an animal behaviorist and an advertising salesman.

A full-time writer for the past 11 years, Nicastro recently signed a three-book deal with Harper Collins. His work includes short fiction, travel and science articles for The New York Times, The New York Observer, Film Comment and The International Herald Tribune. His most rewarding occupation, he said is as husband to Maryanne Newton and father to their teenage daughter, Nell Lindsay Nicastro.

Hell’s Half Acre is available at Second Chapter Books in Middleburg.

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ritten by Middleburg author Nicholas Nicastro in the same murderous genre as Sweeney Todd and The Assassination of Jesse James comes an unforgettable and bone-chilling historical tale about the horrors hidden in American history.

Hell’s Half-Acre is a novel described as a “thriller” by Nicastro, based on the true story of the Bloody Benders, the earliest and most remarkably bloodthirsty family of serial killers in American history.

Like Lizzie Borden and H.H. Ho l m e s — t h e s o called “Beast of Chicago” featured in the best seller The Devil in the White City— the Benders loom large in the early histor y of American crime. Yet while they remain notorious in Kansas, their story is still largely unknown beyond the prairie state’s borders.

The Benders were German-speaking immigrants who ran a grocery and inn in a remote corner of southeast Kansas in the

early 1870s. Nicastro spent five years doing research and writing his eighth book.

The result is his narrative of simple solitary travelers along the Osage Trail enticed to stop at the Bender cabin by the family’s youngest member, the beautiful and enigmatic Kate.

A dinner was prepared by Almira, the non-English-speaking mother, while John Jr. saw to the visitor’s horses. At some point during the meal, while Kate distracted them by any means necessary, they were attacked with a hammer by John Sr., who bashed them in the head through the rude canvas partition that divided the cabin.

The victims were then finished off by knife—possibly by Kate —and dumped in a tomb-like basement chamber. Later, the bodies were dragged through a side door and buried in an apple orchard.

The Benders remain among the earliest known serial killers in American history, with Kate one of the very few young women associated with that crime in any period.

Though their guilt for at least twelve murders (and possibly as many as fifty) is beyond doubt, the fate of the Benders

M i d d l e b u r g

By Vicky Moon Middleburg Life

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January 2016

January 29 – 31 : Mind Over Mood with Michael Shea

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Visit Salamander Resort & Spa this January - March for one of our many wellness programs.

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January 2016

M i d d l e b u r g

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For Sheila Johnson, It’s All About Middleburg

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By Leonard Shapiro For Middleburg Life

S

heila Johnson’s love affair with Middleburg began in the mid1990s when she regularly drove out to the area from Washington to ferry her daughter, Paige, to riding lessons.

She’d pick her up at The Sidwell Friends School, try to beat the pre-rush hour traffic and somehow deliver her on time for her regular 4:15 sessions.

Before long, Paige was riding in local horse shows—Warrenton and Upperville among them—and Sheila Johnson became even more familiar with the area’s rolling terrain, verdant fields and gorgeous views of the nearby Blue Ridge foothills.

“I really fell in love with the stone walls,” Johnson said in a recent interview at Salamander Resort & Spa, the luxury, upscale hotel she opened three years ago.

“I said to myself back then that if I ever had a chance to do it, I’d really like to settle out here.”

That wish came true in June, 1996, when she brought a farm, then known as Cotswold off the Zulla Road, and it didn’t take very long for her to become an integral part of the town’s fabric. Paige and her younger brother, Brett, ended up at The Hill School, and Sheila Johnson became heavily involved with that Middleburg institution, eventually providing the funds and an endowment for its performing arts center frequently used by the community, as well.

After all, Johnson had been a classicallytrained violinist herself, not to mention a cofounder of Black Entertainment Television with her first husband, Robert L. Johnson.

Her background in the arts also eventually led her to start what is quickly becoming another local institution—the Middleburg Film Festival—which completed its third season this past October.

The Film Festival already has become a rousing success, drawing hundreds of outof-town movie buffs and plenty of locals, as well. Johnson originally started it on the advice of Robert Redford, founder of his own wildly successful Sundance Film Festival. So far, it’s been so good.

Because of the festival and her resort’s local impact, not to mention her many local, national and international philanthropic efforts, Middleburg Life decided to put Sheila Johnson on the cover of our first edition of the new year.

In short, she’s been both a benefactor and great booster of the town she’s called home sweet home for almost 20 years.

“Every year we’re going to get better,” she said of the Film Festival. “The first year was tough, the second not as tough. It’s also about building a business. You just have to be tough enough to get over the bumps in the road. And it’s a team effort and you have to have the right team together to make it work. We do.”

This year’s festival, headed by film maker and executive director Susan Koch, attracted impressive crowds at various places at the resort and other Middleburg venues. Several films, including “Spotlight” and “Broooklyn,” already are being touted as serious Oscars best-picture contenders.

Just as significant to Johnson is that the town also benefitted from the large influx of visitors. Some merchants, she

Photo courtesy of Middleburg Film Festival

Sheila Johnson with Bo Derek.

various funds received from occupancy and meals taxes and income to our utilities fund, but it goes way beyond just the money.

I believe the resort has added an ‘extra touch’ to our town. Not only do visitors come and enjoy it, but our community has been able to take advantage of the resort’s amenities and events. The guests are also enjoying our town and our shops and restaurants. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

And why did Johnson choose Salamander as the brand name?

There’s a Middleburg connection, as well.

It goes back to the Zulla Road property she purchased in 1996. A previous owner, former Rhode Island Governor Bruce Sundlun, had named his farm “Salamander” because that was the moniker he’d been given by the French resistance during World War II. Sundlun, a bomber pilot, had been shot down over Belgium, before eluding his Nazi pursuers and eventually making his way to France, where he helped wreak havoc on the German war machine.

“I had heard (the farm) had once been called Salamander,” Johnson said. “So I looked up Bruce Sundlun and called him.

He told me the story of how it was named and I asked him if I could use it again. At that point, it had great meaning to me. It was perfect.”

As for the resort, there are plans to build new home clusters at the corners of the property. Johnson would like to add an indoor riding ring to enhance the equestrian facility. There may even be an outdoor ice skating rink.

“With the residential part, it will create a nice walking campus, and provide more revenue to the town,” Johnson said. “It’s a matter of constantly enhancing the property. You don’t ever want to get stale.”

The same goes for the Film Festival, and her personal commitment to the community where she spends most of her year.

“We always want to pay attention to the town,” she said. “Our concierge desk constantly sends people down there, and we want to make sure our guests touch every inch of it, even Upperville. We want to do as much for Middleburg as we possibly can.”

Clearly, Johnson already has done plenty, and Mayor Davis believes there never was any doubt about the resort enhancing the town.

said, have told her their sales over the festival weekend made it seem like Christmas in October.

Meanwhile, the resort also is thriving, she said. Two years ago, Salamander had 31 weddings on the property; this year there were 55. It’s becoming a popular destination for corporate meetings and other functions, and First Lady Michelle Obama has stayed on the premises several times.

Just as significantly, Photo courtesy of Middleburg Film Festival the resort has clearly Sheila Johnson with Meg Ryan. given a considerable boost to the local council, to retailers, it became apparent economy. Many merchants, restaurant that the town was in trouble economically. owners and local innkeepers have cited They had to generate more people coming a definite increase in their respective here. That had to be done. Also, the water businesses, and Salamander provides 300 treatment plant was in dire straits, and full-time and 50 part-time jobs. something had to be done with that.

Her Salamander Market across the “The council knew it. The retailers street from the post office, a building that were desperate. Shops were closing every once housed a gun shop, has added another week, taxes were high and they still were decent dining option, with a carry-out not generating enough income, So I knew component that’s particularly appreciated the economic side, and I knew this was by anyone delighted to get a break from the right thing to do. Yes, sometimes the cooking. Middleburg’s water supply also has been revitalized under an agreement You just have to be tough enough to get over the bumps that included Salamander revamping the in the road. And it’s a team effort and you have to have treatment facility, also resulting in lower the right team together to make it work. We do. utility bills.

It also must be said that in the —Sheila Johnson beginning, there was some resentment among the local citizenry when Johnson “I still remember so clearly the night decided to purchase 340 acres from the chatter got nasty, and I had to develop that Council approved the Salamander former Harriman estate and turn it into a thicker skin. But I also knew I had Resort,” Davis said. “Sheila offered a very what is now a 168-room resort. The to persuade people what the end goal emotional thank you to the Council and facility includes its own riding stable, would be—bringing economic stability to the town and she ended with ‘I won't let spectacular spa and outdoor pool, gardens, the town.” you down.’

And she has remained true Middleburg Mayor Betsy Davis walking and riding trails and several high to her word.

She stayed the course even said she was always all for the project, quality restaurants. when the economy spiraled downward. and remains one of Johnson’s most And Johnson heard all that initial—and She held on to her dream until she could enthusiastic supporters. perhaps still lingering—criticism.

“The resort has been a plus in so many continue the project.

And so she did. We’re “At first, I didn’t understand it,” Johnson ways,” Davis said.

“Obviously the town’s thankful to her for her commitment and said. “Then I put myself in their shoes and budget has been greatly increased with the I could understand it. But in talking to the determination.”

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January 20-25 Mark your calendar!

M i d d l e b u r g

WINTER SALE 20-60% OFF

WINTER IS HERE.

Get out in it. Embrace the serenity and beauty of winter.

Just dress warm. Outerwear, inner wear, footwear on sale.

Tell your friends “I got it at the feed store.”

www.middleburglife.com

LUCKILY, SO IS THE FEED STORE.

• January 2016

7408 John Marshall Hwy > Marshall, VA > 20115 540.364.1891 > tricountyfeeds.com

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PHOTOS BY: MIDDLEBURG PHOTO

M i d d l e b u r g

Tally Ho What better way to go Than back to the barn To spin a hunting yarn

John Denegre, Penny Denegre, Carey Shefte, Alden Moylan, Gavin Moylan Jan and Jeff Ogden

Pam Woolley, Brooke Agee, Melanie Pai, Maureen Britell

www.middleburglife.com

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January 2016

M e e t 2 5 0 A rt i s t eneurs in Perso r p e r t n!

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Designer Crafts ® Home Furnishings ® Affordable Art ® Specialty Foods ® Family Fun ®

DISCOUNT TICKETS, show info, exhibitor lists, directions and more at:

Robert Mihlbaugh and Brandy Greenwell

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JANUARY 29, 30, 31, 2016 Dulles Expo Center Chantilly, VA • RT 28 AT WILLARD RD

Admission $8 online, $10 at the door - good all 3 days Children under 12 and parking are FREE Fri. & Sat. 10-6, Sun. 10-5

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Jacqui Porter, George Bethel, Michelle Barro Knutsen and Lourdes Barro

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PHOTOS BY: MIDDLEBURG PHOTO

Thursday Jan. 7, 9:30 - 11:00

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Annual Leesburg, VA Preschool Fair presented by MOMS Club® of Leesburg South

M i d d l e b u r g

SMALL CLASSES

OPEN HOUSES Information Sessions with tours to follow

Sundays 2:00pm Jan. 10, Jan. 31, Feb. 21

Joe Kasputy and Vicki Van Mater

School Day Open House Jan. 29, 9:30am Preschool - 2nd Grade Jan. 29, 1:00pm 3rd - 8th Grade RSVP to susan.hower@lcds.org or register online at:

www.LCDS.org

Loudoun Country Day School PRESCHOOL - 8TH GRADE

Bernadette Boland and Bradley Boland

Alex Knutsen, Michelle Barro Knutsen with Grant Smith

Kelsey Briggs and Charlie Carroll

January 2015 Middleburg Life Ad_Layout 1 1/5/16 3:55 PM Page 1

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Enjoy lunch, dinner or Sunday Champagne brunch at the award-winning Restaurant at Goodstone.

Our Stay and Play Package Join us for dinner and receive a 50% discount off selected rooms Sunday-Thursday, and 30% discount off selected rooms Friday-Saturday. Book through Feb. 29.

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January 2016

Make your Goodstone Valentine’s Day reservations today!

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THEN

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Celebrate Valentine’s Early With Porter, Gershwin and Berlin As Rosa Lamoreaux and Friends perform Favorites From The Great American Songbook Sunday, Jan 24, 2016 5:30 PM The Ballroom at Barton Oaks 2750 Landmark School Road The Plains, VA 9th Annual Candlelight Concert Fundraiser The Community Music School Of The Piedmont Tickets $125 For Tickets and Information

piedmontmusic.com or 540.592.3040

By Richard Hooper For Middleburg Life

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ny visitor to the Royal Mews adjacent to Buckingham Palace has surely marveled at the historical significance and majesty of the carriages on display. Their magnificence is undeniable.

The last carriage commissioned by the Royal Family is the State Postillion Landau.

Built in 1902 by Hoopers, it was an oversized design to accommodate King Edward VII and is the most used of the Royal Carriages. It’s seen at the races, transported Prince Charles to his wedding at Westminster Abby in 1981 and carried him and Princess Diana after the ceremony.

Diana traveled to the wedding in the Glass Coach. Built in 1881, it’s a carriage that’s been much used by royal brides, conveying Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Princess Alexandra, Princess Anne and Sarah Ferguson to their weddings. In 1947, it carried Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh from theirs. All were short, romantic rides, driven over paved roads.

In 1988, Australia gave Queen Elizabeth II an elegant coach with an ornately carved, gilt roof. Known as the Australian State Coach, it resembles designs from the 1800s. However, it has its own generator for electrically operated windows and heating, amenities unknown to prior generations.

The most opulent carriage is the Gold State Coach. Commissioned by George III, it was completed in 1762. Except for painted scenes around the sides, it’s covered in gilt carving, down to the wheels, hubs and spokes. At 24 feet long and 13 feet high, it weighs nearly four tons and requires eight horses to pull it along. It’s resplendent and, in common with the other carriages, conjures up images and fantasies of romance and royal privilege. But it’s a beast. William IV described riding in it as being tossed about in a high sea, and George IV thought it the most uncomfortable ride of his life.

As to romance and carriages, that also has another side. In 1721, Philippe d’Orleans, Regent of France, hatched a scheme to wed the eleven-year-old Louis XV to four-year-old Mariana Victoria, Infanta of Spain. To further enhance the arrangement, he offered his twelve-year-old daughter, Louise Elisabeth, in marriage to Luis of Asturias, age fifteen and heir to the Spanish throne.

An agreement was reached and the princesses were to be swapped on the Isle of Pheasants in the Bidasoa River on the border of France and Spain. In late No-

vember, each entourage set off toward the island, the princesses and major attendants traveling in carriages.

Both processions commenced the roughly 800-mile journey with pomp and pageantry. This slowed the trek from Madrid to about nine miles a day for the first two weeks. The cortege from Paris, having a longer distance to the swap meet, had to move a bit faster and could not be slowed, even when Louise Elisabeth became ill (both physically and in temper).

Roads became mud, axles broke and wheels became mired in the muck. With each incident the entire grand entourage would come to a standstill. Sleet or rain might be pouring and those tasked with getting the carriages moving again were in peril of being crushed (which did happen) under its wheels. Bandits infiltrated the French procession and made off with silver plate and trunks of lavish gifts intended for the King and Queen of Spain.

The roads from Madrid offered their own challenges, as well, and at the Pyrenees they became non-existent. The Infanta was carried in a sedan chair over the snow covered paths, her attendants pulled in litters and carriages dismantled as much as possible and carried by men and donkeys.

The exchange took place on Jan. 9, 1722, in a pavilion built on the island and decorated for the occasion. Furniture was especially made by the finest craftsmen and brought in from Versailles. Floating bridges were constructed across the swollen river on which the princesses crossed simultaneously.

The still sickly Louise Elisabeth wanted no part of it. The Infanta beamed with delight until her mood suddenly changed to rage. She threw herself on the carpet and demanded that her nanny be allowed to accompany her to France.

The Infanta won. The exchange completed, Louise Elizabeth entered the carriage to Madrid. The Infanta entered the carriage to Paris. They departed with all the bad weather, mud and snow to be endured all over again.

On Feb. 20, the French Princess entered Madrid. On March 1, more than four months after leaving Madrid, the Infanta arrived in Paris.

Richard Hooper is an antiquarian book expert in Middleburg. He is also the creator of Chateaux de la Pooch, elegantly appointed furniture for dogs and home. He can be contacted at rhooper451@aol.com.

20131: A New Fresh Face in a Very Old Philomont Post Office

By Dulcy Hooper Middleburg Life

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my L. Vollmer knew she had some big shoes to fill when she stepped into the role of Philomont’s postmaster in March, 2015. After all, she was taking over the job formerly performed by Laura Pearson, who had retired in January after serving as postmaster for more than 50 years. And the post office had been in the Pearson family for over a century.

Vollmer is respectful of the history and tradition that surrounds her.

“I guess I’m considered a clerk,” she said with some modesty, “but I do all the things that postmasters do.”

She’s also grateful for the opportunity, adding that “for a first assignment, I know how lucky I am.”

Vollmer said she found herself in her current post “quite by accident.” She’d been working for several years as a substitute teacher in Frederick County and decided to apply for a post office position.

“I took a test,” she said, “and I guess I must have passed, because I got called for an interview. So I had the interview and next thing you know, I get another call saying: ‘Congratulations! You’ve got the job.’ So at that point, I thought I’d better get serious and come over here to Philomont to see what it was all about.”

Growing up in Southern California, Vollmer remembered being fascinated

by “ The Waltons,” the be safer for her to just stay wholesome 1970s television at home.” series based on a DepressionPhilomont’s post office era family living in Virginia’s was established in 1831 and, Blue Ridge Mountains. in 1941, moved into the Shortly after stopping by Philomont General Store, and checking out the site of which had been established in her new job, Vollmer called 1913 and has been in constant the regional postmaster in operation ever since. It has “a Purcellville with a question. little something for everyone,” “So, this is kind of like including groceries, a deli, The Waltons, isn’t it?” she wine and cheese, maps and asked. books and local products and “Yes,” he replied. “That’s crafts. exactly what it is.”

Mark an d Ma d e l i n e The Philomont Post Skinner bought the store Office, zip code 20131, is in 2003 and are the eighth the last operational post owners in over 100 years of office located in a general operation. Among those store in Loudoun County. owners were West Pearson, It has 198 boxes, many held who moved the post office by “long-timers,” according Photo by: Richard Hooper over when he became post to Vollmer. “There’s one Philomont’s Postmaster Amy Vollmer. master, serving from 1941 to woman whose post office box 1956. has been in the family from a framed article about Pearson and her Many local residents feared that the the very beginning. So that’s well over 100 lengthy tenure.

Philomont Post Office would be closed years ago. She keeps the box, even though One of the first tasks Vollmer took on as part of the U.S. Postal Service’s plan to she no longer even lives in the area.” was cleaning up the tiny space itself. She “reduce inefficiency at rural post offices.”

Vollmer said she’s enjoyed getting to meticulously boxed up old newsletters Fortunately for Philomont, and for its know the local clientele. going back to 1974 and sent them to the rich history and tradition, the post office “I’ve come to know the names of our regulars and who has which box,” she said. National Postal Museum in Washington, remains what it’s always been.

The Philomont Post Office and the “I’m learning who you can joke with and D.C. “We’ve got a little more space in here Philomont General Store are located who you can’t. And I’m definitely learning now,” she said, adding that there’s not quite midway between Aldie and Bluemont, who is not a morning person!

“Everybody likes the way they were enough room to bring her dog, Lilie Lu, just off Snickersville Turnpike. The post treated by Laura,” she said, adding that she’s with her during much of the holiday season. office is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and tried to “respect that and learn from it.” In “There were so many boxes and Christmas the General Store is open from 7 a.m. to fact, Vollmer has prominently displayed packages in here that I thought it would 7 p.m.

M i d d l e b u r g

This is the first in a series on rural post offices in the Middleburg area

www.middleburglife.com • January 2016

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L i f e M i d d l e b u r g

GREENHILL

All I want is love... and a bottle of wine W I N E RY & V I N E YA R D S

Valentine’s Weekend Schedule

Chocolate and Wine Pairings: February 12th-14th, all day Macaron and Wine Pairings: February 12th-14th, all day Exclusive Barrel Tastings: February 13th-14th, 12 & 12:30pm each day Carriage Rides: February 13th-14th, 2-4pm each day

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January 2016

Book Now at GreenhillVineyards.com Located at 23595 Winery Lane, Middleburg, Virginia 20117 Open Daily, Noon ‘til Sunset

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M i d d l e b u r g

The Piedmont Fox Hounds Meet at St. Bride’s Farm And a Hunt Breakfast Followed

PHOTOS BY: MIDDLEBURG PHOTO

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Leslie Hazel and Laurie Ambrose

Huntsman Jordan Hicks and daughter McKenzie

www.middleburglife.com

Hosts David and Barbara Roux

Debbie Banas and Stephanie Malovich

• January 2016

Kristin Dillion, Abigail Farren, Mary Margaret Farren and Carol Farnow

George Grayson, Catherine Grayson Wilkins and Cabell Grayson

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John Pennington Knows That Writers Write

By Leonard Shapiro For Middleburg Life ohn Pennington still remembers the day he came home from the University of Virginia and told his mother he was going to major in English. A child of the Depression, she’d hoped he and his four siblings would find a profession safe from the vagaries of the economy, and she was a bit skeptical about her son’s course of study.

“My mom always pushed us hard,” Pennington said. “She’d always say ‘if you don’t do your homework, you won’t amount to a hill of beans.’ When I told her about majoring in English, she’d say ‘if you do, you’ll wind up digging ditches the rest of your life.’”

In a sense, her words were somewhat prophetic. Pennington grew up and still lives in the Warrenton area and is the founder and owner of Monomoy Farm Services in Marshall. His thriving company specializes in heavy equipment excavation—from pond and road construction to building polo fields to providing home and office building foundations, among many other tasks.

Pennington has 27 employees and also operates his own farm, with 30 head of cattle roaming his pastures. Oh yes, he’s a former college wrestler and still a highlyskilled tennis player who often competes in local, state and regional competitions.

And one of these days, he’s going to put that UVa English degree to full use. Inside

“Play is the highest form of research.”

www.middleburglife.com

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January 2016

Albert Einstein

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that athlete-farmer-businessman-fatherof-two-husband also beats the dreamy heart of a writer. He first got hooked at Fauquier High School when a tenth-grade English teacher read one of his poems out loud in her classroom.

At Virginia, Pennington studied under some of the finest novelists and short story-tellers ever collected on a single university campus, and several of his own short stories were published and honored with prestigious university awards.

Among the professors who taught classes and judged his work were the late Peter Taylor, a short story writer and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist; John Casey, a National Book Award honoree for his novel, Spartina; James MacPherson, the first African-American novelist to win a Pulitzer, and Ann Beattie, also a prize-winning writer with several novels adapted for the movies.

Taylor headed up the creative writing program when Pennington was in school in the late 1970s and invited him to join his elite advanced writing class. He also wanted him to come to his Tennessee farm one summer to work on his writing. Pennington politely declined, mostly because “I had a lot of other things going on in my life at the time.”

When he graduated in 1979, Pennington taught English at Blue Ridge School in St. George, Va. where he’d spent his last two years of high school. He lived on campus and helped coach football and wrestling.

Photo by Chip Maloney

John Pennington Coupled with his teaching load and dorm, cafeteria and chapel duty, there was little time to write, and eventually he moved away from the literary life and headed out to the real world.

Pennington married young and ended

up managing his own leased property and his former wife’s family farm, more than 1,000 acres in all. He'd always had a fondness for machines and equipment, driving a tractor as a youngster when he could barely reach the pedals. An old back hoe on the farm got him started installing environmental practices for himself and others. In 1989, he bought a new back hoe and started Monomoy.

These days, there’s another talented writer in the family—his wife, Penny McCann Pennington, author of the novel “It Burns a Lovely Light.” They were married in 2003 and Pennington described her as “a very brave woman. When she lived in Pittsburgh, she decided she wanted to be in the movie business, and she did. Then she said she wanted to do some writing, and she does it the way it should be done.

She’s more structured than I am, very disciplined. I’m very proud of her.

“Writing was tougher for me, almost scary. When I was writing in college, I didn’t know how I did it. It was stay up all night, get into this trance and just write, write, write.”

Still, he said, he’d love to try again, perhaps sooner than later.

“I do think about writing again,” he said. “I also feel responsible for all the people who work for us. But at some point, I’d like to simplify my life and get back to it. I think I know a lot more about it now, and there are definitely some stories I’d like to tell.”

Writers write. And in John Pennington’s dreamy writer’s heart, he knows it’s only a matter of time until that creative trance returns.

Because a Great Education is not just about What They Learn. It’s about

Who They Become.

Childhood is about trying on lots of different ideas, identities and interests. The Hill School’s academic and co-curricular programs let each child explore every subject and activity, so they can find out where they excel, and appreciate where others do. Through every lesson, we encourage the development of strong character, self-confidence, a sense of community and a love of lifelong learning.

We invite you to visit our unique village-style campus in Middleburg, VA to find out more.

Serving students in Junior Kindergarten through 8th grade since 1926.

TheHillSchool.org

PHOTOS BY: MIDDLEBURG PHOTO

M i d d l e b u r g

Wendy and Jack Andrews entertained members, friends and guests of the Middleburg Hunt at their Fox Meadow Farm for a Hunt Breakfast.

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Bradley Clark, Melissa McKee and Jack Ferguson

Amy Brown, George Kingsley, Lin Nichols and Peggy Hudson

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To heck with New Year’s resolutions…at least for this one time.

www.middleburglife.com

Sue Rubal, Wendy Andrews and Aeron Mack

January 2016

Richard McWade Wendy Andrews, Laura Dietrick, Paul Dietrich, Kristiane Kristensen

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www.middleburglife.com

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January 2016

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Hill School’s Team and TEEN Saturday Make a Powerful Difference

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By Leonard Shapiro For Middleburg Life

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aria Arellano was the first in her family to graduate from college two years ago, and she’s now a legal assistant in a Washington law firm still thinking about applying to law school.

She also knows that because of a program at The Hill School she joined while still a third grader in a local public school, none of the above would have been possible.

That program, Team Saturday and a few years later, TEEN Saturday, were started twenty-one years ago under the direction of educators Ann Northrup and her husband Tom, who back then was Hill’s Headmaster and now oversees its development program. The programs were intended to attract youngsters, mostly from families in the school’s western Loudoun footprint who were not enrolled at Hill but might benefit from using its classrooms and playing fields to enrich their lives.

“When we started out, we needed to know what we could accomplish in four hours every other Saturday,” said Ann Northrup, who has run the program from day one. “We realized the children had Maria Arellano. to want to come and that we had to have her own experience in the program. wanted to provide some sort of outreach something they would want to do. It’s Sat“I could do things I couldn’t do at my program, teachers and drivers were then urday. Can we give them something they own school,” she recalled. “I enjoyed art. I paid for their good work. And Hill eighth would enjoy and mean something in their remember doing cooking and now I teach grade volunteers remain a critical part of lives? cooking. I remember taking Tae Kwon Do the equation.

“It was not going to be tutorial, in the and even breaking a board with a kick. I “We are extremely fortunate to have classroom. We wanted to provide a safe was so shy in my own school and it was the continued support of the Hill Board and respectful place for a child to come and so nice to be at a school that was such a of Trustees and the school Headmasters, “ be together with other children, to provide change of scenery. There was such a com- Ann added. enriching opportunities, and lots of in- munity atmosphere here, and that was The program runs from 10 a.m. to 2 dividual attention. To do that, it needed wonderful.” p.m.and children are divided into three or to be top-heavy with adults. And we also four groups. They all meet at the wanted to have our Hill eighthstart of the day before going off graders involved as mentors.” to their activities—which varies All of that has happened, frefrom art to cooking, Tae Kwon quently with grand results.

Do, basketball, soccer, rope- and Maria Arellano can attest to wall-climbing, even the cotilthat. Her family lives in a tenlion dance lessons (donated by ant house on a Middleburg farm, Gail Wofford and the Williams where her father is employed as Cotillion)—and all meet again farm manager. Ann Northrup, for lunch. At the end of the day, who visits with every family before Team and TEEN children gather their children come into the profor a lively game of kickball, begram, still remembers meeting a fore going back inside in separate little girl named Maria who was in groups to talk about their day, or third grade at Banneker Elementaanything else on their minds. ry School but was reading a sixthOccasionally, they’ll leave grade level book. campus, as well. John and Julie “Maria and her brother joined Coles often host the group at their the program,” Ann said. “I rememfarm for riding lessons. And Tony ber her father saying to me ‘there’s Horkan annually brings a day of nothing more important to me learning self-defense from his than my children’s education.’ If Blue Ridge Tae Kwon Do Acadthey were doing schoolwork, they emy. were excused from doing houseJoan Gardiner, a gifted artist work.” and potter from Unison, has been Photo © by Leonard Shapiro Maria did so well in the Team Ann Northrup teaching art in the program for Saturday program, she eventumany years and oversees a popually earned a scholarship to Hill lar annual kite-making project. for grades 6-8. That was followed by a These days, Team Saturday includes 22 The children build and then enter their scholarship to Notre Dame Academy (now children from second through fifth grades. kites in the Smithsonian Kite Festival in Middleburg Academy) followed by a col- TEEN Saturday has 26 enrolled, from sixth the shadow of the Washington Monument, lege scholarship to William & Mary. And through 12th grade. Most youngsters are and they consistently win or place in the now, every other Saturday, Maria makes recommended to the program by a school top three. the drive out from where she lives in Ty- guidance counselor. Many children get to “Ann (Northrup) is just an irresistible sons Corner to Hill School to work with the program via Hill School buses, which force,” Gardiner said. The kids have a place the current children in the program. where they feel like they have kindred spirrun four routes in western Loudoun.

One recent Saturday, she was teaching In the beginning, instructors volun- its all around them. Each year has a differcooking and making cookies for lunch for teered. But thanks to an original endow- ent dynamic, but they all manage to find the group. She also spoke animatedly about ment provided by a benefactor who people they can be themselves with. And

Photo © by Leonard Shapiro

they have adult friends, too.”

“We have only one rule,” Ann Northrup said. “Treat other people the way you’d like to be treated yourself. It’s also a wonderful experience for our Hill eighth graders.

They’re required to come at least three times a year and some of them are here every session. We’ve had children in the program who are having a rough time, and our eighth graders will just attach themselves to that child. They have to step up to the plate in ways that are a little different for them.”

Over the years, those Hill eighth graders have been asked to write a few paragraphs in class about their experiences.

Many of their observations are particularly poignant, and telling, as well.

“Before I went, I thought Team Saturday was a waste of time,” one student said.

“I just wanted to get it over with so I can have my Saturdays back. I was wrong. It was one of the best experiences of my life.

When you go into the library the first time, it’s like you’re the main event. All the kids want to be around you. And knowing that they are looking up to me inspires me to do good things, to set a good example.”

Wrote another Hill student, “I didn’t want to wake up early and control a bunch of kids. But when I got home at 2:30 each time, I always felt good about myself and what I had done. I didn’t feel worn out or grumpy, like I expected, but happy and fulfilled. The most important lesson I learned was to be kind! Even when it’s the hardest, that’s when being kind is most important. I know now that I helped make a difference in those kids’ lives, and that they made a difference in mine.”

Ann Northrup has stacks of those remarkable comments she’s collected for more than 20 years. For Team and TEEN Saturday, it’s clearly been mission accomplished, with so much more to come.

“I loved the program,” said Maria Arellano, one of countless Team Saturday success stories. “It kept me so grounded then, and even now that I am older, I couldn’t wait to get back. That hasn’t changed.”

Friday ◆ February 19, 2016 ◆ 6 –8 pm

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Middleburg Community Center

Barham Beiersdorf Ross Broadhead Bruce Cabrera Champion Clark Duke Giglio Guirreri-Maslyk Leeser Matheson Nadler Neel Ohrstrom Poyerd Riedel Thompson Weiner Zimmerman

M i d d l e b u r g

Please join us for the 5th annual

Anthony Brittany Misia Lauren Armand Mary Donna Teresa Catherine Gail Cody Charles T. Marci Tom Lilla Jill E. Katherine Dana Lee Diane R. Cathy

www.middleburglife.com •

artofthepiedmont.org

see website for auction info and inclement weather schedule a suggested donation will be collected at the door a benefit for the Middleburg Montessori School

January 2016

Teresa Duke The Reach

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A New Year and a New Commitment to the Planet

M i d d l e b u r g

By Marcia Woolman Middleburg Life Outdoors Columnist

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January 2016

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t the dawn of a new year, keep in mind the recent recordbreaking heat over Christmas. And don’t forget that nearly every day on the evening news there seems to be a weather disaster somewhere in the world.

This is no coincidence. It’s finally reached a crisis boiling-over point, with Mother Nature crying out loud to limit or even eliminate the use of fossil fuels, and change a general consumptive societal malaise.

The good news is that behind every cloud there often is a silver lining.

Finally, the recent Climate Change meeting in Paris has shown the world—and remaining doubters—that the majority of people now know what has already been proven, and learned.

Just think about the 15 wasted years since Al Gore’s ground-breaking documentar y, “An Inconvenient Truth,” illustrated, with scientific evidence, what was happening to the climate. Clearly, the catastrophic weather has everyone’s attention these days, and leaders of a vast majority of nations around the globe are finally

ready to do something about it. Now it’s every citizen’s duty to make sure they follow through.

The reality of a changing climate— ice caps and glaciers melting, oceans rising, fluctuating ocean currents and tornadoes at odd times of the year, among other ramifications—is finally getting attention and solutions are being advanced. In fact, they have been for some time.

It’s now incumbent on everyone to do their part. Recycling is step one.

Using less of everything, especially plastics, is step two. Reconsider your source of heat, because heat pumps have become extremely efficient for much of the year. (Some supplemental heat should be considered in the coldest days of winter.)

The next step, the one that will make a real difference, is political.

It’s critical to make sure that elected representatives hear from everyone.

And often. And that’s just the start.

Let legislators at the local, state and national level know you’re keeping track of their votes on issues relating to the environment. Look at their voting records, and avoid casting a ballot for climate-change deniers.

Too much time has been wasted

patiently waiting for their conversion.

The planet is at a tipping point on bringing balance back to the earth.

The time to act is now and the natural process of healing is already starting to show evidence that individuals can make a difference.

Acid rain or acid deposition has been on the front line of changing habits, and in less than 20 years the benefits are being seen in areas where soils were too acidic and pH levels in streams would not support fish.

Soil samples and fish inventories are showing a difference can be made by limiting carbon dioxide in the air. Now is the time to save future generations, to lead by example. Children should see their parents and grandparents recycling, putting on a sweater when the heat is set lower to save fuel, noticing that the family car is a hybrid, not a gas guzzler.

Mother Nature needs a chance to repair herself, and it can happen by moving the focus from from self to earth. These are resolutions that can’t be allowed to be discarded after a few weeks. Americans have always led the world, and the nation’s leadership on saving the planet is needed more than ever.

Marcia Woolman is a regular columnist for Middleburg Life, and served as chair of the National Brook Trout Committee for Trout Unlimited, working with acid deposition research for many years.

Stylish ‘Birchwood’ Showcases Exceptionality in All Its Forms

M i d d l e b u r g

A Showstopper Estate Set on 180 Prime Acres

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Facts for buyers Address: Near the village of Waterford.

Listed at: $5,975,000 by Mary Ann McGowan, Thomas and Talbot Real Estate (540) 687-5523.

January 2016

room. Discreetly installed are two custom, king-sized Murphy beds with hydraulic lifts, wonderful for extra guests.

Among the myriad extra features, one stands tall: a world-class arboretum with more than 200 specimen conifers, fully fenced and occupying 38 acres of the property.

A testament to elegance, this home is the perfect start to the new year.

Articles are prepared by Middleburg Life’s real estate advertising department on behalf of clients.

For information on the home, contact the listing agent. For information on having a house reviewed, contact the Middleburg Life real estate advertising department at (540) 687-6059.

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splendid perennial gardens. Through the arched doorway to the left is the elegant banquet-sized dining room with custommade china cabinets, a fireplace with marble surround and a brilliant Waterford chandelier.

The chef’s-delight kitchen, breakfast area and family room are located to the rear of the home, allowing easy access to the stone terrace, pool and spa.

French doors from both the living room and family room lead to the screened porch, to enjoy the gentle breezes and access to the terraces. A bubbling fountain augments the tranquility.

In the south wing of the main level is the master retreat, featuring a woodburning fireplace, two custom walk-in closets and a luxurious bath with a selfheating whirlpool tub.

The upper level is home to four gorgeous bedrooms, three of which are en-suite and include wood burning fireplaces. A wonderful combination of cozy sitting rooms and built-ins create a warm and inviting atmosphere.

Oak steps lead from the foyer to the lower level and into the media/recreation

www.middleburglife.com

A new year provides the opportunity for rebirth, and in the Hunt Country real estate market, it is a chance to take stock of some of the exceptional properties that will be on the market in 2016.

Among what are sure to be the highlights of the year is Birchwood Estate, set on 180 acres spread over six parcels near the village of Waterford. Nestled between the Blue Ridge and Catoctin mountains and bordered on the west by Catoctin Creek, the estate home is of 1990s vintage but melds so seamlessly with the surroundings that it appears to have been part of the landscape forever.

The stately English manor is constructed of native stone, with a slate and copper roof, and from the moment one enters the elegant mahogany double doors, there is an immediate recognition of the utilization of the finest materials and Old World craftsmanship. Room sizes are gracious and flow from one to the next, and the huge bay windows capture the exquisite views and bathe the rooms in natural sunlight.

With features that include a 3,500bottle wine cellar and programmable Lutron lighting system, you are sure to find bonuses around every corner as you tour the property. And with a 50-foot by 20foot pool and adjacent spa, coupled with flagstone terraces and stone pediments, the home’s exterior is as big as a delight as its interior.

The property currently is on the market, listed at $5,975,000 by Mary Ann McGowan of Thomas and Talbot Real Estate.

Amenities abound, from the high ceilings on all levels to the hand-made ceramic tiles from artist Joan Gardiner and the hand-scraped oak flooring.

A number of highlights of the property come in sevens – there are seven woodburning fireplaces, along with seven-zone geothermal heating and cooling.

To the right of the gracious center hall is the formal living room, with beautiful custom bookcases framing the fireplace and walls of windows overlooking the

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The former home of Sen. John Warner & Elizabeth Taylor. The sprawling 2,700 acre estate with a 3-bedroom, 3.5-bath home features a tile entry with curving staircase, gourmet kitchen, work-out room, stone fireplace and built-in custom cabinetry. Large windows open up to views of the rolling estate. The property is a working cattle farm and includes a barn, silo, machine sheds, manager’s apartment and feeding facilities. $7,500,000

The stately 128+ Acre Middleburg Virginia Country Estate offers a genteel lifestyle and majestic views.

Handsome stone and clapboard manor home, 3 additional homes, 2 apartments, farm office, 6 barns, 45 stalls, indoor arena, all beautifully maintained and surrounded by the meticulously groomed grounds.

Generator back up power. $5,500,000

Blue Ridge Hunt ~ Extraordinary, state-of-the-art horse facility on 126 acres, 10 minutes West of Upperville. Beautiful 3 Bedroom home with panoramic mountain views and exquisite detail throughout. Heated pool. Horse facilitues include 21 stall center aisle barn, 17 paddocks & fields, 150 x 250 ring and an equine swimming facility. $2,800,000

Surrounded by impressive properties protected by Conservation Easements, the historic 62 acre estate is prominently located in prime Orange County Hunt territory.

Recently restored, some of the manor home’s special features include gracious sized rooms, a chef ’s kitchen and four en-suite bedrooms. A converted barn with terrace is ideal for a studio or large gatherings. Spectacular views from the Bull Run to the Blue Ridge Mountains. $2,685,000

Kelvedon embodies a fine Virginia estate with a charming 4 bedroom stone manor house, 2 bedroom guest house, 1 bedroom tenant house, pool with pool house, log cabin, stables, paddocks, fields and a strong creek, which feeds the pond. Splendid views, exquisite perennial gardens, lawns, stone walkways, walls and terraces have created an idyllic $2,600,000 country setting.

166 Acres Near Old Welbourne $2,459,850

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The 26 acre estate sits in magnificent horse country approx. one mile west of Middleburg just off the much desired Zulla Road, this estate includes the 1½ story white brick manor home w/2 car attached garage, 4 car detached garage, heated pool, 3 stall barn with run-in shed, 2 large paddocks and offers tremendous ride out potential. $2,450,000

John Coles wishes to thank all the Sellers, Purchasers and Agents that have made these sales possible.

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126+ Acres $1,650,000

A stunning 4 Bedroom, 3 Bath stucco home on 13.77 acres in prime location on a quiet lane only minutes to Middleburg.

Exceptional quality and attention to detail throughout this lovely home. Mostly open with fencing, 3 stall barn, detached 1 car garage and more. Burrland Lane, Orange County Hunt Territory. $1,480,000

107.76 acres $1,250,000

64.83 Acres $1,250,000

18 acres in the heart of OCH Territory with a lovely 5.5 Bedroom Italianate Style home in a beautiful setting. Formal and informal spaces, high ceilings, wonderful kitchen, expansive rec room, full basement, private pool, extensive landscaping and more. Property is in a VOF Open-Space easement. $1,199,000

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BLACK ROCK - 726.66 acres in 14 parcels, all of which are 50 acres or larger. Accessed from Hume Road (635) and from and Black Rock Ford. Great elevation, views, open land,woods and frontage on the Rappahannock River. Mixed game for hunting. Great opportunity for tax credits. $2,979,306

POTTS MILL - on 137+ acres with frontage on Little River, Open Space Easement, rolling fields with mature hardwood forest, Orange County Hunt Territory, great ride out, very private, within 5 miles of the village of Middleburg, views in all directions. $18,500/Acre

LOGANS MILL - Extraordinary, private estate area on 179+ acres with frontage on Little River, Open Space Easement, rolling fields with mature hardwood forest, Orange County Hunt Territory, great ride out, very private, less than 10 minutes from Middleburg, views in all directions. $18,000/Acre

OLD CARTERS MILL - 53+ acres of beautiful, open and gently rolling land with expansive views of the countryside and distant mountains. Located in the coveted Orange County Hunt Territory of Fauquier County, this land provides exceptional ride-out potential.

A home-site has been studied including engineers report verifying a site for a 5 Bedroom septic, well and potential pond site. Open space easement, land cannot be divided. $1,300,000

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Surrounded by spectacular Country Estates sits this charming and historic 3 bedroom/2 bath stucco and stone cottage. The home is on 1.1 Acres of beautifully manicured lawn, lovely perennial gardens and stone terraces, which provide exceptional outdoor living and $720,000 dining spaces. Truly a gem.

NAKED MOUNTAIN - Delaplane, 276 acres of land on Naked Mountain. A true hunter's paradise! Mostly wooded, very private. Nice elevation, from 670 to 1,400.

Kettle Run stream runs through, great opportunity for tax credits. $1,159,410

www.Thomas-Talbot.com Offers subject to errors, omissions, change of price or withdrawal without notice.

Information contained herein is deemed reliable, but is not so warranted nor is it otherwise guaranteed.

BLUEMONT LAND - 2 parcels in Piedmont Hunt Territory ~ Mostly open, rolling and fully fenced land and accessed from 3 roads. 1 home of clapboard enhance this beautiful property.

71+acres: $995,000

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Overlooking a serene pond, this magnificent European style manor home is on 115 acres surrounded by thousands of protected acres and the Bull Run Mountains. Custom built in 2001 using Olde World craftsmanship and materials this stunning home offers five bedrooms, 6 baths, 10’ ceilings, wide plank flooring, pool and geothermal heating and cooling. $2,395,000

111 E. WAShINGToN STrEET

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This 2,692 square foot professional office building was built in 1800 on a lot size of 0.110009 Acre(s). 2 large office suites and 4 addition offices in a great location with separate parking area as well as side street parking. Complete renovation in $1,099,000

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In the much sought after Village Hamlet – this charming 3 bedroom cottage is in the heart of the beautiful and historic Middleburg. Chinn Lane is picturesque with each detached home being of Williamsburg style architecture with a private garden, the perfect size for enjoyment and ease of maintenance. $665,000

ThoMAs AnD TAlBoT ReAl esTATe A STAUNCH ADVOCATE OF LAND EASEMENTS LAND AND ESTATE AGENTS SINCE 1967 (540) 687-6500 Middleburg, Virginia 20118

50.26 Acres $588,000

January 2016

OCH territory. Wonderfully restored farm house on 51.6 acres with 1400 ft. of road frontage in a desired location. Master on first floor, slate floors, wood floors, granite counters, newer appliances, attached 1 car garage, separate detached 2 car garage, 2 zoned heating and cooling. Approved additional/perc - home site and Fauquier County subdivision letter. $1,075,000

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Looking forward to another great year of fulfilling your Real Estate needs.

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THE 2016 PURSUIT New Year’s OF ALPHA

Resolution: A Life Insurance Review

The term “alpha” has a lengthy Investopedia definition. In short, “alpha” is the excess return over an investment’s benchmark index return. Investors aim for “alpha”.

Therefore, almost all investment advisors feel that they get paid to chase “alpha”.

As another year unfolds, I’m sure many of you have a long list of pos-

Few investors necessary sibilities for yourhave Newthe Year’s resolucombination of ability, time, capital tions. Instead of losing five pounds or and control overlook an atinvestment drinking less wine, the bigger picture and“alpha”. think about something of a to create Regardless lot of people try NOTinvestors to think about: experience, most have their life insurance. these goals in mind: ability to live on portfolio’s income, saving Ourtheir experience in reviewing and makfor child’s education or their their own ing asure clients are maximizing life insurance dollar has been imretirement and making sureantheir portant part are of wealth management investments first-rate. over the years. Most policy holders

have no idea what theirthe policies actuMost investors share challenge ally cover.

Insurance is a practical of capturing the “return” of purthe chase at many life stages: a first child, capital markets, as opposed to a new home, a business partnership. generating their getown “alpha.”

But these policies thrown into a Problem is,the most investors never drawer and checks just keep getting written. insurance is key, not capture the Life market’s entire return. only to security in day-to-day life, but They don’t get the investment’s full it plays a huge role in estate planning return, rather deductions the investor’s and the related and return. protecWhat’s the understanding difference? of wealth tions. Our transfer and business succession as it

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January 2016

Carl Richards, a writer quoted in the relates to insurance uniquely positions financial rags, calls this difference us to deliver excellent results. “the behavior gap.” Unfortunately, Our life insurance reviews sound have emotions can prohibit helped improve many clients’ portfoliinvestment decisions and investors os. From addressing simple issues, like buy and sell when theya shouldn’t. correctly documenting beneficiary,

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to the complex alignment of coverage and saving millions in an estate plan, we give you the edge. Once our team makes sure that your policies are on strategy and there are no redundancies, we also can readily uncover savings. These days, life insurance policies have become a commodity and For I’vedown beendueadvocating costs years have come to medical that investors stop life trying to catch advances, increased expectancies “alpha”.

I encourage investors to and stiffer competition.

settle in and rely on an empirical Make your not New Year’s one approach, based onresolution speculation, that won’t just last the year or only but onyou. theLet irrefutable science of benefit us review your insurcapital markets. ance so you can feelInvesting secure and in helpa globally diversified, tax toand cost your family for many years come. efficient portfolio will prevail.

–Tom Wiseman

Keep Your Money

WISEMAN & ASSOCIATES WEALTH MANAGEMENT 540-687-7077 wisemanandassociates.com

The Medium is Paint on Canvas; the Message is on Facebook

By Sophie Scheps For Middleburg Life

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nthony Barham’s paintings have been shared hundreds of times, even if he doesn’t rent gallery space or host exhibitions of his wonderful creations. His studio and his computer are all that’s necessary to view his art.

“I work a lot on Facebook,” Barham said. “That’s my gallery. One of my videos has been shared over a thousand times.

The music is an old hunting song that was recorded on a wax cylinder in 1917.”

The painting is of a jaunty fox smoking a pipe. The grey smoke pours out, creating scenes of hounds and horses running throughout the frame. The video of him painting the piece has been shared all over the world and although the painting was sold, he still gets requests from fox hunting enthusiasts.

Barham often records time-lapse videos of his commissioned works to post on Facebook and his YouTube page. He spends hours selecting music to set the tone and presents the video along with the finished painting to his clients. To study the painting subjects themselves, Barham prefers to work from video.

“Video is better because you can move around and it’s capturing thousand of photographs you can take from stills,” he said. “I put together pieces from different pictures to create something funny and show more life.”

Barham has been doing animal commissions for twenty years. He prefers to do several small paintings to show different expressions instead of one larger piece. He often includes well-loved or recognizable objects from the owner’s home.

And one client had an unusual request.

“She has 17 dogs and cats that live with her and sleep on these little antique beds,” he said. “I had no idea what she was going to do but she asked me to paint six tiny paintings of each animal. Then she put them all together to create a table with a glass top in her kitchen.”

When Barham initially came to the Middleburg area in the mid-1990s, he was best known for his floral paintings. He grew up on Portobello Road in London, where Barham’s father was an antique dealer. After he returned from World War II, he started the business in 1945.

“In those days people would just give you stuff,” Barham said. “He was a French polisher before. They put the brown shiny finish on furniture. When he was 11 he would polish the inside of the wardrobes because he could fit inside.”

Eventually the family owned three shops and had vast quantities of mostly damaged paintings. Barham would practice repairing the holes and cleaning them as a child. He said that’s where he learned most of his painting skills.

“I still do a bit of restoration now,” he said. “They had oil lamps that smoke and the grease gets on the paintings and the varnish begins to turn yellow after a while.

It’s not a hard process but you have to do it right.”

Practicing on antique paintings eventually led Barham to create large and

A commissioned piece by Anthony Barham

Anthony Barham’s painting is of a jaunty fox smoking a pipe and has been set to music of an old hunting recording. The video of him painting the piece has been shared on social media all over the world.

intricate floral pieces. A regular client lived in Upperville and inspired him to make the move to Virginia.

Barham married another well-known local artist, Misia Broadhead, and the two of them opened up their BroadheadBarham Studio located in their home in The Plains. They paint a variety of subjects, including portraits, landscapes and murals.

“I always paint the same way no matter what it is,” Barham said. “The building up the colors and layers is the quickest way of doing it. It's a traditional way of painting. If you know exactly what you are doing you don't waste any time.”

Several local children take painting lessons with Barham, including a sevenyear-old Hill School second-grader named Lilly Killinger. She created several beautiful firefly paintings displayed at the Common

Grounds in Middleburg to sell in order to raise money for a sick friend.

“She made around $2,500 for cancer research,” Barham said. “Her father is an artist but she is really talented.”

Barham also has his work on display at the Antique Emporium in Middleburg and at The Inn at Little Washington.

He’ll be participating along with other local artists in the fifth annual Art of the Piedmont show Feb. 19 at the Middleburg Community Center. The reception features food and drink and a chance to mingle with local artists as they display their work for sale.

A silent auction with blind bidding will take place throughout the evening. Winners will be announced at the conclusion of the event and proceeds benefit the Middleburg Montessori School, run by Beth Ann Slater. For the past four years, guests have enjoyed works by prominent local artists, including paintings, sculpture and oriental rugs.

A Dedicated Fencing Master Goes Back to His Future

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JSC Construction, Inc. Jerry S. Coxsey

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here are scholar-athletes, and then there is Middleburg’s Turner Smith, who takes the term to a stratospheric level.

A retired environmental attorney with a distinguished Curriculum Vitae, Smith now devotes much of his time to Virginia land conservation through The Land Trust of Virginia. Smith, the athlete, also has a remarkable resume. Five years ago, at age 70 and almost 50 years after he competed as a varsity fencer at Princeton, Smith decided he wanted to take up the demanding sport once again.

“It’s tremendous exercise,” Smith said. “It’s three-dimensional chess at light speed. As you get older, you want to keep the blood flowing to the brain. You still have muscle memory, and you can pick it up, although I found much of my muscle memory was wrong because the sport has changed so much.”

Smith grew up in Arlington County before his family moved to a farm in Haymarket. He played football and ran track at Episcopal High School and when he enrolled at Princeton, he thought he’d mainly be focusing on his studies until his freshman roommate convinced him to join him on the fencing team.

“There was no way I could play other major sports there because the athletes were so good,” Smith said. “But almost everyone on the fencing team had not fenced before. We all started on an equal playing field, and by sophomore year, I was fencing on the varsity.”

The sport consists of three disciplines— himself a finalist in the NCAAs. representing a senior Croatian political foil, epee and saber. Foil, the lightest “Amazing,” Smith said. “A Princeton leader from central Bosnia in a war crimes weapon, is the descendent of the practice fencer, the same coach, and he lives in trial in The Hague. weapon, with a torso target area. Epee, Round Hill, 10 minutes from me.”

His return to fencing five years ago the heaviest of the three weapons, is the After graduating in 1962, Smith first began at a Harper’s Ferry club, and traditional dueling sword, with a whole became a commissioned Army officer and he fences three times a week at clubs in body target. The war-like saber Manassas, Front Royal and replicates the cavalry sword, Fairfax. When he first showed the target being the whole body up in Harper’s Ferry wearing his from the waist up – the exposed old Princeton paraphernalia, part when on horseback. there were snickers all around Smith fenced foil until his because all his equipment was senior year, when he switched illegal under current rules. He to epee to help his team. The now practices with fencers of all change also allowed a talented ages, including teenagers. sophomore named Bill Hicks “When I first started again, I to get more experience that began to realize how important year. Hicks went on to win the good balance was,” Smith said.

NCAA foil title as a senior.

“The first few times I was on my Princeton also had a Hall of keister, a lot. One time I was flat Fame coach, Stan Sieja, a World War II aviator who came to the on my back down on the floor school in 1946 and directed and saw the kid I was fencing the fencing program for 36 staring down at me saying ‘Are years. He was manager of the you all right sir?’ I’m sure he was U.S. team at the 1952 Helsinki Courtesy Photo petrified that he’d killed me.”

Olympics and led Princeton to The 1962 Princeton fencing team included Turner Smith, But Smith got up and the 1964 NCAA Championship far right. now more than holds his and three Intercollegiate own. He’s competed in two national Fencing Association titles, with a number the leader of his infantry battalion’s tactical over-70 championships and, though he of Ivy League championships and countless nuclear weapons platoon. Following occasionally comes home with welts and his military service, he graduated from All-Americans. bruises, he’s in fabulous shape, back close A couple of years ago, Smith was at Harvard Law School in 1968 and joined a the Middleburg Tennis Club and struck Richmond law firm. There were no fencing to his Princeton playing weight. He’s also up a casual conversation with another clubs in that area, and he put the sport started playing tennis again, with lots of cardio and stretching, as well. member, Richard Pantel. When Smith totally behind him.

“People are always saying to me ‘why Over time, he opened his firm’s first mentioned he’d been a fencer at Princeton, Pantel parried that he’d once captained foreign office in Belgium, practiced in are you fencing again at your age’?’” Smith the Princeton team, coached by Sieja, that Richmond, Brussels and Washington, and, said. “Look, you only go around once, so won the Ivy fencing title in 1979, and was for three years, headed his firm’s legal team what the hell. My attitude is ‘why not?’”

M i d d l e b u r g

By Leonard Shapiro For Middleburg Life

Wakefield School

Archwood Scholarship

Accepting Applicants for 2016-2017 Open House, February 15 at 9am

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More information on the Open House or applying for the Archwood Scholarship please call: Gray Carr Griffin, Director of Admissions 540.253.7600

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A Master Craftsman Turns Wood into an Artform

By Morgan Hensley For Middleburg Life

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n a front lawn near the intersection of Zulla Road and Route 55 just outside Marshall, you might spot a tiki, a totem pole, an octopus and owls whose eyes seem to follow your car down the road. They represent the latest creations of artisanal woodworker Joshua Paul Frederick. This is also the headquarters for his business, J.P. Woodworks.

Frederick opened in May, 2012. Before his relatively recent venture working with wood, he was operations manager at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine.

He was always a high-level jack-of-alltrades, overseeing plumbing and electrical maintenance, and occasionally driving the Zamboni ice-making machine. Despite the variety his job offered him, he said, “I was tired of being on someone else’s time, and I wanted to do my own thing.”

Frederick grew up in Fairfax and returned to the area in 2011 in order to find a way to apply his diverse set of skills to a more individualized career. “Ever since I was a little kid I always enjoyed working with tools, but I was looking

to get into something different,” he said of his decision to experiment with woodworking.

It’s one of the oldest art forms, even predating Homo sapiens. The craft grew out of a need to construct shelters, canoes, tools and weapons, all rudimentary elements of intelligent life. Frederick pays homage to the primitivity of the art; many of his carvings feature tribal motifs or animals. That’s not to say his work is rough, underdeveloped or basic. Rather, his pieces capture humanity’s origins as well as its progress.

Frederick is entirely self-taught, with trial and error his primary mentor.

“It comes naturally to me,” he said. “I don’t know if I’d be able to teach anyone else. I just learn from my mistakes.”

He started by designing picture frames, quickly progressing to furniture construction and refinishing. Soon after, he opened the business in Marshall .

Curiosity and an instinctive flight from convention are at the heart of Frederick’s creative process. Woodworking is a bit of an umbrella term and includes carving, joinery and carpentry. The variety is what Frederick finds most appealing.

“Sometimes I start out with a hand

Wealth Planning You Can Build On “Some of us approach wealth planning by leaving it entirely to the ‘experts,’ often not fully understanding what it is they have recommended we do, while some of us throw up our hands and do nothing. Neither way is very wise.”

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January 2016

— Robert B. Seaberg, PhD, Wealth Planning Managing Director at Morgan Stanley

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Wealth planning—that is, the integration of lifestyle planning, asset preservation and wealth transfer issues — can seem a daunting, almost overwhelming task. And the more assets we have, the more complex the task can seem.

This is why our family business, The CGE Group at Morgan Stanley, encourages families to discuss their specific wealth planning goals with us in a private setting. These conversations along with a comprehensive wealth plan become even more critical when families are faced with a transitional period, such as a significant life event. We can help you plan for these events.

We invite you and your family to contact ours to learn more about how we are helping families grow, protect and transfer wealth.

Submitted

J.P. Frederick and his chainsaw creation. plane and sandpaper, sometimes I start with a chainsaw,” he said. “Actually, I start the designs on the computer,” referring to the computer numerical control (CNC) programming software used to ensure precision.

The carvings that decorate the shop’s lawn are Frederick’s favorite, for now.

“Carving is all new to me,” he said.

“New techniques, new tools. Ask me in six months what my favorite thing to do is and I’ll probably tell you something different.”

Despite only carving for a short period of time, the pieces showcase his knack and artistic vision. They’re a customer favorite too, he said. “People like it, people dig it.”

In addition to carvings, Frederick builds salad bowls and slab, or “live edge” furniture. He’s recently been working on a headboard, a glistening cut of ambrosia maple that weighs several hundred pounds.

“There’s a variety of things to see,” he said. “Not just carvings and furniture, and especially not the same kind of furniture you’ll see everywhere else.”

Aside from his creative craft, Frederick has taught himself the business of marketing his creations. He operates under a simple yet effective strategy: “Provide a good product and keep people happy. Do that and business takes care of itself.”

He doesn’t spend money on advertising, allowing his art, Facebook page, and website (http://www.jpwoodworks.co/) to attract clients to his creations.

Beginning in 2016, the shop will add a showroom to highlight pieces and give visitors a sense of Frederick’s talents and specialties. As for improving his craft, he said, “There’s no such thing as mastery.

There will always be some new aspect or a different method to learn. I’m trying to constantly evolve and improve.”

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

The CgE group at Morgan Stanley C. greg Ellison, CIMA,® CPWA® First Vice President Wealth Advisor

Charles M. Ellison, CIMA,® CPWA® First Vice President Financial Advisor

440 W. Jubal Early Drive, Suite 260 Winchester, VA 22601 charles.ellison@morganstanley.com www.morganstanleyfa.com/ellisonellison/

Investment Management Consultants Association, Inc. owns the marks CIMA,® Certified Investment Management AnalystSM (with graph element),® and Certified Investment Management Analyst.SM Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC offers a wide array of brokerage and advisory services to its clients, each of which may create a different type of relationship with different obligations to you. Please visit us at http:// www.morganstanleyindividual.com or consult with your Financial Advisor to understand these differences. © 2015 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC.

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Janney farm

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Private and secluded this a beautiful estate located in Bluemont on just over 180 acres. The magnificent stone and stucco home consists of 5 bedrooms & 5 1/2 baths and was renovated in 2009.

Manicured grounds, 10 stall stable, tennis court, pool & pool house, 3 stocked ponds, mountain views and pastures are a few of the amenities that make this property spectacular. $3,590,000

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Secluded country manor house on 54+ acres tucked amongst large farms. This 4 BR/5 BA home w/fine architectural detailing offers formal spaces, yet very comfortable living. 1st Flr Mstr Ste, formal DR, LR, eat-in Gourmet Kitchen, Den & 2-story Great Rm. Screenedin porch & many terraces. 3 frplcs. Hardwood floors. 1BR Garage Apt, 3 BR/2.5BA Guest House, pond & 4-bay Workshop. In VOF $2,800,000 Easement.

Spectacular 17 room custom brick Colonial boasting over 9,500 Sq Ft. of living space on a private lane on 25 gorgeous acres. Palladian windows, Wood floors and Grandly scaled rooms with high ceilings. Extordinary quality throughout.Fabulous pool surrounded by flagstone terraces. Brilliant gardens.

Board fenced paddocks.

Ideal for horses.Minutes to Middleburg. $2,400,000

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Fabulous 3 level brick colonial on 24+ gorgeous acres of lush pastures and woods with excellent mountain views. Completely updated in 2011 with a new addition of a Great Room with vaulted ceilings and brick walled fireplace. Features Hardwood floors, formal Living Room and Dining Room, Office, finished walk up lower level, 3 stall barn, 2 run-in sheds, board fenced paddocks with automatic waterers, 2 stocked ponds and great ride-out. $895,000

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Gorgeous 25 acres! Views, Pond and Privacy! 4 Bedroom, 3 Bath Cape Cod, Gourmet Kitchen with Granite, Hardwood Floors, Open Floor Plan, Main Level Master, Deck with Pergola, Beautiful Landscaping, Perfect for horses, vineyard, or just to enjoy! In Land Use Conservation Easement. No HOA! $765,000

629 gray sands

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Purcellville ~ Beautiful Colonial located in wonderful neighborhood within the Village Case of Purcellville. 4 Bedroom, 2 ½ Baths, Wood floors and Kitchen, full unfinished basement. $455,000

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Two beautiful wooded parcels totaling 12.72 acres offer spectacular views of the valley. Located on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains in a private setting.

Includes a 4 bedroom perc site that was previously approved by Loudoun County. $200,000

THOMAS AND TALBOT REAL ESTATE A STAUNCH ADVOCATE OF LAND EASEMENTS LAND AND ESTATE AGENTS SINCE 1967

Brian mgowan

middleburg, virginia 20118 (540) 687-6500 www.thOmas-talBOt.com

January 2016

Winchester ~Excellent buy for the savvy purchaser wanting a bargain. This magnificent, quality,custom built all brick home is priced below assessed value. Home features 4628 sq ft, 5 bedrooms, 5½ baths, 3 car garage, basement, large rear deck with lovely valley views, 2.7 acres, fenced rear yard, marbled kitchen and baths, beautiful center hall on main and upper level plus many quality features. $479,900

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Immaculate all brick one level residence in excellent condition with superior quality and lovely neutral decor.

Hardwood floors, brand new kitchen with granite counters and top of the line appliances,bright & airy rooms and a luxurious pool and terrace.Beautifully sited on 5 landscaped acres with wonderful mountain views. Extraordinary value! Excellent location! $545,000

silCOtt lane

D OL

Old BaltimOre rd

D OL

Spectacular views over stonewalls & 5 acres pond to the Shenandoah National Forest.

Custom designed farmhouse situated for privacy & view! Custom amenities, large light filled rooms, heated pool w/ spa & auto cover surrounded by slate patio, mature gardens & hardscape.1st floor BR also used as den. 1¼ hr to DC,& 1 hr to Dulles. 9 acres with 2BR guest house also available. $1,750,000

www.middleburglife.com

This charming historic residence, built in 1815, extensively updated in 2004 and 2014, is in a private country setting in the heart of horse country. It has a pond surrounded by horse pastures, a tree-lined driveway, and mature gardens. The house, tastefully decorated in neutral tones, blends the warmth and charm of an antique home with every modern amenity. $1,195,000

eBenezer ChurCh

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Land nestled snugly between the past and the present, finding the best of both worlds in your own private haven of happiness. This extraordinary 82+ acre property, with winding creeks and towering trees offers total privacy and seclusion in a gorgeous woodland setting. Original homestead ready for complete renovation and offered “as is” as a jewel in the rough. Located in the heart $1,399,900 of “Hunt Country”.

S

May you have a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous New Year!

halCyOn Crest

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The McGowans wish to thank all who helped make these sales possible.

Fabulous 250 acre farm. Beautiful stone main residence meticulously updated and restored.

Charming 1 bedroom Log Guest Cabin with kitchen and bath and separate Log Cabin Studio/Office. Center-aisle 4 stall stable with huge storage area. Gorgeous views, pond, lush pastures and woodlands. Private and protected conservation area; may be divided into 2 parcels. Surrounded by $2,500,000 1000 acres in easement.

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L i f e

282 acres of fabulous rolling countryside and lush woodlands, is available for the first time in many years. It includes 11 deeded parcels, borders on Goose Creek and enjoys spectacular views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Ideally located off Telegraph Springs Road, the property is convenient to the village of Lincoln with easy access to Rte 7. Great Potential for Conservation Tax Credits. $4,089,000

hatChers mill

M i d d l e b u r g

mCgOWan assOCiates

Jim mcgowan

25

MOSBY HERITAGE AREA ASSOCIATION 2015 HERITAGE HEROES hilds Burden, president of the Mosby Heritage Area Association, and Wendy Bebie, its chairman, recently made the presentations for the 2015 Heritage Heroes at the National Sporting Library and Museum. Gayle and Tom Delashmutt and Paul Ziluca were named 2015 Heritage Heroes. Kevin Morgan Lee Dwelly, an eighth grader at Wakefield School, received the James Peyton Atkins Memorial Scholarship Award from Jim Atkins for an essay on the Civil War. It was entitled "Civil War Firsts in Loudoun County, Virginia: Dog Money and The Battle at Ball's Bluff - It's All About Perspective." The essay is about money made during the Civil War in Leesburg as well as the first Civil War battle in Loudoun County, The Battle at Ball's Bluff along the Potomac River.

Childs Burden, Paul Ziluca, Wendy Bebie

Tom and Gayle Delashmutt

Kevin Morgan Lee Dwelly and his mother Glynnis Dwelly

Paul Ziluca

Janna and Marc Leepson

www.middleburglife.com

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January 2016

M i d d l e b u r g

L i f e

PHOTOS BY: DOUGLAS LEES

26

By Sophie Scheps For Middleburg Life

L i f e

F

ood fanciers around the area felt the loss of Forlano’s Market in The Plains last year, even as whispers about a potential new restaurant began to swirl.

Then last February, rumor turned to reality when the old edifice underwent extensive renovations. The now gray and green building houses the modern, but still very casual, Front Porch Market and Grill.

William Way b ourn and Craig Spaulding own the Front Porch and also have operated the Flint Hill Public House Restaurant and Inn since 2011. Both have proved to be popular destinations for locals and tourists alike. Their two general managers, Tammy Layne and Dan Myers, run the Front Porch.

Layne was the former catering and sales director at the Flint Hill Public House and was heavily involved with creating comfortable experiences for its guests. Now at the Front Porch, Layne uses her expertise to create unique farm-to-table menus.

“I’ve always been passionate about food,” she said. “It’s such a fun environment, that most of the time it doesn’t even feel like work. We like to sit outside and just watch traffic go by and just enjoy this place.”

Myers grew up in a restaurant family but did not pursue a food career originally.

He had worked at the U.S. Customs and

Border Protection Canine Center in Front Royal. Now, he and Layne are responsible for the daily operations of the restaurant.

The interior of the 2,700 square-foot space includes downstairs seating inside, as well as seating on both the front and back porches. Even in the cold winter months, guests are happy to sit out back underneath the heated and cozy tent placed over the deck. Upstairs features a bar area with a television and additional seating.

“Tammy and I both said we wanted it to be fun and relaxed, a cool space to come hang out and feel comfortable,” Myers said.

“It becomes a party atmosphere in here.

Everyone mingles between tables and gets to know one another. Where else can you eat really good food and draw on the table?”

Layne said she loves to talk with customers about where they are from.

“We had one couple come in recently that had driven over an hour away to come here,” she said. “They’re in the restaurant business and had heard about the place from some friends in D.C.” For the first few months the Front Porch was open, the downstairs featured a market with an array of kitchen and home goods sourced from all over the world. In order to make room for more seating, the Side Porch was opened across the street in the former Old Dominion Soap Company location. It now houses the collection and also creates a space for private dining.

“Tammy and I select goods for the Side

M i d d l e b u r g

The Plains Has a Front Porch, Back Porch and Side Porch

Photo © by Sophie Scheps

Dan Myers and Tammy Layne.

Porch from a lot of different places,” said Myers. “We aren’t buying from big catalogs.

If I can’t pick up the phone and talk to the owner I don’t work with them. It’s things you never knew you needed.”

The Front Porch and its 30 employees serve a crowd of regulars for breakfast (available all day), lunch and dinner. They also have carryout sandwiches available and catering services.

The Front Porch prides itself on sourcing the best possible ingredients for their menus and tries to support local

purveyors of meat, vegetables and wines as much as possible. They are currently featuring many products from Whiffletree Farm, located just down the road in Warrenton.

In the new year, Layne and Myers said they hope to continue improving what they’ve already created. Now one of three restaurants in The Plains, the goal wasn’t to create any competition but to share a foodfriendly environment.

“This is a place where everyone is welcome, including dogs,” Layne said.

22 West Market Street Leesburg, VA, 20176 Office: 703.443.1757 www.huntcountrysir.com

Greystone

$1,799,000

Tartan Farms

$1,999,000

Please join us in welcoming Susan Hensley to Hunt Country Sotheby’s International Realty.

Located just outside the Village of Waterford on 53.22 acres, this property is offered for the first time in over 100 years. This master crafted exquisite 1763 Quaker stone home has 7 BRS, 3.5 BTHS, formal rooms, large fireplaces, random width wood floors and a spacious great room.

3 additional lots for sale. Visit 16158ClarkesGapRd.Com

Lisa Thompson 571.207.6580

Waterford Home

$1,149,000

We invite you to contact Susan and learn more about how our real estate professionals are the proven leaders in representing distinctive properties.

Skyline Caverns

$3,500,000

Turn key equestrian property on 41.9 acres with 100’X200’ indoor ring, multiple barns with a total of 35 stalls, 13 paddocks.

All brick 5 BR, 4 BTH home with attached 2 car garage indoor pool and 1 BR apartment over detached 3 car garage. Road frontage on 3 sides.

Lisa Thompson 571.207.6580

Blueridge Mountain Road $1,399,000

www.middleburglife.com

It takes extraordinary sales associates to maintain our brand vision of artfully uniting extraordinary homes with extraordinary lives.

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Janeen Marconi 703.401.6465

Turnkey business, real estate for sale. Skyline Caverns is located adjacent to Skyline Dr & Shenandoah Nat’l Park. Cavern system covers over 45 acres of unspoiled VA landscape. Other attractions on site include a 1/5 model railroad, mirror maze, gift shop, 1 mile of nature trail and two parking areas. With only 20% of the caverns open to the public there are endless possibilities for expansion.

Joe Boddicker 703.401.5077

Each Office Is Individually Owned And Operated.

A perfect home or weekend retreat, this custom built home offers privacy and incredible views of the Shenandoah Valley and the Blueridge Mountains. Sited on 90 +/- acres this 6 BR, 4.5 BTH home has recently renovated kitchens and baths. Expansive decks, patios with pool and private guest house. Can be divied into 3 lots.

January 2016

Sited on 10 acres of rolling hills this all brick 6000+ sf custom home has a first floor master suite, four and a half baths and four spacious additional bedrooms. Family room has coffered ceiling, fireplace and large windows to take in the beautiful views. Also included is a 100X50 barn.

Janeen Marconi 703.401.6465

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L i f e M i d d l e b u r g

Try this granola packed with oats, almonds, coconut and walnuts.

Baking the mixture with maple syrup and butter makes it light and crispy – serve it with fresh raspberries, bananas and ice cold milk and you’ll have a delicious start to your day.

Almond Coconut Granola MAKES ABOUT 6 CUPS OR 12 SERVINGS • 2 cups sliced almonds • 1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut • 1 cup chopped walnuts • 1 ½ cups old fashion whole oats (not quick or instant) • Pinch of salt

until combined 6. Spread out onto the parchment lined baking sheet

• 2 tablespoons butter • ¼ cup pure maple syrup 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees 2. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper 3. In a large bowl combine the almonds, coconut, walnuts, oats and salt

7. Bake for about 25 minutes, remove from the oven after about 15 minutes, when it starts to brown around the edges and stir–do this twice more about 5 minutes apart. It is finished when the granola is a uniform light brown.

4. In a microwave safe bowl combine the maple syrup and the butter and heat about 30 seconds until the butter just starts to melt – take out of the microwave and stir until completely melted

8. Cool completely before storing in an airtight jar, it will become crispy as it cools.

5. Pour into the almond mixture and stir

9. Store at room temperature

I love eating salads all year long, and in the winter months I love to add a warm element. The Gorgonzola sauce is heated just enough to melt the cheese - didn’t you say you were going to eat more salads in 2016?

January 2016

Chicken and Mushroom Salad with Warm Gorgonzola Dressing SERVES 4

www.middleburglife.com

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• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts pounded in an even thickness - about ½ thick (or cut the breast horizontally in half )

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“Solitude” “Solitude”

Bluemont. This Den Bluemont.

This beautiful beautifulstone stoneand andframe frame country countryhome homein in the the Bear’s Bear’s Den Rural Historic

by Supreme Supreme Court Court Justice Justice James James Rural Historic District Districtwas was built built in in 1903 1903 by McReynolds. Stone Stone pillars pillars lead handsome home stone C. McReynolds. lead up to this handsome home with with 5 stone room dining fireplaces, rustic rustic beamed beamedceilings, ceilings,pine pinefloors, floors,large largeliving living roomand and dining room, 4-5 bedrooms, country kitchen, den, sun porch + 14 acres of room, 5 bedrooms, 2 baths, a country kitchen, den and summer porch. There privacy, an hour and fifteen are 14 acres of privacy, a littleminutes over an fromfrom Washington. $789,000. hour Washington, DC. $825,000

Barbara B arBara Powell Powell

540.554.2299 (h) (c)(c) 540.554.2299 (h)· 540.303.2299 · 540.303.2299 540.554.8600(o) (o) 540.554.8600

• 1 8-10 ounce package white mushrooms, cleaned and sliced • Salt and pepper • 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided • 2 tablespoons butter, divided • 2 heads butter lettuce, usually grown hydroponically in plastic clam shells • Gorgonzola Cheese Sauce • ½ cup Mascarpone cheese • 2 tablespoons milk

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard • 4 ounces crumbled gorgonzola cheese (reserve some to crumble over the salad) • Salt and pepper 1. Heat a large sauté pan to medium high heat and add 1 tablespoon each of butter and olive oil 2. Add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper, and stir from time to time 3. Sauté until they are golden brown and remove to a plate 4. Add the additional butter and olive oil and season the chicken breasts, sauté them for about 3-4 minutes each side or until just cooked through.

5. Let the chicken breast rest while you heat the sauce 6. In a small sauce pan combine all the Gorgonzola cheese sauce ingredients and heat over low heat just until the sauce warms and becomes smooth, leaving a few lumps of cheese.

7. To serve line a plate with torn butter lettuce and top with sliced chicken and mushrooms, drizzle with Gorgonzola sauce and finish with the last of the crumbled gorgonzola.

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6064 East Pointe Lane, Warrenton $509,900 Dave Wills 703-624-2227

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10592 Cliff Mills Road, Marshall $349,900 Meg Mullery 540-878-3307

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5672 Pignut Mountain Road, Warrenton $530,000 Dave Wills 703-624-2227

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2749 Senseny Road, Berryville $394,500 Dave Wakely 540-222-2502

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41377 Red Hill Road, Leesburg $425,000 Dave Wakely 540-222-2502

38465 Goose Creek Lane, Leesburg $659,000 Joyce Gates 540-771-7544

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Thank you for making Long & Foster #1 in Loudoun & Fauquier Counties.

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1916 Harry Byrd Hwy, Bluemont $475,000 Bobby Kirk 703-728-8602

Dave Wills, Sales Manager Kathy Chovnick, Branch Administrator Cynthia Cox • Janet Garbe • Joyce Gates Bobby Kirk • Sebastian Langenberg Meg Mullery • Erik Scheps • Janelle Stewart Ryan Van Sickel • David Wakely • Marci Welsh

16378 Purcellville Road, Purcellville $755,000 Marci Welsh 703-906-5802

www.middleburglife.com

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7962 Leeds Manor Road, Marshall $524,900 Marci Welsh 703-906-5802

Our Middleburg sales associates would like to thank our clients & our customers for the generous contributions to our annual Holiday Toys for Tots drive, and for participating with our agents in the Adopt a Family program for the Fauquier County Shelter Services.

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33946 Harry Byrd Hwy, Bluemont $549,000 Marci Welsh 703-906-5802

22980 Cannon Ridge Lane, Middleburg $849,000 Marci Welsh 703-906-5802

Happy New Year!

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20277 Cockerill Road, Purcellville $675,000 Marci Welsh 703-906-5802

23473 Potts Mill Road, Middleburg $1,380,000 Joyce Gates 540-771-7544

8 North Madison Street Middleburg, VA 20117 540.687.8530 www.MiddleburgSales.com

L i f e

36658 Leith Lane, Middleburg $3,100,000 Marci Welsh 703-906-5802

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MIDDLEBURG OFFICE

M i d d l e b u r g

LONG & FOSTER

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125 Academy Street, Berryville 3000 Parshall Road, Berryville $312,900 $280,000 Janet Garbe 703-431-4192 Janet Garbe 703-431-4192 *In these transactions L&F represented the Buyer.

All Properties Offered Internationally Worldwide Connections

1603 Commonwealth Drive, Front Royal $235,000 Sebastian Langenberg 540-422-3061

January 2016

2402 Southgate Square, Reston $315,000 Sebastian Langenberg 540-422-3061

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M i d d l e b u r g

L i f e

Federal Street Cafe Finds a Backstreet Niche in a Hurry

By Morgan Hensley For Middleburg Life

Z

an Dial, chef and owner of the Federal St. Cafe, has worked in restaurants ranging from highend gastronomy to pub fare.

His new restaurant falls somewhere in between, and it’s exactly what Middleburg needed.

Dial, a native of South Carolina, said he discovered his passion for cooking as a child.

“In those pre-Food Network days,” he said, “I would watch Julia Child on PBS and beg my mom to go buy me a pound of shrimp and a bottle of champagne for her recipes.”

He went on to graduate from the University of South Carolina in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and acceptance letters to several law schools, including his alma mater and Tulane University. However, his friends in law school looked “utterly miserable,” so Dial opted to stay at USC and earn a degree in Culinary Arts.

After graduating, Dial moved to Virginia and started NOVA Personal Chef Catering while his dreams of owning his own restaurant took form. His search for a restaurant location began in 2013 and took him throughout Loudoun County. Still, he said, he always found himself “coming back to Middleburg. I spent two years looking for a place. Then one day I was driving through town wishing something would open up and I saw it.”

Zan Dial The unoccupied building that once was home to Backstreet Cafe caught his eye immediately.

“I had the lease within the week,” he said. “And two months later we opened up.”

Once he found the location, he had to renovate the interior and tailor a menu to fit the space.

“It had the right atmosphere,” he said.

“We saw an opportunity to take it and make it ours.”

His wife, Ann, oversaw the interior design components, including a gray and sky-blue color scheme and purposefully mismatched chairs.

“It’s not the kind of place for pre s s e d w h it e tablecloths,” Dial said. “We went for ‘inviting but not elegant.’ ” When planning the menu, Dial said he consulted Middleburg residents and the consensus was that the vilPhoto © by Sophie Scheps lage was missing a casual establishment that served a moderately priced breakfast.

“I was looking to do my own thing while filling a void,” he said. “Just doing what makes sense in a town this small.”

The menu is the result of the town’s input and Dial’s philosophy on food.

“You don’t need to deconstruct the cheeseburger,” he said. “Use great ingredients and treat them right.”

The breakfast menu includes the usual cornerstones: omelets, pancakes, and biscuits slathered in gravy. On the lunch and

dinner menu, grilled filet mignon is adjacent to sweet tea-brined fried chicken and waffles, a dish that both parodies and reveres Southern cuisine. In between you’ll find a bacon pimento cheeseburger, seasonal salads, build-your-own sandwiches and “redneck eggrolls” (the product of a hangover and some convenient pulled pork leftovers).

The restaurant opened June 9 and almost immediately created a buzz about town and lived up to Dial’s vision of a “place to hang out on the deck and drink a beer, but also a place to bring the kids and family in for Sunday brunch.”

To celebrate the early success and good customer reviews, Dial planned a grand opening replete with a prix fix dinner of garlic steamed mussels, watermelon gazpacho, and filet mignon. However, just before the event, a balky water heater went out, derailing his best laid plans.

Despite that initial setback, Dial said business has grown between 10 to 30 percent week after week, which “speaks highly of the town. (The cafe) already has its regulars. I know exactly what they want in their omelet as they’re walking up to the door.”

Dial looks forward to the cafe’s future and said he hopes to gradually increase the restaurant’s outside catering business while building relationships with nearby farms to add more local ingredients to the Southern-style menu. In addition to watching his restaurant grow and further ingratiate itself into the community, Dial eagerly anticipates fatherhood, with his first child, a daughter, due in February.

www.middleburglife.com

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January 2016

Earn Rewards for Green Trips!

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Rideshare, Public Transit, Telecommute, Walk, Bike Record your trips and get rewards. It’s really that easy!

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Providence Farm

Trough Hill Farm

Middleburg, Virginia $6,295,000

Middleburg Area $2,975,000

Bluemont, Virginia $2,650,000

Middleburg, Virginia $2,450,000

Immaculate equestrian property in turnkey condition • Exceptional location • Stone home expanded to approx. 7,000 sf. • Includes 4 main level suites • Lovely gardens, pool, garage apartment & pond • Blackburn designed 6 stall stable • 70x210 indoor arena • Observation deck • Tack room • 2 wash stalls & office • Addtl 4 stall barn • Entire property is fenced and cross fenced on 26 acres & 8 paddocks

Solid stone home with copper roof on 70 acres • Original portions dating from the 1700’s • First floor bedroom & 3 additional suites • Original floors • 8 fireplaces • Formal living room • Gourmet kitchen • 2 ponds • Mountain views • Stone walls • Mature gardens • Pool • Primitive log cabin • Piedmont Hunt

42 acre equestrian property in Piedmont Hunt • Lovely 5,000 sf home with 1st floor master suite • Horse facilities include indoor (150' x 75') and outdoor (200' x 100') arenas • 10 stall stable with large apartment • 8 more stalls in shed row • 6 paddocks • Cross country course & 9,800 sf heated Morton Building

A pastoral 5 bedroom c. 1830 farmhouse and a grand stone pavilion • Elegant but unfussy • 103 acres of open farmland • The pavilion serves as a pool house, greenhouse, banquet room, and guest quarters • Great location

Helen MacMahon

(540) 454-1930

Helen MacMahon Paul MacMahon Ann MacMahon

(540) 454-1930 (703) 609-1905 (540) 687-5588

Helen MacMahon

Ann MacMahon Paul MacMahon

(540) 687-5588 (703) 609-1905

(540) 454-1930

Fairview

The Haven

Echo Hill

Emarcris

Boyce, Virginia $2,300,000

The Plains, Virginia $2,295,000

The Plains, Virginia $1,500,000

Marshall, Virginia $1,475,000

Circa 1904 Colonial home • 3 BR • 3 1/2 BA • High ceilings • Gourmet kitchen • 5 fireplaces • 90x200 covered arena • 12 total stalls • Main barn redesigned by John Blackburn • 4 bay garage with apartment • 12 paddocks • Asphalt drive & security gate • Heated pool • Property has 2 DUR’s and whole house generator • Hilltop setting with mountain views

Fabulous equestrian property • High efficiency low maintenance home with state of the art geothermal and solar systems • Stone fireplaces, pool, cabana • Great kitchen and bathrooms • Huge front porch overlooking pond • 7 stall stable with apartment • Euro felt arena • 4 paddocks and prime ride out location

Stone English country home in top location between Middleburg & The Plains on 13 acres • Large boxwoods & classically planted gardens • 4 BR home with new kitchen & main level master suite • Hardwood floors, built-in book cases, fireplaces & bright open family room • Bluestone terrace overlooks new pool & entertaining area • Separate guest cottage/ pool house & garage • Whole-house generator

Brick colonial on 22.56 gorgeous acres • Orange County Hunt • 4 BR • 4 BA • High ceilings • Wood floors • Grandly scaled rooms for gracious entertaining • 5 FP add warmth & charm • Covered veranda overlooks spectacular gardens w/ fabulous views • Library w/custom bookcases • Family room w/vaulted ceilings • Separate guest suite • Sauna • Idyllic setting

Paul MacMahon

(703) 609-1905

Helen MacMahon

(540) 454-1930

Helen MacMahon

Paul MacMahon

(703) 609-1905

(540) 454-1930

Stonecrest

Foxhall

Sunny Meadow

Upperville, Virginia $1,290,000

Bluemont, Virginia $1,200,000

Round Hill, Virginia $1,000,000

Middleburg, Virginia $925,000

Circa 1810 Federal brick home with stucco wing • 4 BR • 3 1/2 BA • 6 FP • High ceilings • Beautiful woodwork & floors • Recently renovated • Lovely kitchen with new custom cabinets, Carrara marble countertops, Viking refrigerator, Bertazzoni gas range and slate floor • New baths, Carrara white marble floors • English period gardens, specimen plantings, mature boxwoods, grand setting

Beautifully maintained stone and stucco house • On crest of the Blue Ridge • Large views to the east • Perfect for entertaining and gatherings of extended family • Over 7000 sq ft, 5 BR, 6 FB, 1 HB, 3 FP • 2 MBR suites, one on main level • Finely appointed in all respects • Landscaping, automatic security gates, & estate fence ensure privacy • Garages for 5 vehicles

Historic property in protected area • First offering since 1951 • 3 log structures circa 1690, 1720, and 1940 connected to create charming home • 4 BR, 3 BA, 3 FP & beautiful floors • Huge boxwoods • Needs updating • 33.89 acres mostly open • Creek • Solid barn • Original structure Quaker meeting house

Charming cape nestled among sunny meadow, shade trees and creek • 4 BR • 3.5 bath • 2 master bedrooms with full baths en-suite • Large kitchen • Light-filled family room • Pool w/pool house & patio • Separate 3 car garage with in-law suite/home office above

(703) 609-1905

Tom Cammack Ann MacMahon

(540) 247-5408 (540) 687-5588

Paul MacMahon

(703) 609-1905

Helen MacMahon Alix Coolidge

(540) 454-1930 (703) 625-1724

Sunken Lane

The Old Firehouse

The Plains, Virginia $870,000

Bluemont, Virginia $785,000

Upperville, Virginia $625,000

Middleburg, Virginia $5,000 per month

Private 10 acres between Middleburg and The Plains • 3/4 bedroom home • Open floor plan • Large front porch with views to the west • Traditional materials such as stucco exterior and metal roof • Wood floors • Fireplaces • Built in book shelves • Beautiful plantings and fenced yard • Great location and easy maintenance

Circa 1860 Virginia Farmhouse • House updated & enlarged in 2004 • 3 to 4 BR • 2 1/2 BA • Hardwood floors • 3 FP • Exposed beams & gourmet kitchen • 10 acres • Fenced & cross fenced • 2 stall barn with tack & hay storage • Spring house & smoke house • Protected with mountain views • Piedmont Hunt Territory

11.43 ACRES, TREMENDOUS VALUE IN PRESTIGIOUS PIEDMONT HUNT LOCATION • Surrounded by protected properties in conservation easement • Contemporary stone & stucco home, 3 BR, 2 full and 2 1/2 BA, 2 FP • Spiral staircase leads to 8 stall barn • Tack room and office • Property fenced & cross fenced

Bright, open, light-filled commercial space on charming South Madison Street • Stone building w/slate roof, street level with oversized display windows • High ceilings • Spacious rooms & ADA bath • Lower level has kitchen • Storeroom, 1/2 bath & 2 additional offices/ rooms each w/outside access • Charm & tremendous foot traffic • Historically a great retail location

Paul MacMahon

Helen MacMahon

Helen MacMahon

(540) 454-1930

Paul MacMahon Helen MacMahon

info@sheridanmacmahon.com www.sheridanmacmahon.com

(703) 609-1905 (540) 454-1930

(703) 609-1905

(540) 454-1930

110 East Washington Street • P.O. Box 1380 Middleburg, Virginia 20118 (540) 687-5588

January 2016

Palmer’s Mill

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Dog Wood

www.middleburglife.com

Kerfoot House

Paul MacMahon

L i f e

Faraway Farm

M i d d l e b u r g

Old Goose Creek Farm

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L i f e M i d d l e b u r g January 2016 • www.middleburglife.com

32

They’re Making Sweet Music All Around the Piedmont

By Leonard Shapiro For Middleburg Life he Community Music School of the Piedmont (CMSP) began humbly in 1994 with two teachers and six students in one modest building in The Plains. It was born out of necessity. Long-time Middleburg residents Martha Cotter and Shannon Davis simply wanted their children to learn how to play an instrument without having to add even more car-pooling miles to their respective odometers.

Now, more than 20 years later, it has more than 400 students, and recently said goodbye to an 86-year-old gentleman who took up the piano several years ago and recently moved out of the area.

There are 23 instructors who give private lessons on virtually every instrument in a symphony orchestra, and several conduct sessions so that itty-bitty babies can start developing their own sense of music appre ci at ion at t he earliest age possible.

On Sunday, Jan. 24 at 5:30 p.m., criticallyacclaimed American soprano Rosa Lamoreaux will perform at the school’s ninth annual Candlelight C oncert Fundraiser at Barton Oaks in The Plains.

She’ll sing a program from The Great American Songbook, including works by George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Duke Ellington.

CMSP is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization offering a wide variety of individual and group lessons, ensembles, and community outreach programs.

It’s a member of the National Guild for Community Arts Education, with a mission of providing high quality music instruction and performance opportunities for all members of the Piedmont community.

With studio lighting in your own home.

Drawings or Paintings made from my photos or yours

Crowell Hadden

Fine Art Photography Photo Editing and Photoshop Help

540-532-2075

www.crowellhaddenphoto.com

It uses a number of facilities, many in churches donating space, stretching from Aldie all the way to Stephens City, to provide venues for its students. What Cotter, CMSP’s executive director, likes to call “our world headquarters” are located at Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville.

In fact, Trinity’s own Rev. Robert Banse takes saxophone lessons.

“We all think music is so important, and we are so grateful to Trinity for sharing their wonderful space with us,” Cotter said. “On a long-term basis, what music does for the quality of life, what it does for your brain is so invaluable. When you have children stay with it, it carries over to their schoolwork, math, science, e ve r y t h i ng els e.

And it also teaches perseverance and discipline, things that practicing an i nst r u me nt g ive you.”

Over the years, CMSP has forged a close working relationship with Shenandoah Un i v e r s i t y ’s nationally acclaimed school of music.

Some instructors are graduate students at Shenandoah, but 65 per cent of CMSP’s teachers have at least a Masters degree in music, and more than a few are renowned performers themselves, soloists or members of bands or orchestras.

Cotter recalled interviewing a potential cello instructor several years ago who also was a well-known performer.

“I told him that many of our students also have a lot of other interests—horses, soccer, art—and I didn’t want to give him a false image of what we were trying to do,” she said. “I’ll never forget what he told me. He said ‘you know, we’re also training future audiences.’ I thought to myself ‘wow, we’re definitely on the same wave

PET PORTRAITS

length.’ And he took the job.”

L e s s o n s run $35 per session, but the school also can offer financial assistance. Over the years, thanks to several grants, an annual concert an d a y e ar l y fund-raising campaign, CMSP has awarded over $65,000 in scholarships to assure that its school is an equal opportunity operation.

In addition to conducting student recitals, CMSP runs the strings programs at Middleburg Community Charter School, Hill and Wakefield and offers afterschool lessons a t B a n n e k e r, Rosa Lamoreaux Lincoln and Powhatan. CMSP runs a summer chamber music camp, and there’s also a music therapy component.

One of the more innovative outreach programs is an instrument petting zoo.

Instructors will take various instruments around to local pre- and kindergarten classes and encourage children to touch the instruments and also pull a string or blow into a flute or horn.

Though she once dabbled in guitar many years go, Cotter doesn’t play an instrument. But Christian Myers, director of music at Trinity who first invited CMSP to use the church as its base, recently asked her to join the bell choir.

“They put up with me,” she said. “I just enjoy good music.”

Courtesy Photo

WANT TO GO? When: January 24 Where: 2750 Landmark School Road Price: $125 each Buy tickets at www.piedmontmusic.org 540-592-3040.

Seating is limited and a reception with the artist will follow the concert.

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By Sophie Scheps For Middleburg Life

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To place an obituary in Middleburg Life please call

540 687 6059 Middleburg’s oldest and most respected paper

Photo Courtesy

Sylvia McClain harpist

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Community Music School,” she said. “It caught my attention because I didn't know many musicians out here. I emailed the school and asked if they were interested in having a harp teacher. (Executive director) Martha Cotter called me almost immediately and invited me to come see the school and meet a couple of the other teachers. I soon paid her a visit and left as a new faculty member.”

Sylvia teaches children and adults through CMSP and at her studio in Lovettsville. Each November, her students present an annual recital in the historic school building in Waterford and also perform at recitals held by CMSP. And they obviously have the same love affair with the harp as well.

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“She was one of the most instrumental people in my life,” McClain said. “She was an awesome teacher and a wonderful personality.

We had a common bond both being from Birmingham.”

By coincidence, McClain and Chalifoux both ended up in Loudoun County later in life. Chalifoux had retired from teaching at the age of 89 but continued to coach McClain for eight years. She died at the age of 100.

“I was playing with the Loudoun Symphony and she would coach me between performances,” McClain said. “Those years were the greatest gift. My first daughter is named after my mother and Alice.”

McClain performed with the Loudoun Symphony for 12 years. She also played at weddings and other private events and also gave music lessons. After living in the area for a few years, McClain discovered the Community Music School of the Piedmont, based at Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville.

“One week in the community news section there was a little blurb on the

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s a child, nothing seemed more beautiful to Sylvia McClain than the sounds of the harp. Growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, McClain attended Birmingham Symphony concerts several times a year with her school. She took piano lessons, but after her first visit to the symphony, something else caught her eye.

“There was this very beautiful young woman on the edge of the stage who played the harp,” said McClain, who now lives in Lovettsville. “I would zero in on her and watch her for the entire performance.”

That initial love affair with the harp blossomed into a full-blown love affair with an instrument she now teaches at the Community Music School of the Piedmont.

Because of the size of the harp, McClain had to wait several years until she was 12 before her parents could even consider purchasing the instrument for her.

The complicated process to produce a harp takes years.

“You can’t just go to a music store and buy a harp,” she said. “Lyon & Healy is a manufacture in Chicago and my father started corresponding with them. Even new harps were not readily available. They are totally hand-made and we were put on a waiting list for two years.”

A harp was finally sent to their home in Birmingham on a trial basis. After that first touch of the strings, McClain fell in love. Her father contacted the harpist from the symphony to inquire about music lessons.

“She was very strict and tried to talk us out of it because she never had a student work out,” said McClain. “But I was very conscientious and I worked well with her.”

After several years, McClain’s instructor moved to Virginia. The orchestra could not find a permanent replacement harpist for some time. Instead, performers from neighboring states would fill in at their concerts.

“My father would go back stage and ask them if they would give me a lesson,” McClain said of the visiting harpists. “He would pick them up from their hotel and bring them to our house. Nobody ever turned us down.”

One of McClain’s instructors as a teenager was Alice Chalifoux. A world-class harpist, she was a successor to the great Carlos Salzedo who developed much of the modern harp music and the Salzedo method of playing, which McClain subscribes to.

Carlos Salzedo started a summer harpist colony in Camden, Maine in the 1930s.

Serious harpists would rent rooms from locals and take lessons twice a week, practicing five to seven hours a day. Salzedo died the year before McClain attended the summer sessions, and that’s where she first met Chalifoux.

M i d d l e b u r g

Sylvia McClain Has the Harp in Her Heart

To view Middleburg Life online go to…

33

Photo by Douglas Lees

M i d d l e b u r g

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National Sporting Library and Museum.

Great Expectations at Great Meadow As media sponsor, Middleburg Life is pleased to share the news that The National Sporting Library & Museum’s (NSLM) sixth annual Polo Classic takes place Sept. 11 at the expansive Great Meadow venue in The Plains.

For the past five years, the NSLM’s polo fundraiser has been held at the Virginia International Polo Club in Upperville. The event became increasingly successful at this location, attracting polo attendees from near and far. In 2015, “Polo tickets sold quickly and we realized the event was gaining great momentum and popularity,” said NSLM Board of Directors Chairman Manley Johnson. “The change in venue allows us to grow the event and enhance the overall experience for spectators.”

With additional space, event organizers will offer covered spectator seating

and tailgate spots, and sell general admission tickets for the first time in the event’s history. “There will be plenty of room for those who want to take advantage of all the time-honored formal traditions of polo, and for those who want to celebrate casually the day’s events tailgating,” said Juliana E. May, chair of the 2016 Polo Classic.

Great Meadow is owned and operated by the Great Meadow Foundation, a non-profit organization established in 1982 with the mission of preserving a 200-acre property in perpetual open space for community activities. The foundation is managed by a board of trustees and staff who work together with the community to further its mission.

"There has always been a strong bond between the National Sporting

Library & Museum and Great Meadow Foundation,” said Great Meadow Foundation President Rob Banner.

“We’re pleased to be working with another area non-profit as the host site for our 2016 Polo event,” said NSLM Executive Director Melanie Mathewes.

Proceeds from the Polo Classic support the NSLM’s mission of preserving, promoting, and sharing the literature, art, and culture of equestrian, angling, and field sports. Funds raised in 2015 enabled the NSLM to offer over 60 public programs, host seven art exhibitions, and welcome more than 8,000 visitors.

“Our Polo fundraiser is a celebration of sporting culture and an opportunity for sporting enthusiasts to experience a very exciting part of the NSLM mission,” said Mathewes.

Tickets will be available Jan. 29 through the organization’s website, NationalSporting.org, or by calling the NSLM at 540-687-6542 ext. 24. All proceeds from the event benefit the National Sporting Library & Museum, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. “We have high hopes for our 2016 Polo Classic,” said May. “That’s why the event’s theme is Great Expectations at Great Meadow.”

LAND TRUST ACCEPTS EASEMENT IN RECTORTOWN

This 297-acre property now in easement is in the northwestern corner of the Orange County Hounds territory and specifically includes an allowance for foxhunting and sport.

Photo Coutesty

L

and Trust of Virginia Executive Director Leslie VanSant has sent word that a 297-acre property located in Rectortown, Northern Fauquier County, is now forever preserved through the donation of a conservation easement to the Land Trust of Virginia.

The farm fronts on Atoka Road, a Virginia Byway, and is also part of the Cromwell’s Run Rural Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

“This is an exciting and important easement,” VanSant said. “The beauty of the property is not lost on people who drive or bicycle past and ride through this farm.”

The property’s conservation values noted in the easement include: 285 acres of important farmland soils, 7.6 acres of National Wetlands Inventory wetlands, 77 acres of forest and 930 feet of frontage on Atoka Road, a Virginia Byway.

It’s adjacent to four other eased properties and the property has been recently been farmed in corn or soybeans. The current owners intend to continue farming operations, returning part of the property to hay production, and to preserve the contributing historic structures. In the northwestern corner of the Orange County Hunt territory, the easement also includes an allowance for foxhunting and sport.

PHOTOS BY: MIDDLEBURG PHOTO

January 2016

A carriage ride was part of the celebration.

www.middleburglife.com

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Dean Bedford, Catherine Kerkam, Betsee Parker, Bryan Benitz and Elizabeth Bunting

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Catherine Kerkam and Bryan Benitz were married recently in the chapel at Farmer’s Delight. Betsee Parker officiated

The wedding cake was embellished with tartan trim.

Side Saddle Event

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Melanie Hitchen, Beth Ann Slater, Pam Albers and Natalie Lacaze

M i d d l e b u r g

PHOTOS © BY SOPHIE SCHEPS

Photo by Middleburg Photo

Side Saddle Chase returns to the 50th anniversary running of the Loudoun Hunt Point-to-Point Races on Sunday, April 17 at Oatlands.

F

ollowing last April’s successful inaugural exhibition steeplechase side saddle race, the Mrs. George C. Everhart Memorial Invitational Side Saddle Chase will again take place on Sunday, April 17 at the 50th annual Loudoun Hunt point-to- point races at the Oatlands Historic House & Gardens in Leesburg.

To kick off the side saddle event a wine tasting will be held in the historic stone Member’s Club House at Greenhill Winery & Vineyards from 3-6 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 28 in Middleburg. Greenhill is the premiere side saddle race sponsor.

Tickets to the tasting may be purchased on Eventbrite or by contacting Rebekah Pizana, rebekah@greenhillvineyards.com.

Salamander Resort & Spa will again provide locally sourced hors d'oeuvres specifically chosen to complement the wine.

Door prizes with a definite equestrian flair will be awarded to 10 lucky wine-tasting guests.

“We’re thrilled to host a pre-race wine tasting event in celebration of the return of this exciting exhibition race. This past

spring’s race featured a return to the elegance and excitement of the past, setting all-time race attendance records.” said David Greenhill, owner of Greenhill Winery & Vineyards. Salamander’s director of catering, Patricia Hovarth, said she’s also delighted to participate and will create a special menu.

Race organizers Maggie Johnston and Devon Zebrovious created the side saddle event after meeting the British “Diana’s of the Chase” side saddle race organizer Philippa Holland during a side saddle hunting trip to Ireland in 2013. “With our proper side saddle riding habits and the backdrop of Oatlands’ beautiful property, our race will look and feel very similar to what one would see if riding in England or Ireland,” Johnston said.

“The excitement and glamour of this uniquely feminine style of riding appeals to today’s riders and spectators of all ages,” said Zebrovious, a three-time U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Ladies Side Saddle Hunter National Champion. For details contact: maggiejohnston@gmail.com.

January 2016

Community Center. The gala will include an exclusive exciting contest to “pick a winner” for the races which will follow the next day at Glenwood Park. Make your reservations now for the gala, $100 per person. Contact: msra@verizon.net.

Happy New Year: Stone Springs Hospital Center just east on Rt. 50, welcomed its first baby of the new year. A baby girl was born at 8:50 a.m. on Jan. 1. She was delivered by Dr. Ayoub, weighed 6 pounds, 7 ounces, and is 19 inches long.

From Leesburg: The Westmoreland Davis Memorial Foundation Board of Trustees has approved the selection of Stephanie Kenyon as the new executive director of Morven Park.

From The Plains: Kudos to the always-affable Gray Carr Griffin who has been named director of admissions at Wakefield School. “My head is spinning a bit, “ she told Middleburg Life.

In Middleburg: Ashley M. Bott is the new town treasurer. Bott has more than 15 years of experience in accounting administration and customer service and holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from George Mason University. Mayor Betsy Davis said, “She’ll be a great addition to our well-respected town staff. I thank Vice-Mayor Darlene Kirk and the staff who served with her on the recruitment team for the great job they did to bring us such a strong final group of candidates to interview.”

In West Virginia: Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races has sent word that Paul Espinosa has taken the reins in the announcer’s booth.

The Charles Town native had been an occasional fill-in behind the microphone as the track conducted its search for a new full-time announcer.

A graduate of West Virginia University, he’s appeared on camera while serving as the paddock show host and analyst for Charles Town’s event days since 2009 and also was a sports reporter and later sports director for NBC’s Hagerstown affiliate, WHAG. In his most recent racing endeavor, Espinosa worked for the Horse Racing Radio Network on its coverage team for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.

From Millwood: Project HOPE applauded 50 lifesaving years of the University Children’s Hospital of Krakow, where the global NGO has worked for over four decades to help treat the medical needs of the children of southern Poland and support the hospital’s role as a center for pediatric research and education for Central and Eastern Europe.

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ave the date, big things to come with the Middleburg Spring Races. Jump into Spring as the Middleburg Races kicks off a celebration of 100 spectacular years with a dinner gala on Friday, April 22 at the Middleburg

This and That

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Photo © by Vicky Moon

Kiernan Slater, Stephanie Bates, Michele Hobson

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Photo by Vicky Moon

L i f e M i d d l e b u r g

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he Middleburg Community Charter School (MCCS) will begin its third school year starting in August, 2016.

New student applications for MCCS are now being accepted, with the enrollment period ending at midnight on March 11.

Interested families are invited to visit the admissions website and apply online at: http://www.middleburgcharterschool. org/admissions/ under “Apply Now.” Siblings of current students, children of teachers and staff at MCCS, and Town of Middleburg residents have priority enrollment, but all Loudoun County residents are welcome to apply.

Once currently enrolled students have notified MCCS of their intent to return for the 2016-17 school year, a lottery will be held for the remaining openings on March 15 at MCCS. Families who win lottery openings will be notified no later than March 18 and wait-listed students from the lottery will automatically be placed in the order their application was received.

Tours of the school are available by appointment, and can be scheduled through the front office by calling 540-687-5048.

American soprano Rosa Lamoreaux, a critically acclaimed performer, will be the main attraction at the Community Music School of the Piedmont’s ninth annual Candlelight Concert Fundraiser on Sunday, Jan. 24 at Barton Oaks in The Plains. She’ll sing a program of music from The Great American Songbook.

The Washington Post has praised Lamoreaux for her “rich timbre, amazingly flexible voice and engaging personality.” Her career includes solo recitals, chamber music, opera, and orchestral performances at major concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, the Kennedy Center and the Washington National Cathedral, among others.

The concert will highlight her skill with the Great American Songbook, including works by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington and Harold Arlen, among others.

Doors open at 5 p.m. and the concert begins at 5:30 p.m. in the ballroom at Barton Oaks, located at 2750 Landmark

School Road. Before it begins, patrons will be able to enjoy a glass of wine while viewing items in the silent auction, also to benefit CMSP. Tickets at $125 per person are available online at www.piedmontmusic. org or by phone at 540-592-3040. Seating is limited and a reception with the artist will follow the concert.

What’s a child to do on a day off from school? Sign up for the Middleburg Community Center’s School’s Out Camp of course. Children will spend the day playing and creating winter crafts and recipes. Children should bring two snacks, lunch and a water bottle. All School’s Out camps run from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Jan. 18 and Jan. 29. The cost is $55. Call 540687-6373.

Adults could use a little attention, as well. Here’s a chance to have an evening dinner, see a movie or or do some window shopping without the kids. So sign up for Jan. 8 and Feb. 26 and leave the children at the Community Center for dinner, crafts/ activities, and a movie—Pups United. The evenings run from 6 p.m. to 9:30. Reservations are required.

Preschoolers love to keep moving after the preschool day ends, so the Communiy Center also has John Dietrich's Ninjas on Wednesdays from 2-3 p.m. It includes therapeutic play and martial arts themed activities, teaching children to focus while increasing their coordination and preparing them for the listening and disciple challenges of elementary school.

Finally, the Community Center will continue its gentle yoga classes, designed for senior adults. It incorporates both stretching and strength postures while focusing on balance. Participants will enjoy increased strength, flexibility, balance, coordination and energy in a gently challenging way. Classes are Tuesdays from noon to 1 p.m. and Thursdays from 8-9 a.m.

Oatlands in Leesburg will celebrate the birth of poet Robert Burns with a traditional Scottish dinner on Jan. 23 at the Historic Carriage House. The $100 per person cost includes a traditional Scottish dinner and non-alcoholic beverages.

There’s also a cash bar with wine and Catoctin Creek Distillery whiskey. For advance reservations, call Lori Kimball at 703-777-3174 ext 103.

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LAND

PARIs, VA

Barrington Hall (540) 454-6601

Cricket Bedford (540) 229-3201

MILLWOOD - Rare opportunity to own 190 beautiful, private acres on the outskirts of the 18th c. village of Millwood. Build your dream home on a hilltop site with mature trees and sweeping views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Plenty of open, rolling land for horses. Stream on the western perimeter. Total of five DURs and one exemption. $1,900,000

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CLARKE COUNTy- 185 acres of protected land by the Virginia Outdoors Foundation consists of rolling fields and hardwood forest and is surrounded by large properties. Two tax parcels with 3 DUR’s in Blue Ridge Hunt territory. Riding trails maintained by the Blue Ridge Hunt. A spring and a well are in place. $1,128,500

Rein duPont (540) 454-3355

BLUEMONT - Encompassing approximately 88 acres of gently rolling country side, this magnificent land parcel is ideally suited for an extraordinary estate. A strong stream runs through the land and offers excellent water access for horses/livestock or a potential pond.Sited in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, this spectacular parcel is perfectly sited just north of historic Middleburg and south of Bluemont, on a quiet country lane. $895,000 CROOKED BRIDGE-Beautiful 10 acre parcel offering spectacular frontage and views of Goose Creek. Mature hardwood trees, private road and installed well are some of the features of this parcel. Convenient to Leesburg, Middleburg and Purcellville with easy access to the Dulles Greenway. Totally private in a glorious setting. $399,000

Weekend Getaway! Newly renovated rambler, everything has been replaced! NEW roof, Pella windows, kitchen appliances, vanities/tub, new HVAC system & fresh paint inside & out! Interior stairs lead to full basement w/fireplace & space for another BR or Rec. Room. Door to outside & windows provide great light in basement. Mountain views, sweeping lawns & detached shed! Walk to the Ashby Inn. $410,000

Cricket Bedford (540) 229-3201

Offers subject to errors, omissions, change of price or withdrawal without notice. Information contained herein is deemed reliable, but is not so warranted nor is it otherwise guaranteed.

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Susie Ashcom Cricket Bedford Catherine Bernache John Coles Rein duPont Cary Embury Barrington Hall Sheryl Heckler

THOMAS AND TALBOT REAL ESTATE A sTAUNCH ADVOCATE OF LAND EAsEMENTs LAND AND EsTATE AGENTs sINCE 1967 Middleburg, Virginia 20118 (540) 687-6500

Phillip S. Thomas, Sr. Celebrating his 54th year in Real Estate.

Julien Lacaze Anne V. Marstiller Brian McGowan Jim McGowan Mary Ann McGowan Rebecca Poston Emily Ristau Jayme Taylor