Willa Cather‘s birthplace, a tw0-story log house on Back Creek near Winchester, is for sale. In 1950, Charles Brill’s parents bought the house, and he spent most of his life on the property. Now Brill is looking for a buyer who can maintain the house—perhaps even a member of Cather’s family. Brill is committed to selling [...]

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Now showing at the Virginia Historical Society: Cold War Crisis: The U-2 Incident / January 16–May 30, 2010 On May 1, 1960, an American U-2 reconnaissance plane was shot down over the Soviet Union by a surface-to-air missile. Francis Gary Powers—a civilian pilot flying for the Central Intelligence Agency—was unable to activate the self-destruct mechanism [...]

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The photograph above, featured at the photo blog Shorpy, comes with the following caption: “Head of a Girl, 1905.” Hampton, Virginia. “Girl at elementary school affiliated with the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute.” Gum bichromate print by pioneering fine-art photographer Fred Holland Day (1864-1933), whose work we’ll be seeing more of every Sunday for the next [...]

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Mark Linkous, whose nom de music, as it were, was Sparklehorse, died over the weekend. The Arlington native is remembered in the New York Times: But disillusioned with the music business, Mr. Linkous returned to Virginia and reinvented his sound as Sparklehorse, a name that he applied to himself as well as his band. “We [...]

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