Curio 2022

The Valley Magazine

Volume 44 2022

CIVIL WAR

EDUCATION page 18

SAINT ISIDORE

FARM page 26 THE ABIDE

PROJECT page 14

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LETTER FROM THE EDITORS Dear Readers, The pandemic rattled everyone. Businesses shut down, schools closed and our lives were overturned. But in the midst of it all, the Shenandoah Valley thrived. And as we thought about how to bring back Curio — another casualty of COVID-19 — we considered the things that have survived the last two years.

As we brainstormed and assigned stories for Volume 44, we were particularly inspired by the timeless culture and heritage of the land of the Shenandoah Valley. We spent a lot of time outdoors — we smelled handfuls of sweet, earthy dirt, drove through the Valley and met all kinds of people and animals. We spent some time indoors, too; we wandered through bookstores as far as Lexington and Charlottesville.

We marveled at antique treasures, and we talked to store owners about sustainability in fashion.

In this issue, we highlight the people and projects of the Shenandoah Valley. Our cover features the Virginia Museum of the Civil War and local educational efforts to increase awareness about Civil War history. We spotlight an after-school program at Covenant Presbyterian Church that tutors kids from a local mobile community and a farm that raises animals and food crops according to sustainable practices and faith-based ethics.

We want to thank Brad Jenkins, our adviser, for his guidance — and for ensuring we could run this edition of Curio, even in the middle of an unexpected paper supply shortage. We’d also like to thank our staff for their flexibility and resilience as we brought Curio back to life. It’s been a crazy, challenging semester — but we did it.

It was an honor to tell the stories of this place that we love. We hope you enjoy the issue.

Sincerely, Charlotte Matherly & Maria Copeland

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MEET THE S TA F F

Back (from left to right): Eda Tercan (Staff Writer), Amy Needham (Staff Writer), Maria Copeland (Managing Editor), Joanna Sommer (Articles Editor), Nastassia Woolwine (Creative Director), Grace Feuchter (Staff Writer) Front (from left to right): Sydney Foster (Designer and Photographer), Madison Stevens (Staff Writer), Charlotte Matherly (Editor-In-Chief), Kylee Toland (Staff Writer), Jinyi Liu (Designer and Photographer)

ABOUT CURIO Curio, a magazine highlighting Harrisonburg and its surrounding communities, is published by students in the School of Media Arts & Design at James Madison University.

Curio was founded by Dr. David Wendelken in 1978 and is supported by the College of Arts and Letters and the School of Media Arts & Design. Subscriptions are not available.

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IN THIS ISSUE

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18

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Reading, Writing and Relationships

Used Bookstore Tour through Shenandoah Valley

The Abide Project

The Whole Story

An after-school program created by the wife of the pastor of a Spanishspeaking congregation allows local children to learn about academics and faith.

A tour of the most charming used bookstores throughout the Shenandoah Valley

The Church of the Lamb has been brainstorming the idea of developing a piece of land in Rockingham County, pitched as an abbey.

They’re assembling a team and plan to work on the property over the next nine years.

In the wake of a nationwide movement to remove Civil War monuments, educators at the VA Museum of the Civil War are looking to share a more comprehensive story of what happened.

Valley Vacation

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If you’re looking to get a travel fix without going too far, you’re in luck — these four places are within an hour’s drive from Harrisonburg.

Down to Earth

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Pedro Aponte is the owner of Saint Isidore Homestead & Permaculture and a JMU professor. The farm prides itself on its Christian values and regenerative practices.

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Clothing: The Many Lives it Lives

Local Vintage Shops

The Georges

This piece highlights the importance of sustainability, and how two stores in Harrisonburg are working to make a difference in that effort.

Where to shop vintage in the Valley.

Award-winning inn continues to bring elegance to community and patrons.

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READING, WRITING AND RELATIONSHIPS Afterschool program aims to help kids with academics and life

By Kylee Toland Photos by Sydney Foster & Grace Feuchter

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yellow school bus pulls up into a parking lot. As the doors open, tiny feet jump out and run toward the playground. The sounds of laughter and squeals radiate as young children run playfully at the heels of an older volunteer.

After about 30 minutes of playtime outside, a woman calls the children over to line up to go inside a large church; the children look up at her with wide smiles as she extends the same expression.

This is an average afternoon at Covenant Presbyterian Church, where an after-school program runs from 3 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Located in Harrisonburg, the program serves preschool to fifth-grade children, many of whom live in a mobile home community just beyond the church.

Sandy Hernandez, the director of Covenant Presbyterian’s After School Program (ASP) and wife of the Spanish-speaking congregation’s pastor, started the program in 2002 after she and her husband moved into the area. Hernandez said her husband wanted to start a Spanish ministry at the church due to the growth of the Hispanic population in Harrisonburg.

After talking with people who were already involved with the Hispanic community to try to figure out the community’s needs, Hernandez said she kept hearing how the children in the community would go home to households where parents weren’t home from work yet. The community was located in a “dangerous” neighborhood at the time, and a need for children to receive help with their schoolwork due to many of their parents not speaking English also motivated her to start the program.

“The kids really needed help and a safe place to be after school,” Hernandez said. “That’s when the church decided to open this after-school program.”

An ‘84 JMU alumna, Hernandez said there wasn’t a sizable Hispanic population living in Harrisonburg until the rise of poultry farms in the area, which gave jobs to most of the Hispanic population. The program started with Hernandez’s brother Joe Slater playing soccer with the children once a week. It has now evolved to threeday working periods that involve helping the children with their schoolwork and learning about the Bible.

“The goal really is both to speak to them about the Lord,” Hernandez said, “and hopefully help them to be more successful in academics.”

The community behind the church holds 80 homes.

Hernandez said only three families living there are nonHispanic. Out of those 80 homes, there are about 60 children living in them, and Hernandez said about more than half of them attend the program.

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The children are dropped off at the church from Mountain View Elementary, the school they all attend, which Hernandez said the church has “a great relationship” with. Volunteers include JMU students and high school students who were former members of the program themselves. Joe Slater, who is a campus pastor at JMU through Reformed University Fellowship, is in charge of recruiting JMU students as volunteers for the program. “[JMU Ministry] had to take a two-year hiatus because we were figuring out how to do ministry at JMU [during COVID],” Slater said. “Once that was over, we felt like it would be a great service opportunity for students, so we started helping out again.”

IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY

Since being a part of the program from the beginning, Slater said it’s more structured, organized and has a higher emphasis on academics. The children are given a 20-minute reading period, as well as one-on-one help with a teacher from Mountain View Elementary. Slater also said there’s been a change in behavior among the children since the program started, with most of the kids showing good behavior compared to 20 years ago when curse words and fights would break out on a regular basis.

“Back when we started [the program], we were just trying to get to know folks in the community,” Slater said. “I mean, it’s just totally transformed.”

Twenty years ago, Hernandez said the mobile home park was deemed by the Harrisonburg-Rockingham police departments as “one of the dangerous communities in the area,” with gang markings such as graffiti and tennis shoes hanging over electric wires being a common sight. Since the program has taken place, Hernandez said there haven’t been any gang markings in over 14 years, creating a different atmosphere for the children living in the trailer park.

“I believe that as God’s word has taken hold, and as that has transformed the lives of children and families, that’s changed the community,” Hernandez said.

During the program, Slater can be seen interacting and working with the older children, helping them with school work they may have or teaching Bible lessons with references the kids may understand. He tells a story about his dog being sprayed by a skunk and how it ties in with one being forgiven from sin. Slater said seeing the children start to take their faith and academics seriously has been a memorable part of being in the program for him, as well as seeing former members of the program grow up and help out when they are in high school or college.

Strike a pose! One attendee flashes a peace sign while playing outside.

“I believe that as God’s word has taken hold, and as that has transformed the lives of children and families, that’s changed the community.”

-Sandy Hernandez 7 | Curio

“[Faith and academics] can change the whole trajectory of their lives,” Slater said. “Right now, we’re hearing kids singing about Jesus, and in the other room, they’re studying and getting help with those two things.”

The Borja family, which includes parents Jesus and Julietta and their two children Jesus Jr. and Jose, live in the community and are members of Covenant Presbyterian Church. The family doesn’t speak English, so Hernandez translated as they spoke. Jose is 11 and currently attends the after-school program, while Jesus Jr. is 23 and an “alum” of the program as well as a volunteer. The family has attended the church since Jesus Jr. was 6-7 years old, and Julietta said both the church and program have helped them grow in their faith as parents and a part of a bigger community.

“The program has been a blessing for us,” Julietta said. “It’s helped us that our children would be involved in the most important thing in the world, which is God.” Jesus Jr. said he was hesitant to attend the program when he was younger but started coming when his friends started to go. At the time, the family was attending a Catholic church, but when Jesus Jr. became involved in the program, the family started going to Covenant. He said the program helped teach him what was good and bad, along with getting good grades in his schoolwork.

“Now that I help, I see how the program is helping kids stay out of doing bad things in the streets,” Jesus Jr. said. “It helped me make better choices.”

Jose began attending the program when he was 4 or 5 years old and said getting his schoolwork done, learning about God and playing with friends has been his favorite part of being in the program.

“It’s truly helped me [make] better life choices,” Jose said.

FROM THE EYES OF VOLUNTEERS

As for the college-aged volunteers that come to help, Slater said they’ve had their eyes “opened” to the needs of the community beyond their campus, as well as “transforming” their lives and giving them compassion for the immigrant community.

Joanna Woo, a student volunteer and JMU junior, got involved with the program after attending the church and being part of the campus ministry at JMU since her freshman year. She said she wanted to be a part of the program because she loves kids and has been working with them since the age of 13 at her local recreation center and church from Manassas Park, Virginia.

Volunteer Joanna Woo helps children with their studies.

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“I knew that was a way that I could serve really well and plug in with this community,” Woo said. “I just realized how fulfilling it is to work with kids and how much it brightens your day.”

Woo is at the church as soon as the children get off the school bus and can be seen running around, playing and laughing with the kids and with the other volunteers around her age doing the same. Once playtime is over, the children are split into groups based on their school grade. Woo helps out with the older children and answers any questions they may have during their academics and Bible lesson periods.

“I learn so much from them, being able to teach them but also learn from them,” Woo said. “It’s just something I can’t really express how enriching this process is.”

This is Woo’s first “normal” year working for the program because she started her sophomore year when the pandemic was at large. Slater said the program didn’t take place from March 2020 through that summer when the pandemic was dominant in the U.S.. In the fall of 2020, the program opened back up to a decrease in enrollment, but Slater said there was an increase in volunteers. Masks were required and regulations were put in place to make sure both the children and workers were safe.

“At the end of the [2020] summer, we were talking about, what does it look like to have [the program] because, more than ever, these kids need it now,” Slater said, “because they’re gonna get left behind.”

Technology during the pandemic proved a challenge for the program. Hernandez said the children didn’t have great access to the internet and some of the parents weren’t “well-versed” on how to use technology. That’s when the program started providing resources for the families, such as a book drive with about 3,400 donated books that later turned into a mobile library for children to share books with one another. When restrictions started to loosen up, the program allowed the children to sit at individual card tables in a big room where they were able to connect to the internet and do their homework.

The pandemic also impacted a change of study for Woo, who started in the nursing program but switched to health sciences after she said it was affecting her mental health and free time to volunteer for opportunities such as this one. She said connecting with Hernandez and getting to learn from her and her leadership has been “incredible.”

“I realize how my own privilege of being in a bubble at JMU made me not know the living conditions that exist just so close to where we are now,” Woo said. “It really was a culture shock.”

The importance for the volunteers to interact and be hands-on with the children is something that Woo said helps establish an equality among themselves. On Mondays and Tuesdays, volunteers help the children with Bible lessons and memory verses, with Thursday as a review day for what they have learned throughout the week with a game. Woo said she was hesitant to be physically playful and loving with the children when she first got involved, but she said she’s learned it can influence how she connects with the children and other volunteers.

“I’ve never really worked with kids that have this kind of warmth to them,” Woo said. “I think exemplifying that [warmth] has been a really rewarding experience and really fun too.”

Sandy Hernandez has the attention of the children while reading them a story.

Joe Slater talks to the older children in the program about a Bible lesson.

FUTURE GOALS

Toward the end of the day, Hernandez is teaching the younger children in the church’s wide hallway about a Bible story and answering questions they may have for her about it. The children face Hernandez while she speaks to them, and the sun shines in behind them through the windows. Although it’s bright, the children’s wide smiles can be seen as Hernandez talks to them.

Along with providing a place where children can connect with one another and learn about their academics and faith, Hernandez said she wants the children to have choices in life when they graduate high school, whether it’s going to college or getting a job. She said knowing the program takes pressure off parents who may be unable to help their children with their homework is rewarding. Many of the families that attend the Spanish-speaking congregation at the church, Hernandez said, have started their faith in God through the program.

“For most of them, they see us as people that are helping their kids in many ways and also providing that safe place,” Hernandez said with a warm smile. “We’ve been able to offer a few things for the parents as well.”

To keep the program running, Hernandez said she and the other volunteers try to incorporate new things they’ve learned during the pandemic, such as the older children working at individual tables rather than being put into a larger classroom. However, Hernandez said the continuity of building trust throughout the community by showing families that the program is there for the children, no matter their age, is something she’s proud of from the past 20 years.

As 4:45 p.m. rolls around, and it’s time for the children to head home, Sandy and the rest of the volunteers walk with the kids to the trailer park where they live. Some of the kids run off at a safe distance so the volunteers can see them get to their homes, while some children stay behind and talk with the volunteers about what they did during the day. Some have their hands warmly gripped in the hands of the volunteers, looking up at them with a glimmer in their eye and a smile on their face.

“For me, it’s been a privilege to feel loved and valued by the kids,” Hernandez said. “And I guess it makes me feel like I have a purpose. Right?”

Children who attend the after-school program at Covenant Presbyterian Church get help in academics and spiritual formation.

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USED BOOKSTORE T TOUR THROUGH THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY

he Shenandoah Valley is made up of nine counties that stretch about 150 miles. Along the way you’ll find small towns full of character with fields of farm animals, winding back roads and hidden treasures including unique and quaint used bookstores with stories of their own.

Nothing compares to the distinct smell of an old bookstore. It’s the type of smell that brings back old memories and leads us to discover more about the past. As one strolls through the rows of books, music or works of art, one will likely be inclined to pick up something new.

There’s so much history throughout the Shenandoah Valley, and what better way to learn about it than by supporting local used bookstores? Here are some of the best ones.

By Madison Stevens Photos by Sydney Foster

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The Avocado Pit, Staunton

This bookstore is one of Staunton’s prime tourist hot spots, according to owner Andrew Gutterman. Not only does this used bookstore have a large collection of literature, but it also contains unique items including comics, art and decor. Near the back of the room are large paintings of flowers and special decor including oldtimey clocks, greenery, unique comic posters and animal shaped book holders.

The name Avocado Pit comes from the pit-like location of a store that owners, Andrew and Robin Gutterman, opened previously in Charlottesville. The building itself sat near the street at the bottom of a downslope surrounded by buildings, giving it a pit-like feel.

Andrew said he is a generalist bookseller that focuses on better books. His collection comes from thrift stores, yard sales, donations and the largest source has been the goodwill outlet store. As you browse, you can enjoy classic rock music playing and chairs are available throughout the store for one’s reading convenience.

By shopping at the local used bookstore and diving into a good book you can reduce stress, broaden your vocabulary, learn something new, and even help our environment. The Shenandoah Valley can be appreciated for its beauty and the history it holds, especially in the literature that sticks around forever.

Owner Andrew Gutterman

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Daedalus, Charlottesville

Daedalus is a maze of stacked books that specializes in all genres. A used bookstore founded in 1974, Daedalus itself is an adventure. Over 100,000 books are stacked from the ground to the third floor ceiling, taking up one room after another and following a spiral staircase leading to the bottom floor. Strolling through this bookstore is exciting because you’ll find a new room in each direction you turn and once you think you’ve reached the last one, you’ll find another.

As for where the name came from, it “Could be the labyrinthian nature of the bookstore itself,” said Tom Cogill, a volunteer at Daedalus. Owner Sandy McAdams was inspired to name his used bookstore after one of his favorite authors’ book characters.

“He’s (McAdams) a huge fan of James Joyce and Stephen Dedalus was the main character in a lot of Joyce’s stories, although it was spelled differently,” Cogill said. “Sandy did say that he misspelled the name of the bookstore, that it should have been spelled like Stephen Dedalus.”

Those visiting Daedalus may be fascinated by its charm and enthralled by the addictive nature of the labyrinth, even if they don’t read. McAdams wanted to relocate his previous store and found this building for sale in Charlottesville. “He didn’t fall in love with Charlottesville per se, he fell in love with the building,” Cogill said. Located right near the Charlottesville Downtown Mall, the adventure aspect of the store is enough to encourage anyone to walk in.

The collection started with a set of books that McAdams transported to Charlottesville in a rail car, but now most of their books are donated by people who are downsizing their own collections. Although the books seem to be arranged chaotically at first glance, the varying colors of the book spines in contrast with the green and white walls make it resemble an art gallery. The soul of this bookstore really stands out in the design of the books themselves and in the people that represent it.

Employee Seth Milner and volunteer Tom Cogill

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Heartwood Books, Charlottesville The name Heartwood comes from the middle part of the tree, Art Collier, a store volunteer said. Paul Collinge, the owner of Heartwood Books has an eye for finding used and rare books that people will love.

“Supposedly it’s the strongest part,” Collier said.

Located right near the University of Virginia, Heartwood Books opened at this location in 1980. Collier credits the business’s long-term success to Paul Collinge, the owner, and his “feel for the business.”

“He [Collinge] knows what good books look like and what people will buy.” Collier said. Someone can come in here with 5 boxes of books and they’ll look like pure trash and he’ll find one box of really good things because he knows so much about the book business.”

Heartwood Books is a quaint building with a short set of stairs and black metal railings leading up to the door. On the side of the building is the street name Elliewood painted vertically in large red letters and a beautiful heartwood tree that covers almost the entirety. At the entrance of the building, large windows showcasing the collection of books inside invite the customers in.

The shelves contain rows of literature, art and history books.

Red paper signs hang from the ceiling with handwritten names of genres and book labels. The natural light from the huge windows adds to the essence of the store itself and is the perfect spot to visit on a rainy or sunny Sunday afternoon.

Volunteer Art Collier

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Bookery Limited, Lexington

As you walk through Bookery Limited, you can enjoy peaceful classical music as you gaze at the colorful art that hangs from the ceiling including pictures of cats, bunnies and other framed posters.

With books stacked from the floor to your waist, sitting on tables and long hallways of shelves, it’s easy to browse for hours.

Marysue Forrest, the owner of Bookery Limited, is a JMU alumna who wrote for The Breeze. “It’s very much a pleasure to see young people [in the store],” Forrest said.

Forrest became the manager of Bookery Limited 30 years ago when the store was 3 years old and one of the main driving factors in owning her bookstore is making books available to the public. She said her favorite part of owning Bookery Limited is getting to encourage young readers and revealing the joy of a good book. The shop consists of over 40,000 new, used and rare books, newspapers and maps and is especially liked by the college students of Lexington. The books come from all different locations including from people’s homes or book sales in Charlottesville and has a large collection of classic novels and literature.

“We’re a big source of a lot of books and for them [people] to come in and find something that they might enjoy is a big pleasure.”

Forrest said. “That’s a high for me; that somebody comes in and cares about books.”

Owner Marysue Forrest

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The Historian’s Books, Lexington The Historian’s Books is a brick building located on downtown W Washington Street and has an old-timey door with a glass window and a mail slot. The Historian’s Books has dark brown and cherry red, wooden floors, a massive window that allows the room to fill with natural light and a fireplace to make the experience even cozier.

It’s the small details that matter here — for example, the holiday themed bears that owner, Frank Calesnik, puts on display and changes out each holiday and the poinsettias that he continues to grow from Christmas all year round.

Calesnik added some of his personal books to his collection in the store and some of them are new. His goal was to focus on historical books and it consists of anything from ancient times up to the present.

“I can’t have as many books as Barnes & Noble, but I can have more history books than Barnes & Noble,” Calesnik said.

“Most of my customers are visitors and folks that visit Lexington tend to be historically minded, so they want to go away with a piece of history,” Calesnik said. With Stonewall Jackson’s house and Lee Chapel nearby, The Historian’s books is the perfect location for tourists who are looking for a souvenir.

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Downtown Books, Harrisonburg It’s easy to leave Downtown Books with gifts you didn’t intend to purchase because of the uniquely detailed collectible items. When you enter the store, you’ll find a vast postcard collection, a wall of DVDs, VHS tapes, CDs, posters, comics and novels. The postcards are special because they contain images of all kinds including abstract designs and patterns, photos of young couples from the 1940s, a bright red car on a beach, the eiffel tower and so much more.

Inside there are impressively tall stacks of books that seem to defy gravity and create a wall in the front of the store. The retro sign matches the vibe of the inside of the store, transporting you back in time by the old books, films and music you’ll come across. Outside of Downtown Books, a retro, green and black sign hangs above the entrance with big, bold letters. A collection of bins also sist outside containing free items including books, postcards, CDs, VHS tapes and photographs.

Owner Bob Schurtz, a JMU alumnus who first took over the store in 1978, said he leaves books outside to be taken for free, encouraging more people to read and appreciate books, especially during the pandemic. People continue to drop off boxes of used books to contribute to the collection, whether the store is open or not and Schurtzs’ said his interest in the books is what keeps him excited to find more.

Owner Bob Schurtz

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Gift & Thrift, Harrisonburg

Gift and Thrift has a large collection of books of all genres, but it’s a massive store with clothes, household items, antique furniture, crafts, toys, games and more. The vast green room contains stands, shelves, and carts full of children’s books, magazines, cookbooks, biographies, movies and sheet music. Although this store is so large and holds so many different items, the book section is perfectly organized with eye-catching displays and looks like a brand new bookstore.

You can also find stands with stuffed animals, and decorations including framed maps, baskets, vases of flowers, greenery and large mirrors. Each section is labeled with a blue sign hanging from the ceiling and a pink sign displaying the genre. Some genres include Christian fiction, old favorites, educational books, quilting, romance novels, and even a local books section. The books range from old to brand new, only costing 50 cents each.

The store is sponsored by the Booksavers of Virginia, which is a non-profit meant to benefit the Mennonite Central Committee and provides aid and relief for job creation, reforestation and water projects, agricultural development, and peacemaking and justice.

Gift and Thrift also offers flash sales and holds silent auctions for special items.

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THE ABIDE PROJECT The Church of the Lamb has been brainstorming the idea of developing a piece of land in Rockingham County, pitched as an abbey. They’re assembling a team and plan to work on the property over the next nine years.

By Maria Copeland Photos by Jinyi Liu

The Abide Project is being developed 14 | Curioon a 30-acre property in Penn Laird.

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n Penn Laird, Virginia, about five miles from Harrisonburg, 30 acres of tree-studded land crossed by a rippling creek stretches out amid the canvas of farmhouses, pastures and cows.

The land once belonged to a Mennonite family who had passed it down through generations of their family. It finally reached four siblings, the children of a husband and wife who had built their house there, set high on a hill overlooking Rockingham Park on one side and the grassy expanse of the property on the other.

In November 2020, during Thanksgiving week, a “for sale” sign went up — just in time for a group from a local church congregation to see it. They were from the Church of the Lamb, in the Anglican Church of North America, and they had a vision.

Kevin Whitfield, the rector of the Church of the Lamb, said the church has had the idea for some time of buying farmland in Rockingham County and protecting it from going the same way as other farms in the area: being bought up and parceled out among developers. More than that, it’s a campaign to set aside the space for spiritual care and service. They’re calling it The Abide Project.

“We had this desire to preserve a piece of property, to hold it together for the purposes of ongoing work — like what’s always been part of the Valley agriculture — and then also beauty and worship,” Whitfield said.

The church itself is still growing: Just six years ago, the Church of the Incarnation in Harrisonburg installed the Church of the Lamb as a plant in Elkton, Virginia. During that time, the Church of the Lamb has moved from a coffee shop to a brewery to a Christian private school in search of a place to meet regularly for worship on Sunday mornings.

But already, the church has undertaken an initiative in its own right in the form of The Abide Project. It’s already starting to unfold on the Penn Laird property they purchased in 2020.

The name of the project finds its roots in a biblical passage from the gospel of John, which calls believers to rest in God, Whitfield said: “If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit … Apart from me you can do nothing.”

“To come into a relationship with God is first to just stop clamoring, and trying to save yourself, and all the various ways that we try to do that as human beings,” Whitfield said. “It’s just to relax in the presence of a God who loves you and forgives you, and he knows you and still loves you.”

Part of the pitch for The Abide Project is for it to function as an abbey, which were historically what Whitfield describes as “places where worship and work intersected, where work was done as a form of worship.”

“We’re trying to retrieve something that we feel like has been lost,” Whitfield said, “that worship of the Creator and service to the creation belong together.”

HIGH POINTS AND LOW POINTS

Dan Velker, a member of the church’s vestry and owner of Virginia Cabinetworks, has been encouraged by the way elements of the project have started to come together — in particular, the acquisition of the 30-acre property.

“Everything just kind of fell together in a very affirming way,” Velker said.

That doesn’t mean the process has unfolded without challenges. When the church first started looking at properties in 2020, their first choice — a selection of 40 acres of land on the North side of Rockingham Park — fell through. Someone else purchased the land before the church could.

Undeterred, the group continued looking out for properties. In November, the church discovered the land belonging to the Mennonite family and started talking to the remaining family members. The family was excited to work with the church, Travis Dorman, the campaign director for The Abide Project who worked with Whitfield in the property’s acquisition process, said.

“They were happy to see the vision that we have for continuing to be an agricultural space, even though we obviously want to have a church there,” Dorman said.

The house in particular made the property stand out; Whitfield’s family had been looking for a home, and the church needed office space. With the house, the property surpassed their previous top choice. The church bought the land, and in March 2021, officially started work on it.

The process of settling on the property answered several prayers at one time: A location for The Abide Project, a home — or parsonage — for Whitfield and his family, and a place for the church to base its administrative functions.

“There were high points and low points, and we thought we had this other farm, and it was cool, and we were starting to dream big dreams and then it fell through,” Dorman said. “At the same time, Kevin and his wife were looking for a house … We needed church offices, all these things that we needed. And then this place ended up answering all three of those things.”

For Dorman, the initiative is particularly meaningful because he grew up in the Valley. He wants to see the property set aside as a place that glorifies God and serves as a resource to the community.

As a model of inspiration, the church looks to a sister church of theirs in Greensboro, North Carolina — the Church of the Redeemer, who bought an old plant nursery and transformed the showroom into a worship space. They also rehabilitated a gravel lot and turned it into a working farm, Whitfield said. It provides a place for nearby immigrant populations to work and raise food out of the ground for themselves.

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Dorman said the pastor of Redeemer has encouraged the Church of the Lamb to look for ways they can invite other people to join in their project.

“We don’t have all of this stuff worked out, but it provides space for us to invite people in and invite their creativity in as well,” Dorman said.

MASTER PLAN PHASE

The projected timeline for the development of The Abide Project is broken down into three phases. Phase One runs tentatively from 2021-2023 and is called “Growing Roots.” It’s focused on developing the property and different spaces within it for worship and other goals.

Phase Two is scheduled for 2024-2028 and is titled “Breaking Ground.” It will potentially see the establishment of a church building, as well as longterm agricultural projects and plans for a cemetery.

Finally, Phase Three is set for 2029-2031.

“Harvesting Fruit” envisions the maintenance of ongoing projects, expansion of ministries and an artist-commissioned project — outdoor Stations of the Cross on the property.

The church is expecting to begin hosting worship services on the property within a year, Whitfield said.

Because the property includes a natural amphitheater, services can be held in an “outdoor sanctuary” that would not be quite as developed as a building. A more permanent structure is projected to follow later.

Animals will be welcome on the property, though that’s still a work in progress. They already have chickens, and Whitfield said he hopes some lambs will join them as well.

“We want people to be with the animals and to garden,” Whitfield said.

The group has also set goals of pursuing regenerative farming, sharing food they grow with their communities and helping refugees and immigrants. Because Harrisonburg is a central location for refugees, they’ve discussed possibly partnering with local immigrant churches in the future or with a Sudanese church that has shared a downtown worship space with the Church of the Incarnation.

“That’s something that we long to do, is to see immigrant churches perhaps worshiping here, once we have structures that work for worshiping here, and maybe growing things too,” Whitfield said.

Another dream the founders have is to eventually build a cemetery on the property, with the goal of being able to bury people in the place where they worshiped. It’s the “oddest idea that’s gotten the most draw from people,” Whitfield said, but people have already expressed that they would like to be buried at their own church. Even members from a sister church in Crozet have reached out already, asking to buy plots.

The Abide Project property will eventually be home to chickens and other animals; for now, it’s joined by geese.

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Dorman said the cemetery is one of the aspects of the project he’s most excited about.

“You sort of literally see the generations of saints who have gone before you, buried in that place,” he said.

For now, the church is just a year into developing The Abide Project, and Whitfield said he had expected the process to move more quickly. He’s realizing that it takes patience.

“We’ve been in a master plan phase, trying to figure out how to use the land well,” Whitfield said.

The process may still be moving slowly at the moment, but pieces of the vision — a space of rest that flows out into love — are starting to slot into place.

“There’s got to be something in it that is not just for us but for the world,” Whitfield said. “So, that’s a shape that we want our church to take as being a place of rest that then, out of that rest, gets to serve this community.”

Whitfield shows his daughter Evangeline one of the baby chicks, the newest addition to the Abide Project.

The house, which now serves as a parsonage, met several of the church’s needs.

Kevin Whitfield, rector of Church of the Lamb, with his children.

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the whole story Virginia Museum of the Civil War works to incorporate other perspectives into education

Story & Photos by Amy Needham

M

ay 15, 1864 — the only time in U.S. history that an entire student body was engaged in battle. Two hundred fifty-seven cadets from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) marched on New Market to defend their homeland for the Confederacy. They were young and smaller in size than the Union Army, but they overcame the challenge.

“They won. This was the last major Confederate victory in the Valley.”

Sarah Hebert speaks of the Battle of New Market with an ardent tone. She’s the supervisor of historical interpretation at the Virginia Museum of the Civil War, which now sits on the site of the battle. But in an ever-changing social climate where Confederate monuments are being removed and buildings are being renamed, Hebert is looking to teach people a different perspective on the war — one focused on personal connection.

Hebert (’12), a James Madison University alumna, has been linked to New Market since her time at JMU, where she studied history. She spent time at the battlefield as an intern and later decided to make that work into a career.

As the overseer of educational programming — a position she’s held for just over five years — Hebert conducts most tours, gives hands-on presentations to school groups, hosts seasonal events and dabbles in the museum’s social media.

She also supervises a volunteer corps of about 60 people.

“Our mission is to interpret life in the Shenandoah Valley from about 1840 to 1870,” Hebert said, “which is a pretty long period of time, and then also tell the story of the Battle of New Market.”

But as Hebert’s made a career out of immersing visitors in a piece of Confederate history nestled in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginians have been trying to make sure the full story is told.

RELOCATIONS AND REMOVALS

The murder of George Floyd in May 2020 sparked a nationwide movement to dismantle statues commemorating Confederate figures — a movement that placed the former capital of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia, at the epicenter.

Following demonstrations, four Confederate monuments were removed from Richmond’s Monument Avenue in the summer of 2020, including one depicting Gen. Stonewall Jackson. Perhaps the most prominent statue along the avenue, a 21-foot bronze sculpture of Gen. Robert E. Lee erected in 1890, was removed in Sep. 2021 following an order from former Gov. Ralph Northam. Hebert said staff at the museum watched the situation in Virginia’s capital and in surrounding areas “very intently.”

“We got a fair amount of phone calls because of it,” Hebert said. “It seems like a lot of folks, at least from our experience, were hoping that if these monuments were going to be taken down, a lot of people wanted context put to them.”

Above: The Virginia Museum of the Civil War displays materials from the Battle of New Market, where 10 VMI cadets gave their lives for the Confederacy.

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“There’s two sides to every argument, and I do think even you should learn about the wrong side.”

-Sarah Herbert Hebert said it seems museums are the best place to house monuments that have been removed. But, she said, space and money play into whether these large pieces of history can be preserved.

The Virginia Museum of the Civil War did agree to install one piece of history: A statue of Jackson was relocated from the front of VMI’s barracks to New Market in January 2021, Hebert said.

Jackson was a physics professor at VMI and became known as Confederate leader “Stonewall” Jackson after leaving the institute. Bill Wyatt, VMI director of communications and marketing, said the statue honors his role as a Confederate general rather than his true connection to the institute as a professor. “[The] Civil War General never came back to VMI, had no association with VMI except as a young professional who taught at VMI,” Wyatt said.

Therefore, he said, the Board of Visitors believed it would be better suited at the Virginia Museum of the Civil War. Jackson didn’t fight in the Battle of New Market, but he used a gap between the mountains nearby — the New Market Gap — to win earlier wars in the Valley. His statue now faces that gap.

Though VMI is connected to the Civil War through battles like New Market and figures like Jackson, Wyatt said it doesn’t make up the institution’s entire history. As VMI is a nationally recognized liberal arts institution, Wyatt said it’s important for administrators to have a broader view of the world and honor other figures from the institution who progressed history in different ways.

“It’s true that our cadets as a corps went to New Market and fought on the side of the Confederacy. We had 10 cadets who gave their life for the Confederacy during the Battle of New Market, and nobody’s trying to erase that history,” Wyatt said. “Our history is much, much greater than just what happened between 1861 and 1865.”

NEW PERSPECTIVES

Hebert recognizes that Civil War education, especially with an emphasis on Confederate education, is a “difficult topic to navigate.” She emphasized that Confederates like Jackson and Lee were committing treason, but she still believes there are ways to learn about them without revering them.

Sarah Hebert, supervisor of historical interpretation, said learning about the war will help society grow and progress.

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This statue of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson was relocated to the museum from Virginia Military Institute in 2021 following a nationwide movement to dismantle monuments honoring Confederate figures.

“It is more important than ever to study that and to make yourself uncomfortable.

That’s what’s going to make you grow.

That’s what’s going to push us forward as a society.”

-Sarah Herbert

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“They were fighting against the U.S. government at that time, and it really isn’t something we should celebrate,” Hebert said. “[However], there’s two sides to every argument, and I do think even you should learn about the wrong side.”

A main goal of Hebert’s is to bring personal connection into her teaching of the Civil War and the Confederacy. She believes parallels can be drawn between people today and soldiers from the war.

“These people who lived 160 years ago — we shouldn’t reduce them to a number,” Hebert said. “They had lives, families, hobbies, careers, before they were soldiers.”

Hebert wants her younger students, particularly those around the age of the soldiers who fought at New Market, to relate to their historical counterparts. She acknowledges that the cadets, most of whom were minors, “fought to prolong slavery” — but Hebert wants her students to see this fact as a lesson not to blindly follow orders and an opportunity for self-awareness.

“At what point, as a 17-year-old, do you stand up for authority?” Hebert said. “I’m trying to get younger people to kind of question, you know, how they’ve gotten to this point in their lives and how they can relate to those folks.”

Jim Stevenson, a volunteer at the museum, performs black powder rifle demonstrations and equips students in traditional soldiers’ uniforms. He said he takes an “apolitical” and “non-judgmental” approach to education to give students “a little bit more appreciation of the way things were back then.”

“They’re basically people just like us today; they were just 150 years in the past,” Stevenson said. “What I hope they get away with it is the commonality between the soldiers of the North and the South … They were the same that they were all Americans, you know, fighting this war, and it’s so tragic that we had to pit American against American.”

Despite some negative connotations associated with the war expressed by the national movement, Hebert wants to present

information so people can leave with a better understanding than when they arrived. She said visitors come to museums looking for answers and can feel comfortable asking them without fear of judgment or politics getting involved. Stevenson said some visitors often can’t distinguish the Civil War from the Revolutionary War — he’s had some children ask him if the Confederates wore red and the Union wore blue. This is why he said education is important.

Instead of focusing on the bad parts of the war, Hebert likes to acknowledge that society is moving toward recognizing a larger population and “all of the people” in history who’ve progressed society. She said Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, who visited New Market in the spring, is a perfect example of that progress.

“She made a note of that; like, good and bad, everything has progressed us to where we are today,” Hebert said, “to the point that she is a Black woman who is our lieutenant governor in Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy.”

As much as society has progressed, the war is not far removed for some. Stevenson said the South is still “really passionate” about their history, and “they’ll let you know that passion.” Many of the Virginia Museum of the Civil War’s visitors have ancestors who fought on both sides, he said.

“It’s something that completely changed the country,” Stevenson said. “And we’re still feeling the effects of it today — still with all the racial tension and injustice that we have.”

Hebert understands why people aren’t keen on Civil War education and said she gets the “occasional angry person” who will walk through the door. But historians like her aren’t looking for a fight, she said. And given the current social climate, she believes it’s vital to learn about the war and have tough conversations.

“It is more important than ever to study that and to make yourself uncomfortable,” Hebert said. “That’s what’s going to make you grow. That’s what’s going to push us forward as a society.”

The Bushong family farmhouse was taken over by soldiers during the Battle of New Market and still stands on the property today.

A statue on New Market Battlefield pays homage to the state’s motto, “Virginia is for lovers.”

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VALLEY VACATION 4 daytrips that will be easy on your budget

By Eda Tercan Photos by Eda Tercan & Jinyi Liu

FACTORY ANTIQUE MALL

While the sign advertises it as “The Largest Antique Mall in America,” you won’t truly realize how huge it is inside until it’s been two hours and you realize you’ve barely explored a quarter of the place. It’s so large that it’s organized by “streets,” with side streets stretching from right to left in numerical order from 2nd Street down to Last Street, as well as the main roads, such as Main Street, McCoy Boulevard and Lohr Lane, in order to keep customers from getting lost.

Booths in this one-story, 135,000 square-foot mall are set up fleamarket style and will sell anything from vintage furniture, to coins dated from over 100 years ago, to spooky dolls whose eyes seem to follow you wherever you go. The enormous building has no windows, which can make you forget how long you’ve been shopping. The first section you encounter as you walk in includes jewelry and old coins, luring you in.

As you begin your antiquing journey, turn left down Antique Avenue to check out the showcase and art gallery or go straight to Front Street to begin shopping. Located only 25 minutes from Harrisonburg in Verona, it’s guaranteed you’ll need more than a couple of hours to explore all the nooks and crannies hidden in the Factory Antique Mall.

Books for sale at the Factory Antique Mall.

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FRONTIER CULTURE MUSEUM The museum defines frontier culture in their pamphlet as “the people who settled on the western edge of England’s North American colonies during the eighteenth century created a distinctive folk culture.” Open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. since 1982, this museum is unique in that all of its exhibits are spread out outdoors and can be experienced by walking or renting a golf cart.

Permanent exhibits are divided into two sections: The New World includes the 1700s American Indian Farm, 1700s American Settlement, 1820s American Farm, 1850s American Farm, Early American Schoolhouse and Mount Tabor Church while the Old World houses the 1700s West African Farm, 1600s English Farm, 1700s Irish Farm, 1700s German Farm and 1700s Irish Forge. Walking around these traditional, rural buildings will make you feel like you’ve been transported to each country it’s based on.

Located 30 minutes from Harrisonburg in Staunton, this spot is guaranteed to be distinctly different from any other museum you’ve been to.

An exhibit of a Great Wheel in the main building.

DEVIL’S BACKBONE BREWING COMPANY

Located right outside downtown Lexington, this brewery is exactly a one-hour drive from Harrisonburg. The large deck in the back boasts incredible views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and if you’re sitting inside, the large windows guarantee a view as well. What makes this brewery stand out from others is its large, “hospitable” space, perfect for hosting amazing events for charity, assistant general manager Chris Funkhouser said.

This brewery is home to its new, popular line of canned cocktails, such as the lime margarita and orange smash. With tall ceilings, friendly workers and delicious drinks beyond just beer, this brewery is perfect for adults looking for a relaxing atmosphere to sip on ale with your friends.

The entrance to the brewery.

THE JACKSON HOUSE

The house might just look like any other old house in Lexington, but the history behind the door is unlike any other home in the town.Built in 1801, Confederate soldier Stonewall Jackson lived in this Lexington house from 1858-1861. The house became a community hospital in 1907 but then transitioned to a museum in 1954. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to the sign on the property. The museum holds amazing antique pieces such as a replica of the rockaway carriage Jackson purchased for his mother-in-law.

Tours of the museum discuss beyond the usual history of the Civil War and illustrate the role enslaved people played in the Civil War. This is also a great spot to pick up historical gifts, as the museum frequently hosts sidewalk sales selling historical books and art prints. If you can’t make it to the museum to purchase a piece, the items are available for sale on their website and Facebook page. Even if the Civil War isn’t your thing, the historic garden filled with vibrantly colored flowers is a beautiful spot for relaxing and photo ops.

The sign displaying the history of the building in the front of the house

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DOWN TO EARTH Local farmer shares his roots

By Charlotte Matherly & Joanna Sommer Photos by Maria Copeland

P

edro Aponte’s hands are worn and weathered. Healed calluses are etched into the tough skin of his palms and knuckles. The quacks of the ducks and the chatter of the hens grow louder as the wind ruffles the leaves of the trees that line the outside of Saint Isidore’s Homestead & Permaculture.

Dirt is crammed under his short fingernails, but Aponte doesn’t care. He digs into the dark, rich soil and picks up a handful, cupping it in his hands and bringing it just below his nose — the smell of life, he calls it.

“Smell it. Or eat it, if you want,” he says.

He’ll dig his hands in the soil and smell it at least three times as he walks about the farm.

“I have a fixation with dirt,” Aponte said. “There’s so much good in it, provided that you use it … the way you’re supposed to.”

He stands in front of a spinach crop, his hands dusted in dirt from working in the fields. He’s dressed in a thick green jacket and black work boots coated in a layer of dirt and mud from the day’s work he’s conducted thus far.

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RUNNING ON REGENERATIVE

Aponte is the owner of Saint Isidore, a regenerative farm committed to producing “high-quality food for our family and our local community using sustainable practices and ethical principles of care for the common good in line with Catholic Social Teaching,” per Saint Isidore’s website.

Regenerative farming is a practice that attempts to reverse climate change “by rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity – resulting in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle,” according to Regeneration International.

As Aponte talks about the crops he’s standing next to, his daughter, curious, approaches his side. While she’s quiet, she’s observant — she walks in small circles around where he’s standing, but she never strays too far. She walks next to him as Aponte walks through a dirt-and-grass path lined with farm animals — goats, chickens and turkeys — contained in an electric barbed wire fence.

Aponte works part-time at JMU, but not a day goes by that he doesn’t work on his farm.

Some of the most efficient ways to implement regenerative practices, he says, is through animals. The farm raises various animals, such as chickens, turkeys and pigs, and they help improve the state of the soil — chickens are raised for meat, he says, that’s processed right on the farm for sale.

Although the animals are raised on the farm, Aponte said the animals are given “the best possible life” while living on the farm — he plays a huge role, he says, and the process is done quickly so that they don’t notice it’s happening.

“When we harvest those animals we do it humanely,” Aponte said. “Animals get old, just like we all do, and they start to suffer same things that we do, arthritis and all that.”

Aponte digs into the soil again as he walks around the farm, but this time, he’s standing near an empty pig pen. The pigs won’t arrive until the summer, he says, but there’s something about this soil that he just loves. As he digs, he sees a familiar and expected creature lurking under the dark dirt surface — a worm. Aponte can “spot them a mile away.”

Animals on the farm defecate, Aponte explains as he crouches to run his hands through the soil again. In the fall, he said, the leaves will fall onto the ground, and after this happens, the worms and microorganisms come and “break it all down.”

He gestures toward the mountains.

“That’s why they thrive because no one’s fertilizing those things. Right? And yet, everything is healthy.”

It all comes down to a cycle, Aponte explains, the same cycle Saint Isidore attempts to mimic: the cycle of nature — not forcing nature to do things, he said, but mimicking nature itself — or, essentially, “the whole point of permaculture.”

Inside one of Saint Isidore’s high tunnels — a tall, white, tarplike structure that’s one of several on the property — Aponte can extend the growing season by using the natural heat underneath the tunnels. He compares it to a stationary car sitting in the sun. By bringing in heat when it’s cold, Aponte said, Saint Isidore can stay on schedule and have crops prepared in time for when it sells them.

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Most days, Aponte wakes up early to care for the animals before he starts planting, harvesting and tending the farm.

Aponte loves the smell of dirt and what he said is an earthy sweetness.

On top of being able to extend the growing season to start earlier and end later, another advantage of the high tunnels is that it allows the farm to control “the elements.” Aponte explains that tomatoes are disease-prone — light rain means wet leaves, which creates an environment suitable for pathogens to thrive, but growing crops in these structures can help avoid those situations.

In one of the heated tunnels, Aponte grows lettuce and green onions. He bends down and plucks a small, purple lettuce leaf from a small blooming plant. He hands it out to be tasted — the leaves have a subtle flavor that bursts with juice, dancing on one’s tongue and cheeks.

Starting in April, Aponte said Saint Isidore will feed about 150 families a week. One of the ways Saint Isidore sells is through a local farmer’s market. It’s been attending the farmer’s market in Greene County for nearly six years, Aponte said, and that overall, “it’s been growing strongly for us.”

Along with this, Saint Isidore is involved in a communitysupported agriculture (CSA) program, where people can buy a share of its farm products, and for 18 weeks in the summer, every week, clients receive a box of fresh products, Aponte said. They’ve had 75 shares that’ve gone into Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

“It’s a win-win because you assure your food for the summer, and the same time, you’re helping farmers,” Aponte said.

Dane Ludwig, a senior English major at JMU, works part time at the farm. During school, he only works on Fridays, helping to prepare for Saturday’s trip to the farmers market, which he says is always “the hottest stand under the pavilion.”

He gets to the farm around 8:30 a.m. each Friday, he said, and Aponte assigns him a task. Usually that’s preparing plant beds, pulling weeds or washing produce.

During the summer, Ludwig will probably pick up more hours, but he loves working at Saint Isidore. In the warmer months, he goes barefoot on the farm — there’s something about it that he says is “true to being an Earthling.” “[You] get very immersed in nature, get your hands covered in dirt,” Ludwig said. “It feels very human, you know?”

Ludwig said the crew sometimes snacks on the vegetables as they harvest them. He found it difficult to choose his favorite, waffling between carrots and spinach and berries — he eventually landed on carrots.

Aponte taught him about weeds and other things that can also be eaten straight from the ground. It’s “opened up the world” for him, Ludwig said.

“Seeing … stuff that’s on the ground and thinking of it as a delectable treat,” he said, “it’s really awesome.”

Aponte’s oldest daughter, Amanda Aponte, hasn’t felt the same way. Although she’s lived in Harrisonburg for most of her life, her father didn’t start the farm until she was in sixth grade, so she didn’t grow up at Saint Isidore. Because of that, she said, she’s “not much of a nature girl.”

She said she likes most of the food her family grows, even if it is “random vegetables” such as kohlrabi that she’d never heard of before her father started growing them.

Amanda is a junior vocal music education major at JMU, and while she technically lives at Saint Isidore, she often spends the night at her friend’s house closer to the city. Next year, she’s moving closer to campus.

“A lot of my friends think it’s really funny that I live on a farm, knowing me, and I don’t seem like a farm girl at all,” Amanda said, laughing. “I give my friends eggs sometimes.

They love that.”

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BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

On Fridays, Pedro is usually up around 5 a.m. — Fridays are one of his busiest days, he said, because the produce for Saturday’s farmers market must be harvested.

When he wakes up, the first thing he does is care for the animals: the goats, the pigs, the chickens. He’s gotten the routine down to half an hour. Then, he walks the fields to see what’s ready to harvest.

Around 7:30 a.m., Saint Isidore’s crew arrives. Their first task is to harvest the lettuce, because if they wait until the heat of the day, it doesn’t do as well.

By lunch time, most of the vegetables have been harvested and washed in preparation for the next day’s market. After lunch, the crew gets to work on whatever needs to get done — sometimes it’s tending to the fields or planting new crops.

Pedro tries to cut off his work day at 5 or 6 p.m., at least on Fridays, to eat dinner with his family. On other days he may work later or after dinner, but he has to be up at 4:30 a.m. on Saturdays to load, transport and set up everything he needs for the farmers market at 8 a.m.

Besides caring for the animals, Pedro doesn’t work on Sundays — “that’s a sacred day,” he said.

But keeping Saint Isidore up and running isn’t Pedro’s only job. He’s also an associate professor in the School of Music.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are his “heavy days at JMU,” he said, so he tries to get most of the farm work done on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

One of his favorite things, he said, is the drive home from JMU on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If there’s “too much” happening at work, he likes to come home, look at the plants and take his mind off his troubles.

“It helps me keep my cool,” he said.

Although he’s busy, Pedro likes that not every day is the same.

“I don’t have a social life, but I don’t resent it” he said.

“There’s not a dull day here, which is why I like it so much.”

PANDEMIC’S IMPACT

Pedro said that during the pandemic, his business is one of the few industries that benefited — with the food shortages, he said, more people were turning to local farms when they were facing empty shelves in supermarkets.

In mid-March 2020, Pedro was told that their reliable farmers market might not happen. With uncertainty over what would happen, Pedro said Saint Isidore decided to open up the CSA program and gain roughly 25 more shares.

In April 2020, the farmer’s market was back on. Pedro said this forced Saint Isidore to expand.

“It’s unfortunate that it took COVID for small farms to benefit from,” he said, “but if anything, the lesson is we have to be prepared for contingencies.”

Amanda agreed, saying the pandemic is “when our whole shebang blew up.”

SPIRITUAL MISSION

Pedro said he started the farm when, years ago, his family was having health issues. When they switched their diet, he said, it “dramatically improved” their health. He wanted to grow his own food to keep that health, but he also wanted to share it with others.

“Is this a business?” he said. “Well, it is, but…”

He trails off and explains that Catholic social teaching means caring for one’s neighbors. He sells produce at the farmers market, but he knows that not everyone can afford to pay the listed price. That’s why he operates the farm under a “paywhat-you-can” model and often ends up giving food away.

“[You] get very immersed in nature, get your hands covered in dirt. It feels very human, you know?”

-Dane Ludwig “That’s bad business practices, but you know what? There’s a part of us that thinks that, well, [our] gut thinks that it’s right, and if that is the case we’ll do that because it’s the right thing to do and then something will come and make up for that,” Pedro said.

He said he’s grateful for his job at JMU, which enables him to keep the farm running in alignment with his faith. He also said he pays his crew fair wages, even if it means the farm doesn’t make a profit.

The Apontes’ youngest child has Down Syndrome, Pedro said, and doing tasks around the farm like picking up the chickens helps his son be involved in the world around him.

Inspired by his son, Pedro said he hopes to build Saint Isidore into a sort of school for people with special needs.

For Pedro, Saint Isidore isn’t about the money. Maybe it’s a “bad business practice,” he says, but he believes there’s value in not being able to afford that new air-conditioned tractor — he can still get things done with what he has. “[It’s] helping ourselves, helping others, not necessarily with a profit vision, although we understand this has to be sustainable,” Pedro said. “What I’m not doing this is for to become a rich person. No, that’s not on the radar.”

Ludwig said he shares Saint Isidore’s Catholic mission — he first met Aponte in a Catholic ministry. As he started working on the farm, Ludwig explained, Aponte told him he liked to listen to podcasts and pray while he worked.

“I always remember that,” Ludwig said, “thinking about using farm work as a means of contemplation and prayer … It can be … a very spiritual experience, even just picking weeds.”

Every Friday, Aponte begins harvesting lettuce and other vegetables for the Saturday farmers market.

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A clothing rack at Dart Resale and Trade located in downtown Harrisonburg.

CLOTHING: THE MANY LIVES IT LIVES

A

Story and Photos by Meg Willcox llie Motyka, the owner of Heartworn Vintage, and Mary Yoder-Anderson, owner of Dart Resale and Trade, believe every piece of clothing has a story.

Heartworn Vintage is located in Harrisonburg’s Agora Downtown Market. When customers visit the shop, they’re instantly met with bright and eccentric colors. The smell of the items is like being back at a grandparent’s house, giving a feeling of nostalgia. It carries trinkets, furniture, kitchenware and even old postcards and magazines from the 1950s.

The flashy and unique clothing is most notable. The dresses have sequins and puffy sleeves, and the ’80s high-waisted mom jeans seem to be the fastest-selling clothing item according to Motyka. Any purchase could be from halfway across the country, or just down the street. Heartworn Vintage sources its items from various places, so when multiple pieces come together it’s a true mix. A buyer may never know the story of the previous owner, but that’s the thrill.

“If we don’t know where the clothing came from, it certainly is fun to imagine the people who wore them before,” Motyka said. “The parties they attended, the music they saw, the dances and so on — I love that the clothing gets to continue its stories.”

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But vintage clothing doesn’t just fit an aesthetic. It’s also sustainable. When consumers buy clothing from Heartworn Vintage, it means they’re buying items that aren’t using up resources or compromising future generations. According to an article from the National Library of Medicine, 60% of textile production is consumed by fashion, which has doubled in the last 15 years.

Eventually, the article states, 73% of clothing ends up in landfills. This means that fashion items are often just another throwaway item, not something seen as valuable or worth keeping. With thrifting and vintage shopping, that aspect of fashion is taken away. Now, fashion has a totally different meaning: It’s valued. If someone gets sick of a clothing item, they can just bring it to resellers. It’s all just an act of recycling.

Dart Resale and Trade, which began as a pop up is now a fullblown reselling business on South Liberty Street. It’s all just an act of recycling.

“The parties they attended, the music they saw, the dances and so on — I love that the clothing gets to continue its stories.”

-Allie Motyka On the other hand, Dart Resale and Trade began as a popup shop and became a full-blown business on South Liberty Street. The store is both charming and quaint with green walls and wooden features. It’s filled with carefully curated items like boots, Levi’s jeans and long, cozy sweaters. The shop accepts items on Tuesday’s, and Yoder-Anderson said she finds it to be her busiest day. Being a resale and trade shop, this means that individuals sell their items to the store, and they receive a profit based on how many items the shop choses to accept. They can also accept store credit and buy new clothes. Therefore, allowing the cycle of sustainability to continue.

“We get fun vintage jeans brought in by people that, you know, cleaned out their mom’s closet or their grandpa’s closet,” she said. “It’s really fun to just see all of the stuff that comes in, not knowing and looking through on a Tuesday seeing what we want.”

Much like Motyka, Yoder-Anderson loves the idea that clothing items can live multiple lives.

“I sometimes wonder about who owned the garment before and what its previous life was,” she said, wearing a pair of leather riding boots she got from a vintage store in Charlottesville, “and then it’s so fun when somebody comes in and finds the perfect item. It finds a perfect home.”

A specific piece could come from all the way across the country, but it ended up all the way in the Shenandoah Valley for someone else to enjoy. Yoder-Anderson had on a pair of riding boots that she found only an hour away in Charlottesville. Close or far, the items people can find are endless.

“It’s more fun,” Yoder-Anderson said. “You find more unique items, you find better items.”

It also makes it feel like fashion has no ties to culture, and instead, all ties to what’s “trendy.”

According to the article by the National Library of Medicine, “... a designer’s fashion calendar can consist of up to five collections per year, and in the mass-produced market, new stock is being produced every 2 weeks.” With vintage clothing, it’s the opposite. The clothing pieces have been around for a long time. “That’s another one of the awesome things about vintage,” Motyka said. “Rarely will you find the same item again.”

Whether you’re looking for a sparkly dress or an old pair of Levi’s jeans, these two stores have got you covered.

The eccentric colors and textures of Heartworn Vintage in downtown Harrisonburg.

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LOCAL VINTAGE SHOPS

Bright colors, fluffy fabrics, antique chinas, colorful glasses and trinkets of the past — shoppers can find all this and more in the many vintage and antique shops located throughout the Harrisonburg region.

Vintage shopping is a fun way to get unique items that can’t be found in most chain stores. Another benefit to any secondhand shopping, from OneGreenPlanet.org is that it reduces waste going to landfills and gives these exquisite items a new life.

For those looking to shop vintage in the Shenandoah Valley, here are a few places to explore.

By Grace Feuchter Photos by Jinyi Liu

HE ARTWORN VIN TAGE

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Heartworn includes vintage trinkets and items from the past.

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Heartworn Vintage at Agora Downtown Market in Harrisonburg is run by mother-daughter duo Kathy Hurst and Allie Motyka.

Motyka loves running the store with her mom, she said.

“I grew up going to yard sales, thrift stores, auctions, all of that, so I guess my mom and I have been collecting for years,” Motyka said. “We knew we wanted to open a store one day. Finally it happened, so here we are.”

It is very clear in the store that they love the bright patterns, colors and styles of decades past. The racks of clothing are rainbow colors and all kinds of fabrics. Sequins, corduroy, denim, feathers and furs line the walls. A sequent blue jacket hangs on the coat rack and red flair pants sit next to pants with patterns on beach houses.

“We like secondhand,” Motyka said. “Plus, a lot of the stuff from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s are super bright patterns and colors, and we love that.”

Motyka also explained the difference between vintage, antique and thrifted pieces. To be antique, she said, an item needs to be 100 years old. To be vintage, it only needs to be 20 years old. She also explained that to qualify as thrift, an item just needs to be secondhand — no specific timeline required.

WATER STREET VIN TAGE

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The groovy Mike Harlow throwing up a peace sign.

Water Street Vintage came to Harrisonburg when Mike Harlow, an ex-construction worker who said he got burnt out in the field, followed his love of old things and opened the vintage shop. He elaborated on his love for all old things: clothes, movies, music.

“This is what I thought of in my head,” Harlow said, explaining why he made the store. He simply had a vision and the determination to put it to action.

Harlow explained that “if [shopping vintage] is your thing, you’ve got a place to come to.” His store is a welcoming environment to avid vintage shoppers and novices alike. There’s always music playing, and the store has a groovy feel. The walls are covered in clothes, stickers, accessories and posters from the 1950s through 1980s. The tie dye tapestries and posters of celebrities long gone contrast the dark teal walls. Harlow fits the part, wearing vintage outfits.

He is often seen wearing baja jacket style shirts and translucent colorful circle glasses.

“If you want to accessorize something, … you don’t have to go completely ’80s or ’60s or ’70s or ’50s or ’40s,” Harlow said. “You can wear today’s clothes and accentuate it with something from another era because the designs were different.”

ROLLING HILLS AN T IQUE MAL L

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Rolling Hills has many rooms and lots of variety.

Jeff Bradfield, the owner of Rolling Hills Antique Mall, explained that a benefit of shopping for antique and vintage items is that shoppers can get better quality items than those mass-produced and stocked at Walmart or Ikea.

Rolling Hills Antique Mall is a large store full of mostly antique items, with few clothing items as well.

From cases of jewelry to antique china, each display has something old to the world that could be new to you.

The store is easy to get lost in because there are many different rooms. Some have large jewelry cases with silver coins and jewelry. Other rooms have crystal glassware, and others have toys.

Bradfield said stores like Walmart sell poorly made items because “the more it falls apart, the more they get to sell you.” Once the Walmart table breaks, shoppers have toome back to Walmart for another one. Bradfield explained that Vintage furniture is not like that. It is built to last.

One could easily spend hours looking at each item in the store and still not see everything they have to offer.

From Records, license plates, and magazines in some rooms, to china with little colorful flowers or stained glass pitchers and cups in others, there is something for anyone who wants to become a vintage or antique shopper.

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THE GEORGES

Boutique Inn in Lexington adds elegance to community

By Grace Feuchter Photos by Jinyi Liu

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H

igh school sweethearts Ann Parker Gottwald and Thomas E. “Teddy” Gottwald said they started The Georges, a luxury boutique hotel, in 2012 when they realized there was nothing like it in the surrounding area of Lexington,

Virginia.

Ann and Teddy met when she was 16 and he was 17. They dated while Teddy went to Virginia Military Institute (VMI), located in Lexington, and Ann went to University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. During Ann’s senior year of high school, Teddy was a freshman at VMI and played on the football team.

Ann recalled how she used to travel to Lexington with Teddy’s parents when she was a senior in high school and watch him play football while he was a freshman at VMI. They stayed in what was then called the Alexander Withrow building, Ann said. It was a small hotel at the time and is now The Georges’ Washington Building.

The couple has been married for 38 years, and Ann said their five sons “really took up all my time” for a while. Two of their sons followed in their father’s footsteps and went to VMI. “When we were there a lot with our students [from VMI],” Ann said, “ I just noticed that the town just wasn’t coming back as readily [from] the 2008 recession.”

She’d soon be an empty nester, Ann said, and she wanted something to do. In the past, she’d taken up small businesses, including a stationery company with her sister, but nothing as extravagant as The Georges.

In 2012, when the Gottwalds’ youngest son graduated high school, they wanted to take on a new challenge, Ann said.

They bought what are now the Marshall Building and the Washington Building. “[I] kinda lost my head and got involved with buying the buildings, and one thing led to another, so here I am,” Ann said.

She and Teddy bought the two buildings with plans for Ann to renovate and sell them.

“I thought I would end up renovating it, decorating it, and here I am, seven years later, enjoying [it], still helping to manage it,” Ann said.

Special Events Coordinator Sandra Pichette

Now, Ann is the sole owner of the hotel. Teddy is busy with his full-time job, Ann said, so he helps when he can, but The Georges is all hers.

ABOUT THE HOTEL

The hotel now encompasses four buildings, located in the heart of downtown Lexington. The Marshall Building and the Washington Building opened first in 2014. Ann said she’s since added three guest rooms down the street at Lawyer’s Row and an event space called The Patton Room located next door to The Marshall Building. There are also two restaurants on the property: a bar called TAPS and a piano bar called Haywood’s.

The Marshall Building is The Georges’ central hub — this is where guests can check in to one of the 13 rooms and where TAPS is located. The Washington Building, with five guest rooms, is on the opposite side of Main Street, just a few steps away.

Located across the street and down an alley are the Lawyer’s Row suites. This building has three guest rooms located just a short walk away from The Marshall Building and The Washington Building. The suites are tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Main Street and can be entered through a quaint patio called Courtyard Square.

Two of the three buildings that are part of The Georges are some of the oldest buildings in Lexington, according to the hotel’s website. The Washington Building is named after its original owner, William Alexander, one the first postmasters in the area. It was constructed in 1789, making it over 200 years old. This was one of only two buildings that survived in all of Lexington due to a fire in 1796.

Guests can enter their rooms in the Marshall Building from a deck with white rails and black doors that contrast with the gray bricks on the exterior, overlooking a brick patio that guests can occupy.

According to The Georges’ website, the Marshall Building has three different parts to it, all built in different years. While the paint makes it look as though the building was constructed all at once, the first part was built in 1809, then another in 1816 and the last in 1857. The building has served many purposes, including a doctor’s office, a jewelry store and now a hotel.

General Manager John Gomes

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Most rooms are light and airy with white walls and bedspreads, but each room is decorated uniquely. Each room has a different pop of color with accents throughout: Room 11 in the Marshall Building has a turquoise bed stand on both sides of the deluxe king bed. In this room specifically, there are many small side tables shaped like elephants. A small picture of mountains hangs above the emerald green bed stand. The bathroom doors have full-length mirrors.

Room 3 in the Washington Building has a light teal wall that complements the shades of brown in the accessories including a lamp and a luggage holder. There’s a light-wash wooden cabinet under a clover mirror and a brown paisley pull-out couch. All of the rooms feature heated floors and towel racks, something Ann said she found essential in creating a luxury home away from home.

The Patton Room, an event space usually reserved for special occasions, seats 160 people and can accompany 250 when standing, according to The Georges’ website. Large chandeliers hang from the high, unfinished ceilings. Long wooden tables sit at the center of the room, and floor-to-ceiling windows overlook the quaint streets of Lexington.

The room is used for weddings, rehearsal dinners and any other event patrons request.

John Gomes, general manager for The Georges, referred to TAPS as “the living room of Lexington.”

TAPS is considered an upscale bar, according to its website, with craft beers and food locally sourced from the Shenandoah Valley. The restaurant was inspired by parents at the nearby Washington & Lee University who told Ann that they had nowhere to sit and grab a drink while they were waiting for restaurant reservations or tables to open up. Featuring a fireplace and a couch, the space allows guests to relax as if they were in their own living room.

The cocktails at TAPS are named to match the theme of The Georges, like The Stonewall, a bourbon drink; The Marshall, a sparkling wine float; or Wedding Bells, a lavender-infused lemonade paired with one’s choice of vodka or gin.

The Georges was featured on Travel and Leisure in 2020 as the No. 2 best city hotel in America 2020 and No. 53 of the best hotels in the world. Guests selected their favorite hotels in the U.S. and worldwide in a voting process that determined the Travel and Leisure lineup. Ann credits The Georges’ success to the hotel’s supportive patrons.

John Gomes, the general manager of The Georges, calls the inn’s upscale bar as “the living room of Lexington.”

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“When you say family, one thing that stands out in my mind is they are dependable.”

-John Gomes “I think it’s an incredible feeling,” Gomes said in regard to the award. “I feel very proud that I’m a general manager and surrounded by the greatness, you could say, of The Georges.”

Lexington is home to two large universities: Washington & Lee University and VMI. These universities contribute to The Georges’ success, Ann said; parents of students at both universities often stay at the hotel.

Ann said that when parents of a student come to Lexington, they usually return to The Georges over the course of their child’s four years at college — “it becomes a family,” she said.

COMPANY CULTURE

One of the most important parts of Gomes’ job, he said, is creating a service culture that ripples down from management to the other staff members. He said the supportive and caring culture of the hotel is one of the main reasons for its success, making it a “place that people want to come to work.”

Ann said she believes the uplifting and hospitable culture comes from her family roots. Her family has always been service-oriented, she said, so when it comes to running a hotel, her natural instincts kick in.

Rebecca Chittum, the guest services manager, said she enjoys working for The Georges. She started working part-time six years ago and has since taken it on as a full-time job.

Chittum said the workers at the TAPS restaurant help her and the others at the front desk when they’re busy checking people in, and front desk staff will help serve and bus tables at TAPS when the restaurant is busy and the front desk is calmer.

The back patio and deck of the Marshall Building.

“I never have a day without me touching a plate or taking a plate from the kitchen to the restaurant table,” Gomes said.

“So, that is leading with example.”

Gomes also includes employees at any chance he can when making decisions.

“When you say family, one thing that stands out in my mind is they are dependable,” Gomes said.

Gomes isn’t the only one who would describe the company culture of The Georges as a family.

“We’re a small, family-owned business, and family is in every aspect of the staff,” Chittum said. “We’re all extended family with each other and have all become best friends.”

Ann said the culture has been curated since the hotel was built in 2014. “[The staff] seems to be willing to kinda go out of their way to go the extra mile,” Ann said. “It’s not for payment or anything like that. It’s just the way that we’ve always been, and it seems to be carrying out through the culture of The Georges.”

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

Ann has big plans for the hotel, including the addition of 12 new rooms in a new space that’s opening this September and additional event space in early 2023. The new location is located just down the street from the Marshall Building.

Ann said the new event space will be larger than The Patton Room and perfect for weddings.

“I’ve always thought Lexington was gonna be the next Charlottesville for weddings,” Ann said. “So, we are seeing that weddings are picking up in the area, especially after COVID, but even prior.”

Ann also said the new event space could be used for Greek life events at the local universities and other celebrations.

Ann said she’s excited to be able to accommodate 12 more parties each night at the hotel. With only 21 rooms, it can sometimes be hard for prospective patrons to book a room, Ann said, so she’s happy that these additions will help serve the community, and she’s enjoyed learning about the community.

“It’s been a pleasure working on it and getting to know more about Lexington,” she said.

The Patton Room

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