Glade Creek in Black and White

In Babcock State Park, West Virginia

Sharing with Black and White Weekend

Grist Mill Gears

I have some photos of the exterior of this mill which I plan to post. Thought I'd get this interior shot up today for Sepia Saturday.

Canada Geese and Friend

It's been a wet summer here and the grass is still spring-green. The geese look content.

Sharing with The Bird D'Pot
and Saturday's Critters
and Camera Critters

Colors of Sunsets

Photoblogger Mersad Donko has challenged us to post Colors of the Sunset and link up to My Town Shoot Out. Well, okay then! I had spare sunset pictures taken over the last few months so here are some that I like, all taken from my backyard.

These also fit neatly into Skywatch Friday and Orange You Glad It's Friday.

Have a nice weekend!

Pearl S. Buck's Birthplace

Hillsboro, WV

A marker along U.S. 219 provides a basic bio for Pearl S. Buck:

Pearl Sydenstricker Buck, author of 85 books, one of them "The Good Earth," for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Literature (1932), was born here at Stulting Place, June 26, 1892. In 1938, she achieved further distinction when she became the first American woman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, based on her six books on China. She died March 6, 1973 and was buried in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Since Frank and I have both read The Good Earth, we stopped at the author's birthplace when we were in that part of West Virginia. The house was very nice and the tour guides were friendly.

Mrs. Buck spent many years in China as her father and later her first husband were missionaries there. She received both a Pulitzer Prize and a Nobel Prize.

See the website for the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace. 

Next door to the house is a rustic building that was the birthplace of her father, but which was not originally in Hillsboro. It was moved here from Greenbrier County so that it could be preserved.

Sharing with Signs, Signs
and Good Fences

Flash (Looking a Bit Concerned)

Sharing with Black and White Wednesday 

and Wordless Wednesday Blog Paws

The Muscovy Family

Suddenly the variety of geese and ducks on our pond has expanded. Mr. and Mrs. Muscovy have appeared with their little ones! 

Since seeing them the first time on Saturday, we've noticed that the number of ducklings seems to have gotten smaller and one of the little guys is limping. Perhaps they are not used to living here with foxes and snapping turtles around. I wish them well. 

Sharing with Wild Bird Wednesday and Camera Critters

Eye-Catching Sign

Sharing with Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday

Rurality 522

We take Route 522 when we travel from Front Royal to Sperryville.  It flows up and down hills, slows down for some charming towns, and winds through the country with the Blue Ridge as a backdrop.

Sharing with The Barn Collective and Our World Tuesday

and NF Trees and Bushes

Dinner at Peggy's

July 3, 2015

It was nice to visit my sister ten days ago, but bittersweet because she is moving. She sold her home in Purcellville and is moving to Kentucky to be with her beau. I'm happy for her that her home sold in only two days, but sad that she will now be far away.

Sharing with Mosaic Monday

The Old Josephine Schools

In Berryville, VA

The museum in the old 2-room school is open Sunday afternoons from 1 PM to 3 PM. A docent gave us an informative tour that included a look at a model of the small town of Josephine as it was some years back. A sign posted on the end of the building tells us the following:

In 1882, the former slaves and free colored people of this community built the Josephine City School to provide their children with a grade school education. Under the leadership of Rev. Edward Johnson, a new building was completed in 1930 to provide high school education for Negro students and was called the Clarke County Training School. It was named the W.T.B. Williams Training School in 1944 to honor a Clarke County native who served as Dean of Tuskegee Institute. From 1949 to 1966, the school was known as Johnson-Williams High School. After the integration of public schools, it became the Johnson-Williams Intermediate School and served students of all races from 1966 until it was closed in 1987. The high school building was converted into apartments for older persons in 1992. The original Josephine City School is on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2003 it became the first museum devoted to the history of Clarke County’s African-American community.

Former High School, Now Apartments for Senior Citizens

A similar historical marker stands in the parking lot. Behind it you can see the brick Johnson-Williams High School that now serves as apartments.

Josephine School Museum Website

Former Shop Class Building

Josephine City and Zion Baptist Church

In Berryville, Virginia

The historical marker shown here was installed by Virginia's Department of Historic Resources in 2014. It replaced a less-accurate marker that was installed in 1999 which read:

To improve the lives of former slaves, Ellen McCormick, widow of Edward McCormick of Clermont, established this African American community of 31 one-acre lots early in the 1870s. The lots, laid out on either side of the 16-foot-wide street that originated near the tollgate on the Berryville Turnpike, sold for $100 each. The community probably was named for Josephine Williams, who owned two lots. By 1900 Josephine City had become an oasis for Clarke County’s African American residents and included a school, grocery store, gas station, boarding house, restaurant, cemetery, and two churches.

Researchers discovered that Mrs. McCormick tried to sell off part of her farm to ease financial burdens after her husband's death. She was approached by African-American citizens with a proposal that she subdivide a section of the farm and sell lots to members of their community, some of whom had been enslaved until the Civil War and who now wanted to own their own homes.  She agreed to this proposal and held loans on the lots until they were paid off. Since this was clearly a business decision and not a charitable gift as the 1999 marker implied, the sign was changed and now reads:

Early in the 1870's African Americans established Josephine City, a community originally composed of 31 one-acre lots lining a 16-foot-wide street. Twenty-four former slaves and free blacks purchased the lots at $100 an acre from Ellen McCormick, owner of Clermont Farm. The street and the community were probably named after a former slave at Clermont, Josephine Williams, purchaser of two lots. By 1900, Josephine City had become an oasis for the county’s African Americans and was a self-sufficient community with a school, grocery store, gas station, boarding house, restaurant, cemetery, churches, and numerous residents.

We learned of this history at a lecture on Friday at Cedar Creek Battlefield. Today we visited the Josephine School, now a museum that is open on Sunday afternoons. I have pictures of the school to post later, but want to share photos of the community's churches for the Inspired Sunday blog hop. I like church architecture and this one has the grace and charm that we see in so many churches here in the Shenandoah Valley.

This building was erected in 1908 with the brick front added later.

Across the street from the brick church is the Franklin Annex, built in 1882. It served as the main church until the newer one was built in 1908. An online history of Zion Baptist Church explains that the congregation originally met outdoors with "green foliage for decorations, rough boards for pews, the canopy of heaven for their lamps."

Today's Flowers are for Ben

I was surprised when I got a call from a local florist on Thursday saying they had flowers for me. It turned out to be an arrangement from the veterinary staff at Seven Bends in memory of our cocker spaniel.

Here's one more snapshot of Ben, taken at a park right after a visit to the vet in April. Ben had lost some weight. His appetite did come back a little after he took medications prescribed for symptoms of congestive heart failure, but by his final week he refused his regular food. Then I bought him "fresh" dog food from a refrigerator at the pet store and he ate that.

Since his passing on Wednesday, his friend Flash has looked for him but does not appear to be depressed at his absence. Of course, it's hard to know what a dog is thinking.

Sharing with Today's Flowers

and Sepia Saturday and Saturday's Critters

Log Cabin, No Roof

In Etlan, VA

Sharing with Black and White Weekend

Sunset Seen from a Gas Station

In Stephens City, VA

Sharing with Skywatch Friday 

and Orange You Glad It's Friday

Cedar Creek Winery

I don't go to wineries very often because I don't drink, but I've discovered that they often have pretty views so I've decided we should visit one every so often. There are plenty of them in Virginia now, although I can remember when they were few and far between. It wasn't until vintners discovered that European grape vines survive best when grafted to the roots of native grape plants that wine varieties became a viable crop here.

Cedar Creek Winery is near the small town of Star Tannery which is toward West Virginia.

I assume this sign is warning drivers to slow down because the road makes a dip.

Sharing with Signs, Signs and Good Fences

and Look Up, Look Down

With Ben and Guppy, Ten Years Ago

Sharing with Thoughtless Thursday

Ben, A Brief Bio

Today we mourn the loss of our cocker spaniel, who died this morning. He had congestive heart failure that finally overtook his indomitable spirit. Last night he lost the strength to even stand or roll over so we knew the end of his life was near. This morning he still could not walk and we had to carry him to the car.

When we first got him he was about 5 months old. A family in Dumfries had decided to give him up because he seemed a threat to their little girl. He was an excited little fellow, bouncing around their townhouse almost frantically, tearing and nipping as he went. Frank wanted him anyway.

Our early efforts to calm him were not successful. We send him to a trainer for two weeks and all he learned was "sit."

Eventually Ben learned a few more commands and could walk on the leash passably well. However, he seemed to be anxious at times.

He liked his walks, though, and learned to enjoy riding in the car once he got used to it. Unfortunately he continued to over-react at times and sometimes had odd episodes of focusing intently on someone and then threatening to bite them. It wasn't until after he had bitten me a couple of times that his vet and I realized that he might have some sort of seizure disorder.  A prescription for phenobarbital made a huge difference!  Around the same time, my husband discovered that an episode could be ended quickly by swinging a fly swatter back and forth, back and forth in front of him until he suddenly relaxed and smiled, looking relieved!

Ben had a heart murmur and last November he was diagnosed with heart disease. In April he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. A collection of medications was prescribed and for a while he was feeling better. But lately he seemed to be weaker and by Monday I knew I'd be taking him back to the vet soon. I hesitated though, for fear that the news would be bad. But after he collapsed on the floor last night, we took him to the vet today and learned there was nothing more they could do to help him.

I took the photo with the orange toy on June 25th. He was still doing pretty well and his mood had gotten sweeter while he was sick. He seemed to know that I was trying to help him.

I like to think that he was greeted at the rainbow bridge by his friend Guppy, who died in 2007 and whose mellow disposition had a calming effect on Ben.

Farewell, little Benny! We miss you.