Category Archives: The Northern Neck and Beyond

The Landscape, The Northern Neck and Beyond

Go Wild!

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Over half of the Menokin Foundation’s 500 acre property is part of the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The extremely active and dedicated Rappahannock Wildlife Refuge Friends would like to invite you to participate in their annual Go Wild! event on Sunday, October 14th, 1-5 p.m.

This year’s event celebrates the 16th Anniversary of the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge with the Rappahannock Wildlife Refuge FRIENDS. 

The event takes place at the Hutchinson Tract, 1.5 mi. north of Tappahannock off Highway 17N, and includes numerous activities including a silent auction, kayak trips, a guided eagle tour, beach jewelry, pistol lessons from Romi Klear, signed prints, rain barrels, books, and more! Please note: the silent auction closes at 4 p.m.

Events:  Kids “Birds and BinocularImages” scavenger hunt, adults and young adults scavenger hunt, nature walks, arts and crafts, storytelling, wildlife painting, build a birdhouse, free raffles.  Music by Ben Eberline.

FREE LUNCH!  Hot dogs, baked beans, cookies, cider and lemonade.

For more information, call 804-366-6851.

Sunday, October 14th, 10 a.m. – 12 noon – Guided kayak/canoe tour led by Gordon Page at the Mt. Landing Creek kayak/canoe launch on the Hutchinson tract of the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge, 1.5 mi. north of Tappahannock off Highway 17N. Bring your own kayak or canoe.  Must wear life vest.  For more information, call 804-366-6851.

The Northern Neck and Beyond

Just in time for one last summer trip. . . .

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I wonder why Menokin isn’t on this list? Even so, the entries are worth a look….and a vote!

Virginia Museum of History & Culture's Blog

Maybe you’ve already taken a big vacation for the summer, perhaps to an exotic place or maybe to the ever popular Outer Banks. But this summer you can’t miss out on voting for and visiting one or two places named on the Virginia Association of Museums (VAM) nomination list for the Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts.

VAM has created a program called Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts in order to raise public awareness about the care of collections throughout Virginia, Washington, D.C., and beyond. Virginia’s Top 10 is not a grant-giving program. It is designed to offer museums, libraries, and archives an opportunity to raise media and public awareness about the ongoing and expensive care of collections. Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts’ nominees have the opportunity to promote their nomination during the public voting portion of this project. Public voting began on August 1st and will continue until August…

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The House, The Northern Neck and Beyond

“A Place Like No Other.”

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Commentator Thea Marshall recently learned about a famous architect who’ll be putting back together again a famous pile of rubble.

Of course, the famous architect is Jorge Silvetti – of Machado and Silvetti Associates – and the famous pile of rubble is Menokin, a National Historic Landmark and the Commonwealth’s largest and most historic jigsaw puzzle.

This essay, as comfortable to listen to as a favorite tune, is chock full of information about Menokin – the place, the people who lived here, and what the future holds for this historic treasure.

http://ideastations.org/radio/archive/2012-07-25-menokin-redux

Thea Marshall is the author of “Neck Tales: Stories from Virginia’s Northern Neck,” published in June, 2009. Along with her professional writing assignments, she is a broadcaster, actor, and producer, with life long experience in all forms of communication – from print to theater to radio and television. She writes and broadcasts original commentaries on and about the people, places, history, culture and current issues relating to the Northern Neck for WCVE Public Radio (heard on both WCVE in Richmond and WCNV for the Northern Neck).

The House, The Northern Neck and Beyond

Menokin Is Calling To Your Camera

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Don’t forget that the Menokin Photography contest is now underway. Even an overcast day can result in gorgeous pictures. These were all taken right here at the Visitor’s Center.

 

The Northern Neck and Beyond

Spotlight on Menokin Board of Trustees Member James Zehmer

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Spotlight on Menokin Board of Trustees Member James Zehmer

Menokin Board of Trustees member James Zehmer hard at work repairing historic chimneys at UVA.

 

The Northern Neck and Beyond, The People

America: First Impressions

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Native American Settlement

Before the Menokin plantation was ever developed, this area along Cat Point Creek (also called Rappahannock Creek) was home to the Rappahannock Indian Tribe. In 1608, Capt. John Smith recorded 14 Rappahannock towns on the north side of the River and its tributaries. The general plantation site was referred to as “Menokin” by the Rappahannock, which likely translates to “He gives it to me” in the tribe’s Algonquian-based language. Francis Lightfoot Lee kept the name for his home. For more information on the Rappahannock Tribe, visit http://www.rappahannocktribe.org.

Great Stories

John Smith was one of the foremost leaders of early Jamestown.  He’d had an interesting life before that, one which influenced the direction of this country and (as I seem to be constantly promising) which will be explored later in this blog.  He was a controversial but effective leader in the settlement’s first years, and when health problems and an injury prompted his return to England in 1609, he spent his time working for the colony from there, promoting it and encouraging people to move there.

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The Northern Neck and Beyond, The People

Talk About Revolutionary Thinking

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Robert “Councillor” Carter III – The Great Emancipator

 

Often referred to as “the first emancipator,” Robert Carter III of Nomini Hall in Virginia’s Northern Neck was an American plantation owner, founding father and onetime British government official. He also owned a large number of slaves as part of his vast estate.  

ImageCarter’s personal convictions and relationship with these enslaved families led to their manumission in a 1791 deed of gift.  Nearly 500 slaves were freed, making Carter’s act of liberation the largest in the history of American slavery before the Emancipation Proclamation.

After the death of his wife, Frances Ann Tasker Carter, in 1787, Carter embraced the Swedenborgian faith. He instituted a program of gradual manumission of all slaves attached to his estate by filing a “Deed of Gift” filed with the county of Westmoreland in 1791. He designed the program to be gradual to reduce the resistance of white neighbors.

Frequently, Carter rented land to recently freed slaves, sometimes evicting previous white tenants in the process.  In all, about 452 slaves from his Nomini Hall plantation and large home in Westmoreland County, Virginia were granted their freedom. 

 

 

The Northern Neck and Beyond

Olympic Port Competition Entry / Machado and Silvetti Associates

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The architecture firm of Machado and Silvetti – team leader for the Menokin Project – came in fourth place with this submission for the 2016 Olympic Port.

They are always Gold with us.

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See more at Arch Daily.

Machado and Silvetti Associates  shared with us their entry for the Olympic Port Competition that came in fourth place. This project proposal for the 2016 Olympic Media Village in  includes housing for 11,000 people, retail and office space, a 5-star hotel and a convention center. To accommodate post-Olympic marketing of the buildings the entire residential and office program has the capacity to be transformed from a hotel setting with individually accessed bedrooms and private baths to two- and three-bedroom apartments and leasable tenant space.

The Northern Neck and Beyond

Lighter Side: Accurate? You Decide

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Preservation and Place

In general, I’m going to try to keep this a casual blog that focuses on topics relevant to the blog’s name with additional items of interest on museums, my travels, and maybe even a book review if I happen to love the book. Occasionally however, it does not hurt to divert for a day to look at the lighter side of these topics.  Today is one of those days, and I hope that it causes a discussion among those who read this blog.

You may have seen this already, but I only came across this yesterday on Facebook.  It was posted by Adirondack Architectural Heritage and created by Lucinda Philumalee and Nicholas Redding.  I find it quite amusing, but what do you think?  Can you come up with other examples? Even if you are not a historic preservationist, and I know that not all of you are, does this fall…

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