Category Archives: Southern Virginia

Attractions: Native American Sites Near Annefield.

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Arrowhead Found at Annefield Vineyards.

Arrowhead Found at Annefield Vineyards.

When we were preparing the ground for the first vineyard site, after clearing the land, burning the stumps and debris and countouring the ground a bit, we were walking the site with our viticulture consultant, Paul Mierzejewski.  Paul looked down and spotted a small arrrowhead.  We don’t know which tribe may have produced it, but in honor of the find we call that vineyard Arrowhead.

It goes without saying that Virginia’s first people have been here since time immemorial.  Today there are 11 organized tribes and two small reservations in the Commonwealth.  According to the website supported by the Virginia Department of Education called Virginia’s First People, Federal Census figures show that there are about 15,000 people of Indian ancestry living in Virginia.

The two Virginia reservations are located in Prince William County and date from the 1600s; these are inhabited by the Pamunkey and the Mattaponi.   Nine other groups are officially recognized as Indian tribes by the Commonwealth: the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) in Southampton County; the Chickahominy in Charles City County; the Chickahominy Indian Tribe — Eastern Division in New Kent County; the Monacan Indian Tribe in Amherst County; the Nansemond Indian Tribal Association in the City of Chesapeake; the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia in Southampton County; the Patawomeck Tribe in Stafford County; the Rappahannock Indian Tribe in Essex, Caroline, and King & Queen Counties; and the Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe in King William County.

Which tribe might have made our arrowhead?  We know that historically the area around Charlotte County was inhabited by the Saponi Indians, who were known to have had a village on the Staunton River on Otter Creek, southwest of Lynchburg in the 1670s.  Other tribes that lived in the area and were closely related to them were the Occoneechi, the Tutelo and the Nahyssans.  The Saponi and the Occaneechi were the tribes were wrongly attacked by Nathaniel Bacon the younger in retaliation for raids carried out in 1676 by the Doeg tribe.  Decimated by the attacks, the Saponi relocated to three islands near Clarksville with the Tutelo and Nahyssans.  Those islands now lie under Buggs Island Lake, and archaeological digs were conducted in the years prior the filling of the reservoir in an effort to preserve as many artifacts as possible.

Where can you learn more about our Native American predecessors?  There are several sites quite close to Annefield.  Start with a visit to the South Boston-Halifax County Museum of Fine Arts & History.  The American Indian Gallery exhibits an extensive collection of Native American artifacts that were excavated by local collectors from 1966 to 1970 from several sites near Nelson Island, which is now underwater on the Halifax County side of Buggs Island Lake.  The collection of mostly 17th century obtjects was donated to the museum by Mr and Mrs John H. Wells, and includes numerous stone tools, bone fish hooks, gorgets, awls, and pottery, though these artifacts are believed to be of Susquehannock origin rather than Occaneechi.

Making your way to the northeast from South Boston, the next stop is the Randolph Depot, which is part of the Staunton River Battlefield State Park.  At the time of the battle in 1863, it was known as Roanoke Station, and the depot was burned by the Union Army as they left the area.  The present depot dates from 1910.  For a time it served as a transfer point for freight traveling up the river by bateau, which was off-loaded and transferred to rail cars.  After being rolocated (then returned), the depot re-opened on 31 May 2002 as the Roanoke Visitor Center, where it houses an archealogical exhibit of Native American artifacts excavated from Staunton River Battlefield by the Longwood University Archaeological Field School.

This takes you closest to Annefield, so stop in for a visit.  Continue on to Chase City, home to the MacCallum More Museum & Gardens.  The artifact collection there was collected by Arthur Roberston, and includes tools and weapons dating from 9,500 BC to about 1600.  The exhibit includes a life-size replica of Mr Robertson’s log cabin, where he housed his collection.  The exhibits include Mr Robertson’s journals, which provides information on where many of the artifacts were found, mostly in Mecklenburg and Halifax Counties.

Continue south to Clarksville for the Springfield Rosseechee Museum, which is home to the legendary artifact collection of the late Judge John W. Tisdale (Judge Tisdale was a Mecklenburg County court judge for more than 40 years and the longest-tenured mayor in Clarksville town history, and was a devoted historian — the bridge over Buggs Island Lake is named for him).  This collection includes more than 20,000 stone artifacts, from Folsom points to 17th-century Indian relics.

The last stop is the Occoneechee State Park Visitor Center & Museum, which features a park with 18.1 miles of trails that allow the guest to experience the history of the Occoneechee Indians and plantation life in the 1800s.   Facilities at the park include cabins, campsites, equestrian camping, picnic shelters, an amphitheater, a playground, boat ramps, and a private concession offering fishing and pontoon boat rentals as well as snacks.  The visitor center and museum introduce visitors to Native American culture and the indigenous Occoneechee people.  Visitors can learn about the “The Occoneechi Story” through an exhibit in the park’s visitor center.  The story begins in 10,000 to 8,000 BC with the Paleo-Indian era, and continues through European contact and beyond. A timeline, artifacts, and a reproduction of an Occaneechi style dwelling, or ati, bring the story alive.  Indeed, the Occaneechi people survive as a small community in Alamance County, North Carolina.  Now known as The Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, they work to preserve and promote their history and culture, and pursue economic development projects.

An excellent guide to the Native American peoples of Virginia is available online, The Virginia Indian Heritage Trail.  Another excellent place to learn more is this website, Virginia’s First People: Past and Present.

***

South Boston-Halifax County Museum of Fine Arts & History, 1540 Wilborn Avenue, South Boston, Virginia 24592 (434) 572.9200

Randolph Depot, 1035 Fort Hill Trail, Randolph, Virgina 23962 (434) 454.4312

MacCallum More Museum & Gardens, 603 Hudgins Street, Chase City, Virgina 23924 (434) 372.0502

Springfield Rosseechee Museum, 289 Tisdale Lane, Clarksville, Virginia 23927 (434) 374.8216

Occoneechee State Park Visitor Center & Museum,  1192 Occoneechee Park Road, Clarksville, VA 23927 (434) 374.2210


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The Cicadas Are Here!

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Cicadas Are Here

This past fun-filled weekend we had to hurriedly prepare a spray for the vineyard, only to have our sprayer malfunction in the worst possible way — two strainers in the back blew out from the strain of the pressure.  Our air blast sprayer (produced by a company called Air-o-Fan) run at about 100 pounds per square inch, and the strain on the strainer takes its toll.  One blew out, and we thought, no problem, because we had one extra.  Drove back to the barn, put on the new one, returned to the vineyard, cranked it up — and the second strainer blew (there are two).  No replacement for that one, which mean’t no spraying that day.  We’re experiencing severe disease pressure — what to do?

Indeed, what to do?  We had a wine festival in Richmond the next day, and the day after on a plane to California to visit family and friends for a graduation at the University of Southern California, first swinging through San Francisco to see relatives and a fabulous dinner planned at Restaurant Gary Danko on North Point in The City (more on that later).  We’ll be away a week and can’t delay a fungicide application, with our Phomopsis problem lurking in the vines.  A few quick calls secured replacement parts (a half dozen) from the manufacturer, which will be overnighted, and calls to our beloved neighbor who tends to the fields and keeps an eye on things (but has never run the sprayer) took care of our other problem, which is to make sure we applied a treatment very soon, not that the rains have passed, for now.  Russell came on over 20 minutes after our rather frantic phone call, had a quick tutorial and instructions on operating the thing.  Many thanks to Air-o-Fan (and to Russell) for coming though for us!

Saturday proved a bit forbidding, with violent thunderstorms in the forecast that were to peak mid-afternoon.  But the storms missed us, and it was a rather pleasant afternoon at the Snag A Job Pavilion in Glen Allen for the Central Virginia Wine Festival, an event put on by the Richmond Virginia Tech Alumni Association, a fundraiser for scholarships for Richmond-area students attending Tech.  Fabulous cause with fabulous people running it.  And the volunteers!  We had teams assigned to us to help pour (they were in a word (and we’ll say it again) fabulous — such enthusiasm, such grace and good cheer!   And of course they loved the wine (how could they not?), and purchased several bottles on top of the wine we gave them as a thank you gift for helping.  The festival staff helped us unload, and when it was over they loaded us up to go (we were among the first out of there) — we felt like Princes.

Just before our sprayer mis-adventure on Friday, however, we looked down and spotted our first cicadas on the fence post at the gate to the vineyard.  We are due to have a massive invasion of the periodic cicada this year, an event we look forward to with curiosity and dread.  We didn’t see them in Richmond on Saturday, or up north in McLean on Sunday, but they are all over Annefield.  When packing up to depart the next day for the festival we spotted dozens of them in the grass and crawling up the side of the house, many of them just emerging from their exoskeletons.  Many that we saw had just emerged, with their crazy orange eyes, waiting for their shells to harden, milky white and vulnerable.  They haven’t started singing yet.

Our First Cicada Found

Nymph Shells

Dr Tony Wolf of the Alson H. Smith Jr Agricultural Research and Extension Center of Virginia Tech Virginia circulated a memo about them (and included an ominous note that there is a threat of potential spring frost on Monday in the Shenandoah Valley) advising what winegrowers need to do about the 17-year periodic cicadas emerging this year — in a word, nothing.

Periodical cicada spends most of its life as a nymph, feeding on xylem sap from tree roots. In the final year of development, nymphs crawl from the soil, climbing tree trunks or any other structure. During the night, the nymphal skin splits along the midline, and the adult emerges. Adults appear in mid- to late-May (a few individuals may be heard as early as late-April). They appear around sunset, males slightly preceding females. Males congregate en masse in “chorusing centers”. Singing peaks around 10:00 AM. Adults feed on a wide range of woody plants during the day; such feeding is apparently restricted to the females because the male digestive tract is rudimentary. Egg-laying begins about 2 weeks after emergence. Eggs are inserted into twigs in groups of 10-25; the slit into which the eggs are inserted is 1-4 inches (2.5-10 cm) long. Females may lay over 500 eggs. Oviposition peaks in the early afternoon. Adults are active for about 6 weeks. Eggs hatch 6-10 weeks after oviposition, whereupon nymphs leave the twigs and drop to the soil. Nymphs tunnel to the roots where they establish themselves for feeding.

What threat do cicadas pose to grapevines?  If you’re new to grape growing since the last emergence of periodical cicada’s you may think that the insects are causing significant damage, and your immediate reaction will be to ask what insecticide might be sprayed to keep the insects off your grapevines. While that’s an understandable reaction, my advice (TKW) would be to find something else to do and not worry too much about what the insects are doing. You are going to see shoot breakage and you may want to defer trunk and cordon establishment on young vines until next year, but grapevines are pretty resilient. Injury by egg-laying is a much greater problem than feeding is, but it’s helpful to realize that the egg-laying (ovipositioning) on mature grapevines is not as detrimental as it can be for young fruit trees or woody landscape materials, which you may wish to protect. The cicadas will deposit eggs in grape shoots and smaller cordons of the vine. Unsupported shoots often break beyond the point of egg-laying, but because this occurs relatively early in the growing season (June), lateral re-growth will normally compensate for the loss of a primary shoot tip. In older wood, the oviposition site typically heals.

Insecticidal control of cicadas is not very practical because of the extended period of emergence and activity (up to 6 weeks) and because insecticides would have to be applied very frequently to come in contact with newly emerging insects. Fine netting is an option mentioned in the above-cited Fact Sheet, but the economics of this approach with grapevines is questionable. Young (first-year) vines are a special consideration in that one is attempting to produce shoots to serve as trunks in the following year. One potential means of protecting the shoots would be the use of grow tubes, which would discourage cicadas from at least the first 24 to 36 inches of the shoot. Alternatively one might simply retain several shoots in the first year in the event that one or more shoots break during development.

They’ll put on a spectacular show.

Incidentally, at the Central Virginia Wine Festival, our newly released 2012 Annefield Vineyards Viognier was named best white wine at the event.  We last attended this festival two years ago (we had a conflict last year) and received the same honor.  We like to think they love us and we certainly love them.  Its a great event, a worthy cause, and we’ll probably be back. next year.  Go Hokies!

Hokie Fest

 

A Cool, Wet Spring Means Phomopsis.

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Bud Break

Bud Break, 12 April 2013.

Ah, spring!  Winegrowers have a different spin on that old ditty:  ”April showers bring May . . . Phomopsis.  More specifically, Phomopsis viticola, otherwise known as Phomopsis cane and leaf spot.  The weather this spring has been perfect for it — cool, wet days with relatively cool temperatures in the range of 59 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit.  We haven’t seen it in our vineyards for about four years, but this past week the tractor was being serviced so we had to miss spraying fungicides one week.  The infection seemed relatively small — just a few patches — but it must be controlled.  One can expect to see it anytime after bud break, which this year occurred around April 12 in our part of the world.

Readers of this space probably don’t care for the ugly details, but those interested in learning more can turn to any of several sources: Virginia Tech’s Online Guide to Grapevine Diseases and the University of California’s Integrated Pest Management Program are excellent, Cornell University has theirs, as do most every other university agriculture program.  The bottom line is it ain’t pretty, and if not controlled, it can ruin your crop.

How do you fight it?  You treat it the same as all of our other loveable fungal infections: downy mildew, powdery mildew, botrytis, black rot — with a fungicidal spray, applying once a week or so or after a heavy rain, being mindful of the limits specified on the label for the application of that particular product in a particular growing season.  There are a range of products effective against it, such as copper and sulfur (for those focused on organic production), but our personal favorite is a Dupont product called Manzate, which contains manganese and zinc.  The rules for its application vary by location and crop.  In California, for example, it is illegal to apply Manzate to grapes after bloom, yet east of the Rocky Mountains you can apply it up to 66 days before harvest (referred to as the “pre-harvest interval,” or PHI), yet for squash and melons, the PHI is 5 days.  Go figure.

However, all of these are contact products and need to be re-applied after the next heavy rain, and need to be applied again anyway to protect the growing shoots.  The inoculum overwinters in the vineyard, so a dormant application of lime sulfur is probably in order this fall and again before bud break next year.  This is also effective for botrytis and powdery mildew. Our usual practice is to combine two products in each tank mix — one that targets powdery mildew and the other downy mildew.  Fortunately the products that fight both of these are good for Phomopsis.  And for good measure, we include a tea of fermented Horsetail, as prescribed in Biodynamic practice for fungal diseases.  Whether it works or not is of course subject to debate, but it definitely can’t hurt.

No doubt Phomopsis is making an appearance in vineyards up and down the eastern seaboard this year.  This is certainly not the end of the world — we just need to be extra-diligent with our spray schedule this year to make sure we contain the infection so the disease doesn’t infect the fruit, and be prepared to spray in the dormant season to keep it from becoming established in the vineyard next year.

Six Inch Shoots, 3 May 2013.

Six Inch Shoots, 3 May 2013.

Attractions: A Spring Garden Tour.

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Parterre

Historic Garden Week in Virginia began last week.  Known as “America’s largest open house,” proceeds from the house and garden tours go to the restoration and preservation of historic gardens throughout the Commonwealth.  For the voyeur it’s an opportunity to see the interior of some of the most interesting and historic houses in the United States.

We first encountered Garden Week in our pre-winery days, when we had such a thing as free time.  Back in those carefree days we had a house on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and with friends went on a tour of the places open in on Virginia’s side.  The most notable being Eyre Hall, which has been on the tour every year for many, many years.  The owner has such a tradition of hospitality that anyone who wants to may come visit and stroll through the gardens, which are essentially unchanged since the 18th century.  The property has been in the same family for some 12 generations.  The house itself is open only during Garden Week, and is not to be missed.  Other houses on the tours we made were equally striking.  We are still haunted by the dining room at one house that bathed the visitor in the most amazing shade of coral, and another house had the misfortune of displaying antique China on virtually every surface — and sadly, one piece met its maker during our tour, to the horror of the multitude crowding the room.

There are three tours close to Annefield in Chatham (Sunday, April 21), Martinsville (Wednesday, April 24), and Danville (Thursday, April 25).  By the time this post appears two of the three dates will have passed, but make a note to attend next year.  Since these locations are open during the week, it would be impossible to combine the garden visits with a trip to see us — but then, these are all-day affairs and one would likely not have the time.

Prestwould. Image courtesy of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

Prestwould. Image courtesy of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

So — let’s plan our own house and garden tour!  Only this one can be made throughout the season.

Begin with a visit to Prestwould, the magnificent  circa 1797 Georgian mansion of Sir Peyton Skipwith and Jean, Lady Skipwith.  Located just outside of the town of Clarksville, Prestwould is open to the public and is a landmark in garden history, being the creation of Jean, Lady Skipwith, the second wife of Sir Peyton Skipwith, seventh baronet.  Her papers wound up in Williamsburg and provide great insight into 18th century garden history.  Indeed, Prestwould is one of the best documented Antebellum plantations in Virginia, and it has one of the largest collections of slave writings in the nation.  We first wrote about the family in another post a couple of years ago; see that post for background on the Skipwith family (“The Clarksville Lake Country Wine Festival (and an Unrelated Ghostly Tale”).

The Saloon at Prestwould. Image reproduced from "Virginia's Historic Homes and Gardens", by Chuck Blackley (Voyageur Press, 2009).

The Saloon at Prestwould. Image reproduced from “Virginia’s Historic Homes and Gardens”, by Chuck Blackley (Voyageur Press, 2009).

The house and garden are fascinating, with the house being especially well preserved, though the foundation that has owned the house since 1963 lacks the resources to maintain the garden to the standards of the Virginia Garden Club.  In 1980 the gardens were restored with garden club resources and because of their inability to keep to the garden club’s standards, that organization released them from their obligation some years ago.  Nevertheless, the gardens are definitely worth seeing, as is the house with its amazing collection of early American furniture and decorative arts.

There are several noteworthy examples of French scenic wallpaper at Prestwould.  Pictured here is the Saloon, in which Humbert Skipwith installed a paper called Le Parc Français by the firm Jacquemart et Bérnard in 1831 and 1832 (the invoices survive among the Skipwith papers).  The dining room features another Jacquemart paper, La Chasse de Compégne, a hunting scene first printed in 1814, and the drawing room behind the Saloon (through the door on the left pictured above) is Jean Zuber’s Jardins Français of 1822.  Jacquemart is no longer in business, but the Zuber Company survives, and it possesses the original wood block prints of several of its 19th century scenic wallpapers and can print a set to order.  

Some of the simpler wallpapers at Prestwould have have reproduced by Scalamandre and is still available (do a search for “Prestwould” on the site to find them).  Exploring the house, gardens and grounds with its extensive outbuildings can occupy a good two hours, so plan to arrive early.

Follow your visit to Prestwould with lunch in Clarksville.  There are a number of places to choose from, but a favorite for its commodious shaded terrace is Cooper’s Landing Inn & Traveler’s Tavern in Clarksville’s Historic District.  Cooper’s doesn’t serve lunch on Saturdays, but they do serve brunch on Sundays, from 10 am to 3 pm.   There are a number of other places, but a reliable choice for a casual lunch on Saturdays and Sundays is The Lake House a few blocks east of Cooper’s on Virginia Avenue.

Photograph courtesy of MacCallum More Museum & Gardens

Image courtesy of MacCallum More Museum & Gardens

From there, make your way to Chase City to see the MacCallum More Museum and Gardens, which has evolved into a cultural center featuring a  permanent display of Indian artifacts and other items of local interest, and eclectic forma gardens featuring architectural elements from all over the world that were collected by Lucy Morton Hudgins, the wife of Edward Wren Hudgins, a former Chief Justice of The Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, and expanded by her son, Commander William Henry Hudgins, in the 1940s, 1960s, and 1970s.  The house and grounds were recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register.

Conclude your visit with a stop at Annefield and share a bottle of wine with a friend on the terrace overlooking the garden in the back of the house.  Our own garden is coming along — the parterre is filling in nicely, though something happened to the yellow tulips we planted in 2011 (Tulip Monsella) — the squirrels must have consumed them.  We do love the red tulips (Sky High Scarlet) dramatically bobbing above the grey-green foliage of the lavender.  We’ll have to plant more this fall.

We’ve been waiting for the boxwood to gain a bit of mass before bringing some shape to it, and this year the plants are finally touching, so we will prune the boxwood this year.  Traditionally the summer hedging takes place in England on Derby Day at Epsom, which is always the first Saturday in June.  The gardeners picked that day because the Master of the House would otherwise be occupied with the races and not interfere, which makes perfect sense.

Prestwould Plantation, 429 Prestwould Drive, Clarksville, Virginia 23927 (434) 374.8672 (open May through October)

Coopers Landing Inn & Traveler’s Tavern, 801 Virginia Avenue, Clarksville, Virginia 23927 (434) 274.2866 (Sunday Brunch only)

The Lake House, 335 Virginia Avenue, Clarksville, Virginia 23927 (434) 374.4646 (lunch on Saturdays and Sundays)

MacCallum More Museum & Gardens, 603 Hudgins Street, Chase City, Virginia (434) 372.0502 (Gardens open daily 10 am to 5 pm; Museum open Monday through Friday 10 am to 5 pm, Saturdays 10 am to 1 pm.)

Annefield Vineyards, 3200 Sunny Side Road, Saxe, Virginia 23967 (434) 454.6017 (Annefield is open to the public on Saturdays, 11 am to 5 pm, and on Sundays by appointment.)


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