Tag Archives: Menokin

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 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 Landscape

Suppertime at the Menokin Butterfly Garden

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"THESE Tourists, heaven preserve us! needs must live
      A profitable life: some glance along,
      Rapid and gay, as if the earth were air,
      And they were butterflies to wheel about
      Long as the summer lasted..."

                            William Wordsworth

Monarchs, tiger swallowtails, dragonflies and hummingbird moths all came to feast on the beautiful flowers in the Menokin Butterfly Garden.

Planted by a local Boy Scout as his Eagle Scout Project, and maintained by a local chapter of the Master Naturalists, the garden has provided pleasure for the staff, visitors and wildlife of Menokin all season.

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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, 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 www.rappahannocktribe.org.

The House

Localism and Place Identity

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This quote from The Actual Proposal struck a chord with me. It seems to aptly illustrate the lifestyle of the Northern Neck – that of the Lees and Tayloes, and even of the residents today.

Image of Menokin from the Robert A Lancaster Collection Circa 1880

In the daze of overwhelming mobility perhaps architects should wonder: what’s wrong with standing still?  Poet, essayist, and farmer, Wendell E. Berry, shares a similar sentiment in remembering his grandfather:

“My grandfather, on the contrary, and despite his life’s persistent theme of hardship, took a great and present delight in the modest good that was at hand: in his place and his affection for it, in its pastures, animals, and crops, in favourable weather.

He did not participate in the least in what we call “mobility.” He died, after eighty-two years, in the same spot he was born in. He was probably in his sixties when he made the one longish trip of his life. He went with my father southward across Kentucky and into Tennessee. On their return, my father asked him what he thought of their journey. He replied: “Well, sir, I’ve looked with all the eyes I’ve got, and I wouldn’t trade the field behind my barn for every inch I’ve seen.”

In such modest joy in a modest holding is the promise of a stable, democratic society, a promise not to be found in “mobility”: our forlorn modern progress toward something indefinitely, and often unrealizably, better. A principled dissatisfaction with whatever one has promises nothing or worse.”

The House, The Landscape

Calling All Photographers.

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The Menokin Foundation invites you to visit our site and show us Menokin through your lens. This photo contest includes three categories: Wildlife, Landscape and Architecture. The contest will conclude in November with a salon style exhibit and reception at the Menokin Visitor’s Center.

At least three images from each category will be printed, framed and displayed at the exhibit. All other works entered will be displayed in a slide show.

The show will be judged by Richmond photographer, Hullihen Williams Moore, who studied with Ansel Adams. The University of Virginia Press published a book of Hullie’s images, Shenandoah: Views of Our National Park, and his work is part of the permanent collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

AUGUST 1st: Entry submission begins

OCTOBER 15th: Entry deadline

NOVEMBER 2: Exhibition and reception

Rules and Guidelines: (Delivery information is listed at bottom of page)

1) All photos must be submitted digitally no later than midnight of October 15, 2012.

2) Emailed photos must not be larger than 3MB. Larger files will be accepted on CD or DVD via mail and hand delivery.

3) Only three images per applicant will be accepted. They may be in any category of your choosing: Wildlife, Landscape or Architecture.

4) Registrants must complete an application and submit with their entries. Applications are available at the Visitor’s Center in Warsaw and on our website. (http://www.menokin.org/pdf/events/Photo%20Contest%20Flyer.pdf )

5) Prizes will be awarded as follows: 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize in each category and one Best In Show. A prize will also be awarded to the Best In Show winner – an afternoon of photography at Menokin with Hullie Moore.

Menokin is located at 4037 Menokin Road in Warsaw, VA. Call us at 804-333-1776, visit online at menokin.org, or email us at menokin@menokin.org.

The House, The People

Tobacco Rolling Roads

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There is much evidence at Menokin of human impact on the land. The example below demonstrates that there were tobacco rolling roads on the Menokin plantation. These roads allowed for barrels filled with tobacco to be easily transported to the river. After these barrels were rolled down these roads to Cat Point Creek, they were shipped off to be sold in various markets.

 

These tobacco rolling roads were built to hasten the process of transporting tobacco and further the success of the plantation.  The enslaved men and women at Menokin most likely dug these roads, evidence of which you now see today.

The landscape holds traces of history everywhere. These rolling roads demonstrate that the actions of people centuries ago are still with us today. Even though the forest looks wild, upon closer look you can see the imprint of Frank’s decisions and the labor of slaves.

These tobacco rolling roads helped advance the commercial interests of Menokin. Can you see how people use land today to enhance one’s business? What other ways do people impact and distort the land?