Courtesy of Warren Foster In autumn of 1973, Carroll Foster drives a tractor while collecting apples with his brother, Warren Foster, on a Harris Hollow farm then belonging to Edith Cohen.
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Rappahannock Forecast
| Today | Sunday | Monday |
|---|---|---|
 Thunderstorm 66°/55° |  Rain Showers 70°/63° |  Chance of a Thunderstorm 79°/63° |
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History
Photo: Out of the Attic
Down Memory Lane for Oct. 18
Jan. 6, 1972 Officials for Rappahannock County elected in November have been sworn in and assumed duties, as of the first day of the year. The Board of Supervisors will hold its first meeting of the new year today (Thursday). Mrs. Virginia D. Smith, newly elected to the post of Commissioner of the Revenue,...
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150 Years Ago This Week: Fighting on all fronts
October 1862 On the upper Missouri River, below Fort Berthold, Dakota Territory, a party of Sioux Indians fought with a boatload of miners on Oct. 11, while Indiana home guards drove a group of Confederate guerrilla fighters out of Hawesville, Ind. Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart and his Confederate cavalry completed their second ride around Maj....
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Woodlawn’s history trip
This is the last of three articles about the 56th annual Trinity Episcopal Church Dried Flower Sale and House Tour (Oct. 20-21), focusing on Woodlawn, the oldest house on the tour.
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150 Years Ago This Week: Another Confederate advance halted
October 1862 As October 1862 opened, Gen. Braxton Bragg’s Confederate campaign in Kentucky was reaching a climax. The Ohio River cities in north Kentucky had been successfully defended by Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell’s Federal troops but there was fighting near Mt. Washington and on the road between Louisville and Frankfort. In Corinth, Miss.,...
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Caledonia 1812’s continuous history
The second in a series of three articles about the 56th annual Trinity Episcopal Church Dried Flower Sale and House Tour (Oct. 20-21), focusing on Caledonia 1812, which is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year.
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Local author revels in reading and writing
Blaine Pardoe’s true crime thriller takes place in a small rural town in Michigan Anita L. ShermanCulpeper Times When Blaine Pardoe was 4, he was living in Marshall, a small, rural town in Michigan. On the morning of Aug. 18, 1967, Nola Puyear was in the Tasty Cafe when the postman delivered a package...
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Letter: Civil War Heritage Day: Thanks to all
By all accounts we had a very successful Rappahannock County Civil War Heritage Day last Saturday. The weather was gorgeous and lots of folks attended. Kids of all ages enjoyed the Youth Boot Camps where they got a gentle dose of Civil War-style training using wooden muskets. Carpenter’s Battery was there to loudly announce...
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150 Years Ago This Week: Jefferson Davis kills a general
September/October 1862 On Saturday, Sept. 27, the Second Conscription Act of the Confederate Congress authorized President Jefferson Davis to call out men between the ages of 35 and 45 for military service. In Washington, President Lincoln interrogated Maj. John Key and ordered his dismissal from military service for allegedly saying that the object of...
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Photo: Out of the Attic
The photo in the Dec. 13, 1962 Rappahannock News touted the “facelift” being given to the corner of Main and Middle streets, seen here as you approached the corner from the north. “All of the old buildings on the left at the caution light are being torn down,” said the caption. “The Episcopal Church...
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150 Years Ago This Week: Action in the west
September 1862 After the Battle of Sharpsburg (Northerners called it Antietam, after the creek on the battlefield), Gen. Robert E. Lee withdrew his battered Army of Northern Virginia back across the Potomac River into Virginia, and began moving south. The U.S. Army of the Potomac, under Maj. Gen. George McClellan, remained in their positions...
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Down Memory Lane for Sept. 27
50 years agoJan. 10, 1962 Washington Elementary School was broken into on Wednesday night and Thursday morning was the scene of general vandalism and wild disarray. Raisins were strewn throughout the whole building, Christmas trees were overturned and packages that had not been delivered due to the early dismissal of school for the Christmas...
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Day devoted to county’s Civil War heritage
As commemorations of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War continue across the land, Rappahannock County’s first major contribution is a Civil War Heritage Day on Saturday, Sept. 29.
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Photo: Nice town. Love the name.
Photo by James P. Gannon For a Constitution Day commemoration Sunday, “George Washington,” left, and “Thomas Jefferson” paused on the steps of Washington’s Town Hall, with speaker “James Madison” (Bruce Fein of Washington, D.C.) smiling over Washington’s shoulder, and members of Culpeper Minute Men in military uniforms of the era. An audience of about...
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Amissville column for Sept. 20
Waffles, acorns and more at Amissville Methodist The Methodist men came through once again last Saturday with a delicious breakfast that got more than 50 hungry residents ready to face the day. As this reporter finished a plate of sausage gravy and started on a waffle, the conversation from an adjacent table caught her ear....
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Down Memory Lane for Sept. 20
50 years agoDec. 20, 1962 E. M. Jones of Washington, has been selected to replace James M. Settle, clerk of the Circuit Court and County Clerk of Rappahannock County. Mr. Jones, a prominent farmer and apple grower, has been chosen by Judge of the Circuit Court., R. V. Snead, upon recommendation of the Rappahannock...
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Washington column for Sept. 20
Beautiful fall weather Last Saturday was the ideal fall day to get out and enjoy events going on in the county. Little Washington was hopping: The cool weather brought many charity bike riders out for the Rappahannock Rough Ride – a fundraiser for the Fauquier and Rappahannock Free Clinics. One could not have asked...
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150 Years Ago This Week: America’s bloodiest single day
September 1862 In accordance with Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Special Orders No. 191, issued in Frederick, Md., on Sept. 9, his Army of Northern Virginia had been divided. Maj. Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s troops marched on the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry while Maj. Gen. James Longstreet’s command marched through Boonsborough to secure the...
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Editorial: Cooter: common sense contrarian
Unlike Sigmund Freud’s legendary cigar, a flag is never just a flag – especially the Confederate battle flag. Just ask Harris Hollow resident and “Dukes of Hazzard” TV star Ben “Cooter” Jones. Last week rumors swirled on the Internet that, starting in January, Warner Brothers (which holds the license for all “Dukes of Hazzard”...
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Photo: Out of the attic
This is a picture of Raymond Lyle Rector, better known as Lyle, sent in recently by his daughter, Eleanor Rector James of Culpeper. The photo was taken in the early 1940s when Rector worked at Swartz’s Store – which is now the Corner Store, Thornton River Grille and Rudy’s Pizza. A little bit of...
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The Rapp for Sept. 13
The changing of the seasons brings out several events in the county, including a Civil War tribute, several different performances at both the Castleton Theater House and the Theater at Washington, and some unique activities for the kids.
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Down Memory Lane for Sept. 13
50 years agoDec. 20, 1962 James W. Coates of Sperryville officially assumed duties of ice manager of the Rappahannock Agricultural Stabilization Committee on Monday, Dec. 17. He was appointed manager in November and since has received six weeks of training in Southampton, Patrick and Fauquier counties before returning to Rappahannock. Mr. Coates is a native...
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150 Years Ago This Week: The South moves north
September 1862 In both the eastern and the western theatres of war, Confederate armies were marching north. In the west, Gen. E. Kirby Smith’s army had crossed from Tennessee into Kentucky, with the goal of advancing on the Ohio River. In Tennessee, the Confederates under Gen. Braxton Bragg were marching north out of Chattanooga...
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Meet ‘James Madison’ at Constitution Day event
The Founding Fathers are coming to Little Washington to celebrate Constitution Day.
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Washington column for Sept. 6
Remembering 9/11 Our country will be observing the 11th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack in United States history on Tuesday, Sept. 11. Let’s not forget the innocent victims and the brave heroes who died attempting to save them. We will never forget the survivors, the children, the devastated families and the grieving friends...
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Down Memory Lane for Sept. 6
50 years agoDec. 13, 1962 Fire gutted the home of Mr. and Mrs. Harve Williams at Chester Gap last Tuesday afternoon. Front Royal and Flint Hill Fire Departments answered the alarm, but the structure was damaged beyond repair and most furnishings were destroyed. Firemen thought a faulty flue caused the fire. Aubrey H. Keyser of Washington, who...
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150 Years Ago This Week: The ‘miscreant’ is suppressed
August/September 1862 In a letter from Gen. Robert E. Lee to Maj. Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson on July 27, the commanding general, in his ire against Maj. Gen. John Pope for Pope’s harsh treatment of Southern citizens in the area of his command, called the Federal commander of the Army of Virginia a “miscreant who...
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150 Years Ago This Week: Second battle of Manassas
August 1862 Toward the end of August, as more of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s army marched north to reinforce Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson’s troops, daily clashes occurred between the Confederates and the Federals in Maj. Gen. John Pope’s Army of Virginia. Maj. Gen. James E.B. Stuart’s Confederate cavalry, in concert with Maj. John Mosby’s...
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Down Memory Lane for Aug. 23
50 years agoNov. 29, 1962 Albert Williams and Ermand Morris of Chester Gap continue as patients in the Fauquier County Hospital for injuries near Marshall, while en route to work on Friday morning. They are reported to be slightly improved. The November meeting of the Town Council of the Town of Washington, after routine business,...
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150 Years Ago This Week: Deadly Sioux uprising begins
Maj. Gen. James E. B. Stuart was assigned command of all the cavalry of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia on Sunday, Aug. 17.
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Down Memory Lane for Aug. 16
50 years agoNov. 22, 1962 Hunting season opened with a bang, literally, in Rappahannock on Monday with Clarence Baldwin shooting a 175-pound spike in Hampton District at the Baldwin home place in Gid Brown Hollow, a little before seven o’clock. Last year at this time 14 deer had been checked at the Game Stations....
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150 Years Ago This Week: Battle at Cedar Mountain
August 1862 As the week closed, Union troops under Maj. Gen. Edward Canby at Ft. Fillmore in the New Mexico Territory near the Texas border attacked and defeated Confederates moving south out of Santa Fe. At Blackburn in England, a public meeting advocated recognition of the Confederate States because “it was impossible for the...
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The Rapp for Aug. 9
Food pantry collects school supplies, learn about saving the bobwhite quail, a preview of the Taste of Rappahannock, Hearthstone's benefit concert and more.
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Three houses, three histories
Three centuries of American domestic architecture are featured in the 2012 House Tour sponsored by Trinity Episcopal Parish in Washington this coming Oct. 20-21.
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Down Memory Lane for Aug. 9
50 years agoNov. 15, 1962 Raymond M. Johnson of Woodville, who has been employed part time with the Virginia Division of Forestry since 1948, was given full-time status Nov. 1, as Chief Forest Warden for Rappahannock County. A two-way radio in his forest service truck enables Mr. Johnson to communicate with Red Oak fire tower,...
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150 Years Ago This Week: Armies on the move
August 1862 Elements of Maj. Gen. John Pope’s Army of Virginia left Rappahannock County on Saturday, Aug. 2, leaving behind a populace devastated by the occupation and oppression of thousands of Union soldiers and their hated pompous commander. The soldiers in blue were headed towards Orange Courthouse. Their ultimate destination was to threaten Richmond...
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The Rapp for Aug. 2
Young artists at Middle Street; Copper Fox spirits poured at the Governor's Mansion; "The Ives of August" are almost upon us, at RAAC Theatre; a summer (Democrats') yard-sale glossary; Historical Society grants; horses wanted for the Virginia State Fair.
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150 Years Ago This Week: Living under military occupation
July/August 1862 As July 1862 moved towards its closing days, Maj. Gen. John Pope, commanding the Federal troops in and around Rappahannock County, added to his previously issued orders exacting harsh treatment on the citizens living near where his troops were posted. His latest orders decreed that any male who was detained and refused...
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Down Memory Lane for Aug. 2
50 years agoNov. 8, 1962 Mr. H. S. Barksdale of Flint Hill has accepted the position of Vocational Agriculture instructor at Rappahannock High School temporarily. Mr. Barksdale, a prominent farmer, is a former county agent and well qualified for this work. Mr. C. B. Palmer of Washington resigned from this position Oct. 1 after...
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New Civil War film by Flint Hill director
Ron Maxwell, Flint Hill resident and director perhaps best known for his acclaimed film “Gettysburg,” has a new movie in the works.
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