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
$5,300,000
Paul MacMahon 703.609.1905
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
RAMEY ROAD
MARSHALL, VIRGINIA
Discover the potential of this expansive 86-acre property located on Ramey Road in Marshall | This versatile land offers a mix of pastures, mature hardwoods, and scenic views, making it ideal for various rural uses | The property provides a perfect canvas whether you are looking to establish a working farm, create an equestrian haven, or build your dream home in a tranquil setting In conservation easement
$1,150,000
anne Michael Greene 703.774.4748
WOODCROFT
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
BRICQUEBEC
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
$1,850,000
Paul MacMahon 703.609.1905
OLD ALDIE RECTORY
ALDIE, VIRGINIA
Historic home circa 1803, in village of Aldie | Originally a parsonage, part of land surveyed by George Washington | Four bedrooms, two full and one half bath, six fireplaces and old wood floors | Front and rear porches, garden, in-ground pool, hot tub, entertainment area, gazebo, walkways and patios | Large studio or office | Conservation easement | FIOS available
$995,000
Paul MacMahon 703.609.1905 helen MacMahon 540.454.1930
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
SAINT LOUIS ROAD
PURCELLVILLE, VIRGINIA
Hard to find 9.58 acres between Middleburg and Purcellville Mountain views, woods and pasture with frontage on Beaverdam Creek
$600,000
Paul MacMahon 703.609.1905
CRABFEAS
‟It was so nice to have the article in ZEST and have Cyndi and Duane read it and decide to take it over.”
— Peter Nicholl
ACyndi Ellis and Patty Nicoll with Duane Ellis and Peter Nicoll. After 24 years, Patty and Peter are turning the yearround Churches of Upperville charity over to Cyndi and Duane, so thank you and best wishes to all.
The Rev Jonathan Adams of Trinity Church and Jana Adams.
Pastor Philip Lewis of Mount Pisgah with Slater Run Vineyard owners Kiernan and Chris Patusky and Christine Lewis. Betsy Crenshaw.
Dave Rice and Virginia Millington.
Rick and Michele Woodie.
t Slater Run Vineyard to benefit the Churches of Upperville: Mount Pisgah Baptist, Trinity Episcopal, Upperville Baptist and Upperville Methodist outreach program that serves food baskets at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines and Easter to local families..
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 Newcome
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
Doug Gehlsen and Karen Monroe of Middleburg Photo
To capture the cover photo for this issue, I used my typical setup involving two strobe lights. The larger key light was positioned to my left, while the fill light was on my right. I used a 60" Profoto Umbrella and a 36" Profoto Umbrella for the fill light. Umbrellas are user-friendly and provide direct lighting. By balancing the lighting power and distance, I was able to create depth with shadows and highlights. This setup has consistently produced great results for cover shoots and ensures uniformity across all covers.
/ Country Zest and Style / @countryzestandstyle / @countryzestand1 www.countryzestandstyle.com
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
BACK TO THE PAST
By Leonard Shapiro
“Don’t know much about history” began the classic Sam Cooke song “Wonderful World” written in 1960. Too bad Sam never had the good fortune to meet the three gifted men on our cover of this fall issue of Country ZEST.
That would be Alex Nance, executive director of the Atoka-based Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area (VPHA), Travis Shaw, director of education, and Ian MacDougall, the public programs coordinator. This talented trio, all great friends, are taking the organization to new heights, all the while spreading the word far and wide, to young and old, about the rich history of our region.
We’ve profiled all three and told you a bit more about the VPHA, and by no means is that the end of our history content in the first issue of our sixth year of publication.
Denis Cotter has a fascinating story about controversial World War II General George S. Patton and his connection to the Middleburg area. He was an enthusiastic equestrian—often going fox chasing and playing polo out here— and you won’t believe his connection to another storied local military man, Confederate guerrilla leader John Mosby.
John Toler has contributed another illuminating local history piece, this one on the origins of the railroad line that crosses northern Fauquier County, where freight trains continue to come rumbling through to this day. It started as the Manassas Gap Railroad in 1851, built to connect the farms and markets in the Shenandoah Valley eastward to markets in Alexandria.
Ever wonder about the origins of the road named Zulla that connects Middleburg to Marshall? John Ross has written all about it, including the fact that it once was known as Jericho Turnpike, a famous road where I grew up on Long Island. What’s the connection? You can read all about it in this issue.
The here and now also is definitely well represented. Middleburg and the surrounding area has been facing drought conditions this year, including water restrictions in the village, and John Ross explores some of the reasons why.
We have other liquids represented, as well, including several stories centered around beer. There’s a new brewery in Aldie on Route 15. There’s a unique beer museum in Front Royal. And we’ll also tell you why a frosted mug of your favorite brew may not be advisable.
Finally, at the very end, we’re going to pay tribute to our late, great Delaplane artist and friend Alan Rubin, with a series of the whimsical cartoons he loved to draw. He called them “punjabs,” and I hope they add some laugh-out-loud ZEST to your reading pleasure.
Leonard Shapiro Editor badgerlen@aol.com
410-570-8447
Punjab by Alan Rubin
EBENEZER CHURCH RD.
130 acres | $3,200,000
Bluemont – Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a quiet and scenic country road leads to this beautiful farmland. The gently rolling topography is a perfect setting for your estate or family compound. Easement potential is possible with valuable tax credits.
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.
JOHN MOSBY
4 acres | $2,950,000
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.
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.
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.
E. WASHINGTON
.16 acres | $975,000
Middleburg – Two-story commercial building, ideally located with outstanding visibility and accessibility. Featuring approx. 2,850 SqFt of space in 2 separate units. Attractive offices, conference rooms with large windows, hard wood floors, dedicated private parking.
An Artful Scarf Definitely a Country Classic
“I use abstract and repetitive music while painting to help express my nonverbal thoughts,” Hester said of her artistic process.
Hester Ware has been an artist and designer for over two decades. Now a Middleburg resident, she was the fourth generation in her family to grow up in Pebble Beach, California, where she was surrounded by musicians and artists.
In Pebble Beach, Hester spent her youth amid her greatgrandmother’s modern art collection, which boasted paintings by Helen Frankenthaler and Sam Francis, among others. These works became an inspiration and steadfast influence.
Her schooling included Marlborough College in England and later Middlebury College in Vermont, where she earned a B.A. in fine art with a concentration in printmaking. Hester now has paintings in private collections in California, Virginia, Florida, London, and Kenya.
Her abstract paintings are noted for their heightened sense of color and exuberant compositions. “I use abstract and repetitive music while painting to help express my nonverbal thoughts,” Hester, 53, said of her artistic process.
Hester’s latest project is a collaboration with designer Diane Rigden, owner of private label C.D. Rigden & Son. A graduate of the Corcoran School of Art, Rigden’s 35 years of experience in the textile and fashion industry helped her transform Hester’s work into a limited edition of silk scarves, each hand-printed in England and finished with a hand-rolled edge.
The first limited edition run sold out in two weeks. So encouraged, Rigden and Ware made two more limited editions, now available through Rigden’s Middleburg shop, Country Classics at 21 East Washington St. in Middleburg. Hester and Diane also paid tribute to the late Ann McMahon for first sparking the idea that transformed a painting into a wearable work of art.
At Lakeside, The Meaning is in the Message
By Leonard Shapiro
The several dozen messages, printed on small placards planted on both sides, hit you coming and going down the private driveway at Lakeside, the property on Zulla Road purchased more than 30 years ago by the late Magalen “Maggie” Bryant and still owned by her family.
The first sign on the right coming in best describes her own lifelong philosophy over her 92 years as a highlyregarded business woman, philanthropist, conservationist, horsewoman, wife, mother and so much more until her death in 2021.
“If you do not dream,” reads one of her favorite expressions, “your dream will not come true.”
Those messages, some whimsical, some serious, some historic, some slightly profane and many often used by Mrs. Bryant herself, are posted every few yards all the way down to picturesque 15acre Ardara Lake. Not far from the water’s edge, there’s also a pavilion with picnic tables, Adirondack chairs scattered around and an outdoor fire pit.
Over the years, it’s been frequently used by the family, friends, the Middleburg Boy Scout troop, area garden clubs and other local businesses and groups. They’ve had parties, weddings and an occasional political rally. And those signs are always there to greet anyone heading down the driveway toward the lake.
“She had a whole collection of things she would say to us,” said Mrs. Bryant’s son, Carey Crane, who counts among his favorite signs one that reads “shoulda’, coulda’ woulda’” and another that says, “13/12.”
“She used to quote her bankers all the time,” Crane said. “They’d say to her ‘we don’t know if you could do that.’ She’d say ’13/12.’ In other words, you might have 12 votes, but I hold the 13th, and that’s the only one that counts.”
He’s also enamored with “He told me I couldn’t so I did. They told me I shouldn’t, so I will.”
“That was sort of mom’s motto,” Crane said. “And another one of her favorites was ‘if a frog had wings, he wouldn’t bump his ass.’”
There’s are two hockey hero’s quotes—“Skate where the puck is going to be, not where it’s at” and “You miss 100 percent of the shots you didn’t take,” (Wayne Getzky). There’s golfer Gary Player’s line that,“the more I practice, the luckier I get.” And Ronald Reagan—“Trust, but verify.”
On the way out the front gate and returning onto Zulla Road, the final sign on the right is well known to anyone whose ever been on a horse.
“Kick On,” it reads.
Maggie Bryant always did.
General George Patton and His Virginia Connections
By Denis Cotter
George Smith Patton, Jr. (1885-1945), the legendary World War II U.S. Army general, had many connections in Virginia.
His paternal grandfather, also George S. Patton, was a Confederate colonel and died at the Third Battle of Winchester in September, 1864. A younger brother of that grandfather, Waller Patton, also fought and died at Gettysburg in July, 1863, part of Pickett’s Charge.
Both men are buried in a shared grave at Winchester’s Mount Hebron Cemetery, in the Stonewall Confederate section. Throughout his life, General Patton would visit the cemetery to pay his respects.
General Patton’s grandfather was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia. At the end of the Civil War, the colonel’s widow, Patton’s grandmother moved to San Gabriel, California near Los Angeles with her four children to be close to relatives who had migrated west.
General Patton’s father, also George, followed in Col. Patton’s footsteps and graduated from Virginia Military Academy in Lexington. He did not pursue a military career and returned to California to become a lawyer and start a family.
His eldest son, naturally enough, was yet another George Patton, the World War II hero.
Growing up, Patton played with his grandfather’s sword from Third Winchester. He learned to ride on his grandfather’s saddle, the one the colonel was using when he was mortally wounded.
A very close connection between General Patton and the Middleburg area occurred through a friend of his attorney father, another attorney for the Southern Pacific Railroad in San Francisco. That attorney would be none other than Colonel John Singleton Mosby, the legendary leader of the
Confederate Mosby’s Rangers. Mosby (1830-1916) was a regular visitor to the Patton ranch in southern California. General Patton’s father had married quite well and owned extensive property. The old Confederate warrior mesmerized the young Patton with tales of daring raids and stunning cavalry attacks from the Civil War era. He acquainted Patton with Mosby’s Rangers, a group of highly effective guerrilla fighters he founded at Rector’s Cross Roads in 1863. He mostly operated in Fauquier, Loudoun, and other surrounding Virginia counties.
General Patton was enchanted by “The Grey Ghost of the Confederacy,” the man who, it was said, could simply disappear after lightning-quick and lethal surprise attacks on Union forces.
Astride their horses in San Gabriel, Mosby and his hero-worshipping apprentice often re-enacted Civil War battles. General Patton played Robert E. Lee; Mosby played himself. Like his father and grandfather before him, young Patton also enrolled at VMI, then left after a year when he received an appointment to West Point.
An excellent horseman, when he graduated in 1909 he was commissioned, naturally enough, as a second lieutenant in the Cavalry, the mounted force of the U.S. Army. Three years later, he represented the U.S. at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, in the pentathlon – swimming, running, shooting, fencing, and riding—and finished fifth overall.
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Lieutenant Patton’s first brush with real combat came when he was as an aide to Brigadier General John Pershing in the 1916 Pancho Villa Expedition into Mexico. Using Dodge convertible touring cars, Patton led America’s first motorized military action in that conflict.
When the U.S. entered World War I a year later, Patton again served with Pershing. He helped develop the Army’s Tank School and armored tactics, and rode into action leading the U.S. Army’s brand-new Tank Corps.
After WWI, Patton was a warrior without a war until the outbreak of World War II. In the two-plus decades between the two wars, he remained an avid equestrian. Polo was his passion
“It makes a man think fast while excited,” he once said. “It reduces his natural respect for his own safety, that is – it makes him bold. It teaches restraint under exciting circumstances…nearest to mounted combat; makes riding worthwhile; keeps a man hard and teaches better horse management.”
He was equally enthralled with fox hunting. While serving as executive officer of the Third Cavalry Regiment at Fort Meyer in Arlington in the 1930s, Patton and his wife, Beatrice, joined the Cobbler Hunt in Delaplane, founded in 1929.
Lieutenant Colonel and Mrs. Patton quickly became co-masters of the hunt, and he kept detailed accounts of its adventures. A typical entry from his Cobbler Hunt diaries reads as follows:
“Saturday, Feb. 11, 1933, Pleasant Vale Church11:00 A.M. Weather warm and mild--no wind. There
was a large field of Orange County and Piedmont people who had been disappointed on the three previous days. Went up the Paris road about a mile and then drew west into Mr. Remies place where a mythical fox is supposed to live. Failed to find him. Drew south through the Gaddis’ and Tripplett’s places going very bad with many refusals due to slipping in the snow and mud. Just before we entered Texas Mountain all of the visitors left. We had gone almost through the cover when half the hounds went away on what appeared to be a rabbit. As they kept going, we decided it was a fox and followed but it was too late and they were lost. However, while looking for them, we started another fox which ran south along the creek, west of the woods and then through the Marshall place onto the Orleans road, then north on the road. In spite of the fact that an automobile fouled the line, the hounds worked him up the road about two miles. Blue did most of the work. Horses: Self, Keaau (who threw a curb); Thornton, Hoapili; Kent, Keanakolu.”
When the U.S. declared war after Japan’s attack
the Community Foundation for Loudoun and Northern Fauquier Counties
Friday, November 15, 2024
6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Cocktails - Dinner - Celebratory Awards - Auction
on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941 and five days later joined the fight against Nazi Germany, General Patton was back in combat. He was an expert in tank warfare in the Mediterranean and European theaters, leading to victories in North Africa, Sicily, France, and Germany.
At the very end of the war in Europe, in May, 1945, Patton successfully executed “Operation Cowboy” to rescue 300 Lipizzaner breeding mares from Nazioccupied Czechoslovakia and return them to the Spanish Riding School in Vienna.
After V-E Day, Patton wanted to move to the Pacific theater, but he was kept in Germany to deNazify Bavaria. A few months later, on Dec. 9, 1945, he was involved in an automobile accident in Germany that broke his neck, injured his spinal cord, and left him paralyzed from the neck down.
He asked the doctors if he would ever ride a horse again or resume normal life. They told him he would not and he remarked that it was a hell of a way to die.
General Patton passed away 12 days after the wreck, four days before Christmas of 1945. A week later, Middleburg’s Chronicle newspaper (later renamed The Chronicle of the Horse) wrote that the sporting world had lost one of its best-known participants.
The paper mentioned Patton’s lifelong passion for horse sports. “He not only was connected with horses during his Army career, but in private life he had ridden races, shown horses and was M.F.H. of the Cobbler Hunt at Delaplane, Virginia where he showed a great sport in the field.”
2024 Roots & Legacies Honorees
Barbara Scott and Sandy Shutler took a doozie of a voyage from Greenland to Nome Alaska. They followed the path of Roald Amundsen, who was the first to transit the Northwest Passage in 1903-1905. Their ship, the NG Resolution was the first through the passage this year and the 394th ship to ever complete the trip. Highlights included flora and fauna of the Arctic above the 70th latitude, and a peek into the lives and culture of the Inuits.
’m happy to share with you today an enchanting work from debut author Jules Acton , a journalist and ambassador for the Woodland Trust, the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity.
Writer Jules Acton – whose surname means “oak town” – can trace her love of nature back to childhood. A former journalist, she has worked for the Woodland Trust, The Wildlife Trusts and WaterAid. She lives near Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, with her husband, Toby, and rescue dog, Pepe. Oaklore is her first book.
What connects Robin Hood, the history of ink, fungi, Shakespeare, and sorcery?
In Oaklore, Jules Acton explores the incredibly diverse history of the “king of the woods,” the oak tree: from a source of food and shelter to its use in literature as a plot device and muse, its role as an essential ingredient in ink, and in mythology from across the British Isles as a sacred plant and precious resource.
Acton’s infectious enthusiasm shines through her humorous anecdotes, quirky facts about oak trees, and poetic descriptions, as well as her fun suggestions for things to do on a forest walk (like how to recognize bird songs), tips for how to write oak-themed poetry, and actions for helping oaks and their environment thrive.
Readers of Peter Wohllebe, author of The Hidden Life of Trees, has said it is “as rich, satisfying and revelatory as a long walk in the woods.”
Lyndsie Bourgon, author of Tree Thieves, sends this: “Oaklore takes us on a botanical exploration, during which we cover vast ground. Acton introduces us to an array of biodiversity that live and flourish on these stately trees—from roots to canopy, she deftly illustrates how oaks are ‘doorways into other worlds.’ The science in Oaklore is rich and approachable, covering everything from oaks and birdsong to wasp factories in branches. I am in awe of the oaken world around us!”
“A treasure trove of information about the one tree everyone knows (or thinks they do), Oaklore is written with deep knowledge and an admirably light touch,” said Lev Parikian, author of Taking Flight.
Devon Porter: Born to Be a Banker
By Leonard Shapiro
There’s a new bank in Middleburg. Sort of.
It’s the MainStreet Bank, even though, at the moment, it’s located in a small office on Pendleton Street in a town that doesn’t have a Main Street. There are no tellers, human or electronic, no driveup window, no pens chained to a counter, the better to fill out a deposit slip or endorse a check.
But make no mistake. All of the above are in the bank’s future according to Devon Porter, who occupies that office and is a senior vice president of a business-focused community bank headquartered in Fairfax with branches in Herndon, McLean, Clarendon, Leesburg and Washington, D.C.
According to its website, “our customers aren’t just names and numbers to us. We are invested in their goals and ambitions, and give them the care and attention that only a community bank can give. MainStreet serves as a consultant, partner, and friend to our clients because we are committed to building longlasting relationships.”
Porter will run the Middleburg branch, and it’s a perfect fit. He grew up just outside of town, graduated from Wakefield in The Plains and James Madison University and has spent most of the last 20 years working at Sonabank in Middleburg, now known as Primis.
Herndon and I reported to a wonderful lady named Jossie Arroyo. The first day she said to me, ‘I don’t care who your parents are. You’re working for me now.’ I always joke that if you ever worked for her for one single day, you’ll always work for her. I still text her. She’s still the boss.”
After a year, Porter started working in other departments.
“On one of my first days in sales, I visited a boat marina, a golf course and a crematorium to work with clients,” he said. “By the end of that day, I realized why I loved banking so much. There are so many different personalities, these businesses worked so differently. But when you helped a customer, they were always very appreciative, very welcoming. That’s when I decided to stay in banking. There are just some days when this job is so cool.”
“It’s our intent to put in a full-service bank branch within the town limits,” he said recently. “I’d estimate six to nine months.”
Here’s a fact, not an estimate. MainStreet has $2 billion in assets, with a reputation for outstanding personal ser vice.
You might even say he was born to be a banker. His late father, Rod Porter, and his mother, Georgia Derrico, founded Sonabank in 2004, and Southern Financial Bank before that in 1986. Rod was Sona’s president and she was the CEO until they retired in 2019.
“When I graduated college, they asked me what I wanted to do,” Porter said. “I really didn’t know, so they said we’ll start you as a teller. I began in
About a year ago, Porter was approached by MainStreet about its new Middleburg operation. He was ready for a change and took the job. Though he’s going solo right now in that small office, he has a wide range of responsibilities, from opening accounts to developing new relationships to helping customers with all manner of financial issues.
And before long, he said with a smile, “we’re going to have those pens with the chains on them. It’ll be a small, traditional bank branch. It’s just a matter of time.”
“I do kind of a memory game — remembering the composition and the colors. Then if it sticks in my head for three or four days I know it’s worthy of being put on canvas.”
By Joe Motheral
Arecent visit to the Hamilton home of Leanne and Richard Fink offered the perfect opportunity to explore their passion for painting, playwriting, poetry and cartoons.
Leanne is a gifted artist and her gorgeous landscape paintings showcasing western Loudoun County are displayed all around the house. Downstairs, Richard is proud to pull out copies of his plays, his poems and his cartoons.
He’s had four plays performed at Franklin Park Arts Center in Purcellville. In 2020, a comedy called “My Accidental Life,” also gave him the opportunity to perform on stage.
Viewing the video, the audience can be heard frequently laughing out loud as Richard delivers his lines. Elizabeth Bracey, Managing Director of Performing and Visual Arts at Franklin Park said, “We had a good, lively audience and it reminded me of when there were comedy radio shows.”
Packing Up The Car
Headed to the park
My backpack was full Hefty as can be Climbing up the Mountain Barely moving at the top Until the snake said hello Down, down away I go.
The Community Music School of the Piedmont piedmontmusic.org 540-592-3040
Lessons offered at Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville with additional locations in Fauquier, Frederick and Loudoun
The three others staged at Franklin Park included “Tour Package” in 2018, “Over the Wall” in 2019 and “Thought You Were Dead” in 2022. He’s written a dozen plays, the first produced in New Jersey in 2013, and all are comedies
“Laughter has no language barrier,” he said. “A good belly laugh is contagious and makes everyone around you feel better.”
Richard is now planning to pen a memoir, and he’s also written a book of poetry— “It’s a Weird World.”
Leanne’s world revolves around painting, and not just in Virginia. She’s captured locations ranging from the Grand Canyon to Jordan, though most of her paintings do focus on Loudoun landscapes.
“I like the local scenes,” she said. “And I like having one-on-one interaction and a connection in the local art community scene….I do enjoy painting plein air. It’s a grounding experience to be outside, communing with nature’s elements and creating art from what I see.”
She said she particularly cherishes the “here and now, working quickly to capture a moment of brilliant lighting, the contours of wandering shadows and fleeting patterns in the sky.”
In addition to plein air painting and using photos, she once said that she takes images from her dreams while asleep. She describes this unusual practice when she dreams of an image that holds her attention.
When she wakes up, “I do kind of a memory game—remembering the composition and the colors. Then if it sticks in my head for three or four days I know it’s worthy of being put on canvas.”
One example is a painting she called “Green Dream,” with blocks of light green objects over a dark background perched on a sand-colored image. “It can raise questions in the viewer’s mind,” she said. “It has a riveting quality.”
Her work has been honored with numerous awards and was displayed recently in the Art League Gallery August Open Exhibit at Torpedo Factory in Alexandria and at Artists in Middleburg.
Photo by Joe Motheral Leanne and Richard Fink
Who in the World Was Zulla
By John E. Ross
At least half a dozen time a week, I drive Zulla Road from Middleburg to Marshall and back. That name has intrigued me for decades. Surely Zulla must have been a place, a road named for where it went.
While doing research for a new book, I stumbled on a map of Fauquier County commissioned by the county’s Board of Trade in 1914. About four miles south on what was then the Middleburg-Salem Road from Mt. Defiance on Ashby’s Gap Turnpike is a crossroads labeled ZULLA at today’s intersection of Lambdon Rd. and Smitten Farm Lane.
On the map at the northwest corner of the crossroads is a tiny square black box with a pennant flying from its top, the symbol for a school. Beneath are the words Zulla School followed by (w), denoting that this school was for White children.
Curiosity got the better of me. I had to know more. At Fauquier Library in Warrenton, I was directed to the reference section and handed a copy of Gene Scheel’s book, “The History of Middleburg and Vicinity: Honoring the 200th Anniversary of the Town 1787 – 1987.”
According to Scheel, Cotland Post Office was opened in 1880 at the crossroads and operated by John W. and later Clarence Middleton. Perhaps the Middletons were good Democrats. When president Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, lost re-election to Republican Benjamin Harrison in 1889, Cotland Post Office was closed.
However, about the same time, a neighboring landowner, George B. Zulla, began constructing a store. Before it opened, he died of pneumonia. Clarence Middleton suggested that the new store be named for Zulla and under that name, postal service was resumed.
At first, the postmaster was Tennessee Smith, who also operated the store. The post office closed in 1904 and residents of the area received their mail via The Plains. The store continued operating into the late 1940s.
By then the road passing Zulla store cut through the heart of horse country. Scheel reported that “Zulla Rd. to N & South known as the Jericho Tpke or Long Island Expressway for many Yankees who built Late Gatsby homes along rd in the 20’s and 30’s; well-landscaped and set back from rd, often lined w. stone & split-rail fences….”
Called in those days as “The Sand ‘n’ Clay” road, post World War II prosperity brought the likelihood that Zulla Rd. would soon wear asphalt pavement. As the issue was being considered in 1951, controversy erupted in the April 12 meeting of Fauquier County’s Board of Supervisors.
In his column in the Fauquier Democrat, William H. Gaines reported being “surprised at the amount of time allotted to the gentlemen who live on or near Rt. 709, or the Zulla Rd. These gentlemen want to have their cake and eat it too. They want a road in that neighborhood that will stand up for traffic yet won’t be hard surfaced and “slippery” as one gentleman expressed.
“This same gentleman in the course of his remarks,
made the voluntary statement that he was not even a resident of this State which we had already gathered – he did not talk like a Virginian. In the meantime, while these various and sundry gentlemen addressed the Supervisors, sixteen families, all of whom had taken off from work, to mildly ask for resurfacing a piece of road of less than one-half mile, sat twiddling their thumbs.
“Finally, they ran out of wind and oratory and the sixteen working families had their “innings” and we hope that they get their little piece of road in front of their homes fixed so that they won’t be either in mud or dust as the weather dictates.”
In his June 21 column, Gaines wrote that the Supervisors met in “secret session” at the office of the resident VDOT highway engineer in Richmond
Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division
The hamlet of Zulla as it appears on the 1914 map of Fauquier County. Note designation of ZULLA SCHOOL (w). Zulla store and post office were evidently represented by the rectangle in the crossroad’s southeast quadrant below the “Z” in Zulla.
“to discuss road matters.” Supervisors’ chairman Tom Frost described the meeting as an “executive” session.
At the meeting, Supervisors adopted a resolution to “black-top” the road from its intersection with Rt. 55 at Brooks Corner to U.S. 50 near Mt. Defiance. Zulla Road was paved in 1952 and as Scheel put it, “The Sand ‘n’ Clay road was no more….”
Scant trace of Zulla’s store, post office, and school can be seen today. At the northeast corner of the intersection along Lambdon Rd., Forrest B. Mars built four concrete block houses for his farm workers. A similar house on the northwest corner occupies the school’s site. Apparently the store was located in the field on the southeast corner now being fenced with stone.
Photo by John E. Ross
The view of Zulla today from the patio of Carter and Erica Wiley’s house. Zulla store and post office were evidently located at the construction site east of the crossroads.
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The Manassas Gap Railroad, 1852-1867
By John Toler
The railroad line that crosses northern Fauquier County has a long and colorful history. Not long after construction on the north-south Orange & Alexandria Railroad was started in 1848, another group began the planning for a new east-west rail line – to be called the Manassas Gap Railroad – that would connect the farms and markets in the Shenandoah Valley eastward with the markets in Alexandria.
The line would pass through Warren, Fauquier and Prince William counties, and connect with the O&ARR at Tudor Hall, later called Manassas Junction, then just Manassas.
Edward Carrington Marshall (1805-1882), was the son of Chief Justice John Marshall, and had served in the Virginia General Assembly from 1836-1838. Acting on his father’s belief that developing Virginia’s transportation facilities should be a top priority, he was a driving force in building the new line.
Marshall lined up stockholders, including wealthy landowners, merchants and farmers seeking an economical way to ship their agricultural products, and was elected president of the new corporation. Active supporters included Edward Carter Turner, James William Foster and Robert Beverley.
Fairfax Harrison 1869-1938
On March 9, 1850, the corporation was granted a charter by the Virginia General Assembly to start building a rail line from the terminus of the O&ARR at Tudor Hall west through Manassas Gap in the Blue Ridge, and from there, south to Strasburg and into the Shenandoah Valley.
Survey work started in August 1850, and was completed by Sept. 2, 1851. But mapping the route of the MGRR was not without issues. Directors from northern Fauquier originally wanted to run the line through their properties along presentday U.S. 50 to Ashby’s Gap, and Alfred Rector, a major stockholder, allegedly insisted that the MGRR loop past his store and warehouse in Rectortown.
Construction began at Tudor Hall soon afterward and headed west. As with other railroad projects, in addition to local farm labor, many of the workers were Irish immigrants.
Construction companies were also hired to work on the railroad, especially when specialized engineering was needed to build bridges and culverts, as well as handling vertical walls and slopes.
Very detailed contracts were written that clearly outlined the scope of the work, the level of quality expected, and the predictable costs. But even so, there were disputes, especially when contractors ran into solid rock and had to blast their way through.
The tracks reached The Plains in June1852; Salem (Marshall) in July; and Rectortown in August. By December 1852, the new line had reached Markham. However, upon reaching the foothills of the Blue Ridge, the project slowed considerably. It took until November 1853 to reach Linden, and an additional eleven months to reach Strasburg, completing the first phase on Oct. 19, 1854.
Along with the rail line construction, the MGRR began acquiring new locomotives and rolling stock. By 1860, the MGRR owned nine locomotives and 230 railcars of all kinds, and had erected 15 brick and 24 wooden buildings along the line. On an annual basis, the company was transporting 28,000 tons of freight, and carried 23,000 passengers.
Edward Carrington Marshall 1805-1882
War and recovery
The strategic value of a rail line in an area of active fighting was demonstrated in the early months of the Civil War. In the build-up to the First Battle of Manassas in July 1861, troops under Confederate Gen. P.G. T. Beauregard and Union Gen. Irvin McDowell fought over control of Manassas Junction.
As battle lines were being drawn, Gen. T. J. Jackson’s infantrymen, who had been in the Shenandoah Valley, marched to Piedmont Station (Delaplane), and boarded trains there that carried them over the MGRR tracks to Manassas, joining the battle on July 19, 1861.
On May 5, 1862, 1,400 troops under Col. John W. Geary marched in from Loudoun County and occupied the 25-mile MGRR corridor from The Plains to Manassas Gap.
Ten days later, Geary’s widely spaced troops were attacked by Confederate cavalrymen under Col. Thomas T. Munford, who raided a supply train about a mile from Linden, and took 15 prisoners. By May 26, Geary withdrew east to Broad Run Station.
The Second Battle of Manassas on Aug. 28-30, 1862 was preceded by the successful raid on Union stores at Manassas Junction on Aug. 26-27, and the Battle of Thoroughfare Gap. By then, the MGRR no longer played a part, and was described as “…now weed-ridden and disused” by John J. Hennessy in Return to Bull Run (1993).
By the time the Civil War ended, the MGRR was left in shambles. Its tracks, rolling stock and infrastructure had been destroyed or carried off, and the directors could not obtain financial backing for reconstruction.
Finally, a joint resolution adopted by the Virginia General Assembly on Jan. 31, 1866 authorized “…the transfer of property, charter and franchises of the Manassas Gap Railroad Company and the stock shares in the same to the Orange & Alexandria Railroad Company.”
The two lines became one on Feb. 14, 1867, and renamed the Orange, Alexandria and Manassas Railroad. Rebuilding of the old MGRR line was to be completed in two years.
The OA&MRR was later acquired by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and was known as its Virginia Midland subsidiary. Veteran railroad executive John S. Barbour was put in charge until retiring in 1882.
For the next 12 years, the railroads based in Virginia underwent a series of mergers and acquisitions, culminating in the creation of the Southern Railway in 1894. Fairfax Harrison (1869-1938) became the president of the Southern in 1913, and began making significant changes in the operation and large investments in infrastructure. By 1916, the Southern was operating on over 8,000 miles of track in 13 states.
Harrison built Belvoir, his home near Marshall in 1914, and had his own personal railroad station on the property so that he could easily commute to Washington, D.C.
Over the next 65 years, the Southern built up its customer base, survived the Great Depression and two World Wars, but faced aggressive competition. In 1982, the Southern Railway was placed under the control of the Norfolk Southern Corp., and in 1990, renamed the Norfolk Southern Railway.
Passenger service on the line through Fauquier County was eliminated in 1947. On board the last passenger train to run from the Shenandoah Valley to Manassas were the late Robert L. Sinclair of The Plains, then age four, and his older sister Clara.
They boarded the train at The Plains, and rode it to the station at Broad Run, where their father met them. “Clara had heard that this would be that last passenger train on the line, and she wanted her baby brother to have something to tell his grandchildren,” recalled Mr. Sinclair. “Although I was very young, I still remember the train ride, the smoke and the cinders in the air …and it
Confederate soldiers under Gen. T. J. Jackson boarded trains at Piedmont Station (Delaplane), which took them down the MGRR tracks to Manassas. They arrived in time to secure victory at the First Battle of Manassas.
precipitated my life-long love of railroading.”
Steam-powered excursion trains ran on the lines from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, and Mr. Sinclair could relive his earlier experience on the rails when excursion trains took passengers down the line to the annual Fall Festival of Leaves in Front Royal.
Most of the early MGRR locomotives were purchased from the Smith & Perkins Locomotive Works in Alexandria, and appeared much like this replica.
Driving into the Future: Adapting to Electric Car Technology HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
By Hunt Lyman
Ivividly recall the first time I encountered electric windows in a car, skeptically pressing the button and thinking, “Is it really that hard to crank a window?”
My skepticism only grew when my wife purchased a car equipped with an automated rear hatch, which seemed like just another potential malfunction. Then this spring, seeing cars with peculiar handles while picking up children from the school where I teach, I groused, “Do car door handles really need reinventing?”
And so, with that background, it may be surprising that I now own a self-driving electric vehicle (EV).
Over the years, the evolution of EVs and selfdriving technology has been fascinating, and daunting, especially the thought of ceding control of my vehicle to a computer. I also appreciated the environmental benefit of moving away from fossil fuels, despite the ecological concerns associated with producing and disposing of lithium-ion batteries.
My first time in an EV heightened my apprehensions about potential breakdowns, from the huge console screen to folding mirrors to multiple cameras. Yet, the simplicity of electric vehicles—having fewer than 100 moving parts compared to thousands in gasoline cars—seemed to balance the scale.
While considering my next car purchase, I noticed
Hunt Lyman
many neighbors had already transitioned to EVs. And the infrastructure in Loudoun County is increasingly supportive of this shift: Middleburg alone hosts four EV charging stations, with an additional three at the Salamander Resort. Convinced that EV technology was here to stay, I decided it was time to switch.
For those contemplating an electric vehicle, here are some lessons already learned.
Charging: The most obvious shift from gasoline to electric is the “fuel” source. While filling a gas tank takes minutes, electric charging takes much longer. Many EV owners install home chargers to take advantage of overnight charging at lower rates, allowing them to start each day with a fully charged battery that often covers up to 300 miles. Adapting to this new routine of nightly charging offers the convenience of a consistently full “tank.”
Driving: I’ve been driving for 50 years, but an EV presented a new learning curve. The most notable feature is “one-pedal driving,” where lifting your foot
off the accelerator also engages regenerative braking.
Most EV driving involves minimal use of the brake pedal, typically only needed when shifting from park to drive or reverse. Modern EVs also incorporate various technologies, including blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, and automatic lighting systems.
Full self-driving capabilities are now available in many EVs, and I’ve been impressed with how the technology maintains appropriate speed, sets safe following distances, and navigates traffic controls.
Longer Trips: When planning a long trip, EV owners need to think ahead. These vehicles typically offer searches for charging stations, but the driver needs to understand which chargers require an adapter and how long different chargers take.
When planning multi-day trips, drivers may want to take portable chargers that can connect to outlets in a house. One effect of this change is that “gas stations” are increasingly offering food and recreation along with charging facilities.
As battery technology improves, the advancements in EV technology promise a new era of automotive efficiency and safety. Transitioning to an electric vehicle has been a leap of faith, but one that aligns with a future that, in many ways, is already here.
Hunt Lyman is Academic Dean at The Hill School.
LIVING FIT & WELL
The Importance of Being Metabolically Flexible
By Mark Nemish
In previous columns, I established the benefits of greater levels of fitness in terms of enhancing physical performance, reducing mental/cognitive decline, and staying free longer from all-cause mortality like heart disease and some cancers.
Central to these positive effects of exercise are better functioning and more abundant mitochondria which can be effectively enhanced with all forms of exercise, especially endurance and high intensity interval training (HIIT).
In this issue, I’ll discuss the importance of how your body uses fats and carbohydrates to produce energy (ATP) as it relates to your health.
When you’re at rest or performing low levels of exercise like walking or light biking, your body will rely on a combination of stored fuels such as carbohydrates and fats, to produce ATP. Those in better physical shape (higher VO2max) will be able to utilize a much higher percentage of energy from stored fat than those in poorer physical condition or in unhealthy states.
For example, a recent study demonstrated that elite endurance athletes can utilize fat at a rate of three-fold in comparison to subjects who have Metabolic Syndrome even when both groups are exercising at the same relative VO2max.
As a result, those in unhealthy states like Type 2 Diabetes (T2D), rely more on carbohydrate substrate for energy in resting and low-level exercise conditions.
Higher level athletes have a much greater ability to shift their fuel usage based upon the demands placed on their bodies.
For example, when performing HIIT, athletes will have a much greater ability to mobilize and use stored carbohydrates as fuel. The ability to shift from a predominance of fats for fuel in low level energy demands to a predominance of carbohydrates in highly intense exercise is an example of great metabolic flexibility.
Those in unhealthy states lack the ability to effectively transition between fats and carbs for energy and thus are metabolically inflexible. That’s partly due to the fact that being sedentary does not create those energy demands and thus adaptation.
One way to assess this is by measuring fasting lactate. One of the end products in the breakdown of carbohydrate (glucose) in the body is lactate. I typically measure my clients’ fasting lactate in the morning to assess their fuel (fats & carbs) utilization overnight.
Fasting lactate is a great proxy for metabolic health and higher levels of it are the result of a greater reliance on carbs and indicative of poor health conditions like obesity, insulin resistance, and T2D.
All of these conditions are typically driven by a sedentary lifestyle and overnutrition/caloric excess. When people lose body fat by reducing their caloric intake and improve their aerobic capacity (VO2max), fasting lactate will significantly decrease, indicating a shift to utilizing more stored fat to fuel the body in fasting and low-level exercise conditions.
Some researchers have concluded that high fasting lactate may be an early predictor of metabolic disease. That signals the need for lifestyle change that would include diet modification and the implementation of a structured exercise program.
Mark Nemish is currently the owner/director of Precision Health Performance in Round Hill, a business dedicated to optimizing the health and fitness of people in need of lifestyle change. He was head strength and conditioning coach for the Washington Capitals (2007-23) and Nashville Predators (1998-04) in the NHL.
Mark Nemish and the Washington Capitals’ Stanley Cup.
Historic Burwell Morgan Is Hardly Run of the Mill
By M.J. McAteer
At the Burwell Morgan Mill in Millwood, flour is made just the way it was when this country was in its infancy.
Inside the dark and lofty old building, now a living museum run by the Clarke County Historical Association, the majestic turning of a two-story-high waterwheel powers the rotation of grindstones that crush whatever the daily grain might be.
the millstream when she was little, while her mother and grandfather helped out inside.
Avis and Chastain are part of a loyal cadre of 25 to 30 volunteers, and that kind of robust support is no run of the mill situation, said Nathan Stalvey, director of the historical association.
completed its restoration six years later. Other than a time in the ‘90s, when a new water wheel of Peruvian mahogany was being installed, it has operated every year since, even during Covid.
These days, the mill processes about 3,000 pounds of grain annually, instead of the 3,000 pounds it once handled in a single day, said Stalvey. Some of those pounds go into two-pound sacks, like the ones Chastain was filling, to be sold on site ($6), as well as at farm markets and select stores.
Burwell Morgan’s milling schedule includes all colors of corn--red, white and blue and the less patriotic yellow--along with buckwheat and rye and other locally sourced cereal crops.
Shafts spin, gears mesh, wooden trays judder and clatter, and hoppers fill and empty as the grain whooshes through chutes between the milling stages. On the ground floor, reached via a laddersteep staircase, the newly ground grain is routed to a sifting table, where a gyrating screen noisily separates the meal from the crushed hulls, and the air is turned white with flour dust.
Jim Avis of Washington, D.C., who is manning the sifting table one recent afternoon, wisely wears a mask. He’s been a volunteer at the mill since 1995 and is now 87. “I’m a fixture,” he said.
At a table nearby, Nolan Chastain, 17, of Stephens City is bagging the flour that’s come from the sifting table. She’s the third generation of her family to volunteer at Burwell Morgan and remembers catching crawfish in
Burwell Morgan’s teenage contingent of volunteers, in particular, is the envy of other historical sites, he added. Along with operating the sifting table and bagging the grains, mill volunteers give tours, tend the grounds, lard the wheels and gears and generally run the place.
Being able to learn from the older ones and share the enthusiasm of the youthful ones--the youngest is 14--is the favorite part of Stalvey’s job.
“I have to make sure that love of the mill is passed on to the next generation,” he said.
The mill dates to the early 1780s and got its name from its founders, Revolutionary War General Daniel Morgan and local landowner Nathaniel Burwell, whose grand estate in Millwood, Carter Hall, still stands. Labor on the impressive stone and timber structure came courtesy of Hessian prisoners of war who continued to be housed in a detention camp in Winchester long after the end of the Revolutionary War.
After successfully operating for about 250 years, the mill’s story was a sadly familiar one: It fell behind the times, closed in the 1950s, and neglect and disrepair ensued. But in 1964, the dilapidated property was donated to the county historical association, which
The mill’s preservative-free, stone-ground buckwheat reputedly makes delicious pancakes, and its red cornmeal, tasty grits. Some of the mill’s barley output also is put to livelier use in Morgan Mill Porter and Burwell Stone Lager, both products of Broken Window Brewing Co. in Winchester.
The mill has no heat, so it’s closed during the coldweather months. It will reopen in April with its annual spring art show, and its first grinding day will be in May.
Burwell Morgan’s pretty grounds, designed with the help of the Garden Club of Virginia, have tables that are open to picnickers, and lots of people grab some goodies for an al fresco lunch from the Locke Store, a gourmet grocery, deli and wine shop that is right across the street. The Virginia State Arboretum is just three miles away, making it easy to turn a visit to the mill into a day in the country.
Details: The Burwell Morgan Mill, 15 Tannery Lane, Millwood is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m. Sundays-Friday, starting with the annual spring art show that runs from April 20-May 5. Grinding will take place on Saturdays on Oct. 12 and Nov. 9. Donations are encouraged, but admission is free.
Must
Courtesy of Clarke County Historical Society The Burwell Morgan Mill in Millwood.
The Potomac: Oh You Roiling River
Bridges across the Potomac have to be approved by Maryland, especially concerning Loudoun and Prince William counties to avoid road projects that would extend urban sprawl into Montgomery and Charles counties.
By Joe Motheral
Did you ever wonder why the stretch of the Potomac River between Maryland and Virginia lies in Maryland when most state-to-state boundaries exist in the center of rivers?
In 1632, King Charles I sought to accommodate Cecil Calvert, the Baron of Baltimore in part to keep the Dutch from encroaching into the new British colonies. The Baron named the new colony Maryland after Charles I’s wife, Queen Henrietta Maria. In the process, Virginia lost control of the land north of the Potomac River and Maryland retained the rights to the River. The Charter of 1632 officially established the colony of Maryland and reduced the size of Virginia.
Then in 1776, the first constitution of Virginia validated the Maryland charter although it didn’t define the limits of Maryland’s claim to the Potomac. Virginia did assert the right to use the river for navigation and have use of the water and the shoreline in what is considered riparian rights.
There followed a series of negotiated settlements in 1785, 1877, and 1958. Several Supreme Court decisions defined how the boundary line was to be handled. These settlements had a legal sense
Barges plied the River to monitor the watermen, often leading to conflict.
The Potomac was an excellent breeding ground for oysters. The whole process started with Native Americans who dined on oysters and passed the practice on to the British settlers who found them delicious in most any form..
but lacked markers on the ground that could be established by surveys.
In 1877, Virginia and Maryland agreed to designate a “commission of arbitrators” to determine the exact location of the boundary between the two states. That commission determined that the boundary is at the low water mark on the Virginia side of the river where it is located to this day.
Oysters at one time occupied the Potomac. All through the 1700s, “quiet” battles were waged between the watermen of Maryland and Virginia. It apparently became so intense that in the 1800s, the state governments got involved and there was conflict between them and the oyster harvesters.
In 1947, The Washington Post wrote, “Already the sound of rifle fire has echoed across the Potomac River, only 50 miles from Washington men are shooting one another. The night is quiet until suddenly shots snap through the air. Possibly a man is dead, perhaps a boat is taken, but the oyster war will go on until the next night and the next.”
Finally, in 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed the Potomac Fisheries Bill establishing a bi-state commission to oversee the Potomac River.
A few other Potomac River anecdotes:
—In the 1950s, when gambling and liquor were legal in Maryland but not Virginia, Colonial Beach and Prince William County had slot machines located on boats docked in the river off the Virginia shoreline. (Customers would park in Virginia, then walk out on a pier and into Maryland.)
— Today if you want to get married on a boat in the middle of the Potomac River you need a Maryland marriage license.
Photo by John E. Ross
The level of the Potomac River raised to near flood stage recently.
Acting Up at Wakefield Summer Camp
By Jenna Sindle
What do you get when you combine 63 young actors, an original two-act musical story and script, a state-of-the-art theater, and just 30 hours to put it all together? At the Summer Smash Up (SSU) musical theater camp at Wakefield School in The Plains, the answer was: Simply Magic.
Summer Smash Up was started in 2016 by educators Toby Chieffo-Reidway and Jeremiah Tyler with just 15 campers Nine years later, this unique children’s theater experience has given hundreds of young people the chance to perform in original full-length musical productions. This past summer they did it for the first time in front of a packed house on a professional stage.
“We can’t believe how fortunate we are to perform in Wakefield’s George L. Ohrstrom Jr. Theater,” said Chieffo-Reidway. “When we started SSU we never imagined it would grow the way it has, and to perform in this space is an amazing privilege for our campers.”
T h e A r t s i n T h e P l a i n s
A t t h e S p a c e a t G r a
2 5 t h A n n i v e r s a r y
o f t h e G r a c e C h u r c
C o n c e r t S e r i e s
6 5 0 7 M a i n S t , T h e P l a i n s , V A 2 0 1 9 8
V O I C E S O F T O M O R R O W
S U N D A Y , O C T O B E R 2 7 , 2 0 2 4
5 P M
E x p e r i e n c e S h e n a n d o a h C o n s e r v a t o r y ’s
t o p v o c a l i s t s a n d p i a n i s t s i n a n i n t i m a t e
c o n c e r t , f e a t u r i n g m u s i c f r o m o p e r a t o
m u s i c a l t h e a t r e D i s c o v e r t h e f u t u r e
s t a r s o f t h e v o c a l w o r l d a n d e n j o y a n f l l n t J o i n u s t h e b e a u t y o i c e
This year’s musical, “Stuck on This Island,” follows the adventures of Dr. Alexandra Carmichael (played by Kiera McCrea) as she searches for a mysterious island. She encounters the fearsome pirate Commodore Bartholomew Handsome (played by Patrick Reidway).
The pair end up stranded on the island together, along with the Commodore’s mother, Arnaby Handsome (played by Presley Miner), the gregarious island native Mango Goonie (played by SSU newcomer Zach Laing) and his humanfruit companions, and the mysterious Gino (played by Evan Wall) with his adorably malevolent army of Sand Witches.
As secrets are revealed and old wounds are healed, the musical rockets toward a heartwarming conclusion filled with shocking revelations and happy reunions.
In addition to Chieffo-Reidway and Tyler, SSU is staffed by a team of talented and passionate young adults, many of whom were once actors in the camp. Music director and composer Ella Reidway is a music education major at Gettysburg College and the Sunderman Conservatory of Music. Choreographer Chloe Jornales is an acting major at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. And costumes, props and set design director Sarah Schettini is an art education major at Longwood University and the Cormier Honors College.
“We are so fortunate to have graduates who still want to be a part of the magic,” added Tyler. “SSU has helped shape their lives and love of theater, and now they get the chance to pass that love on to the next generation of young people.”
Summer Smash Up will be back from July 7-18 in 2025, with another all new musical production.
S O R D S - W A L Z -
D U R K O V I C T R I O
S U N D A Y , N O V E M B E R 2 4 , 2 0 2 4 5 P M
T h e T r i o ’s d e b u t a t t h e P a l m S p r i n
C o n c e r t S e r i e s w a s h a i l e d a s “ t e c
s u p e r b ; m e l o d i o u s , r e s o n a n t , e x p r
a n d p a s s i o n a t e T h e a u d i e n c e c o u
s t o p a p p l a u d i n g ” T h i s v i r t u o s i c t r
S O U N D B I T E S P I A N O F E S T : C E L E B R A T I O N !
S
J o i n u s f o r a j u b i l a n t m u s i c a l c e l e b r a t i o n , w h e r e t h e j o y o u s n o t e s o f F a u r e ’s D o l l y
S u i t e , s p i r i t e d s o u n d s o f M o z a r t ’s C M a j o r
S o n a t a , n o s t a l g i c c h a r m o f G r i e g ’s V a l s e
C a p r i c e s , a n d i c o n i c s y n c o p a t i o n s o f G e r s h w i n ’s R h a p s o d y i n B l u e c o m e t o g e t h e r i n h a r m o n i o u s r e v e l r y
“We’re so excited that SSU has found a new home at Wakefield,” said Katy Benko Miner, co-chair of the school’s Performing Arts Department. “It’s wonderful to see our students work alongside students from Fauquier, Loudoun, and Fairfax, all as part of an innovative program that will shape their lives for years to come.”
P E R F O R M A N C E S I N C L U
g r a c e t h e p l a i n s . o r g N O V E M B E R 2 0 2 4
Photo by Irish Eyes Photography by Toby
The cast of “Stuck on This Island,” performed by the Summer Smash Up musical theater camp at Wakefield School in The Plains.
A Natural Path to Pottery
By Joe Motheral
Richard Busch’s home studio is located at historic Glenfiddich Farm near Catoctin Mountain outside Leesburg in a house that was converted from a 200-year-old dairy barn.
“I set up a studio in what had been a horse stable,” he said. “After almost a year of further renovations, I had built a gas kiln, equipped the studio with glazing ingredients and started making pottery.”
As evidenced by the displays in his studio, “I like to make many forms: bowls, mugs, plates, oil jars, vases, bird houses, lidded jars, serving platters, and so forth. I find the entire process meditative.”
According to Busch’s website, he has a love of nature and that, in turn, clearly influences his pottery. He’s enamored with the nearby landscape, he said, “with its lush vegetation, rolling terrain, streams, woods and earthy colors. The natural beauty here offers a constant source of inspiration.”
Clay being a byproduct of earth adds to his attachment with nature. After shaping a pot on the wheel—referred to as throwing--he puts it on a shelf to dry. Once dried, he uses a trimming tool “to remove excess clay and fine tune the shape.” The pot then goes into a kiln, heated to around 1,800 degrees, a process called bisque firing.
“After they cool down,” he said, “I apply glazing that can consist of crushed minerals, clay, oxides, water, etc….Then the pots are fired a second time to roughly 2,500 degrees. It takes about 20 hours for the glazes to melt, coating the pot with beautiful colors and designs.”
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His path to making pottery goes back to 1990 when he had a conversation with a neighbor in Vienna, where he lived at the time.
“She was taking pottery classes at a local community center and when she spoke about her experiences,” he said. “I found it fascinating. I decided to give it a try, so I signed up and I was immediately hooked.”
He’s always been a creative individual, who began his career working for Life Magazine. He was a highly-regarded New York-based photographer, with a portfolio that included some iconic images taken when he was shooting at the famous Woodstock music festival in upstate New York in 1967.
He eventually worked as an editor at several publications, and when his neighbor talked to him about her pottery experiences, he was at National Geographic. Not long after that, he was offered early retirement and “this was my chance to pursue pottery.”
He and his wife, Olwen Woodier, moved to Glenfiddich Farm about 20 years ago. It has plenty of history, dating to 1840. More recently, it was owned by the Lehane family of Irish descent, hence the name Glenfiddich, an Irish whiskey.
Richard Busch’s pottery is sold at the Corner Store in Waterford and at Roots 657, a cafe and market in Leesburg. Details: www.glenfarmpottery.com .
Photo by Joe Motheral Richard Busch and some of his pottery.
An Antiques Craftsman Celebrates 50 Years
By Linda Roberts
Antiques conservator and master craftsman Nick Greer looks back over his 50 years of restoring and building period furniture and snaps his fingers. “It went like that,” he said.
Greer, who operates his highly specialized woodworking business from a restored barn at his family property just north of Purcellville, added that, “I’m fortunate I can do something that I love.”
Along with his team of 15 skilled craftsmen, most working at his shop for an average of 25 to 37 years, Greer quietly oversees a much sought-after business that the White House, Smithsonian and State Department (to name a few), as well as high-end antique shops, frequently employ. His rustic, three-level workshop is filled with all types of furniture, primarily 18th and 19th century pieces, in various stages of restoration, repair and refinishing.
Thursdays find Greer making various stops in Washington, D.C. to either pick up furniture in need of restoration or delivering finished pieces to his customers. He leaves his workshop about 4 a.m. and returns mid-afternoon. Fridays are reserved for shorter runs in the Middleburg and surrounding areas.
The quality of Greer’s work speaks for itself and Greer Antiques is continually sought after for the quality of its craftsmanship. His team stays busy completing their specialty tasks and many pieces are often returned to their owners within a week to two.
Greer noted that landing the job of handling the restoration for the National Gallery of Art of an Italian-made, circa 1400s table “put me on the map.” The Gallery then recommended his work to other museums and private collectors and his business was launched.
Loudoun wasn’t always home for the soft-spoken Greer, who learned his craft from his grandfather, an attorney who loved the art of wood sculpture. Born in New York, Greer found various jobs there, eventually landing in California where he worked on a ranch and practiced woodcarving in his spare time. His living room is filled with his carvings as well as other pieces he treasures inherited from his grandfather.
College at George Washington University and the thought of law school brought Greer to D.C. where he eventually landed a job helping create the Smithsonian’s massive Bicentennial project. He learned a great deal about woodworking on that project, and also lost the end of a finger, while on the job. Worker’s compensation allowed Greer to purchase his first set of woodworking tools, and in his 20s, he set forth on his initial business endeavor—the creation of miniature, built-to-scale furniture he sold at area fairs and events.
That work helped fund the purchase of property in Loudoun County, which included a run-down barn that eventually proved to be the perfect woodworking shop to launch his fledgling business. Initially Greer was the solo operator until he added two employees to help handle a growing list of clients.
“Some of my employees came here with experience but some did not,” said Greer, who provides his employees with full benefits to help retain the staff. “Plus,” he added with a twinkle in his eyes, “we have fun and we’re like a family.” Trim and fit at 77, Greer is an avid player at the Middleburg Tennis Club, and he said his family is known for its longevity. “I hope to do this for another 30 years,” he said.
Photo by Linda Roberts Master craftsman and antiques conservator Nick Greer of Purcellville is celebrating 50 years in business. !
Geraldine Carroll
Charles Carroll IV, MD
A Family Foyer Offers Vast Possibilities
By Tim Burch
Do you find yourself constantly running after your children, asking them to pick up their backpacks, sporting equipment, coats, and shoes? Or, perhaps you’re the one leaving briefcases, cell phones, and mail scattered around the house.. If so, a well-planned family foyer may help.
Today’s homeowners often opt for a “mudroom” or a “family foyer,” a second, less-formal entrance to the home for use by family and close friends. While mudrooms of the past were often small and dark, perhaps doubled as the laundry room, and often weren’t particularly appealing nor exceptionally organized, times have changed.
These spaces are now bright, inviting, full of detail, and frequently serve as the home’s organizational command center.
With a goal of organizing “stuff” right where it enters the house, the most common feature in a family foyer is dedicated storage spaces for each member of the family, from kids to adults and even pets. Consider lockers with hooks for jackets and sporting equipment, and cubbies for book bags and shoes. Add a bench with closed storage below for a convenient place to put on shoes and stow seasonal items like hats and gloves.
The space can be further designed to provide convenient solutions for many other household needs. How about a mail station for sorting bills, shredding
unwanted solicitations, and recycling countless catalogs?
How about a charging station for our countless gadgets? Or a tiled dogwashing center with its own floor-level faucet for cleaning muddy paws, and an adjacent space for your pet’s food bowls and cozy bed? Also consider a message center with the family calendar and a blackboard or corkboard for posting notes, invitations, and important phone numbers. The options are endless.
Keep in mind the following family foyer design tips as you begin planning:
When selecting materials and finishes, make sure they’re durable. You want the room to get a lot of traffic and, especially when kids and storage are involved, things are bound to get banged around a bit.
Discuss flooring options with your designer. They can advise regarding materials that will be durable, easy to maintain, and beautiful.
Decide if you are fine with the open locker look or if you want cabinet doors to help control visual clutter.
Consider adding a child-friendly powder room in this area so it’s convenient when the kids are outside playing or coming in from school.
Include lots of light. A combination of natural light, from windows, doors or skylights, and well-planned task lighting will help make the space more inviting and family friendly.
Pay attention to details. Add the crown molding, wainscoting, or beadboard; add children’s artwork or photos of the family; and decorate the room with great colors and fabrics.
The bottom line: a well-planned family foyer is an ideal way to help organize your busy family and home. It’s a great way to protect the investment you made in the rest of your home from muddy-shoed kids, dirty-pawed pets, and piles of endless clutter.
Tim Burch is a Vice President and Owner of BOWA, an award-winning design and construction firm. For more information, visit bowa.com.
Bank where you breathe.
Tim Burch
THE WILD LIFE
Vultures Can Be Good Neighbors
By Annie Bradfield Executive Director, Blue Ridge Wildlife Center
While vultures may not be your favorite bird, after learning more about them, you may start to admire these amazing scavengers.
Our area is home to two species: the red-headed turkey vulture and the aptly named black vulture. They’re not “buzzards,” an entirely different species, but their names are often confused.
Turkey vultures are often followed by black vultures because turkey vultures have a better sense of smell and lead black vultures to the carrion. All vultures make quick work of removing dead animals from roads, protecting other wildlife that would be attracted to the roadside from getting hit themselves.
Their bald heads allow them to rinse off easily after feasting on carrion, and they often can be seen gathering in and around shallow water or puddles. They tend to roost in elevated areas, and a group of roosting vultures is called a “committee,” best viewed from late autumn through early spring, when vultures stay closer to roadways and human settlements, looking for food. They also seek warmth atop chimneys, water towers and roofs that reflect heat.
Black and turkey vultures play an essential role in our natural world by devouring animal carcasses
and preventing the spread of diseases—rabies, botulism, anthrax and others that can sicken or kill other animals and humans. They rarely eat living things, though they may occasionally eat small, sickly animals or newborns too weak to move away.
The idea that human health is connected to the health of animals and the environment is known as “One Health,” a collaborative effort that integrates local, national and international agencies to monitor and better understand the impact of zoonotic diseases on human health.
Dr. Jennifer Riley, the BRWC’s director and lead veterinarian, and her staff perform a range of diagnostics on every animal that arrives—almost 4,000 mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds each year. These findings and reports are sent to appropriate agencies and researchers.
“Vultures are some of the most important animals we treat at the center from a One Health perspective,” Dr. Riley said. “It’s not only in the diseases they destroy, but in the information we can gather about our shared environment by testing for heavy metals and other toxins and diseases.”
Vultures inadvertently consume lead and other heavy metals with deadly consequences. On average, BRWC cares for more than four dozen vultures each year. About 90 percent test positive for lead. Lead poisoning affects all animals that scavenge
– especially vultures, eagles, and opossums – because they regularly eat wildlife left behind by hunters. It only takes a lead fragment the size of a grain of rice to cause fatal levels of toxicity in vultures and eagles.
Individuals who hunt game and those who shoot “nuisance” animals are encouraged to use non-lead ammunition. And because vultures are federally protected birds, it’s illegal to shoot them. Still, more than 20 percent of the vultures we receive arrive as gunshot victims.
Some people think of vultures as dirty and smelly because of their eating habits, but they’re actually clean, regal, magnificent birds. “Vultures are very good neighbors to have,” Dr. Riley said. “They provide a huge environmental benefit to our neighborhoods and communities.”
The BRWC is home to a turkey vulture named Moira Rose and black vulture named Wednesday Addams. They’re part of BRWC’s Wildlife Walk open to visitors daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Details: blueridgewildlifectr.org.
A recovering vulture at Blue Ridge Wildlife Center.
Area History at The Pink Box
“The Pink Box,” a sweet, elegant whitewashed brick building built between 1800 and 1820, is located at 8 North Madison Street and once was used by the attorney son and grandson of Leven Powell, Middleburg’s acknowledged founder.
Its location was in the heart of a bustling village: behind two taverns, The Red Fox Inn and Colonial Inn; and in front of what once was the Wanzer livery stable and blacksmith shop, now Akre Capital and the Courtney Kennedy Shop.
The Pink Box is home to the Middleburg Museum and is now open to the public. It includes two small parlor rooms with fireplaces and large windows, an attic room above, and a wood frame addition with a bathroom. During July and August, a team of museum board members, volunteers and interns were freshening the interior and adapting it for exhibits and visitors.
Under the guidance of board member Vicky Lewis, an architect with a strong background in creating museums, the walls of the front room have been painted with Ralph Lauren’s “Edwardian Linen” with Farrow and Ball’s “Mascarpone” trim. The space has been draped with unbleached muslin panels intended to be light and welcoming for an orientation to the landscape and community.
While the museum is located in Middleburg, the community and its history hardly stops at the town line. It’s defined by the surrounding Blue Ridge and Bull Run mountains, which enclose a few dozen historic villages located along old Indian pathways, creeks and crossroads.
Merley Lewis, board member and daughter of Middleburg Museum founder Eura Lewis, and Georgiana Orhstrom.
Most have less than several dozen residents. Marshall is the largest with close to 2,000 residents. Local folks travel small interconnecting country roads to work, shop, worship, attend school, exercise, and visit friends and family.
The surrounding 150,000-plus acres of fertile historic farmland is the reason and backdrop for centuries of agricultural heritage. That includes Sioux and Algonkian native peoples, to English, Scottish, German, Welsh settler immigrants with enslaved Africans, and to New Yorkers and other horse and rural life loving persons from all over.
Working with local historians and advised by other local museums, the Middleburg Museum is developing a brief timeline of the community life and conflicts that shaped this landscape. Photographs, biographies of villages and a few local artifacts and archeology will help tell the stories from “Indian Trade and Land Speculation” to “Tobacco and Wheat Plantations” to “Horse and Hunt Country” to “Heritage and Stewardship.”
Within the timeline, the museum will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, the Revolutionary War, and U.S. independence with a display of its copy of the Oct. 20, 1774 “Articles of Association,” a document produced by the first Continental Congress that recorded the first unified action of the American colonies.
Local burgesses and Virginia leadership helped to inspire boycott action against Great Britain first in the colony and later called for a Continental Congress.
The back parlor, now painted “French Gray,” also from Farrow and Ball, will house various exhibits. The first will highlight the local historic gravel road system that connects local communities. This is a partnership with the ‘’America’s Routes’’ preservation group highlighting the local historic gravel road system that connects our communities
The event is scheduled Oct. 22-27 to coincide with the Town of Middleburg’s hosting of the Mille Miglia race for classic and vintage cars. Participants will be hosted at the Salamander Resort and will depart each day from The Pink Box.
Mattingly’s
A LITTLE BIT OF ROCKETFISH
By Chris Patusky
When I was a boy, there was the Donny and Marie Show, Osmond that is, where she sang, “I’m a Little Bit Country”, and he replied in song, “I’m a Little Bit Rock & Roll”, and so on. It was one of those catchy tunes that stays with you the rest of your life. I would clip to it here, but I fear copyright. As an aside, and I think this entire post is in danger of becoming a series of asides, I want to say that it is fun to work in a job where you need to fear copyright. As they say, “if you are not fearing copyright, then you are not living”. So, to the point, I am feeling “a little bit RocketFish” this week. Yes, like a fish, but no ordinary fish, a fish that has rocket engines strapped to it, carrying it up through the sky, escaped from the thicker denser water, with sunglasses on, and a propeller on my nose. Why? I don’t know! I have Jets! Perhaps as a backup, or a vestigial evolutionary remnant. You would have to ask DC artist Bill Rock to say what is going on there (yes, that is a Bat Pig painting on his website front page), since he painted it, without any guidance or instruction from the sound business minds that run Slater Run, he was on his own, the artist’s mind at work, creating an image of the feeling that I now have. Why do I feel this way? Because Slater Run is having fun.
I woke up this morning and thought, “what is going on today, etc?”. And I remembered, harvest is in full swing with all that cool machinery moving about, making noises, moving big loads from there to here, a child’s dream it is to hop on and move some big stuff, “outta my way” she says. And there are people everywhere, simply all over the place. In the winery kitchen, on the crush pad, in the tank room, in the vineyard, and moving amongst all these places. Moving, moving, moving. Making wine.
And what about this particular weekend as I write this, when we squeeze in a few hours to rest. Yes, to that -- we have the Cousins Maine Lobster truck here on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The first time they were here, I thought the hillside would split open and sing. And, when they pack up and leave, we have Club Night with Sacred Heart, also known as Fellow Fungi, opening up and serving us sliders starting at 6 p.m., made from beef raised locally at Audley Farm. And, just as the sliders start a’sizzling, the remarkably skilled singer and guitar player Ophie will carry you up on wings of melody and improvisation to hang out with the RocketFish, yes, up there. We are all welcome there. Kidding aside, this gentleman Ophie has some serious playing chops.
You are worn out reading this, I know, but “Best Weekend Ever” requires more. Slater Run, recently released the 2023 steel Chardonnay and the 2023 Rosé of Merlot, which I think will thrill you and make you ask yourself, “what should I get, dang it, I can’t get them all ”. We also offered a 2022 RocketFish free taste, just because it was a RocketFish type of weekend.
Chris Patusky is a co-founder and co-owner with his wife Kiernan Slater Patusky of Slater Run Vineyard. Details: slaterrun.com
Drought, Deluge, and Debby
Effects of drought were evident at Harper’s Ferry where the Shenandoah River enters the Potomac.
By John E. Ross
Bone dry, August opened with local gardens wilting. On a few trees, leaves were already yellowing and beginning to fall. Three weeks earlier, Middleburg, nearby towns, and surrounding counties had ordered mandatory restrictions on outdoor water use. Among suggested indoor water conservation measures was turning off the tap when brushing your teeth.
Everyone in drought’s talons felt a breath of hope when Hurricane Debby, with its heavy downpours, turned inland on August 8 and began to follow the Appalachians northeast. Surely, Debby’s deluges would bring drought relief.
As Debby was delivering its much anticipated rain on the night of the 8th, cell phones, TVs, and radios buzzed like angry rattlesnakes on steroids. Emergency broadcasts warned of probable tornados. Sure enough, shortly after 9 p.m. a tiny tornado touched down at Willisville and tracked northwest for about five miles, clipping tree tops and cresting the Blue Ridge just south of Mount Weather.
The heavy downpour continued throughout the night. Before Debby, Goose Creek below Crenshaw Road bridge had been flowing gin clear and barely ankle deep. Now the creek was flowing bank full and colored like heavily creamed coffee. Surely, two to four inches of rain in twice as many hours depending on location, would loosen drought’s claws.
Alas, not so. Deluges do little more than green our grasses and water our gardens and crops. Most drinking water in ZEST’s circulation area comes from ground water trapped deeply in fissures in bedrock barely affected by deluges and run-off. As Danny Davis, Middleburg’s Town Manager put it, “Five inches of rain in an hour may add a little to our water supply, but one inch over five hours or an inch a day for several days can help a lot.”
We depend on wells for potable water. About 20,000 private wells provide water to residents of Loudoun County with thousands more in Fauquier County. Most area residents rely on commercial wells feeding public water supplies. Virtually all wells tap groundwater held in fractured granite and gneiss bedrock.
Black birds flee a deluge approaching Hickory Tree Farm. Such downpours green our grasses and water our crops but add little to the water table on which our wells depend.
Gone are old historic wells dug by hand, and few wells today tap groundwater held in soils overlying bedrock. Underlying geology and fractures in that rock determine well yield. Productive wells are those providing more than five gallons per minute.
Yield depends on where one drills. In Waterford, for example, one well 200 to 300 feet deep produces an ample flow. Nearby, another landowner had to drill 1,110 feet to generate similar yield.
Precipitation falling on the flanks of the Bull Run Mountains to the east and Blue Ridge to the west very slowly recharges water-holding fractures tapped by most wells in the valleys between Aldie and Paris. However, rain and snow melt do percolate very slowly down through soils and eventually into the water table. Soil is an extremely effective water filter, said Jason Purdy, an environmental scientist with Loudoun County’s Health Department. Not only does soil prevent solid particles from entering the water table, but oxygen and microbes held between grains of soil have the capacity to cleanse surface water of disease pathogens.
Until recently, drain fields attached to septic systems were thought of merely as a way of getting rid of household effluent. Now, a drain field is considered to be “an elegant form of water recycling,” according to Purdy. For household use, he said, we’re merely “borrowing” the water. It’s hard to think of a drain field as elegant.
With the onset of Middleburg’s outdoor water restrictions, we installed a 50-gallon rain barrel at our Middleburg home. Why allow rain to run off into the street when it could be used to water plants and shrubbery? The rain barrel cost about $200, with installation around $300.
While rain barrel water is fine for watering plants, it’s generally not safe to drink. Rainwater contains a variety of pollutants like fine particulate ash from wildfires and related substances known as “forever chemicals.”
The good news: despite drought over the last several years, water supplies appear ample for at least the next decade. Danny Davis said public wells
YES, THERE WAS A TORNADO
Cyclones commonly fringe hurricanes moving northeast along the Blue Ridge. That I knew. But my complacency was utterly shattered when a tornado touched down five miles away at Willisville a little after 9 p.m. on August 8.
A couple days later I drove north on Trappe Rd. from Upperville to see its path of destruction. Near the entrance to Cleremont Farm, workers were cutting up downed trees. South of where the tornado crossed the road, felled trees pointed to the northeast. North of its track, downed trees pointed southwest. The tornado’s counter-clockwise rotation was clearly evident.
Along the road, the zone of broken branches ran about half a mile. According to NOAA, the tornado’s path was about 100 yards wide and its track, 4.7 miles long. Maximum winds are estimated to have been about 100 mph, an EF-1 storm. Fortunately, no one was injured and damage to buildings was light.
Danny Davis, Middleburg’s Town Manager, reported that Loudoun and Fauquier counties’ emergency services are prepared to coordinate the town’s, county, and state fire and rescue operations should a tornado hit a community.
On average 18 tornadoes strike Virginia every year. No longer complacent, to prepare for future tornado warnings, at our house we’ve stocked a few gallons of water and additional emergency backups for cell phones.
—John
E. Ross
can produce about 400,000 gallons per day. While drought has depressed the water table somewhat, current use is running about 120,000 gallons per day. Still, with climate change producing more intense periods of drought and deluge in the Mid-Atlantic states, water conservation is becoming more and more critical. What to do? In addition to installing rain barrels, one can also establish rain gardens to capture stormwater runoff from driveways and patios and use pervious materials when paving or repaving.
Debby’s tornado, an EF-1 with winds of 100 mph and a storm track 100 yards wide, touched down at Willisville, ran about five miles before crossing the Blue Ridge just south of Mt. Weather.
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Banjo Jimmy An Upperville Treasure
By Michele Husfelt
Going on 45 years on the job with no plans to retire despite all the rain, snow, sleet, or heat, during the week you’ll find Jimmy Kenny performing one of his two favorite tasks: taking care of Ivy Hill Cemetery in Upperville and pickin’ the banjo.
Born and reared an only child to Upperville natives, the late Welby and Beulah Rose, “Banjo Jimmy,” 78, is a familiar presence in the village and surrounding areas. Both his grandfather and father were postmasters at the Upperville Post Office, a position that lends itself to knowing and being known to all.
Reflecting on his past, he credits his loving parents and upbringing at Upperville Baptist Church as the keys to the man he’s become.
“I always thought of my mom as my best friend,” he said, “and even though I learned so much, especially about music, from my dad, I wish I had learned even more.”
Quite the musician, Kenny and his father, played in nearly every venue around. The pinnacle of his bluegrass band days, even more outstanding than having actor Robert Duvall come sit in his living room enthralled by their talent, was the opportunity to once play on the iconic Ted Mack and The Original Amateur Hour television show in New York City.
The year was 1967 and the Blue Ridge Mountain Buddies band from rural Virginia, including Kenny’s father, snagged a rare opportunity to audition for the show at the Channel 9 CBS affiliate studio in Washington D.C.
Welby Kenny was on a hunting trip in West Virginia and had to miss the audition, so his son, Jimmy, filled in on the banjo for him. Fifty acts were chosen out of 1,300 auditions, and Kenny remembers he “about fell on the floor when they came out and told the band they were going to New York!”
They played a song called “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” and to this day, Kenny laughs with an ear-to-ear grin when he retells the story. “We were paid $125 and thought we were rich!”
These days, Kenny continues to strum away on the bass and the banjo, offering his talent to church and community events, and hosting jam sessions in his living room on occasional Friday nights. When the weather is nice, his lucky neighbors might hear an impromptu concert from his backyard, while he and a few other talented folks from previous bands gather for old times’ sake.
At Ivy Hill, Kenny rides the mower, whacks the weeds, and cares for the sacred grounds of those who rest on its hill. He has seen the grandchildren of some of the cemetery workers he started with who are now working at Ivy Hill themselves. He knows he makes a difference to so many loved ones who come to visit.
He recently spoke with a woman who worked at the White House, now retired in Connecticut, whose father was buried there many years ago. This was her first journey back to Ivy Hill since his death and she was warmed by Jimmy’s presence and their conversation.
“This is kinda like my ministry I didn’t know I had,” he said. “To be here for people like her.”
Between his musical talent and desire to perform his job with excellence, this self-proclaimed “simple man,” is a treasure to his community and anyone fortunate to call him a friend. Next time you see a little black truck rolling down Route 50 with the license plate “Banjo 1”, wave hello to Jimmy Kenny.
Photo by Michele Husfelt Upperville native Jimmy Kenny, also known as Banjo Jimmy.
Renovations Underway on Windy Hill Residences
“Everyone recognizes that a safe and comfortable place to live leads to stability, growth, and independence.”
By Leonard Shapiro
Tom Northrup, a long-time supporter of the Windy Hill Foundation and a member of its board of directors, is fond of saying, “Unlike people, houses don’t get better with age.”
With that in mind, the foundation that’s been providing safe and affordable rental housing in Middleburg and elsewhere since 1981, has embarked on its “Cottages Project.” It began in June with the renovation of the first of four of the original 11 cottages on Windy Hill Road just west of town.
According to its most recent newsletter, “Windy Hill was founded on the belief and determination of (founder and Middleburg resident) Rene Llewellyn that everyone in our community is entitled to a safe, dignified place to live. Everyone recognizes that a safe and comfortable place to live leads to stability, growth, and independence and that everyone benefits when our neighbor’s basic needs are met.”
In June, a 500-foot cottage was refurbished with new kitchen appliances, a renovated bathroom, new floors, newly painted walls, and more. Three more have been completed since then, with the remaining cottages to be finished once final estimates are determined.
“These are the original houses we started with in 1981 when Rene Llewellyn walked down that road and saw the conditions in many of them—dirt floors, outhouses, no running water,” said Eloise Repeczky,
the foundation’s tireless executive director the last two years. “She took it upon herself to raise the money and that was the start.”
But hardly the finish.
Five decades later, Windy Hill has 67 homes in Middleburg with 106 residents. That represents 16 percent of the village’s housing stock and 16 percent of its population. Additionally, Windy Hill has a total of 310 housing units and over 800 residents in Middleburg, Marshall, The Plains, Brambleton and Sterling.
The Windy Hill Road renovations will be done on homes ranging from 500 square feet to 1,400 square feet and all 11 have been there since 1981, or longer. The renovations have been made possible by a $100,000 contribution from Monoflo
International, Inc.
“I’m in love with everything we did, I am so elated,” said Windy Hill resident Toby Dade. “Out with the old and in the new. The workmanship is incredible. You can tell they really cared about making the home nice for me again.”
Some current occupants are descendants of Windy Hill Road residents going way back. Dade has lived there most of his life and his home was the first to be renovated.
Said Repeczky, “Toby remembers going around and picking up wood so they could heat their water to bathe inside.”
Once the current project is completed, renovations will begin on homes on Virginia Lane, across Route 50. And where do residents stay when work is being done?
Two board members, Carolyn Hylton and Ken Terry, and their respective spouses, Michael Hylton and Anne Terry, have helped furnish a “swing space” in a Virginia Lane home so no one has to search for temporary accommodations.
“We want to be able to take care of the folks who are already here and make it easy for them,” said Drew MacMahon, recently named the foundation’s director of property and asset management.
Repeczky, recently named one of the top 40 under 40 Loudoun business and community leaders, and her board will continue to renovate and refurbish Windy Hill homes.
“Our goal is to keep moving forward,” she said.
Experiences Rich in Flavor
Indulge in vibrant and flavorful creations meticulously prepared with the finest locally sourced ingredients from Virginia’s Piedmont region.
As Virginia’s newest Forbes Five-Star restaurant, every exquisite bite sets a new standard for culinary excellence.
A renovated cottage kitchen.
Windy Hill resident Toby Dade is delighted with the renovations to his cottage.
With Craft Beer, A Chilling Dilemma
By Lisajoy Sachs
In the vibrant world of craft brewing, each sip of the perfected beverage embarks on a fabulous journey through flavors and expert craftsmanship, where the vessel holding your beer transcends mere function—it becomes an integral part of the entire experience.
This diversity of glassware offers beer aficionados a vast array of styles and flavors to explore, from hop-forward IPAs bursting with citrusy aromas to rich, decadent stouts infused with notes of chocolate and coffee. The vessel becomes an important part of the experience.
And yet, while the allure of a frosty glass fresh from the freezer may tempt the palate, seasoned brewers and beer aficionados alike recognize the drawbacks of this age-old chilling practice, which can obscure the very essence of a carefully brewed beer.
Though the exact origins of frosted beer glasses are somewhat elusive, their emergence can be traced back to ancient times when civilizations experimented with methods to chill beverages, aiming to mask the odd and off flavors of this ancient beverage, and make it more palatable.
For instance, in ancient Mesopotamia, beer was often served in clay vessels cooled by streams or ice from nearby mountains. Though not precisely frosted glasses as we know them today, these early attempts laid the groundwork for the concept of ‘chilled’ beer.
The Industrial Revolution marked a significant turning point in the history of frosted beer glasses. With the advent of mass production techniques, glassware became more affordable and widespread. This led to the creation of specialized beer glasses designed to retain cold temperatures, either through double-walled construction or by incorporating materials that conducted cold efficiently, some
with pewter bottoms or lids that closed the tops of the mugs, like the traditional style German beer stein.
In the 20th century, as refrigeration technology advanced and became more accessible, frosted beer glasses gained popularity in bars and restaurants worldwide. The introduction of commercial refrigerators allowed establishments to keep a steady supply of chilled glasses on hand, ensuring that customers could enjoy their beer at optimal temperatures.
Still, frosted glasses also can also mask some of beer’s most alluring qualities: its aroma, flavor, and mouth feel. Beer is a symphony of scents, a delicate fusion of hops, malt, yeast, and adjuncts. When confined within a frosted vessel, these aromatic notes are stifled, trapped beneath a frosty veil that diminishes the vibrant complexity intended by the brewer.
The outcome? A sensory experience lacking in depth, robbing the drinker of the full spectrum of flavors carefully crafted into each brew.
Perhaps the most significant drawback of frosted glassware lies in its chilling effect on flavor. Temperature profoundly influences taste perception, with colder temperatures numbing the drinker’s palate and masking subtle nuances of aroma from carefully chosen hops, malt, and yeast varieties by the brewer. In frosted glassware, beer is trapped in a frigid embrace that stifles its flavors, leaving behind a mere echo of its true essence.
So, as we raise our glasses to celebrate the craft beer revolution, let’s also raise our standards for glassware. The next time you reach for a pint, remember the importance of the vessel in your hand, and choose wisely.
Cheers to the perfect pint, served in the perfect glass, frost not included.
Lisajoy Sachs currently serves as the guest experience manager at Lark Brewing Company in Aldie.
At Lark, Brews and So Much More
L“Foray
By Sebastian Langenberg
ark Brewing recently opened its doors in Aldie just off Route 15 and already has become a hot spot for locals and visitors alike.
Lark offers a family friendly atmosphere, pets included, with great beer and food. It’s not just a place to hang out on the weekend, but it’s also a go-to destination for weekday business lunch meetings as well. It began with a vision to create a space that would become a true community hub.
“Our team wanted to build a place that was really community driven,” said Kat Huff, Lark’s director of operations and hospitality. “We had a vision for a beautiful facility that would be a place where community and family can get together, have a really great meal, inclusive of kids, pets, and family, really.”
Huff joined the team in November and brings a wealth of experience from a lifetime in hospitality, having started in the industry at age 15. She’s a Fairfax native but has worked in restaurants in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Her passion for customer satisfaction is evident as soon as you walk through the doors at Lark.
What sets Lark apart is its commitment to excellence across the board. “We’re kind of the trifecta,” Huff explained. “Really great beer, really great food, and an incredible venue. We’re not singularly focused on one thing. We’re focused on the entire guest experience.”
Lark has a few different spaces to match a gathering, whatever the size. Two large outdoor pavilions, currently being enclosed to create four-season spaces, can accommodate up to 100 and 75 guests, respectively. These pavilions are fully equipped with bars, industrial heaters, and wood-burning fireplaces. Inside, a mezzanine level in the 6,500-square-foot tap room seats up to 45, while cozy nooks throughout the property offer intimate settings for smaller groups. There are outdoor fire pits, as well.
Lark has already become a favorite for corporate events, team building exercises, and holiday parties. Companies like Capital One, CarFax, and even Google have chosen Lark for their gatherings, with some opting to rent out the entire space.
But it’s not just about the events. Lark is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, offering a higher-end food menu that goes beyond typical brewery fare. “We really focused on doing a couple things really well,” Huff said. Recently, they’ve added online ordering and delivery options through thirdparty services, making it even easier for locals to enjoy Lark’s menu which includes sandwiches, flatbreads, wings and, of course, giant pretzels.
for sitting and sipping. FOR TICKETS & INFORMATION: www.piedmontsymphony.org
The name “Lark” comes from a desire to be a fun place to relax. Defined as “a harmless quest for fun or mischief,” it perfectly captures the slightly quirky, “15 degrees off center” vibe that permeates the establishment.
There are 16 taps to choose from at the main bar. For beer lovers, the menu includes 11 beers that are lagers, wheat, red ales, sours, pilsners and IPAs.. For non-beer drinkers, there are wine slushies and wine, seltzers and ciders.
SUNDAY. OCTOBER 20 - 3PM
Join us as we present 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.
UPCOMING PSO EVENTS:
PSO Ho�day C�c�t: "Exsultate”
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2024 - 3PM
PSO YounG Peop�’s C�c�t: "Carni�l of tה Animals”
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2025 - 3PM
PSO P�y�’s Show�se
SUNDAY, APRIL 27, 2025 - 3PM at Buchanan Hall - Upperville, VA SounDs of Victory!
SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2025 - 5PM
The PSO is Generously Funded in Part By:
An expansive outdoor area is ideal
Luminescence Foundation & The Ben-Dov Family
Margaret Spilman Bowden Foundation
and Patricia Kortlandt
PAUL MELLON
Paul Mellon’s Riding Boots, leather, 19 x 11 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches (each) National Sporting Library & Museum, Gift of Thomas Beach, 2003
he National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs is presenting an exciting exhibition celebrating the legacy of the late Paul Mellon. Passions of Paul Mellon: Horses, Art, and Philanthropy gives a peek into a lifelong passion for horses. Mellon, who had Rokeby Farm in Upperville, achieved lasting success as an owner and a breeder of thoroughbreds with numerous champion racehorses, including Hall of Fame members Arts and Letters and Fort Marcy, as well as Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero and international superstar Mill Reef. One of racing’s most respected leaders, Mellon also became an avid art collector and donated thousands of works to various notable institutions. His artwork was passed along to prestigious venues such as the National Gallery of Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Yale Center for British Art, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame and the National Sporting Library and Museum. Mellon was also one of the greatest American philanthropists of the 20th century and his legacy connects many institutions and foundations today. This exhibition features selections from the racing museum’s collection and archive gifted by Paul Mellon along with objects from other institutions such as the National Sporting Library & Museum in Middleburg. Mellon was inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural Pillars of the Turf class of 2013. The good news is if you missed it during the racing season, the exhibition runs through March, 2025.
1934 Deep Run Hunt Cup won by Drinmore Lad, National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Gift of the Estate of Paul Mellon.
Photo courtesy of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
Paul Mellon by William Franklin Draper, National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Gift of the Estate of Paul Mellon.
Paul
National
Eclipse Awards, National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Gift of the Estate of Paul Mellon.
Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Gift of the Estate of Paul Mellon.
Photo courtesy of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Dorothy Haskell Chhuy (American, b. 1943)
Mellon's Molotov, Winner of 1990 Grand National, 1991 watercolor on paper 11 x 15 inches
Sporting Library & Museum, Gift of the artist, 2006
L.W. Cushing & Sons, 19th century Hound Chasing a Fox, with directionals Weathervane, copper with gold leaf, 22 x 52 ¼ x 3 ½ inches
Mr. Paul Mellon on Dublin print 8 x 9 inches (sight size), National Sporting Library & Museum, Gift of Karen McIsaac, 2011
Middleburg – Care free country living within the 340-acre, Forbes 5-Star Salamander Resort in the heart of Virginia horse and wine country. Move-in ready modern farmhouse features a minimalistic approach that blends rustic elements with contemporary design. The open floor plan, large windows and glass doors enhance a connection with the natural beauty found outdoors.
Museum Bubbles Over With Virginia Beer
Middleburg – Sited on a knoll, the home enjoys wonderful western views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. No details were spared in this full house renovation which beautifully blends old with new. The grounds have been enhanced with plum trees, blue spruces, crepe myrtles, and a line of arborvitae for privacy. The property has two fenced paddocks and a 5-stall shed row barn. This property exudes charm, is move-in ready, and offers comfortable country living just minutes from downtown Middleburg. MARTINGALE RIDGE .44 acres | $2,295,000
DNo other state can claim as lengthy a history of brewing and beer consumption as Virginia. The Virginia Beer Museum tells the story of beer through artifacts, displays, and an interactive tasting tour.
By Bill Cauley
avid Downes, a practicing defense attorney in Front Royal, has always been a beer enthusiast. When it comes to locally-brewed beers, he’s paid special attention.
Downes said he felt more needed to be done to promote the history of beers brewed in Virginia. Back in 1994, there was only one brewery in the state. During Prohibition, Virginia was extremely resistant to the law, which was repealed Dec. 5, 1933 by the 21st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
With that in mind, Downes sought out some of the best authorities on Virginia-brewed beers. Once he took care of that, all he needed was a place where people from all walks of life, and beer tastes, could come and view (and sample) Virginia’s storied beer past.
“I had a vacant building next to my law office,” he said. “I felt it could be a good place to fix up and turn into some sort of museum depicting just how far the brewing of beer has come over the many years.”
Thus was born the Virginia Beer Museum. The Front Royal building now offers a glimpse into the evolution of beer brewing in the state, not to mention 20 different taps all around for a taste of a wide variety of brews. This year, the museum celebrates its eighth anniversary.
“I’m very pleased with how this has taken off,” said Downes, the museum’s founder. “So far, we’ve gotten some good responses.”
Celebrations include a Murder Mystery evening
Downes recalled how he and his wife, snowbound in Washington, D. C. some eight years ago, with no place to go, did a little brainstorming regarding the history of Virginia-based beer brewing and how it could be better publicized. He said he envisioned a location in the Winchester area, something easy to reach, some place where folks could come to see the local history of beer brewing, and get a little taste of the local brew.
Downes didn’t pick out just anyone to consult as he launched this venture. His friend, Purcellville orthodontist Kurt Pierce, a former University of Virginia football player who lives near Middleburg, said, “we had talked about the possibility (of a museum) and I was with him when he decided to do it.”
Pierce is on its board of directors, and several board members are well-versed in the field of beer brewing. Neil Burton hails from Strangeways Breweries, with facilities in Fredericksburg and Richmond. Jason Connolly is the founder of Winchester’s 50/50 Taphouse. John Lesko is president of Toastmasters International.
Pierce, who said he prefers lager to higher alcohol percentage beer, is a frequent visitor, often bringing along old football pals from his days at UVA and stints with several NFL teams. He’s particularly enamored with a downstairs room in the three-story building set up as an 1800s saloon from back in the day when Front Royal was also called “Hell Town.”
“Back then,” Pierce added, “people would come down from the mountains into town and just drink and fight.”
Putting things together for this major venture was no easy task. Downes spent countless hours traveling around seeking historic artifacts and just about anything related to the brewing of beer, especially in Virginia.
“It got a little crazy,” he admitted. “But it was worth it.”
Downes is also a history buff, enjoying re-enactments. During live events at the museum, staffers are dressed in historic, colonial garb, depicting the early days of brewing beer.
“We want people to come here, take a look at what we have to offer, sample some of the beer and just have some fun,” Downes said.
The museum is located in the Historic District at 16 Chester Street, Front Royal (the oldest street in Front Royal). Once known as “The Board House”, it was built in 1900, on property formerly owned by a cousin of President Andrew Jackson.
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MAR-LYN FARM
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The Plains – This classic colonial is sited high on the farm’s gently rolling land. Enjoy pastoral views, including the stocked pond and stable, with the Bull Run Mountains off in the distance.
Hunt Country Events — At Your Service
Catherine Allen
By Michele Husfelt
and Jennifer Saunders, cofounders of Middleburgbased Hunt Country Events, became acquaintances and then friends long before entering the business world together.
Volunteering on the same committees at their children’s school, they discovered a unique blending of their talents that led to a valued partnership in the event planning business. Jennifer started the venture on her own as more of a fun side gig to help out friends, but after several years she realized she needed help to turn her passion into a business.
Enter Catherine, with not only the gift of hospitality but also the expertise of organization and administration. As a team, Jennifer remarked, “We had different gifts, but the same vision.”
Jennifer, the daughter of an Air Force fighter pilot, spent 12 years living outside the United States, fostering her love for international cuisine and travel from a young age. The military lifestyle also necessitated a need for organization and resourcefulness, and a professional education in interior design simply added to her numerous skills.
Catherine, a native of Montreal, has two decades of expertise in the hospitality industry, working at renowned establishments such as Marriott International, Hilton Hotels and Concord Hospitality, where she was general manager and human resources manager for their Canadian properties.
From Washington D.C. to the ski slopes of Pennsylvania, and many locations in between, the two women have organized events of varied themes, sizes, and budgets.
Their portfolio includes tailgate parties, celebrations of life, boutique weddings, graduations, retirements, horse and hunt events, corporate and small business events, family and class reunions, bridal and baby showers, church celebrations, community events, and more.
One of the larger events was a corporate weekend ski trip for 225 employees. The two took care of all bookings for accommodations, tickets, meals, transportation, and fun swag bags. The proverbial great time was had by all.
At a celebration of life service, the pair worked diligently to honor and remember a much-loved grandmother by resourcing linens, floral arrangements, and other decorations in her favorite colors of pink and green. Another special touch was a tiered lemon cake created from the woman’s own coveted recipe, and, as one family member commented, “Don’t tell Grandma, but I think this was better than hers!”
Another highlight was the opportunity to plan a three-day reunion for a college sorority of women now in their 60s. From securing the perfect space to coordinating the itinerary with local venues, perhaps the best part was being invited to the cocktail party where they danced and joined in the festivities of these former clients who became newfound friends.
Catherine and Jennifer acknowledge and say they feel privileged as their clients bring them into their homes and invite them to be part of their special celebrations.
“We want their events to be personal and intimate, a boutique feel rather than a cookie cutter experience,” Catherine said. “We find great pleasure knowing we’re trusted by our clients and made to feel like an extension of the family in many instances.”
Whatever the occasion, wherever the location, no matter the budget, Catherine and Jennifer would love to bring their creativity, professionalism, and expertise to your next event. While you may start out as clients, you’ll likely part as friends.
“We operate a low-frequency, high-risk program,” said Doug Monaco, Chief of the Little Fork Volunteer Fire and Rescue’s large animal rescue operation.
Situated west of Warrenton in Culpeper County, Little Fork serves the surrounding area and further out with its large animal rescue. The facility has 138 volunteers, including 15 trained in large animal rescue.
Responding to some 20 calls a year, the rescue team members most often find themselves working in dangerous situations to free large animals entrapped in unusual circumstances.
For instance, there was the cow in a swimming pool, two horses at separate farms that used stairs to reach barn haylofts but couldn’t come back down, and the calves stuck in a cistern. And don’t forget the camel who decided it didn’t want to get up for four days.
Each situation brings its own set of potentially dangerous calls to action and each requires a team of highly-trained volunteers fully equipped to handle what comes their way.
A well-equipped truck and trailer are at the ready to respond to calls that come in through a dispatcher. Webbing, various tools made and donated by local businesses, protective devices for the animal in trouble, and a power tool so strong it can cut through heavy metal are all at the ready.
Monaco, a retired captain with the Prince William Fire Department, oversees operations at the fire and rescue company along with Captain Melissa Mainville, a critical care nurse at Culpeper Hospital.
Monaco recalled the company’s initial rescue call for a horse trapped in a swale next to a barn. There was a happy ending, as the responders were able to free the horse, without injury to anyone.
When the company later learned of a three-day program in large animal rescue at the M.A.R.E. Center (Middleburg Agricultural Research and Extension Center), interested volunteers enrolled for training.
As for that cow trapped in a swimming pool near Warrenton, water had to be pumped from the pool before a sling was used around the cow’s belly to pull it out.
“We learned a lot that day,” Monaco said with a smile, recalling how the uninjured cow took off bucking across its field.
The rescue program works in conjunction with veterinarians who are often called in to assess the situation.
“We need the vets just as we need the paramedics with our fire and rescue work,” Monaco said, noting that that struggling animals often need to be sedated for rescue work to begin. Freeing an animal often can take five to six hours.
Monaco’s rescue team is the only one of its kind in Virginia. The unit has some $160,000 invested in livestock-saving equipment and he emphasized that the company is a 100 percent volunteer fire and rescue organization. To assist other fire and rescue companies, Little Fork also has put together a 90-minute program detailing the proper steps to rescue an animal.
In October, WETA television will feature a fire and rescue volunteer recruitment program entitled “Odd Hours, No Pay, Cool Hat.” Little Fork and its large animal rescue work will be among the featured subjects.
Details: Donations may be made to the Little Fork Large Animal Rescue Team, 6011 Rixeyville Road, Rixeyville, Va. 22737.
Photo by Linda Roberts
Volunteer members of the Little Fork Volunteer Fire and Rescue organization and the Technical Large Animal Rescue Team flank its specialized truck and practice models used in training exercises.
Hidden Creek is ideally located in the renowned Piedmont Hunt Territory, with the historic village of Upperville just 3.8 miles away. It is private and secluded, situated on 116 acres. The equestrian amenities include a 10 stall stable and board fenced paddocks.
Color It Eye-Popping Autumn
By Michael J. Kieffer
Autumn is a time when every hill, mountain, lake, and stream is basked in brilliant hues.
One of the most pleasing aspects of this spectacle is the individuality of each tree. During the growing season, trees melt together, but for this brief window of time you can reflect separately on the leaves, branches, and trunks of each specimen.
You may sympathize with their struggle to survive and share the glory of their individual accomplishments. Observe closely every year, and you could follow a tree’s progress. Each tree has its own story to tell and it’s in color.
The color explosion will soon begin. Dogwoods (Cornus florida), dwarf sumacs (Rhus copallina), black gums (Nyssa sylvatica), and Virginia creepers (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) will display brilliant reds and purples.
Poison ivy (Rhus radicans), tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), American elms (Ulmus americana), and birches (Betula spp.) will add a fantastic lemony yellow. Red maples (Acer rubum), silver maples (Acer saccharinum), and sugar maples (Acer saccharum) will flash light gold with brilliant
orange, pink, and red blush as hickories (Carya spp.) turn a golden tan.
As day length shortens and temperatures drop, broad-leaved trees re-absorb many essential minerals from their leaves and chlorophyll production stops. Chlorophyll is broken down and the accessory pigments, carotene and xanthophylls (oranges and yellows) in the chloroplasts become pronounced.
At the same time, a layer of cork cells cuts the leaf off from the stem. Photosynthetic products (sugars) are still being produced with accessory pigments,
however, now there is nowhere for the products to go and they remain stuck in the leaves. Trapped sugars are chemically converted in the leaf to anthocyanins, which are the red and purple pigments we adore.
The intensity of color is determined to a large degree by the amount of sugar in the leaf. This is where weather becomes a major contributor. A good growing season that ends in a succession of mild days and cool, but not freezing nights, in early fall, creates the best color.
Mild days prod the leaf into making sugar, while cool nights retard its withdrawal into the stem. Sugar trapped is turned into a myriad of colors highlighting each tree from the rest. Although, perhaps there is still a little magic involved.
Join Bull Run Mountains Conservancy this autumn as we focus on Fall Birds, blooms and insects, fall ecology, old home sites, and winter survival. We hope you enjoy the season and, whatever happens, make sure you do not let the splendor pass you by.
Michael “Moss” Kieffer is a field biologist and has been executive director of Bull Run Mountains Conservancy for the last 25 years. For more information on the Conservancy and its programs, visit the website at www.brmconservancy.org.
Arrests piling up—theft, a drug charge, more theft. Under house arrest. Probation officer had come and gone for the day. A prison sentence loomed.
Jules Stowell yearned for a big night out, one final run through the gauntlet.
She hit the town, the bad part of town. West Cape Canaveral, Florida, Between Rockledge and Cocoa.
“One last hurrah,” Stowell said. “Three friends. I wouldn’t call them friends now, doing things we shouldn’t have been doing.”
Florida State Police pulled over her Honda Civic. Not for speeding, not for any traffic violation, just because they were in a suspicious area. One of the cops ran her name through his computer and read her rap sheet…parole violation…driving with a suspended license…drug possession.
Stowell floored it. She took the cops on a 15-minute chase and then jumped out of the car and fled into the dark streets.
“You’re not thinking it through,” Stowell said. “In the moment. Just get away. I got to a dead-end street, and I took off. Just ran.”
Helicopters swirled. Spotlights beamed. Stowell hid under a carport on a dead-end street. In a deadend life.
“I waited. I waited. I waited,” Stowell said. Once she thought it was clear, she called her mom to pick her up. Mom knew the drill.
“My mother,” Stowell said. “My poor mother.” Police had staked out the area, saw her mom circling the streets and arrested Stowell on the spot. “It was over from there,” she said.
A three-year prison sentence at Lowell Correctional Institute near Ocala, Florida, turned to a six-year sentence.
“What I was trying to avoid, not going to jail, it did quite the opposite. Doubled my time,” Stowell said. “You’re just numb, quiet, observant. And in the beginning, it’s a little rougher because they want to make an impact. It’s like boot camp. So, you’re getting screamed at. They make a point to, if you’re talking in line, put you on the fence and humiliate you. You go through all the emotions of that. But it’s really based on the individual, on how you behave, how you’re going to be treated at the end of the day.”
With nowhere to run, Stowell began a long, slow climb. She took a paralegal course, a dog-training course while waiting for a spot at the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation’s Second Chances program. She could see the horses on the hill but with a sixyear sentence, she wasn’t eligible for the program. She waited.
“It was just occupying my mind with something. ‘OK, I’m going to prison for six years. I don’t want to just sit there and have idle hands. What can I do with this time to prepare myself to come out, to set myself up for success when I come out?’ ” Stowell said. “Going to prison really saved my life. It gave me a purpose. And as crazy as it sounds, when people ask me, do I regret going there? Well, I regret the things I did that ended me up there. I regret the people I hurt, not that I killed someone or anything. But my crimes, there are victims from theft. So, I do regret that. But I don’t regret the experience and where it’s brought me.”
It eventually brought her to the 50 horses on the hill and a member of the 15-strong team of women who take care of them. Asked for a favorite, Stowell hesitated.
“There was a handful,” she said. “Shake You Down. He is a big iconic horse out there. So, I got the pleasure of handling him. But Mr. Angel, he was probably the most impactful on me. He was an older guy. He was very misunderstood. He hospitalized his previous owner, put her in ICU, but she still didn’t give up on him. So, he came to us. And I can relate to the ones that are a little bit off, a little crazy that need more time because…you know.”
Yeah, she knows. Released from prison in 2023, Stowell got a job at Stephanie and Niall Brennan’s stable, mostly because of the skills she learned under the tutelage of John Evans at Second Chances. Farrier work, intravenous shots, driving the tractor, fixing the fence, you name it, she can do it.
Stowell made her way to Saratoga this summer to speak at the TRF’s Barbecue. She told her story. A day later, she continued it.
“I went down the wrong path, veered off it.” she said. “I was being fueled and run by foreign things. I was in there deep down, but I was just suffocating, drowning. The people I was around, of course, played an impact. But ultimately, it was me. I was the one that made those decisions. I was lost at the time, broken. If you’re broken and if you struggle with addiction, you’re running from yourself. Wherever you go, you’re there.”
From hell to horses to hope, Stowell’s ride continues.
“The hope of saving someone’s life, saving a horse’s life,” Stowell said. “You can relate to them because they experience trauma in their own way. And we don’t know what they’ve been through. They can’t voice it. Looking at individuals, you can’t tell what that person’s been through. Everyone goes through trauma in their life, whether they go to prison or not.
“But there is that opportunity. It’s an opportunity to turn it around, to make a difference and to be successful. It doesn’t stop at one failure. You’re going to fail many times. But what are you going to do with that failure? So, yeah, hope and success, a second chance.”
Originally published in The Saratoga Special Aug. 24, 2024.
The Virginia Fall Races will honor longtime race meet director and voice of Virginia steeplechasing, the late Will O’Keefe, with the inaugural running of the Will O’Keefe Memorial, a $50,000 hurdle stakes for three-year-olds, at Glenwood Park in Middleburg on Oct. 12.
The hurdle feature race offers the first stakes opportunity for the three-yearold class during the fall season and combines with Shawan Downs and the Colonial Cup to bolster a three-race program for freshmen jumpers.
The only thing missing will be O’Keefe’s signature voice calling the race.
“In January, the Virginia Fall Race Committee met and decided to add a race to our fall card,” said Punkin Lee, Virginia Fall Races chair.” ]After losing Will in December, we wanted to honor him and what better way than a race in his memory. We decided on a three-year-old race with a $50,000 purse. Our goal is for this race to not only be run in 2024, but will remain a signature race for years to come.”
A previous tradition at the fall races, the three-year-old race provided the launching pad for future Eclipse Award winner Demonstrative in 2010.
“It was a great place to start Demonstrative. A good, fair course which suits younger horses,” said Demonstrative’s trainer, Richard Valentine that it has returned as a stakes. What a great idea and what a way to honor Will.”
The Will O’Keefe Memorial and the National Sporting Library & Museum Cup, a $50,000 timber stakes, highlight a stellar eight-race card.
All divisions, from maiden hurdle horses to maiden timber horses, threeyear-olds to seasoned handicappers to the ever-popular steeplethon, are represented on the day. Purses have climbed to a record $275,000, the fourth highest of the fall season.
O’Keefe played an integral role in the event, doing everything from calling the races to cultivating sponsors to stapling stall cards, in revitalizing the Virginia Fall Races to one of the major destinations on the steeplechase circuit.
“Will was a guiding light for our race meet and for all of us on the race committee who worked alongside him,” Lee said. “His knowledge, his passion, his friendship and history of the sport were aspects that Will shared with the committee. We’re proud of the accomplishments and improvements we’ve been able to make for the horses, horsemen and spectators at the Virginia Fall Races. And we thank all our generous sponsors and contributors.”
Zohar and Lisa Ben-Dov of Kinross Farm said it for everyone.
“The first time we heard him call a race, we fell in love with the sport, and we became great friends,” they said. “Every time he was calling a race, it played to our hearts. He wouldn’t drink during the races but after the races, we would have a few bourbons. And we’ll raise a glass again to a very kind, generous spirit who made a difference in all our lives and to Virginia steeplechasing.”
The Virginia Fall Races have been run at Glenwood Park in Middleburg since 1955. All proceeds from the race weekend benefit the Glenwood Park Trust and the INOVA Hospital Foundation. The Virginia Fall Races has consistently contributed more money to the INOVA Hospital Foundation than any other sporting event.General Admission may be purchased via TicketLeap. For reserved parking, go to secretary@vafallraces.com or vafallraces.com.
Photo courtesy of the Virginia Fall Races by Camden Littleton
The late Will O’Keefe with Zohar Ben-Dov at the 2023 Virginia Fall Races.
For the VPHA, It’s All About Local History
The rolling landscape of Virginia’s Piedmont region is imbued with the timelessness of the past, a testament to eras gone by, yet safeguarded and cherished by the Middleburg-based Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area (VPHA).
Defined by its unwavering commitment to the preservation and promotion of the unique history, arts, and traditions of Virginia’s Piedmont region, the organization holds steadfast against the tide of immediacy, advocating for the recognition and respect of the past in all its richness and complexity.
The VPHA headquarters building is also a testament to their efforts—an 1801 stone farmhouse in Atoka, just off Route 50 and painstakingly restored to its former glory. It now serves as a tangible, vibrant record of the region’s past for guests who would like to visit.
The VPHA has defined their mission: “to educate and advocate for the preservation of the extraordinary historic landscape and culture of the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area for future generations…The VPHA’s mission is multifaceted, merging preservation, education, and shared community experiences.
“Through the Education and Outreach Programs, they breathe life into history, transforming it from static pages in a textbook to a living, dynamic narrative that reverberates through the lives of the community.”
The area covered includes all or parts of five counties in the northern Virginia Piedmont and lower Shenandoah Valley: Loudoun, Fauquier, Clarke, Prince William, and Warren counties. The VPHA’s work is made possible through grants, memberships, and donations.
By telling its stories, the VPHA hopes to inspire people to care for and protect the area’s outstanding historical resources. An essential aspect of the VPHA’s mission is the Oral History Project. This podcast initiative, freely available on their website, explores and documents first-person narratives, providing valuable insights into the region’s past.
In addition to the extensive efforts of executive director Alex Nance, director of education Travis Shaw and public programs coordinator Ian MacDougall (all profiled in the next few pages), there is also a dedicated team of volunteers, local enthusiasts, and historians committed to preserving the region’s heritage.
The VPHA is clearly dedicated to enhancing the profound importance of history. Through their continued efforts, the spirit of the Piedmont region is kept alive, unfolding one chapter at a time, for current and future generations to cherish and learn from.
Stories By Leonard Shapiro
Photos by Doug Gehlsen of Middleburg Photo
For Alex Nance, It’s About Passing History Forward
AWe take an active role in preservation in the area, and do so largely through our education programs.
lex Nance, executive director of the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association (VPHA) since January, 2022, grew up in Northern Virginia and recalls becoming fascinated by the history of the region as a child. He developed a passion for the past and future preservation while visiting dozens of historic sites and every battlefield within 100 miles of home.
While stationed in Afghanistan as an engineer officer in the U.S. Army, he further indulged that passion by reading articles on the VPHA website about an area that he now calls home. He and his wife, Jane Latham, live in a restored 19th century home near Middleburg.
Before he accepted the position to head the VPHA, Nance, 35, had become an active member of the organization, and the more he read about the Middleburg area, the more he became enamored with the idea of moving here. He’s also a firm believer in passing on his own love of history to future generations.
“This is the lead organization for preservation through education,” Nance said. “We take an active role in preservation in the area, and do so largely through our education programs. All of our education programs help us reach the next generation and instill an appreciation for local history and the preservation of our natural and historic resources.”
His own education includes a Bachelor’s degree in international politics from Georgetown and a Masters in public policy from the University of Virginia. He then began five years of active duty as an Army officer, serving as an engineer officer during two tours overseas.
He was responsible for designing and monitoring complex projects, building and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders across agencies and countries, and managing and reporting on day-to-day operations within a multidisciplinary team. Following his discharge from active duty, he also served as a military analyst for the federal government for five years, while continuing to serve as a reserve officer in the Virginia Army National Guard.
All of that experience combined with his keen organizational skills made him an ideal candidate to head the VPHA.
“We’re trying to get a lot more breadth in our programs,” Nance said. “We’ve offered some outstanding historical programming over the past five, ten, fifteen years, and we’ll continue to do so, but we also want to build on those existing programs to reach a new audience that might be interested in other aspects of the heritage area.
“We’re expanding our education programs even further in the short and long term. One new project we’re working on is replacing 14 highway signs throughout the area, letting visitors know about the state-recognized Heritage Area.”
Nance is giving back in other areas, as well. He’s a valuable member of the Middleburg Library Advisory Board and chairman of its scholarship committee, where his organizational skills definitely come into play.
And his favorite after-work pursuit?
“Driving around the unpaved rural road network in our area,” he said.
Plenty of history there, as well.
Alex Nance
Ian MacDougall Remains Programmed for History
The home I grew up on was also right alongside the defensive earthworks from the 1862 battle of Williamsburg.
Ian MacDougall, the public programs coordinator for the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association (VPHA), likes to joke that his love for American history began in the womb. After all, even while his mother was pregnant, she continued to participate in re-enactments of historic battles, often in full costume.
At age three, the family moved from Ohio to Beaverdam, Virginia, then to historic Williamsburg, in fifth grade. As a youngster, he participated in the Colonial Williamsburg Fife and Drum Corps.
“Growing up in an area like Williamsburg, you begin to take for granted its historic streets, 18th century homes, and the proximity to the siege lines at Yorktown and the Jamestown Settlement,” he said. “The home I grew up on was also right alongside the defensive earthworks from the 1862 battle of Williamsburg, so it’s easy to imagine how passion for history would be enhanced in such a setting.”
While attending Virginia Commonwealth University, MacDougall, 29, spent summers working at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s department of military programs. And after graduating with a Bachelors degree in political science, he worked there full time.
“At that time, I really developed an interest in Virginia’s role in the American War for Independence, and a love for sharing Virginia’s history with the public,” MacDougall said.
He first became aware of the VPHA when a co-worker and historian, Ryan Quint, gave a talk for the organization at its annual conference on the Art of Command, held in Middleburg in 2019.
“In 2021, I moved to Northern Virginia and really began to understand the tremendous impact VPHA has in the preservation of a historic landscape that spans thousands of years,” he said.
When he learned the VPHA had an opening through his friend, Travis Shaw, the VPHA’s Director of Education, “I jumped at the opportunity to continue VPHA’s mission and share a love of history with my new community,” MacDougall said.
“It really wasn’t until my first day on the job that it truly hit me. Traveling down Route 50 toward the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains and passing 18th and early 19th century homes, I knew I’d found a home in VPHA.”
As public programs coordinator, he’s developed a wide range of topics, from historic talks on local legends like Foxcroft founder Charlotte Noland and her legacy, to trail rides and hikes through historic properties.
“One of my most satisfying programs was earlier this year when we held a trail ride in partnership with the Piedmont Foxhounds Conservation Fund on large portions of the 1862 Battle of Unison battlefield,” he said.
“It was a proud moment to tell the story of the battle and its effects on the community, and to say that 100 percent of the ground we stood on was protected in conservation easements. We’re uniquely situated in a community of stewards that care deeply about these stories and want to see them preserved for future generations.”
MacDougall also loves to get out and about in his free time. Hiking all around the Shenandoah Valley and beyond, he’s often joined by his fiancèe, Christine Nestleroth, an archeologist and field director who shares his passion for history.
As for future projects, he’s already getting excited about planning programs around the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution beginning in 2025.
“They will not only remind us of where we came from,” he said, “but who we are today, and where we’re going.”
Joyful Rewards for a History Educator
His work now mainly consists of going into schools at all levels and providing programs that tie national events to local people and places in their community.
It’s not the least bit difficult to understand the sort of joyful satisfaction Travis Shaw experiences as Director of Education for the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association (VPHA).
“The most satisfying moments come when you see the look of realization on a student’s face when they see a place they recognize and make that connection that history happened where they live,” he said. “That connection helps make it so real to them. Hopefully, it encourages them to keep exploring.”
Shaw, 40, is a native of Frederick County, Maryland, and “it’s where I first learned a love of local history. It has a remarkably preserved rural landscape dotted with historic towns, as well as the city of Frederick with its many 18th and 19th century buildings.”
He earned a Bachelor’s degree in history at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, a school that shares much of its campus with historic St. Mary’s City, the site of Maryland’s first colony and capital. The campus and the rest of St. Mary’s City combined are considered to be one of the premier archaeological sites in the U.S.
Shaw worked in archeology for more than a decade, and along the way also attended American University, where he earned a Masters in public history.
“It was fantastic preparation for what I wanted to do,” he said. “I didn’t want to spend my career in academia, I wanted to bring history to the public and get people as excited about their history as I am.”
Shaw and his wife, Beth, moved to Loudoun County in 2010, and he immediately began searching out local historic organizations and their job possibilities.
The VPHA “had a great reputation for their public programs, as well as for the educational work they were doing in the community,” he said.
His work now mainly consists of going into schools at all levels and providing programs that tie national events to local people and places in their community. They vary widely, from early Native Americans to the Civil War, to the World Wars, and the civil rights movement.
“Every day is different,” he said, “and we’re always discovering more that we incorporate into our programs….As the area faces more and more threats from unrestrained development, it’s critical to teach people why this area matters and what we risk losing.”
Shaw is on a mission to get as many students as possible out to view historic sites because he knows it’s far more impactful if they can experience history away from the classroom, using all their senses.
“Over the last several years we’ve been expanding our on-site offerings with multisite field trips in places like Warrenton, Aldie, Berryville, and Waterford,” he said. “This is only possible with the help of our many partners in the history community. I want to continue to expand these opportunities and inspire a new generation of preservationists.”
Like his VPHA colleagues, Alex Nance and Ian MacDougall, whenever he’s out of the office, he’s usually exploring.
“I love hiking at Sky Meadows and Ball’s Bluff Battlefield and visiting the various local wineries and breweries,” he said, adding that his sevenyear-old daughter already has been bitten by the history bug. She loves Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Newport, Rhode Island, and Salem, Massachusetts.”
No surprise there.
Ian MacDougall
Travis Shaw
Perspectives on Childhood, Education, and Parenting
Smartphones in Schools: Dialing Up A Bad Idea
“In the early 1960s, when my parents were in high school, they received free sampler packs of cigarettes on their cafeteria trays...I believe that future generations will look back with the same incredulity at our acceptance of phones in schools.”
—Russell
Shaw, Head of School of Georgetown Day School, from his article “Why We’re Banning Phones at Our School” in The Atlantic
By Tom Northrup
Like Russell Shaw’s parents, I was in high school in the early 1960s. And while the school I attended didn’t offer sampler packs of cigarettes at lunch, several of my teachers smoked in class.
Students were permitted to smoke, with parental permission, before or after class in the school-sanctioned “pipe club.” Not surprisingly, my alma mater closed this club several decades ago.
Shaw’s linking the harm done from smoking to the overuse of smartphones, is a good reminder that human beings and institutions can respond and make changes for the better when an issue has been well researched, the facts are known, and reasonable modifications are presented. In recent columns, Mike Wipfler, a friend and former colleague, and I have been discussing Jonathan Haidt’s book, “The Anxious Generation.” One of the author’s conclusions is that excessive use of smartphones by children has resulted in negative consequences for many in multiple areas–mental health, educational achievement, and personal relationships.
Several months ago when the book was launched, I argued it was must reading for parents, educators, and children. His research was thorough and persuasive, and his recommendations were reasonable and easy to understand. Still, they’re not simple to execute.
Banning the use of smartphones at schools was one of them. It’s reassuring that many schools and states have instituted this policy. Russell Shaw’s recent article in The Atlantic explains why the school he leads, Georgetown Day School, made the decision to ban them.
Tom: Mike, I highly recommend that parents, teachers, and children read Shaw’s piece. A major
challenge for parents and teachers in raising and educating children has always been balancing what I call the structurelatitude scale. How much structure should be adult driven and non-negotiable? How much latitude should be given to the child to make the call? On home routines such as bedtime, attendance at family meals, fulfilling responsibilities, I’ve always tipped the scale toward the need for more adult provided structure.
As parents and teachers, both of us have been advocates in many areas for giving children the latitude to make academic or social decisions independently and learn from the resulting natural consequences–good or bad. What are your thoughts on the appropriate balance for children and smartphone use?
Mike: I think it’s very important for adults to provide structure and limits around smartphone use. Smartphones give their users instant access to limitless sources of highly stimulating material— social media, television series and movie options, text threads, and much more.
The pleasure-seeking parts of the brain are powerfully drawn to these instantly gratifying sources, as dopamine spikes occur in anticipation of and during phone use. In fact, Anna Lembke, a Stanford professor and author of “Dopamine Nation,” compares smartphones to drugs. “The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation,” she wrote.
It’s difficult for anyone, of any age, to muster the willpower or develop the habits necessary to have a healthy relationship with their smartphone. But it’s even more difficult for adolescents, whose prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain responsible for decision making) is still developing.
Given the addictive nature of the technology, it’s unreasonable to expect pre-teens and teens to be able to self-regulate their smartphone use. As a former teacher, I worked hard to develop thoughtful, engaging lessons. I am exceptionally grateful that students at Hill School were not allowed to have their phones anytime during the school day. My best lessons would be no match for the ping or buzz of a phone notification. Even without a notification, just the mere presence of phones and the dopamine potential they provide would prove too tempting for many students.
These dopamine cravings constantly exist, so when a smartphone is readily available—in or between classes at school, during meals, while completing homework, or hanging out with friends—it is nearly impossible for preteens and teenagers to stay focused on the tasks and people right in front of them. That’s why it’s essential for adults to provide limits and expectations around when and where smartphones are used.
Banning smartphones in schools is a great first step and easier to implement and monitor than after-school and home use. In our next conversation, we should discuss some limit-setting strategies for parents and children during non-school hours.
Tom: I couldn’t agree more. Schools and families need to be uncompromising in their limit setting for their children on their smartphone access and use at school and at home. Thanks to Jonathan Haidt and other researchers, the health risks are known. Children need to understand the downsides. Parents and teachers can be confident in taking a hard line on this, children will appreciate the benefits, and, if not now, ultimately they’ll be grateful.
Long-time educator Tom Northrup is Head of School Emeritus at The Hill School in Middleburg
Tom Northrup
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The Power of Mentoring at Hill School
Arecent scene at the Middleburg Safeway perfectly captured the essence of Hill School’s long-time mentoring program.
A young student, accompanied by a parent, excitedly approached an older student. Although it was clear the older boy was not from the younger student’s class, their interaction was warm and friendly. When the curious parent inquired about the identity of the older student, her son responded with the simple truth, “He’s my mentor.”
For over four decades, Hill has championed a robust mentoring program that pairs younger and older students, engaging them in a variety of activities throughout the year—whether outdoors, in the classroom, or at the school’s athletic center.
These activities not only reinforce the curriculum but also celebrate special days and uphold cherished school traditions. By the year’s end, these pairs often forge enduring bonds that last well into their adult lives.
“At the beginning of the year, we sit down with the older kids and ask them to remember the experiences they had when they were the mentee,” said Hunt Lyman, Hill’s Academic Dean and mentoring coordinator. “We tell them ‘You’re the big kid now and you’re there to help them and guide them, and the adults are always there to back you up.’”
Students from sixth grade are matched with Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten children. Seventh graders work with the first graders and eighth graders mentor the second and third graders. Their teachers meet before the start of each school year to discuss pairing possibilities and then make the final decision. They might match two students both
interested in riding horses, both of them sports fans, both taking music lessons. etc.
“One of the distinct advantages of a JK-8 structure is that it provides our middle schoolers with genuine leadership opportunities,” Lyman added. “Sixth, seventh and eighth graders thrive under the responsibility, stepping out from their usual peer circles, which is incredibly formative at this stage in their development. Mentoring not only enhances their leadership skills but also boosts their confidence.”
The structure of the school calendar also prioritizes the mentoring program, ensuring it remains unaffected by special events, holidays, or other school schedule changes. That consistency is vital, as lower school teachers like veteran educator
Kara Whitehead depend on older students for projects that demand personalized attention.
A notable example is the annual second grade “Flat Me” project, where each child creates a miniature stand-in of themselves for adventures and discoveries.
“Managing this project for 25 students without the one-to-one support of our older students would be unimaginable,” Ms. Whitehead said. “It requires a dedicated, individual approach.”
The enthusiasm from the younger students is palpable—they often greet their mentors with smiles and hugs. For the older students, it’s equally crucial.
“I work hard at mentoring,” said one recent eighth grade student. “I was a second grader once, too. And I’m going to need another mentor one day.”
Said another recent Hill graduate, “Mentoring was my favorite part of Hill. It’s helped me understand who I am. Now I can help someone else do the same thing.”
There are distinct time periods set aside at least once a week throughout the school year for the students to work with each other, even in a gym class where an upper school lacrosse player might be teaching a young student how to pass or shoot with a lacrosse stick.
“The students really get to know each other,” Lyman said. “They remember their mentors and their mentees their entire lives. For the older kids, their social world can often be their whole worlds, and that can be stifling. When you have to pay attention to the younger kids, and not just your friends, it’s just as important to them as it is to the lower school students.”
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 Six Consecutive Years
Photo by Dorsey deButts
A Hill School upper school mentor reads to his younger mentee.
Blowing Up a New Balloon Business
“It’s hard to be sad when you’re around balloons.”
By Jan Mercker
For Beth Maggar, balloons mean bringing joy.
She remembers her early days working at a party store in Manassas when a young customer opened her eyes to the every day magic a balloon can create.
“There was a little boy who had come in,” Maggar recalled, “and he tugged on his mom’s arm and said, ‘Mommy, it’s balloon world!’ The joy on his face just did something to me. It’s not only about handing out a bouquet of balloons to somebody. It’s the joy. It’s helping them celebrate a life event–whether it’s a wedding, a baby, a birthday, anniversary or even a celebration of life. It’s hard to be sad when you’re around balloons.”
She opened her new shop, Balloon Designs By Beth, in Middleburg in June and has been spreading balloon joy with decorative arches, sculptures and more ever since.
Maggar was a longtime balloon specialist at The Party Co., an independent party store in Manassas. But her world changed in 2013 when a helium shortage caused her to dig deep to find her own hidden talents.
“When I first started working at the Party Company, all we did was blow up balloons and hand out bouquets,” Maggar said. “Then the owner came to me and said, ‘If we don’t figure out how to do airfilled designs, we’re going to lose our balloon department.’ I said, ‘I don’t have that kind of creativity in me.’ But he saw something that I didn’t see.”
She began her journey learning to create the cool air-filled designs that have taken over the world of balloon decor. In 2014, she went to the World Balloon Convention in Denver and was blown away. For the last decade, she’s worked hard to teach herself the ins and outs of air-filled designs.
“It’s an artistic side I never knew I had,” Maggar said. “I never considered myself an artistic person because I didn’t try.”
Maggar had to pivot again in 2020 when her former boss told her The Party Co. would be closing. She considered taking over the reins and launching her own party store in Prince William County.
Then she found out the corporate juggernaut, Party City, would be moving into Manassas.
“I knew I couldn’t compete,” she said.
She shifted gears again and took another retail job while hanging onto her dream of opening her own shop. When Maggar moved to Warrenton earlier this year, her real estate agent encouraged her to look for a retail space.
“She was like, ‘Beth you’re so passionate about it. You need to do it.’”
Maggar found her current space at a former auto parts shop at 19 W. Federal St. in Middleburg and she knew it was a perfect fit. The space had been cleaned and brightened but still had the pegboard on the walls, ideal for hanging balloons and accessories.
“My eyes have always been on larger shopping plazas because that’s what I thought I needed,” she said. “I’d never even considered Middleburg, but I walked up to the front and I saw the little picket fence. When I walked in, I saw all the pegboard on the wall. I said this is what I need.”
In September, Maggar’s new shop featured an adorable balloon beer mug sculpture, complete with foam and a balloon pretzel in honor of local Oktoberfest celebrations.
Meanwhile, the helium shortage has subsided, but it remains expensive. Maggar does offer helium-filled balloons, but the airfilled design trend is here to stay.
“The first thing I’m asked is if I do arches,” Maggar said. “They’ve become so popular.”
The current trend is “organic” arches filled with various sizes of balloons to achieve a more rounded and less uniform look. She delivers arches to customers around the region, with partial assembly on site.
“I’m very passionate about it,” Maggar said “I love doing it… Right now I’m a one-woman show. I’m branching out on my own and I’m learning so much. It’s very exciting.”
Details: facebook.com/balloondesignsbybeth.
Beth Maggar and her balloons.
loaned some of the paintings for the Mellon exhibit at the National Racing Museum.
Photo by Anne Clancy
At the museum ball in Saratoga: Keith Forman, George Grayson and Maria Tousimis and Mary Morton, the curator and head of French Paintings at the National Gallery of Art, which
The Clancy Family-Miles, Anne and Seanen route to the museum ball in Saratoga.
Photo by Vicky Moon Doug Semanek at the Pork Stork at The Green Barns in The Plains.
Photo by Vicky Moon Liz White and Laurie Salama in front of Zest at the Sidewalk Sale in Middleburg.
Photo by Vicky Moon Chester Hess can be seen at the Middleburg Farmer’s Market and at The Green Barns in The Plains with many veggies.
The War Ends, Education Begins in Willisville
by Carol Lee and Lori H. Kimball
This is an excerpt from a newly published book, A Path Through Willisville
DLOANS FOR:
Homes and construction
Livestock Barns and outbuildings Fences and roads And much more!
UPCOMING EVENTS
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Drop off is the Thursday before the sale 7:00AM-3:00PM Friday, Oct. 11th • Friday, Oct. 25th Friday, Nov. 8th • Friday, Dec. 13th
POULTRY AND SMALL ANIMAL AUCTION
Contact: Stan Stevens (540)631-3523 or Emillie Stevens (540)222-2312 October 19th, 2024 at 12:00PM
Animal Take-in day of the sale from 8:00AM- 11:00AM
Contact: Stan Stevens (540)631-3523 or Emillie Stevens (540)222-2312
No out of state birds • All poultry to be in cages
25% commission on all poultry • 15% on all other items
Food available for purchase • No puppies to be sold!
Held at the Fauquier Livestock Market
Check us out on FB or our website at http://www.FauquierLivestockExchange.com
uring the waning days of the Civil War, the U.S. Congress passed a bill establishing The Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees. It was to help displaced southerners, both White and Black, by providing food, shelter and other aid. For Black people specifically, the Bureau was to establish schools and “supervise contracts between free men and employers.”
As communities of predominantly Black residents formed across Loudoun County, a school, church, and cemetery became important physical representations in these small villages. The citizens of Willisville achieved all three of these significant milestones.
On March 19, 1868, Richard Dulany of Welbourne petitioned Lieutenant Sydney Smith at the Freedmen’s Bureau office in Middleburg asking for a school. With his reference to “a large number” of Black people in the area near Crednal, Melbourne and Catesby, it indicates a population, not just of adult workers, but families with young children who could attend a school.
August, 1868 saw a flurry of communication related to the schoolhouse construction and establishment of a school. On August 6th, a note was made that $150 would be appropriated “to assist the colored people in building a school house” when the Bureau was confident that it would be built that season and the school established and maintained for the upcoming year.
The land for the school was officially purchased on October 1, 1868, when John A. Carter deeded a half-acre to trustees George Evans, Garner Peters and Benjamin Berry for the sole use of a school for Black children and place of worship for the neighborhood’s “coloured population.”
The schoolhouse lot was at the corner of present day Welbourne and Willisville Roads. The sale from a White property owner to Black citizens in the neighborhood was the first land transaction in future Willisville and a significant step in fulfilling their aspirations of life in freedom and establishing their community. It further documents the interconnectedness between the White and Black residents who lived along Welbourne Road and the commitment to educating the community’s Black children.
After funds were appropriated from the Bureau, work progressed on the schoolhouse as documented in a letter on November 5, 1868. It noted that four carpenters had been contracted by Henry Mason in September. They worked 15 days each at $2.50 per day, which totaled the $150 allowed by the Bureau. The letter described the schoolhouse as “about halfway between Middleburg and Upperville in the neighborhood of R. H. Dulany‘s place.” Henry Mason was a “mulatto“ painter who lived near Middleburg and it is presumed the carpenters he supervised were Black.
The teacher was McGill Pierce, who at times, with his wife, had been teaching at a Freedmen’s school in Middleburg since January, 1868. Records no longer exist, but it is assumed the Willisville school opened during the 1869 school year.
Considering the Willisville schoolhouse’s location on two public roads and the fact that a school did not open in the village of St. Louis until the 1870s, Black children who lived nearby probably attended the Willisville school, too.
The persistence and commitment of Dulany and Black parents in particular cannot be overstated. Newly freed from slavery, with no financial resources, Black communities were expected to buy land and build their schools, and Black parents had to pay for their children to attend.
Dulany, and perhaps Carter as the seller of the land for the school, saw the commitment of Willisville residents to providing an education for their children, an opportunity the formerly enslaved parents never had.
This book is available at Journeymen Saddlers at 2 West Federal St. in Middleburg.
Middleburg Film Festival Back for an Even Dozen
By Ronen Feldman
Break out the popcorn and don’t forget the Twizzlers. After all, the always highly-anticipated Middleburg Film Festival is returning for its twelfth consecutive year, set to screen no fewer than 35 feature films over four days in venues all around town between Oct. 17-20.
Middleburg has become an essential stop on the fall festival circuit, and many of its films go on to win significant awards and earn critical praise. The event also has become somewhat synonymous with Middleburg itself, and since its debut in 2013, has nearly doubled in size in the number of films and audiences coming to watch them.
“It’s important to us that we have many different voices and perspectives represented,” said Susan Koch, the festival’s executive director. “The film slate is a mix of films with awards buzz, fantastic international films, thoughtprovoking documentaries, and other independent gems you might not otherwise have a chance to see.”
As Country ZEST went to press, the festival had not announced the names of the films or the schedule, with that information to be released in early October.
The festival is the brainchild of Sheila Johnson, co-founder of BET, owner of Middleburg’s Salamander Resort & Spa and a film producer herself. She had previously served on the board of Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival in Utah. She was inspired to bring the film world to Middleburg, so that people from across the globe might have a reason to visit, and perhaps even stay.
That first year, the highly-acclaimed film “Nebraska,” with lead actor Bruce
Dern also in attendance, was showcased in the festival. The film went on to earn multiple accolades, including six Oscar nominations, and over the years the festival has often been a harbinger of future major award winners.
“Last year, our audience selected “American Fiction” as their favorite narrative film and it went on to win an Oscar,” Koch said. “They also selected “The Last Repair Shop” as their documentary favorite and it also went on to win an Oscar.”
Memorable guests over the years have included Hollywood boldface names like Greta Gerwig, Emma Stone, Dakota Johnson, Sterling K. Brown, Noah Baumbach, Kenneth Branagh, Damien Chazelle, Ray Romano and Brendan Fraser. Just a few months after coming to Middleburg last year, Fraser won an Oscar as best actor for his performance in “The Whale.”
Last year, as part of the festival’s Film Diplomacy initiative and partnership with the State Department, they welcomed a delegation of film-makers from Ukraine. This year they’re looking forward to hosting film-makers from Nigeria and Kenya.
“Middleburg may be one of the only film festivals in the country without a movie theater,” Koch said. “We have a fantastic tech team who transforms four venues into state of the art cinemas. We’ve never missed a year, even during Covid, when we pivoted to outdoor screenings on the Salamander lawn and a drive-in pop-up.”
The festival also includes fascinating conversations with world-renowned filmmakers, actors, and other special guests. Advance ticket packages went on sale in August and individual tickets will be available at the beginning of October.
OUR Anniversary CELEBRATE CELEBRATE
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ALEXANDRA SHERMAN: An Artist With A Message
By Louisa Woodville
n her bright basement studio in Round Hill, Alexandra N. Sherman assembles works of contemplative beauty, working in collage, watercolor, and cartonnage—a malleable stiff fabric similar to papier-mâché
Using 19th and early 20th-century images from magazines, playing cards, books, field guides, and other sources, Sherman arranges the images on top of old-fashioned checking ledgers with numbers carefully scripted into demarcated pages. She creates dream-like imagery evoking remembrances of events long past— or, perhaps, a nostalgia for things that never were.
“Here you can see the watercolor coming into the collages, with painted backgrounds kind of like a diorama,” she said, pointing to a work on a large table.
“This one was influenced by Frederic Edwin Church, his icebergs.”
Church, a 19th-century Hudson River School artist, was renowned for poignant landscapes of mountains, waterfalls, and sunsets. Vivid and haunting—two adjectives that describe Church’s work—aptly describe Sherman’s as well.
The two artists’ modus operandi, however, are vastly different. Sherman uses online resources to locate the
hundreds of printed and three-dimensional ephemera she weaves into her works. She then manipulates them with watercolor or gouache, or boxing in an assemblage. In juxtaposing disparate elements, she mingles fantasy and reality, infusing into her works a lyric surrealism. When she neatly frames her images, the results are reminiscent of those by the New York artist and filmmaker Joseph Cornell (1903-1972), whose artfully-arranged boxed images evoke a similar romantic sensibility.
Like Cornell, Sherman features birds in many works—Cornell, in fact, is said to have sprinkled birdseed on his kitchen table to lure them inside. She also uses repeating motifs such as trees, branches, bird-headed popes and other figures pasted onto 19thcentury ledgers.
Sherman’s recent works, “The Mysteries,” are exhibited at Baltimore’s Blue Gallery. These assemblages consist of images cut out of vintage papers Sherman then pastes onto antique invoices and ledgers.
She cites William Blake (1757-1827), the watercolorist famous for his Romantic Age poetry, as a strong influence, as well as the American painter and photographer Tom Uttech (1942), who, like herself, paints imaginary scenes filled with beating wings and surreal landscapes.
Photos by Louisa Woodville Alexandra Sherman in the studio
“The Rose Bower” is a case in point. Here, on thorned branches sit a Cedar Waxwing, Mourning Dove, Downey and Red-Bellied woodpeckers, and a wren as well as a rabbit, a field mouse and a chipmunk. They surround a Neoclassically-framed window with red drapery spilling out. Red roses, also with birds, shoot upwards from this same Neoclassical detail.
Sherman and her husband, the writer Paul Hidaglo, have a 9-year-old son, Julian, a fourth grader at Hill School. The daughter of Upperville antique dealers Carol and Dennis Sherman, Alexandra also attended Hill.
She’s a 1994 Foxcroft graduate, then went on to Elon University in North Carolina. Next was the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, followed by an MFA at the University of Wisconsin.
Her work experience includes training at the Bethesda frame ateliers, L’Eclat De Verre, and Gold Leaf Studios in Georgetown, affording her the opportunity to construct elaborate frames, learn conservation methods, and work with gold leaf, a notoriously tricky medium. “Working at that French frame shop got me hooked on papers,” says Sherman. In D.C., she also curated for the Mobil modern art collection and the The Dadian Gallery. She lived in Argentina for a year, where she was struck by the works of Argentinian surrealist Leonor Fini.
Sherman’s upcoming exhibition, opening this spring, is “Weight of the World, a Reckoning.”
“This whole show is about where we are now, because [the works] are literally on reckonings,” she said. “The show will also include some
installation work — there will be a couple of thousand butterflies flying through the space.”
In her “Feet to the Fire” exhibition, she juxtaposes the natural world—a stormy sky, swallows, trees, and fire—with human body parts: a single eye and a pulsating heart that dominate the center, under which sprouts a branch with green-leafed balls. Butterflies dance, while further up, swallows orbit around an all-seeing eye reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch’s “Seven Deadly Sins,” painted more than 500 years earlier.
“I love medieval manuscripts and I like to take the whimsey that you see — the marginalia— and that kind of plays into my work,” she said. Sherman’s iconography, initially mysterious, is straightforward when she explains it.
“The eye and heart represent truth —all seeing, and the swallows are a symbol of joy and beauty for me but also a reminder that there are others who are struggling because of our actions too,” she said, adding that she painted the work in response to the Canadian forest fires that filled the air with smoke in Virginia in the summer of 2023.
The work has a serious message. “Our feet (located at the bottom of the work) are to the fire in terms of getting our act together on fixing the climate crisis,” Sherman said. “I’ve been putting all of my grief about the changes happening to the environment into my work. We are more tied to the environment than we think.”
Details: www.ansherman.com and email art@ansherman.com
Welcome to
Feet to the Fire
New Head of Highland is a Global Force
“When I visited the campus, I fell in love with the family feel and local community.”
By Jodi Nash
New Highland Head of School Adam Seldis, with his crisp British accent and energetic delivery, impressive teaching credentials and passion for education, is a presence.
Born in Great Britain, he received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Northumbria and a Masters from the University of Reading, later earning his doctorate in curriculum, learning and leadership from Northeastern University in Boston.
Before charting his course in education, Seldis worked as a senior management consultant for a large London investment firm, while studying for the British equivalent of a CPA, an arduous three year process.
“I passed the exam,” he said, “but I’d spent enough time in the industry to realize in my mid-20s I wanted something different.”
Recalling how he loved teaching music to younger students while in school, he felt a calling to teach, though not music.
Seldis began at Wellington College, a boarding and day school in Crowthorne, England (35 miles from London), eventually serving as department chair, head of careers and assistant housemaster. As an added bonus, on his very first day there, he met Maggie, a University of Virginia graduate student who was assisting there.
Following a year in New Zealand teaching grammar school, and by then married to Maggie, he attended a weekend job fair in London for teachers seeking international placements. After a whirlwind series of interviews, he met the head of the Yokohama International School near Tokyo, Japan, and was blown away.
“He was Canadian, and the interview went extremely well,” he said. “I remember sitting in a pub on Saturday night with Maggie, strategizing about where to go if I got multiple offers.”
They relocated to Yokohama, where he taught business, government, history and economics.
As Department of Social Sciences chairman, he witnessed firsthand how a headmaster handles impactive events, like a 9.1 magnitude earthquake, a 20-foot high tsunami, and a nuclear meltdown. It was an internship in how to lead a school through unexpected challenge and crisis.
“I had the chance to ask the headmaster why handle it this way?” he recalled. “Why didn’t you do this?”
After three years there, the couple headed back to the U.S. with thoughts of starting a family. Seldis served as head of upper school at the Out-of-Door Academy in Sarasota, Florida for five years,
followed by a move in 2018 to The Steward School in Richmond, where he was director of the Upper School. With Maggie’s family in Alexandria, and three young boys to raise, it was a welcome change. After negotiating the pandemic at Steward and relying on his combined headship experience, he went looking for other head of school positions.
“I knew about Highland since we played them in sports,” he said. “When I visited the campus, I fell in love with the family feel and local community. Their mission to help students thrive, lead and serve, resonated with me as an educator and a father. All the stars aligned.”
Seldis started at the Warrenton school on July 1, with students on summer vacation.
“It doesn’t feel like a school without the excitement and energy of students in the building,” he said. “Now, it’s everything I thought it would be.”
Highland’s focus encompasses the arts, athletics, and academics, but Seldis also knows in the digital age, the challenges in teaching are unique.
“They’re digital natives, growing up with Siri and Alexa, YouTube, Tik Tok,” he said. “Their level of connectivity and access to information is unparalleled. We can’t teach like we did ten years ago.”
With the “touchscreen generation,” he believes all schools need to develop and promote mental wellness and emotional support services to help students traverse tough transitions and cope with social isolation.
“Covid exacerbated this problem,” he said. “Highland, like other independent schools, is blessed in its resources. We’re small and nimble, able to adapt quickly in response to this task.”
Also affecting education is the seismic impact of artificial intelligence (AI). “We have a genuine obligation to be at the forefront of utilizing AI to improve education and teacher productivity,” he said. “We can’t bury our heads in the sand. We need to partner with AI, monitor it, but understand it’s a game changer.”
Highland Head of School Adam Seldis, his wife, Maggie, and their three sons, Sam, 10, Nate 4, and Gabe, 8.
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HOME SWEET HOME IMPROVEMENTS
b
magine the
soft images of French impressionist Claude Monet, completed
Kali Francois (Host for @marylandjockeyclub, Racing Analyst @1stracing, Racehorse Jockey, Rider), Reid O’Connor, Lauren Cerand (Publicist for Gerry Brewster), Emily Tye and Julie Banner
Discussion panelists: Gerry L. Brewster, John W. Frece (author of the biography Self-Destruction: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of U.S. Senator Daniel B. Brewster), Julie Banner, and Jeb Hannum
At the National Sporting Library & Museum for a Sold-out Program on
“Daniel Brewster: War Hero, U.S. Senator, Horseman”
Rob Banner, John Coles, Gerry L. Brewster (son of Daniel Brewster)
The Middleburg Museum at 8 North Madison Street recently hosted a brick laying ceremony. Among the first bricks ? Highcliffe Clothier, whose owner Mark Metzger recently retired.
Celebrating 40 Years of Great Meadow: Honoring a Legacy and Building the Future
With the grand opening of Great Meadow on September 9, 1984, Arthur W. “Nick” Arundel transformed a vision into a lasting legacy for millions. Nick’s vision was to create a haven for equestrian sports and open space preservation, and that dream became a reality with the purchase of Great Meadow. In 1982, Nick Arundel saw potential in a property known locally as the “old crayfish field.” Against the odds, he purchased an overgrown, swampy dairy farm at auction, envisioning it as the future home of the Virginia Gold Cup steeplechase and a venue for numerous other field events. His purchase not only saved this land from planned housing development but also preserved it as open space for generations to enjoy.
Today, Great Meadow stands at the heart of Virginia’s Horse Country, celebrating our 40th Anniversary and the rich history and vibrant future of Great Meadow, Virginia’s premier equestrian field events center. As we mark this milestone, we reflect on the extraordinary journey that began with Nick’s bold purchase and continued growth through
decades of community engagement. From the initial races to the establishment of world-class facilities and international competitions, Great Meadow has become a symbol of passion, dedication, and excellence.
Celebrations over the next year will honor these milestones and the remarkable individuals who have contributed to Great Meadow’s success, and will culminate with the Great Meadow Gala in June 2025.
As stated by Nick Arundel 40 years ago today, “Great Meadow is dedicated to the proposition that the future of open space, of our great field sports and the spirit of volunteerism, may lie beyond our vision, but it is not entirely beyond our control. The work of our own hands matched to principle and practice, will determine that destiny.”
Join us to continue Nick Arundel’s legacy and ensure Great Meadow remains a cherished community asset: volunteer your time and energy, help us with events, or help with community outreach. Share Your femories: We want to hear from you!
This was the first poster for Great Meadow, circa 1984.
Seven Loaves Also Nourishes Its Volunteers SEVEN LOAVES
By M.J. McAteer
As a retired lady of leisure, I’ve started helping once a week at Seven Loaves Services Inc., the food pantry located around the back of Middleburg’ s United Methodist Church. My title is prepackager.
On my first day last summer, I was told to report at 9 a.m., but, per usual, I arrived ahead of time, only to find volunteers already bustling around the food pantry at a speed that I associate with Costco Checkers. They were in a flurry sorting, bagging, shelving and schlepping.
Because I was early, my contact, Tami Erickson, Seven Loaves’s operations manager and its sole employee, wasn’t in yet. So, Terri Matus, who has been volunteering since Covid and knew the ropes, put me to work scooping rice into baggies. It was a job right in my wheelhouse. Later, I bagged coffee and dog food and helped unload deliveries of donated food.
My fellow pre-packagers were a friendly bunch, many of them church ladies. Some came from near, like Trish Boger, a self-described empty-nester, who lives in tiny Bloomfield. Others came from not so near, like Matus, who lives in Fairfax, and Kathy Summers, who drives in from Gainesville.
Most Seven Loaves volunteers are men and women of a certain age, like me, but young people donate their time to the pantry, too. Dana Connor, a pre-packager who lives in Aldie, usually is accompanied by her teenage daughter, Ace, and her niece, Halle Taylor.
That first day, I really didn’t know much about Seven Loaves, beyond it obviously being a good cause. Since then, I’ve learned more about the faith-based nonprofit.
It’s been around for 30 years, thanks to the support from a half-dozen local churches and a number of area businesses, organizations and individuals. It also has about 60 volunteers who take on just about all the physical labor involved with food collection and distribution, including the pre-packaging, the pickups of store donations and deliveries to the home-bound.
I had not realized the pantry has to purchase a good deal of what it gives away--including all the canned goods and most of the dairy. Or that it has designated grocery store partners--the Middleburg Safeway, two Walmarts, a Giant and a Harris Teeter--that donate produce, breads, snacks, deli items and meats.
The pantry also relies on some well-known local partners that donate produce and meat, including Locust Hill Farm on Zulla Road, the Oak Spring
Garden Foundation in Upperville, Ovoka Farm in Paris and Horns and Hens in The Plains.
Individuals donate, too. One angel patron, Erickson told me, supplies all the dry dog food that Seven Loaves gives out.
As a pre-packager, I’ve been working on Tuesdays. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the distribution days, other volunteers ferry bags of groceries to clients, who, postCovid, wait in their vehicles for the food to be brought to them. Each household can receive food once a week, no proof of need, religion or residency required.
“Food insecurity is real,” said Erickson, adding that one in 14 people in Loudoun County is at risk of going hungry.
Seven Loaves regularly serves about 135 to 150 households a week. Each receives a bag of nonperishables, a bag of dairy, a bag of meat and a bag of produce and baked goods. For households with children, the pantry adds a bag with readyto-eat food for school lunches.
Since that first day on the job at Seven Loaves, I’ve done date checking, shelving, bagging and lugging, but the pre-packagers shift is short, just two or three hours, so hardly taxing, and in exchange I get to feel good about helping people, even in a small way.
Working with the Tuesday crew also makes me feel good. The positive vibe they exude is a pleasure to share in these negative times. The mission of Seven Loaves may be to feed people’ s bodies, but helping it fulfill that mission also can nourish a volunteer’s soul.
Donation boxes are located outside the pantry, at Emmanuel Episcopal Church on Washington Street and at the Middleburg Library. People may also donate via the pantry’s wish lists on Amazon and Walmart. Seven Loaves is located at 15 West Washington St., Middleburg, Va. 20118. Details:https://www.sevenloavesmiddleburg.org.
BY THE NUMBERS
(From 2023)
SERVING:
125 to 150 households per week
WEEKLY FOOD PER HOUSEHOLD: Average 55 POUNDS
UNIQUE HOUSEHOLDS SERVED: 421
UNIQUE INDIVIDUALS SERVED: 1,491
POUNDS SERVED: 249,160
KIDS BAGS: 1,820 bags, 25,518 pounds
FARMER’S MARKET DONATIONS: 4,722 pounds
STORE DONATIONS:
Giant 104,970 pounds
Walmart 51,166 pounds
Harris Teeter 22,142 pounds
Safeway 7,186 pounds
BY COUNTY:
Loudoun 41 percent
Fauquier 15 percent
Warren 12 percent
Others:
Frederick, Clarke, Fairfax, Prince William, Winchester
No doubt there’s a marketing genius behind the now infamous lyric in those seemingly neverending sing-song commercials— “O-O-O-Ozempic.”
Even more astonishing are the expanding benefits of the transformative drug Semaglutide from Novo Nordisk and Tirzepatide from Eli Lilly, otherwise known as GLP-1s.
Obesity is a worldwide public health problem, with the World Health Organization estimating nearly one billion people are obese. That’s a huge number that presents an immense opportunity for Big Pharma.
The medical cost for the treatment of obesity and related illnesses is 30 to 40 percent higher than for people without obesity and double that for smokers. Think about that for a moment … double the cost of treating smoking related health issues.
The days of gym memberships and fad dieting to lose weight may well be behind us because of the limited success of these drugs. Still, the data shows obesity rates continue to climb, the reason so many are increasingly turning to GLP-1s for salvation.
There’s also the huge possibility of hurting specialty food, fitness and supplement industries, with the main disrupter being synthetic Incretins— hormones produced by the body during digestion. They travel to the brain, which in turn tells the body to produce insulin and the feeling of being full. Definitely sounds like a winning combination.
Originally, the synthetic Incretin, Semaglutide was developed for Type II diabetes and marketed as Ozempic. What patients were finding while taking the drug was that they also were simultaneously losing a significant amount of weight. This spurred many physicians to begin prescribing off label Ozempic for the sole purpose of weight loss. Novo Nordisk seized the opportunity and sought FDA approval for a version of Semaglutide known as Wegovy for weight loss.
About the same time, Eli Lilly was marketing their GLP-1 drug Mounjaro with similar success and soon followed with a weight loss only version called Zepbound.
There are small technical differences between the two company’s drugs, but without a head-to-head study it’s hard to say which one is superior at this moment.
The stock market seems to think Lilly has a better drug based on recent performance, but Novo is not going anywhere anytime soon. What is fact: results show on average a 30 percent weight loss for patients both diabetic and nondiabetic.
While the cost of these drugs is high, that doesn’t seem to be dampening demand because there’s now a worldwide shortage.
Recent announcements from both Novo and Lilly disclosed their plans to spend roughly $6.5 billion respectively to increase global production. That is a large number and still may not satisfy demand.
So what about other potential treatments? There are ongoing clinical trials for Semaglutide for the treatment of serious heart conditions such as heart attack and/or stroke as well as kidney failure, alcoholism and sleep apnea.
These are exciting new frontiers and it’s safe to say we haven’t seen anything like this since “RICOLA!”
Philip Dudley
Spectacular Sunsets Over The Spring House
The Spring House is a gracious antique colonial home-built in 1914 on one-plus acres on iconic Foxcroft Road, just minutes from Middleburg.
The property is surrounded by a farm offering lovely pastoral views and stunning sunsets. The landscape features mature trees, professionally illuminated gardens and a small meandering creek at the front of the parcel.
On the inside, there are gleaming hardwood and flagstone floors, two fireplaces and custom built-in cabinetry throughout. The home includes four bedrooms and four full baths.
The main level boasts a formal living room with a raised fireplace, a separate formal dining room, home office, breakfast room and a family room with a stone fireplace and separate bar area.
The front of the house features a welcoming flagstone terrace with space for tables and chairs. Off the west side is a cozy, screened-in porch with brick flooring. The fenced-in backyard offers a stone terrace with a sitting area, built-in fire pit and barbecue grill, both plumbed for propane, along with a sunken spa, the perfect place to enjoy the spectacular sunsets. Additional outbuildings include a potting/tool shed and a well house.
There are a number of upgrades inside and out, including a new roof, HVAC, water filtration system, water heater, invisible pet fence, resurfaced driveway, stonework, outdoor lighting and irrigation systems and a generator.
The meticulously maintained property, and a classic Middleburg hunt country home, is move-in ready.
22780 Foxcroft Road
Middleburg, VA 20117
Price: $2,195,000
The thoroughly transformed house dates to 1914 and is minutes from Middleburg.
The dining room offers stone flooring and a stunning window view.
The kitchen is totally upgraded with lots of cabinets, plenty of counter space and the latest appliances.
The spacious screened in porch with stone floors is ideal for rest, relaxation and entertaining.
A stone terrace includes a spacious sitting area, built-in fire pit and barbecue grill, and a sunken spa.
VIRGINIA HORSE RACING SCHEDULE 2024
Colonial Downs Thoroughbred Racing in New Kent, VA
• A new 4-day spring meet is planned for March 12-15, 2025 featuring a “Win & You’re In” qualifying race for the Kentucky Derby (dates pending VRC approval).
• Stay tuned for 2025 summer racing schedule. (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 Spring Meet Schedule
• Sunday, October 6: Foxfield Fall Races in Charlottesville
• 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)
AND, WE’RE OFF TO THE RACES
Pending approval from the Virginia Racing Commission, The Virginia Derby and the Virginia Oaks will be run on March 15th at Colonial Downs in New Kent. These prestigious races have recently been selected by Churchill Downs Inc to be qualifying races for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks to take place in Kentucky.
There will be 36 races leading up to the Saturday, May 3, 2025 Kentucky Derby for three- year-old colts and Kentucky Oaks for three-year-old fillies which will determine the qualfying list for the finals at Churchill on Friday, May 2, 2025.
“Having the Road to the Kentucky Derby run through Virginia is just another testament to the importance of the horse industry in the Commonwealth and the history of many great horses, such as Secretariat, who were born in Virginia. This is a very exciting time for horse racing in our state, “ Jill Byrne, Vice President Virginia Equine Alliance noted.
During a special meeting at Colonial Downs, the Virginia Derby–occupying a spot on the racing calendar that was previously void of any qualifying races on Saturday, Mar. 15–is the latest addition to the schedule. The race will award 105 points to the top five finishers including 50 points to the winner. At the conclusion of the series, the leaderboard will determine the preference list for entries into the 20-horse field.
Throughout the qualifying stages there are races around the United States. And, there are also races for potential European and Middle East based horses and entries from Japan. Two additional rule changes have been instituted. In the event a Championship Series race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby or Kentucky Oaks is run with a five-horse field, only 75% of the points will be proportionally awarded. A Championship Series race field with four or less horses will be proportionally awarded 50% of the total points.
Benefits of Metal Roofing
At Churchill Downs
At Colonial Downs
Norris Royston Jr., MD Family Medicine
8255 East Main Street Marshall, VA 20115
mdvip.com/NorrisRoystonMD
I’ll Trade You One Waterford Plat for Two Leven Powells
By Laura Longley
Early in the Covid pandemic, the Historic Records Division of the Loudoun County Circuit Court, which maintains county court records dating from the formation of Loudoun County in 1757, couldn’t provide educational tours or visit local schools.
Gary M. Clemens, Clerk, and Eric S. Larson, Historic Records Manager, devised a solution: create Loudoun history trading cards on frequently researched topics.
Inspired by an earlier project—13 “baseball trading cards” about the players and ballfields of Loudoun—they began expanding the card program to encompass Black history, the Loudoun County Courthouse, and plats of Waterford, Leesburg, Aldie, and, most recently, Middleburg.
“They’ve been very popular,” Clemens said. “Eric decides what topics in our current research are most relevant and oversees the content development.”
In the first set of cards, the content was relatively random. “We didn’t really have a theme,” Larson said. “We just picked up on our recent research and made the cards available to teachers and historic sites.”
The first topics included Loudoun Constables & Deputy Sheriffs, 1774 Loudoun Resolves, Preservation Month, the 1937 Loudoun Highway Map, the 1815 Middleburg Plat, and two historic figures — Elizabeth Quisenbury (1898-1998), an influential member of the County-Wide League advocating for better schools for Black children in Loudoun, and Leven Powell (1737-1810 ).
DEL WILSON, P.T., O.C.S.*
MARY WILSON, P.T., O.C.S.*
* Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist
American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties
204 E. FEDERAL ST. P.O. BOX 893 MIDDLEBURG, VA 20118 540-687-6565 www.middleburg-pt.com
www.middleburg-pt.com
Powell represented Loudoun as an officer in the Revolutionary War and as a politician. A prominent landowner and supporter of the colonial cause, he was commissioned as a major in 1775 with the Loudoun Minutemen, then promoted to Lt. Colonel of the 16th Regiment of Virginia Continentals in 1777.
Falling ill at Valley Forge, Powell retired and returned home where he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. He voted for adoption of the Constitution and served as a congressman from 1798-1800. Powell set aside 50 acres of his land to plan the town that became Middleburg.
The Historic Records Division is now focused on the 250th anniversary of the Revolution, which will be celebrated over the next two years, culminating on July 4, 2026. Established 22 years ago, the division currently is putting the finishing touches on a brochure featuring early Revolutionary War records up through the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
Loudoun’s Board of Supervisors has been supportive in funding the initiative. Other partners include the Ketoctin Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Van Huyck family.
In addition to the trading cards projects and managing countless requests for research guidance, several times a year Larson gives tours sponsored by the Thomas Balch Library. On those tours, he discusses the extent of Loudoun County’s records holdings, where to look for records of births, deaths, marriages, and deeds, and how to use these records in research.
The Historic Records and Deed Research Division maintains county court records dating from the formation of Loudoun County in 1757. Loudoun contains one of the most complete collections of court records in Virginia and is one of only a few of Virginia’s 98 counties whose records have not been destroyed by fire, war, or environmental factors.
Details: Trading cards can be obtained by email at CLERKS-ARCHIVES@loudoun. gov or by phone at 703-737-8775. The office is located at 18 E. Market Street in Leesburg. Hours are Monday- Friday, 8 a.m.- 4 p.m.
The Flora Edds trading card, front and back.
Photos by Vicky Moon
Middleburg’s Bess Putnam is known as the Blue Mountain Songbird and her sweet music, accompanied by versatile guitar, banjo and ukulele-playing Matt Metz, entertained an appreciative crowd recently for the third annual History in Agriculture Concert, “Century Farms of the Piedmont: Songs From a Rural Way of Life,” sponsored by the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association. Putnam also interspersed her music with a history lesson as she performed a foot-stomping, hand-clapping program, with a little Patsy Cline thrown in for good measure.
Matt Metz and Bess Putnam
Jerry Eisley was among the appreciative guests
Norman Myers with Amy Orr
Rebecca Schaefer helped prepare “local” hamburgers with all the fixin’s
Ann Lee with Cricket Bedford
Lila Putnam, daughter of Bess Putnam and Cooper Brower
Alan Rubin Called Them Punjabs
Brooklyn-born artist Alan Rubin, a long-time Delaplane resident, always had a delicious sense of humor, evidenced by once telling an interviewer that, “An artist is one of the few occupations where death is a good career move.”
Alan sadly passed away on Nov. 6, 2022 at the age of 85, leaving behind a treasure trove of his work—oil on canvas, water colors, pen and ink and a collection of cartoons he loved sharing with one and all, including collections in several paperback books. He called them “Punjabs” and said he started young by listening to what people said and drawing pictures of alternative meanings to what they intended.
We’ve printed several Punjabs in ZEST over the years, and Alan always wanted us to do more. And so we will.
His unique form of cartooning actually had its origins at age six when he had the flu. His mother called a doctor who had recently arrived in the U.S. from Austria, had a thick German accent and made house calls.
“After he arrived, he took out his tongue depressor and said ‘open your mouse and breeze,’” Alan wrote in one of his Punjab books. “I laughed a long while. After he left, my embarrassed mom asked me what was so funny. After I told her, she said it was rude, and not to do it again. But when the doc came back again later that week, the moment he took out his tongue depressor, I caught my mother’s eye and we both burst into uncontrollable laughter.”
Whether verbally, on canvas or in his Punjabs, Alan Rubin always made you laugh, even when he was talking about the Parkinson’s Disease he dealt with late in his life. I once asked him how he’d be able to paint if his hand tremors got much worse.
“Easy,” he said. “I’ll become an abstract expressionist.”
