Virginia Wildflower of the Year

The Jamestown (Atamasco) Lily has just been named by the Virginia Native Plant Society as the 2007 Virginia Wildflower of the Year. This was among the early native plants noticed by Jamestown colonists in the Tidewater region.
It is found in southern Virginia, most commonly in the southeastern coastal plain and blooms in April/May.
For more information about this plant and many other native Virginia plants, visit the
Virginia Native Plant Society

Related resources available at the library include:
Virginia Naturalist by John Trott, which was co-published by the Virginia Native Plant Society and the Middleburg Garden Club. It contains essays originally written for John Trott's column in the Fauquier Times-Democrat. He was a naturalist and worked with the Mediera School. The essays cover plants, wildlife and seasonal ruminations.

Spring Wildflowers of the Mid-Atlantic Region is a DVD produced for the Foundation for the Flora of Virginia Project, with Marion Lobstein, John DeMary and Suzanne Lohr. More than 100 common spring wildflowers, shrubs and vines are identified.

Virginia Officers who fought in the Revolutionary War tell their stories...

As part of his love of Virginia history, regional author and teacher Michael Cecere became involved in Revolutionary War re-enactments. Through original research for his "characters" who were real soldiers, he has written 5 books that tell their stories.

They Behaved like soldiers: Captain John Chilton and the Third Virginia Regiment 1775-1778
This includes a transcript of Chilton's diary and letters. Captain Chilton's regiment included notable Virginians such as James Monroe and William Washington. It provides invaluable
insights of the 3rd Virginia Regiment's routine and hardships, as they served in Trenton, and Brandywine during the war.

An Officer of very extraordinary merit: Charles Porterfield and the American War for Independence 1775-1780
The title comes from a quote of George Washington about Porterfield's service.
In this examination of numerous first person accounts, spanning from Boston and Quebec, through NJ, and down to South Carolina, the reader learns of the distinguished soldier's bravery as he endured blizzards, marches through Maine's wilderness, and action in many battles. John Marshall, future Supreme Court Justice, served as a lieutenant in the rifle unit commanded by Col. Daniel Morgan of Winchester, wherein Porterfield served as well.

Captain Thomas Posey and the 7th Virginia Regiment
Posey was with the battalion that played a prominent role in driving Lord Dunmore and the loyalist forces off Gwynn's Island and out of Virginia. His experience with his rifle company provides accounts of the Virginia forces at Saratoga, Whitemarsh , Valley Forge and Stony Point.

They are indeed a very useful corps, American riflemen in the Revolutionary War
The riflemen were formed in 1775 during the beginning of the Revolutionary War. This book includes eyewitness accounts of Benedict Arnold's attack on Quebec, and many battles in New York and NJ, including Trenton, Princeton, Harlem Heights and Throg's Neck. Southern Battles include King's Mountain and Cowpens.

In this time of extreme danger: Northern Virginia in the American Revolution
The role Northern Virginia played during the war, including political and social aspects as well as military maneuvers are highlighted in this book.

These books are available at the three branches of the library system.

Local Area Magazines

The Library has a number of regional journal subscriptions, including:

Blue Ridge Country
Northern Virginia (new)
Soul of Virginia
Southern Accents
Southern Living
Virginia Business
Virginia Capitol Connections
Virginia Forests
Virginia Home Educator
Virginia Review: journal of Virginia Government
Virginia Wildlife
Washington Business Journal
Washington Consumer Checkbook
Washingtonian

Please check our online catalog for locations and availability:
Fauquier Library Catalog

Tales of Turkmenistan and Greek Legends

The travel section in Sunday's Washington Post (July 16) profiled the book Unknown Sands by John W. Kropf, who is a resident of Fauquier County.

Subtitled "Journeys around the world's most isolated country", it recounts his experiences in remote Turkmenistan.

Listed as a "hardship post", Mr. Kropf spent two years on a diplomatic mission there, traveling throughout the land which Alexander the Great, Marco Polo, Genghis Khan and few intrepid Western adventurers had passed.

Geographically, Turkmenistan is bordered on the south by Iran and Afghanistan, and to the north by Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and opens onto the Caspian Sea to the west. In the center of the country is the Kara Kum Desert, which covers 80% of the country.
It has been a route of the Silk Road, and part of the former Soviet Union.

A copy of his book is available at the Fauquier Library.
For more information:
Unknown Sands

Another local author, John Latka, has recently published a novel,
Staten Island Memoirs, a fantasy tale of lost love involving an elderly man named Paris Polanski, remembering a chance encounter 43 years earlier, with a beautiful woman he calls Helen after "Helen of Troy." Zeus intervenes to arrange a meeting.

Mr. Latka was born in Brooklyn, but currently resides in Warrenton.

Staten Island Memoirs

Historic Hotels of America

Have you ever wondered what some of the famous, grand old hotels looked like on the inside?

A new DVD series on Historic Hotels in America reveals their special features.

The library has the following titles:

The Greenbrier, Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
The Homestead, Hot Springs, Virginia
Hotel Hershey, Hershey ,Pennsylvania
The Jefferson, Richmond, Virginia
The Mayflower, Washington DC
The Morrison Clark, Washington DC
The Wayside Inn, Middletown, Virginia
The Williamsburg Inn, Williamsburg, Virginia

John Marshall's Inauguration-105 years ago today

On January 20, 1801, John Marshall was appointed the fourth Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.

If you want to know more about one of Fauquier County's most illustrious citizens, here are a few of the many resources available about John Marshall at the library :

Geraldine Susi's biography of Marshall, written for children
My father, my companion : life at The Hollow, Chief Justice John Marshall's boyhood home in Virginia tells about his happy childhood with his family in eighteenth-century Fauquier County, Virginia, enjoying a particularly close relationship with his father and teacher, Thomas Marshall. Available at all three library branches.

John Marshall : his homes...his history...his legacy / prepared by Learning Tree Farms and The Friends of the Hollow, compiled on the occasion of the Marshall Family Reunion in 2003.
In the Virginiana Collection, at all three branches.

The Marshall legacy : 1999 archaeological dig / Fauquier Heritage & Preservation Foundation, describes local excavations in Fauquier County. In the Virginiana Collection at all three branches.

My dearest Polly; letters of Chief Justice John Marshall to his wife, with their background, political and domestic, 1779-1831 presents the personal side of the great man of law. In the Virginiana Room at the Warrenton Branch, along with numerous other biographies of John Marshall.

Davenport's Grimm DVD Series

American versions of classic folk and fairy tales From the Brothers Grimm
by Delaplane's own Tom Davenport are now available in DVD format.

You may have seen some of these stories on PBS a while back.
These award-winning live action Appalachian versions of traditional tales have a unique style and flavor, with memorable characters and settings in the hills and regions of the South.

Included are the following stories:
Ashpet, an American Cinderella set in the rural South during the early years of WWII
Hansel and Gretel, Bearskin, The Frog King
Jack and the Dentist's Daughter (based on The Master Thief)
Mutzmag
Rapunzel, Bristlelip, the Goose Girl,
Soldier Jack, or the man who caught death in a sack
Willa, an American Snow White.

As a lagniappe, special features are incorporated with the tales.
Documentaries from the American Traditional Culture series by Davenport, such as The Ballad of Frankie Silver, a real murder immortalized in song, that took place in Morganton, NC in 1833, and Being a Joines: A Life in the Brushy Mountains about a master tale teller from Wilkes County, NC. enhance some of the DVD's.
Interviews with the filmmaker and behind the scenes footage and commentary are also provided.

Please note: some of these titles are recommended for older children.
The complete series is available at all three library branches.
For additional information and teacher resource guides check out Tom Davenport's website www.davenportfilms.com.

Twilight at Little Round Top

Former Fauquier resident Mr. Glen W. Lafantasie recently published his historical account of the pivotal one-day struggle at Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, in a book titled Twilight at Little Round Top.

For many years, Mr. Lafantasie was a familiar face at the Warrenton Branch library, requesting interlibrary loan titles for research on this book. Noted with pleasant surprise: the kind acknowledgement of the Fauquier library staff in the preface.
Look for this book in the collection soon.

Earl Hamner Biography

Walton's Mountain fans take note: there's a new biography out about Earl Hamner,
Virginian author and series creator.
Titled Earl Hamner: From Walton's Mountain to Tomorrow it is an authorized biography by James E. Person, Jr.

New Thoroughbred racing title

This October, George Rowand, business editor
of the Fauquier Times-Democrat, has an inspiring memoir coming out.
Diary of a Dream, published by Eclipse Press,
describes the ups and downs George experienced
in learning the ropes over 18 years breeding, owning and racing Thoroughbreds.

It will be available in the library's collection when released.
For more information, see Eclipse Press page
Diary of a Dream