Dec. 30, 1998: A proposal seeking federal and state funding to finance improvements on Sperryville’s Main Street, a footbridge, and a hiking-biking trail will be presented to the Board of Supervisors at 7 p.m. on Monday night. The board’s support is critical.

Bill Johnson, 17, and Mark Jamieson, 13, were rock-climbing near their home in Rappahannock Lakes on Saturday, Aug. 9, when a basketball sized rock broke loose from the hillside and tumbled down, striking Mark in the back of the leg just below the knee.

Jan. 21, 1960 • 14 Hikers Mount The Devil’s Stairs: Sunny skies Sunday lured 14 hikers out to tackle the Devil’s Stairs, a rocky gorge in Harris Hollow, which defies description.

The old Toll House on the highway between Sperryville and Washington has seen 125 years of change in Rappahannock. During its history, the little structure has known many different owners and been used for everything from antique sales to a residence to business offices.

May 20, 1998: Students save a life in Roanoke. Three students from George Washington Carver-Piedmont Technical Education Center saved a stranger’s life Saturday, April 25, at the Civic Center in Roanoke, where the students had been participating in skills competition.

June 8, 1978: Almost half of the students at Rappahannock elementary school are reading a year or more behind grade level, according to a recent survey taken by the administration.

Aug. 8, 1974: Tom Lee and his brother John Lee are still raising sheep in Rappahannock, and have one of the largest flocks in the county. Tom agreed that sheep farmers are getting scarcer and he wasn’t sure why, but he was ready to talk about raising sheep, to take a little time off from picking peaches.

Nov. 1, 1990: When Dr. John P. Snead, III died on Oct. 7, Rappahannock didn’t lose one of the last of the old-time country doctors. That the county lost 19 years ago when Dr. Snead gave up his practice just outside Sperryville.

May 4, 1978: On a summer afternoon in 1969, Greg Bright celebrated Christmas in August by tossing a glass bottle with a message sealed inside into the Thornton River at Sperryville. Nine years and 100 miles later, Greg’s message reached its destination.

April 22, 1976: The Early Birds of Amissville have been just that — working early and late to prepare a new diamond for the baseball games scheduled this season. The Early Birds are sponsored by Early’s Carpet Sales and Service in Amissville. 

Dec. 28, 1994: The Planning Commission endorsed the application of Charles Eddie Sutphin to build a 40- by 50-foot addition onto his farm equipment repair shop on Route 729 between Flint Hill and Ben Venue.

Nov. 24, 1999: Jerry and Sherri Mills opened the Amissville Consignment Shop on Saturday, Oct. 30. The shop is located in what used to be a beauty parlor. On sale is what Mr. Mills describes as “antiques and collectibles.”

“Sorry, Mr. Bankston.” That was Supervisor Chairman E. P. Luke’s response to game warden Jim Bankston after the Rappahannock Supervisors turned down two proposed hunter control ordinances at last Thursday’s Board meeting.

Dame Fortune smiled on Mrs. Dorothy Davis of Washington on Friday, when she was awarded a check for $20,000, first prize in a national contest sponsored by the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in connection with their diet drink, Tab.

June 21, 2000: Rhonda Jenkins has been coaching at the high school for seven years now, and writing about it for the Rappahannock News for the past year. Mrs. Jenkins was born and raised here in the county, and is herself a graduate of Rappahannock High School.

May 24, 2000: Members of the Washington High School Class of 1950 gathered for a 50th reunion, Saturday evening, May 13 at the Flint Hill Public House.

November 1, 2000: Alma Viator and Ben Jones are both looking forward to “getting back home,” returning to the stage after many years and some very interesting detours.

July 11, 1985: Mrs. W.M. Fletcher, better known as Mattie Ball, added some Rappahannock flavor to NBC’s Today Show on Friday, July 5 when information on her and her recipes were used during a feature on a new cookbook. Mrs. Fletcher lives in Washington.

June 12, 1986: Mike Brown, owner of B and B Service Center on Rt. 211 just west of Washington, has opened a parts department in his station. Mr. Brown, well-known to Rappahannock residents for more than nine years, has become part of the National Automotive Parts Association dealer network.

The worldwide trend of publishing nude calendars for worthy causes has reached rural Rappahannock County and taken a somewhat different twist.

March 17, 1960: R. Taylor Hoskins, Superintendent of Shenandoah National Park, has announced that Park Ranger James R. (Bob) Johnson has been promoted to the District Ranger position being vacated by Charles A. Budge.

Dec. 23, 1965: W. A. Miller will retire from the position of Postmaster of the Washington Post Office, effective December 30. He has served in this capacity for 31 years, taking office in 1934 after his appointment by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Dec. 31, 1981: By late spring, sedentary secretaries, lawyers, clerks and other office workers in the town of Washington will be able to chin-up, push-up, squat, jump and jog their way through lunch hour on the new one kilometer fitness trail that will be part of the county’s first park.

Sept. 19, 1985: A public hearing Sept. 11 on a proposed ordinance banning helicopter landings within the town of Washington was abruptly halted when Councilman Wallace Critzer walked out of the meeting, leaving the council without a quorum.

Sept. 1, 1966: Rappahannock’s generally quiet Harris Hollow echoed with shouts of glee and vibrated with music Saturday as 47 handicapped youngsters of the Metropolitan area frolicked on the hillsides at an all-day outing sponsored by the Downtown Jaycee Chapter of Washington, D.C.

February 11, 1960: A nationally known garment manufacturing company is very interested in locating a plant in Rappahannock County. The company would employ from 125 to 150 people, 90 percent of whom would be women with an annual payroll of a quarter of a million dollars.

Sept. 25, 2003: Rappahannock County dodged Hurricane Isabel only to be hit with relentless rain and flooding earlier this week that left three motorists in jeopardy, one clinging for life on a telephone pole.

Dec. 1, 1999: Elizabeth Lee-Harris went before the Rappahannock County Planning Commission on Nov. 17 with an application to change a 36.4 acre plot of land near the town of Sperryville from agriculturally zoned to rural residential. The commission decided not to approve the application. But Lee-Harris will present another application to the Board of Supervisors on Dec. 6.

April 27, 1972: Joseph J. Scherschel of Flint Hill captured the White House News Photographers Association “Photograph of the Year” award, adding another top honor to his 22 years as a photojournalist.

September 20, 2000: Rappahannock Sheriff Larry Sherertz announced this week that law enforcement officers will be mounting a “focused effort” to ensure that the 35 mile-per-hour speed limits in the county’s two public school zones are strictly observed.

February 25, 1960: Miss Alice Wood, daughter of Mrs. Downing Wood of Washington, was the lucky person given the clock radio by the seniors of Rappahannock County High School at the basketball game Saturday evening at Sperryville.

Sept. 16, 1998: In an informal work session, the Town Planning Commission reviewed one-half of the 24 pages of the Town of Washington’s Comprehensive Plan. The commission made changes in the text that corrected grammatical and typographical errors, and updated changes in the town’s business community and sewage system planning.

Sept. 13, 1962: Announcement is made this week of a change in ownership of Rappahannock News. Basil C. Burke, attorney of Madison, has sold the newspaper and real estate to Angus M. and R. Duff Green of Culpeper and Orange.

Feb. 7, 1980: The ski area in Harris Hollow is no longer for sale. According to Eric Adamson, Front Royal attorney and partner in the operation, the Rappahannock slopes will open in December 1980 — “November, if there’s snow” — as a private club.

July 12, 2000: The guest of honor arrives an hour ahead of time at the Rappahannock Library, and is greeted by a small gaggle of supporters. Before the parade Lee Bird, Meredith Gorfein, Bill Tieckelmann, Linda Dietel and other supporters get a chance to chat with Sen. Chuck Robb.

Dec. 11, 2003: Dogs howled, chickens jumped from their roosts and old country homes shook as Rappahannock County was rocked by an earthquake Thursday afternoon, centered about 25 miles west of Richmond that measured 4.5 on the Richter scale.

July 11, 1985: Mrs. W.M. Fletcher, better known as Mattie Ball, added some Rappahannock flavor to NBC’s Today Show on Friday, July 5 when information on her and her recipes were used during a feature on a new cookbook. Mrs. Fletcher lives in Washington.

Oct. 6, 1966: A pair of vandals caught stealing gasoline from a county school bus last Thursday were apprehended and held at gunpoint by a local citizen until an officer could be summoned.

August 15, 1985: Steve Wetton suffers from culture shock. He’s from a large industrial city in England. In England, they call soccer football. The hood of a car is called a bonnet and the trunk is called a boot.

January 5, 1984: RCES principal Maggie Piper says she thinks fingerprinting the county’s children is an “excellent” idea.

Jan. 7, 1998: In early December, after more than 30 years, Woodville Contract Postmaster Ruth Orange retired, closing the book on one of the oldest post offices in the country.

Feb. 24, 1983: Even something as tragic as a flu epidemic has its humorous side. Pauline Bruce’s memories still bring a smile to her face. 

May 15, 1986: The documents contained in the clerk’s office at the courthouse are being preserved on microfilm by the Archives Division of the Virginia State Library.

Sept. 30, 1998: This summer’s drought combined with the record heat is causing pastures to stop growing, streams to dry up and orchards not to produce at their peaks.

The story of a sewer system might seem an odd chapter to feature in 200 years of village history. But without that sewer system, there likely would be no village — at least not the vibrant and bustling Sperryville of today.

March 8, 1979: Electoral Board members, county government employees and friends feted Mrs. Mary Cleverley with a retirement party in the Health Department offices last wee

Jan. 13, 1966: Wade Wallihan Massie, an eighth grade student at Rappahannock County High School, has been selected to serve as a page in the Virginia House of Delegates for the 1966 session of the General Assembly.

October 13, 1960: Miss Dorothy Wood, a former resident of Rappahannock County now living in Las Cruces, N.M., has been awarded the New Mexico Delta Kappa Gamma special scholarship.

April 27, 1972: Joseph J. Scherschel of Flint Hill captured the White House News Photographers Association “Photograph of the Year” award, adding another top honor to his 22 years as a photojournalist.