Rockbridge Vignettes

Rockbridge Vignettes Interesting and entertaining small stories about Rockbridge County's people, places and things. We post new items most evenings around dinnertime.

Some days, we give you a rerun bonus item in early afternoon.

The Lexington Arsenal — which evolved into Virginia Military Institute was commanded from 1817, the year of its founding...
07/02/2025

The Lexington Arsenal — which evolved into Virginia Military Institute was commanded from 1817, the year of its founding, until 1826 by one Major James Paxton, whose descendants thrive in Rockbridge and environs today. He was described as a “great fellow officer in a duel in the field.”

Chapel Hill, which dates to around 1842, isn’t one of the so-called Seven Hills of Rockbridge because it wasn’t built by...
07/02/2025

Chapel Hill, which dates to around 1842, isn’t one of the so-called Seven Hills of Rockbridge because it wasn’t built by or for a Grigsby. Instead it was built for Henry and Sarah Amole. He manufactured wheat fans, which, of course, everyone knows were hand-cranked devices used to separate wheat from chaff. The house overlooks Wesley Chapel, and is a two-story Federal-style Flemish-bond brick building (but American bond in the back), with five bays, on a limestone raised basement. A two-story wing was built in the rear about 1910, and the front porch was also added in the 20th century. It has four handsome mantels, all Federal and Greek in their inspiration and carved in an exaggerated vernacular (i.e., self-trained amateur) style, one of which is shown here.

Before 1870, Virginia had no state-supervised school system; families that could afford it sent their sons (and later da...
07/01/2025

Before 1870, Virginia had no state-supervised school system; families that could afford it sent their sons (and later daughters) to private academies. Local schools were formed voluntarily by parents or local governments, usually for poor children . That’s how Hamilton’s School House on South Buffalo Creek got its start in 1823 — built on an acre of land donated on Feb. 3, 1823, by Robert Hamilton and his family, and meant as a church as well as school. William H. Letcher, brother of Hamilton’s wife and father of future Virginia governor John Letcher, is said to have built the one-room school in a matter of months.

James Edward Deaver (1860-1932) and his heirs ran a men’s clothing store on South Main Street for decades, and the epony...
07/01/2025

James Edward Deaver (1860-1932) and his heirs ran a men’s clothing store on South Main Street for decades, and the eponymous J. Ed himself became a fixture in town. In his heyday he would tell stories in his advertising — for example, this one, explaining that if people would only buy clothes, he and his wife could afford to go on vacation. Today, Niko's restaurant seems to have taken J. Ed Deaver as a role model.

Dr. Daniel Blain (1898-1981) was born to missionary parents in China but educated in Lexington, the fifth generation to ...
06/30/2025

Dr. Daniel Blain (1898-1981) was born to missionary parents in China but educated in Lexington, the fifth generation to attend Washington & Lee. He was president and the first medical director of the American Psychiatric Association, as well as chairman of the Georgetown University Medical School psychiatry department. His great-great-grandfather, also Daniel Blain, a Liberty Hall alum, was the pastor at Oxford and Timber Ridge Presbyterian Churches in Rockbridge c. 1800, as well as a professor at Washington College. Blains I and V are buried in Oak Grove Cemetery.

William H. Milton (1900-84) , an atomic scientist with General Electric, became VMI’s superintendent in 1950 and was th...
06/29/2025

William H. Milton (1900-84) , an atomic scientist with General Electric, became VMI’s superintendent in 1950 and was the father of Peter Milton — whose whimsical etchings and engravings combine photorealism with surrealism, often compressing long periods of time into a single image. Peter, born in 1930, attended VMI for two years but was never committed to the institute and transferred to Yale. He described it as an “interlude” —“simply one of those family things.”

Joe Williams, preacher at Mount Zion Presbyterian Church on Irish Creek in the 1930s, was almost single-handedly respons...
06/28/2025

Joe Williams, preacher at Mount Zion Presbyterian Church on Irish Creek in the 1930s, was almost single-handedly responsible for bringing the community into the 20th century. He organized work gangs to improve the access road, building 9 bridges, which enlarged the local economy beyond lumbering, subsistence farming and moonshine. Alas, his plan backfired, as residents used the improved road to migrate away, and by 1962 the church over which he had presided was dissolved. (Today it has been resuscitated for a Baptist congregation.)

Bertram Goodhue (1869-1924) isn’t as well known at Virginia Military Institute as Alexander Jackson Davis, but they are...
06/28/2025

Bertram Goodhue (1869-1924) isn’t as well known at Virginia Military Institute as Alexander Jackson Davis, but they are both responsible for the Gothic Revival character of the architecture. Davis was a darling of the superintendent and board chairman for most of VMI’s early decades, but later commissions went to Goodhue, whose style built easily on Davis’s. Fun fact: Goodhue also invented the typeface known as Cheltenham, still used in New York Times headlines.

Yet again — Thanks, Chris Fox, for never-ending delight at sunset across northern Rockbridge
06/27/2025

Yet again — Thanks, Chris Fox, for never-ending delight at sunset across northern Rockbridge

Judith Nicoll Anderson was a daughter of Lexington lawyer, businessman ad one-time Virginia Attorney General William And...
06/26/2025

Judith Nicoll Anderson was a daughter of Lexington lawyer, businessman ad one-time Virginia Attorney General William Anderson. The Andersons were as close to royalty as you could get, and not just in Lexington. Well, Miss Judith once took a trip to Washington, D.C., registered in a hotel, and not long after received a phone call from a Washington Post reporter asking for an interview. To her this was perfectly normal, being from a fine Virginia family and all that, not realizing that the hotel clerk regularly tipped off the newspaper when a celebrity was in town. The eminent actress Judith Anderson was the rage at the time (think of the movies “Rebecca” and “Laura”), so the reporter hurried over and of course immediately realized there was a mistake, but being a gentleman he conducted the interview anyway.

The Census Bureau has an interesting report out this week about Rockbridge County. In 2020-24, the Asian population here...
06/26/2025

The Census Bureau has an interesting report out this week about Rockbridge County. In 2020-24, the Asian population here jumped by 26% and the Hispanic population by 11%. The Black population rose by just 1%, and the white population dropped by 2%. (The numbers sound more dramatic than they actually are. There were 575 Blacks in Rockbridge to start, so the increase was 6 people. Asians, 187 to start, so 49 added. Hispanics, 513 and 56.) The statistics don’t separate out Lexington or Buena Vista.

Mary Stuart Gilliam (1925-2024), an ardent preservationist, was a founder in 1966 of Historic Lexington Foundation and w...
06/25/2025

Mary Stuart Gilliam (1925-2024), an ardent preservationist, was a founder in 1966 of Historic Lexington Foundation and was also a leader in the area gardening and conservation movements. Pierre Daura painted this luminous portrait of her, which can be seen in the online Daura gallery: www.HistoricRockbridge.org/daura_gallery/daura_rockbridge.html.

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