263 acres between Middleburg and The Plains | c.1909 brick Georgian main residence | Gorgeous millwork & fine finishes | 7 fireplaces | 4 bedrooms |
Lovely rolling and elevated land with mountain views Mix of open usable land and mature woods |
Extensive stone walls, notable formal garden & terraces | 3 tenant houses and multiple farm buildings
$5,850,000
PauL MacMahon 703.609.1905
heLen MacMahon 540.454.1930
PURCELLVILLE, VIRGINIA
Home was custom built by current owner in 1988 & within the last year updated 4 BR, 5 1/2 BA, 2 FP, 2-car garage w/ electric charger Gourmet kitchen, granite counters, breakfast nook, family room off kitchen, lovely screen sunporch Lower level includes gym & temperature controlled wine cellar Pool renovated in 2023/2024 New travertine pavers Pool house w/ kitchenette & bath 2-stall barn can easily be expanded, renovated in 2014 | In 2008 a prayer garden was established & provides a place for meditation & refuge Garden is planted w/ boxwoods & many sun & shade loving perennials 4 mature katsura trees provide shade & home for birds | Large garden shed & gazebo
$4,700,000
PauL MacMahon 703.609.1905
Brian MacMahon 703.609.1868
GREAT MOUNTAIN LANE
WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA
Mountain top setting with photographic views | Custom built log home, 4-5 BR, 4 BA, 2 story raised hearth wood burning fireplace in living room | Wrap around decks, hardwood flooring, granite countertops & porcelain tile | Basement framed for mechanical room, extra bedroom, storage, laundry room, recreation room with wet bar & full bath | 96.38 acres
$1,350,000
PauL MacMahon 703.609.1905
Brian MacMahon 703.609.1868
THE COVERT
THE PLAINS, VIRGINIA
227 acres on Zulla Road | Extraordinary property with wonderful mix of open and wooded land | Extensive trails | Natural habitat | Wildlife abounds | A true sportsman’s paradise | Beautiful building sites with rolling terrain | Views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and views of the Bull Run Mountains | Pond | Improved by a hard surfaced road through entire property | Extremely private yet minutes to town
$5,675,000
heLen MacMahon 540.454.1930
HEDGEWOOD FARM
LINCOLN, VIRGINIA
Circa 1835, 49.8 acres | Main house with 7 FP, 5 BR, 2 full & 2 half BA | Gourmet kitchen | Large front porch & terrace, landscaped gardens & pool | Lower level is partially finished with temp. controlled wine cellar, media room, mechanical & storage areas | Guest house newly renovated with 2 BR, 2 baths Manager’s cottage with 2 BR & bath | Large banked barn, 4-stall stable with hay and storage, water, and electricity
$2,895,000
Lynn WiLey 540.454.1527
UPPERVILLE LAND
UPPERVILLE, VIRGINIA
Excellent Loudoun County location minutes to Upperville and Middleburg | Surrounded by large properties all mostly in conservation easement | Land is gently rolling, stone walls, mountain views, mature woods and decent pasture | 4-bedroom perc site and an existing well
$1,195,000
PauL MacMahon 703.609.1905
Brian MacMahon 703.609.1868
MARSHALL, VIRGINIA
368 acres rolling acres with several ponds | This parcel has the potential to be subdivided into 12 small lots with one remaining large lot | Conservation easement potential could be pursued for the conservation buyer | Just minutes from I-66 and the Town of Marshall, VA | Currently used for agriculture but has several options for potential use | Lengthy road frontage on Hume Rd. and Dixons Mill Rd. provides easy access | Views abound both mountain and pastoral $5,520,000
MARSHALL, VIRGINIA
House front veranda on main level & second story Craftsmanship & detail throughout | 5 BR, 6 1/2 BA, & 4 FP | Impressive staircase, moldings & mantles | 14.6 mostly wooded acres, access through stone pillars & hard surfaced driveway | Spring fed pond, walkways, gardens & mature plantings | Improvements include greenhouse & workshop
$1,950,000
PauL MacMahon 703.609.1905
MARIE RIDDER A Worthy Winner of Community Service Award
By Robert Banner
It seems only fitting that 99year old Marie Ridder be the first recipient of the Orlean Community Trail System (OCTS) Community Service Award.
After all, Bob Lee, former head of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, believes she was the first landowner in Virginia to put her property near Hume in the nascent conservation easement program many years ago.
Ridder begged to differ, with a smile.
“One of the first,” she said. “But if Bob says so, OK.”
It’s been more than 20 years since Donn Smith and Jay Speer formed the OCTS from their picturesque back yard. The mission was to introduce landowners and land lovers unifying their like-minded desire to preserve and protect the area’s natural beauty.
By using the landowner’s permission to hike and trail ride on their property, the land lovers would find the inspiration to link arms, protecting the private land as a community. With data centers requiring Dominion power lines to crisscross our precious view sheds, the threat is real.
The OCTS sphere of influence is relatively small. Simply draw a circle around Orlean (south of Marshall) with a 10-mile radius. That includes Hume, Big Cobbler Mountain and gets close to Flint Hill. Its beauty is remarkable. History abounds. To leave the asphalt and go deeply in the pastures and woods is a benediction.
“We intended just a few trails,” Smith said. “We hosted popular social events like the Snipe Hunt, Barn Dance, and Tramp Roast Bonfire to recruit supporters and make introductions.”
The group organizes numerous trail rides, hikes, social events, roadside trash pickups, and a subset called the Chainsaw Posse (led by Jack Bowden) that cuts up fallen trees and delivers the logs to homes that only heat with wood.
More than 1,300 followers rally around OCTS on Facebook. And the award honoring Marie Ridder is meant to recognize leaders who have given selflessly. Ridder, who will turn 100 in January, surely fits that bill, and she remains sharp as a tack with a list of accomplishments as long as your arm.
Early on she saw the wisdom of preserving the land, and protected her 300 Hume acres forever. Throngs would follow, blanketing the Northern Virginia region with conservation easements.
Ridder also was able to help protect the 1,200 acres known as Texas Farm that was being threatened by developers. With the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC), she teamed with Hope Porter, Eve Fout, Charlie Whitehouse, and Maggie Bryant and “we all worked together.”
Ridder is a former vice chair of the PEC and is still on their board. She’s a former trustee of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, having served on their executive committee, a former chair of the Virginia State Parks Commission, a former vice chair of the Virginia Landmarks Commission (serving three governors), and a former director on the Trust for Public Land.
She also was an editor for Conde Nast publications serving Vogue, Glamour and Mademoiselle. OCTS thinks the easement on her 300-acre property near Hume was her best work, which is hard to argue.
Grace Church Concert Series 25th Anniversary
Concerts and Events through November
Sound Bites, a new addition to the Series Food and wine first; then the concert!
Sunday, September 22, 2024; 4 pm - 6 pm Enchantment
Immerse yourself in the spellbinding allure of “Enchantment,” a concert that traverses the realms of emotion and imagination. From the evocative strains of Frank Bridge’s Phantasy to the dreamlike landscapes of Debussy’s Cello Sonata and the folk-infused magic of Dvorak’s Dumky Trio, this musical journey promises an enchanting experience, where each composition casts its captivating spell.
Join us for a jubilant musical celebration, where the joyous notes of Faure’s Dolly Suite, the spirited sounds of Mozart’s C Major Sonata, the nostalgic charm of Grieg’s Valse Caprices, and the iconic syncopations of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue come together in a harmonious revelry. This concert promises a festive atmosphere, inviting audiences to revel in the diverse expressions of celebration woven throughout these brilliant compositions.
Grace Church Concert Series
All performances followed by a reception.
Sunday, October 27, 2024; 5 pm
Classical and Musical Theatre vocal students of Shenandoah University
Sunday, November 24, 2024; 5 pm
Andrew Sords, violinist, returns with pianist Tim Durkovic and cellist John Walz
Paragon Philharmonia
The Ensemble-in-Residence of Grace in The Plains. All performances followed by a reception.
Sunday, September 29, 2024; 5 pm Suite September
Dag Wiren’s String Serenade, Telemann’s Suite in A minor for flute, and Dvorak’s String Serenade.
Sunday, November 17, 2024; 5 pm Amadeus
Mozart’s Gran Partita for 13 winds
The 76th Annual Piedmont Regional Art Show & Sale led by Co-chairs Ginny-Len Hazel and Teresa Duke
October 18 - 20, 2024
Dark Horse Theater
led by Director Natasha Parnian
Presents "Art" by Yasmina Reza
Saturday, October 4, 2024; 7 pm
Sunday, October 5, 2024; 2 pm & 6 pm
Saturday, October 11, 2024; 7 pm
Sunday, October 12, 2024; 2 pm & 6 pm
For tickets please visit: http://artsintheplains.org/
Photo by Rob Banner
Marie Ridder relaxes at her daughter’s Last Resort farm on the Rappahannock River.
Distributed and mailed throughout the Virginia countryside and in Washington and at key Sporting Pursuits and Celebrations
MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 798
Middleburg, Virginia 20118
PHONE: 410-570-8447
Editor: Leonard Shapiro badgerlen@aol.com
Art Director
Meredith Hancock Hancock Media
Contributing Photographers:
Doug Gehlsen
Crowell Hadden
Sarah Huntington
Nancy Kleck
Douglas Lees
Camden Littleton
Karen Monroe
Tiffany Dillon Keen
Donna Strama
Official Fine Artist
Linda Volrath
Contributing Writers:
Drew Babb
Emma Boyce
Sean Clancy
Denis Cotter
Philip Dudley
Mike du Pont
Valerie Archibald Embrey
Jimmy Hatcher
Laura Longley
Hunt Lyman
M.J. McAteer
Joe Motheral
Jodi Nash
Chip Newcombe
Tom Northrup
Ali Patusky
Melissa Phipps
Pat Reilly
Linda Roberts
John E. Ross
Constance Chatfield-Taylor
John Sherman
Peyton Tochterman
John Toler
Leslie VanSant
Louisa Woodville
For advertising inquiries, contact: Leonard Shapiro at badgerlen@aol.com or 410-570-8447
ON THE COVER
Being local to the Middleburg area, and neighbors as well, we’ve known Madison Meyers and Kieran Norris for years, so posing them in the studio was easy. It’s important to show a connection between people in a photo to convey emotions, relationships, and intimacy, adding depth and authenticity to the image. This makes the photo more relatable and impactful to viewers. Of course, props are always helpful to complete the visual story.
/ Country Zest and Style / @countryzestandstyle / @countryzestand1 www.countryzestandstyle.com
of NOTE
BE ON THE LOOKOUT through this issue of for the hummingbird.
He appears in two ads and the first two readers to find him (one each) will receive a gift from THE RED TRUCK Rural Bakery, with locations in Warrenton and Marshall. Send your reply to badgerlen@aol.com
FAREWELL JIMMY
By Leonard Shapiro
The plain brown Manila envelope arrived in the mail in early June, and on the inside were two sheets of notebook paper filled with the familiar handwriting of one of Country ZEST’s most popular writers, a man who always turned in his work the old-fashioned way.
It was Jimmy Hatcher’s column, the one we’ve labeled “Carry Me Back,” and, as it turns out, his final contribution to the magazine. So very sadly, James Linwood Hatcher Jr., died on June 26, 2024 at the age of 89, just about a month after he had moved from Upperville back to Richmond, his home town.
He had lived in the Middleburg area since 1966 and was a masterful storyteller, both in print or in person. You can read Jimmy’s final column and an appreciation of his life elsewhere on these pages. What a great pleasure it was to have edited his colorful stories over the years, what a great delight it was to have been his friend, and what an honor it was to have been asked by his family to pay tribute to his rich and fulfilling life.
A lifelong horseman himself, I suspect Jimmy would have enjoyed reading about our August cover couple, Madison Meyers and Kieran Norris, two extremely talented racehorse trainers based in Middleburg. They’ve had as many as 60 horses in their three barns under the banner of Ballyerin Racing, with great success running them at tracks up and down the east coast, including the iconic Saratoga meet now in full swing in upstate New York.
Don’t miss our feature story on one of Middleburg’s long-time and most beloved residents. That would be Nattie Kaye, who turns 99 in October and first moved to town at age 8. She’s the oldest living graduate of The Hill School, starting there in the fourth grade in 1936. Nattie had her own local real estate business for many years, and was still showing property well into her late 80s.
Another 99-year-old gracing our pages is Marie Ridder, the first recipient of the Orlean Community Trail System (OCTS) Community Service Award. Marie is believed to be one of the first in Virginia to put her 300-acre property near Hume into conservation easement and has been a major force in protecting land all around the area for many years. Of course, Hope Porter, also 99, was THE major force in stopping development in Fauquier. You can read about a new film about her heroic efforts, as well.
We’re also delighted about the debut of what will be a regular column contributed by Middleburg Mayor Bridge Littleton on significant issues affecting the town. The first deals with a troubling housing trend in the village in recent years. It’s a must-read, too.
There’s plenty more to savor in this edition, marking our fifth anniversary of adding a whole bunch of ZEST to your reading pleasure.
Leonard Shapiro
410-570-8447
Badgerlen@aol.com
Doug Gehlsen and Karen Monroe of Middleburg Photo
COUNTRY ESTATE
30 acres | $5,900,000
Middleburg – Tuscan-inspired estate has an “Old World” warmth that is welcoming and elegant in its simplicity. The equestrian will be pleased to find a center aisle stable with 8 stalls, wash stall and tack room. There are two large paddocks with board-fencing and a run-in shed.
BRIGHT PROSPECT
103+ acres | $2,550,000
The Plains – Gorgeous property in 2 parcels. Main residence features open floor plan, high ceilings and beautiful wood flooring. Spring fed pond with the magnificent Blue Ridge Mountains in the background. Fine shops, restaurants, vineyards and excellent schools are all nearby.
JOHN MOSBY
4 acres | $3,250,000
Middleburg – New estate home ready for the most discerning buyer. Exquisite details include heated bathroom floors, designer fixtures, hardwood floors, sauna, wine cellar, stone counter tops and every amenity for gracious living. Also: heated pool, fire pit and 3 car garage.
HEARTHSTONE
.46 acres | $1,275,000
Warrenton – Stunning 3 level historic home offers 5000 SqFt of beautifully updated living space, surrounded by gorgeous gardens and towering trees. A gourmet country kitchen, high ceilings and gleaming wood floors. Walk out level studio apt. and renovated 1 BR guest house.
DOVER HILL
25 acres | $2,850,000
Middleburg – Ideally located with spectacular views, stunning 4 BR/4 BA colonial is in the heart of “Hunt and Wine Country.” Features over 5100 SqFt of living space, 40’X 20’ pool and a brick terrace, all in a gorgeous setting. 8 stall center aisle stable, 5 huge board-fenced paddocks.
IMPROVED PRICE
STEEPLECHASE RUN
.10 acres | $1,215,000
Middleburg – Spectacular 3 level home offers care free country living. This gorgeous town home features 3 spacious bedrooms, 3 full baths, and a powder room. The home was completed with every amenity, detail and precision of quality that the builder was proud to offer.
Recovering Landscapes for Natural Resilience
By John E. Ross
Those broad fields of bright native wildflowers that so delighted us in May are readying for fall. Within their tiny husks, seeds are drying. Indiangrass and blue stem have gone to seed. Beneath their matted stems thrive vast communities of voles and field mice making shelter for winter to come.
Orange County Hounds Conservation Foundation (OCHCF) and the Smithsonian’s Virginia Working Landscapes (VWL) offer seminars, nature walks, and safaris demonstrating how each of us can return the terrain we occupy to a more natural state. As a result, native species, both plant and animal, are returning to the northern Piedmont, a sure sign of recovery and resilience.
The OCHCF recently hosted its second annual Spring Safari. It began with a Friday evening seminar and reception hosted by Jacqueline Mars in her Meredyth Pavilion. The next morning, sixty-five participants toured natural habitats at Mike and Jeanne Morency’s Broad Hollow Farm south of Middleburg.
Rae Stone, OCHCF president, opened the seminar and introduced Amy Johnson, VWL program director and scientist with the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal. She, in turn, introduced four panelists, who have partnered with OCHCF and VWL to ensure that native birds, trees, grasses, flowers, and even turtles and toads thrive in sustainable habitats.
Properties ranged in size from Sue Puleo and Bob Butcher’s 10-acre Faire Meddow, hidden in the forest southeast of Markham, to Beatrice and Adie von Gontard’s 1,400-acre Oxbow Farm along the west bank of the Shenandoah River. They have planted 100 acres in warm season grasses and wildflowers as natural habitats for bees, birds, and butterflies.
The other panelists were Landon Butler of 485-acre Gap Run Farm near Rectortown, and Brian Gratwicke who has twelve acres outside of Sperryville and has created vernal ponds as habitats for frogs and salamanders. Brian also leads amphibian conservation initiatives at the Smithsonian’s institute in Front Royal.
Justin Proctor, VWL biologist and coordinator for the Virginia Grassland Bird Initiative, leads walkers on the OCHCF spring safari on Broad Hollow Farm.
“It doesn’t matter how big or small one’s property is. Everyone can make a difference,” Beatrice said. “If we want to promote biodiversity of native species, we need to plant native grasses, wildflowers, shrubs and trees.”
The way to begin, Landon added, is to let the land tell you what to do. He and his wife, Carol, devoted more than a year to learning their farm’s terrain, often on horseback, before deciding where to build their house. Rather than landowners per se, they see themselves as stewards of their acreage.
Among signature projects on Gap Run Farm are the re-establishment of white oak forest and an emerging plan for a public walking and horse nature trail along the creek.
Sue Puleo of Faire Meddow comes to her commitment to native species naturally. She was raised in a family known for its mobile organic produce market in Leesburg.
Faire Meddow is, as it sounds, a heavenly garden hidden in the woods. Everywhere one looks, whether along the gravel drive or behind Bob’s workshop, spread gardens of wildflowers and native shrubs.
Wildflowers attract birds that consume thousands of caterpillars and other insects to sustain their high metabolisms and nourish their young. In a bird survey at Faire Meddow, VWL identified 42 species from Acadian Flycatchers to Yellowthroated Vireos. In addition, VWL conducted a thorough biodiversity inventory.
Following the Friday night seminar, the safari reconvened at Broad Hollow Farm. Participants divided themselves into three groups: some rode horseback, some walked, and some slightly hobbled rode ATVs.
Highlighting the tour was the avian banding station. There, Brian Evans and Amy Scarpignato, ecologists with the Smithsonian’s Migratory Bird Center, demonstrated techniques for monitoring song bird populations and migration. To capture birds, a large, dark, fine mesh net is strung between two tall poles. Birds fly into the net. Untangled and unharmed, their species, weight, and estimate age are logged. A numbered aluminum band is clipped to one leg, and they’re released.
Distances flown by migrating song birds is incredible. Bobolinks travel about 10,000 miles round trip from the Virginia Piedmont to Argentina and back to the “very same place where they were hatched to mate, nest and fledge their own young,” Beatrice said.
After visiting Broad Hollow, Gap Run, and Faire Meddow and interviewing Beatrice of Oxbow Farm, there is little doubt that VWL under Amy Johnson’ s leadership and OCHCF with Rae Stone holding the reins are bringing recovery and resilience to landscapes of the northern piedmont.
OCHCF’s Spring Safaris and Fall Trail Rides provide excellent opportunities for landowners and tenants, no matter what size parcel they occupy, to adapt tracts as small as backyard gardens to attract native birds with wildflowers and stands of wild grasses.
For information about upcoming OCHCF and VWL events, visit https://ochcf.org/ and https://www.vaworkinglandscapes.org/.
Symphony Orchestra
28th Anniversary Season 2024 - 2025
"Fo�y i�o Fau�”
Sunday, October 20, 2024 - 3PM
Gabriel Faure’s Requiem in partnership with the Arts Chorale of Winchester and St. James Choir of Warrenton. Additional works by Faure and Saint-Saëns will complete the concert.
PSO Ho�day C�c�t: "Exsultate”
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2024 - 3PM
Soprano Emily Casey performs Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate and other cherished sacred classics.
J. Thomas Mitchell returns to premiere his holiday work for soprano, and PSO Founding Conductor Emeritus Michael A. Hughes narrates a musical setting of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”
PSO YounG Peop�’s C�c�t: "Carni�l of tה Animals”
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2025 - 3PM
Join us as three gifted musicians compete for scholarship prizes. Our Student Art Contest is centered on the enchanting Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns.
PSO P�y�s Show�se
SUNDAY, APRIL 27, 2025 - 3PM at Buchanan Hall - Upperville, VA. This dynamic and intimate concert will feature PSO members performing Mozart’s masterful Concerto for Flute and Harp and Beethoven’s Septet for Winds.
SounDs of Victory!
SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2025 - 5PM
PSO joins forces again with the Silver Tones Swing Band for a high-octane collaboration of patriotic works and Big Band hits of the era. This performance celebrates the anniversary of V-Day, marking the end of WWII, and is a tribute to those who have served!
FOR TICKETS & INFORMATION: www.piedmontsymphony.org
The PSO is Generously Funded in Part By:
Native honeysuckle from Faire Meddow
VWL research fellow Bernadette Rigley explains how eastern meadowlarks weave their nests among hay and pasture grasses.
Luminescence Foundation & The Ben-Dov Family
The Margaret Spilman Bowden Foundation
Nicolaas and Patricia Kortlandt Fund The Wise Foundation The Crossfields Group
Church Brings High Quality Music to Millwood
By Linda Roberts
“Our goal is to make high quality music accessible to all,” said the Rev. Melanie Lewis, rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Millwood, of the church’s fledgling concert series.
Now looking toward its second season of bringing talented musicians to the tiny Clarke County village, the Christ Church Concert Series offers the sounds of incredibly gifted performers, vocalists and musicians, to the pubic at no charge. A free will offering provided by the audience at each concert serves as reimbursement to the performers.
GREAT DAY MAKE IT A
“Churches have been serving their communities for years with the gift of music and this was one of my goals when I came to Christ Church several years ago,” said Rev. Lewis. Christ Church also offers outreach to the community through its food pantry, and she sees the church as a place where people gather for support and good music.
The concert series would still be only on the church’s wish list without the involvement of music director Szymon Czerniak, who implemented the program using his talents and contacts within the music world.
“When I was called to serve Christ Church two years ago, there was no one in charge of music, so Szymon really helped us grow that program from the ground up,” Rev. Lewis said. “He is incredibly talented and versatile—as a classical pianist, a jazz pianist, and an organist and choirmaster.”
Growing up in Houston, Texas within a Polish culture where music was ever present, Czerniak was in New York City in the music business when he decided to leave for a quieter lifestyle. Winchester and its widely recognized Shenandoah University School of Music became home and the job as music director at Christ Church soon followed.
Rev. Lewis said her idea to form a concert series was launched due to Czerniak’s skill, incredible drive and knowledge of music and his contacts with people in the industry.
Trained as a classical pianist, Czerniak can be found playing the piano every Friday and Saturday evenings at L’Auberge Provencale and at Christ Church on Sunday mornings and during the week at choir practice for accomplished singers from Shenandoah University. Not one to boast about his accomplishments, his talents and numerous contacts are recognized within the industry he serves.
“We started with one concert here at Christ Church,” he said, “and it was a tremendous success…We found out that there was an appetite for this type of thing here in our community.”
For this year and into 2025, Christ Church plans a series of seven concerts on Thursday evenings, all open to the public, with the first scheduled on Sept. 5. The series will include Shenandoah Valley singers, Irish pianist Eoin Fleming, Tara McNeil of Celtic Women, pianist Alex Bernstein and Polish soprano Eliza Macewicz.
“The concert series has exceeded my expectations,” Czerniak said. “I hope it will continue for years to come.”
Pictured with Convivium, which performed last season at Christ Episcopal Church in Millwood, are rector, the Rev. Melanie Lewis (left), and Sophia and Szymon Czerniak (center).
A Treasured Gem Becomes Home to the Middleburg Museum
By Laticia Headings
Middleburg has a unique tapestry of people, places, and events that give it a rich history, evoking equal parts pride and fascination.
For almost 300 years, these stories live on through historical record and can be seen in the architecture of buildings and heard through the voices of the people who lived here and in the neighboring villages.
The Middleburg Museum was the vision of long-time resident Eura Lewis, whose idea and dream it was to record, preserve, and share the area’s myriad stories with locals and visitors.
As of August, the museum will return home to the historic Pink Box, located at the corner of North Madison and West Marshall streets, and welcomes all visitors with a smile and a story. It will showcase two rooms of artifacts and documents dating back to the 1700s, and partner with other museums to share rotating exhibits, as well as spotlight the oral histories of residents through today’s modern technology.
The tiny, 400-square foot building is as interesting as the history it will house. Built between 1800-1820, it was constructed of hand-cast brick and laid in the “common bond” pattern over 200 years ago.
Legend has it the Pink Box name came from a brightly colored paint job it received at the beginning of the 20th century, something Jennifer Long of Long Design focused on when she volunteered her time to create the museum’s new logo.
“It was designed to reflect this architectural civic gem,” said Long, a museum board member.
The building has been home to a variety of businesses—a gunsmith, retail shop, a shoemaker, a leather maker, a horse transportation company as well as the law offices of Burr and Humphrey Powell, descendants of Middleburg founder Levin Powell.
The Pink Box also was home to the Middleburg Chronicle Magazine, which later became The Chronicle of the Horse, and served as the Information Center for the town for many years. The current board plans to use the garden for mission-based events.
Museum President Dorsey deButts said, “We’re similar to ‘The Little Engine That Could.’ We have this unique opportunity in time to capture the past, create relationships and connections in the present, and leave a legacy for the future. We are all history in the making.”
As part of ongoing fundraising efforts, the museum is offering engraved bricks for purchase to “have your legacy be a part of the story of our community for future generations.” The bricks will be placed on the grounds of the museum near the town’s “Christmas Tree” and come in two different sizes: 8 x 8 inch bricks are $350, 4 x 8 bricks are $250. A bricklaying ceremony will be held in August for museum donors and supporters.
There are big future plans for this tiny museum. The board and its supporters are dedicated to putting the historical museum on the map and making it one of the nation’s most interesting small-town destinations.
Details: www.themiddleburgmuseum.org
OUR Anniversary CELEBRATE CELEBRATE
We are a woman-owned business specializing in vintage and antique furniture and home decor.
We strive to curate the most unique items to help you decorate your home. From Farmhouse to French Provincial to Mid Century Modern, there is something for every style and taste.
Miranda Ruelas Orozco, a 2024 graduate of Loudoun Valley High School, has been awarded the Eura Lewis Memorial Scholarship established by the Middleburg Library Advisory Board (MLAB).
The $6,000 scholarship is named for Eura Lee Hudgins Lewis of Middleburg, who passed away in 2022 at the age of 92. She was a long-time member of the advisory board, a devoted school teacher for 40 years and a former Middleburg Town Council member.
The board also awarded Sarah Crouch of Delaplane and Beatrice VanSant of Middleburg $3,000 Plante Scholarships and Winley Turner of Middleburg a $2,000 Plante Scholarship.
The Plante Scholarships were established by the MLAB in 2019 in honor of Charles L. Plante of Middleburg, who passed away in 2016 at the age of 84.
Miranda, who lives in Upperville, plans to study dental hygiene at Laurel Ridge Community College, then earn her bachelor’s degree at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Beatrice, a 2024 graduate of Highland School, will enroll in a pre-vet program at the University of Georgia and aspires to be a large animal veterinarian.
Banneker Elementary Principal Robert Carter with Miranda Ruelas Orozco, winner of the Middleburg Library Advisory Board’s 2024 Eura Lewis Scholarship.
Sarah graduated from Fauquier High School in 2024 and earned her associate’s degree in cybersecurity while also completing her high school curriculum. She plans to attend a local university.
Winley, a 2023 Foxcroft graduate, is a rising sophomore at the University of Tennessee studying supply chain management.
Eura Lewis, a long-time teacher in the Fauquier County public schools, served on the Board of the MLAB for many years. She was extremely active in both her church and her community and served on many missions and boards, including the Middleburg Town Council, where she served for 12 years. While running for local office her slogan was “Making a Difference,” and everything she was involved in centered on that theme.
Charles Plante devoted his professional life to promoting public causes, especially for the infirm. He was most proud of his roles in expanding Medicare, the End Stage Renal Disease program (ESRD), the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, his role in the founding of United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS), and his life long support of neurosurgery. He also served on the MLAB for many years. The scholarship named in his honor is intended to recognize his lasting legacy to those who intersected with him and the millions who benefitted from his quiet good works. The scholarship awards are designated for college textbooks for students recognized for academic achievement, community service and their love of literature.
WEDNESDAYS 4:30 TO 7:30 PM MAY 15 TO SEPT. 25th
Racehorse
RIVERDEE STABLE & CLANCY BLOODSTOCK
Anne & Sean Clancy Middleburg, VA
Anne 917-446-2848 | akclancy@riverdee.net
Sean 302-545-7713 | sean@ thisishorseracing.com www.riverdeestable.com
Music Together Spring Session
At The Common Grounds coffee shop in Middleburg, some patrons meet to catch up on the latest parties, gossip, vacations and more. But this group meets with their babies: Eloise Repeczky with Alexander, Samantha Hoerner and Christopher, Sally Tener and Lybrook, Juliane Frye with Cecelia and far right Louise Chapman Cook and Greer.
The Ascension of Heidi is a lovely story for children on how Heidi, a longhaired dachshund, leaves her footprints in the snow. This book, available on Amazon, eloquently describes what Heidi, the author, and the nine other little dachshunds experienced. It’s powerful, touching, and sometimes humorous, the story of the spiritual nature of animals and their role as teachers and healers. It all meant to raise awareness of the ‘The Secret Life of Animals’ and who they really are. Written by ZEST friend and neighbor, June Sananjaleen Hughes.
Friends of showjumping recently gathered at the farm of Barb and Dave Roux in Upperville for a most unusual equestrian fundraiser. They were joined by co-hosts Katie and Henri Prudent. The assets raised are for financing equestrians who do not have the bottomless funds it takes to ride and train at the highest levels of show jumping. Olympic rider Laura Kraut, who will represent the U.S. in the Paris Olympics from the Roux stables, is also working with this group.
Laurie Ambrose, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based GO2 for Lung Cancer, recently presented actor Tony Goldwyn (Oppenheimer, Ezra) the organization’s distinguished Rays of Hope Award. Goldwyn did wonderful work appearing in national public service announcements on the dangers of lung cancer (his mother died of the disease). GO2 for Lung Cancer is dedicated to increasing the survival rate of the disease, which also includes non-smokers.
Photo by Donna Strama At the Middleburg July 4th celebration: Vice Mayor Chris Bernard with son Maverick and wife Michelle McNaughton.
Shawn Malone’s Bistro@The Porch Opens to Raves
By Laura Longley
“Inever thought I’d be running a restaurant again at age 64, but I’m loving it and think I could put in another 10 years,” said Shawn Malone, the new owner of The Plains beloved Front Porch, which he’s brought back to vibrant life as Bistro@The Porch.
It’s clear the locals hope he will stick around at least that long.
For Malone, a fixture in Loudoun County restaurants over three decades, “it’s been surreal… Streams of people from around here walk in and say, ‘Hey, Shawn, we didn’t know you’d bought The Front Porch!’ The people are phenomenal, and business has been great!”
Shawn brings a lifetime of experience to the table. He’s worked in the business since he was 16, starting as dishwasher at J.R.’s Steak House in Fairfax, where he and his late brother, Kevin Malone, were mentored by owner Jim Wordsworth.
After stints at a variety of restaurants in the region, in 1993 he joined Kevin at Tuskie’s (as Tuscarora Mill is fondly known), the Leesburg landmark Kevin launched in 1985. In 2006, Shawn established FireWorks pizza next door, and when that took off, he expanded to locations in Cascades and Arlington. Meanwhile, he and Kevin founded Magnolia’s in Purcellville in 2004.
“But it had problems,” Shawn said, “so Kevin and I went in there in 2009 to right that ship and stayed until we sold in 2020.”
By then, Covid had arrived, so he took the time to spend with his aging mother, who passed away at 100 in August, 2023, just a month after Kevin died. After working with Kevin for 27 years, Shawn figured it was time for him to stay out of the kitchen for good. And then opportunity came knocking. The longtime owner of The Front Porch, who spent years battling his next-door neighbor over parking and trash and, ultimately, zoning and politics, approached Malone to see if he’d buy.
Before long, Malone was renovating the building, refreshing the wine cellar, updating the menu with foods from local farms, and making certain his twist on the nachos Front Porch patrons loved would pass muster. Clearly, they have.
As for the menu, he added, “I’ll probably move into lighter things. Lots of fresh vegetables from local farms. And hamburgers—they’re a big hit.”
Kinloch Farm in The Plains supplies much of his beef. He’s also investing in a meat smoker, which comes as good news to two key employees—cook Ed Kellams and Gus Malone, Shawn’s son.
Reviews posted on Open Table have been 99 percent positive, with comments like “great kitchen, charming staff, redecorated and cozy space…The owner even stopped by to ask about our meals and was super friendly!”
One that made Malone laugh came from KirkG from Dallas.
“This is a must stop for a wonderful dining experience,” he wrote. “We had the crab dip as an appetizer and it was out of this world. I grew up on the Chesapeake so I am a crab snob and this would have made my mom proud. The owner … is such a great guy and he is working his patootie off.”
“Yep,” Shawn said, “I’m working my patootie off, and it’s a blast!”
Details: Bistro @ The Porch, 6483 Main Street, The Plains Open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 11 a.m.–8:30 p.m.; Sunday Brunch 11 a.m.–4 p.m. bistroporch.com.
Ava Bartolomucci
Irene Boehm
Madison Burget
Caroline Carpenter
Belle Chang
Rocky Cole
Eva Bret Cozby
Camie Devlin
Sarah Ford
Bella Fu
Ishika Gupta
Andy Jennings
Maya Kalfon
Adriana Kawpeng
Emma Leonard
Khujusta Naiemy
Kylie Ortega
Grace Pumphrey
Marley Frederick Moriah Friendly
Emily Queen
Gracie Rea
Sofia Ring
Stephanie Rodriguez
Juliana Rose
Emili Rossman
Lema Stanikzai
Elizabeth Viney
Isabella White
George
George Washington University
High Point University
Montclair State University
Dominion University
College Roger Williams University Rollins College
Sewanee: The University of the South Sweet Briar College Syracuse University
Shawn Malone and pals.
Celebrating 50 Years of Loudoun Therapeutic Riding
Loudoun Therapeutic Riding (LTR) is celebrating its 50th anniversary on Saturday, Nov. 23, with a black-tie gala at Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg. The theme is “celebrating the great horses and great people that have made 50 years possible.”
Kate Tweedy, daughter of Secretariat’s owner, Penny Chenery, is the Honorary Chairperson for the event. The gala will be emceed by local personality Laticia Headings and have live music from local band, Jumptown. The evening will include a sitdown dinner, video retrospective and live and silent auctions.
“We’re really excited to be having our gala at Salamander, a place known for its inclusivity and welcoming environment along with five-star ratings for dining, spa and accommodations,” said LTR executive director Laura Smith. “For years LTR has welcomed people to the barn with love, trust and respect, our core values, Salamander has excelled with similar ideals.”
Loudoun Therapeutic Riding was founded in 1974 by Leonard Warner and Barbara Baird at Morven Park Equestrian Center. The program was originally designed as a pilot program by the Loudoun 4-H Riding Club and the Agricultural Extension Department at Virginia Tech.
By ’74, Baird was trailering ponies to Morven Park, Foxcroft School and to the 4-H Fairgrounds for lessons. The program moved in 1975 to
Montresor Park in Leesburg for the next ten years. In 1985, LTR moved to Longfield Farm in Lincoln for two years. In 1987, the program was relocated to Loudoun County 4-H Fairgrounds.
LTR remained there until 1995, when the program returned to Morven Park Equestrian Center in Leesburg. Finally, in 2021, LTR achieved its dream of finding a permanent home at what was previously known as Lucia Farm in Lovettsville, where it remains to this day.
Over the last 50 years, LTR has helped 13,750 students with challenges connect to the healing power of the horse and partnered with 115 therapy
horses (donated or free-leased) to provide the highest quality of services to its students.
“Our founder, Barbara Baird made her living as a nurse and ironically worked for Averell Harriman, for whom the Harriman Grill at Salamander Resort is named,” Smith said. “I think she would be delighted that we are celebrating 50 years of the program she founded on property that used to belong to the Harrimans.”
These past 50 years would not have been possible without the outstanding efforts of Loudoun Therapeutic Riding’s staff, volunteers, horses, and donors. To date, LTR has had over 1.19 million miles walked in the dirt by over 5,000 volunteers.
Early benefactors of LTR include Paul Mellon, Mrs. A. C. Randolph, Mrs. Forrest E. Mars, Ricard R. Ohrstrom, Mrs. Samuel E. Bogley, Mrs. James Wiley, Alexander Mackay Smith, Joseph M. Rogers, and David Rust.
“In an old newsletter from 1998, I found a tribute to Paul Mellon thanking him for ‘opening the gate,’” Smith said. “He was one of two donors that enabled the launch of Loudoun Therapeutic Riding in 1974. The gate is still open at LTR to people with special needs thanks to all the people who have donated their time, money and horses to make 50 years possible.”
Details:Go to https://ltrf.org// for more information on gala tickets and sponsorship opportunities.
Courtesy Loudoun Therapeutic Riding Actor Robert Duvall helping out in a session at Loudoun Therapeutic Riding.
The Quaker Influence Still Visible
By M.J. McAteer
Loudoun County real estate has never been more expensive, but there was a time in the early 18th century when Lord Fairfax, in a bid to populate his western holdings, was granting 99-year leases on 100 acres of land for today’s equivalent of about $5.
That was a sweet deal even then, and did not go unnoticed by members of the thrifty Religious Society of Friends. These Quakers--a derogatory term at the time--had settled in Bucks County near Philadelphia, but property there had gotten pricy by their standards, so hundreds decamped south to take advantage of the bargain Lord Fairfax offered.
Being industrious, and tight with a penny, these transplants prospered, and subsequently founded some of the most picturesque villages in western Loudoun (then part of Fairfax), including Taylorstown, Waterford, Lincoln, Hillsboro and Unison.
Richard Brown was an early arrival, and he built a mill on Catoctin Creek in what is now Taylorstown, just south of the Maryland border. He was forced to use other men’s slaves to do the job, though, and, although he paid them, it had to have been repugnant to him, because the Friends were abolitionists.
In Taylorstown today, a circa 1800 Quaker mill, now a private residence, hides in plain sight behind a thick curtain of greenery. Nearby Brown’s home, Hunting Hill, pretty Foxton Cottage can be glimpsed. Both houses date to the 1730s, making them among the oldest standing buildings in Loudoun, according to Taylorstown resident Richard T. Gillespie. Waterford is probably the best-known of the county’s Quaker villages. In 1733, Amos Janney built two mills there, which anchored a settlement that
would become known as Janney’s Mill.
By the mid-19th century, the village, renamed Waterford, had become a commercial hub, according to local historian Bronwen Souders. A stroll along its quaint streets today is a walk through that time.
A massive, 1818 brick mill with a broken, rusting water wheel sits at the foot of a Main Street that is lined with period houses crowding the road. Although the 1761 Fairfax Meeting house is now a private home, the Quaker graveyard still spreads across a hillside behind it, and it’s a quiet spot to contemplate both the settlers’ moxie and their mortality.
For looks, though, another village founded by another Janney—Jacob—gives Waterford some competition. In what was Goose Creek, just south of Purcellville, the former stone meeting house with its raised beds full of flowers sits in a cluster with the active meeting house and the Quaker cemetery.
The one-room Oakdale School is nearby, and for 70 years, in defiance of segregation, Quaker children and the children of freed slaves were educated there together. Friends in Lincoln were believed to be active in the Underground Railroad, as well.
The village was eventually renamed Lincoln in a bid to get its own post office, and, the USPS continues to operate out of the old Janney store next to the meeting house.
Sadly, little evidence of the Quakers has survived in Hillsboro, other than a graveyard, a private home, and the stone ruins of Potts Neer Mill. In 1864, Union troops burned the mill along with crops in the area to cut off Confederate supplies.
Unlike the Lincoln Quakers, members of Hillsboro’s Gap Meeting fell short of the piety demanded by their sect, and they were called out by elders for their “great deficiencies.” Their meeting
was discontinued in 1765, “indulged” again in 1772, and finally “laid down” in 1812.
The story was similar in Butterland, now called Unison, where members of the South Fork Meeting engaged in decidedly un-Friendly-like behavior. “From the very start they were in trouble,” resident Mitch Diamond said. “They drank, fought, gambled, and held horse races.”
Quaker documents described them as “worldly” and the cause of “great concern,” and many were disowned by the Society. By 1836, the Unison meeting, too, was “laid down.”
In a case of letting bygones be bygones, though, the shady and serene 1771 burying ground about a mile outside Unison to this day is maintained by members of Lincoln’s Goose Creek Meeting. And, there lies Mandly George Fleming (1833-1862), whose grave bears a surprisingly poetic inscription for one of such plain-spoken folk:
“Death like an overflowing steam, Sweeps us away, our life’s a dream, An empty sound, a morning flower, Cut down and withered in an hour.”
It took much more than an hour to wither away the Quakers presence in Loudoun County, but the member’s ardent anti-slavery principles and their staunch pacifism eventually made their Southern home an unhappy fit. Both before and after the Civil War, many decided to move on to Ohio. Happily, though, their benign influence remains to be seen in the quaint villages they left behind in Western Loudoun County.
For a driving tour of the Quaker sites of Loudoun County, visit https://www.piedmontheritage.org/drivingtours.
The Waterford Mill is a stately landmark in the town.
Photos by M.J. McAteer
The Hillsboro Mill was mostly destroyed during the Civil War.
Training Movie Makers Now a Shenandoah Specialty
By Leonard Shapiro
There are now 32 film majors at Shenandoah University in Winchester, and virtually every one will have hands-on experience making real movies to be enjoyed by mass audiences by the time they graduate.
A few months ago, The Film Studio at Shenandoah University and Los Angeles-based Capital Arts Entertainment finished off a feature movie called “Miss Valentine.”
It was directed by veteran Hollywood hand Blayne Weaver (6 Month Rule, Weather Girl) and starred, among others, Paris Berelc (Do Revenge), Luke Benward (Life of the Party), Marilu Henner (Taxi) and veteran character actor Enrico Colantoni (Westworld, Veronica Mars).
Made with the Hallmark Channel in mind, it was shot in Winchester at the 2023 Apple Blossom Festival. A number of Shenandoah students were behind and occasionally in front of the camera, working with professionals involved in virtually every aspect of the production.
Paul DiFranco, profiled in ZEST’s summer issue and a 50-year veteran of the entertainment business, has been teaching these film majors since a chance encounter with Shenandoah President Tracy Fitzsimmons 11 years ago, with a Middleburg angle to the story.
DiFranco, 75 and a Bronx, N.Y. native with the accent to prove it, had recently moved to Virginia. He was attending a performance of a Tom Sweitzer play
at Shenandoah with his wife Elizabeth Rice, a long time area resident. Sweitzer, founder of A Place To Be, Middleburg’s renowned music therapy program, introduced DiFranco to Fitzsimmons that night.
“I was ready to stop working,” said DiFranco, who had spent the previous 21 years with Universal Studios. “But she said, ‘you should teach!’ My brother Philip had his PHD and taught. My mother was a teacher. So I guess it was my turn to teach.”
It’s a role he obviously relishes, and his filmmaking connections have clearly paid off. Not long after meeting Fitzsimmons, one of those connections, Mike Elliott, also his son’s godfather, called and asked DiFranco, “What the hell are you doing in Virginia?”
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“I casually say, ‘I’m starting a film production department at a college, Shenandoah University,’” DiFranco recalled. “He and I worked on over 200 feature films together. After a very short pause, Mike says, ‘Why don’t we make films together -- your students, our money?’ I said, ‘Okay!’”
Elliott founded Capital Arts Entertainment, a major player in making movies and TV shows. He and partner Joe Genier have also helped educate DiFranco’s potential film makers and aspiring actors.
“The first movie we did was Santa Girl,” DiFranco said of the Netflix holiday film released in 2019. “We had 83 kids from Shenandoah working on that. We had a 17-day production schedule, with four weeks of post production. It was a great experience for everyone.”
DiFranco and his students have helped make four feature films, with Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime among the distributors,“with more to come,” he said. “It’s an amazing experience for everyone. These kids come back and say ‘this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.’”
At least 15 program graduates already have gone into the film business, including acting, cinematography, casting, set design and sound production.
“The whole point is employability,” DiFranco added. “My goal is to have my students sit in a job interview with a producer and talk intelligently about that entry level job they’re trying to get.”
So far, it’s clearly been mission accomplished, and definitely “more to come” as well.
That’s actor Barry Bostwick in the tuxedo standing at the front door and surrounded by Shenandoah University film students in the cast and crew during the shooting of the movie “Santa Girl.”
Music Experiment Cooking in The Plains
By Leland Schwartz
To draw more audience to the classical music concerts in The Plains, organizers are going to run an experiment. The food and wine come first. Then the concert.
They’re calling it “Sound Bites” and they’re pairing it with acclaimed pianist Tanya Gabrielian.
It’s all a composition by The Arts in The Plains, Nomad Provisions and Slater Run Vineyards, and it’s a new addition to the Grace Church Concert Series, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
Gabrielian and concert organizers Lena Scott-Lundh, Margrete Stevens and Rev. E. Weston Mathews think food, wine and music -- and in that order -- presents a great way to share music with the community.
“The reason we’re doing this is to expose more people to beautiful classical music and to bring them together,” said Scott-Lundh, the former chair of Washington Performing Arts who calls Gabrielian “exceptional...a genius.”
Rev. Mathews, an enthusiastic supporter of a variety of cultural programs at Grace in recent years, announced earlier this summer that he is leaving to become the rector at St. Francisco Episcopal in Great Falls. His last sermon at Grace will be on August 11.
Before his resignation, he said the 2024-2025 program of choral evensong, art, music, and theater “will be Grace’s most active and creative season yet.”
“What a blessing it is to see Grace in The Plains grow along an arc of congregational development into parish vitality,” Rev. Matthews said in a message to the Grace community. “When it comes to being a parish church that also serves as a regional center for the performing arts, Grace is unrivaled in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and Fauquier County.”
For her part, Gabrielian said Sound Bites “is a gathering for those who share a common love for music, food, and wine. Our goal is to rekindle the fun of the concert experience, creating a space where the community can unite and celebrate the joy these
Pianist Tanya Gabrielian, when the Norfolk Southern played over her one evening at Grace Church in The Plains.
As of press time, the food and wine Nomad and Slater Run have on the menu had not been announced. The first concert -- “Enchantment” -- is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 22 at 4 p.m. The program will include Frank Bridge: Phantasy for Piano Quartet; Claude Debussy: Cello Sonata and Antonin Dvorak: Dumky Trio.
The musicians will be Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin; Ryo Usami, viola; Michael Kaufman, cello and Gabrielian, piano.
Photo by Leland Schwartz Behind the music: Margrete Stevens, Rev. Weston Mathews and Lena Scott Lundh
Photo by Leland Schwartz
A Film Festival That Clearly Shares the Wealth
By Leonard Shapiro
Brad Russell, pastor of the Dulles Church, was sitting in traffic one day about 15 years ago and thinking about ways to both “connect with the community” and also how “to bring people together and make a difference.”
A long-time film aficionado who often uses short movie clips to enhance his sermons, his mind also was wandering in the direction of Hollywood that day.
All of those thoughts, and later discussions with some business people he knew, eventually coalesced into a decision to launch a Northern Virginia-based film festival that definitely has made a difference. The Washington West Film Festival began in Reston in 2011 and has grown exponentially into a popular October event.
Russell, a Northern Virginia native who lives in South Riding, is particularly proud of its unique status as the only American festival that donates all box office receipts to benefit at-risk children impacted by food security, illness and abject poverty.
The festival’s tagline is “Story Can Change the World” and the festival, running from Oct. 10-13 at Reston and Tysons Corner venues, features countless inspiring films attempting to capture the human condition.
In a story he penned for the Huffington Post ten years ago, Russell wrote, “Our festival is a small but important step forward in shaping the region as a world class film hub by helping draw great film premieres, provide programs to develop artists and technicians in the film industry, create jobs, and use storytelling as a powerful engine for change and charity.”
Washington West now attracts a wide variety of world-class films—feature, animation, shorts and documentaries—not to mention equally prominent actors, directors and producers who attend and discuss their work. Julia LouisDreyfus, Robert Duvall, Ed Asner and Bob Woodward all have been involved, among many other bold-faced names, including Common, a Grammy, Oscar, and Golden Globe winning singer, actor and producer.
Washington West also has screened films produced by Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Madonna, HBO, Universal Pictures, and Walt Disney Studios.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus got involved in its very early days. She was in the audience in 2012 watching a movie her husband, Brad Hall, had directed. Before each film is aired, there’s a one-minute clip showing what cause the previous year’s box office profit had helped fund.
Not long after the 2012 festival ended, Russell got an email from the couple saying they had been particularly impressed by that one-minute clip. They told him the next time he was in Los Angeles, they wanted to speak with him.
“A month later, Brad Hall and I had breakfast out there, and he said he wanted to get involved,” Russell said. “He joined our advisory board, and he’s been with us ever since.”
Washington West has also has started a high school film program in Loudoun County. Any Loudoun student can submit a five-minute or less short film, and a team of theater, drama, and film studies teachers around the county will select the top twelve films. They’ll be official selections in the 2024 festival, with a student showcase screening at Lightridge High in Aldie.
Russell hopes to expand Washington West to other Loudoun venues and also emphasized the festival is “totally separate” from the non-denominational church he founded in 1999.
“We don’t focus on religious issues and we’re not interested in political opinions,” he said. “The whole idea is to use stories that inspire connection. It’s such a divisive culture right now. Our mantra is to unify and inspire.”
Director Brad Hall, his wife, actress
Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Washington West Film Festival president and founder, Brad Russell.
It’s Back to Nature for Artist Megan Caldwell
By Joe Motheral
Megan Caldwell spreads her immense talent by painting landscapes, portraits and animals. She’s had exhibitions of her work in the National Sporting Library and Museum in Middleburg and in the Artists in Middleburg gallery.
Her paintings have been displayed at Long Branch near Millwood, including a show of her landscapes now on display until Sept. 30.
In many ways, her work reflects her actual lifestyle living in Bluemont near the Shenandoah River. “I have five dogs, six cats and four lambs,” she said, not to mention being a single mom raising four children. “And I paint from two to nine hours every day.”
It takes her about two months to complete a painting in what would be considered contemporary impressionism.
“When you take a photo, it’s flat,” she said. “I can never touch with a camera what I can touch with a brush. When you paint you can capture the feeling of it…Landscapes are the most meditative for me to paint. I also love painting animals and people but find I can exercise more artistic license painting landscapes.”
She decides what to paint when “I see something so beautiful.” That includes farmland, river scenes,
forests and open land as well as an occasional structure or animal life. One noticeable feature that adds to her work are beautiful cloud formations. She often devotes the bottom half of the painting to land and the upper half to the sky.
Her home is nestled in the woods and she said, “I love being close to nature. I love being able to walk out the back door and wander the forests, taking in all the growth…The changing of the weather, and the position of the sun throughout the year inspires me and feeds my need to paint it.”
And her fascination for animals?
She grew up in Montana on an Indian Reservation where her father was a doctor and “animals have always been a major part of my life. Growing up, we had a house full of cats and dogs, two ponies and a free range box turtle that roamed around the house.”
As an adult, “I find myself surrounded by animals and I enjoy their company and candid ways.” She also took up bee keeping years back and added, “I even love those little creatures.”
Megan Caldwell’s paintings can be seen on her website: www.sweetrockstudio.com.
A Megan Caldwell landscape.
Photos by Joe Motheral Artist Megan Caldwell and a fluffy friend.
Serving Two Churches Doubles
New Pastor’s Mission
By Pat Reilly
Rev. TaeWon Kang, who has been appointed the new pastor of the Middleburg and Rectortown United Methodist churches, was welcomed by both communities with a recent breakfast in Rectortown and a bluegrass barbeque in Middleburg.
Leading two churches is nothing new for Pastor Kang, who has experience sharing his time equitably. He served two churches in the Northern Neck before being appointed to Richmond to serve in two different parishes.
How does he do it?
“I need to honor each church’s culture, mission, and tradition,” he said. “I respect their legacy.”
The Rectortown UMC is in its 253rd year of worship; the Middleburg church was completed in 1858, and the original bell is still in the steeple.
“I wish to listen and see what I can add,” he said. “I will seek how to help them strengthen their own cultures and faith traditions, and also help them find the common ground or connectional points bridging two churches. I’m the pastor of two churches. I’m not here to love one church over the other church.”
Pastor Kang also led Korean United Methodist congregations in Georgia and Alabama and also served as chaplain at Emory University Hospital.
“United Methodists are to strengthen faith ties, extend hands to one another, and go beyond the church walls to serve people,” he said. “We’re called to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”
He pointed out that Jesus went out of his home area to reach people in need.
“Jesus traveled beyond Jewish regions into the non-Jewish regions,” he said. “He delivered the good news of the Kingdom of God to all people and all areas. He called all and brought all into a new life by the love of God. He changed people’s lives and the world. This mission and ministry of Jesus must be ongoing.”
Pastor Kang, 51, and his wife, Rev. MiRhang Baek, 45, came to the U.S. from their native South Korea in 2007. Though his birth family was not Christian, his mother led him to a Methodist Church, where, as a teenager, he recalled experiencing the grace of God and knowing that he was called to the ministry.
He met his wife while attending the Methodist Theological University in Seoul, where she was also studying for the ministry. Pastor Kang was ordained as an Elder of the Korean Methodist Church in 2005. MiRhang also graduated from the same school and wanted to begin the ordination process.
“At that time, I already knew MiRhang has God’s call and wanted to be a pastor,” he said. “However, the Korean Methodist church was patriarchal and effectively forced MiRhang to live as a pastor’s wife rather than becoming a pastor.”
After much prayer, TaeWon and MiRhang moved to America to attend the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, where TaeWon and MiRhang each received their Masters of Divinity.
MiRhang was recently ordained as a United Methodist Elder and will serve as pastor for the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Dale City. In Northern Virginia, the couple will finally both serve as pastors. They will live at the cooperative parish parsonage in Marshall.
Pastor Kang said his passion is to care for people in need and loving people in Christ’s name.
“Churches must be inclusive,” he said. “We are not called to judge others by our faith type but love all and serve all by the hands of God. We fully accept the differences among people.”
Photo by UMC, Virginia
Pastor TaeWon Kang and his wife, Rev. MiRhang Baek, now at Middleburg UMC and Rectortown UMC.
Geraldine Carroll
Charles Carroll IV, MD
Sela Campbell Soaring Toward Musical Stardom
By Peyton Tochterman
In the melting pot of modern country music, there emerges a standout—a young artist named Sela Campbell, whose musical trajectory has been as compelling as the chords of a classic country ballad.
Rooted deeply in the tradition of country music icons like Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash, 17-yearold Sela has carved a niche that bridges the heartfelt tales of the past with the energy of today’s scene.
From an early age, Sela found herself enraptured by the sounds of Dolly, a connection fostered by her family, who would always cue up the classics around the campfire – Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, and the inimitable Hank Williams. “When I was younger, my mom showed me a video of Dolly Parton playing ‘Jolene’ at the Opry,” Sela said. “That was it—I was hooked.”
At five, she received her first guitar and soon begged for lessons. Her parents obliged, and she started at the Contemporary Music Center in Haymarket, a place that nurtured her burgeoning talent through recitals and open mic nights.
The real crucible of Sela’s confidence, however, was her experience in winning the Golden Ticket on the upcoming 22nd season of “American Idol.”
“It taught me to trust in my own voice and my ability,” she said, reflecting on the reassurance and validation the experience offered, alongside the opportunity to mingle with seasoned musicians.
Despite the whirlwind of fame, Sela managed a remarkable academic feat—graduating in the top 10 percent of her class at Loudoun County High School and securing a spot at the University of Virginia, double majoring in music and public policy.
This balancing act between playing shows and academic rigor is a testament to her dedication.
“I’ve performed over 200 plus shows in the last three years,” she said. “It’s busy, but it’s what I love. I just study on the way to gigs.”
In discussing her creative process, Sela reveals a method that is both spontaneous and reflective. Inspiration often strikes in the form of a single line or a cool chord progression, captured diligently in her ever-present notebook. This process birthed tracks like “One Track Mind” and “Yellow Flowers,” showcasing her ability to weave narrative and melody seamlessly.
A significant milestone came with a sold-out January concert at the Barns of Rose Hill.
“That was my first ticketed event,” she said. “To see it sell out, to feel the crowd’s energy hyper-focused on my songs—it was amazing.”
Despite the accolades and her growing fan base, Sela remains grounded. The recognition as Best Local Band/Musician in Loudoun County for two consecutive years serves not just as a testament to her talent but also as a motivator.
Sela now sees a future ripe with possibilities. With new music on the horizon, including her single “Yellow Flowers” released in July, her aspirations are clear: “I want to keep performing, keep writing. After college, the goal is Nashville.”
In an era when social media reigns supreme, Sela leverages platforms like TikTok to connect with her audience, sharing snippets of her life and music. She’s gone viral, bringing her closer to fans across the globe. Yet, it’s the personal interactions, like signing a hot pink guitar for a six-year-old fan, that truly resonate with her.
Sela Campbell is not just a musician of considerable talent, but a storyteller whose roots are equally formidable. In the evolving narrative of country music, she’s a nod to the past and a herald of the future.
Leesburg songbird Sela Campbell.
PIEDMONT ROOFING Standing Seam Metal
Historical Marker for Abolitionist
Federal Judge John C. Underwood in Clarke County
Astate historical marker issued by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources was dedicated recently in Clarke County. The marker is intended to educate and inform the public about a person, place, or event of regional, state, or national importance. In this regard, erected markers are not memorials.
This one, near the Burwell-Morgan Mill in Millwood, recalls the work of John C. Underwood, a 19th-century federal judge and anti-slavery activist who served as president of the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1867–68. The convention resulted in the state’s Constitution of 1869—often referred to as the “Underwood Constitution”—which gave Black men the right to vote, created a free public schools system, and established other democratic reforms.
John C. Underwood, an attorney from New York, settled near here in the early 1850s. Harassed for his anti-slavery activism and his work on behalf of the Republican Party, he left Virginia in 1856. President Abraham Lincoln appointed him a federal judge for Virginia’s eastern district in 1863. An outspoken advocate of equal rights for African-Americans after the Civil War, Underwood was elected president of Virginia’s Constitutional Convention of 1867–68. Among the convention’s 105 members were 24 African-Americans. The “Underwood Constitution,” ratified in 1869, granted Black men the right to vote, established a system of free public schools, and secured other democratic reforms.
The recent dedication program began with a welcoming address from DHR Director and Virginia’s State Historic Preservation Officer Julie Langan. Speakers included Colita N. Fairfax, Chairperson of the Virginia Board of Historic Resources; preservation consultant Maral Kalbian; Travis Voyles, Secretary of Natural & Historic Resources; and Delegate Delores Oates of the 31st District.
Born in New York in March, 1809, attorney John C. Underwood settled in Clarke County, Virginia, in the early 1850s. An outspoken abolitionist, he left Virginia in 1856 after he was harassed for his anti-slavery activism and his work on behalf of the Republican Party. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Underwood to the position of federal judge for Virginia’s eastern district.
He was elected president of Virginia’s Constitutional Convention of 1867–68. The convention included 105 members, 24 of whom were African-American. During his time as president of the convention, Underwood endorsed equal rights for African-Americans as well as universal suffrage. His work with the convention culminated in the “Underwood Constitution,” which was ratified in 1869.
The Underwood Constitution recognized the 14th and 15th amendments of the U.S. Constitution, which granted citizenship to African-Americans and gave Black men the right to vote. It also established a system of free public schools and implemented significant tax reforms. Underwood died in December, 1873 in Washington, D.C.
Virginia’s historical highway marker program began in 1927 with installation of the first markers along U.S. Route 1. It is considered the oldest such program in the nation. Currently there are more than 2,600 state markers, mostly maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation.
John C. Underwood (1809-1873)
A Tragic Motor Vehicle First for Inspector Neville Hatcher
By John Toler
By 1923, Virginia’s early highway system was showing the effects of the increasing number of cars and trucks on the road, and the Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles was established to enforce the new traffic laws adopted by the General Assembly.
The enforcement arm of the DMV was its inspectors, which until 1928 consisted of only 15 men to cover the entire Commonwealth. Legislation passed that year added 20 more inspector positions. W. Neville Hatcher (1902-1928), was one of seven children of Forrest G. and Ethel James Hatcher of The Plains. A businessman, F. G. Hatcher was the owner of the Tourist Inn and Hatcher Coal Co. Hatcher attended local schools and worked several jobs, and drove race cars for Tom Frost. He applied for a position as one of the new inspectors and was hired in June, 1928. As sworn officers, DMV inspectors were charged with enforcing all state laws, not just traffic regulations.
In August, 1928, state law enforcement agencies, including the DMV, received an alert that Henry Shepherd, a fugitive from Culpeper, was back in the area. Shepherd had fled the state in 1927, charged with murdering a woman in Jeffersonton.
On August. 15, 1928, Hatcher – who knew
Shepherd by sight and had an old warrant for his arrest – was working northeast of Culpeper with Inspector P. L. Thornton. They had learned about a gathering that afternoon at the Mount Zion Baptist Church, where Shepherd might appear.
The inspectors set up a checkpoint on the road near the church, and soon afterward, a car with a New York license plate approached. Hatcher ordered the driver to stop, and recognized Shepherd, sitting in the middle of the front seat.
The number of cars on Warrenton’s Main Street in the 1920s shows the growth of automobile traffic in Virginia, which required new traffic laws and the means to enforce them.
The only known photo of Neville Hatcher, seen in one of Tom Frost’s racecars. The image was later used to produce Hatcher’s portrait.
Hatcher was just behind the car when it stopped. At that moment, Shepherd bolted from the car and ran toward Hatcher, gun in hand. Before Hatcher could raise his weapon, Shepherd shot him four times at point-blank range before running into the nearby woods.
Thornton, who was not injured, immediately came to Hatcher’s aid, placing him in their patrol car and rushing to Culpeper. There Hatcher was given emergency treatment for serious stomach and abdominal wounds by three local doctors.
Word of the incident was quickly relayed to authorities in Fauquier County, and Hatcher’s parents and Warrenton Mayor Thomas E. Frank arrived in Culpeper that afternoon. However, Hatcher’s condition was so serious, he was transported to the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville for further treatment.
Back at the scene, Culpeper County Sheriff J. J. Nash assembled a posse of over 100 men, and searched for Shepherd in the woods and fields near the crime scene. They found nothing.
Hatcher’s community rallied around his family, and a reward for Shepherd’s apprehension quickly reached over $1,100. Mugshots of Shepherd and a detailed description were published on the front page of The Fauquier Democrat.
Hatcher died on Aug. 28, 1928, and a massive manhunt was launched by state and local authorities. Shepherd was reported having been seen being in Arlington and Washington, D.C., and a reported sighting in Front Royal brought out a posse of about 200 men with bloodhounds. But again, the trail went cold.
Inspector Hatcher’s funeral service was conducted in The Plains, with interment in the Hatcher family lot in a cemetery in Middleburg. It was noted that Hatcher had served only 62 days as an inspector before he lost his life.
“It took 11 years for Shepherd to be apprehended,” according to retired Virginia State Police Sgt. John Rowles, who researched the case with long-time DMV employee G. Watson James Jr. “He was finally captured in New York in 1939 by members of the
Virginia State Police’s ‘Little FBI,’ and returned to Virginia.”
Shepherd was tried for Hatcher’s murder, and sentenced to life in prison.
On March 14, 1942, the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles was divided into the DMV and the Department of State Police. In the fall of 1943, the Virginia State Police assumed highway patrol duties, and the DMV Enforcement Division assumed investigative responsibilities.
In 1944, Superintendent of State Police Col. C.W. Woodson and G. Watson James Jr. decided that collecting portraits of state law enforcement that lost their lives in the line of duty, including DMV inspectors and State Troopers, would create a lasting memorial.
Inspector W. Neville Hatcher of Fauquier County was the first member to be so honored.
Because there was no funding for the project, several artists volunteered their talents to produce the portraits. But when VSP representatives contacted the Hatcher family, they were told that no photograph of Neville Hatcher could be found.
As a result, artist Walter Whitehead painted a sentimental rendering of Hatcher’s service cap lying on top of his gun belt, under a plaque reading, “Although his image is not with us, his memory will live forever.”
In 1961, Tom Frost of Warrenton, then a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, found an old photo of Hatcher taken during his racing days. The photo was given to Gertrude Russi, an artist from Petersburg, who used the image to create his portrait.
It was unveiled by Gov. Albertis S. Harrison and Attorney General Robert Y. Button at a ceremony held in the Old Senate Chamber of the State Capitol Building in 1962. Attending from Fauquier County were Neville’s brother Dowell, Sheriff Stanley Woolf, former Warrenton Mayor T. E. Frank, Supervisor James F. Austin, Upton Richards and Henry Baxley. By then, 24 state law enforcement officers had died, including three who were killed in World War II while serving in the military.
In 1989, the portrait collection was moved to the State Police Academy and placed in the new Col. C. W. Woodson Jr. Memorial Gallery. There, Neville Hatcher’s portrait hangs with the 66 others who followed him.
As stated at the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial in Washington, D.C., “It is not how these officers died that made them heroes, it is how they lived.”
Portrait of Inspector W. Neville Hatcher, painted by Gertrude Russi.
Mugshots of Henry Shepherd published in The Fauquier Democrat after the shooting.
HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
NEW WORDS ON THE BLOCK
By Hunt Lyman
The word “slop” has taken on a new meaning: the drivel that Artificial Intelligence produces when it’s inaccurate or useless.
This new definition echoes the older meaning of the word— food for pigs— and similar to how spam, originally coined by Hormel Corporation to refer to spiced ham, now predominantly signifies unwanted email, following its comedic use in a Monty Python skit.
The emerging lexicon of artificial intelligence also includes terms like AI, chatbot, and the phrase “stop generating,” which has been humorously adopted in conversation to halt a torrent of words or a seemingly unending story.
As a lover of language, I have marveled at how dramatically my own vocabulary has expanded to encompass technology that didn’t exist during my childhood, when a mouse only referred to a small rodent scurrying in my kitchen, and software might have been mistaken for pajamas or a worn pair of blue jeans.
The technological lexicon emerges in many ways. Some new words are compounds (smartphone, blockchain or cybersecurity). Some represent existing words with new meanings (firewall, streaming). Others are portmanteau words formed by combining and clipping (electronic mail becomes email, wireless
Language, be it remembered, is not an abstract construction of the learned, or of dictionary-makers, but is something arising out of the work, needs, ties, joys, affections, tastes, of long generations of humanity, and has its bases broad and low, close to the ground.
—Walt Whitman
fidelity becomes wifi, web log becomes blog, and international network becomes internet).
And other new words are created from the initials of several words as an acronym (universal resource locator becomes URL and Virtual Reality becomes VR).
For linguistic purists, these additions signal a deterioration of English, a pollution of words with no traditional pedigree or new uses of words that overshadow their original meanings.
However, anyone familiar with how languages change understands that this process is as constant and inevitable as the tides. In the past, purists decried the use of contact as a verb, or even earlier, the adaptation of broadcast for anything other than scattering seeds by hand.
A retrospective of linguistic change in English over the past century reveals countless examples of new words being generated. Greenhouse is a compound, smog is a portmanteau of smoke and fog, scuba is an acronym for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, and TV is an abbreviation of television.
As an English teacher with four decades of experience, I appreciate the necessity of enforcing certain language rules. I teach standard written English in my classes and insist on conventions such
as capitalization, proper sentence structure, and standard spelling.
Yet I also celebrate the many instances when English has been rejuvenated by writers like Mark Twain, William Faulkner, James Joyce, Zora Neale Hurston, Thomas Pynchon, and Toni Morrison, among others. All experimented with unconventional uses of language, particularly the vernacular used by common folk. These authors remind me of a favorite quotation from Walt Whitman:
“Language, be it remembered, is not an abstract construction of the learned, or of dictionary-makers, but is something arising out of the work, needs, ties, joys, affections, tastes, of long generations of humanity, and has its bases broad and low, close to the ground.”
This living, evolving nature of speech and writing is not just a tool of communication but a reflection of our collective human experience, dynamically adapting to a world that is always changing. By embracing the new words and uses that arise, we participate in the ongoing evolution of the English language, ensuring it remains vibrant, relevant, and interesting.
Hunt Lyman is Academic Dean at The Hill School.
Hunt Lyman
At The Lucky Knot, Fashion Is A Family Affair
By Jan Mercker
Preppy is back…Or maybe it never really went away. Either way, tourists and locals alike in Loudoun and Fauquier have a bright new spot to get their preppy fashion fix.
The family-owned Lucky Knot boutique has charmed Middleburg tourists and locals alike with resort wear with a classic flair for the last two years. The shop’s owners opened a new location in Warrenton in June.
“It’s still a thing,” said co-owner Stella Koukides of the boutique’s aesthetic. “We started with the preppy brands and they’ve been a hit and doing well for us.”
With its beachy vibe, fun prints and comfortable yet stylish looks, the Lucky Knot evokes summer parties and tropical winter getaways. Koukides launched the Lucky Knot’s flagship location in Old Town Alexandria in 2012 with her mother Andrea Ploutis and sisters Stavroulla Ploutis and Athina Kohilas. The business has since expanded to Annapolis, Leesburg, Middleburg and the new Warrenton location.
Expanding to Loudoun and Fauquier made sense. The sisters had gotten to know Middleburg through its Christmas parade and found the town’s classic vibe was a perfect complement to their nautical style. When a storefront on Washington Street opened, they jumped at the chance.
“We went to take a look at it and just kind of fell in love with the area,” Koukides said. “We felt like merging the charm of horse country with the vibrance of the ocean mixed well together, and the feedback has been really great.”
The growing Lucky Knot chain started with their mother Andrea Ploutis’s dream of opening a boutique in Old Town Alexandria. Andrea ran a gift shop on Richmond Highway in Alexandria for years before moving to Old Town.
As her daughters started going with her to expos and trade shows, the family decided to branch out into clothing and jewelry. The sisters opened their first trendy clothing boutique, Three Sisters, in 2011 and soon spotted a niche for resort wear in Old Town.
“The family got together and started brainstorming and that’s when we started with the Lucky Knot,” Koukides said.
They opened the first Lucky Knot in Alexandria in 2012 with a focus on American designers, including some whose lines are American-made. Top sellers include resort wear favorites featuring fun and colorful prints like Jude Connally and Gretchen Scott.
The four women work well together and often spend weekends driving to different locations, talking with customers and jumping in as needed.
“I love talking to people and hearing people’s stories,” said Koukides, who handles much of the administrative side of the family business.
Mom Andrea remains the principal womenswear buyer, working with popular lines and formal wear. Sister Athina handles much of the purchasing for the company’s menswear lines with favorites like Southern Tide, Vineyard Vines and Peter Millar.
Sister Stavroulla specializes in social media and purchasing for Three Sisters (which now has locations in Alexandria, Annapolis and Warrenton) and the family’s Old Town Alexandria gift shop, The Happy Place.
“We all have our own dynamic but we do work really well together. We flow ideas off each other,” Koukides said. “We enjoy working together–it’s almost like a 24/7 job. Even if you’re having a Sunday lunch together, there’s business talk.”
Readers of Ellen Crosby’s murder mysteries set around Middleburg might well be convinced that homicide is a regular occurrence in the Northern Virginia Piedmont. Although the legacy of Cain is not entirely absent from the area, thankfully, it’s relatively rare in the town and its environs.
There have been just a handful of murder cases over the past few decades, though one of the most consequential in Middleburg occurred during the depths of the Great Depression. It happened in a cottage behind what is now Royston’s Funeral Home. The location is said to be haunted and is featured in ghost tours of Middleburg led by guide Heather Kyle.
In the early hours of Jan. 13, 1932, a wealthy widow, Agnes Boeing Ilsley (39), and her maid, Mina Buckner (65), were brutally beaten to death. Historian Eugene Scheel devoted three pages to the murder in his bicentennial “History of Middleburg and Vicinity” (1987).
Ilsley and Buckner were White; the suspected perpetrator, George Crawford (34), was an AfricanAmerican ex-convict. Ilsley had met him when she was doing volunteer work for the prison system.
At the time, Crawford was on a chain gang at a Loudoun County work camp. Released from prison in November, 1930, he convinced Ilsley and the Middleburg town doctor, Richard Holt, to hire him as their chauffeur and handyman.
Ilsley was a member of the Association of Women for Prohibition Reform, an anti-prohibition group that met in Upperville. In early September, 1931, she fired Crawford for stealing a bottle of whiskey from her liquor cabinet, which he denied.
On Christmas Eve, when Ilsley, her brother, Paul Boeing, and Buckner, the maid, were out of town, there was a break-in at their manor house in Middleburg. Clothes and jewelry worth about $500 were stolen.
On Dec. 28, Ilsley swore out a warrant before a local magistrate charging Crawford with the robbery, but he could not be found. On Jan. 12, 1932, Ilsley drove into Washington and hired a private detective agency to investigate the robbery and track down Crawford.
At a party that night, she told her friend, renowned World War I airman Billy Mitchell, she was scared of Crawford. When the murders were discovered the next day by her brother, Mitchell joined the manhunt for Crawford.
Ilsley’s stolen car was found abandoned in a coal yard near Alexandria. Speculation was that Crawford had boarded a northbound freight train in the nearby Potomac Yards.
A year later, Boston, Massachusetts police arrested an African-American man for stealing $8 from a store. He gave his name as Charles Taylor. However,
fingerprint evidence—a new science in the early 1930s—identified him as George Crawford.
The rest of the story is legendary in American jurisprudence. Time Magazine covered it extensively in its pages. A federal judge in Massachusetts, James Lowell, refused to extradite Crawford to Virginia because African-Americans were not allowed on juries in the Commonwealth.
Several southern Congressmen demanded Lowell’s impeachment. His decision was reversed on appeal and Crawford was returned back to Virginia for trial.
Charles Hamilton Houston, a widely-respected
African-American attorney, represented Crawford at the trial in Leesburg. Crawford claimed he wasn’t in the area at the time, but changed his plea to guilty when multiple witnesses stated they saw him in Middleburg shortly before the killings.
Houston managed to convince the judge not to impose the death penalty and Crawford was sentenced to life. In 2023, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors renamed the historic Leesburg courthouse to honor Houston’s work in a landmark case that challenged the all-White jury selection process.
The Washington Times on Thursday, January 14, 1932 reported on the shocking murder in Middleburg of Agnes Boeing Ilsley (39), and her maid, Mina Buckner (65).
Meat Amanda and Derek, And Order a Burger
By Jan Mercker
AFauquier County girl meets a Pittsburgh guy. They bond over a love for food and a passion for fresh local meats. More than a decade later, Amanda and Derek Luhowiak are slinging the best burgers in town and offering locally raised beef for their patrons.
As the Whole Ox restaurant and butcher shop in Marshall gears up for its 13th anniversary in September, the owners have plenty to discuss, including expansion into a new kitchen and events space across the street and Amanda’s killer performance on an episode of the Food Network’s “Guy’s Grocery Games” that aired this spring. Amanda grew up in Marshall as the only child of an avid hunter and fisherman.
“My dad was showing me how to hunt and fish and gut fish and skin squirrel and process deer,” she said. “That’s something that we used to do together when I was younger.”
Meeting Derek, a master butcher with a background in sustainable agriculture, truly brought home her passion for old-school butchery–and serving up tasty burgers.
Derek is a Pittsburgh native and trained chef who landed in the
Photo by Tyler Keeler
Derek and Amanda Luhowiak, owners of The Whole Ox.
countryside’s fine dining scene and ran the meat facility at Ayrshire Farm. They met through mutual friends and also bonded over a shared love of great music and food.
The couple knew they wanted to do something in Marshall when they realized that, despite being surrounded by farms, they were driving east down Route 50 to buy meat from a grocery store.
They initially considered other locations, but the rent was too high. So they shifted gears and launched their first business: a 6x10 kitchen trailer called Local 647. But the food truck’s popularity soared after a
feature on Good Morning America’s “Best Food Cart Challenge.”
“It was far too small for how popular we had become,” Amanda said.
They found a commercial space in Marshall where they could focus on what they loved: whole animal butchery using sustainably raised meats from local farms.
The Whole Ox at 8357 W. Main Street in Marshall opened Sept. 1, 2011, and has been going strong ever since. The Luhowiaks also are known for their charitable endeavors. Every year around the
holidays, the couple purchase one or two whole cows from a local farm and process and seal them for donation to the Fauquier FISH food pantry in Warrenton. The couple also support local schools and other nonprofits.
In the summer of 2023, a small retail space across the street from The Whole Ox opened up. It went operational earlier this summer and serves as extra kitchen space for Derek, who is rebuilding their charcuterie and handcrafted deli choices, with homemade meats for sandwiches, dry sausages, pates and other delicacies.
The new space is available for private events. Amanda also wants to get back to restauranthosted special events that were customer favorites pre-pandemic, including butcher demos, cooking classes, wine events, and meet-the-maker events spotlighting local farmers and producers.
The other happening last summer was Amanda’s invitation to be a contestant on Guy Fieri’s Food Network show. The competition was a flawless fit for the people-oriented Amanda.
“I wanted to make the contacts of meeting the other chefs,” she said. “I wanted to go for the experience and, of course, I have a little bit of a competitive nature.”
Last August, she was on a plane to Northern California for a full day of filming for the show’s “Best Burgers” episode that aired in April. She won the first round but finished as runner-up. Still, it was 100 percent worthwhile.
“It was probably one of the longest and hardest and most stressful work days I’ve ever had,” Amanda said. “But I would absolutely do it again. It was just such an amazing experience.”
Photo by Tyler Keeler
Derek in the new kitchen space across the street.
WArrenton HorSe SHoW
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue
Wed., Aug. 28 - Sun., Sept. 1
Thursday evening features Jumper Classes
Friday features two Hunter Derbies
Saturday features the Miller Toyota $5,000 Hunter Classic
Sunday features Hunt Night
Warrenton Horse Showgrounds @ 60 E. Shirley Ave. 540-347-9442 and warrentonhorseshow.com
adults $10, children under 12 FREE
THE 2024 UPPERVILLE HORSE SHOW
It was a fabulous 171st edition of this historic horse show. MARS EQUESTRIAN™, was the presenting sponsor along with other sponsors: The Ethel M® Chocolate Brand and Lugano Diamonds and Buckeye Nutrition, Nutro Pet Food, The Salamander Collection, B&D Builders, Delta Air Lines, Markel and Piedmont Equine Practice.
Scott has ridden “Stella” in several large international derbies. “Of all the hunters that I’ve ridden, Stella is one of the very best. She has never said no, nor ever put a single foot wrong. I’ve owned and ridden her since she was imported seven years ago.” Scott, who lives in Upperville, first rode in the Upperville show in 1974 as a junior and current show president Joe Fargis was the judge. “Fifty years later, winning on Stella brought back some incredible memories of my favorite horse show on my home turf. If you had asked me in 1974 whether I would still be winning in 2024, I don’t think I could have imagined so much good fortune,” he told ZEST.
“I was super confident in my horse,” said Gochman, who made a plan for tackling the course after walking it with her trainer, Amanda Mecca. “I gave him the best chance at every jump.” She explained that her strategy for the jump off was to give her horse the time he needed in specific turns while cutting time out where she knew he would be stronger. She also said she’s been practicing her rollback turns, which proved advantageous in the jump off.
Nancy
was presented the annual “Spirit of the Horse Award” from Virginia’s first lady, Suzanne S. Youngkin, on the final day of the horse show. The award, in its third year, was established in partnership with the first lady to recognize a woman and resident of Virginia who demonstrates exceptional service or dedication to, or promotion of, the equine industry. The award includes an engraved bowl, a gift certificate to a Virginia Governor’s Cup award-winning winery, a reception for family and friends and a $1,000 donation to an equine charity of choice.
Mimi Gochman won the final $226,000 FEI 4* Upperville Jumper Classic on her horse, Cosmos BH. Cosmos BH is an 11-year-old grey stallion owned by Mimi Snow Sport Horse LLC in Miami, Florida. Gochman, 19, lives in Palm Beach and has owned Cosmos for two years.
Photo by Tiffany Dillon Keen Equestrian legend
Dillon
Photo by Katy Carter-Upperville Horse Show.
Scott Keller on his mare Stellar won the Upperville Hunter Hack.
Eric Neese, Bradley Meske, Jonathan Bankston, Edward Martin and Conner Evans of the Upperville Fire Department stopped in for a visit.
Photo by In The Frame Photography.
PHOTO BY VICKY MOON
PHOTO BY SUSAN CARTER
Local Horses Will Compete at Paris Olympics
TBy Emma Boyce
he Middleburg area will be well represented in the show jumping equestrian competition at the upcoming Paris Olympics, with four horses whose owners call these parts home. The most interesting twist is that three of these horses will represent three different countries.
Ann Thompson of Corotoman Farm in Upperville owns Romeo 88, the 15-year-old Zangersheide gelding ridden by Great Britain’s Harry Charles, 25. The pair will represent Great Britain in Paris. Harry and Romeo delivered an impressive double clear at CHIO Rotterdam in the Longines League of Nations. Zineday came into Alice Lawaetz’s life as a talented, yet temperamental seven-year-old stallion, straight
from the stables of Ludger Beerbaum in Riesenbeck. Businesswoman and equestrian Lawaetz is married to horseman Doug Fout of The Plains. She keeps some of her horses in this area. A son of Beerbaum’ s famed mount Zinedine, Zineday had already impressed the likes of Richard Vogel and Christian Kukuk before Philipp Weishaupt, 39, took over the ride in 2021. In 2023, Weishaupt piloted the then nine-year-old Zineday to third in the prestigious Aachen Grand Prix. Recently, he helped Germany win the Nations Cup with a double clear at La Baule. Now, they look forward to representing Germany in their first Olympics together.
Middleburg staple, Thaisa Erwin, 44, will represent Australia in Paris with Hialita B, owned by Mike and Wendy Smith of Middleburg. Erwin and the 12-year-
old chestnut mare have been very successful at the five star shows in Europe, from Rome to Rotterdam. If you’re watching the Olympics from the comfort of your home or with friends, you’ll likely be cheering her on as the hometown hero.
And finally, American Olympic rider Laura Kraut, 59, and her powerhouse partner Baloutinue, need little introduction. Kraut and the scopey 14-year-old gelding owned by Barb and Dave Roux of St. Bride’s Farm in Upperville already helped the U.S. bring home silver at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Since then, the bay gelding out of Balou du Rouet has conquered course after course, most notably winning gold at the Nations Cup in San Miguel de Allende in 2023. For Baloutinue, Paris will be just another day.
Philipp Weishaupt
Harry Charles Thaisa Erwin
Laura Kraut
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Middleburg – Diamond in the rough located in the heart of Middleburg! 2 BR/1 BA rambler on .55 acres, divided into two parcels in a recorded subdivision fully approved by the town. This home would be perfect as a hunt-box, or build your new luxurious home on the back parcel and keep the rambler as a tenant house. Current home features an open floor plan, boasts many windows, hardwood floors, 2 fireplaces, central AC, new roof and siding upgrades in 2016. The lots are being sold together as a package.
Remembering Willard Scott
The Fauquier Historical Society has a fun exhibit on view about our late friend and neighbor the late weatherman Willard Scott. Plan to visit Wednesday - Monday 11:00am — 4pm at the Old Jail, 10 Ashby Street in Warrenton. Details at info@fauquierhistory.org
as
TV
and Author. These all describe Fauquier resident Willard Scott. The exhibit includes Willard’s original Ronald MacDonald shoes.
Known
Weatherman, National
Personality, Actor, Narrator, Clown, Comedian
Willard Scott is a legendary figure in the entertainment industry, with a career spanning over several decades. From his early days as a weatherman to becoming a beloved television personality, Scott has left an indelible mark on the world of broadcasting. With his warm personality, infectious laughter, and genuine love for people, he has brought joy and laughter to millions of viewers. Whether it’s his iconic portrayal of Ronald McDonald or his heartwarming celebrations of centenarians on the Today show, Scott has shown us the true power of positivity and kindness. As we reflect on his astonishing accomplishments, we can only be grateful for the joy and entertainment he has brought into our lives. Willard Scott will forever be cherished as a true icon in the world of celebrity.
by Bobbette Araujo,
9 November 2023 for Facts.net.
JBy John H. Pentecost
ean Eleanor Bowman is renowned throughout the equestrian world as one of its foremost artists, depicting horses, horse people, and horse sports.
Her notable works include paintings of the famous Secretariat and many other racetrack and steeplechase winners, as well as hunting horses and riders. She worked with various mediums such as pen and ink, and pastels, but most of her sketches and paintings were in oils. She rarely painted from photographs, preferring to “see for herself.”
Her training in New York and Boston emphasized classical techniques focusing on attitude, color, composition, light and style. She was particularly known for her attention to the conformation of the horse.
Much of Jean’s work was commissioned, which often required extensive travel to discuss potential projects and conduct studies. Her works are housed in prestigious collections and horse museums such as: The National Sporting Library and the Museum of Hounds and Hunting in Middleburg, the National Museum of Racing in Saratoga and the Laurel Clubhouse.
Notable pieces include a presentation fixture for Queen Elizabeth II of her racehorse, Hopeful Venture. Her paintings included work for many prominent figures: Paul Mellon, Richard K. Mellon, Walter Chrysler, Daphne W. & John H. Cheatham, III, Bettina Belmont Ward, Walter Jeffords, Robert Kleberg, John Hay Whitney, George Widener, the Duchess of Westminster, and Peggy Hennessy.
JEAN BOWMAN BOWMAN EXHIBIT
The Jean Bowman 60 Years Retrospective Exhibition will open Saturday, September 14 at The Museum of Hounds and Hunting North American at 11 W. Washington St. in Middleburg. This exhibit will be on view until Sunday, October 27. More than 35 paintings from local private collections will be on display. https://mhhna.org/
Her art appeared on the covers of many horse publications: The Chronicle of the Horse, Virginia Country and Spur magazines. Photographs of her work have appeared in the pages of the Maryland Horse and British Racehorse magazines. Jean Illustrated one book KNOW ABOUT HORSES, with pen and ink drawings, written by Harry Disston.
Born in 1917 in Mount Vernon, New York, she attended the Spence School in New York City and Bronxville High School in Bronxville, New York. According to The Chronicle in its Sept. 9, 1944 issue, her training included studies at the Art Students League in New York. Who’s Who states she studied at the Grand Central Art School with Jerry Farnsworth, the National Academy of Design with Leon Knoll, and in Boston with Scott Kerby. She first became noticed as an artist in the early 1940s by The Chronicle when she was living in Ruxton, Maryland.
Captain Prince Boris D. Wolkonsky with the Greenwood Harriers, loan courtesy of John H. Pentecost
Daphne Ward on Snuffy Smith, commissioned by Newell J. (Buddy) Ward, Jr., courtesy of Daphne W & John H Cheatham, III
Play Time, loan courtesy of John H. Pentecost
preliminary study for a
In 1945, she moved to Middleburg and then to Clarke County in 1946, residing principally at “Lucky Hit” in White Post, where she had her studio and horses. In the early 1950s, she moved back to Fauquier and Loudoun counties, restoring an 1860s dwelling called “Bonnie Castle” outside the village of Unison near Middleburg and adding a studio.
In 1980, Jean co-founded and served as the first president of the American Academy of Equine Art, and later served as chairman of the board and an instructor in workshops . The Academy currently gives an annual Jean
Bowman Award for Excellence in Classical Equine Art.
Jean died tragically in a small plane crash near Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, on August 16, 1994. She was married four times: to Richard Pentecost, Alexander Mackay-Smith, John Magruder III, and Charles Morgan. She is survived by her son, John H. Pentecost of Poolesville, Maryland, and his two children, Jason and Victoria.
Biography drawn largely from “Jean Bowman, Artist, Clarke County” by Stuart E. Brown, Jr.; Virginia Book Company, Berryville, VA; published 2000.
A
larger portrait of “Hopeful Venture” by Jean Bowman, for Her Majesty The Queen.
Roo, loan courtesy of Molly Morgan
Daniel (Danny) Sands Ward on Brandywine commissioned by Newell J.(Buddy) Ward, Jr. , crossing the stream at Newmary Farm, at the foot of the driveway, with Peanuts, courtesy of Daphne W & John H Cheatham, III.
Daphne Ward’s Whippet Julia, John H & Daphne W Cheatham
Cynthia McKee’s Success Spans Decades
By Bill Cauley
Cynthia McKee has been around horses all her life.
As a youngster, she showed ponies at 4H functions, but McKee knew she could not make a career out of it. Her father, the late Charles O’Bannon, was the racing secretary at Charles Town Races, so McKee had a good knowledge early on of horses and the horse racing industry.
“I pretty-much grew up at the race track,” McKee said. “I spent a lot of time there.”
At 20, McKee married the love of her life, the late John McKee, who died last year. For 47 years, she and her late husband devoted their life to owning and training thoroughbred horses, producing a slew of winners.
Lately, one of her horses, Direct the Cat, was a winner at the 2023 West Virginia Breeders’ Cup Classics at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races last fall. The filly won the Triple Crown Nutrition race, the third race on last year’s Classics card. This year’s Classic is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 12.
McKee continues to carry on the tradition of her late father and husband, training some 80 horses on her 170-acre farm in Middleway, about six miles outside of Charles Town. She’s also president of the West Virginia Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association.
“My father was a real inspiration to me,” McKee said. “I just learned so much from him.”
When she married John McKee, it marked the beginning of a highly successful partnership, both on and off the racetrack. There were times when success didn’t come easy. It had to be earned, and they did.
Since the late 1970s, the McKees traveled around
the region with their many horses, winning and earning respect at many racetracks from fellow owners, jockeys and trainers. The McKees won numerous awards, leading others by example, as to how horses should be owned and trained.
McKee’s career statistics include 3,557 starts, 330 winners, 374 places, 412 shows, with earnings topping $5.6 million. Last year, she had 93 starts, with 13 wins, 14 places and 15 shows. Earnings for 2024 topped $368,411. Some of her top performing horses include No Change, Direct the Cat and Overnight Pow Wow.
Direct the Cat, McKee admitted, is one of her favorites.
WEST VIRGINIA BREEDERS’ CLASSIC XXXVII
When: Saturday, Oct. 12
Where: Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races
Post Time: 7 p.m.
Estimated purse for feature race: $300,000
Details: wvbcmbn@frontier.com
“This filly is different,” she said. “I knew she could run. She’s got that special kind of charm about her.”
McKee’s other top horses included M. Ripken, My Jordan and Bask in the Sun. John McKee trained Bridging the Gap, Command the Cat and Rachel’s Turn.
Over the past five decades, McKee has seen many changes in the horse racing industry. She remembers when spectators had to pay admission just to see the horses run at the track.
“I can recall the grandstands being packed,” McKee said. But when off-track betting came into being, attendance began dropping off. Now, there’s no admission at the track and the introduction of slot machines and table games at the Hollywood Casino has turned out to be a significant draw for the entire area.
So much has changed since McKee first ventured into the horse racing industry, but she won’t be letting up any time soon. Her love of horses and the passion for what she does remains immeasurable.
Photo by Coady
Cynthia McKee, owner and trainer of Direct The Cat, is second from the right holding the silver tray.
VIRGINIA HORSE RACING SCHEDULE 2024
Colonial Downs Summer Thoroughbred Racing Schedule in New Kent, VA
July 11 - September 7
• Racing every Thursday, Friday & Saturday
• ”Festival of Racing” Day featuring the Grade 1 Arlington Million - Saturday Aug. 10
under card - Saturday Sept 7
(details at colonialdowns.com)
Shenandoah Downs Fall Harness Racing Schedule in Woodstock, VA
September 14 - October 27
• Racing every Saturday & Sunday at 1:05 PM
• FREE ADMISSION, FREE PARKING, FAMILY FRIENDLY
• $650,000 Virginia Breeder ’s ChampionshipsSunday October 27
(details at shenandoahdowns.com)
NSA Sanctioned Steeplechase Fall Meet Schedule
• Sunday, October 6:
• Saturday, October 12: Middleburg Fall Races at Glenwood Park
• Saturday, October 26:
International Gold Cup Races at Great Meadow
• Saturday, November 2: Montpelier Hunt Races in Montpelier Station (details at nationalsteeplechase.com)
Cup of COFFEE
At Saratoga, Go High, Go Low
By Sean Clancy
Todd Wyatt was on his way home from the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga earlier this summer. The four-day racing festival in June had come and gone. It was everything that was good in racing. Engaged fans. Competitive racing. At a venue that never disappoints.
Predominately a steeplechase trainer, Wyatt had come to town with his wife, Blair, their son, James, and their daughter, Paige. A rare vacation, an excursion, a break from an all-consuming game and an all-consuming farm in Monkton, Maryland. They stayed with old friends, slept in, went to the races, wandered around town. Paddock boots swapped for flip flops. Set lists exchanged for hunch bets. The Parting Glass replaced by Ben & Jerry’s. How times change.
Wyatt called another old friend, also on his way home from the Belmont. The going-home thoughts and the Monday morning blues banging loud on that lonely road.
“You know, it’s strange,” Wyatt said. “Being there to see that kind of racing, those kinds of horses, that kind of energy for four days. It inspires you and motivates you. But it also frustrates you and grates at you for not being more involved, not being at that level.”
Yeah, that’s Saratoga. Wyatt once spun in the eye of the Saratoga storm, running the high-octane barns of Hall of Famers Jonathan Sheppard and Tom Voss. Now, he’s on his own, raising a family, winning some races, taking a few shots at Saratoga, making a living. Just.
The Belmont provided a four-day taste of the Saratoga potion, the Saratoga poison. So sweet. And so bitter.
And here we go again for the real thing. Four racing days turned to 40 racing days started in early July, featuring the rollicking collision of inspiration and desperation. Eight weeks of racing and eight weeks of pressure. For fans, it’s a joy, a release, a playground. For most participants, it’s everything that Wyatt talked about on his long car ride home. Inspired by being there and frustrated by struggling there or even worse, not being there at all.
I say most because in a top-heavy game, there are a few who dominate and the rest scratch and claw for a win here or there, at least a moment or two to stave off the frustration. That goes for owners, trainers and jockeys.
For the little guys, the lucky little guys, the release of winning their first race at the meet is palpable. Like taking off the lid of the kettle. We’ve interviewed them for 23 years at the Saratoga Special, the newspaper we publish during the meet.
As my colleague Quint Kessenich said early on about The Special, “We root for chaos.” A few years later, we added obscurity. Chaos and obscurity. They’re the best stories. We root for the little guys, the ones who still tilt at the windmills in a game that’s turning into a wind tunnel.
Bobby Ribaudo and Lisa Lewis share a barn this year. Two of the smaller barns, two horsemen who will feel everything that Wyatt talked about on his long road home in June. We chatted for a while, talked about ideas, talked about attitude, talked about pressure. Lewis gave me a barn tour. “This is my big hope…”
I drove back to the office, hoping for her hope.
When I got to Saratoga this year, I hung a photo of late Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens walking up the muddy track after winning the Prioress, his last Grade 1, my fondest memory of this place. The nail stays in the wall all year. I also taped an article on the wall. It was about David Hofmans winning the Belmont Stakes with Touch Gold in 1997.
The California-based trainer once talked about the lows of this game.
“I thought about getting out of the business,” he said. “I couldn’t get to the barn in the morning. I was depressed; I had raised three children; the stress of the game. I didn’t have my priorities straight.
And the highs.
“I’m amazed almost every day at the quality of horses in my barn and how they got there,” he said. “I want to get up in the morning. I like the good ones, the bad ones, the giant ones, the small ones. This is what I live for.”
With a dwindling stable, the 81-year-trainer took his own life on July 3.
Madison Meyers is in the tack room of one of the three barns she and her husband, Kieran Norris, operate under the name of Ballyerin Racing at the Middleburg Training Track. It’s 10 in the morning and she’s already been up for six hours. You figure it out.
She’s slicing those sweet potatoes with precision. It’s a regular treat for the horses and, she said, “It’s my therapy.”
While at the University of Louisville, Madison went to work for trainer Niall M. O’Callaghan. She rode and pulled manes to make extra cash and learned all about life at the race track. “The next I knew,” she said, “I was getting on two-year-olds and then galloping for him.”
Madison’s next stop was with trainer Dale Romans, working at his farm and galloping his horses. And then came the position she cherishes the most.
“I got a job with Foster Northrop, a renowned lameness vet at Churchill Downs and worked for him eight years,” she said. “I probably learned the most working for him. It was an amazing experience. And he still practices.”
After that, there were other opportunities, including a stint at Darby Dan in Kentucky as the famous farm’s broodmare manager and then training
horses at the iconic race track at Saratoga. There was an added bonus because that’s also where she met Kieran.
“We both went to work for (trainer) Tom Voss and we moved to Maryland and stayed there about a year and a half, ” she said, all the while still chopping those sweet potatoes. They eventually ended up in the Middleburg area with another well-known trainer, Richard Valentine.
Then, Madison started her own business doing MagnaWave therapy. It’s a device that can increase circulation and blood oxygenation and helps the horses recover naturally while diminishing inflammation and alleviating pain. By pinpointing
the problem areas of pain, Madison is adept at going beyond the symptoms.
She’s traveled all over the country doing MagnaWave for many years, treating as many as 18 horses a day. And, it’s now part of her routine at Ballyerin.
In 2018, Madison and Kieran launched their own racing business and have between 30 and 60 horses in training and 14 employees.
Their goal?
“To win races,” she said. “And my father once told me to stay away from race horses.”
Winning has been mission accomplished, because this dynamic duo has $1.4 million in earnings, not to mention two gorgeous children.
“I don’t sleep a whole lot,” Madison said. “I stay up all night worrying about horses. The kids are fine.”
Contact Samantha Richards (843) 817-3647 Or twilightjumpersva@gmail.com
Ballyerin Racing
Photo by Vicky Moon
Madison Meyers slices sweet potatoes.
TOGETHER LIKE HORSES AND MORE HORSES
By Leonard Shapiro
There have been several intriguing “firsts” for Kieran Norris, a native of Tallow, Ireland who, with his wife, Madison Meyers, owns bustling Ballyerin Racing based in Middleburg.
The first time he asked Madison out on a date when they were both working training and galloping race horses in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. she suggested they try a sushi restaurant.
“I’d never had sushi, didn’t really know what it was,” Kieran said. “I had no idea what I was eating.”
Clearly he managed to survive the dinner, and the evening. There were plenty more dates and the couple, now married and living near Middleburg, are doting parents of Charlotte, 3, and Vivian, 18 months.
The first time Kieran got on a racehorse, he was 16 and admitted “I had no idea what I was doing. I had ridden ponies and didn’t really have an interest in horse racing. But I started galloping for a local trainer, and kept going.”
He eventually marched into the Irish Army, where he spent four years in the infantry and virtually no time around horses. When he was discharged, he began riding steeplechase horses for a local trainer,
the urging of his friend and fellow steeplechase rider, Mark Beecher, who had recently won the Maryland Hunt Cup.
He worked at Saratoga galloping horses for trainer Jimmy Baker, where Madison also was working as an assistant trainer. A year later, he was back in Saratoga, this time working for trainer Tom Voss, and Madison was training for him as well.
Kieran eventually got a visa to work full time in America and began having considerable steeplechase riding success. He’s hoisted championship trophies in a number of races, including the Virginia Gold Cup in 2017. He was champion jockey in 2015 and was leading in the standings again in 2017 until a calamitous fall at Radnor that year when he suffered a broken neck.
Sean Ahearn, in Waterford, not far from Tallow near the south coast of Ireland.
“I got my amateur riding license to race,” Kieran said. “My first win came in Tallow against a bunch of other top amateur riders. I didn’t have a clue about what I was doing. Those guys cursed me, they cut me off, they weren’t nice about it at all. But she won the race, Blueberry Girl. I won three times that year, and after the first win, I was definitely hooked on racing.”
Kieran raced in Ireland for the next few years, spent his first summer in Saratoga in 2011 when he met Madison, then went back the following year at
He was out for almost six months, managed a comeback, then had another fall in Georgia when he broke his arm, had four broken ribs, a punctured lung and a concussion. He did ride and win again, but also knew it was probably time to hang up the tack and focus on what he and Madison have turned into a thriving business breaking, training and racing horses.
There are usually between 30 and 60 horses from a variety of clients in their three barns at the Middleburg Training Track. They race at Laurel, Pimlico, Charles Twn, Colonial Downs and Delaware Park.
“Madison is the trainer and my role is breaking all the babies. I drive the van, too,” Kieran said. “It’s definitely a good life.”
Sushi occasionally included.
Welcome to your best life.
Photo by Leonard Shapiro Kieran Norris
Photo by Middleburg Photo
A victory walk at the Middleburg Hunt Point-toPoint races in 2019 when Kieran Norris won the Louis Leith Memorial race on Mr. Brightside trained by Madison Meyers.
The Focus is Quality, Not Quantity
By Linda Roberts
The one-acre garden behind Jodi and Kurt Baier’s Boyce home in Clarke County is the inspiration for their small, yet highly successful Provender Garden Kitchen catering business.
Visiting the compact space with its tidy rows of plants of all types explains how Provender’s goal of featuring organically grown vegetables on a year-around basis is at the heart of their mission to promote locally sourced sustainability.
“The garden dictates our menu offerings,” said Kurt, who noted that he and Jodi maintain a culinary garden that shifts and moves with the seasons. In turn, it determines what produce will be used to form the basis of their next catering assignment. Flowers from the garden, arranged by Jodi, are often an attractive accompaniment to the specialty meals they serve.
The recent drought has not put the Baiers into a panic because they installed a drip irrigation system some time ago to keep the garden flourishing. The garden also utilizes a “no dig approach,” Kurt said, adding that he and Jodi try to disturb the soil as little as possible.
Pointing toward their tomato vines, which were trained to grow up a tall fence-type trellis, Kurt said with a smile, “there’s nothing that beats harvesting a tomato from your garden and eating it that same day.”
The Baiers have staged dinners at their circa 1851 Boyce home, which overlooks the garden, but primarily Kurt is a private chef at a client’s home upon a request for catering. He said that once on location, his offerings have been served from interesting places such as gardens, barns, and in upscale stables at private estates.
“I’ll show up an hour and a half before in order to
keep everything as fresh as possible,” he said.
In addition to their own garden, the Baiers outsource local meats from area farms such as Kinloch, Gum Tree, Chapple Hill and Whiffletree for their generally three-course, plus an appetizer, offerings. Most of their assignments are planned for 10 to 20 persons to keep the focus on quality and are for clients in the Middleburg area, although Provender has catered in Washington, D.C.
Both Jodi and Kurt are from the Harrisonburg area. She was a music major at James Madison University and Kurt attended George Mason until the restaurant business lured him into that industry. Later their skills behind a camera lens created another line of work for the couple when they pooled their talents and both became wedding photographers.
Leaving the restaurant business entirely became too difficult for Kurt and in 2022 they opened a small, outdoor restaurant in a garden setting behind the Nature Composed shop in Middleburg.
When Covid hit and circumstances at the restaurant changed, the timing seemed perfect to launch their at-home catering business. Word of mouth and an artistically designed website launched the Baiers’ catering business and it is flourishing, as is their one-acre garden.
“We are looking forward to our next evolution,” Kurt said. For
Photo by Linda Roberts
Jodi and Kurt Baier of Provender Garden Kitchen catering specialize in garden-inspired foods and locally sourced meats.
At Home In An Upperville Church
By Michele Husfelt
On Fifth Sunday evenings, you’ll typically find him at church with friends and neighbors he’s invited over. It’s a place where he feels quite at home. Because, in this instance, the church actually is his home.
Ed Fogle and his wife, Kimberley, purchased an abandoned little church building 25 years ago on the outskirts of Upperville. Formerly the home of Mt. Olive M.E. Church, Ed and Kimberley spent years transforming the space into a beautiful sanctuary they call home.
One evening as he traveled from his apartment on Capitol Hill, a few blocks from his work as an architect at the Capitol, to their sprawling house in Front Royal, Ed took Route 50 to Upperville and headed south on Delaplane Grade Road to continue back on to I-66.
As he rounded the corner out of the village, he noticed the old church and was instantly drawn to its perfect architectural lines and symmetry. Pulling into the gravel drive, Ed got out and walked the property, then noticed an old handwritten note on the door that read, “For Sale.”
He called and spoke to the deacon who came over to open the church. As they entered the front door, Ed proclaimed it as “gorgeous,” even after it had been empty for ten years. Then it was time to go home and convince his wife.
Given a bit of time, Kimberley eventually fell in love with the church, as well, and they made weekend trips to oversee renovations and, as Ed chuckled, “change the design most weekends.”
Through a few connections at the cabinet shop in the Capitol, Ed happened upon a gentleman in the area named Steve, who had just come out of rehab and was looking for a new focus. Ed and Steve hit it off, and Steve did most of the work to make the church habitable.
The original church was designed by its then 82-year-old pastor, and built by the members of the congregation, an attractive feature to Ed. After beginning the restoration, Ed said, “There’s a lot of hands in this pie.”
“That’s why it feels the way it does,” he added. “That’s what got me when I walked in. People. You can feel them.”
The restoration meticulously maintained the rich heritage and sacred aura of this historical space, and the Fogles continue to honor the Mt. Olive congregation with a photo of the pastor hanging just inside the narthex along with a historical plaque adorning the entrance.
Downsizing from 4,500 square feet to 600 square feet was quite the challenge, but the peaceful abode and surrounding countryside was well worth it. Both Ed and Kimberly are fully retired now and say they enjoy the slower pace of small village living.
Strolling on the few side roads and Route 50, and typically wearing a kilt and Birkenstocks, Ed is a welcome excuse to stop and say hello, chat about the weather, and stay for a short story. He exudes warmth and friendship and embodies a sense of community.
Asked why he was initially attracted to Upperville, he laughed and said, “It seems everybody in Upperville lives longer. There’s something to that.”
So, on Fifth Sunday evenings, if you’re looking for the village folk, wander over to “Ed and Kimberley’s church.” That’s where you’ll find them, enjoying each other’s company, sharing stories, and honoring the history of Mt. Olive M.E. Church.
Photo by Michele Husfelt Ed and Kimberley Fogle at home in Upperville.
What’s Trending in Kitchen Appliances
By Tim Burch
With kitchens playing such a central role
in our daily lives, it’s not surprising we see as much innovation with appliances as we do our phone, cars, and other technologies. Thanks to the ever-evolving landscape, homeowners have countless options for appliances that combine functionality, efficiency, and aesthetic appeal.
One of the most significant trends in kitchen design is the seamless, integrated look. We tend to have more appliances in our kitchens than ever before, but we want to minimize their appearance.
Panel-ready appliances are at the forefront of this trend, allowing for refrigerators, dishwashers, and other large appliances to blend seamlessly with your cabinetry. This creates a clean, cohesive appearance that is both modern and elegant, making the kitchen feel more like an extension of your living space.
Technology is transforming our kitchens with smart appliances that make cooking easier and more precise. Innovative devices, such as the countertop Brava Smart Oven, use infrared cooking technology to eliminate the risk of burning and ensure meals are cooked perfectly every time. These smart appliances can be controlled via smartphone apps, providing convenience and control at your fingertips.
Induction cooktops are becoming increasingly
popular due to their efficiency, speed, and precise temperature control. They use electromagnetic technology to heat pots and pans directly, resulting in faster cooking times and less energy consumption. Additionally, the cooktop surface remains cool to the touch, enhancing safety in the kitchen.
In the quest for efficiency and convenience, multifunction cooking appliances, like combination ovens, are becoming a kitchen staple. These versatile appliances combine the capabilities of a traditional oven and microwave or convection oven, allowing for a wide range of cooking methods in a single unit. Maximizing space and maintaining a streamlined
look are key aspects of modern kitchen design. Under-counter refrigeration units, such as beverage coolers and drawer-style refrigerators, are perfect for keeping drinks and frequently used items within easy reach. Additionally, microwave drawers remain a popular choice for homeowners looking to improve kitchen ergonomics. These units can be integrated seamlessly into the cabinetry, maintaining the kitchen’s sleek appearance.
For larger families or avid entertainers, a single dishwasher might not be enough. The trend of installing multiple dishwashers in a kitchen is gaining popularity, offering the convenience of having one for everyday use and a second for handling larger loads after gatherings. This setup ensures that your kitchen stays clean and organized.
Butler’s pantries also are making a comeback as a functional space to prepare and store food, keeping the main kitchen area tidy. These secondary kitchen spaces are ideal for meal prep, storing large appliances, and even housing additional dishwashers and refrigerators. A butler’s pantry helps maintain a clutter-free kitchen, making it a practical addition for those who love to entertain.
As you can see, the kitchen design arena offers an explosion of options. A proven design professional can help navigate the decisions to ensure you get the kitchen that will work perfectly for you.
Tim Burch is a Vice President and Owner of BOWA, an award-winning design and construction firm. For more information, visit bowa.com.
Tim Burch
1600 BRIGGS RD
BERRYVILLE, VA 22611
LISTED FOR $2,800,000
5 BD | 3/1 BA | 4,000 SQ FT | 74 AC
Kittery Point - iconic property for the Blue Ridge Hunt. The home has been central to the hunt for decades.
3433 BISHOP MEADE RD BOYCE, VA 22620 SOLD FOR $751,250
3 BD | 2 BA | 2,466 SQ FT | 33.89 AC
Located on a private working farm with pastoral and mountain views. Fenced for horses and cattle. Includes a windmill.
GIBSON HALL
UPPERVILLE, VA 20184
SOLD FOR $2,250,000
4 BD | 4/1 BA | 6,500 APPROX SQ FT | .94 AC
Gracious historic home in Upperville, Virginia with beautiful gardens and mountain views.
Upperville Auto & Deli Has Just What The Locals Need
By Michele Husfelt
Missy, the chief cook, (and really the boss) asked Billy for his order. They’d been sitting in the windowsill, shooting the breeze for a while.
“The usual,” she answered herself, and then proceeded to rattle off Billy’s usual—“fried eggs with baloney on regular bread?” Billy nodded with a smile. She headed to the tiny kitchen while Billy made his way to the rack of chips. As he opened the cooler for a Gatorade, he and Larry chatted about the heat as Larry placed a few egg cartons on the counter he’d been saving to bring by.
A small space compared to most, Upperville Auto & Deli has just what the locals need. Where else in the village can you find fresh eggs, ice, beer, sodas, gas, breakfast, lunch, an auto mechanic, and a community of “regulars” all under one tin roof?
A family affair, it’s owned and operated by Jeff Stanford. He’s the solo mechanic and his mother, Missy, runs the kitchen. While Jeff has owned the store and Citgo gas station close to 25 years, some of the regulars have been coming for 50 or 60 years, they fondly recall.
Jimmy, the Ivy Hill Cemetery caretaker across the road, remembers coming here as a kid with his dad, who was the town postmaster. He still stops by almost every morning. Over July 4th weekend, when the store closed for three days, Jimmy teased that he wasn’t sure how he was going to survive.
“It’s the atmosphere,” said Joe, when asked why he frequents the place. About that time, in walked Jerry and they shook hands and caught up since Jerry had been out of town a few weeks.
“We don’t open until 6:30 in the morning, but the regulars come in the back door starting around 6 o’clock,” Missy said. “They talk with each other and carry on while I fix their breakfast sandwiches.” It’s just plain ol’ cookin’. There’s nothing fancy about it. I make more deviled eggs than I care to.”
“And the BLTs are popular,” grandson Jackson added.
Missy mentioned one woman who comes in to buy potato salad and deviled eggs. She told her one day that the real name should be “evil eggs,” and now Betsy comes in asking for “evil eggs.”
In the early days of owning the store, Missy drove a school bus for Loudoun County. She recalled getting off the bus in the morning and coming to the store to cook, and in the afternoon returning to don her bus driver hat. Occasionally, when the auto repairs are caught up, Jeff comes in to run the register or fry up eggs. Reluctantly, Missy admitted, Jeff’s eggs are better than hers.
The store also is the place in town where people drop off various items for others to pick up. Recent items included medicine for the animals and bank checks.
“She’s the personal secretary for the town,” said Jackson, who was running the register while coaxing his grandmother to tell more stories.
If you’re driving through Upperville and want to know where all the locals are, especially at breakfast and lunchtime, stop by the gas station.
“It’s like Cheers,” Bryan said. “Where everybody knows your name.”
Jerry, Missy, Joe, and Jackson
The Joy of Summer Lager
By Lisajoy Sachs
As the sun blazes and late summer temperatures rise, the allure of a cold, refreshing beverage becomes undeniable.
Among the vast array of choices, a well-crafted lager stands out as a quintessential summer drink. Its crispness, clarity, and balanced flavors make it the perfect companion for hot days. However, achieving the delicate balance of an excellent lager is an art form that involves meticulous brewing processes and the careful selection of noble hop varieties.
Lagers, unlike ales, are brewed and fermented at lower temperatures. This process requires precision and patience, often taking longer than other beer styles, sometimes six to eight weeks in a fermentation tank.
The word “lager” itself comes from the German word “lagern,” which means “to store.” This reflects the traditional practice of storing the beer in cool conditions for extended periods, allowing it to mature and develop its clean, crisp character.
Like all craft beers the lager brewing process begins with the selection of high-quality ingredients: water, malt, hops, and yeast. The water used is typically soft, with low mineral content, which helps in achieving the desired smoothness. The malt, often pale or Pilsner malt, provides a light base that forms the backbone of the lager’s flavor.
Hops play a crucial role in the brewing process, not just as a bittering agent, but also for their aromatic contributions. Noble hops, in particular,
are favored for crafting lagers due to their mild, balanced bitterness and pleasant aroma.
Noble hops are a group of traditional European hop varieties known for their unique and desirable aroma and flavor characteristics.
Noble hops are integral to the character of an excellent lager. These hops are prized for their subtle yet distinct aromas and flavors, which enhance the overall drinking experience without overpowering the malt base.
One of the key characteristics that distinguish lagers from ales is the extended fermentation and maturation period. After the initial fermentation, lagers are conditioned at near-freezing temperatures for several weeks to months. This process, known as lagering, allows the beer to clarify and develop its smooth, refined flavor profile. All of this from the ingredients to the
process, I have come to be familiar with as my role as guest relations manager at Lark Brewing Company in Aldie.
Enjoying a well-crafted lager in the summertime is a delightful experience. The balance of malt sweetness, hop bitterness, and crisp carbonation creates a refreshing beverage that quenches thirst and satisfies the palate.
Here are a few tips to fully appreciate an excellent lager during the warm months:
› Serve, cold, but not too cold, with a serving temperature between 38-45°F to allow the subtle nuances to shine through.
› Choose the right glassware. A tall, narrow glass such as a Pilsner glass helps showcase the lager’s clarity and carbonation. The shape also concentrates the aromas, enhancing the drinking experience.
› Pair with light, summery foods. Think grilled vegetables, light salads, and citrusy fruits. The beer’s crispness and mild bitterness complement these flavors without overwhelming them.
The delicate balance of an excellently crafted lager makes it the perfect beverage for summertime enjoyment.
A meticulous brewing process, extended fermentation, and careful selection of Noble hops all contribute to its clean, crisp character. So, the next time the sun is high and the heat is on, reach for a well-crafted lager and savor the refreshing harmony it brings to your summer days.
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So Many Marvelous Middleburg Memories for Nattie Kaye
By Leonard Shapiro
Nathalie Hazard Kaye, known to one and all in these parts simply as “Nattie,” will celebrate her 100th birthday in October. She arrived in Middleburg when she was eight and is the oldest living graduate of The Hill School, though conditions when she started in the fourth grade were not quite the same as the Class of 2024 ever experienced.
She was born in New York City and spent her early childhood living on Long Island until her parents divorced when she was eight. At that point, Nattie admitted recently she was “scared to death” about moving, with so many sudden changes in her young life. Nevertheless, she headed south with her mother, an avid rider to hounds who had visited the
Middleburg area several times and loved all it had to offer, particularly its equine opportunities.
At that point, Hill School, founded in 1926, no longer was conducting classes in what eventually became a bank building and now houses the King Street Oyster Bar. By 1936, the school had moved to a small building where the far more expansive current campus is located.
“We had two teachers, Miss (Anita) Thomas and Miss (Willie) James, who actually ran the school,” Nattie recalled. “Some of the parents had spoken with Mr. Buckley of the Buckley School in New York City and he helped them organize it and found the two teachers. There were 15 kids in the whole school.”
From Hill, it was on to boarding school in Massachusetts and a year of college at Sarah
Lawrence. “and then there was the war,” she said, as in the start of World War II. Nattie volunteered with the Red Cross as a nurse’s aide based at the Ashford Hospital in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia (now the Greenbrier Hotel). One weekend, she came home to Middleburg to attend a New Year’s Eve party held at a local school, and that night met Howard Kaye, who lived in the area.
She was 20 years old when they married, with another horsey connection in the mix. Howard’s mother had married Jack Skinner, a well-known Middleburg horse trainer who also had a working relationship with Hirsch Jacobs, a Hall of Fame New York trainer. Jacobs often sent his horses down to Skinner in Virginia for some rest and relaxation. And Nattie, a fine rider herself, frequently galloped those horses out in the field.
Nattie with with her stepfather, William P. Hulbert, known to most as Pappy.
Like her mother, Nattie also was an avid foxhunter and rode with the Middleburg, Piedmont and Orange County hunts. Howard Kaye, who preferred golf, nevertheless ended up running the Middleburg Training Track for many years when it was founded and owned by Paul Mellon. Howard Kaye passed away in 2006.
The Kayes also were among the first members of the then fledgling Middleburg Tennis Club in the early 1960s. Nattie eventually gave up riding when the second of her three sons was born, but played tennis and golf for many years. The three
boys, Howard Jr., Woody and Billy, all were Hill School graduates, of course.
“There were about ten families and we all had little kids and we wanted them to learn how to play tennis,” Nattie recalled. “Molly and Charlie Morgan’s parents (Pat and Annie Morgan) had the property and Jack Skinner’s stable had been near there too. We had two courts, and Polly Dudley was the first tennis pro. Then it was Morgan Dennis. He had been captain of his boarding school tennis team and he was hired and never left.”
Nattie began her own long working career when she joined Middleburg Real Estate, then owned by Bud Morency. She eventually bought him out and ran the firm for more than 25 years, with some rather interesting clients, to say the least.
She sold Abe and Irene Pollin their Middleburg home when Abe Pollin owned the Washington Bullets/Wizards NBA franchise. She sold author Herman Wouk (The Caine Mutiny, which won a Pulitzer Prize; The Winds of War and War and Remembrance) his Middleburg house.
She also showed property in the area to a brash boxer named Muhammad Ali. “He had a whole bunch of henchmen around him,” she described Ali’s hangeron entourage, “and they all wanted him to buy so they’d have a place to live. But I don’t think he had much interest in it.”
Nattie had both great interest and great success in the real estate business. “It was fun,” she said. “I knew most of the farms and the owners around here, and I had a lot of listings.”
She eventually sold her firm to one of her agents, Chris Malone, but actually came out of retirement at age 88 to show and sell properties for her friends Gloria Armfield and the late Ruth Miller, who had started their own real estate business.
These days, Nattie Kaye is living in the same house she’s occupied for 55 years. It backs up to the Glenwood Park steeplechase racing course, where she and Howard often invited friends on race days to join them for their own private tailgates about as close to the action as possible.
She’s also been a huge fan of author Dick Francis and his racing related mysteries, which is exactly what one might expect from one of horse-crazy Middleburg’s most iconic and delightful residents.
Up and over for avid equestrian Nattie Kaye in the hunt field.
Photo by Leonard Shapiro
Nattie Kaye at home with her sons, Bill (left) and Woody.
Perspectives on Childhood, Education, and
Parenting Whoopee, They’re Phone and Screen Free
“Summer Camp! It’s the most effective way I know of to reverse the phone-based childhood and restore a playful, real-world childhood, at least for a few weeks each summer.”
– Jonathan Haidt,
author of The Anxious Generation
By Tom Northrup
For my last three ZEST articles I’ve been joined by Mike Wipfler, a friend, former colleague, and parent of two young children. With his brother Rob, Mike directs an overnight summer camp for boys in New Hampshire.
The topic of our last conversation was Jonathan Haidt’s new book, “The Anxious Generation,” which argues that two trends—the decline of play-based
childhoods in the 1980s and the rise of phonebased childhoods that began in the early 2010s—are transforming “childhood” and causing some children to miss out on important developmental experiences that will prepare them for healthy adulthoods.
Dr. Haidt emphasizes that parents and educators have the responsibility and the ability to provide the structure to curb children’s smartphone use at
Mike Wiplfler and Tom Northrup on the benefits of summer camp.
home and in schools. He recommends the following guidelines:
› no smartphones before high school
› no social media until 16 › phone-free schools
› more time each day for independent free play
Tom: Haidt is a strong advocate for overnight camps. Dr. Michael Thompson in “Homesick and Happy” (2012) also makes a strong case for the value of overnight camps. His main point is that children benefit from being away from their parents—many are often not offering them the latitude to learn from their mistakes and make independent decisions.
It seems to me that overnight camps address all four of Haidt’s recommendations. Am I missing something?
Mike: I don’t think you are. Technology-free overnight camps provide an ideal environment to give children a break from a “phone-based childhood.” I feel fortunate to have our family spend our summers in one.
When at home, we’re all creatures of habit. Any new restriction—a reduction in screen time or access to social media—will likely be met with some resistance (to put it mildly) from our children.... especially if their friends don’t have the same rules. But camp is different. Everyone here is screen-free, so it’s not seen as punishment, but rather is accepted as the normal way of life.
Tom: Do your campers ever talk about missing their phones or screens?
Mike: Every Sunday we have an all-camp meeting. Last week I asked the campers to share their thoughts about being screen-free here. The first response
came from Andrew, a 12-year-old from St. Louis. He said, “There are a lot of things I miss from home. But surprisingly, the thing I miss the least are my devices.” When I asked if others felt the same way, over half the group raised their hands.
Tom: Why do you think that is?
Mike: Two main reasons: community and opportunity. Campers are surrounded by their peers and all interactions are in person. So there are always people to talk to and play with. Secondly, camps keep campers busy with all sorts of fun, novel experiences, and campers have free time as well.
Tom: Did your campers have other insights about life without devices?
Mike: I wish I had recorded last Sunday’s meeting. It would have been great material for Haidt’s book tour or our camp’s website!
A 15-year-old from Connecticut shared how social media had the tendency to make him feel lonely— seeing everyone else having fun together. But at camp, he felt less lonely because he was constantly with his friends, hanging out and participating in activities.
A boy from New York City shared that he’s more willing to take risks and try new activities, knowing that his camp friends would support him and that no one was going to post his early struggles or make fun of him on social media.
A 13-year-old from Los Angeles talked about how much easier it was to communicate and joke with his friends at camp, when they were together and could hear each other’s tone of voice and see each other’s body language—compared to home, where most of
his communication was via text.
And a 14-year-old from New York City noted how nice it was to be able to do nothing. At home, whenever he had a free moment or some down time, he would grab his phone and start scrolling through social media or play on-line games. But at camp, he really enjoyed having the chance to just lie around and chill out.
Tom: Were there any responses that surprised you?
Mike: When I asked the group how camp would be different if campers were allowed to have phones, two campers gave me humorous and unexpected answers: a 10-year-old from Illinois said that campers would be constantly late; this seemed counterintuitive as most people use their phones to keep track of the time.
But he argued that campers would be too busy playing video games, and would need to finish certain levels, before they could put away their phone and move to the next activity.
And a 12-year-old from Brooklyn said we’d be overrun with random food deliveries arriving from GrubHub and UberEats...little does he know that such services would never travel to our remote location!
Tom: I hope you’ll continue these discussions with your campers. When they return home, it seems to me that they could be valuable consultants for their parents and friends to help educate them on the benefits of limiting screen time. When they return next summer, it will be instructive to learn if they and their friends have limited their screen time.
Greer’s Antiques
GREER’S ANTIQUE CONSERVATION
Celebrating 30 Years of Community Music School
By M.J. McAteer
The basement of the Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville isn’t your typical musty space inhabited by piles of junk just too good to throw away. Instead, it’s home to the “world-wide headquarters” of the Community Music School of the Piedmont (CMSP).
“Worldwide” is a whimsical exaggeration on the part of the school’s executive director and co-founder, Martha Cotter. CMSP actually offers classes no farther flung than Stephens City, but the community part of the school’s title is no joke. The nonprofit, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, owes much of its existence to all the support it has gotten from the Piedmont area.
Perhaps most critical to the school’s success has been the willingness of local churches to provide classroom and lesson space at below-market rates. In addition to Trinity Episcopal, the school operates out of Emmanuel Church in Middleburg, Grace Episcopal in The Plains, the Church of Our Redeemer in Aldie, Grace Episcopal in Berryville and Trinity Lutheran in Stephens City.
“We are so respectful of that relationship,” said Cotter, who founded the school with fellow Middleburg area resident Shannon Davis. Having lower occupancy costs helps keep fees down and has enabled the school to give out $150,000 in scholarships over the years.
Cotter is not a musician herself, though she once dabbled in guitar. She left a banking career to start the CMSP after seeing how the area didn’t offer many opportunities to experience music. “It was entrepreneurial, which is really a fun thing to do,” she said.
These days, her job is mostly to fundraise, and she’s been successful in getting grants and gifts from public and private agencies and foundations, businesses, many of them local, and private donors.
The school’s biggest fundraiser is its annual candlelight concert. Last year, Tom and Nancy Dungan hosted the concert at their Elysian Fields farm in The Plains. Pianist Brian Gantz performed. Next year, the concert will be on Feb. 2 and will feature pianist Tanya Gabrielian.
All of Cotter’s outreach work has resulted in a school that over the decades has grown from two instructors to 20, and from six students to more than 250. The CMSP now is able to offer private and group lessons across a range of instruments, including the harp. It also holds workshops, like last summer’s winds and brass chamber camp.
T. Huntley Thorpe III
Karen E. Hedrick
Robin C. Gulick
CMSP instructors are a presence in the area’s private schools, too, with its instructors variously teaching at Hill School in Middleburg, Wakefield School in The Plains and Powhatan School in Boyce.
Children are a particular focus of the school. Its “Music Together” program, for example, teaches tiny tots how to sing in tune and keep a beat, and its free Instrument Petting Zoo program gives youngsters a chance to handle real musical instruments and learn firsthand about all the sounds they can make. Many instructors come from the graduate program at Shenandoah University’s Music Conservatory, and they are a talented and enthusiastic bunch, Cotter says. They can be prone to moving on, though, so she jokingly tells them, “If you’re going to leave, you need to replace yourself.”
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Most of the school’s students are young, too. Sarah Beach, 14, is studying cello and plans to continue with lessons at least through high school. Maybe, one day, she thinks, she might be able to play rofessionally.
In the meantime, her CMSP instructors are “very nice and helpful. I can connect with them,” she said.
Rebecca Whyley is one of the school’s rare adult students. She’s been playing piano since she was a child, and she calls taking lessons “a lifetime thing.” Her piano teacher, Szymon Czerniak, is a doctoral candidate at the Music Conservatory. He has deep ties to Poland and has studied music there, and Whyley said he’s helped her access the emotions of the difficult Chopin pieces she hopes to play in recital.
CMSP is still growing, albeit modestly. It held its first voice camp last summer and a new wind and brass workshop is in the works. Christina Callahan, the school’s registrar, has been focusing on raising the school’s modest profile, partly by amping up its presence on social media.
Despite the “worldwide” moniker, however, “We are not out to create an empire,” Cotter said. “But if we can bring music to our underserved community, that’s a big, big plus.”
Photo by M.J. McAteer CMSP co-founders Shannon Davis and Martha Cotter.
A chamber music session.
Essential Equine Equipment: A TIE CLIP
By Leslie VanSant
The late, great John Veitch was an old school horseman, which meant that everything was just so in the Hall of Fame trainer’s shed row. He had standards, not only for the horses in his care, but also for the people who cared for them.
My husband, Wayne VanSant, worked several years as John’s assistant trainer at major race tracks across the country. “We never saddled a horse for a race without wearing a coat and tie,” Wayne explained. “We dressed properly out of respect for the sport, the tradition and John.”
Saddling a horse requires a lot of moving around. Consider a deadfit 1,200-pound animal that knows it’s about to run. Fast. And over a long distance at breakneck speed. You’re trying to get the saddle on, the jockey up on its back and the pair over to the track safely.
All while properly dressed to John Veitch’s standards. In this situation, a tie clip is not just an accessory, but an essential part of a race-day uniform. With your tie clipped to your shirt, it minimizes any distractions—like a tie flapping up in the eye—while keeping one more piece of equipment properly secured.
“It was January, 1992, and I was getting ready to take Memories of Pam up to the paddock at Gulfstream Park,” Wayne recalled. “She was running in a prep race for the Sewanee River Handicap later in the meet. I stopped by the gift shop because I needed a tie clip. I bought one, and the mare won her race that day. Of course, the tie clip must have been lucky.”
The clip stayed with Wayne across his career and, until 2023, when working as a steward at a local steeplechase meet, it just gave up and fell apart.
The tie clip may or may not have been lucky. Memories of Pam won the prep, but not the stakes race. But the next time you see Wayne at a steeplechase meet, check out his new tie clip and ask him to tell you the story about Memories of Pam, Carlos the hotwalker, and her size seven racing plates.
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On the 80th anniversary of D-day, author John Ross gave a short talk at Middleburg Books about his book, “The Forecast for D-day,” and the weatherman behind General Dwight Eisenhower’s greatest gamble. Had Ike not listened to his meteorologist and postponed the invasion of Normandy for 24 hours until June 6, 1944, D-day would have failed.
Courtesy Lost Barrel
Dan Sickmen, head brewer at Lost Barrel Brewing in Middleburg, with retired Washington Nationals star Ryan Zimmerman celebrating the launch of the No. 11 Kolsch beer. Zimmerman recently attended the launch party at Lost Barrel for the beer that bears his long-time uniform number with the Nats.
Bob Dale of Middleburg’s Wednesday Whacker golf group had his second career hole-in-one recently at a Whacker outing at the Sly Fox course near Front Royal. It came at the 122-yard 16th hole and his weapon of choice was a 9-iron.
The Virginia Piedmont Heritage Association held their Summer Social and Ian MacDougall (green shirt), the organization’s public programs coordinator, jumped right in to serve adult beverages and ice tea or lemonade for little ones at their Atoka headquarters.
And Linda Volrath, Country
ZEST’s “Official Fine Artist,” brings us something fun on two legs instead of her usual stunning images of horses. For this issue, meet “Rooster Dude.”
“He’s from one my trips to Portugal,” Linda told us. “One of many roosters that are common to see at their public parks. So fun to have chickens scampering around at almost every park over there!”
UPCOMING EVENTS
Marshall Graded Sale
Drop off Thursday, the day before the sale – 7:00AM-3:00PM Friday, August 9th @ 10:30AM 7404 John Marshall Highway, Marshall, VA See Marshall Sale Barn Tab on Website For More Information
Poultry and Small Animal Auction
Animal Take-in day of the sale from 8:00AM- 11:00AM August 10th, 2024 at 12:00PM
Contact: Stan Stevens (540)631-3523 or Emillie Stevens (540)222-2312
Expecting: No out of state birds • All poultry to be in cages 25% commission on ALL ITEMS Held at the Fauquier Livestock Market
Check us out on FB or our website at http://www.FauquierLivestockExchange.com Fauquier Livestock Exchange does not guarantee any items sold. Not responsible for accidents.
Photo
Photo by Howard Armfield.
Rural Gravel Roads: Byways not Highways
By Jane Covington and Emily Houston
This spring, the Virginia Legislature passed new legislation known as the “Rural Roads Bill.” Co-sponsored by three Loudoun legislators – Del. Geary Higgins, Sen. Russet Perry, and Del. David Reid – it specifies that state funds given to counties to improve unpaved roads may be used for improvements other than paving.
While the state code had always designated funds for road improvement, prior to this bill, many of Virginia’s counties, Loudoun in particular, believed the only improvement the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) could make to an unpaved road was paving it.
Thanks to an array of successful pilot projects, VDOT has recently demonstrated there are many new ways to reduce dust, potholes and washboarding on unpaved roads.
According to the Loudoun Preservation and Conservation Coalition’s Rural Roads Committee (RRC), “VDOT has proven that it has the know-how to rehabilitate even the worst unpaved road by fixing drainage, reshaping the roadbed, and compacting newly placed gravel that has a binder mixed in to it.”
America’s Routes, a small, Virginia-based nonprofit created by preservationists and journalists has championed the legislation as part of their efforts to document, share and preserve the nearly 300 miles of unpaved roads in western Loudoun County to protect the local rural economies and lifestyles. Loudoun’s nearly 300 miles of breathtakingly
picturesque unpaved roads are unique in America, a living museum worthy of protection.
Each mile is part of a national treasure that immerses travelers in the natural beauty of the surrounding landscape while allowing them to travel routes that trace the birth of our nation.
Much of the land and buildings along these roads remains as it was hundreds of years ago. Trees along these roads that once offered shade to Civil War soldiers now provide respite from the sun for runners, hikers, bikers, equestrians, dog walkers or Sunday drivers.
Preserving the gravel roads also helps protect the wildlife and ecosystems that would be negatively impacted should these roads be paved. For example, high-speed traffic kills many animals and road surface treatments contaminate the water supply and impact flora and fauna. Protection of Loudoun’s rural road network is central to its sustainability. The gravel roads provide natural traffic calming and
The Loudoun County Conservation Coalition’s Rural Road Committee (RRC) is dedicated to the ‘drivability’ of its gravel roads. The RRC works with VDOT to improve materials and methods to make driving gravel roads a pleasurable, rural experience.
America’s Routes
America’s Routes is a local non-profit created to help preserve the rural economies and lifestyles of western Loudoun Country Virginia through the protection of its gravel roads. It aims to raise awareness and encourage preservation of Loudoun County Virginia’s nearly 300-mile rural road network and the historic landscape it connects, engendering enduring care and concern among residents, visitors and politicians for this unique resource, which is a treasure both for Virginia, and for the nation. To discover, experience and help protect northern Virginia’s gravel roads, visit AmericasRoutes.com.
discourage cut-through traffic. They also offer a social portal back to gentility. As Rachel Wetherkill, a mail carrier in Loudoun County said, “If paved roads are all about power and speed, gravel roads are all about cooperation and courtesy.”
The Hill School offers an education as unique as your child. Come visit our community to learn how our program of Total Education – strong academics and meaningful participation in art, music, sports, and theater – helps build character and confidence in our students and gets them started on the path to being happy, successful adults.
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Voted Best Private School in Loudoun County for Five Consecutive Years
Photo by Doug Graham
A morning walk along Green Garden Road. Area residents safely use the gravel roads as hiking trails for outdoor activity.
MODERN FINANCE
A Feel Good Health Savings Account
By Philip Dudley
If you’re enrolled in a high deductible health insurance plan, it may be time for a financial health checkup.
Philip Dudley
One of the great (if not the greatest) tax free compounders, the Health Savings Account (HSA), is hidden in plain sight and yet is either unknown or mismanaged. The Roth IRA is a popular double tax deferred vehicle for many Americans but income limitations eventually squeeze out high earners from making contributions. The HSA or “Medical IRA” could be a great option for many. There are times in life when things become very clear. For me it was when a client recently passed away and left 25-plus years of paying premiums into a long term care policy unused because she didn’t check all the boxes for the plan to kick in.
Tens of thousands of dollars went to the insurance company, and that’s when I decided to personally self-insure for future medical expenses. If you qualify, setting up an HSA is easy. You make annual contributions, currently $4,150 for an individual and $8,300 for a family. And there’s a catch up additional $1,000 if you’re over 55.
The strategy does require some discipline. If you can afford it, you basically pay out of pocket medical expenses until you reach retirement while contributing to an HSA and allocating those funds to a long-term capital appreciation strategy. If you’re young enough, contribute the maximum amount for 30-plus years and achieve historical market returns, you will have approximately $500,000 to spend on everything medical related, tax free, in retirement. If you’re following me, that’s tax free contributions plus tax free growth plus tax free withdrawals. This is the only triple tax free vehicle in the U.S. tax code.
Recent studies indicate that only 4-5 per cent of HSA’s receive the maximum annual contribution, only 7 per cent have balances in excess of $10,000 and only 10 per cent of current HSA’s are invested in something other than a money market. Basically, we have a massively underutilized and mismanaged taxdeferred vehicle that is used more or less like a savings account with a debit card. Wrong.
So how do you become a better saver for retirement? Well, first start contributing the maximum amount to an HSA if you qualify. Seek out a financial institution that offers HSA accounts and create a long term investment plan for the assets either on your own or hire a professional.
What about the remaining assets when you die? Don’t worry about it because the account can transfer tax free to your spouse for his/her benefit and upon your spouse’s death the assets are distributed to your children. The children will have to pay income tax on the amount received, but let’s just all agree to call that found money.
Improving Aerobic Capacity to Improve Health
By Mark Nemish
In my previous column, I discussed a method of assessing your aerobic fitness level by testing the concentration of lactate in the blood associated with exercise intensity, i.e., speed in running or power on a bike. The lower the blood lactate at a certain intensity or the greater the intensity at an associated lactate concentration, the greater the fitness level.
Mitochondria are microscopic organelles that are the powerhouse of nearly all of our body’s cells. They produce the energy (ATP) needed to perform all cellular functions of life: muscle contraction, organs to function, etc. As a result, the function, size, and number of mitochondria are crucial and representative of our overall health.
Poor functioning, small, and lower number of mitochondria are indicative of over-nutrition, poor aerobic conditioning, aging, and disease states.
The importance of being in better cardiovascular shape while we age was outlined in my first article. Those who are increasingly fit in their middle and later years of life live longer and stay freer from major all-
cause mortality diseases like cardiovascular disease, cancer, and many neurodegenerative diseases.
The research data on the relationship between fitness and health is compelling. Many in the aging research field are convinced that the genesis of decline in functional aging begins with a decline in mitochondrial function, size, and number.
However, what’s exciting is the notion that it’s never too late to improve your mitochondrial health through improvements in fitness.
Extensive research has found that many types of aerobic training, be it moderate intensity continuous training (MICT), high intensity interval training (HIIT), and sprint interval training (SIT) can be very effective for improving the function, size, and number of mitochondria.
MICT is more associated with Zone 2 training that utilizes a greater proportion of energy from our bodies’ stored fat, otherwise known as LIPOmax training. HIIT and SIT utilize more stored sugars (glycogen) to fuel workouts. Which one or which combination of methods you use depends on a number of factors—training status, amount of time to train (daily, weekly), motivation to succeed, pain threshold, etc.
Mark Nemish is currently the owner-director of Precision Health Performance in Round Hill, dedicated to optimizing the health and fitness of people in need of lifestyle change. He spent 22 years as head strength and conditioning coach for the Washington Capitals (200723) and Nashville Predators (1998-04) in the NHL. LIVING
judiciously, perhaps one or two times a week. MICT can be performed more frequently.
I would advise using all types, but employ the 80/20 rule; 80 per cent of the time, utilize MICT for 30-60 minutes a day. And 20 percent of the time incorporate HIIT/SIT throughout the week.
One of the benefits of HIIT/SIT methods is the less time it takes to perform them. In addition, much greater lactate concentrations will result with HIIT/ SIT workouts.
Research is finding that lactate from HIIT is important for signaling improvements in other health-related body functions, including enhancing mental acuity and cognition as we age.
My next article will outline a concept called Metabolic Flexibility and how type of exercise, disease states, such as Insulin Resistance, and nutrition can influence it. You’ll also learn how fasting lactate can be an important proxy for metabolic flexibility and health.
As one ages, however, HIIT or SIT workouts are harder to recover from and may need to be employed
Mark Nemish
Daniela Stephanz Anderson, The Pretzel Angel
By Chip Newcome
Daniela Stephanz Anderson, the Middleburg-based owner of The Preppy Pretzel, has a most altruistic mission.
“I want to give away as much as I can,” she said. “And use my business at every opportunity to help others in the community, whether it’s giving away food, employing those who have challenges getting hired (disabled, homeless, etc). And when the business has reached the level of success that’s in my dreams, I’d like to provide housing, counseling and jobs for kids who age out of foster care at 18….If you don’t dream big, why bother?”
Stephanz Anderson is an entrepreneur who also dreams big. She jokes that the definition of an entrepreneur is “someone who jumps off a cliff and builds the plane on the way down.” And, when she started The Preppy Pretzel, that’s pretty much what she did.
In 2022 she came up with a plan and jumped. Over the past two years, she’s also been building the plane and in the past eight months, she’s seen The Preppy Pretzel grow into a highly successful vendor business at farmers markets and college campuses she visits. There are always long lines of hungry folks waiting to purchase a traditional pretzel. She also does private and corporate events.
Stephanz Anderson, who had a popular wedding cake business in recent years, learned to make her authentic, Bavarian-style soft pretzels as a child in the Tyrolean Alps where her mother and grandmother lived on the border of Austria and Italy. Each pretzel is hand cut, rolled, and twisted using centuries old artisanal techniques.
The ingredients are all natural. She sources as many local ingredients as possible not only for her pretzels but also the toppings and fillings for which her specialty pretzels have become known. They come in a variety of shapes: classic twist, roll, bagel, baguette, bites and custom.
The Pretzel Lady also believes in giving back to communities where she sells her pretzels. Philanthropy is, quite literally, baked into the fabric of her business.
“At every market,” she said, “I bake an extra three or four dozen pretzels, and I give them away to the homeless.” At the Foggy Bottom market in D.C., she’s known as “The Pretzel Angel.”
She’s also found community spirit in the markets she visits. At one point, she was still trying to figure out how to do the markets, which includes set up, tear down, and everything in between, then packing everything into her car at the end of a long day.
One day, some fellow vendors saw her trying to get everything torn down and into her car. “They came over and said ‘No man left behind. We are not leaving you. We are going to stay with your stuff. Go get your car, and we are going to help you pack.’”
The Preppy Pretzel visits some of the most successful markets in the DMV, including Foggy Bottom, Silver Spring, and the Mosaic Market in Fairfax. She also sets up on college campuses and regional festivals.
Details: For more information, go to https://marketspread.com/vendor/96137/thepreppy-pretzel-countryside-confections-llc/
Photo by Chip Newcome
The Preppy Pretzel.
At Larkins Leatherworks, Just Bring It
By Emma Boyce
From the street, Larkins Leatherworks, an unimposing yellow building in the heart of Marshall, looks quiet and small. The numbers on the door, 8302, hang slightly askew, but once inside, the energy shifts.
Larkins owner Maryalice Larkin Matheson-Thomas stitches a new zipper into an old tall boot. A row of other boots lean against the table, next in line. Her partner, Kai Holle, sits across the room at a large desk, dissecting a saddle. A third assistant sews a strap back onto a horse blanket. The one-room building is abuzz.
“I’ve been in the horse business since I was a kid, so I’ve always had my hands on leather,” says Matheson-Thomas. She’s an east coaster, but she speaks with the cool, nonchalance of a bygone cowboy. “When I was in school, I made my own clothes because I didn’t like what was on the rack.”
It’s a sentiment that seems to sum up Matheson-Thomas and her many accomplishments, equestrian and otherwise, quite nicely.
Although Matheson-Thomas had the vision for a leatherworks store in Marshall some thirty years before Larkins came to fruition, the location and the people at her side have been worth the wait.
“I was taught how to stitch leather by hand and then I ended up getting these machines. Slowly but surely [Larkins was born].”
Matheson-Thomas first opened working alongside Luke Berg, the equally talented son of famed saddle maker Slim Berg. Matheson-Thomas learned from Berg and after his departure, Kai Holle stepped into the role.
“Kai’s interested [in leatherworks] and he’s talented,” she said, “We both kept schooling ourselves in saddle making and that’s how we got big. That, and there’s a demand for it.”
Now, halfway into its third year, Larkins has been a learning experience for both Matheson-Thomas and Holle, one that has taken them from the mountains of Montana and Wyoming to Smithville, Texas. It’s also home to Capstone saddlery, where both Kai and Maryalice took a class in saddle making from
“Our motto is you bring it and we wing it,” Holle laughs. It sounds like a joke, but part of it is true. He has seen everything from camel saddles to civil war relics to even a medicine man’s belt from Africa.
On an average day, one can find the pair altering bridles, repairing broken halters, patching worn boots and horse-gnawed blankets, but they also make their own leather goods from scratch. This includes everything from beautiful nosebands and bridles to elaborate stallion gear. Recently, Matheson-Thomas started offering custom chaps.
Larkins also has started offering custom Adam Ellis saddles for around $3,500, half the price of its French counterparts like Devoucoux or Antares. Larkins measures the saddles to fit both horse and rider. If the horse changes, as they often do, the wool flocking inside allows for future altering when necessary.
Capstone owner Carol Patty and Adam Ellis, owner of his eponymous saddlery.
Kai Holle sits across the room at a large desk dissecting a saddle.
Photos by Emma Boyce Maryalice Larkin Matheson-Thomas stitches a new zipper into an old tall boot.
Churches of Upperville: Help Wanted, Spectacular Help Found
By Leonard Shapiro
Cyndi and Duane Ellis, the owners of Middleburg’s popular Common Grounds coffee shop, have always believed in giving back to the communities where they lived and worked. They’ve devoted time, energy and money, quietly and with little fanfare.
And so, when Cyndi read a story in Country ZEST’s summer edition that the Churches of Upperville Outreach Program (CUOP) to supply food baskets to needy area families was looking for new leadership, she was immediately intrigued. And then she called a dear friend and mentor, long-time Upperville resident Dorothy Gow, who had volunteered in the program for many years.
“The first thing out of her mouth was ‘you’d be perfect,’” recalled Cyndi. “And then she said, ‘you know, it’s a lot of work.’ Well, I thought about it, thought about it, prayed about it and then I talked to Duane about what it would involve. He said, ‘are you sure about this?’ and I thought about it some more. I’d been
The CUOP handles a four-time distribution of food baskets at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter to 26 local families, a total of 98 recipients, including 55 children.
looking for something for a while, but there really wasn’t anything that really touched me.”
This did.
She soon contacted Peter Nicoll, who has headed the CUOP program with his wife, Patty, for the last 24 years. They’re now ready to pass the baton, and they agreed to meet Cyndi and Duane, who have lived in Middleburg since 2013, the following week at the home of Judy Washburn, another long-time volunteer.
Over the next two hours, the more they learned about the program, the more Cyndi was convinced this was exactly what she’d been searching for. “It takes care of people right here in this area,” she said. “It just seemed so right to me.”
“You don’t have to go very far outside this community to find people who need assistance,” added Duane. “We want to help where we can be most effective.”
The Churches of Upperville include Mount Pisgah Baptist, Trinity Episcopal, Upperville Methodist and Upperville Baptist. Volunteers from those churches and elsewhere participate. The CUOP handles a four-time distribution of food baskets at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter to 26 local families, a total of 98 recipients, including 55 children.
Families are chosen through recommendations from all four Upperville churches, as well as administrators at Banneker Elementary in Middleburg, Claude Thompson Elementary in Rectortown an W.G. Coleman in Marshall.
Last year, about $16,000 in food went to those families. The funds and the food are all donated by individuals, local businesses and organizations. And the Nicolls believe that Cyndi and Duane Ellis represent a perfect fit.
“They are both wonderful people,” Peter said. “Everyone we speak to gives them glowing reports. We couldn’t be happier.”
Added Patty, “they are very much a team. We could see the way they listened to each other, and it really does take two people. We feel very comfortable transitioning it over to them.”
That process will begin at CUOP’s crab feast fundraiser on August 16 at Slater Run Vineyard, and the Nicolls, Upperville residents for 40 years, will be there side by side with Cyndi and Duane.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Peter said. “We’ll be here to help them if they need us. That won’t change.”
A DAY in THE PLAINS
Saturday, October 5th, 2024 11:00-3:00pm
HOME SWEET HOME IMPROVEMENTS
Conserving, Protecting and Celebrating Wildlife
By Annie Bradfield
Few people realize that the region is so fortunate in having Blue Ridge Wildlife Center—one of the top, and one of only a few wildlife hospitals in the Mid-Atlantic.
Veterinary training in wildlife care is highly specialized, which is why veterinarians around the country travel to BRWC in Boyce to spend time training with Hospital Director Jennifer Riley, D.V.M. and the
BRWC began in 2000 as a hotline offering advice on how to assist injured, sick, or orphaned wildlife. Over the decades, it’s evolved into the region’s premier wildlife facility and the only wildlife veterinary teaching hospital
In addition to saving injured wildlife through medical care, rehabilitation and return to the wild, Riley and her team also research diseases such as avian flu, West Nile virus, and rabies. They study tick species in this area and tick borne illnesses and they work with other wildlife officials across the state and the U.S. as well as educational facilities like Virginia Tech to get this research published and in the hands of those who can use it to make crucial decisions regarding public
“Many people don’t realize the important role that wildlife centers like ours play in monitoring diseases that impact humans in addition to wildlife,” Riley said. “With diseases like avian flu now being seen in mammals, including humans, it’s critical that we closely monitor our patients and track any illness.”
Each year, BRWC cares for more than 3,500 patients while also fostering a deeper understanding of wildlife’s role in the ecosystem through education programs and research. BRWC also runs a number of programs for children and adults and teaches them how to best respect and care for wildlife.
On Sept. 28, BRWC will hold its largest annual fundraiser at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, in Winchester. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience cocktails in the museum’s cultivated sculpture gardens where BRWC’s animal ambassadors will also be available to greet them.
Dinner will follow featuring locally-sourced ingredients and then a live auction with unique, high-quality and well-curated items. Funds raised are crucial for BRWC, which operates without government funding, relying solely on private donations and fundraising events.
In addition, BRWC holds Porch Parties at its facility throughout the year. There’s no cost to attend and participants get a chance to see the Wildlife Walk (an outside area with the BRWC Ambassador animals). Education Director, C.J. White demonstrates the raptor ambassador’s skills and unique adaptations and explains the process he goes through to get the birds ready to take out to schools.
Porch Party attendees also get a chance to tour the clinic and hear from the veterinarians on how they manage their wildlife patients. All events provide a great opportunity for the community to learn more about local wildlife, protecting the eco-system and how they can get involved with BRWC.
Annie Bradfield is executive director of the Blue Ridge Wildlife Center. For more www.blueridgewildlifectr.org
Fine wine for the Blue Ridge Wildlife Gala.
A PATH THROUGH WILLISVILLE
In 2021, when this National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register marker was installed Carol Lee commented: “The sign looks beautiful, and we’re proud to see our historic village publicly recognized. This is the latest success story of the community working together to preserve our shared history.”
Friends of the Middleburg Museum and the Willisville Preservation Foundation gathered on North Madison Street in Middleburg recently for a very special event, a book signing with Carol Lee on the recently published book “A Path Through Willisville.”
The story of Willisville is one of strength and perseverance, of a community working together to make a better place for all. It’s about the people and the land.
The old school house and the old Willisville cemetery on the west end of the village and the Willisville Chapel on the east end are connected by historic Welbourne Road. It once served as the boundary for several large plantations worked by enslaved and free Black people who lived on or near the road.
After they were freed, several men and women bought small parcels and established the village of Willisville. Today many descendants of the original settlers live nearby, and many of the houses remain, retaining their historic characteristics.
In 2019, residents of the village and the broader Willisville community came together to form the Willisville preservation foundation and nominate the village to the National Register of Historic Places.
This book continues the foundation’s mission of honoring and preserving the community. The reader “walks“ through the village, parcel by parcel, learning about the original property owners, their immediate descendants and how the land evolved over time.
Bank where you breathe.
Since
MainStreet
Dwight Grant and his mother, Carol Lee.
KILKENNY FARM
Kilkenny Farm’s 968 acres sits at the edge of the village of Orlean in one of the most picturesque areas of Fauquier County with expansive views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, 17 miles to the west. The entrance to Kilkenny Farm is framed by spectacular Rhododendron. The long driveway passes the farm manager’s house, a stable, and then a large pond before the drive curves and ascends to the courtyard in front of the manor home.
Kilkenny’s Georgian style manor house, ca. 1935, was built with imported English brick, using old world craftsmanship. It is perfectly sited for one to enjoy the ultimate in privacy and gorgeous views. The home features a three-level center section flanked by one story wings, which form the courtyard. The wing to the right features a large mudroom, which connects the main body of the home to the three-car garage. The wing to the left houses guest quarters with two en-suite bedrooms.
The elegant center hall of the home runs the depth of the foyer and opens into the sunroom which bathes much of the first level in natural light. The home’s high ceilings, moldings, spacious rooms, and superb blending of indoor spaces to the out of door terraces, gardens and lawn make this an elegant and welcoming home.
In addition to the classically handsome manor house, there is a stunning, newly constructed second home designed by Andy Lewis, with the award-winning architectural firm of Neumann, Lewis and Buchanan. Also, perfectly sited to enjoy privacy and the views, this home feels timeless. The open floor plan is built on the stone foundation, and centers around the historic stone fireplace of the previous structure and features three bedrooms and three and a half baths. To the left of this home is a charming, completely renovated guest house/study.
Kilkenny Farm is a marvelously managed, working cattle farm, with well-maintained fencing surrounding the grazing land as well as protecting a section of Thumb Run. Located in prime Old Dominion Hunt territory, this is also wonderful land for horses. Just a few miles from Warrenton as well as I-66, Kilkenny Farm’s 968 acres create a beautiful escape. This exceptional property encompasses the beauty for which this area is known with its verdant rolling hills, expansive views and tremendous privacy.
The entrance to Kilkenny Farm is lined by spectacular Rhododendron.
The main Georgian style manor house at Kilkenny Farm is ca. 1935. It was built with imported English brick, using old world craftsmanship.
The elegant center hall of the home runs the depth of the foyer.
Stunning, newly constructed second home has a modern, open floor plan with rustic finishes - like exposed wooden beams.
The perfect space to read and relax.
Charming, completely renovated guest house/study.
Spacious kitchen offers an invitation for entertaining guests and family.
And finally, these two appropriately named girls, Claiborne and Waverly, took in every minute of the final Grand Prix competition at Upperville.
Winslow McCagg was part of the EAST WEST art exhibition at Long Branch Farm in Millwood and is shown here beneath one of his paintings.
Rob Banner.
The Orlean Community Trail System (OCTS) recently gave their Community Improvement Award to Bill and Natalie Zink of Orlean for setting their fence back a responsible 25 feet, allowing trail riders to connect farms across their road front. L-R: Bill Zink, Natalie Zink, OCTS President Becky Benoit. The OCTS has encouraged thoughtful land management for years. One of its goals includes encouraging landowners to build roadside fencing that is set back from the road by 20-25 feet. In part, the effort simply looks better to the eye, but practically, it allows easier access for riding mowers. In addition, a spacious fencing setback allows horseback riders or walkers to travel the road without risking an incident with a passing vehicle.
Photo by Melissa Phipps Gray.
Photo by Melissa Phipps Gray Megan Lark Caldwell with one of her paintings shown at Long Branch Farm for the EAST WEST art exhibition.
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Balls Bluff Battlefield Has Many Friends
By Joe Motheral
The Civil War Battle of Balls Bluff took place on October 21, 1861, just east of Leesburg with significant implications.
Confederates forced the Union troops in retreat to back up and get down the 80-foot bluffs into the Potomac River. A number of Union soldiers drowned and the Confederates won the day.
Bodies floated downriver to Washington and even as far as Mount Vernon in the days following the battle. A total of 223 Federals were killed, 226 were wounded, and 553 were captured on the banks of the Potomac later that night.
There’s now a small cemetery at the battlefield near Leesburg and a volunteer organization, Friends of Balls Bluff, has been responsible for overseeing its upkeep and occasionally holding events, particularly on October 21, the anniversary of the battle. The battlefield is also now part of The Northern Virginia Park Authority (NVPA).
According to the NVPA website, “Ball’s Bluff Battlefield Regional Park preserves the site of one of the largest Civil War engagement in Loudoun County. The conflict was fought….as part of Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan’s operations in Northern Virginia.
“While a minor engagement in comparison with the battles that would take place in years to follow, it was the second largest battle of the Eastern Theater in 1861, and in its aftermath had repercussions in the Union Army’s chain of command structure, and raised separation of powers issues under the United States Constitution during the war.
“Fifty-four Union Army dead from the Battle of Ball’s Bluff are interred in 25 graves in the half-acre plot cemetery; the identity of all of the interred except for one, James Allen of the 15th Massachusetts, is unknown.”
John Anderson, the Friends former chairman, said that after the battle, “they originally found 70 bodies. They tried to bury them but weren’t able to complete the job. Later they found bodies scattered all over and buried who they could but it didn’t become a cemetery until after the war. It’s probably the smallest Civil War cemetery in the country.”
As for the battle’s significance, Oliver Wendell Holmes, a Union officer from Massachusetts, was wounded there and later at several other engagements. He later became a widely respected Supreme Court justice.
Another officer in the Union Army, Colonel Edward D. Baker, was killed in the battle and was a close friend of President Abraham Lincoln. Col. Baker was originally from California, later became a senator in Florida, and subsequently moved to Illinois, where he met Lincoln.
The Friends outgoing chairman, Martin Johnson, said that because Balls Bluff was the second Union loss after Bull Run, “Congress decided to set up a committee to oversee the war. It was made up of Democrats and Republicans.”
Both Anderson and Johnson served in the U.S. Army, as did Joseph A. Kotch, the incoming Friends chairman. Kotch indicated that the Friends of Ball’s Bluff are all volunteers.
“We’re responsible for the stewardship of the Ball’s Bluff Battle Regional Park,” he said. “We do this service as tour guides, every Saturday and Sunday. (During work days) we concentrate on trail maintenance, mulch and cleanup of trees and brush and debris.”
Other activities involving the Friends include a Fourth of July celebration, a Ball’s Bluff Battle anniversary celebration, an annual remembrance dinner and a Balls’ Bluff Elementary School essay contest.
Details: The cemetery is located off Battlefield Parkway on Ball’s Bluff Road east of Leesburg. Go to www.novaparks.com/parks/balls-bluff-battlefield.
“America’s Best Bakery Destinations”
“One of America’s best small-town bakeries” TRAVEL+ LEISURE
Photo by Joe Motheral
Some of the graves at Balls Bluff Cemetery near Leesburg.
Preserving Middleburg’s
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Allowing tear downs and rebuilds can lead to the construction of larger, more modern houses that are not compatible with the size, scale, and style of existing homes, eroding Middleburg’s old-Town feel. This distinctive element is one of the
Another crucial concern is the protection of diverse housing sizes and options. Older homes often provide more varied housing options for people from all walks of life, whether teachers and police, to business owners or retirees. This is not the case with the recent trend to tear down and rebuild, where the
When developers tear down these homes to build larger, more expensive models, the overall cost of housing in the area tends to rise. Further, we lose the opportunity for what many call “starter homes” for those seeking to buy their
By tightening our development standards, the town seeks to curtail such displacement and ensure that a variety of housing options remain available to
Community sentiment plays a vital role in what we’re seeking to accomplish. Many residents have expressed concerns that new construction of oversized homes on small lots may not only alter the visual appeal but also affect the sense
In recent years, Middleburg has been veering towards a “vacation home” or “second home” location. While we welcome everyone, we also hope that we can continue to attract citizens who will place roots in Middleburg, engage in our activities and organizations, and support our local non-profit groups with time
C a l l t o s c h e d u l e y o u r s e r v i c e t o d a y !
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While development standards cannot dictate this sense of community, we believe the opportunity exists to preserve these unique neighborhoods, where our friends and family have and continue to live, and where the next generation
In conclusion, the town’s decision to tighten our standards and zoning is a pro-active measure to safeguard Middleburg’s character and maintain the unique
By addressing these concerns, the town hopes to strike a balance between necessary development and preservation, ensuring that its older, established neighborhoods continue to thrive and reflect the community’s rich heritage.
The Town has set up a specific page on its website to see the latest ideas and progress.
hen Elizabeth Taylor started dating then former Secretary of the Navy John Warner in the mid-1970s, she was not new to the Middleburg area.
She had come here years before to date William Douglas Pawley Jr., whose family owned Belvoir Farm in partnership with Jay Adams’ family. The Pawleys were building something in Cuba and owned land in Florida, so the Virginia piece was eventually sold.
William Pawley Jr. was 28 when he proposed to the then 17-year-old actress in 1949. She turned him down, and headed to Hollywood instead. Meanwhile, In Florida, Helen Hance Rathbun had dated another of the Pawley brothers, and occasionally the two couples had double dated.
Fast forward to 1976, when Elizabeth Taylor had married future Senator John Warner and Helen Hance had married Dean Rathbun. By chance, the two couples lived right across the Atoka Road from each other.
The Piedmont Hunt met one day at Dean Rathbun’s farm, and John Warner had said he and Elizabeth would attend as soon as John had completed a few phone calls.
In any case, Helen and Dean’s hunt breakfast was in full swing when Helen began to worry about seeing Elizabeth Taylor again after so many years.
At one point, she walked over to Dody Iselin Vehr as Dody sat in the front bay window and confessed to her about how she once used to double date with Elizabeth when they both were going out with the Pawley brothers many years ago, and long before Elizabeth had married any one of her seven husbands.
Dody, who was always everyone’s best friend, said to her, “Well make up your mind what you’re going to say because here come the Warners now.” In through the front door walked the Warners, and as Helen approached to welcome them, Elizabeth called out for all to hear, “Well Helen Hance, I never thought I would see you again!”
Elizabeth Taylor and John Warner
Virginia Guest Valentine and Jimmy Hatcher
Beth Fout and Jimmy Hatcher
JJimmy Hatcher and a Lifetime of Stories
By Leonard Shapiro
ames Linwood “Jimmy” Hatcher Jr., a long-time Middleburg area resident, a lifetime equestrian, and a masterful story-teller who regularly verbalized or wrote about his friendships with Averell and Pamela Harriman, Paul Mellon, Jackie Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor, died on June 26, 2024 in Richmond, Virginia. He was 89.
Mr. Hatcher had recently moved to a retirement community in Richmond, his home town, from his long-time residence in Upperville, Virginia where he was known to a legion of friends and neighbors simply as “Jimmy” or “Hatcher.” He was a regular presence around the village, walking his dog every morning and greeting anyone he ran into, two or four-legged, on the way to the post office or Trinity Church.
Mr. Hatcher wrote a popular column called “Carry Me Back,” for Country ZEST & Style, in which he recounted all manner of colorful stories about his myriad experiences as a long-time fox-hunter, talented horse show competitor and judge, a college student, an art dealer and a realtor.
A reluctant cell phone owner and not particularly enamored with computers, he wrote out his 450word columns in long hand on lined notebook paper, later to be transcribed on an editor’s laptop. He never blew a deadline and over five years, missed only one edition, when his move to Richmond occupied all of his time before the June, 2024 issue.
Once settled in Richmond, however, he was back at it. He mailed in his final column for the magazine’s upcoming August edition, and it arrived five weeks before it was scheduled to be published. It began… “When Elizabeth Taylor started dating John Warner, she was not new to this area.”
Mr. Hatcher definitely was not a name-dropper. Any name he dropped, he usually knew. And knew well.
Earlier this year, he ended another column with a
reference to the older brother of Helen Wolfe, one of his childhood friends growing up in Richmond.
“And oh,” he wrote, “have you guessed by now that my ghost writer, T.K., Helen’s big brother, was, indeed, none other than Tom Wolfe, who later in life became the acclaimed author of “The Right Stuff” and “Bonfire of the Vanities?”
Mr. Hatcher was born on April 6, 1935 in Richmond, the son of James Linwood Hatcher and Martha Barrow Hatcher. He grew up in the Ginter Park section of the city, graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School and Hampden-Sydney College where he was president of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.
From a young age, he was always enamored with horses and, at 16, was champion of the first Loudoun Junior Horse Show in Middleburg in 1951 on Candlewick. Several years later, he qualified to ride in the Maclay Finals at Madison Square Garden in New York, a prestigious equitation event.
After college, he served in the U.S. Army and later joined his family’s Richmond heating oil business, Wingfield Hatcher.
Mr. Hatcher decided to move to the Middleburg area in 1966 and soon was deeply immersed in the town’s horsey culture and social life. He was an avid fox hunter, frequently riding with his friends, Paul Mellon, and Pamela Harriman. He often accompanied Mrs. Harriman on trail rides around her Middleburg estate, where Mr. Hatcher also kept his horse and worked for the Harrimans.
He continued to compete in and to judge horse shows for a number of years and was named to the Virginia Horse Show Hall of Fame in 2004. He was chosen for the Upperville Horse & Colt Show’s Wall of Honor in 2007 and was a long-time supporter of the National Sporting Library & Museum in Middleburg
Over the years, Mr. Hatcher worked in the real estate business in the Middleburg area. He also was
a talented artist, and in his 60s became a devoted practitioner of yoga and pilates. He was an avid walker, in recent years usually accompanied by his beloved dog, Ricky. He also loved to dance.
Mr. Hatcher was a long-time member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville, where he once served on the vestry.
He was predeceased by a sister, Anne Hatcher Jennings. He is survived by a nephew, Joseph Ashby Jennings III and his wife Elizabeth of Richmond, and his niece Ashby Jennings Hatch and her husband Ian of Dallas, Texas. He also had five grand nieces, MacNair Jennings Cox, Grace Jennings, MacKenzie Hatch, Anne Gamble Jennings, and Ainsley Hatch.
Mr. Hatcher once said he suffered a number of horse related injuries, including a fractured skull at the age of 14. But he never stopped riding until he finally hung up his tack at age 80 when his 18-yearold mare was injured. He told one interviewer at the time, “That seemed like a good time to stop.”
But he never stopped telling stories, verbally or in print.
One of his favorites involved business magnate, politician and diplomat Averell Harriman, the former New York governor who retired in Middleburg and owned an estate off the Foxcroft Road.
“Averell Harriman, who just happened to own the Union Pacific Railroad, produced a train for the trip to California and each player had his own private railroad car,” Mr. Hatcher began one paragraph in a 2023 column about a West Coast polo match involving several local and nationally prominent players, including Jock Whitney. “Since Liz Whitney and Jock were not yet married, Liz also was accompanied by a chaperone.
“I once asked Liz about the chaperoned polo trip,” Mr. Hatcher continued,“and she said yes, it was true and that, ‘Jock had Averell put Winston Guest’s railroad car behind the horses, the better to keep Winston away from me.’”
Hatcher on horseback captured by artist Wally Nall.
Buckle That Chinstrap
By John Sherman
Iam, like most people, afraid of heights. I stay clear of observatories and cleaning gutters.
I went to college in a small town in central Pennsylvania. The only social life, and the only cover for underage drinking, was to join a fraternity. The parties were hedonistic, at least for our age. Guys, full of beer, would try to coax a young sorority sister into a back seat, only to be stumped by the “age of the girdle.”
One Sunday morning, after getting hammered the night before, I was confronted by a brother with a slip of paper in hand. It read something like: “I bet $100 dollars I can jump out of a plane.” Followed by our shaky signatures. Option one was to suffer the humiliation and somehow come up with the cash. I chose option two.
Outside the town, single engine planes could land on a grassy runway. That’s where some enterprising pilot set up a skydiving shop. This was 1961, and few people had even heard of the sport. Jumping out of a plane?
They jumped on Saturdays. The night before, six of us gathered around a long plywood rigging table, each with a pile of thin orange material and a pack. In our group was a girl about my age. An instructor, a former paratrooper, began showing us
how to lay out our chutes.
I should have walked out right then. The prospect of complete know-nothings packing their own chutes was idiocy. I will say that we were very closely examined. The packs were gathered for the next morning.
I borrowed a brother’s car and refused to bring him along for the show. It’s one thing to flub a tennis serve; it’s quite another to flub jumping into the sky.
We made a circle just off the air strip, with the instructor (let’s call him “Sarge”) in the middle with a small pile of football helmets—-with face guards. We all felt a lot safer. Whatever happens, my brain will survive. It was definitely too late to quit.
Sarge’s instruction was a bit shorter than I wished. He brought us alongside a single engine Piper Cub, or its cousin. The pilot explained the altimeter and said we would be jumping from 4,000 feet. Whatever. Behind the pilot were two seats and a static line up bar.
“Where’s the door?” one of us asked. “Ain’t none,” replied Sarge.
Our chutes had developed little since WWII. The canopies were round and ribbed. Once deployed, we had two handles for left and right. We were also issued a reserve chute—-just in case—strapped to our bellies. If your principal chute failed, we were instructed to roll face up, pull the ring and play out the backup by hand.
Understand how primitive our getup was. Like comparing a Chevy stick with a Tesla.
Paratroopers, carrying 70-pound packs, were dropped from as few as 700 feet. It was a secondslong plummet onto the battlefield. Today’s RAMair chutes are like jumping into a sofa. Instead of a round canopy, it’s rectangular, large and sectioned into cells that increase air resistance and allow you to fly, instead of drop. (Give a holler if you can’t grasp “terminal velocity.”) Now jumpers ride tandem on the backs of pros. Chickens.
Sarge explained the two most common chute failures. The first is “Maggie’s Drawers” when a line cuts the parachute into two billows. The second is a “streamer” where the parachute is deployed, but doesn’t open.
Sarge laid out an example:
“So you jump from, say, 4,000 feet. You look up and you got Maggie’s Drawers. By that time you’re down to 3,000 and falling fast. You roll over and feed out your reserve chute. You’re now at less than 1,000 feet and falling faster. Your backup chute doesn’t open. You try to untangle it. By that time you’re down to six feet.
“And any sumbitch can jump from six feet.” He demonstrated how to land and roll and gather our chute. And to get out of the way of the next jumper.
“So who’s first?” The girl raised her hand. Whoa. I don’t remember why—-maybe to just get it over with—-I raised mine.
We fastened the chinstraps of our football helmets. She had a little trouble with the step aboard; I pushed her up and in. I don’t remember exchanging a word. I can’t even remember what she looked like.
The plane taxied, took off and seemed to climb in circles. We watched our compatriots disappear; only the tiny planes remained visible. The pilot pointed to where we took off and said, “This is your landing zone. You won’t have any problem with the power lines off to your right. Don’t forget to steer with your handles.”
There was no question I would jump first, not so much out of chivalry as getting the hell on the ground.
Then he explained that we didn’t drop from the door. Instead we had to lean out and grab a wing strut, swing out and let go. The terror gauge jumped from five to nine.
Hanging on from the moving plane was only matched by silent movie star Harold Lloyd hanging on to the hands of a large clock. The pilot shouted to jump.
After the tug of the chute opening with no impediments, all went silent, save for the whistle of cross breezes. Far away I could make out the Allegheny mountains and the Susquehanna River snaking through town. As the earth rose up, the drop zone was just below.
I hit the ground, rolled, gathered in my chute, took off my helmet and was gripped with relief and elation. Mission accomplished. Back then there were no high-fives.
I drove back to the fraternity house and got hammered.
GOOD HOME FARM
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EXCELLENT COMMUTER LOCATION IN TOWN FOR SHOPPING CONVENIENCE
3 BEDROOMS | 4 BATHROOMS
50+ ACRES W LARGE WORKSHOP
70 X 170 INDOOR RIDING ARENA
4-STALL EQUESTRIAN FACILITY
5 BEDROOMS | 6 BATHROOMS
PAINTER’S HILL 118 Inez Ln | Stephens City, VA 22655 $899,990
2+ ACRES W ORCHARD VIEWS BRAND NEW CONSTRUCTION 10 X 20 COMPOSITE DECK
ROSECROFT 35159 Rosecroft Ln | Middleburg, VA 20117
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OAKENDALE
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John Coles | 540-270-0094
HUNTLAND
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John Coles | 540-270-0094
LEEDS MANOR
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John Coles | 540-270-0094
KILKENNY
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John Coles | 540-270-0094
DELAPLANE MANOR
75+ acres | $3,900,000
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John Coles | 540-270-0094
202 SYCAMORE ST.
.26 acres | $849,999
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BOLINVAR
100 acres | $9,500,000
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John Coles | 540-270-0094
EPONA FARM
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MERRY OAKS
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