Author: PHW

Things to Do Online This Weekend and Beyond

We’re sure you may be looking for some activities to get your mind off the current situation. Luckily, many resources are being made available online to help ease your burden. Handley Regional Library has a webpage dedicated to activities for the whole family. If you’re of the historical bent, don’t forget their many local history resources available online (some require a library card and some are open to the general public).

If you are looking for more scholarly reading material, Project MUSE has a list of resources that have been made free to access. One of those publishers is the National Trust for Historic Preservation; the entire catalog of Forum Journals are available. The list of material and publishers may change frequently at Project MUSE, so check back often!

The Library of Virginia has also compiled a blog post of databases you can access digitally. These resources can be accessed at home with a Library of Virginia account. If you are looking for free access materials without an account, check out the blog post A Library Is More Than a Building for even more resources you can access at home.

Open Culture is also a fantastic place to find educational resources so you can learn and hone skills while you are in quarantine. We suggest starting with Use Your Time in Isolation to Learn Everything You’ve Always Wanted To: Free Online Courses, Audio Books, eBooks, Movies, Coloring Books & More and Live Performers Now Streaming Shows, from their Homes to Yours: Neil Young, Coldplay, Broadway Stars, Metropolitan Operas & More to get you started with their offerings.

While museums and other indoor entertainment venues are closed, at least some offer virtual tours. Check out 10 Historic Homes You Can Virtually Tour for worldwide sightseeing. Historic sites operated by Preservation Virginia and other locations in Virginia are available on Encyclopedia Virginia’s website. The Virginia’s Travel Blog site has also compiled a listing of virtual tours. You’re sure to find a new building or place to virtually explore!

Last but not least, if you want some visual entertainment, we have a YouTube channel to recommend. Some of you may remember episodes of About Your House with Bob Yapp. The show was filmed between 1996-2000 and aired on PBS channels. About half of the episodes are now available for anyone to enjoy on YouTube. To get you started, here’s a commonly asked question: repairing plaster walls.

PHW’s Spring Update and Virtual Limestone Launch

Spring is just around the corner, and so Preservation of Historic Winchester draws closer to the end of another year. We usually take this time to let our current members know what we accomplished last year and invite you to renew your membership. This year, we are reaching out to all our members and social media followers to let you know some important news.

Last year was filled with high points like the 275th anniversary of the founding of Winchester activities, the republication of Winchester: Limestone, Sycamores & Architecture, and the presentation by Tom Mayes of Why Old Places Matter. The end of 2019 was capped by the Holiday House Tour and the Bough and Dough Shop, both successful fundraisers and educational programs.

At the same time, the year was marred by losses of buildings in the Historic District and to our own membership. All those who passed will be sorely missed, but perhaps none as much for the day to day operations of PHW as Sherry Bosley. After essentially acting as a volunteer secretary for the past fourteen years, the hole she left is still being felt. To honor her legacy of willingness to learn and humble yet unwavering work ethic, the PHW board approved a scholarship for local students bearing her name.

While we hope you will renew your membership, we also hope you will be generous enough to add a few extra dollars to the scholarship fund. We are currently just over $2,000 of an initial $10,000 funding goal. Our aim is to encourage students who have a passion for historic preservation who can continue the memory of Sherry Bosley and the goals of PHW.

While we may need to curtail in-person activities for the foreseeable future due to the coronavirus restrictions, we invite you to follow our weekly updates on social media for further programming changes or updates. The PHW office will be open by appointment only for the foreseeable future in keeping with the arts and historic preservation community response.

The much anticipated Limestone book launch party on April 3 and 4 was one of the casualties of the coronavirus restrictions. In an effort to make the book accessible, it is now available for purchase on PHW’s website. Orders will be shipped in as timely a manner as possible.

Thank you for continuing your support of PHW as we live through a period of change and uncertainty. We will do our best to continue supporting our members, the community, and the city.

Around the Internet: Historic Education and Volunteer Opportunities

March is Women’s History Month. We know many groups are exploring the suffrage movement this year, and with that in mind, you may wish to check out “Let Our Vote Be Cast:” African American Women and the Suffrage Movement in Virginia and Fighting the Long Fight: West Virginia Women and the Right to Vote. Colonial Williamsburg is also hosting a bevy of programming for March, which can be found on their website. For more general topics related to women’s history, the National Trust has put together a page of Distinctive Destinations: Women’s Heritage sites across the country.

The Virginia Museum of the Civil War will present a History Day program from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 28 at 8895 George Collins Parkway, New Market. This event is open to families seeking a day of fun, exploration and learning for hands-on activities for all ages such as joining the army and learning to drill, dancing the Virginia Reel, have fun with 19th-century games and crafts, watch the Emmy Award-winning film “Field of Lost Shoes,” take a guided tour through the battlefield, learn 19th-century cooking techniques, visit displays from local history and ecology organizations, enjoy lunch and home-baked goodies from the food booth. Registration is $5 per person for ages 6 and older and required before March 20. Call 866-515-1864 or visit the website.

In Richmond, you can experience some of the finest ornamental ironwork in the state. If the article piques your curiosity, check the Vintage Virginia website to see if a tour will coincide to your next visit to Richmond, or just enjoy more photos of the finely-crafted wrought iron in our state’s capitol. You can also see more photos inspired by the book Cast and Wrought – The Architectural Metalwork of Richmond, Virginia: in this blog, or purchase a copy from Amazon. (Don’t forget to use AmazonSmile and make PHW your charity of choice if you’d like to help us out a bit, too!)

The American Battlefield Trust is once again organizing Park Day across the nation on April 4. As stated on their website, “Since 1996, the American Battlefield Trust has sponsored Park Day, an annual hands-on preservation event to help Civil War — and now Revolutionary War & War of 1812 — battlefields and historic sites take on maintenance projects large and small. Activities are chosen by each participating site to meet their own particular needs and can range from raking leaves and hauling trash to painting signs and buildings trails.” Visit the site to find volunteer opportunities near you!

For our West Virginia members, the Old Opera House Theatre Guild, a volunteer organization essential to running the historic theater in Charles Town, WV, is now offering night meetings for those who cannot attend the standard lunchtime meetings. These nightly meetings will alternate with the luncheons. The first night meeting was held March 12 in the Old Opera House Theatre, 204 N. George St., Charles Town, WV. If you are interested in volunteering, you may want to watch the Guild’s Facebook page for information.

Friday Roundup: Spring Events This Weekend and Beyond

Shamrock

On March 7 from noon to 9 pm, the popular St. Paddy’s Celtic Fest returns to Old Town Winchester (FREE!). There will be a wide variety of live entertainment at seven different locations and along the Loudoun Street Mall (weather permitting). During all scheduled performances, a percentage of the food and drink sales will benefit the SPCA of Winchester, Frederick, and Clarke Counties. The SPCA will also host Celtic activities for children ages 3-12 on the 1840 Courthouse lawn. Other activities and entertainment will take place on the Loudoun Street Mall. The Magic Lantern Theater will show “The Quiet Man” at the Handley Library at 12:30 pm. Click this link for the event schedule and more information.

The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) and Handley Regional Library’s Stewart Bell, Jr. Archives will host the tenth annual Shenandoah Valley Heritage Day event from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 7, at the MSV. This free event will include two expert-led lectures, door prizes from Ancestry.com, and information tables hosted by ten historical societies and research organizations.

At 10:30 a.m., author and Library of Virginia Exhibitions Coordinator Barbara Batson will present “Where are the Women?” to discuss the challenges and opportunities tracing women’s history. At noon, MSV Curator of Collections Nick Powers and MSV Registrar and Collections Manager Lauren Fleming will talk about preserving and protecting textiles, such as quilts and samplers, and will provide insight into identifying and dating quilts. Both lectures will take place in the Museum’s Reception Hall. Those interested in attending the lectures are encouraged to arrive early as seating is limited and tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets will be available at the MSV Visitor Information Desk beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Register by March 10 for Winchester Parks and Recreation’s Apple Blossom Wreath class on Tuesday, March 24 from 6:30-8:30 pm. Make a beautiful wreath in pink and green. Materials provided. For ages 18+. Fee: $35 city residents ($38 non-residents). Register online of call 540-662-4946.

Last, for your reading pleasure, the Washington Post covered the story of an amateur historian’s discovery of a graveyard in Harper’s Ferry, WV. In 1867, a military officer stated that “all the bodies of U.S. soldiers interred at Harpers Ferry” had already been moved to Winchester National Cemetery in Virginia. This forgotten Pine Grove cemetery may hold more Union soldiers that were overlooked, as some elusive archival records refer to co-mingled soldier and civilian interments in this graveyard. A grant for ground penetrating radar to explore the site for remains is one of the next steps planned to determine if bodies are still awaiting identification in the forgotten cemetery.

Mark you calendars for April 3 and 4 for the Limestone Launch and Book Sale for the revised copy of Winchester: Limestone, Sycamores & Architecture. In addition to those books, we will host a small book sale of other new and used books (including copies of Why Old Places Matter) and magazines relevant to local history and architecture. We are still accepting donations for our book sale. If you have books or magazines in good condition to donate, stop by the Hexagon House between now and April. Sandra will be happy to look over your items and see what is suitable for the sale (tax donation forms are available on request).

Friday Roundup: Books and Events

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the women’s suffrage movement. To commemorate the event, Arcadia Publishing has released The Campaign for Woman Suffrage in Virginia by Brent Tarter, Marianne E. Julienne and Barbara C. Batson. The book reveals how women created two statewide organizations to win the right to vote. At last their overlooked contributions to the movement can be recognized. If you are interested in obtaining a copy, you can find it on the publisher’s website or on Amazon. Remember to log in with AmazonSmile if you purchase on Amazon to give a little back to the charity of your choice!

This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the Garden Club of Virginia. To celebrate the anniversary, the GCV is hosting a number of programs, exhibits, and fundraising activities which can be found at www.gcvirginia.org/centennial/. The Historic Garden Week, the major fundraising event of the club, is held annually across the state. In 2020, look for tours the week of April 18-25. Winchester’s tours will be held April 25. Find more info online at www.vagardenweek.org or Facebook.

Looking for something to do this weekend? The monthly United Way Rubbermaid product sale will be held from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Belk parking lot in Apple Blossom Mall in Winchester. This month’s sale benefits Shenandoah Area Agency on Aging. Information: 540-536-1610 or info@unitedwaynsv.org.

The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley will host the Heimat Quartet at 3 p.m. Saturday at 901 Amherst St., Winchester. The concert is inspired by the exhibition Things Come Apart. Tickets are $10 or free for MSV members. Information: 540-662-1473 or www.themsv.org.

We are still accepting donation items for our book sale April 3 and 4. If you have books or magazines in good condition to donate as you downsize your collections, stop by the Hexagon House between now and April. Sandra will be happy to look over your items and see what is suitable for the sale.

Friday Photos and Events for February Celebrations

Looking for something to do tonight? The French and Indian War Foundation invites you to celebrate George Washington’s 288th birthday with them on Friday, Feb. 21, 5:30-8:30 PM at the Half Note Lounge in the George Washington Hotel, 103 E. Piccadilly St. This free event is open to everyone. A cash bar and appetizers at $20/plate will be available.

Next Wednesday, February 26, the City invites you to the Rouss City Hall Reveal from 4-6 PM to celebrate the recent renovation as well as Charles Broadway Rouss Day. There will be guided tours of the historic building, slideshows of the transformation playing on every level, Q&A with the architects Reader & Swartz, and refreshments. February 11 was Charley Rouss’s birthday. All are invited! Learn more about the event here.

If you missed the President’s Day Muster on Monday, we have you covered! Larry Webb provided photographic coverage of the muster and march. The images are available in PHW’s Flickr account at the top of the photostream or in the album.

President's Day Muster 2020
See more photos by Larry Webb on Flickr.

Friday Roundup: Upcoming Events and Birthday Celebrations

Today is PHW’s 56th birthday! If you are new you may want to check out the history series from our 50th anniversary to see where we started and where we are now.

Tomorrow is MSV Day! Celebrate the opening of the new MSV exhibition Things Come Apart during this special free-admission day. Activities and events are free to all; bring the family for the fun! See the list of activities at the MSV’s website.

The Virginia Regiment and the Sons of the American Revolution will muster at the site of historic Fort Loudoun at 419 N. Loudoun Street on February 17th for the 3rd annual President’s Day Muster. The regiment will march down the walking mall to George Washington’s office and fire 3 volleys in honor of Col. Washington. The event starts at 11:00 am.  See the event listing on the Old Town website.

Our friends at the Shenandoah Valley Tapestry project alerted us that the Tapestry will be on display and subject of some presentations in Alexandria at the Woodlawn Estate in March. Woodlawn will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day except Tuesday, with some events occurring at the Estate beyond those hours and shown on the website www.woodlawnpopeleighey.org.

There will be a presentation on the history and development of the tapestry at 4 p.m. on March 19. On March 21, Woodlawn Estate will host a Stitch-A-Historic House workshop from 3:30-6:30 p.m. Attendees will have an opportunity “take-a-stitch” in a Woodlawn Mansion design. At the end of the month it will be donated to sell in the gift ship. Register for the workshop online here.

See the renovated City Hall on Wednesday, February 26 from 4-6 pm !

The City is proud to announce the Rouss City Hall Reveal event on Wednesday, February 26 from 4-6 pm to celebrate the recent renovation as well as Charles Broadway Rouss Day. There will be guided tours of the historic building, slideshows of the transformation playing on every level, Q&A with the architects Reader & Swartz, and refreshments. February 11 was Charley Rouss’s birthday and we celebrate every year. This year, we’re holding the celebration with some of his decedents at the Reveal event. All are invited! Learn more about the event here.

Winchester once again hit a list of the top ten places to retire in Virginia. In addition to the Apple Blossom Festival, it is important to note the ability of our city to attract visitors and new residents is the blending of our rich history, architecture, friendly residents, and engaging events throughout the year. Much of what is attracting people to Winchester now is based on the longstanding work of PHW and other organizations like us to combine our past with our future in accessible ways. While you enjoy events this weekend and into the spring, remember to thank those who had the foresight fifty years ago to let Winchester evolve while keeping its own character and charm.

Friday Roundup: Events and Tidbits

Formal garden, Colonial Williamsburg
Thanks to commenter Sarah Yi on Flickr, this unmarked slide in PHW’s collection has been identified as most likely being a garden at Colonial Williamsburg. Learn more about the gardens of Williamsburg here.

Looking for something to do this weekend? This Saturday is the 7th annual Chocolate Escape in Old Town Winchester. Look for red balloons at participating businesses between 2-5 p.m., or find more information at the Old Town Winchester site.

The French and Indian War Foundation invites you to celebrate George Washington’s 288th birthday with them on Friday, Feb. 21, 5:30-8:30 PM at the Half Note Lounge in the George Washington Hotel, 103 E. Piccadilly St. This free event is open to everyone. A cash bar and appetizers at $20/plate will be available.

A monument at the site where Turner Ashby was mortally wounded in the Civil War was vandalized recently in Harrisonburg. Regardless of your thoughts on the vandalism, cleaning and restoring historic structures and monuments from paint vandalism is especially laborious. If you find yourself in a similar situation, you may wish to investigate the technical briefs Removing Graffiti from Historic Masonry and Preserving Grave Markers in Historic Cemeteries. The National Center for Preservation Technology Training also has a few blog entries dedicated to graffiti removal and sacrificial coatings for stone monuments (marble specifically for the study linked in the blog).

The Trapezium House was an unusual find in our news feed this week. Similar to theories we’ve heard about the Hexagon House, the house in Petersburg was built without parallel walls in an attempt to make the building free of evil spirits who would become trapped in the corners. A bit more history and images are available at Clio.

The Board of Architectural Review will have multiple positions opening at the end of April this year. If you are interested in joining the board, or another city commission, the online application can be found at the city’s website.

The new cover for Limestone features the Hexagon House. Copies are available for purchase for $25 plus tax at the PHW office, Winchester Book Gallery, or the Gift Shop at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley.

Mark you calendars tentatively for April 3 and 4, when we hope to host a book launch party and sale weekend for the revised copy of Winchester: Limestone, Sycamores & Architecture. In addition to those books, we hope to have a small book sale of other new and used books (including copies of Why Old Places Matter) and magazines relevant to local history and architecture. If you have books or magazines in good condition to donate as you downsize your collections, stop by the Hexagon House between now and April. Sandra will be happy to look over your items and see what is suitable for the sale. More information will be finalized and available soon!

Around the Internet: Education New and Old

From the Winchester Star comes news of the Douglas School Alumni Memorial Wall. The wall, which is expected to cost about $80,000, will list the names of students and faculty who attended the school. Fundraising efforts for the memorial wall are underway now, and the first benefit event for the Douglas Alumni Memorial Wall will feature the Richmond-based band Soul Expressions. Tickets for the concert, which will be held Feb. 28, 7-11 PM at Handley High School, are available now on EventBrite. For more information on the fundraising efforts, contact Carl Rush at Winchester Public Schools, 540-667-4253 or rushc@wps.k12.va.us.

Digging into the Archives, UVA Library Brings Old Folksong Recordings to Light highlights the story of how nearly 700 songs were preserved from an esoteric early recording format. As part of the preservation grant stipulations, the songs retain the lo-fi imperfections of the original aluminum discs. If you would like to travel back in time to hear these rare records, the collection is available online here at the University of Virginia Library.

Interested in dendrochronology? Why Trees Are the Most Reliable Historians of Early America has photos of both log construction and the coring process accompanying an easy introduction to the topic. Further reading on dendrochronology being used to unravel mysteries of early – or not so early – construction is available at Traditional Building.

You may have spotted the article on the “witch bottle” in the Winchester Star. If you’d like a chance to see the image in higher resolution, Civil War-Era ‘Witch Bottle’ Used to Keep Evil Spirits at Bay Discovered in Virginia has you covered. More information on the dig and the history of Redoubt 9 in the Civil War can be found at William & Mary.

Last, if you are looking for something to do this weekend, all three branches of the Handley Regional Library will be conducting events for Come out of Hibernation Day on Feb. 1. All programs are free and open to the public. Check out the list of activities on their website.

Around the Internet: Learning Through Other’s Experience

Following up from our ice skating edition, one of our members let us know a small ice skating rink was newly installed at Bryce Resort, Bayse, VA. You can find more information on their website if you would like to enjoy ice skating there this season.

We know many of our members love their furry friends, so the Virginia’s Travel Blog has put together Fun With Fido for dog-friendly travel ideas to scenic and historic places around the state.

What if you could do a preservation project over again? The Carlyle House in Alexandria is getting just this sort of examination during a reception, presentation, and panel discussion on May 21, from 6-9 PM. Space is limited and reservations are required. Reservations are $10 per person, with APT-DC members and Friends of Carlyle House members $5/person with code.

The Library of Virginia shares the basic outline and lessons learned from a primary document workshop in a high school setting in Primary Sources Force Students to Analyze the Past and Past Penmanship. As many in the history fields have cautioned, the lack of penmanship education for today’s students is making these primary resources practically a foreign language and will present new challenges for future educators and aspiring historians.

Open Culture has gathered together How to Draw Like an Architect: An Introduction in Six Videos. Brush up on perspective, line thickness, and more to bring your architectural doodles to the next level. There are many other related links in the Open Culture back catalog on drawing, architecture, and much more to explore, as well.

Last but not least is Historic Preservation in Philadelphia: New Tools for an Old City from the National Trust. Regulatory changes and new incentives were introduced to make it more feasible to reuse historic buildings instead of demolishing them after the city hit a record number of demolitions in 2018. Read more about how reduced parking requirements, accessory dwelling units, zoning relief and demolition review in Neighborhood Conservation Districts are expected to reduce the number of demolitions and burdens to adaptive reuse at the National Trust’s blog.