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Rena Mae Pullen, 19-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Pullen of Washington, won the Cherry Pie Contest held at Clarke County High School in Berryville. By baking the best cherry pie in the competition she will represent Virginia at the National Contest in Chicago on Feb. 22. The winner will go to Washington...
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Blue Ridge Fruit Growers Cooperative at Sperryville -- processors of famous Skyline Drive Brand apple juice -- has installed a new press at the plant for extracting the juice from the apples. Irvin R. Kilby, as production manager and technologist, is responsible for sample checks on vacuum temperature, fill, acid content, soluble solids,...
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At 4:30 a.m. next April 12, we will begin the sesquicentennial of the crucible of the American experience, the War Between the States. One hundred and fifty years have passed since Southern artillery fired upon Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, beginning a conflict that was so traumatic the nation has yet to honestly address...
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Did you know that . . . a Civil War hero is buried in Flint Hill, but his name is unknown to most people today? According to the Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources, “Pvt. Albert Gallatin Willis, one of Col. John S. Mosby’s Partisan Rangers and at least one other Ranger were captured about...
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When the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors decided this summer not to recommend that a portion of the Hazel River be designated a State Scenic River, it acted after hearing impassioned public comment from Culpeper County residents Ben and Rita Grace. Owners of land along the Hazel downstream from Rappahannock County, the Graces claimed...
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50 years ago October 20, 1960 Mr. “Buck” Brown of the Lee Highway Garage, has made and donated to Rappahannock County High School, three volleyball net supports. These supports are constructed of used automobile wheels complete with inflated tires. They hold the uprights, which in turn hold the nets. The three heavy durable fixtures...
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Robert Daley of Fredericksburg takes his mount, Bruiser, for a walk on Racetrack Hill at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal on Oct. 1, when Daley and other members of the Loudoun County Rangers reenacted cavalry drills and offered artillery demonstrations for attendees at SCBI’s annual Fall Festival open house.
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50 years ago September 29, 1960 Cletus Printz and his son, William Printz, are developing an 11 1/2 acre subdivision known as Jackson Acres in Amissville, Va. The lots of approximately a half acre have been marked off and construction of the first building is under way. This house, Westwood, is a six-room dwelling...
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From contributed reports How many of us as kids enjoyed the story of Mr. Toad in “Wind in the Willows” cavorting about the countryside in his open-topped jalopy? On Saturday afternoon, Oct. 2, the Rappahannock Historical Society will offer the opportunity to revisit those memories and to make new ones for participants in its...
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This is the second of three features on the homes included in the 54th annual Dried Flower Sale and House Tour sponsored by the women of Trinity Episcopal Church Parish on Oct. 16 and 17. For details about the weekend’s program, call 540-937-4279. From contributed reports The story of a house, especially one that...
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In going through her cousin Brad Nicholas’ collection of their grandmother Zinn’s recipes recently, Rock Mills resident Hazel Zinn-Day came across a book of “Rare Rappahannock Recipes” originally compiled by the Woman’s Missionary Society of Woodville Baptist Church” in 1929, and updated by the missionary societies of the Woodville and Mt. Lebanon Baptist churches...
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Members of the class of 1960 — the last group to graduate from the old Rappahannock County high school on Mt. Salem Avenue in Washington — pose at their 50th reunion at Flint Hill fire hall last week. They are: (back row, from left) Donald Dodson, Cecil Eugene Atkins, Margel Dulaney Fisher, Walter B....
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50 years ago September 29, 1960 Chester Gap, once referred to as a sleepy little community, sitting high atop a mountain peak in the Blue Ridge, between Warren and Rappahannock counties, no longer fits the description. Since the opening of the post office there in 1954 in the country store owned and operated by...
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50 Years Ago September 22, 1960 A 21 inch, 4 pound 7 ounce bass caught by Clyde Burkhart of Front Royal, Saturday, Sept. 10 in the South Fork of the Shenandoah River is to date the largest fish entered in the contest sponsored by Bill’s Sporting Goods Store in Front Royal. The fish, caught...
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50 years ago September 15, 1960 Open house at Rappahannock County High School will be held Sunday, Sept. 18 from 2 until 6 p.m. Everyone interested in bring shown through the building is invited to come. Teachers and some pupils will conduct visitors through the school. Refreshments will be served, with Mrs. Glenna Bennett,...
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A century ago the Rappahannock News was called The Blue Ridge Guide. Only four pages long, it looked like the New York Times. It had seven columns jam-packed with small print and small headlines, with no page-filling photos or illustrations. Stories of tragedies on the front page caught the eye. Coverage of national, international,...
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Did you know that … Ellerslie, just outside of Little Washington on Tiger Valley Road, was once the jewel of the great Rappahannock County estate of John Jett, who owned considerable property south and east of the town. The Ellerslie mansion is long gone but its old gardens live on. Boxwoods from the plantation...
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Hezekiah Ricketts built the Ricketts Hotel in Flint Hill in 1869 and it served travelers as well as locals, who used it as a rooming house. Two doctors had their medical practices here. At some point, a saloon occupied part of the space. From 1915 to 1940, girls from the Foxcroft School would stop...
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50 years ago September 8, 1960 The Amissville Baptist Church baseball team defeated Remington Saturday in a game played at Culpeper to take the Shiloh Association Championship. The Amissville team, managed by Jack James, had as its players Teddy Hodge, Wendell Latham, Douglas Bywaters, William James, David James, Billy Mills, Earl Mills, Otis Deal,...
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Ask anyone who’s been around Rappahannock County for 30 or more years how the county has managed to maintain its rural and scenic character when other nearby counties have not and the name Newbill Miller comes up.
From his perch on the county planning commission he helped put into place the standards that thwarted the...
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Did you know that … Rappahannock County High School has a world-class band that performs at venues near and far. But years before the Panther Band brought musical fame to the county there were worthy predecessors. In the early 1900s, community bands were very popular in small localities, and for many years Sperryville had...
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50 years ago September 1, 1960 Miss Elizabeth Taylor Bruce, daughter of Robert S. Bruce of Front Royal and niece of Mr. And Mrs. C. E. Brown of Sperryville, with whom she made her home, received her diploma from Grace Hospital School of Nursing, Friday, Aug. 26. Miss Bruce was a graduate of the...
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It might be that dusty old vase in your attic — the one from your great-grandmother with the Chinese characters on it. Or maybe it’s that book that looks like it might have come off of Gutenberg’s own press. Or perhaps you are wondering about those silver spoons that have been in the family...
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John B. Kiger, a blacksmith and wagon maker, built Conestoga wagons in this location in the 1820s. It later became the home of the James Hitt family, shown here near the house. The house is still standing today on Main Street, Sperryville. Photo loaned to the Rappahannock Historical Society by the Estes family.
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Did you know that . . . wool was once a big deal in Rappahannock County. More than 23,000 pounds were produced in 1860, and several local mills refined and wove it into finished woolen cloth. One of the largest wool factories, at Laurel Mills, operated from 1900 until 1927 when production and processing...
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50 years ago August 18, 1960 The Rappahannock Farm Bureau has made two awards, one to Miss Phyllis Hudson of Washington, Va., and one to H. B. Wood, Jr., of Woodville, Va., to attend the Young People’s Leadership Training Camp at Camp Farrar, Virginia Beach from Aug. 23 to Aug. 28. The camp is...
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50 years ago August 11, 1960 A rain and wind storm lashed Rappahannock County late last Thursday afternoon, with the most severe portion centered in the Ben Venue and Amissville area. A large hay-filled barn at Bunree, the farm of D. G. Laing at Amissville, collapsed with bales of hay tumbling from its rent...
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Photos/postcards were a gift of the late Ruby Green to the Rappahannock Historical Society. Earl Wayland first ran Bel Air Restaurant on U.S. 211 in Amissville, a popular dance hall, bar and restaurant. It was then taken over by Mary Hall in 1947, who turned it into Bel Air Tourist Cabins. Some locals fondly...
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Did you know that . . . The Middleton Inn, one of Rappahannock County’s fine bed and breakfast establishments, is named for the Washington, Va. property’s first owner, Middleton Miller. But for many years it was known as “The Maples,” for a number of large old trees, some of which stand near the mansion...
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50 years ago August 4, 1960 A timber rattler measuring over four feet in length with nine rattles was killed Friday afternoon in the yard at the home of Mr. and Mrs. L. V. Merrill at Washington by Clabert Smoot. It is believed that the snake was roused from its home in a nearby...
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Did you know that . . . What is now Ben Venue was once called Gaines Cross Roads, located at the intersection of the Warrenton-Thornton Gap Turnpike (now U.S. 211) and Richmond Road (Route 729). The impressive brick house there, also called “Ben Venue,” was built in 1844 by William V. Fletcher. Across the...
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50 years ago July 28, 1960 Mrs. Thelma D. Russell, daughter of Mrs. P. D. Dennis and the late Mr. Dennis of Flint Hill, received her diploma from the Winchester Memorial Hospital School of Nursing on Wednesday, July 20, 1960 at the 8 p.m. graduation exercises held in the Presbyterian Church on London Street...
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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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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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The "Sunbeam Band," as they called themselves, posed for this picture in October 1952 at the Luannah Smith residence in Sperryville. They are, front row, from left, Jackie Brown, "Bucky" Fletcher, Doris Ann Dodson, Michael Brown; second row, Louise Fletcher, Cathy Fletcher, Charles Dodson, Lee Thorton, Joe Brown; and, back row, Janice Lee Dodson,...
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50 years ago July 14, 1960 Miss Becky Jones, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. M. Jones of Washington, accepted a position with a meal and flour company and left Sunday for Chicago, where she will attend a training school for two weeks, after which she will work in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and...
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Did you know that . . . The building that the county uses as its jail was completed as part of the courthouse complex about 1835. But it is just one of three places that have served as jails over the years. In colonial days, the house at the northeast corner of Main and...
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Did you know that . . . Peola Mills was named for the manufacturer of the machinery used in the building?
Mills were once diversified local industries as well as social gathering places. Grinding, distilling, tooling and conversation were done at them. Peola Mills, built around 1794, was one of at least four mills...
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50 years ago, June 30, 1960: The National Apple Institute has expanded its name to The National Apple Institute, the Apple Growers of American.
E. M. "Ned" Jones of Washington, Va., head of the Virginia State Apple Commission, was elected president of the Institute, which wound up its annual meeting on June 24. A budget...
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