The Muse: June 2009

Reading the want ads and classifieds is a popular activity these days. I decided to join the fray and post a few of my own!

• WANTED: Assistant for Artifact collection—must be able to do stairs.
• WANTED: Home sewing projects—mobcaps for little girls, and long skirts. Material and patterns provided.
• WANTED: Someone to clean up and preserve the tree ring slice—preservative provided.
• WANTED: Someone to spend about two hours at the end of the month to assist with compiling statistics—how many visitors and from where, how many did research, how many library books were used, etc.
• WANTED: “On-call” volunteers who are willing to be substitutes when the Director is sick or would like to schedule a vacation.

Volunteer training is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, June 20 for those who’d like to learn the Museum routine, or wish to refresh their skills.

These are just a few opportunities the Museum has to offer, and if you’d like to help out, just call me to make an appointment so we can decide where your talents can help us the most!

Holly Mills, Director

Amherst Glebe Arts Response (AGAR) in collaboration with the Amherst Museum and Historical Society presents PHILIPPE BERTAUD, Solo Concert by Master Guitar Player and Composer. Saturday, June 27, 2009 at 7:00 PM. Free Admission, but Donations Accepted to Cover Costs. Seating limited, Reserve: AGARVA@aol.com or call 946-0116 (AGAR office) or 946-9068 (Museum)

Born in rural France, Philippe Bertaud gave up a childhood ambition to be a shepherd to study classical and jazz guitar at the Nice Conservatory. He became a solo Master Guitarist and composer, performing in Europe, Asia and South America, before settling in Texas with his family, where he now performs and teaches. Mr. Bertaud has performed at numerous international festivals. His music includes classic compositions, U.S. and Brazilian jazz, international music, country music, tunes he’s learned to love in Texas, and original compositions. Mr. Bertaud’s performances for AGAR in Amherst last year proved extremely popular, and he has agreed to return with his new concert program this summer.

Saturday, July 18, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Coordinated by Lyl Wray of Blue Moon Antiques and Bookstore

What is it? Who made it? How can you use it? What might it be worth?

Consultations will be $5.00 per item, with all proceeds going toward museum programs. Further information and event flyers will be available at the June 6th Yard Sale.

Meet with experts on Saturday, July 18 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm at the Museum for individual consultations and general advice about living with your antiques. A variety of experts have volunteered their talents including: Jim Harding of Harding’s Clocks and Music Boxes (Amherst), Biff Bowen of Bowen Jewelry Company (Lynchburg) and Lou Ogden of Lou’s Antique Mall (Amherst, Monroe and Danville).

• The Iron Worker, 1963-1965 and 1972-1974. These issues contain a wealth of information about the Lynchburg Foundry’s contributions to Modern America such as products that were used for the moon missions, but they also provide articles about Virginia’s history—glassblowers at Jamestown, the Civil War’s Confederate ironclad, Gen. David Hunter in the Valley of Virginia (1864), the Plunkett-Meeks store at Appomattox Courthouse, Alexander Spotswood and the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe (1710) Buffalo Bill’s visit to Lynchburg in 1897, Lt. Robert Maynard’s defeat of Edward “Blackbeard” Teach and the justice meted out to him by the Colony of Virginia (Blackbeard was beheaded in 1718), and Gen. R.E. Lee’s postwar home of Derwent in Powhatan County. The 1972-1975 issues have articles about shipwrecks of Virginia; Virginia colleges—VMI, VPI, and UVA; William Clark’s and Meriwether Lewis’ long immortalized expedition; Peter Francisco, one of the great men of the Battle of Guilford Court House, 1781; the early roads of Virginia; Thomas Jefferson and the University of Virginia; Hessian prisoners in Central Virginia during the Revolutionary War; Virginia early fire insurance companies; the Virginia navy in the eighteenth century; Poplar Forest; the imprisonment of Jefferson Davis; and an article about Richard Evelyn Byrd, adventurer of the polar expeditions.
• Research notes about Dr. John Thompson, memorialized in the rechartering of the newest chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
• An index to the 1870 Agricultural Census of Amherst County, for those who would like to know the number of chickens and cows and crops of the family farm. The 1880 census is more detailed and will soon be available. In 1880 few people were growing grapes in Amherst County, but you already knew that, didn’t you?

On Saturday, April 18, we were joined by several children from a Maryland family with our program of “Springtime in Amherst County.” Below are some of the tissue flowers they made for the program with birds from the Schaar collection of Amherst County birds.

We are gathering colonial “dress-up” clothes for children to enjoy in their learning experiences at the Museum. If you’d like to donate some or make some (patterns and material provided), please let us know!

Many people remember the Pixley farm for the Fourth of July celebration, and it brings many memories for us. It was our pleasure to host a fireworks event and invite the public to come, and come they did! Rex absolutely loved the day! The celebration started in a small way in the 1960s for Rex’s niece and nephews and children of friends. It grew through the years until thousands came by 1978, our last year. What it amounted to was a BIG patriotic party!

Rex restored an antebellum house on Sunset Drive in Amherst, and it was always a work in progress; the large lawn was perfect for a crowd. Cars parked in the surrounding pastures, recently used by cows. People brought chairs and quilts and wandered and visited until dark. The road was narrow and unpaved, so there were some traffic jams. Flags on bamboo poles were flying from every post of our yard fence. Patriotic music played, and Rex always read the first part of the Declaration of Independence before the fireworks show. The older generation sat on folding chairs on the unfinished side porch.

Getting prepared for this day started as soon as we got out of school. Fields had to be bush-hogged, and the yard manicured ahead of time. Many friends and family members helped to run this one-man operation. The Fourth itself was a very busy day! Holes for the cannons had to be dug and covered in case of rain. (Cannons are a rack of tubes from which the fireworks were launched.) Posts had to be placed for set pieces like Niagara Falls or the American flag. Most of the time we were blessed with good weather. Many times we ate our supper while people passed by our kitchen’s bay window looking in.

There was always danger in firing the fireworks; these weren’t controlled by computer in those days. Under the guidance of Bailey Wilkins, family and friends fired and cleaned the cannons for the next round of shots. A lot of running went on, because these fireworks were powerful enough to injure. Some were almost the size of a football. I always said a prayer and held my breath until it was safely over.

One year we had bluegrass music by the McCabe family from the Sedalia Center. As my boys organized rock and roll bands, they performed—sometimes on a flat bed truck, sometimes from the side porch. Setting up all the PA equipment and instruments took a great deal of time, but the youngsters enjoyed it.

Some years stand out. In 1976, America’s Bicentennial Year, we had a jet flyover. The National Guard sent a unit of about 16-18 men from Chatham with a caisson, jeeps, and a hospital truck for children to climb on. When the caisson fired its loud rounds, the cows took off for the hinterlands! I can see their tails in the air now as they retreated. The Amherst Chapter of the DAR had the house open for tour, and they were in period dress. Harris Teeter, a grocery store, baked a huge tiered red, white, and blue cake for the occasion. The National Guard arrived in the early afternoon to get everything set up. About 4:00, the commander came to the front door and inquired about where he could take these men to eat supper. Amherst had few restaurants in those days, and nothing was open on July 4. We conferred in the kitchen and decided we could feed them. Mrs. Pixley, Rex’s mother, had made 100 biscuits the day before, Lil Stewart had fixed chicken, squash casserole, and other things for our supper; we began to open cans and search the freezer, and we came up with supper for them. Our dining room table sat eight comfortably, and we added two card tables to accommodate the men. They stood for prayer before their meal, and we were impressed. Somehow everyone got enough to eat, and a little was left over for the rest of us. 1976 was a big celebration.

Fairview, located in the Lowesville area, is the newest addition to the Amherst County listings on the Virginia Landmarks Register; it was included on the register at the March 19th joint meeting of the Virginia Board of Historic Resources and the Virginia State Review Board. The nomination will be forwarded for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The house is a 2 ½-story, brick, Italian Villa-style house that was built in 1867 by Nathan C. Taliaferro. The distinctive characteristic of the house is its three-story tower set at a 45-degree angle.1

Fairview is one of only two examples of the Italian Villa style known to exist in Amherst County; Sweet Briar House is the other example and it was originally built as a Federal-style house and later renovated in the Italian Villa style. The unique interpretation of the Italian Villa style indicates that Fairview was designed rather than copied from a period pattern book; the architect remains unknown but Fairview may have been the work of Lynchburg architect, Robert C. Burkholder.2

Fairview was built by Nathan C. Taliaferro (1823-1887) who moved to Amherst County from Lynchburg. In 1863, he purchased the farm of 544 acres that had an existing farmhouse on the property. Today, the earlier farmhouse remains and is located southwest of Fairview. That year he also purchased the Piney River Mill, also known as Woodson’s Mill, and became a farmer and businessman in the Lowesville area. Taliaferro began construction on Fairview in 1867. Taliaferro constructed Fairview the same year he built a general store in Lowesville with his partner, Henry Loving. The store is known as Hite’s Store. He remained in Amherst until 1875 when he obtained the position of Storekeeper and General Merchant for the Penitentiary of Virginia. He sold his properties in the Lowesville area and moved to Richmond.

Bennett Marion Davidson (1857-1897) succeeded Taliaferro as the owner of Fairview in 1875. Davidson inherited the property as part of a settlement of the estate of Samuel Miller, Davidson’s father.3 Davidson was a farmer and grocer in Lowesville and he also ran a nearby mill on Beaver Creek. In 1887, B. M. Davidson inscribed the following in one of the dining room windows, “This house was built in 1867/Fairview July 22 B. M. ‘87” which confirms the property tax records for the age of the house. Davidson died in 1897; he was buried on a ¼-acre plot of the Fairview grounds next to his brother; the location of the burials is unknown. In 1910, Davidson’s family sold the house and farm to R. H. Woodrum and the same year he sold the farm to M. L. Bruster. Bruster sold the farm and house to Benjamin Franklin Camden (1874-1961) in 1916. This family resided in the house for the longest period. In 1984, the family sold the house to the Wolvern family. They sold the house to the Noons in the 1990s, who operated the house as a bed and breakfast inn until they sold it in 2000 to the current owner, Jennifer Kilgore. Until recently, the house was used as a private residence and Ms. Kilgore has reopened the house as a bed and breakfast.

1 The full nomination for the property is available on the Virginia Department of Historic Resources website: www.dhr.virginia.gov.

2 According to Lynchburg Architectural Historian, S. Allen Chambers, he believes that Burkholder was the only person in the area who had the ability to design such a house. It is known that Taliaferro and Burkholder knew each other from court records but there is no documentation for the house design.

3 Samuel Miller was the wealthy man who built the Miller Home for orphans in Lynchburg and the Miller School in Charlottesville. Samuel Miller’s estates included Mountain View (now Rebec Orchard) which was inherited by another son, Samuel Davidson.

A few highlights of our growing collection of gravestone photographs. Above, Little Mary, daughter of J.D. and S.C. Mays (Bayley’s Chapel) Below, Mrs. Louisa Ann Ray, marker located at St. Luke’s cemetery. Photos are on CDs in the library.

There are many ways that the Amherst County Museum can benefit from your shopping—without costing you an extra cent! You may remember that the Museum is listed with Food Lion’s Shop & Share program which donates to the Museum whenever you shop with an MVP card registered at www.foodlion.com/IntheCommunity/ShopAndShare/

But did you know that whenever you shop online the Museum can benefit as well? If you start your shopping at Shop for Museums (at www.ShopforMuseums.com), you can select the Amherst County Museum to be your benefit museum and go on to shop from hundreds of online stores and services—Amazon.com, Sears, Target, Snapfish photography, Delta Airlines and Carnival Cruiselines are just a few of the possibilities. Check out this site when you shop online, and select Amherst County Museum to be your favorite museum!

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