Upcoming Events in May

CSX Train

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.

Coming This Weekend: Historic Garden Tour in Winchester

DogwoodWinchester’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

The Holly House

PHW Blog Receives Facelift

This week, the PHW Blog has received a minor facelift which should make the reading experience better for those of you on smartphones. If you haven’t visited for a while because of small fonts or scrolling issues, drop by the PHW Blog and see if the changes enhance your experience.

Most features are in the same place as the old blog, with the following exceptions:

  • The blog search feature is now at the top right. Click on the magnifying glass icon to bring out the search field.
  • The link back to the main PHW page can be accessed through the PHW logo at the bottom left.
  • The navigation bar to the main PHW site is not currently available; if it returns in the future, it will likely be placed in the footer.
  • Additional links to PHW’s PayPal donation link and Amazon Smile shopping support features have been added to the footer.

A similar facelift for the main site is also in the works. If all goes as planned, the main website will look much the same as it does now, but likewise be much more user friendly for mobile devices.

We also ask that you have patience with the PHW site running slower than usual recently. Communications with our host have stated another user on our shared server is experiencing higher than normal traffic spikes. If your connection times out with a 503 or 504 error, it is part of the traffic spike issue. Please try to reload the page again after a few moments.

Friday Photos: Albums New and Old

Old Town Winchester Happy Friday and Easter weekend! The additions to PHW’s online photo collections this week consist of slides dating as far back as the 1960s and digital photos from events just a few years ago. Some of the photos can be found in the following Flickr albums:

Frederick County, Virginia
Braddock Street
New additions at the end of the Kent Street and Cameron Street albums
Handley High School
Handley Library Centennial Event
Memberfest 2007
Annual Meetings 2006, 2007, 2008
PHW and CFNSV Open House
Architectural Details
Holiday House Tours circa 1990, 2007

And check the photostream for other photos that have not yet been added to an album!

Friday Photos: Traditional Woodworking Exhibit, Town Run

Traditional Cabinetmakers Exhibit PHW brings you two new (old) sets of photos and slides today. First is what appears to be images from the opening day reception for the Traditional Cabinetmaker exhibit held in the Kurtz Cultural Center in 1993. There are also a few images of the related programming activities, such as a lecture and appraisals. View Traditional Cabinetmaker Exhibit and Programs on Flickr.

Also this week, we bring you a collection of slides of Town Run, walking from the Cork Street bridge, following Kent Street to Pall Mall, then past Hollingsworth Dr. to the Shawnee Springs area and Wilkins Lake. The slides are dated July of 1983, and the information written on the slides about the location of the photos (if available) has been transcribed. Virtual tour of Town Run in 1983 on Flickr