Green happenings: Charlottesville environmental news and events

Each week, C-VILLE’s Green Scene page takes a look at local environmental news. The section’s bulletin board has information on local green events and keeps you up to date on statewide happenings. Got an event or a tip you’d like to see here and in the paper? Write us at news@c-ville.com. Winter woods walk: Wild Virginia will […]

Austin trip for city and county is on, despite concerns of some

Despite a last-minute flap over cost, Charlottesville and Albemarle are sending staff and elected officials to Austin next month for talks and tours they hope will help city and county replicate some of the Texas city’s economic successes here. But even as details of the trip take shape, some are still concerned it’s a waste of money. […]

Ellie Kates is on a mission to improve Rwanda’s jewelry-making industry

If someone had told Charlottesville native Ellie Kates 10 years ago that before age 30 she’d be living in Rwanda running an international jewelry business, she likely would have smiled and said, “You’re probably right.” For the 29-year-old artist and entrepreneur, traveling, creating, and helping others has become a way of life. Kates is co-founder […]

Local Catholic couple runs Casa Alma, a refuge for those in need

Many people dedicate their holidays to giving, but one Charlottesville family has built a life around it. Laura and Steve Brown, members of the worldwide Catholic Worker movement, are live-in hosts at Casa Alma, an urban homestead in Belmont that offers housing and community support to families in need—and a home and way of life […]

Green happenings: Charlottesville environmental news and events

Each week, C-VILLE’s Green Scene page takes a look at local environmental news. The section’s bulletin board has information on local green events and keeps you up to date on statewide happenings. Got an event or a tip you’d like to see here and in the paper? Write us at news@c-ville.com. Teddy trek: Bundle the kids and […]

Guinevere Higgins wants to help you grow food in your backyard

It’s a few days before the winter solstice and the temperature is 55 degrees. Guinevere Higgins—founding board member of City Schoolyard Garden and co-founder of Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest—stares down at an arugula patch that’s been flattened by Fern, one of her two dogs. “I think they actually like to nibble on it,” she says. […]

Project underway to add Claudius Crozet’s Blue Ridge Tunnel to National Register of Historic Places

When the Blue Ridge Tunnel opened in 1858, its narrow 4,273′ passage through the mountains near Rockfish Gap created a corridor connecting Richmond to the Shenandoah Valley. Engineered by French civil engineer Claudius Crozet, it was a feat at the time, constructed in the most difficult stretch of the Virginia railroads—a very steep, craggy passage—and […]

For residents of The Crossings, Christmas is a time for thanksgiving

“This will be the first Christmas I haven’t been on the street in years,” said Shawn Bradley, 42, a Desert Storm veteran who moved into The Crossings last spring. “I basically was homeless, on the streets and in the woods for about four-and-a-half years.” The Crossings, a housing complex of 60 studio apartments located at […]