PHW – Page 69 – Preservation of Historic Winchester

An Architectural Treasure Hunt at Handley Library

How sharp is your eye for architectural detail? You can test yourself with three architectural treasure hunts produced in celebration of National Preservation Month 2015. The three treasure hunts feature architectural details from the Handley Library at 100 West Piccadilly Street in Winchester, Virginia. The details can be found on its three street-side faces (Piccadilly, Braddock, and Fairfax). Look up, down, and all around to spot the details!

Unlike past architectural treasure hunts, there are often multiple places where the same details can be found. This treasure hunt is just for fun – no prizes involved – but it may inspire you to examine details you’ve never seen before.

Can You Find It at Handley Library? (3 sheets, PDF, 3.5 MB)

Coming This Saturday: See! Save! Celebrate! and Other Downtown Events

The big day, May 16, is almost here! Start your day off with a trip to Fort Loudoun at 419 N. Loudoun St. for Fort Loudoun Day (10 a.m. – 1 p.m.). Tours of the grounds, led by historian Norman Baker, begin in half hour intervals. At 11:30 a.m. Mr. Raleigh Boaze will speak on General Braddock’s Failed Attempt to Capture Fort Duquesne, to be followed at noon by the flag raising. Stop by to see members of The Department of Geographers, Washington’s Rev. War army’s staff surveyors, and Larry Johnston “Liberty Man.” Learn more about the French and Indian War Foundation and Fort Loudoun at www.fiwf.org .

Kidzfest returns for the second year on the Winchester Old Town Mall with activities all day long. The family-focused event features musical performances along with interactive activities for children of all ages. Free activities and engaging exhibits will line the walking mall. Learn more about Kidzfest and see a schedule of events at oldtownwinchesterva.com.

Last but not least is PHW and Friends of the Handley Regional Library’s joint See! Save! Celebrate! National Preservation Month event. Two concurrent programs, one for children and one for adults, will begin at 2:00 p.m. Sandra Bosley, Executive Assistant for Preservation of Historic Winchester, will give an illustrated talk for adults on the businesses and buildings associated with the city’s railroad history. Also at 2:00 p.m., there will be a separate program for children in grades two through five led by Youth Services librarian Jennifer Sutter. The program will feature train stories, train songs, a model train, and a chance for youngsters to learn about Winchester’s railroad history and about railroad crossing safety.

It will be a full day, rain or shine, so bring the family and head downtown. We’ll see you there!

Coming Tonight: “Slow Train to Yesterday” Documentary Showing

The first of the two joint programs put together by PHW and the Friends of Handley Library in celebration of National Preservation Month is almost here. Tonight, May 13, we invite you to come to the auditorium at Handley Library, 100 West Piccadilly Street, for a screening of the award-winning WVPT documentary “Slow Train to Yesterday: Memories of the Railroad in the Blue Ridge Mountains.”

The documentary includes residents and railroad employees who describe the important role the railroad had in their lives as it connected mountain communities to the Shenandoah Valley. The film will be preceded by an introduction by Mason Cooper, a Stephens City resident and member of the Winchester Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.

The event begins at 6:30 PM and is free and open to the public. The documentary running time is just under one hour.

Friday Photos Look at Newspaper Ads

Take a trip back in time with this sampling of advertising from the 1870s to the early 1900s to whet your appetite for PHW and Handley Regional Library’s National Preservation Month activities next week.

PHW uncovered a selection of interesting vintage Winchester advertisements during the research and preparation for the Saturday, May 16 program. Some are amusing, some are informational. Some businesses are still remembered today, but perhaps many more have been forgotten. Even the goods sold run the gamut from the expected homemade whiskey to the surprising imported Italian marble.

See what some of Winchester’s industries were making and selling over one hundred years ago. View the album on Flicker!

Memories of “The Bloom” in Winchester

This is a busy weekend for everyone in Winchester, but if you feel nostalgic for Blooms of the past, Harry F. Byrd, Jr. recalls his memories of Apple Blossom in this four minute video, recorded in 2008 for the 81st Apple Blossom Festival.

Upcoming Events in May

The Friends of Handley Regional Library and Preservation of Historic Winchester are co-sponsoring a two-part program in honor of National Preservation Month 2015. National Preservation Month, established as May by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, encourages localities to see, save, and celebrate their important places with diverse activities. This year marks the second time the Friends and PHW have collaborated on a program for National Preservation Month, this year expanding the program to two days and including a kid-friendly component. Because of PHW’s involvement in the ongoing restoration of the Winchester Little Theatre’s freight station, these two free programs will celebrate the important railroad transportation in Winchester with stories and images evocative of this bygone era.

The two halves of the program are as follows:

Wednesday, May 13
Start time 6:30 P.M.
“Slow Train to Yesterday: Memories of the Railroad in the Blue Ridge Mountains” documentary showing with introduction by Mason Cooper, Winchester Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. The documentary running time is just under one hour.

Saturday, May 16
Start time 2:00 P.M.
“See! Save! Celebrate! Winchester’s Railroad History” lectures and slideshows by author and railroad historian Bob Cohen and Executive Assistant for Preservation of Historic Winchester Sandra Bosley.
The Saturday event includes a separate, concurrent children’s program suitable for grades 2-5 with hands-on activities, a model train, and “then and now” themed photographs of Winchester.

Both events will be held at the Auditorium of the Handley Library, 100 West Piccadilly Street, Winchester, Virginia. For more information or questions, please contact Barbara Dickinson, Executive Director of the Friends of Handley Regional Library, at (540) 662-9041 ext. 31 or friends@handleyregional.org.

If you would like additional printed postcards for this event for handouts, please stop by the PHW office and pick some up from the back door of the Hexagon House, 530 Amherst Street. They’re free!

May 16 is a busy day elsewhere around downtown, with Fort Loudoun Day at 419 North Loudoun Street from 10 A.M.-1 P.M. and Kidzfest all day on the Old Town Mall. We hope to see you at one (or more!) of these activities in May!

While you are having fun with all the warm weather activities, PHW is also soliciting preservation award nominations for local projects, people, and publications that have enhanced our community. While nominations are always open, to be considered for a 2015 award, please make sure you make your nominations no later than 5 P.M. on Monday, June 8 – the last time the PHW board will meet before the Annual Meeting on June 28th.

Friday Photos: Kurtz Building Revisited

This week, PHW has digitized its collection of slides pertaining to the Kurtz Building. Most slides date from 1988-1990, when the bulk of the exterior work was completed. Refresh your memory on the transformation of this “ugly warehouse” in the Kurtz Cultural Center album on Flickr. The new photos are at the end of the album.

Coming This Weekend: Historic Garden Tour in Winchester

Winchester’s Historic Garden Tour hosted by The Little Garden Club of Winchester and The Winchester-Clarke Garden Club is this Saturday, April 25th, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. This tour in the historic district features three private homes and gardens of distinctive architectural styles, Stonewall Jackson’s Headquarters, and the gracious historic home and 6-acre idyllic garden of Winchester’s founder James Wood.

Tour ticket also allows access to the Galleries at The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, the Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum and to the Handley Regional Library. All sites on the tour are within a three mile radius, an active walking distance on streets shaded by stately trees. Shuttles will be available to move visitors between tour sites.

Advance Tickets: $30pp. Tickets available until April 25 at The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum, and the Winchester-Frederick County Visitors Center with check payable to The Little Garden Club of Winchester.

Questions? Contact Winchester@vagardenweek.org.
More information, including complete tour description, is available at www.vagardenweek.org/.

Friday Photos: Digital Photo Roundup

Before we start on the photos for this week, it appears the PHW website was down last Friday at the time MailChimp would have sent your weekly email. Assuming that last week’s posts will not show up in this week’s roundup, we will first direct you to the news of the PHW Blog getting a mobile friendly update. Last Friday, we also posted a number of albums on Flickr.

This week, the following new albums were added to Flickr:
Annual Meeting 2013
Rouss Day 2013
Boscawen Street
Baker Street
Holiday House Tour 2011