Mountaintop removal: Groups argue its definition

In an April 27 telepresser, a number of environmental groups discussed Dominion’s alleged plans to decapitate 38 miles of ridgelines in Virginia and West Virginia to make way for the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. About 5.6 of those miles are atop Roberts Mountain in Nelson County. Moderated by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, spokespeople from […]

Nelson County: Country Cool

Between the James River to the southeast and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the north and west lies beautiful Nelson County. Do you love the great outdoors? Nelson’s Wintergreen Resort is a year-round sportsman’s paradise, with ski trails and snowboard parks, mountain bike and horseback trails, golf links and tennis courts. Nelson’s scenic length of […]

Synchronicity Foundation recalls compassionate response to terrorism

A journey to India for meditation and enlightenment in late November 2008 turned into a terrorist bloodbath that left 164 people dead throughout multiple locations in Mumbai. Among them were a father and daughter from Synchronicity Foundation in Nelson County. Days later, the modern spirituality community made international news again when the mother’s response was […]

Night lights: Munitions company shines in Rockfish Valley

David Connolly used to gaze out the windows of his Afton Mountain home and see twinkling lights and the occasional headlight in the valley below. That was before Zenith Quest International “fired up the lights,” he says, of its already controversial, 84,000-square-foot firearms and ammunition distribution warehouse smack in the middle of Nelson County’s scenic […]

‘Death by 1,000 cuts:’ A win for Nelson pipeline opponents

Companies surveying for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline must provide property owners sufficient written notice before setting foot on their properties, a Nelson County judge ruled May 9. Though this doesn’t stop the project, pipeline opponents say any ruling in favor of landowners is a success. “It gives us much more control over our property and […]

Brewery buyout: Big beer company acquires Devils Backbone

Local craft brewery Devils Backbone announced on social media it was being sold to Anheuser-Busch InBev at 10:35am on April 12. By noon, the court of public opinion had tried and convicted the Nelson County company of selling out. Brewery ownership was a bunch of “cowards.” They were “greedy,” looking to “cash in,” sold to […]

Good night, John-Boy: ‘Waltons’ creator Earl Hamner dies at 92

Schuyler native Earl Hamner Jr., who put Nelson County on the national map with his 1970s Emmy-winning series, “The Waltons,” died from cancer March 24 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles listening to “Rocky Mountain High,” according to his son’s post on Facebook. He was 92. Best known for “The Waltons,” he also wrote episodes […]

Randy Taylor prosecutor Anthony Martin resigns

Anthony Martin, the Nelson County commonwealth’s attorney who got a murder conviction without a body in the case of missing teen Alexis Murphy, resigned from his position January 26 after being reelected in an unopposed race in November. In an e-mail, Martin says, “[R]eally it boiled down to wanting a change after 10 years of prosecution. […]