Down Memory Lane
From Back Issues of the Rappahannock News
March 3, 1966 POTTERY SHOP OPENED IN TOWN OF WASHINGTON BY MISS JORDAN
One of the newest business establishments in Rappahannock County is one of the oldest crafts known to man — a potter’s shop. Here all phases of pottery from the moist clay to the finished glazed product are carried on, and in addition, a sales and showroom are maintained. It is located on Main Street in Washington, near Washington Cash Store.
The shop is unique in several aspects. It is owned and operated solely by Miss June Jordan, a personable young lady who is a native Virginian reared at Mt. Crawford. The building in which the shop is located is one of the oldest structures in the Town of Washington, a timbered house said to have been standing when George Washington surveyed the village in 1749. In the past the building has housed a tanner’s shop, shoe shop, meat market and antique shop.
LEA BROS. STORE DISCONTINUES BUSINESS
Lea Bros Store in Washington discontinued business Saturday after serving the town 38 years. The business was first opened here January 6, 1928 by T. C. Lea and at that time was located on the corner where the Washington Cash Store is now.
In 1935 the present building was constructed on the corner of Gay and Jett Streets by Mr. Lea and he continued to operated it until his death in 1957. At this time Mrs. Lea continued the business until 1964 when she sold it to her son T. Carlyle Lea, Jr. for health reasons. The young Mr. Lea, who is an attorney and judge of Rappahannock County Court, discontinued the business last week because of con ict with his judicial duties and law practice.
At one time there were five Lea Bros. Stores around the state. With the closing of the store here, there is one remaining in operation at Massies Mill.
May 10, 1979 DOG KILLS WORTH $540
Whoever said that the dog is man’s best friend never checked with the Rappahannock Supervisors a er they’ve been presented with the bill for livestock killed by strays.
May’s price tag of $540 for ten animals was up substantially over the winter months. This animal jump in the number of livestock claims brought before the board by dog warden Jack Bruce has become as sure a sign of Spring in Rappahannock County as apple blossoms or the rst robin.
At last Tuesday’s board meeting, Bruce reported that Tom Lee had lost three lambs and a calf. Bruce said he’d seen the remains of two lambs — “a hide and a leg or two” — and another lamb lying up against a fence, dead but without a mark on the animal. He added that the dead calf “had his ears clipped o right by the head, the tail bitten o at the end of the backbone, the entire stomach gone and the eyes gone also.”
“I hope nobody here has a weak stomach,” interjected supervisor chairman E. P. Luke.
Bruce said there was no way he could determine positively what had killed the livestock but noted that Lee’s men had seen two dogs chasing the lambs before they found the dead animals.
Lee added that he’d found dogs eating the calf. “I talked to the man that Mr. Lee gured owned the dogs eating on the calf,” Bruce continued. “He said his daughter owned the dogs and that they’d be gone soon.”
REMEMBERING THE TORNADO OF ’29
Fi y years ago — May 2, 1929 — a tornado ripped through Rappahannock. Coming from the west, it followed a path around the base of Red Oak Mountain from Woodville. The tornado passed below Washington, near the junction of the Rush and Covington Rivers at the end of Route 674. Still at full force, it demolished homes and farm buildings around Rock Mills, Laurel Mills and Ben Venue as it passed across Long Mountain.