The View from Little Washington

If I write any more posts about the town of Washington, I may have to give it a Label of its own! This small town is quaint and beautiful, with plenty of special events to draw tourists. It was surveyed and platted by young George Washington in 1749. 

When I was there for a Garden Week tour, I walked through the town until my poor ankles were sore. (I really need to find shoes that support my ankles because I have weak ligaments.) It was a beautiful day and the town was lovely.

Below we see a sign telling the story of Kitty Payne, born into slavery in 1816.

Freedom Lost and Regained.

In the years before the Civil War, Virginia’s laws restricted free blacks and also tightened the legal grip on slaves. Some blacks, however, struggled through the system to freedom, just as many slaves wended their way to Union lines during the war. Katherine “Kitty” Payne, born into slavery in 1816 near present-day Huntly in northern Rappahannock County, and her family are one example.

Kitty Payne was the daughter of her owner, Samuel Maddox, and one of his slaves. She married Robert Payne, a free black, in 1836, and they had four children. Maddox died in 1837, leaving them to his wife Mary, who emancipated them in 1843 and moved with them to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where Robert Payne died in 1844. Maddox’s nephew, Samuel Maddox Jr., however, alleged that Mary Maddox was not the rightful heir and not entitled to Payne and her children. On July 24, 1845, he and five accomplices kidnapped and returned them to Rappahannock County.

While Payne fought Maddox’s allegations in the courthouse here, the judge confined them in this jail for their safety. A year later, after complex court proceedings, she regained her freedom.

See Historical Marker Database for more.

The Rappahannock County Courthouse was built in 1833. Local lore has held that it was built by by James Leake Powers, who built nearby Trinity Episcopal Church. This was questioned in 2017 when a record was found stating that Malcolm F. Crawford was paid for constructing the courthouse. Crawford had worked as a carpenter on buildings at the University of Virginia, and was one of the partners who built Madison County Courthouse and the Page County Courthouse in Luray. It is thought that he and his partners also built the Caroline County Courthouse. 

Links: Washington Historic District.
Young George Washington.
Virginia Places: Piedmont Region.
Linkups: Signs, Fences.
 

Note: After posting this, I decide to create a label called Piedmont in order to classify my Rappahannock County posts and other posts from the rolling hills east of the Blue Ridge. 

Wild Bird Wednesday, May 8th.

Crow on a Wire.

Grackles fighting. Or perhaps they were courting. But it looked like fighting!

The rest of today's pictures were automatically snapped by a trail cam, starting with some geese.

These grackles almost look like they're in a tree.  Not to be outdone, the geese also posed on the tree.

Veterans Memorial, Mount Jackson.

Wordless, Tuesday Treasures.

May Flowers Monday

Monday Mural: I saw this mural in Culpeper. I took the rest of the pictures in Washington, Virginia.

 The sign warned Garden Week visitors to not touch boxwood. There is an outbreak of boxwood blight that endangers these shrubs. Hedges of boxwood are prized on historic properties because they have been trimmed over the years to look neatly sculpted, and are sometimes over a century old.

Mosaic Monday

Fauquier Style Rurality

Let's start with a modest but charming church in Turnbull, Virginia. This is the First Springs Baptist Church.

I went to Fauquier County on Wednesday for the Warrenton Garden Week Tour. I stopped to take a picture of that attractive church, but most of the day I spent touring deluxe estates in Virginia's horse country. The complex we see here is basically a stable. The quarters for the horses are surrounded by guest quarters and what I would call a family room, although it could serve as a trophy room and man cave. This is not the main house, which is a beautifully renovated and enlarged 1833 farm house.

Fauquier County has one of the highest average incomes in the United States. The county was established in1759. It is named for Francis Fauquier, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia at the time. Local lore is that he won the land in a poker game!

Sharing with InSpired Sunday 

and The Barn Collective.

The Warrenton Garden Club takes care of details for the tour. Members serve as docents and also supply many beautiful flower arrangements using plants from their own gardens.

Springtime Pairs... and a Duck.

Let's start today's critter collection with some birds. Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal are finishing off the last layer of seed in the bird feeder.

These geese live on and around our community lake. The one on the left appears to be a domestic goose, descended from a farm goose but now living free. I think his partner is a hybrid of a domestic goose and a Canada goose.

A pair of goldfinches show their differences in the spring. During the winter, the males don't sport the striking yellow feathers that we see now, but have subdued colors like the other bird.

And next, we have someone's pet duck. I altered the background but left the duck realistic.

Sharing with Athena's Art Blog Hop.

The rest of today's pictures show scenes in Shenandoah National Park. The two deer are on Dickey Ridge just outside the picnic area. I often see deer there.

Two people take in the view from an overlook.

I was a little surprised to see a wedding taking place at a viewpoint on Dickey Ridge. I visit that area frequently since it's a short drive from my home. I admit this is a lovely spot for getting married, but it is very public and basically on the lawn of a busy visitors center.

"In springtime, love is carried on the breeze." ~ Emma Defleur (Terri Guillemets)

This Week's Highlights

Willy Nilly Friday

1. It's apple blossom time and Winchester is celebrating with "The Bloom" this weekend. I hope their big parade doesn't get rained out. We won't be going anyway because Frank is supposed to stay off his feet.

Floral Friday and Friday Passions.

2. Marie was in town last weekend for a work-related event. Lynn and I drove up to Reston on Monday and had lunch with her before dropping her off at Dulles Airport.

I took this picture of Marie in a restaurant. The lighting was poor and had an orange cast so I converted this to black and white.

3. Today Peggy and Bill stopped by for a brief visit. They are going to a memorial service tomorrow in Northern Virginia. Bill is a cancer survivor but he lost his left eye to chemotherapy.

Bonus picture: Bill took this photo of me with Peggy. Can you tell we're sisters?

4. Yesterday at John's Family Restaurant, I noticed a sign (lower left below) with this message in chalk:

We don't have Wi-fi. Pretend it's 1995 and talk to each other.

5. Also seen in John's Family Restaurant, reflections of a chandelier.

6. On my way home one afternoon, I crossed the railroad tracks and was so impressed by the way they glowed that I parked the car and walked back to take a picture. Apparently my cell phone did not like my shooting toward the sun because it gave me a message that it was overheating and would shut down the app!

Meanwhile, In Local News.

I've taken many pictures lately and I'm getting behind on sharing them, so here are a few.

1. This dandelion in a patch of phlox reminds me of the old song, "I'm a lonely little petunia in an onion patch." It does look out of place!

2. At last there's a sign along the Valley Pike directing you to the recycling site near Shenandoah County Park. I drove past that driveway for years before I learned this transfer point was there. I suggested that signage be improved a couple of times.

3. The gate below was surrounded by blossoming trees. We've had a beautiful spring.

3. Our state highway department plants flowers in median strips to make them pretty. These daffodils are along I-81.

4. A house along the Valley Pike caught fire a month ago. Investigators suspect arson but I have not heard of any arrests yet. Fortunately the tenants escaped without injury.

5. I spotted this artistic gate and wanted to share it with Gosia's Fence linkup.

7. Here's another fence, with pretty horses grazing behind it.

8. And for the finale, a nice pond and a white fence.

Purple Sky

It's the first of the month, so it's theme day for City Daily Photo. Today's theme is "Purple." I shot a bunch of purple flowers but they look pale on my screen, so I'm going with a purple sky. When I first uploaded it here, it looked almost black so I went back to Photoshop and lightened it just a half-shade or so. I hope you can see it as purple on your browser.

Also I hope you can see the rest of the outline of the moon. I saw it clearly when I enlarged this to lighten it but detail can get lost in small format.