Down Memory Lane
From Back Issues of the Rappahannock News
July 27, 1978
Try as one may, it’s difficult to keep a good thing quiet, as many natives have discovered as they watch the continuing caravan of tourists who wind their way into Rappahannock each weekend.
Seeking the county’s most available commodities, natural beauty and relaxing atmosphere, they come looking for a temporary niche of their own. For some, that place is Piney River Campground, located a mile east of Sperryville on Route 612, better known as Old Hollow.
Managed by Cindy and Eddie Wayland, the 70 acre camping area is a virtual melting pot for tourists.
Though visited most frequently by residents of the Washington D.C. area, Dutch, German and French campers are not unusual, according to Cindy.
Organized about 10 years ago by Medreck Bell, the camp consists of 55 sites most of which are located in an apple orchard forming part of the grounds. Aside from bathhouse facilities, the only other structures there are a shelter for ping pong, horseshoe pitching equipment and a small store which adjoins the house where the Waylands and their eightmonth-old daughter Sarah lives.
For Cindy, a Rappahannock High French and English Teacher, and Eddie an employee with the US Postal Service, management and maintenance of the campground is an almost never ending job.
“We love living here — but it can be confining,” say the young couple who must be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from May until October.
March 8, 1979
Electoral Board members, county government employees and friends feted Mrs. Mary Cleverley with a retirement party in the Health Department offices last week.
Jack Carney on behalf of the electoral board presented her with a pendant engraved with her initials and on the reverse “Registrar 3-1-71 to 2-28-79.” He praised Mrs. Cleverley, who served two terms as General Registrar for Rappahannock County, for her dedicated service.
A self-described “damn Yankee” (she was born, raised and married in Massachusetts near Cape Cod), Mrs. Cleverley will retire to a home in the village of Flint Hill. The house itself is a testimony to “Yankee ingenuity.” A full year of planning went into the design of the house, which is essentially barrier free to allow freedom of movement for even someone confined to a wheelchair. She does not need the special features herself.
Mrs. Cleverley describes her house as an example of how living quarters can be constructed to accommodate handicapped and elderly persons.
If all goes according to plan, the Rappahannock Farmers Market will begin operations on May 1 next door to the new site of the Farmers Cooperative on Route 211, just outside the town of Washington.
Organizers of the market culminated months of effort by reaching tentative agreement on occupancy with Flatwood Trust, owners of the property. A lease is being worked out and will have to be approved by both the Farmers Market and Flatwood Trust representatives before arrangements are finalized, according to Farmers Market president Truman Keesey.
“In the community, enthusiasm about the market is running high, and every day more producers and crafts people indicate interest in participating,” said Keesey. “Likewise, as starting time approaches, there is increasing consumer interest both in Rappahannock and outside the county.”