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.
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!