Distressed: Historic Tonsler house needs help

By Ben Hitchcock The roof of the front porch is missing, leaving exposed wood visible from the road. A notice from the Board of Architectural Review approving a window replacement has hung on the front door since 2017. Unused scrap wood sits piled in the side yard. Neighbors report that until last week, the grass […]

Free Union fray: Appeals board upholds rural business

Close to 100 of the landed gentry filled Lane Auditorium for an Albemarle Board of Zoning Appeals hearing, a crowd size rarely seen during the usual Board of Supervisors meetings there. Well-heeled rural residents lined up for and against a Free Union Road business, lobbing accusations of “Californian,” “cronyism,” and “sleight of hand” in a […]

Slower but steady: Cornering the summer market

By Caroline Eastham During the summer, the UVA student population dwindles from near 25,000 to around 4,000. Despite this significant decrease, it’s business as usual for many Corner restaurants and stores, which have learned over the years to use this time as an opportunity to cater to different crowds and to improve overall customer experience. […]

Fate uncertain: Historic Crozet home in path of subdivision

Wayland House, on Pleasant Green Street in Crozet, may be the oldest existing house in town, dating to about 1814. And it may disappear as a new development arrives. The house was built by a reverend, whose more famous son, Benjamin Franklin Ficklin Jr., operated stagecoaches and helped establish the legendary Pony Express mail service […]

‘Déjà vu’: Amanda Knox podcast focuses on Soering case

Like Jens Soering, Amanda Knox was a college student when she was convicted of murder. She spent four years in an Italian prison for the 2007 murder of her roommate in Perugia, and her case became a cause célèbre before she was acquitted in 2015. Since her return to the United States, she’s become an […]

New homes for Habitat families

Roxana De La O, her husband Ramiro Angel, a full-time cook at Bizou, and their two kids were one of eight local families celebrating their new Habitat for Humanity homes June 1 in Lochlyn Hill. The families contributed more than 3,300 hours of sweat equity on six job sites. Habitat built the three- and four-bedroom […]

Bellair bears: Ursine invaders trash neighborhood

By Eileen Abbott Bradley Kipp recently noticed evidence of a nighttime intruder in the tranquil, wooded Bellair neighborhood west of town where he lives. A resourceful problem solver, Kipp decided to use bungee cords to thwart the thief. He created makeshift “locks” to tightly seal his trash bins, which were being regularly rummaged through, apparently […]

In brief: PrezFest, Monticello High news, and more

Presidential address Following a brief introduction by UVA President Jim Ryan—where Ryan mentioned he’d gotten food poisoning from the White House the first time he met Bill Clinton—the former leader of the free world then took the lectern in Old Cabell Hall to close out the Miller Center of Public Affairs’ first-ever PrezFest, aka Presidential […]