Country ZEST & Style

FALL 2019

CONSERVATION and PRESERVATION

Suzanne Obetz Middleburg Museum Foundation

Lori Keenan McGuinness

Goose Creek Association

Sally Price

Land Trust of Virginia PRSRT MKTG U.S. PoStaGe

PAID

Jennifer Moore

Mosby Heritage Area Association

PERMIT NO. 82 WoodStoCK, Va

RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMER

Personalities, Celebrations and Sporting Pursuits

110 E. Washington St. | P.O. Box 1380 | Middleburg, VA 20118 | 540.687.5588 | sheridanmacmahon.com

CATESBY FARM

GAME CREEK

HALCYON HILL

INGLEWOOD

MIDDLEBURG, VIRGINIA

MIDDLEBURG, VIRGINIA

RECTORTOWN, VIRGINIA

DELAPLANE, VIRGINIA

Gracious Georgian Manor home, 11,000 sf, built in 1930 | Updated and suitable for large scale entertaining | 7 BR, 7 1/2 BA, 7 FP | High ceilings, formal gardens & private setting | Belmont style stable w/30 stalls and 2 apartments | 4 BR guest house/entertainment complex, 4-car garage w/office | 4 restored tenant houses, skeet range, pool & tennis court | 241 acres recorded in 3 parcels | Land mostly open & rolling with bold mountain views, numerous ponds and vineyard

A remarkable property located within a private enclave just minutes from town | Stone and stucco manor house with main level master suite | 7 additional BR | 5 stone FP | Beautiful gardens, terraces, salt water pool, cabana, carriage house & stable with 2 paddocks | Lovely finishes throughout & sweeping lawn to private trails to Goose Creek | 31 acres | Private, elegant & convenient

17 acres of rolling pasture land in the village of Rectortown | Convenient to both Routes 50 & 66 | Newly renovated | Private setting with magnificent mountain views | 4 bedrooms, 4 full baths, 1 half bath, 2 fireplaces | Heated pool & spa | 2 bedroom guest house | Large shed & 2-car garage

Circa 1850’s log and frame home moved and rebuilt at site | 3 bedrooms, 2 baths | Exposed beams and interior log walls | Stone fireplace | Barn also moved and rebuilt, has approved 2 bedroom perc site | Large pond, many streams, multiple building sites | Private Fauquier location outside village of Scuffleburg | 305 acres | Also available house on 203.69 acres for $1,600,000

$2,350,000 Paul MacMahon 703.609.1905 helen MacMahon 540.454.1930

$11,000,000

$2,650,000

Paul MacMahon 703.609.1905

helen MacMahon 540.454.1930

LITTLE COBBLER FARM

LANDMARK ROAD

HARMONY CREEK

PEACE, LOVE & JOY FARM

DELAPLANE, VIRGINIA

THE PLAINS, VIRGINIA

HUME, VIRGINIA

WARRENTON, VIRGINIA

Hill top setting in highly protected valley | 100 rolling and rising acres | Property partially fenced, spring fed pond with private terrace | House built in 1992, stone and stucco exterior with metal roof | 4 bedrooms, 3 full baths | In-ground pool, detached 2-car garage, lovely gardens | Interior of house has been gutted, needs interior finishing

Stunning setting | Classic Virginia fieldstone home on 13 acres | Elevated site amidst large farms in a grove of massive oak trees | Heart pine floors | 6 fireplaces | 5 bedrooms | Gorgeous sun rooms | Swimming pool | Garage | Mature gardens | Pastoral views | Very protected location between Middleburg and The Plains

Hilltop setting with beautiful distant views | Farm house circa 1920, completely restored and enlarged | 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2 fireplaces, wood floors, large country kitchen | 129.15 rolling & useable acres | 3-bay equipment shed/ work shop, guest house, 4-stall barn complex, riding ring, spring-fed pond and stream

6 bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths, 5 fireplaces | High ceilings, large rooms with good flow | Formal garden overlooks Cedar Run | Large pond | Pool with pool house | Barn could have 4 stalls | Rolling land, very private - yet very close to Warrenton

$1,750,000

$1,650,000

Paul MacMahon 703.609.1905

helen MacMahon 540.454.1930

PIECE OF HEAVEN

GRASTY PLACE

$1,650,000 Paul MacMahon 703.609.1905

WINCHESTER STREET

$1,935,000 Paul MacMahon 703.609.1905

$1,395,000 Paul MacMahon 703.609.1905

OAK RIDGE

MARSHALL, VIRGINIA

MIDDLEBURG, VIRGINIA

WARRENTON, VIRGINIA

WARRENTON, VIRGINIA

Absolutely impeccable custom home on 50 acres with lake frontage 10 minutes from Marshall | Beautiful millwork, extensive plantings, porches & terraces | Fantastic mountain views from oversized windows, rolling pasture & private dock | 5 BRs, 3 FPs, hardwood floors | Extremely well built home with endless amenities | Very special home in pristine condition

Charming home in desirable Melmore | Adjacent to the town of Middleburg offering proximity to town & privacy of almost 4 acres | High ceilings, light-filled rooms, new kitchen with granite counters & stainless appliances | Family room with fireplace, screened-in porch | 3 BR including bright master suite | Home office, finished LL and 2-car garage

Very private home with 3 bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths | Lots of light - All brick colonial home surrounded by mature plantings and extensive hardscape | Located in the Warrenton historic district | Detached 2 car garage, in-ground pool & fenced patio | Fully finished basement with separate entrance | Master bedroom balcony over looks pool

Prime location, off Springs Road | Surrounded by large farms & estates | House circa 1890 with 2 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, fireplace, hardwood floors, new kitchen | Garage | 2 sheds/studio potential | Tenant house | Property shares large spring fed pond | Private setting on 13.21 acres | Also available house on 7.75 acres for $400,000

$1,290,000 helen MacMahon 540.454.1930

$695,000

$675,000

$550,000

helen MacMahon 540.454.1930

Margaret carroll 540.454.0650 ann MacMahon 540.687.5588

Paul MacMahon 703.609.1905

Women Front and Center

O

ur hats are off to some very talented and devoted women who live and work in the Virginia countryside. Not only do they have ZEST, they also have Style .

First, the four women on the cover focusing on conservation, preservation and history: Lori Keenan McGuinness of the Goose Creek Association, Jennifer Moore of Mosby Heritage Area Association, Suzanne Obetz of the Middleburg Museum Foundation and Sally Price of the Land Trust of Virginia. (More inside the magazine.) Meanwhile….

As president of the Warrenton Horse Show (WHS), Helen Wiley follows in her family’s footsteps: father Alex Calvert, mother Polly Howard, brother Mike Calvert and stepfather Fritz Howard. Now gone, they set the bar for service to the show on many levels.

Helen misses no details, from awards to luncheons, parking and the ever-popular Hunt Night. As the oldest corporation in the state of Virginia (1899) this year’s WHS will run from Wednesday, August 28 trough Sunday, September 1 at the historic grounds on East Shirley Ave. Hunters, jumpers, children’s classes and more: www.warrentonhorseshow.com.

Carol Holden is president of the West Virginia Breeders Classics, which she co-founded 33 years ago with partner Sam Huff, a fellow horse enthusiast, NFL Hall of Famer and native West Virginian. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in purses have been awarded. It’s scheduled again this year at the Charles Town Race Track on Saturday, October 12. Carol oversees horses eligible for the Classics, arranges location, entertainment, food, invitations, decorations for an annual gala, and serves as liaison with the WomenWest Virginia Racing Commission and racing office. Then there’s a golf tournament, trophies and presentations along with special guests, a sponsor reception and television coverage. Post time is 7 p.m. See: www. wvbc.com.

Diane Jones is the executive director of the International Gold Cup on Saturday, October 26 at Great Meadow in The Plains. Since 1990 she “oversees everything,” including negotiating contracts for 75 officials and coordinating board meetings. She has four co-workers, all women, who deal with tent details, race program advertising, ticket sales, and sponsorships.

Thank you Barbara Shannon, Sarah Gibson, Tiffany Strickland and Tracy Spenser. When it’s all over, Diane and her crew begin all over again for the Virginia Gold Cup, the first Saturday in May, 2020. Details: www. vagoldcup.com.

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AUB19014_Cash Bonus_Country Country ZEST & Style |Zest_4.667x12.indd Fall 2019

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8/2/19 3:44 PM

of NOTE BE ON THE LOOKOUT through this issue of Personalities, Celebrations and Sporting Pursuits © 2019 Country ZEST & Style, LLC. Published six times a year

Distributed and mailed throughout the Virginia countryside and in Washington and at key Sporting Pursuits and Celebrations

for the hummingbird.

MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 798 Middleburg, Virginia 20118

He appears in two ads and the first to find him (one each) will receive a gift from that advertiser.

Send your reply to badgerlen@aol.com.

PHONE: 410-570-8447 Editor: Leonard Shapiro, badgerlen@aol.com

A

t the annual Virginia Fox Hound show at Morven Park in Leesburg, Orange County Hounds’ Ketchup won Single American Dog-unentered.

He was shown by huntsman Reg Spreadborough, who is here competing with Champion American Dog Hound Entered, Texas. Other winners included Middleburg Hunt’s Best American Bitch-entered, Middleburg Jinx and Piedmont Fox Hounds Misfit won Champion American Bitch Hound. Photo by Liz Callar.

Wine Editor: Peter Leonard-Morgan Entertainment Editor: Emily Tyler Art Director Meredith Hancock/Hancock Media @mhancockmedia Contributing Photographers: Liz Callar, Doug Gehlsen, Crowell Hadden, Douglas Lees, Karen Monroe ILLUSTRATORS Crowell Hadden and Daniela Anderson Contributing Writers: Justin Haefner, Sebastian Langenberg, Sophie Scheps Langenberg, Lizzie Catherwood, Caroline Fout, Emma Boyce, M.J. McAteer, Tom Northrup, Tom Wiseman, Jimmy Wofford, Mike du Pont, Leslie VanSant, Louisa Woodville, Sean Clancy, Megan Catherwood, Carina Elgin, Jodi Nash For advertising inquiries, contact: Leonard Shapiro at badgerlen@aol.com or 410-570-8447 ON THE COVER The four women on the cover represent outstanding efforts in the area of conservation and preservation.

The photo was taken by Doug Gehlsen and Karen Monroe in their Middleburg Photo studio with a Nikon D850 and 24-120 f4 lens. Lighting was with a Paul C. Buff Einstein™ Flash Unit and a 22” Beauty Dish as the key light. A second fill light was a Profoto B1 with a 2’ Grided Soft Octabox. The grid provides a focused light and limits spill onto the backdrop. As a tribute to the subject of conservation, their selfie photo was with an iPhone XS at Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone National Park, the nation’s first national park.

“This is also a critical time to maintain the rural tradition of our area in Virginia,” Doug said. / Country Zest and Style

/ @countryzestandstyle

/ @countryzestand1

www.countryzestandstyle.com 4

McLain Ward with his daughter Lilly after winning the Lugano Diamonds $208,200 Upperville Jumper Classic in early June. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, the 44-year-old rider from Brewster, New York was one of 34 from ten countries competing in the finals. He has won the event four previous times and has fond memories of driving to Upperville with his late father and professional horseman, Barney Ward. Photo © by Vicky Moon Expecting parents and parents of children under three years old would be wise to mark down Sept. 21 on their calendars for the second annual “Baby Buzz” event at the Hill School from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. It’s a day long-seminar organized by Pam Haefner that includes a number of speakers on pertinent subjects. They include the importance of music in the life of a child; the nittygritty of postpartum; surviving toddler tantrums and easy ways to develop your child’s speech, motor and cognitive skills. Admission is $10 per family and includes complimentary breakfast and lunch and child friendly activities. To register, go to TheBabyBuzz.org.

Crowds of more than 10,000 are expected for the 65th running of the Virginia Fall Races on Saturday, October 12, at Glenwood Park in Middleburg, the oldest continuous racecourse in Virginia. This year’s event starts at 9 a.m. with the finals of the Theodora A. Randolph Field Hunter Championship. The flag drops for the first race at 1 p.m. with an afternoon of first class timber and hurdle racing, including the National Sporting Library and Museum Cup, with a purse of $40,000.

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

ATOKA

MIDDLEBURG REAL ESTATE

PROPERTIES

S I M P LY B E T T E R .

19290 TELEGRAPH SPRINGS RD | PURCELLVILLE

518 CLIFTON FARM RD | BERRYVILLE

10000 MOUNT AIRY RD | UPPERVILLE

$7,495,000 | Renovated in 2004, this 5 bedroom, 10 bath 22,000+ s/f home is an entertainer's dream with indoor pool, hot tub, bowling alley, home theater, basketball court, two lakes and a dock. The natural light-filled home allows scenic views from every angle.

$4,700,000 | 400+ acres in a bucolic setting! Original ice house and outdoor kitchen. Perimeter fully fenced - ideal for a horse or cattle farm. Over 20 wooded acres. Stunning stone guest house, outbuildings and barns with gorgeous views!

$2,775,000 | Extraordinary brick colonial on 50+ gorgeous acres in prestigious Greystone. Over 9000 s/f of spectacular living space featuring three beautifully finished levels. Heated pool, tennis court and brilliant gardens overlook a picturesque pond with fabulous mountain views in a private location.

PETER PEJACSEVICH 540.270.3835

SCOTT BUZZELLI 540.454.1399

PETER PEJACSEVICH 540.270.3835

SCOTT BUZZELLI 540.454.1399

PETER PEJACSEVICH 540.270.3835

SCOTT BUZZELLI 540.454.1399

7597 KEITH RD | WARRENTON

19511 BARNWOOD CT | LEESBURG

23443 MELMORE PL | MIDDLEBURG

$1,450,000 | Nothing like it on the market! Completely renovated and updated circa 1890 stone and siding country home on 47 private and spectacular acres.

Recent updates to: gourmet kitchen, master bedroom suite, metal roofs, septic system, and much more. 2 car garage, tenant house, in-ground pool, 4 stall barn.

$975,000 | Unique home on 3 acres on a quiet cul-de-sac. Designed based on Thomas Jefferson's summer home - Poplar Forest. Traditional, spacious and open floor plan. Gourmet kitchen, built-ins, hardwood floors, upgraded molding and windows and fully finished lower level. Serene backyard and screened in porch!

$898,000 | Spacious 3,500 s/f Colonial on the largest lot in the subdivision with a lovely creek and woods. Spacious and sunny with hardwood floors and slate foyer. Well-maintained with many recent updates!

ROCKY WESTFALL 540. 219.2633

PETER PEJACSEVICH 540.270.3835

SCOTT BUZZELLI 540.454.1399

SCOTT BUZZELLI 540.454.1399

PETER PEJACSEVICH 540.270.3835

COMMERCIAL

108 N 21ST ST | PURCELLVILLE

11555 HEREFORD CT | HUME

606 STONEWALL AVE | MIDDLEBURG

$795,000 | Classic brick two-story commercial building in historic downtown Purcellville. Over 3,800 s/f on two levels with endless updates. Features painted original tin ceiling on the main level with refinished hardwood floors, cold storage, and brewery rooms.

$775,000 | Stunning custom Colonial on 10 rolling acres with lush paddocks and sweeping manicured lawns in an idyllic setting. A grand front porch welcomes you into this gracious 6,000 s/f home. Six stall stable and board fenced paddocks.

$735,000 | In the historic town of Middleburg, a newly renovated all brick 4BR home awaits you! Renovations include: upscale kitchen, bathrooms, large laundry room/secondary kitchenette, HVAC, sewer line, fencing, windows & much more!

Large, flat backyard with mature trees, covered patio, and deck. Comcast and Verizon.

ROCKY WESTFALL 540. 219.2633

PETER PEJACSEVICH 540.270.3835

ANNE MCINTOSH 703.509.4499

S I M P LY B E T T E R .

SCOTT BUZZELLI 540.454.1399

MARIA ELDREDGE 540.454.3829

We know that your life can't be placed on hold while you're buying or selling your house, which is why we take a comprehensive approach to real estate. Our agents are exceptional. Our marketing - savvy & strategic. From hunt country to the suburbs and every town in between, our approach to real estate is this: simply better.

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

ASHBURN | 703.436.0077

5

THE VIRGINIA FALL RACES 6 5 TH R U N N I N G

Saturday October 12, 2019 GLENWOOD PARK, MIDDLEBURG, VA

Enjoy an Afternoon of Steeplechase Races Fun Fair, Petting Zoo, Pony Rides, Art & History Tent for the Kids Artists in the Park Food Truck • Beer Garden • Car Show Held for the Benefit of INOVA Loudoun Hospital Foundation

Call the Race Office to reserve parking, box seating, sponsorships, entertainment tents

(540) 687-9797 WWW.VAFALLRACES.COM KASSIE@VAFALLRACES.COM 6

By Justin Haefner

W

ith the goal of accelerating learning and enhancing both horse and rider wellness, I’ve joined forces with my psychologist father, Paul Haefner, to approach horse and rider relationships from a new angle. Combining sports psychology with foundational horsemanship and biomechanics based horse training, we’re looking to create lasting changes.

In June, 2018, I joined Riding Far, LLC as a partner, bringing horse development Justin Haefner to the business of sport psychology and and his father, Paul psychotherapy, my father’s specialty. This past April, we moved to Cabin Branch Farm in Orlean, a beautiful facility that allows us to train young horses and assist riders in their personal growth and development.

This past June, we launched our Pathways to Unity Program for riders of any discipline who may feel stuck and want to kick start their progress.

We’re not selling a new brand of horsemanship. Rather, we’re helping riders find effective solutions for the roadblocks they meet on their individual journeys.

We also help riders with more personal struggles—strong emotions of fear, frustration and anxiety. The program also can benefit trainers. As a student grows in self-awareness, they also should benefit more from their work with their own instructors.

In communication between horse and rider, it’s critical to be aware of activity in our mind and body, the horse’s mind and body, and the collaborative effect of the two.

The program draws on traditions such as classical dressage and vaquero style foundational horsemanship, and applies cutting edge concepts from modern psychology, equine osteopathy, and complex systems theory.

This provides an effective base from which to identify and analyze rider concerns. We work with riders to break down difficulties into component pieces so that they can be combined in an integrated, healthy, and functional way.

Pathways to Unity Program, in addition to horse training and sport psychology services, now offers clinics and individualized education and consultation programs. All the clinics have flexible formats to meet the needs of our hosts and their riders.

Our flagship clinic, offered at Cabin Branch Farm in September, is Clearing the Pathway to Unity. It’s conducted jointly by my dad and myself, combining educational presentations with small group in-hand work, small group mounted work, and individual instruction.

We also incorporate time for observation of others as well as active participation. Each person learns in different ways, with the goal of offering each participant multiple modes of learning to maximize their gains.

For more intensive help, we offer the Re-Unity service. This program is designed to provide riders who struggle with fear, anxiety, lack of confidence and other strong emotions the support needed to get back on their horse and recover their joy of riding.

It offers a unique combination of help for both horse and rider. I provide assessment and training in order to reduce potential risks related to the horse. My dad provides expert assessment and intervention for the rider, helping them build on their strengths and address the destructive impact of their worries and fears.

The relationship between horse and rider is both complex and synergistic.

Each day, research reveals new insights into the workings of the human mind, highlighting the importance of neurology, physiology, and relationships in shaping our experience.

At the same time, in the evolution of horsemanship, we’re rediscovering the teachings of the past and looking at them through the lens of current knowledge and understanding of horses. The programs take a deep dive into the intricacies of these complex systems in order to create a smooth, cohesive pathway to progress.

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

Hannah Jones Photography

Save The Date

Father and Son Combine to Help Riders and Horses

Classic 0 proven to be a

WVBC XXXII WInnEr runnIn’TOLuVya

Featuring the West Virginia Breeders Classic and the Breeders Classics Races

SATURDAY

OCT. 12, 2019

POST T I M E 7:00 PM

West Virginia Breeders Classics, Ltd. P.O. Box 1251 | Charles Town, WV 25414 www.wvbc.com | 304-725-0709 Carol Holden | President Theresa Bitner | Exec. Sec. Sam Huff | Chairman Emeritus

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

7

Land Preservation and a Sport That Needs It

T

By Caroline Fout

he Junior North American Field Hunter Championship (JNAFHC), scheduled in the Middleburg area on Nov. 9, was created to educate junior riders about the sport of fox hunting and the importance of preserving the open space that goes with it in order to survive.

Started in 2003 by Douglas Wise Stuart and Iona Pillion, both wellknown local advocates for the education of children in the equestrian world, the championship itself is always held in the fall. It follows a season of “qualifying” hunts, in which junior riders can participate to earn a spot at the grand finale.

This year’s championship will be held at the gorgeous Old Whitewood Farm near Upperville on Saturday. The following day, several hunts in the area will go out, and many participants will ride with them.

Yes, the competition aspect is important, but the JNAFHC also has the future of fox hunting in mind.

Marion Chungo, the current organizer, is at the helm of the push to spread education and a passion for both the sport and the conservation of the land through the organization.

A potential junior field hunter champion “Eve Fout called me up one day,” Chungo said. “And she said, ‘You need to get over there and see what Iona and Douglas are doing for these kids and this sport.’ Just like that, I became secretary in 2005.”

The qualifying hunts are essential to getting kids involved in the competition.

The more hunts involved, the more juniors have a chance at making it to the championship.

This includes Belle Mead Hunt of Georgia, The Woodbrook Hunt of Washington, The Aiken Hounds of South Carolina,The Piedmont Hounds of Virginia, and many more.

The championship is always hosted by a particular hunt, and held on a piece of land large enough to encapsulate the mock hunt portion of the competition, as well as the jumping and flat portions.

The mission of the JNAFHC is not a foreign concept to Marion, having

Does Your Horse Get

S

tandard

A

been a horsewoman her entire life.

“So many hunts are facing so many different things now, it’s not all just wide open country, so the kids get to see that kind of diversity,” Marion said.

After each qualifying hunt, judges will meet with the juniors to talk about what they might have been looking for, but also to ask the juniors themselves what they believe to be safe hunting techniques.

“We’ve also hosted walk-outs for those juniors participating,” Marion said. “They walk out with the hounds and learn everything from what the horn is really used for, to what kind of sound a hound makes when it picks up a certain scent Marion said.

Last year’s qualifying meets were held in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Washington, Kansas, South Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, and North Carolina.

merican

The championship includes between 90 to 100 juniors participants, traveling from all over to compete at the same place and at the same time. It produces a sense of camaraderie that is a vital tenet of the sport.

The entry fees are also donated to organizations like the Land Trust of Virginia, dedicated to the protection of the surrounding countryside.

“This kind of thing, this competition as a whole, really helps to make kids, who are so important to the continuation of this sport, aware of the land they are hunting across and how and why it’s possible to even be on that land in the first place,” Marion said.

The message is clear, educate and involve in order to preserve and inspire.

For more information on the Junior North American Field Hunter Championship, visit www.jnafhc.com

D? iet

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

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• Races run rain or shine.

• Pari-mutuel betting, bring your cash.

• Questions, please call 540.347.2612.

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

9

Paul Mellon and Revolutionary Philanthropy

O

n Independence Day a small group of local residents gathered in Upperville for the unveiling of three historic markers linked to the late philanthropist Paul Mellon, his Rokeby Stables and late first wife Mary Elizabeth Conover Mellon.

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Paula Michaels represented the Piedmont Fox Hounds in speaking of Mr. Mellon’s love of horses, racing and breeding thoroughbreds. “Paul Mellon earned the titles of “Exemplar of Racing” and “Pillar of the Turf ” from the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York.”

“By all accounts, he was a shy, self–effacing gentleman,” Ms. Michaels began in the courtyard of the Trinity Episcopal Church. “His shyness was skillfully hidden by good manners, great charm, and a finely tuned, rather playful sense of humor.”

Paula Michaels represented the Piedmont Fox Hounds in speaking of Mr. Mellon’s love of horses, racing and breeding thoroughbreds

It was noted his sense of humor came across when he went fox hunting in England with the Middletown Hunt and fell off “in the water-filled ditches of Yorkshire so often that he earned the sobriquet ‘Water Mellon.’”

Rokeby Stables’ horses won more than 1,000 stakes races and $30 million between 1948-1996, which included victories in the Kentucky Derby, the Epsom Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

The color and spectacle of the races and the wonders of this countryside brought Mr. Mellon great pleasure. He served as a master of the Piedmont Fox Hounds with Theo Randolph from 1954-1958. Ms. Michaels concluded it gave him great satisfaction to ride horses and watch horses.

Rokeby Stables Paul Mellon established Rokeby Stables near here on property purchased in 1931 by his father, Andrew W. Mellon, financier and U.S. secretary of the treasury. Paul Mellon bred and raised champion racehorses, including American Way, Grand National Steeplechase winner in 1948; Arts and Letters and Fort Marcy, Horses of the Year in 1969 and 1970, respectively; Mill Reef, winner of Europe’s most prestigious races in 1971; and Sea Hero, Kentucky Derby winner in 1993. Mellon twice won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder. He collected equine art and donated many pieces to the National Gallery of Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Yale Center for British Art, which he founded.

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

The 120th

WARRENTON HORSE SHOW

Carolyn Smith (far right) represents members of the Trinity Church Flower Guild and others from the church in making a weekly delivery to Windy Hill in Middleburg. The arrangements from the previous Sunday’s worship services feature luscious colors and designs to be enjoyed by all.

At a recent Byrne Gallery opening of “Endless Summer” in Middleburg: artist Gerald Hennesy, Bill Byrne, Susan Byrne and artist Lida Matheson Stifel. Photo by Middleburg Photo.

Something Old

Something New

PHOTO BY SUSAN CARTER

Laura Farrell of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty and Tom Wiseman of Wiseman and Associates exuded style at an exclusive art show at The Well House in The Plains, featuring the works of William Chewning. Photo © Vicky Moon

Miles Clancy has true style, in a bow tie and sans socks, at a lovely summer evening outing at the 13th annual Welbourne Cupcake, entertainment by Baby Soda from New Orleans and New York.

Master Clancy also cuts a mean beat on the dance floor. Photo © Vicky Moon

PHOTO BY VICKY MOON

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Something Borrowed

Something Blue

Mayo Brown was among four newly inducted honorees named to the Upperville Horse Show Wall of Honor.

He joined the show’s board of directors in the early 1960s and served as treasurer. He recalled that the show did not have stalls in tents and there were only 55 old box stalls available in a green board-and-batten barn.

It was a gentler time when cattle grazed the show grounds to maintain the grass. At his suggestion, the show incorporated tented concession stands. Photo by Vicky Moon

AUGUST 28-SEPTEMBER 1 Thursday & Friday Evenings feature: Jumper classics Saturday evening features Hunter Classic Sunday: Foxhunter classes and Ladies Sidesaddle Warrenton Horse Showgrounds @ 60 E. Shirley Ave. 540-347-9442 and warrentonhorseshow.com adults $10, children under 12 FREE

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

11

You’ve WATCHED the race…

This is what it’s like to WIN the race.

Get in the Game…

Steeplechase & Flat Racing Partnerships Racehorse Sales

RIVERDEE STABLE & CLANCY BLOODSTOCK An n e & S e a n Cla n c y M i d d le b u rg, VA

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THOMAS & TALBOT REAL ESTATE Middleburg, Virginia (540) 687-6500

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How Does Your Garden Grow Beautiful Vegetables

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oted gardener, photographer and author Matthew Benson will present a lecture and luncheon on “Growing Beautiful Food” with the book of the same name on Tuesday, October 8 at 11 a.m. at the Middleburg Community Center. The event is sponsored by the Piedmont Garden Club.

Benson is a photographer, writer, and organic farmer. His work is widely published and he writes, photographs, and lectures frequently on issues of food, sustainability and organics.

Benson is also the author of “The Photo-Graphic Garden: Mastering the Art of Digital Garden Photography” in addition to “Growing Beautiful Food.” He lives on a farm in New York’s Hudson River Valley, where he cultivates organic vegetables, fruit, raw honey and bio-restorative flowers and herbs.

With so much attention turning to eating locally and organically, “Growing Beautiful Food” is intended to inspire and inform. Whether gardener, farmer, or chef, you’ll come to the table motivated by the flavor of homegrown, the message of self-sufficiency, and the beautiful food that’s as local as the backyard.

The book and lecture will chronicle growing food and living sustainably as a transformative experience, with all the joy, folly, work and wonder of it told through words and photographs.

With his organic Stonegate Farm as a backdrop, Matthew Benson’s lecture will offer insight into the history and practice of farming as an art form, as both ornament and nourishment, as well as an examination of the broken politics of our current food system.

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“Growing Beautiful Food” shows that almost anyone can take their preened, green patch of grass or garden and turn it into a vibrant, local food-shed. By exploring the idea of integrating edibles into the flower garden, and transitioning aesthetic gardeners into food growers, the suburban lot becomes a hallmark of the paradigm shift towards a more local, sustainable lifestyle.

At the heart and soul of “Growing Beautiful Food” are seasonal observations on the rhythms of small farm life, from madly swarming bees and wayward chickens to harvesting miraculous floral salads or making quince preserves. These observations are integrated into a field guide for backyard food growers, with detailed growing advice for growing extraordinary crops, ranging from salad greens, fruiting vegetables, tree fruit and berries to cut flowers, bees, and chickens.

To reserve your tickets, priced at $55 (before October 1) send to: Piedmont Garden Club, PO Box 275, The Plains, VA 20198 or contact: Margaret Littleton, 540-6876246, or piedmontgardenclub@gmail.com.

2:01 PM Country ZEST & Style8/6/19 | Fall 2019

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

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T H E

o f

S E A S O N

Photos by Carina Elgin

E N D

A Passion for Pickles Runs in the Family

A N N U A L

A close up of a batch of Swamp Venom pickles

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Chris Sauder and his son, Mason, offer samples of their Bad Ass pickles

By Carina Elgin

hris Sauder delivers.

A FedEx driver by day, when he gets home, he goes to work making as many as four five-gallon buckets of pickles a night.

Several days each week, he and his wife, Toni, then spread out to hit various farmers’ markets and festivals, offering samples and selling pickles by the plastic pint and half pint under their “Bad Ass Pickles” brand.

On a recent Sunday at the Archwood Green Barns Market in The Plains, Chris and his son, Mason, both worked the crowd that flowed steadily in front of their stand. Kids especially loved the Bread and Butter pickles, the only offering currently made with sugar.

Everyone discussed pickles named the “Swamp Venom” and “Caroline Reaper,” most intriguing in name and flavor. A few brave souls tasted and claimed to like them, but most customers settled on trying the very popular “Old Bay” variety and the familiar dill. Virtually every person who tasted went home with several $3 half pints or $5 pints of tasty, crunchy pickles.

In March, 2019, Chris and Toni, who live in Gainesville, decided to try the pickle-making business after seeing and enjoying various pickles at area beer festivals. They make a point of buying their cucumbers locally around Fauquier County. Toni slices each one by hand, while Chris makes the various brines.

The brine is brought to a boil, and the pickles are put in the buckets, where they sit overnight at room temperature. The next morning, they go into the refrigerator. Most flavors sit in the brine a week to get infused with flavor, while Bread and Butter pickles need two weeks to reach perfection. Bad Ass pickles are not canned, but rather, are fresh, which keeps their flavor popping and their texture crisp. They must be kept refrigerated until savored.

The Sauders chose the “Bad Ass” name because they feel it makes people curious and draws them in to check it out. Offering samples gives customers a chance to find their favorites.

At Green Barns, they offered Bread and Butter, Dill, Garlic Dill, Old Bay, Swamp Venom, Ghost Pepper and Carolina Reaper. Chris describes the Swamp Venom as having a Cajun flavor, with the Cajun and the Ghost Pepper spices coming from Dizzy Pig Seasonings in Manassas. Bad Ass is adding Horseradish, Taco and Wasabi enhanced pickles, as well as a Honey Mustard for those who prefer “less heat.”

Chris, Toni and their son Mason, a student at Stonewall High School in Manassas, have not only been experimenting with recipes, but also with where to sell their pickles. They say the Warrenton Farmers’ Market is successful, but like trying out different venues, like The Plains and Middleburg markets. They also do the Wednesday Food Truck events at the WARF in Warrenton.

Pickles and beer festivals are apparently a good match, and in June, Bad Ass delivered at the Woodbridge Beerfest and “Beer in the ‘Burbs” in Fairfax City. In July, you can find our local pickle masters at Blues and Brews in Staunton.

Chris plans on making and selling pickles all year, even when the farmers’ Markets are closed, with production schedule and delivery to be determined.

Just order your holiday pickles early, as December gets this FedEx fellow mighty busy helping Santa.

To keep up with where to sample and buy the pickles, follow Bad Ass Pickles on Facebook, or check out their website at www.badasspickles.net.

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

Thursday-Monday, 11-5 1500 Crenshaw Rd. Upperville, VA 20184

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

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A Secret (No More)

F

Photos by Vicky Moon

rom the curb at 45 Horner Street in Warrenton, the yellow frame building is attractive, with an immaculate smooth, green lawn and lovely lovely plants, grasses and flowers. However, upon closer inspection, a magnificent display of native flora and fauna is revealed. Welcome to the Larson Native Plant Garden at the Piedmont Environmental Council offices. Founded in 1972, the nonprofit organization focuses on conservation to promote and protect the nine-county plus Virginia Piedmont rural economy, natural and historic resources and scenic views. The renovated structure includes an addition designed by Fauquier County friend Cal Bowie of Bowie Gridley Architects in Washington. This incorporates green features of local (formaldehyde free) and recycled materials, low-VOC paint, low flow plumbing and LED lighting, with more to come. A walk to the back reveals a breathtaking slope filled with a natural hardscape of multi-shape stones and an encyclopedia example of 118 native plants. The landscape was designed by board member John Magee; the gardens were designed by director of state policy Dan Holmes and stewardship specialist Celia Vuocolo consulted on native choices.

The circa 1784 yellow frame office of the PEC in Warrenton was once the home of Rice W. Payne, a lawyer and Captain in J.E.B. Stuart’s Black Horse Cavalry and Cavalry Commander John S. Mosby.

The circa 1784 Piedmont Environmental Council office

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The gardens were named in honor of Doug Larson, former vice president of the PEC. He is surrounded immediately behind by Bee balm ‘Blue Moon’ (Monarda didyma).

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

Native Garden A path through the gardens

A close look at the native

A “green” addition

The hardscape includes natural multishaped and sizes of stones and rocks.

A path through the gardens in the back includes a plethora of Black-eyed Susan (Rudeckia hirta) which leads to the perfect afternoon respite.

A “green” addition on the rear of the office building, designed by architect Cal Bowie, adds space with not a hint of an intrusion from the front curb. To reduce storm water run off, the gutters and drains feed to swales and rain gardens.

A close look at the native plantings-common milkweed, fringe tree, Wild hydrangea ‘Annabelle’ (Hydrangea arborescens) in the front yard give a hint of what’s around the back. On the right corner of the building, the pink Allegheny stonecrop (Hylotelephium telephoides) leads the way to a big surprise for garden visitors.

The hardscape

The gardens were named in honor of Doug Larson.

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

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Middleburg Now Has a Little Lambkins

By Sebastian Langenberg

T

he Shaggy Ram, which carries timeless antiques at its Washington Street shop in Middleburg, is now offering equally timeless children’s clothes.

“I’ve been here forty years and I thought it might be fun to see a little change of pace so I invited a darling couple to open a children’s shop,” said Joanne Swift, the owner of The Shaggy Ram. The Shaggy Ram is known for its beautiful furniture, fine art and other accessories, much of the merchandise imported from England and France.

The shop is a Middleburg mainstay, and Swift also runs her interior design business from the same location, where clients can choose from all sorts of finishes and fabrics.

Swift invited Sandra and John Abbott to occupy the front room overlooking the sidewalk and sell high-end children’s clothes in their shop named Little Lambkins.

The clothes come from the U.S. and all over the world, including England, Peru and Italy among countries.

The Abbotts initially traveled to AmericasMart in Atlanta for their first trade show in order to stock up on the

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Sandra Abbott is the new owner of Little Lambkins. best clothes. They also plan to visit other trade shows in order to bring back the best of the best.

This is the Abbotts’ first foray into retail. But Sandra said she knows a little something about children’s apparel.

Before this venture, she taught second grade and kindergarten for 33 years in Prince William County.

“I did this because I’ve always had an interest in children,” Sandra said. “I’ve always loved fashion and clothing, and I like classic clothing for children. Joanne and I had become good friends and we put our heads together and thought this

Bright and beautiful colors for newborns and up to age five. would be good for Middleburg and a great opportunity.”

The business opened May 1, and has been growing week after week as word has been spreading about the shop and its merchandise. They carry clothes for newborns up to five years old and they plan to add clothes for older children, as well.

“This has been great for me,” Sandra said. “It’s fun.”

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

Shaggy Ram/ Little Lambkins 3 East Washington St. Middleburg Hours: Monday through Saturday 11 a.m.- 5 p.m Sunday 1-5 p.m.

540-687-3546

A World Class Chef Graces Goodstone Inn

By Daniela Anderson

H

Photo by Daniela Anderson

aute cuisine dining has been elevated to an unprecedented level in the Middleburg area with the arrival of Jan Van Haute, a 38-year-old, Belgian-born chef to royalty now performing culinary magic at the Goodstone Inn. An internationally-renowned, awardwinning chef with Michelin star skills Jan Van Haute, a 38-year-old, and talent, Van Haute has introduced an innovative menu with creative, fresh Belgian-born chef is now performing combinations mixing old world tradition culinary magic at the Goodstone Inn and the local countryside.

His Belgian and French-inspired farmto-table kitchen features an expansive 36205 Snake Hill Road assortment of fresh produce from Middleburg Goodstone’s culinary garden and an 540-687-3333 impressive assortment of meats (both fresh Toll Free: 877-219-466 and charcuterie cured) and cheeses sourced information@goodstone.com from local farms, including Chapel Hill, Chrysallis, The Fermented Pig and Ayrshire.

His distinctive touch features prominently across the menus of Goodstone’s main dining room, the Contemporary Restaurant, as well as the newly opened, more casual Bistro.

Van Haute said his interest in the culinary arts was sparked early in life, where he enjoyed a childhood spent in the kitchen, orchards and catering facility owned by his family in Bruges, Belgium.

His grandmother owned 12 acres of orchards and Van Haute has fond memories of playing in the agricultural hangars, which his uncle transformed into upscale catering halls after the orchards were sold. His uncle began with 50 guests and soon was hosting fashion shows, weddings and large business conferences for up to 500 people.

Van Haute was the only grandson helping his grandmother clean vegetables in the kitchen for the catering business. He had four sisters, and joked that “sometimes I just had to get away from the girls.” He continued to help both in the kitchen as well as the catering hall during all of his school vacations, and by age 14, knew he wanted to attend culinary school.

Van Haute spent five years perfecting his skills at Sermalie culinary school in Bruges, specializing in banquets and catering. While there, he won an a la carte competition to run a restaurant for a week in Brussels and his talent was recognized by his professors, who recommended him for two positions.

The first was employment at the Michelin three-star restaurant, La’Apoge, working for Chef Alain Passard. The second offer was to become the private sous chef for Queen Fabiola of Belgium. At age 18, Van Haute became the private chef for the royal family and spent 2 1/2 years working for them before spreading his wings around the world.

He spent a year working under a master chef in Belgium before embarking on an 11-month food tour around the world at age 23. This trip sparked an incredible, professional culinary journey over the next several years that included employment at Vue de Monde in Melbourne, Australia, RyuGin, a Michelin three-star eatery in Tokyo, and Michelin three-star Hof van Cleve in Belgium.

His journey eventually took him to Washington, D.C., where he became the Belgian ambassador’s private chef. In November, 2018, Van Haute took the helm in the Goodstone kitchen. Since then, he’s put his personal touch on brand new seasonal menus and has generated excitement with the creation of the Bistro, which opened in April. 2019.

Van Haute’s entrepreneurial spirit and passion for inspired, innovative cuisine sourced from his own personal garden and local farms gifts Goodstone’s guests with a magical, unforgettable, personalized dining experience.

His love for being in the kitchen and the opportunity to mentor dedicated, young chefs also drives his ambition to achieve Michelin stars for Goodstone.

He’s fallen in love with the Virginia countryside and has put together a talented culinary team of equally passionate, ambitious professionals.

Goodstone Inn

On August 30 The Town of Middleburg is

OPEN L AT E

Join us for this special event in conjunction with the National Sporting Library & Museum

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Come experience all Middleburg has to offer and visit the concert along with over 20 shops, galleries, boutiques, and restaurants that will be open until at least 9pm!

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

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Seven Loaves Celebrates 25 Years

By Leonard Shapiro

W

hen the company he was working for went bellyup during the recession of 2008, then Middleburg resident Steve Plescow decided to use some free time to do some volunteering. For the next ten years, one of the charities he chose became a soul-satisfying part of his life.

That would be Seven Loaves, the Middleburg-based non-profit now headed by president Marie Piskorz that provides a food safety net for those in need.

On Sunday, Sept. 8 from 1-3 p.m., Seven Loaves will celebrate its 25th anniversary with an event at Salamander Resort & Spa. They’ve invited more than 300 volunteers to a barbecue, with Salamander donating food and drink.

“Middleburg is looked at as an affluent community, but there are still people who can’t feed themselves,” said Mary Hayes, a Middleburg resident overseeing the celebration. “Many people we help have jobs, and never thought they’d need us. They do.”

Added Plescow, a former Seven Loaves president, “There’s definitely a

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need. Food insecurity is a larger problem than most people think. When you talk to people who don’t have enough money, what’s the first thing that suffers?

Good food. They need help.”

Seven Loaves was the vision of Reverend Martin Spillman, then pastor of Middleburg’s United Methodist Church, to provide a communitywide approach to address hunger. He was joined by Long Branch Baptist, Middleburg Baptist, St. Stephen Catholic, Emmanuel Episcopal and the Church of Our Redeemer.

They started with a small closet in the Methodist church, but they’ve expanded the space to become one of the larger

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Volunteers sorting fresh produce for the Seven Loaves pantry. food pantry operations in Northern Virginia. Seven Loaves still operates out of the church’s lower level and recently completed a significant renovation.

Open three days a week, patrons can visit the pantry once a week. On a typical day, about thirty families use the facility. In 2018, more than 1,300 individuals and 384 households were recipients.

“Seven Loaves is like a small grocery operation,” said Seven Loaves treasurer Browning Herbert. “We distribute over 300,000 pounds of food annually and source supplies from grocery store donations, purchases from the regional Blue Ridge Food

Bank warehouse and many food drives by the local community and youth groups.

“We’re especially grateful to the students at Hill School, Foxcroft, Middleburg Charter and the Dulles South Chapter of the Loudoun Young Men’s Service League who run food drives and volunteer.”

Thirty to forty volunteers work tat he pantry each week, and local businesses also play a major role.

Seven Loaves secretary Teresa Stine said, “We started a piggy bank program with local shops several years ago and it’s been very successful. We also receive contributions from the merchants.”

Special events also make Seven Loaves a beneficiary, including the Upperville Colt and Horse Show, Bluemont Concert Series, Middleburg Community Center concerts and the Winchester Harley Davidson Club.

Seven Loaves is unique among area food banks because it does not place geographic restrictions on where patrons come from. The cornerstone of its philosophy comes from Matthew 15:32.

“I do not want to send them away hungry…”

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Pitching Middleburg, and Catching New Business

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MIDDLEBURG COMMON GROUNDS

By Leonard Shapiro

hen long-time residents in and around Middleburg find out what occupies most of Jamie Gaucher’s professional waking hours, almost invariably he is soon asked “when can we get another Coach Stop restaurant back in town?”

July marked Gaucher’s second full year as Middleburg’s Business and Economic Development director, and there’s plenty to celebrate. On his watch, Jamie Gaucher spreads 26 new businesses have come into the town, most with the economic word on Middleburg.

Gaucher’s fingerprints all over them.

None of them are a full-service, every-day, breakfast-lunch-and-dinner eating establishment (and semi-social club) like the old Coach Stop at 9 Washington St., which shut down in January, 2010. These days, the latest business occupying the iconic restaurant’s old space is a women’s clothing boutique.

“The hard part for me is that I wasn’t here and never went to the Coach Stop,” Gaucher said. “But I’ve definitely had a lot of people tell me about it. And the town would certainly be interested if something like that came along.”

Plenty of other new retail shops, restaurants and small businesses taking up office space have come along, with Gaucher constantly fielding inquiries from potential new tenants and actively recruiting others.

Gaucher is fully aware there are still empty prime location storefronts and 6,000 square feet of available office space. But he’s also confident he and the town’s economic development advisory committee are making the right moves to attract new business to fill those voids.

Gaucher is particularly proud of the new Old Ox Brewery that moved into a newly renovated building on South Madison once owned by the Town of Middleburg. Old Ox, with its flagship operation in Ashburn, also is an example of the sort of business Gaucher hopes to lure.

“We’ve had some success attracting people with businesses in the region who are looking to expand,” he said. “And Middleburg is not too far away from where they are now. Old Ox, the (King Street) Oyster Bar (which started in Leesburg) have done that. And we don’t want to cannibalize existing businesses, either.

“When I’m approaching someone, it’s really got to be a complementary business. I don’t want another bakery to displace what’s here now.”

Gaucher said his main focus is on specialty retail and food and beverage, preferably individually owned and looking to fill a niche. But this summer, he’s also been talking with someone thinking about opening a boutique hotel, and there’s been some interest in turning the old Southern States building into daily, weekly or monthly temporary office rental space.

“The pitch is if you are an independent, locally owned business, we have a community that’s more than just the 800 people who live in the village,” he said. “We have almost 10,000 cars going through Middleburg every day, and on the weekends, there are so many visitors. There’s not a lot between Middleburg and Purcellville or Winchester, or Middleburg and (Interstate) 66. We’re just uniquely positioned.”

Gaucher said that $20 million a year is spent in Middleburg restaurants, and more than 50 percent of the town’s budget comes from a meal tax and a transient occupancy tax (TOT), the latter mainly from the Salamander resort.

While many jurisdictions try to attract new businesses with tax breaks and other incentives, Gaucher said Middleburg does not.

“I was trained with the understanding that no amount of incentives can make a bad location into a good location,” he said. “And Middleburg is a great location.”

That ‘s not to say he and other town representatives won’t do everything they can to smooth the way for any new business. And once they do open up shop here, town officials and council members are more than willing to assist them.

The town also has several new events in mind to attract even more visitors, including the first Oktoberfest in late September.

Gaucher grew up in New Jersey, is a graduate of Washington-Lee in Lexington, Va., and has had more than 20 years working in economic development. That included four years in Middlebury, Vermont before he accepted the Middleburg position.

He and his wife, Elizabeth, and 11-year-old daughter Clarin live in nearby Hamilton, and Gaucher said they all love the area. That obviously translates into his typically passionate pitches to potential new businesses. And who knows, maybe one day, that might even include a new Coach Stop-style restaurant.

Stay tuned.

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These Highwaymen Make Hoofbeat Harmony A lucky traveler down the Snickersville Turnpike might be startled to come across Mark Duffell, attired in fedora, coat, tie, and apron, taking a practice run from Whitestone Farms to Wind Fields, home of one of the Middleburg Hunt’s masters.

T

By M.J. McAteer

he legendary country music group The Highwaymen was huge in its day, but as big as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash might have been, they were lightweights compared to their namesakes at Whitestone Farm in Aldie.

“We’re extremely GRATEFUL our grandchildren are at a school that LOVES what they do as much as HILL does.”

“At The Hill School, the climate and environment is one of complete acceptance. The teachers have always made us feel welcome, even when it is not a planned visit. They are happy to have us there – they know the grandparent role is important and they embrace that. Our grandchildren are fortunate to be in such a magical environment.”

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

Mark is the general manager of Whitestone, a renowned cattle breeding operation located on the Snickersville Turnpike, and looking after 1,100 head of Angus cattle tends to occupy a lot of his time.

Horses, though, occupy a lot of his heart.

He grew up around equines, because both his grandfathers had horses on their South Carolina farms. As a result, he said, “I’ve always had a love for horses.”

Mark likes to do both plain and fancy work with his Highwaymen. He happily labors in the farm’s extensive gardens with the boys togged out in their workaday harnesses. But he also enjoys going glam with them, dressing the teams up in patent leather collars and studded leather nameplates for their stints pulling picturesque carriages.

His infatuation with driving extends to just about any manner of equipment that can be pulled by a horse. For the farm work, he has, over the years, acquired a sickle mower, a hay rake, a two-row corn planter, a walking plow, a sulky plow, a cultivator, and several kinds of harrows.

The local Highwaymen, a quartet of Belgian horses known as Willie, Waylon, Kris, and Cash, tip the scales at a ton apiece, and when harnessed together, that’s a daunting amount of horseflesh-and horsepower. Carriage enthusiast Mark Duffell, though, is undaunted.

“It’s exhilarating driving 8,000 pounds,” he said.

For carriage driving, he’s had wagons, wagonettes, carts, and a sleigh, plus exotically named vehicles such as a roof-seat break, an auto-top surrey, a gentleman’s phaeton, and a going-to-cover cart with kennels for bird dogs.

His four-in-hand, meaning all four of the Highwaymen are in the traces, is an eight-passenger wagonette, custom made in Bird in Hand, Pa., and driving it requires a special skill set. Mark has taken lessons locally with Maryalice L. Matheson Thomas of the Piedmont Driving Club, and, recently,

when he was in England, he snagged a lesson with carriage-world legend John Parker. Fifty years ago, Parker taught Prince Philip to drive, and both he and Philip are still going strong.

“Even at age 80, Parker is a master,” Mark said.

The focus of his lesson with the master was “reinmanship,” he explained. He was told that a good whip--the correct term for a carriage driver-must have a light touch, even when handling 60 pounds of lines, the correct term for reins.

“I don’t want to see a lot of knitting,” John Parker said, meaning avoid busy hands at all costs. “If you take an inch, you have to give an inch.”

A lucky traveler down the Snickersville Turnpike might be startled to come across Mark Duffell, attired in fedora, coat, tie, and apron (to protect his clothing from oily reins), taking a practice run from Whitestone Farms to Wind Fields, home of one of the Middleburg Hunt’s masters.

During these outings and all other drives, safety comes first, he said, adding that he never leaves the driver’s seat when his Belgians are in harness. He also has two grooms aboard to take care of any issue that needs to be addressed from the ground.

Mark does regular outings with the Piedmont Driving Club and charity drives. But anyone who wants to get more than a chance sighting of him and his four-in-hand, should plan to be on hand for this year’s Middleburg Christmas parade on Dec. 7.

In previous years, Willie and Waylon alone have done the honors, but this year, Mark hopes to debut all four Highwaymen in the popular procession. No doubt, his carriage and its four-ton equine engine will be given pride of place.

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www.geortho.com Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

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Locksley: A state-of-the-art dairy barn and milking parlor tends to the needs of a small but growing herd of 19 cows: Brown Swiss, Jersey, as well as Black and Red Holsteins.

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Photos by Carina Elgin

Say Cheese and Wine and So Much More

A sampler of lovely Locksley Estate Farmstead cheese.

By Carina Elgin

here’s no doubt that Jennifer McCloud gets things done.

Smart and savvy, with a sense of humor, she has transformed the horse and cattle farm she bought more than 20 years ago into a thriving, multi-faceted rural farming enterprise.

Located on the western slope of Bull Run Mountain near Middleburg, Jennifer calls her piece of the planet the “Ag District,” to emphasize her land has been declared an “Agricultural/Forestal District,” a registered rural conservation zone, reserved for the production of agricultural products, and protected from development by Virginia law.

“I’m excited to be using the land, preserving the land, as it was intended, by farming,” Jennifer said proudly. “It’s been lots of work, a lot of problems, but it’s all been good for years now.”

She’s quite certain she has the only farm in Virginia that produces artisan wines, artisan cheese, and, soon, artisan breads. She also has visions for more projects, all to restore and revive the productivity of the land.

Not to worry wine lovers. Her major passion remains in growing grapes and making top quality wines at her award-winning Chrysalis Vineyards.

In 1995, the successful entrepreneur attended a meeting in Charlottesville that first introduced her to the Norton grape, and over the next twenty years they took root. The Norton, a disease resistant native plant, had all but withered away during the Prohibition era. Now in its 22nd “leaf ” in the vineyard, the 40 acres of Norton vines are the largest planting of the grape in the world, and her wines are making their mark internationally.

In 2005, as she looked around the thriving acres of native Virginian Norton and other prospering varieties of European grapes, Jennifer pondered what to do with the “non-vineyard” land on her rolling 412 acres. So, she added a partner and started Locksley Farmstead Cheese Company.

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A state-of-the-art dairy barn and milking parlor tends to the needs of a small but growing herd of 19 cows.

These days, cheese production is booming. A state-of-the-art dairy barn and milking parlor tends to the needs of a small but growing herd of 19 cows: Brown Swiss, Jersey, as well as Black and Red Holsteins. The health and happiness of the cows is key, using sustainable farming practices.

Locksley is whimsically named for the English home of Robin Hood. Great care and much intensive labor goes into the making of the five cheeses currently offered, all named after Robin Hood’s merry men, and his true love, Maid Marian.

An intriguing choice of recipes and a master cheesemaker ensure an impressive variety of intense flavors and textures. There’s a camembert/ brie, a cheddar and a Gouda. The “washed rind” cheese is labelled “mildly stinky,” while a “fromage blanc” is a spreadable cheese made weekly with fresh milk. All cheeses can be purchased in the Chrysalis tasting room, an impressive “rustic modern” three-story edifice built in 2015. It’s surrounded by many attractive outdoor seating opportunities.

The main floor offers wine tastings, as well as a display of crackers and the Farmstead cheeses.

Farm-made vinegars, hot sauce and Norton jellies add to the temptation. Wine tastings also take place outside where groups can have their own

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

covered gazebos and a well-versed staff member.

Downstairs, the cheeses are made, aged and packaged. Currently, some 700 pounds of cheese are produced per week, enough to sell in-house and through a contract with International Gourmet Foods, a distributor of gourmet products.

Jennifer intends to increase cheese production and varieties, without sacrificing the artisan, hands-on details of the craft. Visitors can peer through the three panes of glass that keep the cheese aging cells at the proper temperature, and at the other production rooms where cheeses are in varying stages of creation and packaging.

More seating areas, indoors and outside, are on the top level. The views of the valley at the base of Bull Run Mountain are truly spectacular.

Picnics and special events are encouraged, but don’t miss the Little River Bakehouse, just beyond the three-story building. In final testing stages, freshly-baked breads soon will be available. Friday through Sunday, hand-tossed artisan pizzas come out of a rotating hearth, using Locksley Farmstead mozzarella. Other menu items like tacos, grilled cheese sandwiches and grass-fed beef patty melts are also offered.

Under a separate label, the Middleburg Winery, Jennifer has started offering a “less serious” beverage line. Surely you know someone who needs “Snobby Bitch” white Sangria, soon available in a can.

Jennifer McCloud isn’t ready to sit back and enjoy the fruits of her labor. She has more in store, more ideas on how to utilize her land to bring highest quality local food products back to an eager audience.

Locksley Farmstead Cheese Chrysalis Vineyards at The Ag District 39025 John Mosby Highway Middleburg, VA 20117 McCloud@ChrysalisWine.com 540-687-8222 ChrysalisWine.com

Back To School: M

Middleburg Community Charter School

iddleburg Community Charter School (MCCS) has announced the appointment of Stephen Robinson as principal. For the past thirteen years, Mr. Robinson has served as an educator, academic leader, vice principal and interim principal. A Teacher of the Year in Washington D.C. in 2010, he holds a bachelor’s degree in history and a Master’s degree in administration and supervision.

Here’s to you, Mr. Robinson

Teachers Gregory House and Mackenzie Escobar.

“Creating a great school begins with building relationships with each other. The staff at MCCS is committed to providing rigorous instruction that is based on critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity,” Robinson said. “I’m confident that MCCS will provide each scholar with an education that is both challenging and unique. My desire is that every family in Loudoun has the aspiration to send their child to a school such as MCCS.” At MCCS every classroom teacher holds an advanced degree and a passion for individualized, student-focused education.

The school emphasizes project-based learning and a progressive, whole-child approach. MCCS is a STEAM-based school (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) that offers blended classrooms (K/1, 2/3, 4/5) and a 16:1 student to teacher

ratio with a maximum of 150 students.

Middleburg Mayor Bridge Littleton serves on the school’s board of directors.

“Since the 1880s this school has not only been educating our children, but has been an important partner with greater Middleburg, serving the broader needs of our community. We’re committed to MCCS’s continued success,” Littleton said. Students take walking field trips into the Town of Middleburg to visit the public library, post office, and the National Sporting Museum as it relates to their curriculum. In the warmer months, fourth and fifth graders take their gym class in the form of swimming lessons at the Community Center’s pool.

Students are taught the content necessary to meet Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL) in a hands-on, creative format. In the 2018-2019 school year, MCCS students exceeded Loudoun County averages for SOLs. The school is a public charter open to all Loudoun County K-5 residents.

There is no fee to attend and no test to gain admission. MCCS is accepting applications for students from kindergarten through fifth grade for the 2019-2020 school year. To speak with Principal Robinson or schedule a school tour, please call 540-687-5048.

Learn more at our upcoming open houses September 26th 12:00pm - 2:00pm

October 8th 8:00am - 10:00am

January 13th 10:00am - 12:00pm

RSVP: www.wakefieldschool.org/admission or 540.253.7600

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

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Lori Keenan McGuinness:

ROLLING DOWN AND CLEANING UP THE RIVER The GCA needs members who can advocate for conservation before local governments by writing letters, comments and attending hearings, as there is growing pressure to develop this area.

L

Lori Keenan McGuinness Photo by Doug Gehlsen of Middleburg Photo

ori Keenan McGuinness represents Fauquier County as a chairman of the board of the Goose Creek Association (GCA). The mission is to protect and preserve the Goose Creek watershed and the quality of our life in Fauquier and Loudoun counties through environmental conservation.

“The Goose Creek is actually a river that has been designated a State Scenic River, stretching 54 miles from Linden to Landsdowne, with a watershed that encompasses 385 square miles,” Lori told Country ZEST. “As a headwater of the Potomac River, the Goose Creek is an essential resource both locally and in the greater Chesapeake Bay watershed.”

GCA started in the early 1970s when a developer proposed draining effluent into the Goose Creek near Crenshaw Road near Rectortown. A dedicated group of volunteers thwarted that proposal. GCA emerged with strong, dedicated leaders to address various issues, including traffic calming along Route 50 and the creation of several historic districts, such as the unique Beaverdam Creek Historic Roadways District, designed to preserve gravel roads that absorb water run-off and slow traffic.

“Over a decade ago, GCA started our stream monitoring program where volunteers test selected sites twice a year for macro invertebrates (insects) that indicate the quality of the water,” Lori said.

“For the past several years we’ve also worked to engage students and adults in the ‘Goose Creek Challenge,’ where we plant native species to build riparian buffers that will filter and slow down the water.”

They also have canoe cleanups to clear litter from stretches of the river.

“These are wonderful opportunities to enjoy the river while doing something productive,” she added. “Every year we have a forum or documentary to educate the public on various topics.”

The organization also advocates against inappropriate development that would imperil the watershed and view sheds.

“In the future we hope to continue our work and spread awareness, especially among young folks and in northern Loudoun County, about the beauty and importance of the Goose Creek to our area,” Lori said. “We have many new residents we would like to introduce to the Goose Creek, because it’s deserving of our respect and enjoyment.

We’re producing a short video to put all this into context.”

As a volunteer organization, there are many opportunities to contribute, as individuals and as families. The GCA needs members who can advocate for conservation before local governments by writing letters, comments and attending hearings, because there is growing pressure to develop this area.

Lori loves being outdoors and is committed to environmental conservation.

“I’ve been involved in all our programs, and, as a result, I’ve enjoyed parts of the Goose Creek watershed that I could not otherwise, as most of the watershed is privately owned. It’s been wonderful meeting other residents who are as passionate as I am about protecting this watershed from being exploited and ruined.

“Having lived elsewhere, I’ve seen how quickly areas can change.

I feel very fortunate to live in this incredibly beautiful part of the country that I hope stays this way as long as possible.”

For more information, go to goosecreek.org

Money Talks.

Now, Teach it to Hug. From memorial funds, to scholarships funds, to donor-advised funds, we can help you make a difference that never ends.

Since 1999, the Community Foundation for Loudoun and Northern Fauquier Counties has helped generous donors support a variety of charitable causes in our region. We salute the leaders who wrapped their vision and commitment—and arms—around this community to create and sustain a permanent charitable resource.

Won’t You Join Us? CommunityFoundationLF.org  (703) 779-3505 26

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

Suzanne Obetz

OPEN YEAR ROUND THURSDAY-SATURDAY & MONDAY from 11-5 SUNDAY from 12-5

SHARING THE PAST TO INSPIRE THE FUTURE

“It’s important to understand the community you represent and I’m proud to preserve the rich history of such a fascinating town.”

Picnic Meadow • Dog Friendly Kid Friendly 10100 Three Fox Lane, Delaplane, VA (540) 364-6073 • www.threefoxvineyards.com

A

s the executive director of the Middleburg Museum Foundation, Suzanne Obetz works to preserve the history of this village, founded circa 1787.

She tells Country ZEST that “the mission of the Middleburg Museum is to record, preserve and share the rich history of Middleburg. We’ll enhance the knowledge of Middleburg among the people in our community and increase the general public’s awareness of Middleburg’s important role in history. We hope to inspire further preservation of key local artifacts and maintain a sense of Middleburg’s culture and way of life. By sharing the past, we hope to inspire the future.”

tuscany EXPERIENCE

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In 2011, a group of citizens recognized this need and saw an opportunity to preserve the past of Middleburg and inspire future generations with a sense of their shared community.

Founding the Middleburg Museum Foundation, their vision was to create a unique museum that would allow current and future residents, as well as out of town visitors, to experience and learn about the place we call home. The 1,130 square foot museum, to be designed by local architect Bill Turnure, will be part of The Pink Box visitor’s center at 12 N. Madison St. Going forward, the group is excited about the long-term, positive impact the Middleburg Museum will have on the community, and all who come to visit in the future.

“We envision the museum will be a unique focal point for our community,” she added. “The museum will be a place for memories, discovery, connections and inspiration. We’ll create a rich source of history, a valuable setting for research and a dynamic educational resource for children and adults.”

They are working on raising funds right now to help with the cost of building a unique and state-ofthe-art building that will serve the community for many years.

“We’re always looking for artifacts that tell the story of Middleburg. Along with historic items, we’re working on oral histories of local citizens,” she said. “Volunteers are always needed to further the progress of the museum.

“Having only been in the Middleburg area for a few years, I’m most excited to learn all about the history of what makes this town so special. I meet new people every day and I’ve come to love Middleburg very much. It’s important to understand the community you represent and I’m proud to preserve the rich history of such a fascinating town.”

For more information go to: themiddleburgmuseum.org

Suzanne Obetz Photo by Doug Gehlsen of Middleburg Photo

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

27

Sally Price

IT’S ALL ABOUT TRUST

Piedmont Garden Club presents

GROWING BEAUTIFUL FOOD A lecture on how to become a thoughtful steward of your own beautiful, edible landscape by award-winning author and speaker Matthew Benson

S

ally B. Price is the executive director of the Land Trust of Virginia (LTV) located in the Middleburg Professional Center building on the south edge of the village.

The LTV specializes in helping landowners permanently protect their land from development through placing their properties into conservation easement. They have helped 175 landowners protect almost 20,000 acres across 15 Virginia counties.

For 27 years, LTV has been working with landowners to conserve the open spaces, natural resources, working farms, wildlife habitat, forests and water resources, and historic heritage that are cherished in these parts. The properties range in size from two acres to 850.

“Every easement is different reflecting the variances of each property,” Sally said. “We pride ourselves in helping landowners accomplish their conservation goals. We’re in a race against time. Once land is gone and developed, it’s gone forever. We want to help as many landowners as possible as quickly as possible.”

Sally describes the Land Trust work as “complicated.” For those interested in helping the cause, she said monetary donations are best.

“It helps us maintain the professional staff we need to do this work,” she said.

“But we can also use volunteers for our annual property visits, to help us with events, for routine office work, etc.”

When asked what she likes best about what she does for the LTV, she said, “What we do is permanent land conservation. The legal document we help landowners prepare, protects their property in perpetuity … that means forever. I believe there is nothing more important than protecting our natural resources … for ourselves, for our children, and for the wildlife that depends upon us.”

OCT. 8, 2019, 11:00 A.M.

For more information go to: landtrustva.org

MIDDLEBURG COMMUNITY CENTER

Easement Does It A conservation easement is a private legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust, such as the Land Trust of Virginia, that protects land and its conservation values permanently.

Together the landowner and the land trust craft an easement that protects the significant natural and cultural attributes of the land.

Growing Beautiful Food shows that almost anyone can take their preened, green patch of grass or garden and turn it into a vibrant, local food-shed.

MORE INFORMATION Contact Margaret Littleton at 540-687-6246 or email Piedmont Garden Club at piedmontgardenclub@ gmail.com

Deadline for tickets: October 1, 2019

Matthew Benson explains how to become a thoughtful steward of your own beautiful, edible landscape and proposes that growing your own organic food is not only better for you and the planet, but is a deeply transformative experience.

You will find yourself not only creating an authentic, meaningful connection to the land, but to all the possibilities for growth and change that ensue. For more info about Matthew Benson, visit www.matthewbenson.com.

Land conservation easements are a Virginia strategy for protection and improvement of water quality; preservation of cultural and historic sites; protection of plant and animal communities; sustaining working landscapes and natural areas; and enhancing the quality of life for Virginians.

Sally Price Photo by Doug Gehlsen of Middleburg Photo

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

Jennifer Moore

MARCHING IN MOSBY’S FOOTSTEPS

Jennifer Moore

J

ennifer Moore is the president of the Mosby Heritage Area Association (MHAA) just west of Middleburg at Atoka. The mission of the group is to educate about the history and advocate for the preservation of the extraordinary historic landscape, culture, and scenery in the Northern Virginia Piedmont for future generations.

Now at 25 years, MHAA has visited more than 50,000 students in the five counties of the heritage area: Loudoun, Fauquier, Clarke, Warren, and Prince William.

MHAA was founded in 1995 by local citizens concerned about the lack of history instruction in schools, the growth in the DC metro area, and the quickly disappearing historic landscape of our area.

“We go in to 30-40 schools each year, meeting with about 5,000 students,” Jennifer said. “We talk local history, show pictures of their towns and streets that tie them to the past, and give them a sense of place.”

Photo by Doug Gehlsen of Middleburg Photo

“I feel that MHAA is strongly connected with other like-minded nonprofits and that we all know exactly how to reach each other at any time.”

Because more and more of the local population is new, MHAA wants to provide a connection for citizens to the area’s history. It enhances the quality of life for residents to connect with the fabric of where they live, and MHAA focuses first on school-aged youngsters.

“We want the community to know that our headquarters, the stone farm house on Route 50 at Atoka Road, is open to the public,” she said. “There is astonishing historical

interpretive signage, as well as Civil War stories. History is exhilarating and vibrant.

“If you know about the families that lived here, worked here, worshipped here, were enslaved here, fought here, then please seek to preserve historic sites and open spaces so the next generation will understand our past.

“We hope to not have to rely solely on history textbooks. If landowners and historic property owners are able to place an easement on their property, it would ensure that others will see historic sites with their own eyes. The rolling hills alongside historic stonewalls are an artifact that everyone can access and see. This area and particularly the rural roads are a living, breathing museum” Jennifer was brought up in rural Loudoun County and said she loves being part of the community and partnering with local organizations and neighbors and schools to work on preservation and local history.

“Talking and researching history all the time is so much more meaningful to me because I know the villages, the families, the roads, the old meeting houses and so forth. This has been the backdrop of my life. It’s not like working for a major historic battlefield or presidential home because I lived and played in these places and I knew the descendants of families I’m researching.”

For more information, go to Mosbyheritagearea.org

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29

Another Place Where Everyone Knows Your Name

2 West Washington Street, Middleburg, VA 20117 540.687.8500 peterleonardmorgan.com

By Leslie VanSant

‘Stonyhurst’ – 22941 Foxcroft Rd, Middleburg – Exquisite restoration of an historic 1890’s Virginia stone manor house on 94 pristine acres in conservation easement, one mile outside the Town of Middleburg. $4,425,000 22941FoxcroftRoad.com ‘Crosswinds Farm’ – 6501 Clifton Road, Clifton – Impeccable equestrian estate, just outside the historic village of Clifton, on 9.5 fenced acres. Lovely custom built, French Country inspired, John Neufeld designed house. 8-stall barn with hayloft, heated tack room and wash stall plus full size arena - $1,999,000 6501CliftonRoad.com

Peter lives in the Town of Middleburg and is based at the Hunt Country Sotheby’s International Realty Middleburg office. Call, email or text him to schedule a meeting if you are considering a real estate sale or purchase Peter Leonard-Morgan – Realtor ® Dir – 443.254.5530 peterleonard-morgan@hcsir.com Each Office Individually Owned And Operated

Your Window and Door Specialist (540) 837-9351 10 South Greenway Avenue, Boyce www.ottercreekmillwork.com PROUDY FEATURING

W

hen they say people will walk for miles to get to their favorite watering hole, they’re not kidding about Middleburg’s Red Horse Tavern.

For decades, it’s been a place for locals and visitors to mingle while enjoying a drink or a meal. While Red Horse Tavern manager Sam Rogers the owners and the name on the sign post have changed a few times, the scene has remained the same: a traditional pub with good food and great conversation.

Lunch time is usually local business people. But on a Tuesday night, the tables on the outside patio are mostly filled with families and groups of friends enjoying half-price burger night.

Head upstairs during steeplechase season and you might find people watching the previous week’s race tapes. Weekends, tables are filled with day trippers from Washington, D.C. or beyond. Sunday afternoons often includes a row of motorcycles or bicycles parked out front. Weekend nights, you can find a good time with fun people and live music.

“I would say the best part about working at the pub is the people,” says General Manager Sam Rogers.

It starts with the staff. Many have been there for years, even decades, which is atypical in the restaurant industry. Rogers began working at the Red Horse in 2007, becoming GM in 2010. He still can be found behind the bar most nights.

He also speaks with enthusiasm and pride about the Red Horse team.

“The kitchen staff have been here for several years,” he said. “This makes for consistently good food which keeps the regulars and locals coming back. If you fell in love with our fish and chips or burgers I want them to be the exact thing you wanted even if you came back a year later.”

But the real magic is the relationships that develop between the staff and customers at the Red Horse.

“The pub is special because the staff knows our customers on a personal level, as well as knowing their preferences of what they like to eat or drink,” said Rogers.

“Our long-serving staff is part of what separates us from other restaurants.”

Most week nights, the tavern is filled with locals. You’ll see families grabbing a quick meal on the way home from a late youth sports practice. Riders and trainers will stop in on the way home from the barn or post fox hunting. It’s a regular place where people meet.

“Some customers’ children were only five when I started working here,” Rogers said. “Now many of them are graduating high school and getting ready to go off to college.”

Middleburg resident Sue Lyman concurred.

“When my son Christian was in third or fourth grade, a teacher asked him what family traditions we had,” she said. “His answer was going to half-price burger night at the pub.”

If the walls of the Red Horse could talk, oh the stories they could share. Lots of laughs, a few tears, and some nights, romance is in the air.

Local author John Harris Anderson and his wife ,Ellen Wahlert, found lasting love one evening at the Red Horse.

“We had known each other casually, but after a reception at the National Sporting Library, we decided to have a drink,” Anderson recalled.

“We sat on the deck at Red Horse, had drinks and nachos, and talked till they closed the place down. It’s coming up on 13 years, and we’re still together. It will always be a special memory and a special place.”

The Red Horse Tavern is located at 118 W. Washington Street and is open from 11 a.m. to closing time around 10 p.m.

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

Lumber, Hardware, Paint, and Kitchen and Bath Design Studio

50 Years Serving the Community!

Are you in need of a kitchen or bathroom renovation?

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Visit our newly remodeled

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106 South Madison St., Middleburg, VA 20117

540-687-6318

Monday – Friday: 7 am to 4:30 pm and Saturday: 8 am to Noon

www.mmilh.com “First visit, you’re a valued customer. Second visit, you’re a lifelong friend.”

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

31

PROPERTIES IN HUNT COUNTRY

THOMAS & TALBOT

DUNNOTTAR

Warrenton ~ Historic 400 Acre farm with 6 BR/3BA Main House on 3 levels. Attic, Formal Dining Room, original Hardwood Floors, new Windows and Sun Porch with large Fireplace.

Panoramic mountain views, Great Run creek flows the length of the whole farm, and there are two ponds. Approximately 300 acres of grasslands for horses or cattle. The farm is in a Conservation Easement with The Virginia Outdoors Foundation which gives an Owner permission to to divide into 3 large parcels. $4,125,000

COOPER RIDGE

Marshall ~ Completely renovated brick home on 22+ acres in a private, park like setting.

4 BR and 4½ BA, including a separate au pair or guest suite with fireplace. Hardwood floors, antique mantles, 10 foot ceilings, 5 fireplaces and custom woodwork. 2 level 13 x 49 porch. Full basement with work out room & sauna; play room; 2nd laundry and storage. 2 car garage. New 20 x 24 run in shed. In Orange County Hunt territory. OLREA $1,987,500

THE GRANGE The Plains ~ Stunning addition & complete restoration create a classic and elegant Virginia manor house. Attention to detail throughout including a custom designed kitchen open to the family room.

Property also includes pool, 1 BR guest house & 4 stall barn on 18 acres in the Orange County Hunt Territory. Convenient access to I-66, Rt. 50 and Dulles International Airport. $2,675,000

OLD MEADOW LANE

Middleburg ~ Built in 2000 on 7.57 Acres within 2 blocks of Main Street. 4 BR and 6 ½ BAs on three finished levels. 2 car attached garage and separate 4 bay garage with a walk up attic. 20’ X 40’ heated swimming pool, with stone retaining wall and flagstone terrace. 2 stall barn with feed and tack room, hayloft, water, electric, and 1 paddock. Spring fed stocked pond, Rebuilt stone walls.

Invisible Fencing for approx. 3+ Acres. OLREA $1,595,000

Offers subject to errors, omissions, change of price or withdrawal without notice. Information contained herein is dee

IT’S WHY WE LOVE WHERE WE LIVE At Thomas & Talbot Real Estate we are a small, efficient and effective real estate firm with over 200 years of combined sales experience. Our continued success is in large part attributable to our full time sales staff of award winning, dedicated, competent agents. It always has been, and always will be, our philosophy to give the best service to our customers and we are convinced that a smaller company serves you better.

32

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

REAL ESTATE Phillip S. Thomas, Sr. Celebrating his 57th year in Real Estate

Susie Ashcom Cricket Bedford FOX FORD FARM

Jeffersonton ~ Unique 4 BR country house with pool and outbuildings. One and 1/2 mile of Rappahannock river frontage. Open, rolling fields. Investment, horse farm, brewery, B&B, farming or winery potential. All around views, flowering gardens, privacy and peace. 15 minutes to Warrenton. $1,991,000 on 239+acres or $1,443,000 on 142 acres

Catherine Bernache Snowden Clarke John Coles Rein duPont Cary Embury Julien Lacaze Anne V. Marstiller Brian McGowan

WINDY RIDGE

FEDERAL COURT

Berryville ~ Spacious 1880’s 4 bedroom, 3 bath farm house renovated on 82 secluded acres. Interior details include original heart pine floors, high ceilings, 3 fireplaces, large wrap around porch, new eat-in kitchen and appliances in 2015, 2 offices with built-ins, library, large dining room, living room, Master bedroom with fabulous Master bath. Custom wood siding. 4400 sq.ft. of living space. 45 min to Dulles. 1 DUR. $979,000

Middleburg ~ Wonderful office condo available in established business complex located in the center of Middleburg.

Convenient to banks, post office, restaurants and shopping.

Features include spacious reception area, 3 offices or 2 offices and conference room, updated 1/2 Bath, Kitchenette, storage space, & built-ins. New heat pump and hot water heater. On site parking with 2 assigned spaces included. $235,000

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Middleburg, VA 20118 (540) 687-6500

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

33

Vineyard VIEW

Justice Is Served At Blue Valley Vineyard

A

t the ripe old age of nine, Yianni (John) Zissios began learning the age-old art of wine making during visits to his grandfather in Greece, the land of his forefathers.

Today, decades later, John, his wife Helen and their son, Stergio, preside over the impressive family owned and operated Blue Valley Vineyard and Winery, among the bucolic hills of Delaplane in Fauquier County.

Twenty-three years ago, the family stumbled upon a large and beautiful tract of land, once home to John Marshall, the great former Chief Justice of the United States, falling in love with its similarities to their Greek homeland.

They negotiated the purchase of 63 acres with the intention of it becoming their home. However, as time passed, Stergio convinced his parents the property would be the perfect location for a wonderful vineyard and, ultimately, a winery and tasting room.

Today, four years after its grand opening in April, 2015, Blue Valley Vineyard and Winery is a serious player in the Virginia wine producing industry.

They bottle 10,000 cases a year for

Photos by Peter Leonard-Morgan

By Peter Leonard-Morgan

The barrel room at Blue Valley Vineyard and Winery. customer consumption at the tasting room, purchase by wine club members, enjoyment during the many on site private occasions and distribution to half a dozen states and counting.

They now have 100 acres, with 18 under vine. Varietals include Muscat Ottonel, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier and Chardonnay whites plus Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Chambourcin reds. Blue Valley also produces a Rosé with a sparkling Blanc de Blancs in the works.

The 27,000-square foot winery/tasting room was designed and built by the family, and welcomes visitors throughout the week, year round as well as playing host to some 20 weddings a year and numerous special corporate occasions. Below ground is an imposing high-ceilinged winery building, dug underground to ensure temperature consistency. It houses

The tasting room has an inviting sparkle.

32 stainless steel tanks custom-made in I asked Stergio about their recent South Africa, 280 French oak barrels and collaboration with the Great Meadow an extensive array of equipment required Twilight Polo season. in order to turn grapes into wine.

“This is an excellent way for us to During my visit to Blue Valley, I met promote our brand locally to a clientele with Stergio and learned how family which enjoys leisure activities in means everything here. And family Fauquier County,” he said. extends to the employees and customers, And that is certainly happening as where a primary philosophy is to treat more and more county residents and wine everyone as if they are, indeed, family. connoisseurs from further afield learn about Stergio said many regulars become Fauquier County’s largest vineyard/winery. members of one of their two wine clubs— Blue Valley Vineyard the Cave Club which requires a commitment to purchase one case of wine per and Winery year, and the BV Wine Club, where cus5535 Blue Valley Way, Delaplane tomers collect three bottles every quarter.

540-364-2347 Distribution has become a major part Open Friday through Sunday of the business, with wine outlets such as 11 a.m. to 7 p.m Total Wine & More as well as restaurants Open Monday through selling significant quantities around the Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. country.

THOMAS & TALBOT REAL ESTATE Middleburg, Virginia (540) 687-6500

BOLINVAR

Middleburg ~ Magnificent Estate on 100 acres. The stone house boasts 22 elegant rooms, 9 fireplaces, high ceilings, all superbly detailed and beautifully appointed.

Brilliant gardens surround the heated pool. Fabulous 11 stall stone stable with 2 staff apartments. Riding ring, green house all in pristine condition. Additional 227 acres are available. $8,495,000

POSSUM HOLLOW

Delaplane ~ Estate on 27 acres of rolling countryside with views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The all brick 3 level residence features 5 BR and 5 BA, spacious rooms and huge floor to ceiling windows. The grounds include a pool with stone terraces, a center aisle stable, a huge indoor riding arena and a tenant/guest house. Ideally located with easy access to to the nation’s Capital. $ 1,150,000

For more information on these fine properties contact

Mary Ann McGowan 540.687.5523 Licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Jim McGowan 703.927.0233

Licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Brian McGowan 703.927.4070 Licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Offers subject to errors, omissions, change of price or withdrawal without notice. Information contained herein is deemed reliable, but is not so warranted nor is it otherwise guaranteed.

3408-06_CountryZest-McGowan-Half_H.indd

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

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General Plumbing • Drain Cleaning • Water Treatments • Sewer/Septic Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

35

This Plant-A-Plant project transforms a local landscape.

It’s The Good Earth and More at Plant-A-Plant

F

By Leslie VanSant

or some, there’s no greater gardening satisfaction than feeling the earth in the palms of their hands. The musky smell, the resulting greenery, colors and the pollinators flitting from blossom to blossom delight the senses. The resulting landscape, a corner where you are one with nature, is always a source of pride.

Just ask Lisbeth Prins, owner of the Plant-A-Plant Company in Aldie.

“My real interest in plants started with a coleus when I was in science class at Robinson High School in Fairfax County.” said Lisbeth, referring to the popular ornamental plant with brightly colored leaves.

These days, that initial interest has blossomed into a thriving business best described on the company’s website (www.plantaplant.com).

“We are landscape designers,” it reads. “We design outdoor living areas taking into consideration site conditions that will affect drainage as well as plantings to compliment your home, including areas of sun and shade, wind, privacy, care and upkeep, watering, and circulation around your property.”

Lisbeth Prins’ passion took deeper root when she attended Mary Washington College, studying biology and botany. A summer job at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington truly opened her eyes to the joy of landscaping, surrounded by all manner of plant material.

“Working at the USBG, downtown and at the Anacostia greenhouses, we did everything,” she said. “From the orchid house, to the palm house where the plants you see on television or in photos are grown and kept, plants for members of congress, we did it all.”

Lisbeth spent much of this time learning about soils, leaf mulch and different varieties of plants, knowledge she uses to this day. Most of all, she realized that she wanted a career working with plants and people, and not in a lab.

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

Photo © Vicky Moon

“I had always been cutting lawns to earn extra money,” she said. “So a landscaping business seemed to fit.”

Plant-A-Plant came to life in 1982, after Lisbeth graduated Mary Washington, then earned a degree in landscape design from George Washington University.

Her straightforward and honest approach got her noticed quickly. She had a small nursery and a work crew in Fairfax. Her business really began to take off when she connected with Kristin Cotton, an interior designer, who introduced her to many people looking for a fresh approach to landscaping their yards.

Lisbeth recalled the challenges of working in the Nation’s Capital, including carefully carrying small buckets of soil through one client’s house to first remove bad soil and then install the good stuff.

In describing her philosophy, Lisbeth said, “You have to start with a good site, good soil and good drainage. If not, the plants won’t last. Good drainage and good soil make a good garden. Without them, gardening is a fight.”

The second part of a good landscape design is the plant material—“a piece of paper is flat, your property isn’t,” she said, adding that her crew occasionally must make on-the-spot adjustments because of the grade of soil they find during installation.

She also described how location can influence a garden’s style. Lisbeth said she “matches the garden to the customer” as the garden is an extension of living space into nature.

In the nearly four decades since starting Plant-A-Plant, Lisbeth has seen the impact of the changing climate reflected in the landscapes she creates. There is more disease in plant material, for example, and an overall greater susceptibility to insects and viruses.

She pointed to the recent invasion of the ash borer beetle and how it has devastated this native tree.

That’s why she’s constantly testing new plant material at her Aldie property to ensure she is creating botanically diverse landscapes that will survive and positively impact the larger natural world.

Plant-A-Plant Company 5283 Lightridge Farm Road Aldie, VA 20105 www.plantaplant.com manager@plantaplant.com 703-327-6844

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

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Doc at Your Door:

Making Medicine Mobile Dr. William Simpson, the Doc at Your Door

Doc at Your Door’s service is also perfect for those with chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, or high cholesterol.

For less serious conditions, Dr. Simpson also offers Telehealth, allowing his patients to video chat with him on their computers.

By Sebastian Langenberg

F

or Warrenton physician William L. Simpson, the past is the future.

He started “Doc at Your Door” about a year ago and already has been getting wonderful feedback.

“It’s like going back in time,” he said.

Simpson was getting frustrated with the fast pace of a typical doctor’s office practice. Most internal medicine practitioners have 2,000 patients a year, and as a result, most doctors can only spend a a limited amount of time with most patients. That’s hardly enough to address all of the patients questions and concerns.

“If I start seeing folks in their home the way it used to be done. I can deliver better care and you can actually take the time to sit with the family,” he said, adding that he now can take the time his patients need. Typically, he’ll see five patients a day.

So now, after 25 years of office practice, he’s going totally mobile to give that superior care.

Simpson is board certified in internal medicine and has been providing general primary care to residents of Fauquier and surrounding counties since 1993.

He was born in the Shenandoah Valley, grew up in Fairfax County, and went to both college and medical school at the University of Virginia.

He also has advanced training and experience in geriatric care, wound care, nursing home care, rehabilitation care, home care, and health services administration. His wife, Patty, operates her own geriatrics care management company in the region (Care Connections for Seniors, LLC), and continually provides him invaluable insight into home-based medical care, from both a nursing and a care management perspective.

The biggest patient benefits with

Doc at Your Door are privacy and convenience. His practice is particularly perfect for patients who can’t make it to an office. Perhaps, they’re nonambulatory, or have an illness that’s keeping them bed-bound, or maybe they just couldn’t get a baby-sitter to watch the kids.

Simpson said he’ll meet patients anywhere. He’s even visited patients at the gym. He always tries to accommodate his patients as much as possible. He recently saw a patient at 5 a.m. before the man’s morning commute. This doctor is on call 24/7, weekends and holidays included.

He also can perform virtually any procedure that can be done at the office, from vaccines, to blood draws to wound care. He even has an app on his phone to perform an EKG Many patients choose to couple Simpson’s service with their regular doctor. And there’s another much appreciated advantage to those

lab tests; results are usually delivered within 24 hours.

Doc at Your Door’s service is also perfect for those with chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, or high cholesterol. For less serious conditions, he also offers Telehealth, allowing his patients to video chat with him on their computers.

Simpson typically travels throughout Fauquier County as well as the surrounding areas, and he’ll try to travel most anywhere a patient needs him. He charges a travel fee of $2 per minute out and back from Main Street in Warrenton, $5 a minute, and $7 a minute for nights and weekends.

Simpson does not take insurance for his visits, but insurance does cover the tests and prescriptions he orders. There’s also no membership fee that concierge plans require.

For more information, call 833-362-8800 or go to https://docatyourdoor.care/

Concert for the Animals A Pop Music Songbook

Grace Episcopal Church - The Plains October 25th 7:30-9:00 PM Tickets $25 More info/tickets: middleburghumane.org Hear Classic Pop Hits From the 60s, 70s, 80s and More!

Featuring Talented DC Area Performers Hosted by Will Thomas

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

Illustration by Crowell Hadden

Mary, Mitchell and Harold Cross celebrated a Saturday night out for a bit of dancing and family time at the Marshall Community Center.

Photo by Middleburg Photo

Photo © by Vicky Moon

Photo © by Vicky Moon

There was a very special celebration for Ann MacLeod at a small luncheon on the occasion of her 97th birthday. Guests were urged to come dressed as Ann, and Page Glascock was by far the best.

Kiernan and Chris Patusky celebrated the opening of their new tasting facility at their Slater Run Vineyards in Upperville.

Photo © by Vicky Moon

Photo © by Vicky Moon

CELEBRATIONS

Arch Moore III and Cathy Moore greeted friends at the Atlantic Union Bank in Middleburg to celebrate his recent retirement.

Linda Conti, Misia Broadhead and Tony Barham were the judges for the Artists in Middleburg exhibit “Sunrise, Sunset: Landscapes from Dawn to Dusk.” The Best in Show was awarded to Ramona Weaver for her painting shown here, “Late Winter Sun.”

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

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By Sebastian Langenberg

ommonwealth Classics, located in the old IGA Grocery store building in Marshall, is a go-to destination for buyers searching for imported vehicles from around the world, selling everything from a Lancia Fulvia to vintage Land Rovers.

Owner Bill Desrosiers opened the current business in 2017 when he had an opportunity to import some classic vehicles from Spain, and started sourcing them for other dealerships. He opened the space in Marshall in order to get his license to sell used cars on his own.

His background in logistics certainly comes in handy. Bill worked in freight forwarding as a civilian employee for the Navy, and handled the logistics in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Commonwealth sells both restored and unrestored cars but has shifted its focus to frame off, fully restored trucks, both Land Rovers and Land Cruisers, among others. They currently have seven restorations underway in three different countries.

“How do you do it with an ocean between you and maybe a language you haven’t quite mastered,” Bill said, then answered his own question.

Essentially the same process as if the car was local.

He uses internet research to find good deals and friends, agents and networks in different countries to source the best deals.

Why not import the vehicles and restore them all here?

Photo © by Vicky Moon

C

Restored Classic Vehicles Find a Home in Marshall 1991 LAND ROVER DEFENDER 110

Commonwealth Classics Tom Trumbo with a 1991 Land Rover Defender 110 in the showroom of Commonwealth Classics in Marshall.

“I think it’s the definition of hubris to think that we could do a better job at restoring them here rather than the people who originally bought and loved those trucks,’ he said.

The Land Rover restorations are done in Portugal.

They plate the parts in zinc and cadmium for a classic look with extra protection. The trucks are rebuilt like new, but they put the original rebuilt drive train back in. The first fully rebuilt truck was coming in mid- to late August.

Their Land Cruisers are rebuilt in Bogota, Columbia.

“It’s like walking through the world of wine,” he said.

“Every country has different cars that they love.”

For the cars that are restored in their Marshall location, they use a lot of local businesses for

P

8382 W. Main Street, Marshall email: info@cwclassics.com phone: 540-724-1395 website: www.cwclassics.com materials and parts.

The cars are shipped to the port of Baltimore, transported to Marshall and then titled at the local Department of Motor Vehicles.

“I think everybody at the DMV knows me by name,” said Tom Trumbo, Desrosiers first employee.

In order to properly title the vehicle, they have to get the original Portugese paperwork, translate it all into English, then take the whole packet to the DMV. If a client has a particular car in mind, they can make a special request and Commonwealth Classics will not only find it, but also will coordinate the effort to have it restored and shipped in. Commonwealth sells about 50 cars a year to buyers all over the country.

C ompass 2019-2020

Twenty-Fourth Anniversary Season

Oktoberfest

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2019 - 3PM Thomas Pandolfi, Piano BEETHOVEN - Coriolan Overture BRAHMS - Piano Concerto No. 1 WAGNER - Prelude to Tristan und Isolde BEETHOVEN - Symphony No. 4

Handel’s Messiah

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7 - 7:30PM SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2019 - 3PM RESPIGHI - Three Botticelli Pictures VIVALDI - Triple Violin Concerto HANDEL - The Messiah

Rodrigo!

SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2020 - 3PM Marcus Wolf - Classical/Electric Guitar RODRIGO - Concierto de Aranjuez WOLF - Original compositions for guitar & voice PLUS Additional Solo Guitar Works

PSO Young People’s Concert: Romeo and Juliette

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2020 - 3PM PSO Young Artists’ Competition & Student Art Contest PROKOFIEV - Romeo & Juliette

West Side Story

SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2020 - 3PM COPLAND - El Salon Mexico BLOCH - Concerto Grosso No. 1 BERNSTEIN - Symphonic Dances fromWest Side Story

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TICKETS: www.piedmontsymphony.org

The PSO is Generously Funded in Part By:

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

The Wise Foundation Nicolaas and Patricia Kortlandt Fund The Crossfields Group The Margaret Spilman Bowden Foundation

Mosby at Glen Welby Near Rectortown

By Donald C. Hakenson and Charles V. Mauro

O

n December 21, 1864, Col. John S. Mosby and a few of his men were attending the wedding of one of his rangers, Jake Lavinder, and his new wife Judith at Rosenvix, the house of the bride’s aunt. Judith was the sister of Mrs. Joseph Blackwell and Ranger Johnny Edmonds.

As Mosby was enjoying the wedding festivities, one of his messengers entered the house and reported that enemy cavalry was marching east a few miles away toward Rectortown and they were searching for Southerners.

Mosby requested Tom Love, one of his men, to leave with him and together they rode towards Rectortown. After stopping at Glen Welby, Mosby dropped off the papers he had in his trousers that would betray his identity should he be caught. Mosby and Love then rode off again when they spotted a squad of Union cavalry riding towards Rectortown.

The enemy riders had already started lighting fires, and were preparing to go into bivouac for the night. Mosby told Love, “They’ll be there until tomorrow morning.” Together, they rode back to his men at Rosenvix and ordered them to prepare to attack the Northern Camp at daybreak.

Having missed the meal at the wedding while they had been gone, Mosby decided to ride to Lakeland, the house of his friend Ludwell Lake, whom he knew set a good table. Riding up to the house, Mosby tied his horse to the hitching post. When Love offered to stay outside and keep watch while Mosby ate, Mosby told him there was no danger until tomorrow, so he bade Love to come in with him to eat and keep warm. Mosby’s assessment of the enemy couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Mosby and Love positioned themselves in front of the fire to warm up while Ludwell’s wife and daughters provided them hot coffee while preparing spareribs and hot rolls for dinner.

It was around nine o’clock in the evening, and all were eating and enjoying conversation, when Mosby heard a multitude of horses tramping around the house. Immediately thinking of the need to escape, Mosby jumped up from the table and opened the door at the rear of the dining room. He immediately saw several enemy cavalrymen in the yard behind the house. He shut the door quickly as he turned toward the door in the front of the house, but in walked several Union officers and soldiers.

“Now I see whose horses are tied up front,” a Union captain said, looking at Mosby and Love. But just then shots were fired in the backyard. Mosby heard the glass in a window shatter an instant before a bullet struck him in the abdomen with a stinging sensation.

“I am shot!” Mosby cried out, which not only was the result of being injured, but also was because he thought the cry might stir up a panic and allow him an opportunity to make his escape. The firing continued outside the house, and all the Union officers and soldiers in the house rushed out to see what was going on.

This article is an excerpt from the book: A Tour Guide and History of Col. John S. Mosby’s Combat Operations in Fauquier County, Virginia.

The book is $30 plus $5 shipping and can be purchased from the website: HMSHISTORY.COM.

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

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Senator Jill H. Vogel July Legislative Update The Senate has convened twice since the end of regular session. In April, we returned to Richmond for the Veto Session, where the defining disputes centered around reform bills which passed quite easily with bi-partisan support but were vetoed by Governor Northam. That included two of my bills, a reform of the Department of Elections and legislation to allow associations to provide health plans to individual members who otherwise have no access to affordable coverage. If re-elected, I intend to make these a top priority again next year.

In May, the governor held a signing ceremony in Richmond to sign into law my bill to provide health insurance coverage for autism spectrum disorder. It was a special occasion to recognize those advocates who never gave up in our more than ten-year fight to pass the bill.

In June, the governor called the General Assembly back for a Special Session to focus on gun legislation in the wake of the horrific Virginia Beach murders. Proponents of sweeping restrictions rallied at the Capitol for the July 9th session demanding immediate votes on bills that had been considered earlier in the year in the regular session. Opponents argued the legislature had just debated these bills and called it exploitation of a tragedy and an effort to reunite Democrats ripped apart by recent scandal. They cited that Virginia Beach had every gun restriction in place and it could not stop the shooter. Guns, silencers and high capacity magazines are all banned in that jurisdiction, and employees in the municipal building are not permitted to carry guns.

It should come as no surprise that the flood of communications to my office reflected a near-unanimous call from my constituents to protect gun rights. That included people in both parties and it is very much a reflection of the rural district that I represent. Those sentiments also reflect my own view that these tragedies stem from mental health issues and not from a lack of gun laws in Virginia.

While the late Justice Scalia pointed out in the landmark Supreme Court case DC v. Heller, that our Second Amendment rights are not absolute, there are few rights that matter more in my district to sportsmen, hunters, and those who value the right to self-defense.

I remain committed to defend the Second Amendment and support the rights of law-abiding citizens.

After debates over procedure, the General Assembly opted to follow the same approach taken by Governor Tim Kaine after the Virginia Tech murders. Governor Kaine opposed politicizing the tragedy and sent measures to a bipartisan commission for consideration and recommendation to the legislature. The House and Senate majority using the same rationale sent the bills to the Crime Commission for a thorough vetting and we will return in November for a vote--an approach I voted for in the Senate.

On less controversial topics, all new laws enacted in the Regular Session of the General Assembly took effect on July 1st, including many bills I supported. Industrial hemp is now legal. The age to purchase tobacco, nicotine and vapor products increased from 18 to 21, with the exception of active-duty military with a valid military ID. It is now illegal to hold a cellphone while driving in a work zone. Also, failing to slow down and move over for emergency vehicles stopped with flashing lights is now a reckless driving offense.

The I-81 Corridor Improvement Fund is now also in place.

Bills I introduced this session which passed and became law July 1st include: clergy made mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect; insurance coverage for autism spectrum disorder; workers compensation for certain cancers for firefighters; extension of the grant fund for the Port of Virginia; a feasibility of placement study related to students with disabilities; addition of required disclosures in the Residential Property Disclosure Act; changes in the rules for deposition of corporate officers; creation of a sex trafficking response coordinator; and implementation of a training protocol for school transportation.

I appreciate the support of so many people who contributed to our work this legislative session. It is an honor to represent our district in the Senate and I intend to campaign hard in the coming months for my election this November. I look forward to visits on the campaign trail and please reach out to my office if I can be of service. Please reach out to my office at 540-270-7055 or district27@ senate.virginia.gov if I can be of service.

Senator Jill H. Vogel 42

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

Greer’s Antiques CONSERVATION The Annex Bridges Generations GREER’S ANTIQUE Quality you can trust

Photo © by Vicky Moon

n

The Annex is located at 4303 Fauquier Timothy Jansen, co-owner of Avenue in The Plains.

The Annex antiques shop.

By Emma Boyce

W

ith several antique stores dotting its small main street, The Plains has quickly evolved into a picker’s paradise. Its latest addition, The Annex, which opened last December at 4303 Fauquier Avenue, is no exception.

The Annex feels like a house, albeit an artfully curated one. There’s a garden outside with vintage patio chairs and potted plants. Inside, old masters hang alongside contemporary artists. An eighteenth century walnut drop leaf table sits in the center of the first room, its legs web into detailed claws. The provenance dates back to a plantation in Virginia. It likely won’t be in the shop very long.

“We don’t want to hold onto it and look at it until next year, so we keep our prices down,” said Timothy Jansen, the lean, gregarious co-owner who has been in the antique business for decades. “The gist is to get it in and to get it out to somebody who wants it.”

That doesn’t mean he’s not a little sad when something sells.

“Sometimes we bring something in and it goes that day and you say, ‘we kind of wanted to look at that for a while,’” he said.

Jansen, who began his career as an interior designer before moving to antiques, owns The Annex with his long-time partner Nancy McCary and a third silent partner. Together they have created an eclectic space that combines antiques with contemporary pieces, high-end with low-end, and everything in between.

Join us for our 2nd Annual

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November 8 & 9, 2014 37627 Allder School Road 10am-4pm

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Open Monday - Friday 9-4 & Weekends by Appointment Museum Level Conservation and Custom Furniture for 44 years

37627 Allder School Road Purcellville, VA 20132 540.338.6607 greersant@aol.com Regular hours are by appointment only

“What we sell is so much cheaper than if you went into a furniture store,” McCary said. “Much better quality too.”

While Jansen and McCary agree on their favorite period, eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe, they also recognize the demands of a younger generation.

“The younger crowd would rather have more contemporary pieces, but they want a few things to ground the setting,” said Jansen, who caters as much to locals as the weekend D.C. crowd. “Antiques have character.”

Character never goes out of fashion.

Aside from furniture and other “smalls” like lamps and glassware, The Annex also has an impressive jewelry collection. In the front room, a case displays dozens of rings. Most are silver, but some are gold or inlaid with semi-precious stones. All are affordable and “going like crazy.” McCary calls them cruise wear.

“Women buy those to go overseas,” Jansen said. “They don’t bring their good jewelry in case they get robbed. They’re nice quality.”

What stands out most is the spirit of The Annex. For Jansen and McCary, it’s clearly more than a job, which is to say, it’s not a job at all.

When pressed to choose a favorite piece, Jansen said he likes them all. Of course, it’s difficult to choose between a French ornate commode-turned bar or a pair of rococo gilt and marble tables.

If a customer can’t find the right piece in his shop, Jansen sends them to neighboring antique stores like Peyton’s Place across the street.

“There’s no competition for us,” Jansen said, “because everything here is unique and one of a kind. It’s fun for us. We just have a passion for what we do.

The main thing is we love the customers. If we didn’t, it wouldn’t be worth it.”

The Annex is open Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by appointment, but Jansen and McCary often are around the shop, even on the off days.

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

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Photo © by Leonard Shapiro

Malcolm is the office dog at Bendure Communications in Middleburg: “Although he’s not supposed to be on the suede chair,” Vicki Bendure said.

Photo © by Vicky Moon

Photo by Middleburg Photo

Photo © by Leonard Shapiro

Peter Schwartz is rolling in dough while making pies at The Red Truck Bakery in Marshall.

Gordie Keys (right), with Jud Glascock, hosted a luncheon recently for good friends to celebrate midsummer.

Photo © by Vicky Moon

Photo © by Vicky Moon

Caleb Horton, Ken Doyon, Andrew German, re-enactors of 1st Maine Calvary at the Battle of Middleburg.

Melissa Schooler, Jana Froeling and Larry Brissing of In Memoriam entertained guests at Great Meadow for an evening of Twilight Jumpers.

Samantha Engle and Stephen Price added a bit of ZEST to their wedding.

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44

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

A Registered Investment Advisor

115 The Plains RD, STE 100 P.O. Box 2264 Middleburg, VA 20118

A Touch of Hollywood at Commercial Tool and Die

C

ommercial Tool and Die’s workshop on the outskirts of Marshall blends in quite nicely with much of the landscape along the same stretch of Route 55 that contains several storage rental facilities, a county trash and recycling center and the Fauquier Livestock Exchange. So who knew that out in Commercial’s parking lot, the thriving business also features a hint of Hollywood?

Driving between Marshall and The Plains, it’s impossible not to notice a small collection of military vehicles clustered outside—a humvee here, an old Army truck there, with the occasional jeep or water buffalo also in the mix.

They all belong to Commercial’s multi-talented owners, Jeff Symanski, a Virginia Tech-trained engineer, and his wife, Laura, a skilled graphic designer, who have owned the business since 2007. The drab green cars and trucks have little to do with Commercial and everything to do with Jeff ’s “hobby.” He restores and rents those military vehicles for use in movie and television productions.

“When they need an Army truck

Photos by Leonard Shapiro

By Leonard Shapiro

That’s a big old Army truck in the parking lot at Commercial Tool and Die in Marshall for a shot, they’ll call me,” Jeff said. “I was actually in a car with Rod Steiger in the movie Mars Attacks. We’ve had vehicles in Analyze This, Godzilla, Deep Impact. Whatever they need, we can usually get it.”

Added Laura, “you don’t really want to watch a war movie with Jeff because he’ll sit there and say, ‘oh, that’s wrong,’ or ‘wait a minute, that’s not what they would have used.’”

At this point, their collection numbers about 50, many acquired in auctions or via the internet and now mostly housed on their nearby 19-acre Marshall property.

There’s not much time for tinkering

Jeff and Laura Symanski with those oversized toys, because Jeff has countless other projects going in the cluttered shop where he and two assistants work daily.

One is son Henry, 17 and a recent graduate of Fauquier High who clearly has his father’s can-fix-or-create-justabout-anything mentality. He’s learning to operate a lathe and program a computer involved in milling. He also hopes to become a professional off-road motorcycle racer.

David Pawlack of Marshall, 23, does much of the welding, but only after he arrives from his early morning duties exercising racehorses. He’s also a jump jockey on the weekends.

Laura Symanski does a bit of

everything, including customer relations, marketing, the books and the phone. Daughter Emma is a sophomore majoring in marketing at her father’s alma mater, Virginia Tech.

“We’re an industrial job shop,” he said. “We do industrial machining and welding, but we don’t manufacture a lot of new stuff. We can make just about anything. If a customer needs a new part, we can make it. No two jobs are the same, and the challenge is in reverse engineering something.

“I need to figure out the material, the dimensions. Can we make it with better material or even change the design to make it more reliable? And the hardest part of this business is finding skilled people.”

His own remarkable skills have created some rather unique products, including an 85-foot high mooring mast for a blimp so that it could be easily hauled around an airfield. It was constructed in Marshall in four sections, then later put together at a different site.

He also created the mechanism for a prototype landmine detector attached to the front of a vehicle.

“That’s the fun of it,” Jeff Symanski said. “No two jobs are the same. You never know what’s about to come through the door.”

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Purchasing and consigning quality antique arms ofmedals, all types swords, knives, bayonets, uniforms, flags, belts, since 1957. Appraisers and other collectable militaria.We to the Smithsonian, thebuckles National Park Service and also thepurchase National Firearms Museum. sporting gun and military related books, gun related Recipient of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Citation for Public Service. tools, vintage ammunition, etc. If you have any antique or collectable you want Address: to Visit our shop!military or gun items thatMailing sell please contact us for more information our Box 7 109 E. Washington St (Rt. 50) Post on Office appraisal services, consignment rates or outright sale.VA 20118 Middleburg, VA 20117 Middleburg,

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

45

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46

New Grace Montessori Just Lets It Flow

M

By Caroline Fout

icah Earle is head of the new Grace Montessori School, made up of three newly renovated rooms at Grace Episcopal Church in The Plains.

The definition and purpose of ‘Montessori’ is to build upon the way a child learns naturally, pioneered by Italian physician, educator, and innovator Maria Montessori.

The school will offer a program with a religious focus for children ranging in age from 18 Grace Montessori Head months to six years. The lessons are based on the Micah Earle Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, in which the childhood values, contemplation, and enjoyment of God are most prevalent.

For now, the school will consist of two classrooms, one for 18-month-olds to two-year-olds, the other for three- to six-year-olds. The third classroom will be for another future three- to six-year-olds.

“My mother used to teach in Hawaii when we lived there briefly,” Micah said.

“The classroom she taught in continued from the actual room, out the doors, and into the open air. So, having an easel outside, or teaching outside, just let the children flow in and out of the classroom in such a natural way,” Montessori school also adheres to this sense of flow and freedom, as well as responsibility.

During the school day, some children will work one-on-one with a teacher learning a specific concept or idea. Others will be immersed in a separate educational venture. The traditional Montessori format of merging three- and six-year-olds in the same room allows for that.

“In my experience as a teacher, it’s really interesting to see a range of ages working and learning in the same room,” Micah said. “Older children, once they have mastered a lesson, can present a lesson to a younger child. This really encourages working together and cultivates a sense of camaraderie.”

Her passion for teaching was never far from reach, in fact, it seems to be a family affair.

“My mother owned several Montessori schools in Fairfax and Loudoun County,” she said. “I started working at my mom’s school in Ashburn, as a human resources coordinator, and stayed there for around 15 years doing a multitude of different jobs”.

Micah has over 17 years of teaching experience, and is a certified infant/toddler Montessori teacher. She started attending Grace Church a little over two years ago.

“Rector Weston Matthews kind of revitalized this idea of bringing a pre-school back to Grace,” she said. “The church then went into a year long process figuring out what they needed and what kind of school they wanted to bring back to The Plains, and the vote was a faith-based Montessori school.”

The first day of school will begin sept. 3, the day after Labor Day. As a faithbased school children attend a once-a-week interactive mass.

“We have a traditional Montessori classroom, but we include lessons from the Bible,” Micah said. “Things that they can really grasp at their own level, like ‘What does Baptism mean?’ and simple concepts like that.”

With a capacity of 55 students, the school aims to keep things small. All religions are welcome.

“Our basic idea is to nurture each child’s spirit,” Micah said. “It’s a beautiful way of educating children, it makes them so much more independent and confident, and able to connect with one another. I call them ‘children of the world’ because they really start to grasp that there is so much more out there”.

For more information about the school, enrollment, or to view their calendar visit ww.gmstheplains.org.

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

Perspectives on Childhood, Education and Parenting The Critical Years: Seventh and Eighth Grade

By Tom Northrup

H

ave you ever heard that the seventh and eighth grades hold “the key to our educational woes?”

I had not. Nevertheless, I have long understood the importance of keeping children interested in coming to school during these years. Designing and implementing a program that would achieve this goal has been a major part of my life’s work.

Lieberman, a Harvard trained, UCLA professor of psychology, argues that our need to connect with others is as fundamental as our need for food and shelter. In his final chapter “Educating the Social Brain,” he explains why and how today’s schools have failed in meeting this requirement, and offers practical suggestions. This book is accessible to the layperson, and I believe it should be required reading for educational leaders and policy makers.

Lieberman asserts one of the reasons that “academic performance and interest drop in junior high….(is that) the need to belong, our most basic social motivation, is not being met.”

The increased emphasis on high

“My belief is that junior high holds the key to our educational woes…. (the students) are between the ages of twelve and fourteen.”

Matthew D. Lieberman from his book Social—Why Our Brains are Wired to Connect

stakes achievement testing a high level. Providing such in evaluating not only the meaningful and authentic students, but the quality of opportunities during the the teachers and schools, school day and on a regular he believes,, is misguided— basis promotes their sense especially for those middle of belonging. Of truly being school years. needed.

He explains that “through These students will be the latest research in the social motivated to prepare and Tom Northrup brain…we know that it isn’t the to learn the material they’ll be students’ fault that they are distracted by teaching. The prospect of social embarthe social world….the social interest of rassment in the presence of a younger adolescents is no distraction. Rather it person provides a strong incentive. is the most important (channel through Additionally, there are other benefits which) they can learn well.” that contribute to future academic success The challenge for educators , he and psychological health. These student adds, is “to stop making the social mentors develop a sense of competence brain the enemy during class time and based on their performance. It is earned. figure out how to engage (it).”

This invariably feels good, and One of his suggestions is to place reinforces the desire to prepare and to students in leadership roles such as learn. These students also serve as role having them tutor younger students. models and the younger students are When they are given the responsibility inspired to emulate them as they grow to teach and mentor, he has found (as I older—a healthy self-perpetuating cycle. have) that these adolescents perform at After reading Social, I reflected on

� The Co��tyMusic

�

my years at Hamilton Junior High School in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

The memories of walking (often hitchhiking) to and from school each day with a friend, of a surprise birthday party organized by my first girlfriend, and of competing on the school football, basketball, and track teams are vivid and powerful. To this day, they evoke strong feelings, and these experiences taught me a great deal.

While I didn’t have the opportunity to be a mentor for a younger student during these years, I was fortunate in eighth grade that one of my coaches served as one for me.

During basketball season, he frequently stayed after school to help me improve my shooting form. I was drifting academically, and had earned a D in science during a recent grading period. My ‘social brain” was clearly in overdrive.

After one of our workouts, my coach casually remarked, “I think you can do better in science.” That was all he said.

One of my regrets as an adult is that I never thanked him.

Tom Northrup, a long-time educator, is Head of School Emeritus at The Hill School in Middleburg.

School

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piedmontmusic@aol.com www.piedmontmusic.org Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

47

The Middleburg Tennis Club is a full service, private, member owned club. We host members, their families, and guests in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. A wide range of services and amenities are offered to help provide optimum enjoyment of our club.

Opened in 1969, the club resides on a 10+ acre site nestled in the heart of Virginia Hunt Country, just outside historic Middleburg, Virginia. With nearly 400 memberships, MTC has a warm and friendly environment with a country casual feel.

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Pool, Grille, August Tennis, Junior Tennis Camp Contact: Vaughn Gatling, General Manager Middleburg Tennis Club, (540) 687-6388 ext. 101

48

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

TENNIS ANYONE? Photos by Crowell Hadden

M

Jordie Bentley has a long time history with the tennis club. His late father was one of the original members and president from 1967-1970.

Holidae Hayes, Will and Diane Russell and Matt Gavin

Photo by Leonard Shapiro

Alma Tochterman and Howard Armfield

embers and friends gathered recently to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Middleburg Tennis Club. This included a gala at the Middleburg Community Center with Backstreet Catering and entertainment by The Stringers. A picnic the next day at the Lakeside Pavillon off Zulla Rad included music from Those Three Guys and lunch from HammerDown BBQ. In between, there was a warm welcome to the new chef, Steve Sexton, and new sous chef Kelli Coakley.

The ever-competitive Morgan Dennis Cup tournament was a summer highlight. And now on to the next 50 years‌ For details on membership go to middleburgtennisclub.com.

New Middleburg Tennis Club chef Steve Sexton, new sous chef Kelli Coakley and long-time club manager Vaughn Gatling.

Kim and Bunny Nash

Gail and Ham Clark with Maria Eldredge

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

The dynamic dancing duo — Barbara and Jim Wilson

49

It’s Stickball Y’all

“Welbourne represents a graceful transition from past to present, at the same time cherishing and nurturing its elemental heritage.” – writer Kitty Slater, 1967.

Artwork And Photos By Crowell Hadden

T

he Welbourne Stickball League is based at Dorsey Field on the historic Upperville property. As Nat Morison, a long-time fan of the N.Y. Mets, sits in his rocker on the front porch, team members step up to the plate trying to connect with an optic yellow tennis ball. Friends and families watch from a lawn chair or blanket. It all evokes images of a bygone era as the Mokes and the Mets battle it out for the seasonal title.

50

Annual stickball winners on a colorful plaque designed and painted by long time devotee Patty Callahan. Of note: the 1966 season was called off for weddings.

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

The bats are made mostly from farm implement handles.

Welbourne dates to 1775. The six Colonial style columns were added in 1830. Once home to Colonel Richard Henry Dulany, it is now also a bed and breakfast.

The optic yellow tennis balls soar.

Current owner Nat Morison enjoys a recent game from his front porch rocker.

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

51

Insuring You Receive the Full Benefit

W

By Tom Wiseman

ill your life insurance die before you do?

This dilemma is rapidly becoming a reality for many policy holders.

Because of lower crediting rates and higher costs of insurance than expected when the policy was sold, unsuspecting policy holders are receiving lapse notices on a more frequent basis. Some explanation: There are really only two types of life insurance: term and permanent. Term insurance is simple and straightforward; you buy the coverage for a specified term of years and pay a guaranteed flat level premium. If you decide to keep the coverage beyond the fixed term period, the premium will increase exponentially as you get older.

Tom Wiseman

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The ink for your imagination 52

Classes Also at Cool Spring Yoga Rochester Lane, Aldie

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

Contact: Catherine Rochester Call or Text 571-510-0435 or Visit www.catrocyoga.com

As for permanent insurance, therein complications arise.

In our practice, we lump everything that has a cash value together: Universal Life, Whole Life, Variable Life, Indexed Universal Life etc.

The similarity of these types of policies lies in the fact that they build a “cash value.” We explain it to our clients using the bucket theory. You put premiums in the top of the bucket and the insurance company puts some sort of growth factor in.

It may just be based on an interest rate (Universal life) or investments within the policy (Variable Life) or dividends based on the company’s performance (Whole Life) or even growth based on an index, like the S&P 500 (Indexed life). With any of these, the operation and goal is that the combination of premiums and growth builds up cash value or “water” in the bucket.

When a policy is sold, the agent and the carrier make an assumption on the growth rate. As you might imagine, in high interest rate environments, a higher growth rate may be assumed. If that rate doesn’t come to fruition, the cash value

doesn’t grow as expected and therefore isn’t available to help you pay the rising cost of insurance when you need it the most, when you are older.

and more. The combination of lower than expected growth, and rapidly rising cost of insurance can create a very leaky bucket.

Unfortunately, even in the best circumstances, the bucket can leak.

If all of the planets align badly, the trickle from the bucket can become a deluge and pretty soon, you have no more cash value “water” and soon, no more insurance.

There is one last important factor given the current economic and interest rate environment. Coupled with the fact that some insurers are finding certain blocks of business are not profitable, carriers are raising cost of insurance rates above what the “assumed” rate was when the policy was sold.

Most policy owners are unaware of this when they buy a policy, even though they likely signed a disclosure that clearly outlines the risks. As the policies become older, those risks become a distant memory.

How can you have a leaky bucket?

Is your death benefit not guaranteed?

In some cases, yes, and in some cases, no. In many, there are guarantees, but they lie in a “range.”

The insurance company doesn’t insure you for free; they take a fee from the bucket called cost of insurance (COI). The older you get, the higher the amount as the closer you are to death. Picture our bucket again, with a faucet on the bottom. As you get older, the faucet opens more

This is especially evident with carriers that have “bought” or merged with other carriers. The new carrier evaluates the old business and determines that it isn’t going to be profitable. Then they raise the cost of insurance rates.

Even though they notify policyowners by mail, most have no idea of the effect of this rise on the policy’s future performance. Bang, the deluge just became a tsunami.

These factors all combined can make up the perfect storm for a policy.

While it’s easy to spot by those with experience in the business, the average policy-holder has no idea what’s coming. If you receive an annual

statement and the accumulated cash value is less than it was last year, you’ve got a problem.

What happens when a policy “bucket” runs out of water or cash value? You get an invoice for what it would cost to insure you at your current age. Imagine buying a policy you threw in a drawer at age 60 , then getting an invoice for what it would cost to insure you now that you’re 80 and knowing that number is going to rise exponentially every year you live? If you don’t pay it, the policy lapses and there’s no death benefit, it’s gone! We see it all the time.

What to do?

Work with a qualified life insurance professional to obtain an “in force illustration” That’s a forecast of what will happen to the policy’s cash value given current assumptions of premium levels and interest rates.

Have a review done every year.

If the cash value is on a downhill slide, your options are to pay more in premium, reduce the death benefit, surrender the policy, or sell the policy on the open secondary market. The last option of course is to die before your policy does.

Hylton Center EXTRA!

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Tickets $70, $55, $45 at HyltonCenter.org or 703-993-7759 Artist Meet & Greet: Additional $25 limited availability; first-come, first-served

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

53

On the

TOWN The Gatlin Brothers--Larry, Steve and Rudy--are coming to Manassas, with a concert at the Hylton Center on September 22.

And one of the three brothers in the iconic country music group said they all still get excited about being on stage in their 64th year of pereforming. “We still do what we do every time we walk on stage,” Rudy Gatlin told Country ZEST recently. “We sing our butts off. We sing and we play and we entertain. That’s never changed.” The brothers grew up in Texas and started performing in Abilene in 1955. “We just go out there and do what we do,” Rudy said. “When you bring it, you bring it until you can’t do it any more. As long as it’s fun, we’ll be there. And, it’s still fun, even after all these years.”

2019

Photo © Leonard Shapiro

Fr. Gene LeCouteur of Emmanuel Episcopal Church will lead a Blessing of the Animals on Sunday, October 6 at 2 p.m. at The National Sporting Library & Museum in Middleburg.

Bring your horse, cat, gerbil, fish and all livestock. For details: 540-687-6542 x 4.

Colorful balloons marked the spots where many Middleburg merchants were taking care of business on the weekend of August 2-4 during the town’s 13th annual Sidewalk Sale. The popular and profitable event was sponsored by Sonabank, the Town of Middleburg and the Middleburg Business and Professional Association.

Rose Rogers has been named executive director of the nonprofit Middleburg Humane Foundation which is devoted to the rescue and rehabilitation of abused animals and conquering the cycle of abuse through humane education.

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www.virginiahorseracing.com | www.shenandoahdowns.com 54

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

Cup of

Tessa Pullan (British, b.1953), Sea Hero, 1995, bronze on slate stone base 96 x 88 x 29 1/4 inches, National Sporting Library & Museum, Bequest of Paul Mellon, 1999, Acquired 2014, © Tessa Pullan

Sea Hero did something most horses can’t, he came through when needed most, delivering the long-coveted Kentucky Derby trophy to the most deserving owner the sport has ever known. It was the last jewel missing in Paul Mellon’s crown, one that included the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, the Epsom Derby, champions here and abroad.

Sea Hero:

By Sean Clancy

“C

ount your coughs. Change your leads. Watch my flag.”

Those were the only three instructions MacKenzie Miller gave to his riders before a breeze.

The Hall of Fame trainer wanted to know if a horse coughed, that was important. He wanted his horses to switch their leads on cue, that was crucial.

And he wanted his riders to watch his flag.

Long before walkie-talkies, Miller sat in the grandstand at Belmont Park or Saratoga, closer to the turn than the wire, with a big orange flag. When a horse was ticking off fractions to Miller’s delight, he would hold his flag still and square. When a horse wasn’t going fast enough, Miller would wave his flag like a Times Square traffic cop.

Tils Tilbury and Sea Hero. They didn’t need a flag.

“The thing about breezing that horse, he never even felt like he touched the ground, he was so light,” Tilbury said recently on the backstretch at Saratoga. “I breezed a lot of horses for Mr. Miller, it got to be so easy because he trained them all the same, so they would breeze all the same. But this horse was different, you couldn’t tell how fast you were going.”

Owned and bred by Paul Mellon, Sea Hero went fast enough to win the Champagne in 1992 and the Kentucky Derby and Travers in 1993.

The star-crossed son of Polish Navy won six of 24 starts for $2.9 million and wound up with a statue in the paddock at Saratoga. Sea Hero died July 12 at age 29.

“We had a lot of nice horses, I got on a lot of nice horses for them,” Tilbury said. “But you had that

COFFEE

A Legacy Legend for Mellon and Miller

Derby horse, that’s the horse everybody knows.”

Tilbury into his office.

Sea Hero did something most horses can’t, he came through when needed most, delivering the long-coveted Kentucky Derby trophy to the most deserving owner the sport has ever known.

It was the last jewel missing in Mellon’s crown, one that included the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, the Epsom Derby, champions here and abroad. A philanthropist, a collector of art, land, horses and people, Mellon made the world a better place.

Tilbury still collects a pension, a check every month, for her five years with Rokeby Stable. A pension in the horse game!

“This horse is holding his breath, Tils,” Miller said. “We’ve got to get him to breathe.”

“That whole era is gone,” Tilbury said. “I guess that’s what hit me the hardest when I heard he died.”

Yes, it was a different era. It was an era when private trainers developed whole crops of homebreds, without the pressure of a sales windfall. It was an era when horses ate oats, flax and corn, cooked in metal drums.

It was an era when every exercise rider in the barn wore yellow Rokeby shirts and jackets. It was an era when the whole set would walk in a line out of Miller’s round barn at Belmont Park, all the colts would turn left, all the fillies would turn right and Miller would look at all the horses before giving instructions. And, yes, it was an era when a trainer could breeze a Derby winner twice in the same morning to prepare for the Travers and not be belittled or begrudged. At least not on the Internet.

After the perfect trip in the Derby, Sea Hero failed to land a blow in the Preakness, Belmont Stakes and the Jim Dandy. Fifth behind Prairie Bayou in the Preakness, seventh behind Colonial Affair in the Belmont and a dull fourth, 7½ lengths behind Miner’s Mark in the Jim Dandy, Sea Hero had Miller flummoxed. He called

Miller devised a plan and explained it to Tilbury.

“Okay,” she said, always the good soldier.

Tilbury breezed Sea Hero three furlongs or a half-mile (she can’t remember) on the main track, no flag, and rode him back to the paddock and circled under the trees. Miller counted minutes on his watch.

“OK,” Miller said. “Go again.”

Sea Hero breezed again, a little farther than the first time. The next time he set foot on the main track at Saratoga, he rallied from eighth to win the Travers.

“He called it interval training,” Tilbury said. “I think I did it twice. Everybody thought it was a joke. They were kind of making fun of him, about how he was training, ‘This is some crazy (stuff).’

And then he goes and wins. I was like, ‘I guess the guy knows what he’s doing.’ ” Sea Hero won one allowance race and lost eight races after the Travers, retiring after finishing fifth as the favorite in the Phoenix at Keeneland in October, 1994.

The Virginia-bred won’t go down as one of the sport’s greatest horses, partially dismissed because of a 6-for-25 record and a lackluster stallion career, but sometimes it’s more about a singular achievement. Sea Hero won the Kentucky Derby and added the Travers as a bonus, providing closure and definition to the storied legacies of Mellon and Miller.

“That’s all that horse had to do,” Tilbury said.

“He was born to do that. And he did it.”

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

55

N&W Railway - Boyce Station

By Frank R. Scheer, Curator

Railway Mail Service Library

T

he 1913 Norfolk & Western (N&W) Railway depot at Boyce, Virginia, is aligned with the town’s history.

The story begins with the construction of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad which ran between Hagerstown, Maryland and Roanoke.

The proponent was Col. Upton Lawrence Boyce, an attorney from St. Louis who settled at the Tulyeres estate, just outside the unincorporated village of Boyceville, which became Boyce by 1880 Shortly after the railroad was completed around 1882 between Berryville and Front Royal, a standard wood-frame station building was completed.

The Shenandoah Valley Railroad (SVRR) entered bankruptcy and was acquired by the Norfolk & Western Railway in 1890. By 1899, an average of ten passengers arrived daily, with about as many departing.

Boyce grew and with it, so did the

depot building. The Norfolk & Western Railway Historical Society Archives depict enlargement of the freight room circa 1900. There were three tracks within the town limits: a passing track that led to stockyard pens, the main line between Hagerstown and Roanoke and a public delivery track.

During early 1912, Norfolk & Western announced that it would replace the 33 year-old wooden depot. The plans submitted by the railway company did not entirely suit Boyce residents.

While there is presently no information available as to the opening date, it is believed it occurred during November of 1913 before Thanksgiving.

The building’s stucco design is the most interesting feature. Speculation is that Hattie Gilpin, one of three contributors to Boyce depot financing, preferred the stucco appearance that was the stylish trend during that era.

The other interesting feature not observed at other N&W station buildings is the platform door access to the whites-only men’s room. Given that there were wealthy clientele during the early years of station usage, it’s possible that Hattie Gilpin recommended that railroad workers or other male railroad patrons not enter the restroom through the

A sample of the fine woodworking around ticket windows as well as the style of bars over the window. The original “TICKETS” glass and bars were missing from the depot when acquired during 2003. waiting room.

The town had approximately 350 residents during 1913. Electric lighting, central heating, and interior restrooms were uncommon conveniences for the common folk, but an expectation of the genteel class. In particular, the top perimeter wood railing of the whitesonly waiting room featured electric lights spaced about three feet apart around the entire 24 by 24 foot space. This created a dazzling effect for awaiting passengers; a feature that was absent from the 12 by 24 feet “colored” waiting room.

Three Clarke County families--

During the decades that Boyce depot was an active agency, a passenger could board Train 2 around midnight, sleep in a Pullman car and wake up in mid-town Manhattan at Pennsylvania station.

Gilpin, Mayo, and Page--collectively donated $17,500 to the N&W after the railway announced intentions of building a replacement wood-frame station building. That donation along with the N&W’s original $7,500 budget transformed the plans from wood to masonry and modern conveniences such as electric lighting, central heating, and interior restroom facilities.

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

10 South Madison Street • P.O. Box 322 Middleburg, VA 20118

540-687-3909

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The Wakefield boys and girls soccer teams paid tribute to their coach

By Emma Boyce

W

akefield School has long been respected for its academics and sports, but before school let out last May, it proved it had one more asset: immeasurable school spirit.

The 2019-19 Fighting Owls had spectacular success in soccer. The boys’ varsity team had a 13-1 record and ended the season as Delaney Athletic Conference regular season champions.

The girls varsity ranked No. 8 in Division II of the Virginia Independent School Athletic Association and advanced to the Division II state quarterfinals.

Grant Massey, who coaches both the boys’ and girls’ soccer teams, won DAC Coach of the Year, even though he had not been there long—one year with the girls and two with the boys.

Still, the game that mattered most was played on May 19 after both seasons had ended.

When Massey was diagnosed with lymphoma, Amber Carey, the mom of one of his players, came up with the idea of to hold a benefit soccer game to raise money to help with Massey’s medical expenses.

The idea filtered down through the teams and took off from there.

“She suggested doing a co-ed game,” said Massey, who would like to continue the tradition of the game next year.

“Take both teams that I coach and just have a fun game.”

Massey, who has coached soccer for 25 years, isn’t new to the game, but he is new to Wakefield. Despite this he has already made an impact both on and off the field.

“He’s done a really good job with both teams,” said Caroline Hoffman, a Wakefield graduate and its previous marketing and public relations coordinator for the school.

“They respect him. He’s come into the school and made a big difference.”

With a little over 300 students, the small private school environment also

represents a different atmosphere for Massey.

“I’m used to coaching at enormous schools,” said Massey, whose own high school was the largest in the state. “At Wakefield, a lot of the kids go from pre-K all the way through. Everyone seems to know everyone and I think that’s quite nice.”

It’s this close-knit community that allows ideas to flourish. The sense of hierarchy is blurred. Seniors befriend freshman. Freshman set examples for middle schoolers. Teachers work outside of the classroom, coaching and heading clubs.

“Wakefield has always been a small school in a good way,” said Hoffman.

“Everyone wants to get along and help each other. There’s a sense of community but also a sense of pride.”

Before the co-ed benefit game, parents and staff helped prepare the field. Later, they manned the ticket booth and concession stand. Donations, totaling over $3,500, came from soccer and nonsoccer students alike.

“I think it was a tremendous event,” said Head of School Ashley Harper.

“For us to be able to come alongside Grant and his family at this time meant so much to us. At the end of the event, everybody felt connected. To see how the students and families came together is such a testimony of school spirit.”

Harper envisions continuing the game in the tradition of a fundraiser, choosing a different beneficiary each year.

“It was a lot more than just kids playing a soccer game,” Massey said, adding that his favorite part of coaching is watching that moment of epiphany when the players use what they have learned on the field.

“I love the game of soccer,” he said.

“I love to teach the game to players. It’s hoping you make a small impact on them growing up.”

What he didn’t count on was the huge impact they would make on him.

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

It’s All About Giving Back for Former Navy SEAL

O

By Leonard Shapiro

n a visit to Ho Chi Minh City last March as a volunteer for Hope For Children in Vietnam (HCV), Paul Clausen came upon an 11-yearold boy who literally was breathing fire, the better to earn a few coins as a fuel-spewing street performer to help his impoverished family.

Nearby, Clausen also spotted another little boy no older than four pick up a purse on a table that belonged to a woman distracted by the fire-breather’s combustible performance. That child then slipped through the Paul Clausen crowd, handed the pilfered purse to an elderly woman, and soon both had disapeared.

“I’m not sure if all of them were working together,” Clausen said, “but it wouldn’t surprise me. You see that a lot over there. It’s heartbreaking when you see innocent children dong whatever it takes to help their family.”

Clausen, 56, is a former Navy SEAL who retired in 2004 after 20 years and is now a real estate agent, working for Long & Foster in Georgetown and Middleburg. He and his wife, Boyden Rohner, a Homeland Security employee, split time between a condo in Washington and an apartment they rent at Herronwood Farm in Upperville.

Recently, he became president of Annandale-based HVC, a non-profit formed in 2002 by a Vietnamese refugee who fled that country at the end of the Vietnam War. HVC raises funds to support Vietnam orphanages and poor street children. Clausen can definitely relate.

He’s a native of Korea who lived in foster care himself until he was adopted by an American couple from Richfield, Minnesota at age nine. He moved to the Paul Clausen as a young Minneapolis suburbs, learned English and joined the Navy Seal Navy when he graduated from high school.

“It took me a year to figure out what I wanted to do,” Clausen said. “I was kind of lost. I started in the Navy’s nuclear power program but decided I didn’t want to do that. An opportunity came up to join the SEALS, and when it happened, there was no looking back.”

He spent a good bit of time in South and Central America, and also earned a college degree in criminal justice. When he left the Navy, he worked Clausen helped put as a government contractor, took another job with together a concert at Homeland Security and finally spent ten years with the Hill School earlier this summer.

National Counter Terrorism Center.

“Then I became a realtor,” he said. “Honestly, it was always my lifelong dream. I really didn’t know I was a real estate nerd. But as a kid, the realtor down the road had the best house. To me, that guy really had it going on. Every time I traveled with the Navy or went on a vacation, I was always looking at real estate, the value, the architecture, the lots, the house. So that’s what I decided to do.”

His involvement with HVC, including organizing a concert at Hill School in June featuring Vietnamese and American music, began when he met Diana Tran, owner of a Georgetown Vietnamese restaurant.

Tran was that long-ago refugee who came to America and became a successful entrepreneur. Clausen and his Washington real estate colleagues regularly eat lunch at her restaurant, and when he learned about HVC, he was soon all in.

“Being adopted myself, I wanted to help out in any way,” he said. “It’s a time in my life when I can really afford to give back. They asked me to go to Vietnam with them, and it had a real impact on me.

“Once I got there, every time I looked at those kids, I realized that if my own adoption hadn’t happened, our lives would be parallel. I realized how lucky I’ve been to be in this country and had the opportunity to have such a good life. I just wanted to make a difference.”

For this former Navy SEAL, it’s clearly been mission accomplished.

For more information call 703-629-8492 or hopeforchildreninvietnam.org.

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

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PROPERTY Writes

Trappe Hill Road in Beautiful Bluemont

This 94 acre property has stunning mountain views and is in the Piedmont Fox Hounds territory.

T

his stunning equestrian dream property is on 94 fabulous acres in the Piedmont Hunt Country near Bluemont, set against a mountain backdrop with breathtaking pastoral views. The renovated main house of 5,320 square feet features four bedrooms and four and a half baths. There is an outsized kitchen just perfect for entertaining and gathering with friends.

For the horse lover, there is an eight-stall center aisle barn, 150’ X 200’ outdoor arena, 11 paddocks (some with run-ins), and an additional four-stall barn. Add to this, a lovely two-bedroom log cabin and a onebedroom office/guest house. A pool and hot tub offer a relaxing time with the gorgeous scenery of this beautiful and unique area all around.

The two-car detached garage is also a guest house with one bedroom, kitchen and laundry room. All this is just 12 minutes to Middleburg and located between Route 50 and Route 7 and five minutes to the historic Upperville Showgrounds.

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

Exterior with pool looking west towards mountains

Bright, open family room is great for gatherings

Cozy study with spiral staircase

Eight stall center aisle barn and a two bedroom log cabin

Offered by Middleburg Real Estsate-Atoka Properties 20022 Trappe Road, Bluemont, VA 20135 $2,499,900, listed by Mary Owen Chatfield-Taylor, 540-454-6500.

The kitchen has all the right touches in appliances and open space for entertaining.

Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

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The Fiesta de San Fermin

Photo by Vicky Moon

E

ach year, on the seventh day of the seventh month, a sevenday celebration takes place in Pamplona, Spain. In honor of this religiously rooted occasion, a local host and hostess invited a few friends for homemade Sangria (red wine with vodka, peach schnapps and peach brandy), gazpacho (cold tomato based vegetable soup) and a paellera (large flat pan) of paella made by the one and only catering queen, Tutti Smith Perricone.

Tutti

Tutti sauteéd boneless chicken thighs, Andouille sausage, red peppers and onions. Then, she put the key ingredient—saffron--in a large pan of chicken broth.

“You get it hot, but not to a boil,” she said. “Then let it sit and steep.”

That liquid gets mixed with white rice, and once cooked, it’s topped off with the chicken mix, lightly sautéed cooked shrimp with steamed mussels and garlic. A bag of frozen peas are added at the last minute and get cooked into the finished meal. Be sure to get another glass of Sangria.

For dessert, pineapple sherbet and one a box of Torrons Vicens’ soft almond nougat from one guest’s recent trip to Agramunt, in the Catalonia region of Spain.

Many associate this Navarre region experience with the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona.

In fact, the host of the local party once ran with the bulls. He likes to tell how he ripped his pants from stem to stern while trying to shimmy under the fence. His wife stood Shimmy under the fence along the fence, since only men are allowed to run.

As for the celebration, a 15th-century effigy of Saint Fermin is paraded through the cobblestone streets. There are singers and dancers along with members of the church and the mayor. Large papier-mâché puppets with big heads, known as “los gigantes,” are carried along the route. Cathedral bells ring and the party commences.

Olé.

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Country ZEST & Style | Fall 2019

ELWAY HALL $10,500,000 8394 Elway Lane, Warrenton, VA | 300 acres Mark Lowham +1 703 966 6949 | Gloria Rose Ott +1 540 454 4394

RIDGELEA $3,800,000 8362 Holtzclaw Road, Warrenton, VA | 184 Acres Will Thomas +1 703 966 6949 Mark Lowham +1 703 966 6949

SAGEVIEW $5,750,000 1388 Crenshaw Road, Upperville, VA | 5 acres Jonathan Taylor +1 202 276 3344

SUNNYSIDE FARM $6,500,000 | Also offered as 3 Parcels 9092 John Mosby Highway, Upperville, VA | 254 acres Gloria Rose Ott +1 540 454 4394

HISTORIC ASHLAND $4,950,000 8714 Holtzclaw Road, Warrenton, VA | 130 acres Michael Rankin +1 202 271 3344 Gloria Rose Ott +1 540 454 4394

ORLEAN HOUSE $2,195,000 6781 John Barton Payne Rd, Marshall, VA | 18.12 acres Jeff Wilson + 1 301 442 8533

FUN SHOP PROPERTY $3,900,000 | Parcels also offered separately Residential & Commercial Opportunities | Almost an acre Laura Farrell +1 540 395 1680 | Bundles Murdock +1 540 454 3499

WE ARE A PROUD SPONSOR OF THE

9th Annual Polo Classic S U N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 5 | 1 0 - 5

Benefiting the National Sporting Library & Museum Great Meadow — The Plains, VA LAKE BARCROFT $1,559,000 3502 Pinetree Terrace, Falls Church, VA | 0.57 acres Ken Trotter +1 703 863 0650

Tickets at nationalsporting.org

THE PLAINS BROKERAGE 6474 Main Street, The Plains, VA | +1 540 212 9993 | B RO K E R AG ES : G EO R G E TOW N , D C • D OW N TOW N , D C •

M C L E A N , VA •

A L E X A N D R I A , VA •

HARRIS HOLLOW $529,000 866 Harris Hollow Road, Washington, VA Gloria Rose Ott +1 540 454 4394

ttrsir.com

A R L I N GTO N , VA • B E T H ES DA , M D •

C H E V Y C H AS E , M D •

A N N A P O L I S, M D

©2019 Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. All Rights Reserved. Sotheby’s International Realty® is a licensed trademark to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. Each Office Is Independently Owned And Operated. SIR1

Licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia

JOHN COLES 540-270- 0094 REBECCA POSTON 540-771-7520

“Specializing in large land holdings” ED

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CLEREMONT

760 ACRES/LEESBURG

MUSTER LANE

Upperville ~ The Impressive & Historic 1511 acre Estate & Prize Winning Cattle Farm of is an assemblage of 3 contiguous farms, which can be purchased separately.

Through the exceptional management, which is willing to stay, this is some of the most magnificent farmland with 33 verdant pastures, natural water resources and forest, which creates a haven of tranquility. $13,000,000

Rare, 760 Acre Working Farm, 5 minutes north of the Town of Leesburg, currently in crops, hay, cattle and sheep. Four residences include the historic main house and 3 tenant homes. Substantial Rt. 15 road frontage. This open land features streams and pond. Currently in 2 large tracts and 1 small parcel. Potential for Conservation Easement Tax Credits. $8,600,000

The Plains ~ 108 gorgeous Acres, This Stately and Historic Estate with its grand rooms is in prime Orange County Hunt Territory, minutes to Middleburg. It also features a pool and pool house, 5 bay garage with office, 2 tenant houses, newly remodeled 11 stall center aisle stable with apt. & office, riding arena and exceptional ride-out to wooded trails and open pastures. $8,250,000

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TULEYRIES CHUDLEIGH FARM SECTION 2

(Adjacent to OATLAND VIEWS SECTION 1) ALDIE ~ 379.75 Acres on the north side of Oatlands Road.

Currently divided into 16 HOMESITES developed under the Low Density Development Option. Homesites range in size from 13.83 Acres–38.12 Acres. Open Space Easement in place with potential for tax credits. $7,500,000

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TRAPPE HILL FARM Upperville ~ 474.26 Acres. The Manor House with first floor master suite, sits high on this land and enjoys gorgeous views overlooking Loudoun County. This land has been home to both horses and cattle, plus the southeastern facing slope also lends itself to grapes. Find peace and serenity in this sought after corner of Loudoun County. $5,500,000

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Boyce ~ Exquisite Federal Style Mansion, c.1833, features 12’ ceilings, dramatic curved stairway and 5 en-suite bedrooms. Sited on 406 Acres in 3 parcels with Easement Potential. Built by Joseph Tuley, Jr., later purchased by Graham Blandy, who bequeathed over half of the original estate to the University of Virginia (State Arboretum of Virginia). Estate includes 3 tenant houses, 12 stall stable with renovated 3 bd. apt. $5,000,000 & numerous historic structures.

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CLEARWATER FARM

SMITTEN FARM LANE The Plains ~ Finely built custom residence on 16 Acres minutes from Middleburg in Prime Orange County Hunt Territory. Designed for Grand Entertaining both inside and outside. The rooms graciously open into one another and lead out to the deep porches, which wrap the home and overlook the pool, grounds, gardens and conservatory. $3,500,000

Marshall ~ Handsome custom built Residence with first floor Master Suite and perfect mix of open and traditional floor plan beautifully sited on 50 Acres. Special features: Swimex Swim Pool, 2 Stocked Ponds, High Speed Internet, Whole House Generator and Geothermal Heating and Cooling. For the equestrian: located in the Orlean Community Trail System and adjacent to a Premier Equestrian Center with stables, riding arenas and trails. $2,900,000

CROSSWINDS Delaplane ~ 72 Acre Horse Property in Piedmont Hunt Territory. Handsome 7 stall stable perfectly sited for cross ventilation and features an upscale 1 bedroom + den apartment with screened porch. Perfect for training Cross County/Eventing. Uphill gallop with good elevation, 100’ x 200’ riding ring with all weather footing, 5 $1,050,000 fenced paddocks and 2 run-in sheds.

Please see our fine estates and exclusive properties in hunt country by visiting THOMASANDTALBOT.com

THOMAS & TALBOT REAL ESTATE A Staunch Supporter of Land Easements

1967

LAND AND ESTATE AGENTS Middleburg, VA 20118 (540) 687- 6500

2019

Offers subject to errors, omissions, change of price or withdrawal without notice. Information contained herein is deemed reliable, but is not so warranted nor is it otherwise guaranteed.