A little more than a hundred years ago, in the rural foothills of Nelson County, an ambitious band of five brothers—Will, Doc, Dick, Sam and Massie—were devoting themselves to the hard, prefatory dirty work of chasing a dream. Specifically: The men were spending their mornings and afternoons scouring the forest, field and countryside trapping rabbits. Droves […]
What does it take to be a true local? We think a commenter on Facebook said it best: “The truly quintessential Charlottesville experience isn’t actually available to tourists. It’s having lived here long enough that you can’t go anywhere without running into someone you know, yet still feeling like you live in a decently sized […]
For those in the LGBTQ+ community, there are still challenges ahead. Legally, Virginia law doesn’t prohibit the discrimination of gay people in areas of housing or employment. Gay seniors are ducking back into the closet as they enter conservative nursing care. Homosexual (and pansexual and gender queer and transgender…) teens still feel ashamed to be […]
Back in September 1977 Jay Blakesberg caught his first Grateful Dead show in Englishtown, New Jersey. He quickly became a die-hard fan, and as a hobbyist shutterbug started bringing a camera to shows as he followed the band around the country.
March 17—St. Patrick’s Day—was a pretty typical day for third-year Martese Johnson at the University of Virginia. A Tuesday, it was one of the heaviest academic days for the media studies and Italian major, and he was in class until mid-afternoon. That evening, “I hung out with friends on the [...]
Ann Gordon recognized that it was pretty sketchy downtown after hours. Her children later came to call it “wino safari-land.” She walked there with them sometimes during the 1970s. “There were strange derelict people,” she recalls, “and a men-only bar at The Brass Rail. There was a flop house, [...]
At the start of a new academic year, it’s inevitable that some students mourn their summer vacations and others feel happy to have something to do. Either way, going back to school can be a stressful time for both students and parents. Who’s picking Jacob up from football practice? And how much [...]
From the dozens of entries in the C-VILLE Weekly/WriterHouse short story contest, two rose above the rest. BettyJoyce Nash won the general category with her tale of a random encounter on a public bus that begins with irritation but transforms into a deeper personal connection. “I admire the [...]
To celebrate the anniversary of our birth, we combed through our archives and came up with some of the best and worst moments from the thousands of stories we’ve covered over the past 25 years
As a photojournalist for the last 25 years, working at both small and large newspapers in West Virginia and Boston, I was constantly on the outside of the fire line, shooting photos and telling the stories of those affected by fires, and the firefighters themselves. Firefighters were easy to [...]
According to family lore, when my great-grandmother was 16, she walked right up to my very handsome great-grandfather and said to him, “Catch me, I’m a butterfly.” It was a bold move for a short, shy woman who never drove a car or wrote a check in her life. (Though, she was sassy. She once […]
Ever since she was a child, Lara Call Gastinger has found ways to combine science and art. “My parents would take us to these National Wildlife Federation Summits where I started keeping a field journal, like this one,” she said, pointing to the notebook of illustrations on a desk in the sunny [...]
It’s a warm, early fall day, and Lonnie Murray and I are preparing for a scramble. We’re in a remote hollow in far southwest Albemarle County at the invitation of the landowner to explore a granite outcrop that nearly a decade ago was listed as one of the county’s top biodiversity hotspots. [...]
Editor’s Note: This story on Rob Coles’ life as a Thomas Jefferson descendant and impersonator originally ran in C-VILLE Weekly on June 19, 2012. According to his obituary in The Daily Progress, Mr. Coles died peacefully Tuesday. For a few minutes before he goes on stage, assuming [...]
When Stephen Canty watched his little brother leave on his first deployment as a Marine in the fall of 2011, he recognized the grin on Joe’s face as the same one he had worn himself three years earlier. They’d all been grinning then, the guys in 1st battalion, 6th Marines, Charlie Company, [...]
The default option for any working band looking to raise some quick funds is usually Kickstarter, but We Are Star Children, as always, are thinking outside the box. To help fund the distribution of their next album, the local group are instead hosting a pancake breakfast on Saturday morning, [...]
The President of Chile is running about an hour late. Not surprising, perhaps, considering the dedication ceremony he’s attending is being held 25 miles from the small tourist town of San Pedro de Atacama, up a long and desolate road, in a support facility nestled at 9,000′ in the high [...]
When did the demon dogs of hell stop merely influencing movie stars and studios and begin pulling the strings? To reiterate the inescapable point, A Good Day to Die Hard is a piece of shit.
Old-time-music enthusiasts who missed Frank Fairfield‘s appearance in town two weeks ago, as well as fans eager for a second helping, are in for a pleasant surprise. We spotted the distinctive Fairfield — hard to miss, with his vintage suite, pomade-ed hair, and a mustache worthy of [...]
To qualify for a “Class B” Virginia farm winery or cidery designation, owners have to ensure that 75 percent of the fruit they use comes from Commonwealth vineyards —not necessarily their own. And in 2007, the legislature expanded the farm wineries’ privilege and banned local governments from [...]
“Runners to the starting line!” Excitement ripples through the Wintergreen parking lot as dozens of Spandex-clad men and women, all of them solid muscle, take final swigs of Gatorade, kiss loved ones, and make their way toward a giant inflatable archway. “On your mark; get set—” A few runners [...]
On Friday, October 5th, the touring DIY Theater troupe Eternal Cult will present Rabbit: an Original Rabbit Tragedy at the Haven. Eternal Cult, based in Minneapolis, are just one of dozens of DIY theater organizations that have sprung up across the country in recent years, putting on [...]
Each week, C-VILLE’s Green Scene page takes a look at local environmental news. The section’s bulletin board has information on local green events and keeps you up to date on statewide happenings. Got an event or a tip you’d like to see here and in the paper? Write us at news@c-ville.com. [...]