If you have not yet been to a performance at Lorin and Dietlinde Maazel’s farm this month, transformed as it is for the second annual Castleton Festival into a low-key, high-energy classical music country fair, you are missing out on some significant good fortune. The fortune has become obvious, at least to me, through...
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Ooh, shiny. Well, not exactly shiny, but Rappahannock County’s school district is showing signs of life — with new superintendent Aldridge Boone, high school principal Robert Stump, athletic director Jamie Harris and football coach Terrence Johnson all starting work this month. At the school board level, the signs of a change could be summarized,...
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The passing of Amissville 'cornerstone' Paul Poling; the impressive showing of Rappahannock County's 4-H Club at the Culpeper-Madison-Rappahannock Farm Show; a Hospice benefit July 31-Aug. 1 kicks off a new Rappahannock 'Artisanal Wineries Trail'
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Linda Diane Vogel, 55, of Middletown, was driving this 2002 Ford F-250 north on U.S. 522 near Huntly when the truck’s trailer, filled with cinder blocks, began swaying and Vogel lost control of the truck, veering off the left side of the highway into a ditch and several trees. Vogel, who was treated for...
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Did you feel it? A number of Rappahannock County residents did. A 3.6 magnitude earthquake centered in Germantown, Md., on Friday, July 16, rattled the area — and some nerves. Some folks out here in faraway Rappahannock County reported noticing it when it struck at 5:04 a.m. The United States Geological Survey’s Web site...
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Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, second from left, got a tour of the Narmada Winery’s vat room and vineyards Saturday during a brief visit to Rappahannock with his wife, Christie (not shown). Narmada’s owners (Pandit, left, and winemaker Sudha Patil, second from right) gave Vilsack the tour of the Amissville winery, accompanied by Washington resident...
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Rappahannock artist Tom Mullany didn’t win washingtonpost.com’s Next Great Cartoonist contest a few weeks ago — the voting was online, and he was not surprisingly (though no less disappointingly) beat out by a student cartoonist at the College of William and Mary, where we hear you can actually major in Facebook. Meanwhile, he said...
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Energy. Enthusiasm. And an authentic smile that reveals contagious excitement. Coach Terrence Johnson, Rappahannock County High School's new head football coach, began his duties by holding a team meeting on Monday, July 19.
The first noticeable effect of the excitement: school officials say some 50 students have signed up for fall football this summer, more...
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School is not out for the summer at Rappahannock County High School. In fact, the five-week summer session is still going on. It began on June 28 and continues until July 29. Summer school students meet Monday through Thursday from 8:30 to 11:30 and get their lessons through EdOptions, an online service. This year’s...
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Many people are interested in knowing how to can food so they can preserve some of the harvest for the winter. If you have never canned before and want to learn, or if you need refresher, you might be interested in the canning workshops offered by Laughing Duck Gardens & Cookery in Washington.
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Area residents graduate from Virginia Tech Four area residents received degrees during commencement exercises at Virginia Tech on May 14. Ryan Hoban, Amissville, received a bachelor of arts degree in international studies from the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. Jason Smith, Viewtown, received a bachelor of science in Aerospace Engineering degree cum...
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Mysterious, confusing, and diverse, it is a sickness that can cause several serious medical conditions. As Culpeper residents hike and work outside during summer, Lyme Disease can be a serious consequence.
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During the course of its investigation into the current Gulf of Mexico oil spill, The Associated Press was given information from the then-office of Mineral Management Services that was not making a lot of sense. As millions of gallons of crude spewed into the gulf waters and the oversight by MMS officials on BP’s...
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I had an uncle who once shot his television set. I don’t know if it was a symbolic gesture involving his existential angst at the overwhelmingly nonsensical zeitgeist of late 20th century de-culturalization, or if he was just ticked off because “Bonanza” had been canceled, but he put a couple of slugs through the...
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This past Sunday afternoon I had the pleasure and delight of attending the Castleton Festival’s production of Puccini’s “Il Trittico” at the festival tent in Castleton. The term “awesome” is overly used to the point of becoming meaningless, plus I am too old to use this popular term. However, it was awesome, exceedingly awesome....
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I feel very strongly that the Hazel River should be designated a Scenic River. I worked for many years with landowners and county environmental groups to have the Hazel made a Tier III river. That would mean there would be no new sewage treatment plants, ever, on the river. The Culpeper County supervisors sent...
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In the Rappahannock News two weeks ago, there was a letter stating that the Rappahannock Food Pantry would like more volunteers. Having just retired in April after 38 years in the meat department at the Giant Food store in Warrenton, I felt it was something good for me to do. So I called the...
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About three miles west of Sperryville in what is now Shenandoah National Park, students in grades one through six spent their days at the Atkinstown School, which ceased to exist when the park was created in the 1930s. In this photo, taken in the late 1920s, three of the students who posed for a...
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Two years after beginning to organize in Rappahannock and surrounding counties, the Unitarian Universalists of the Blue Ridge (UUBRidge) now welcomes its first minister, Rev. Evan Keely. Keely previously served congregations in Massachusetts, Texas and New Jersey, and most recently completed a one-year interim ministry with the Unitarian Universalist Church in Reston, Va. A...
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50 years ago July 21, 1960 Irvin O. Wolf, Hawthorne, Woodville, has been appointed Sales Representative for the Daffin Manufacturing Company, Lancaster, Pa., a division of the Daffin Corporation, manufacturers of mobile feed processing plants, according to an announcement made by Herbert D. Schell, Mobile Sales Manager. Wolf, who was formerly self- employed as...
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Did you know that . . . in 1881 the county issued licenses for the sale of “ardent spirits strong enough to burn” (hard liquor) to Lloyd’s Hotel in Washington, Virginia Hotel in Flint Hill, Sperryville Hotel in Sperryville and Piedmont House in Woodville? About that time, according to Elizabeth and C.E Johnnson’s book...
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On Wednesday, July 28 the Rappahannock County Board of Zoning Appeals will meet at 7:30 p.m. at the courthouse on Gay Street. Highlights on the agenda include: Healy Tourist Home. Singers from Rappahannock County are sought for the Blue Ridge Chorale’s fall season. Rehearsals are held on Monday evenings at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church,...
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The yearbook entry says my name is Harriet, and I am a 4- or 5-year-old Pointer. The description is of a “very, very nice dog.” I’m thought to be a quiet companion, but when you come visit you will find me with your ears. That is, when I see you, I will sing. Yes,...
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How nice to open the Washington Post Magazine this past Sunday and see our own Cliff Miller sitting with some of the pigs at Mount Vernon Farm talking about the stewardship of the land that is so very important to Sperryville and all of Rappahannock County. Cliff, thank you for all you do, and...
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Wakefield Country Day School in Huntly has two upcoming sports camps in addition to an equestrian camp. A premier soccer camp run by Wakefield Boys Middle School Soccer Coach Lavonne Adkins from July 26 to July 29 will be held at the school from 9 a.m. to noon. It’s open to boys and girls...
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Jim Rich, who lives near The Plains, last week returned to the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) after a 12-year absence.
Republican Gov. George Allen appointed him to his first four-year term in 1994.
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