Virginia Vignettes

At least as early as the 1850s, many German residents of the Valley of Virginia celebrated the Christmas season with the unique custom of “belsnickeling.” The tradition’s origins are murky but the name comes from the Germans of the Palatinate region where Belznickel, or Saint Nicholas, brought small gifts for good children. In [...]

In the ante-bellum South, no one looked forward to Christmas more than the slaves. The coming of the Christmas season meant increased freedom, a minimum of a three-day holiday and extra provisions. Slaves held their own worship services and celebrated the season with song and dance, story-telling, ring games, jump rope and dances [...]

In 1686, a French Huguenot named Durand was traveling through the colonies, recording his observances in a journal. Shortly before Christmas, he stopped at the home of Colonel William Fitzhugh, “whose houses stand along the banks of the great Pethomak river,” where he was treated to a lavish celebration. William Fitzhugh was one [...]

The first Virginia Christmas found the English adventurers far from home and far from merry. Although it was spring when the three English ships landed in the New World, the men neglected the fundamentals of survival in their rush to find gold and silver, and winter found them – like the grasshopper in Aesop’s [...]

Dr. Albert Johnson, who lived and had his medical office at 814 Duke St. for 46 years, was one of the first licensed African-American physicians in Alexandria. Active in community organizations, including the local black chapter of the Odd Fellows, Johnson helped raise money to build Alexandria Hospital, finished in [...]

Virginia holds two claims to a day of thanksgiving predating the widely popularized “first Thanksgiving” at Plymouth in 1621. Upon arrival of much-needed supplies from England in the spring 1610, following the Jamestown settlement’s “starving time” – the winter famine in 1609-the settlers greeted Lord De la Warr on the James River with a service [...]

Frying Pan Meetinghouse, located in Fairfax County, is one of the oldest racially-integrated Baptist churches in Virginia. The church was established in 1775 and was granted permission to construct a structure by land owner, Robert “Councillor” Carter, in 1791. Though they maintained separate seating, black and white congregants worshiped, were baptized, and buried together, irrespective [...]

For one solid century, from 1866 to 1966, Christiansburg Institute provided education, inspiration, and community for African Americans working to better themselves in the face of adversity. Located in southwest Virginia’s Montgomery County, Christiansburg Institute was founded in 1866 by Captain Charles Schaeffer, an agent of the Quaker Freedmen’s Bureau. It was the first school [...]

During the 1980s eight Virginia Indian tribes obtained formal recognition from the Commonwealth, although the Pamunkey and Mattaponi had retained their reservations and had been observing their treaty relationship all along. The other tribes are Chickahominy, Chickahominy Eastern Division, Monacan, Nansemond, Rappahannock, and Upper Mattaponi.
In recent decades, the tribes have worked hard to reclaim [...]

Opechancanough, a leading chief or werowance of the Pamunkey nation, was a maternal relative of Powhatan. Identified as one of Powhatan’s successors to the paramount chiefdom, he also acted as war chief or military leader for Powhatan. Opechancanough was leading the party of Indians who captured John Smith when Smith went on an [...]