FASCINATING FOLKS ALL AROUND

FASCINATING FOLKS ALL AROUND

By Leonard Shapiro

Our gorgeous area of the countryside is populated by a magical mix of fascinating folks, young and old, farmers and financiers, natives and newbies.

I’m often asked how we’re able fill the magazine with so many compelling articles, and my answer is simple enough. Around every corner, behind every tree, virtually anywhere you look out here there’s a tale to be told about something or someone--their profession, their history, their passion and so much more.

Our cover story this month focuses on the Middleburg Museum, which is moving its location and about to launch a capital campaign that will allow it to keep telling the rich and colorful history of the people, places, and so many other things about the town and its surrounding area. The three women on the cover are helping to preserve the past for future generations. Many thanks to Vicky Lewis, Dorsey deButts and Jennifer Long and their fellow board members.

Speaking of colorful, we lost force of nature Ann MacLeod in April a few months short of her 102nd birthday. She was the subject of a story that appeared in this magazine when she was 96 and about to spend her 60th August attending the races at Saratoga Springs, where she also played grass court tennis several times a week. You can read it again this month.

Tal Mack, a long-time and beloved educator at The Hill School who composed poetry, planted a zillion seeds and taught several generations of students the art of writing and plenty more, is remembered in this issue by his Hill colleague and ZEST columnist Hunt Lyman, the school’s dean of academics.

And Jerry Payne, who grew up in the 1950s poor and very curious in a tenant house on Llangollen Farm in Upperville, is fondly recalled in print and on film by his lifelong friend, Delaplane documentary film maker Tom Davenport. Jerry’s nickname back then was “Osmosis” because he loved all things biology, then became an expert on animal decomposition and its use in forensic science.

Elsewhere in this summer issue, don’t miss our two-page spread on a memorable victory in the prestigious Maryland Hunt Cup by a horse owned by Zohar and Lisa Ben-Dov at their Kinross Farm near Middleburg.

John Toler has an illuminating piece about a long-gone but hardly forgotten girls boarding school in Warrenton and its fabulous founder, Mademoiselle Lea M. Bouligny.

A few weeks ago, a young man from Marshall made his own history when he was selected in the third round of the NFL college draft by the Los Angeles Rams. Blake Corum, a record-breaking University of Michigan running back, became only the second payer from Fauquier County ever drafted, and Salamander owner Sheila Johnson held a draft night watch party for him at the resort. ZEST was there, too, with photos to prove it.

As always, there’s so much more. And with two months to savor it all until our August edition, we’re delighted to add a touch more ZEST to your summer reading.

Leonard Shapiro

410-570-8447

Badgerlen@aol.com