The call to remove the statue of General Robert E. Lee and to rename the park where it resides has also raised questions about the man who donated them to the city and the time in which he lived.
Paul Goodloe McIntire’s gift of the Lee statue came in 1924, a time when Ku Klux Klan membership was at its peak, says Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy. It was a time when “it was plausible to believe that the values and core beliefs of those in positions of leadership differed from the current leadership,” and he says some residents see the statue as a “psychological tool to show dominance of the majority over the minority” during that time.
Whether that was McIntire’s intention is not found in the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society files, although he did invite the Confederate Veterans, Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy to plan the statue’s unveiling.
What is well-documented is that aside from Thomas Jefferson and his university, McIntire is the biggest benefactor this city has ever known. McIntire Park, McIntire School of Commerce and McIntire Amphitheatre at UVA—those are just the tip of his donation iceberg. He gave the city its first library, now the home of the historical society, and its first park—the now controversially named Lee Park.
One of the four parks he donated to the city was Washington Park, named for Booker T. Washington, “for use as a playground for the colored citizens of Charlottesville,” according to the 1926 deed.
At the same time, he donated 92 acres for McIntire Park, which was for whites only, and a newspaper headline read, “One for White and One for Colored,” suggesting that McIntire was attempting to strike some sort of balance, according to “The History of Washington Park” on the city’s website.
McIntire’s own history is entwined with Charlottesville’s. Born in 1860, he grew up in a house on East High Street where the now-chopped-down Tarleton oak grew. His father, George Malcolm McIntire, was the mayor who surrendered the city to General George Custer’s approaching Union troops, and some have speculated that his son’s gift of Lee Park in honor of his parents was to help assuage that painful memory.
The young McIntire studied for one session at the University of Virginia, and left because “he had to make a living,” according to a document from Albemarle County Schools’ Paul McIntire Day in 1942.
After a two-year stint working at the C&O Railway station, young McIntire headed to Chicago to work for a coffee and tea company. While there, he began to study and invest in the stock market, for which he apparently had a knack. He held seats on both the Chicago and New York exchanges, and he retired in 1918 and returned to Charlottesville to share the wealth.
UVA was a huge beneficiary, and gained a school of fine arts along with the commerce school, an orthopedic wing in the hospital and funding for psychiatry and cancer. Alderman Library received his collection of rare books, and the Museum of Fine Arts got 478 of his objets d’art, according to James Collier Marshall’s inventory of McIntire’s gifts in 1958.
Albemarle County schools also benefited from McIntire’s largesse. His first $5,000 was for maps, because he was shocked to discover that students didn’t have them.
Along with the Lee statue, McIntire donated sculptures of Lewis and Clark, George Rogers Clark and Stonewall Jackson, the latter of which is considered one of the finest equestrian statues in the country. McIntire’s favorite mount served as the model for Jackson’s horse, Little Sorrel. The donations were part of the early 20th century’s City Beautiful Movement, which attempted to create attractive and well-designed public spaces.
In 1975, the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce named its highest award for citizens who make outstanding contributions to the community the Paul Goodloe McIntire Citizenship Award. Delegate Mitch Van Yahres was the first recipient; Marcus Martin UVA vice president and chief officer for diversity, is the most recent. In establishing the award, the chamber noted that McIntire’s “goodwill set a standard of service” for the community, says director Tim Hulbert.
Unity in the community wasn’t quite achieved at Lee Park when some city leaders called for the removal of the statue of General Robert E. Lee. Supporters of removing the statue as well as ones carrying the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia attended the press conference March 22.
Photo Ézé Amos
This article is part of a three-part story on the battle over the General Robert E. Lee statue in Lee Park.
When Tony Horwitz wrote his 1998 classic, Confederates in the Attic, he subtitled it Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War. Flash forward 18 years, and the legacy of the Civil War is still being debated as Charlottesville grapples with whether a statue of the 19th century commander of the Army of Northern Virginia belongs in a 21st century city park.
Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy led the charge to send General Robert E. Lee packing March 22 at a press conference in Lee Park, the name of which he also wants changed. He circulated the petition of Charlottesville High ninth-grader Zyahna Bryant, who wrote, “When I think of Robert E. Lee I instantly think of someone fighting in favor of slavery.” He was joined in signing the petition by fellow councilor Kristin Szakos.
The event also drew those who don’t support removing the statue, most obviously the ones carrying the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. But others who weren’t waving flags question the push to move Lee.
At press time, Bryant’s petition had 676 signatures. A petition was started to add a statue of civil rights activist Julian Bond to the park, and that one had 517 signatures. And out of 231 comments on C-VILLE Weekly’s Facebook page, 145 favor keeping the statue, while 50 say it should go. That tally is unscientific, but it does show that 150 years after Lee surrendered at Appomattox, the issue deeply divides us today.
Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy led the charge to remove the Lee statue, saying it would make the park more inclusive. Photo Ézé Amos
Bellamy says the reaction he’s gotten has been “overwhelmingly, extremely supportive,” with people thanking him for his courage.
For him, the issue first came up in 2013 when some residents expressed disappointment that he held a campaign event in Lee Park, where they said “things had happened to their grandparents” and where they would never set foot.
Bryant’s petition and Governor Terry McAuliffe’s March 10 veto of a bill that would have prevented the removal of war monuments made the timing seem right. “We felt this was something we should move forward,” says Bellamy.
He believes getting rid of the statue would do a lot for people psychologically and show Charlottesville is an inclusive city. “Just because something happened in the past doesn’t mean we should continue to honor it,” he says.
Four years ago, Szakos suggested the then-shocking notion that maybe it was time to get rid of the city’s Confederate monuments. This time around, she says, “The legal environment is now different and we can remove them.”
The year the Lee statue was unveiled —1924—was also the year Virginia passed the Racial Integrity Act, which strengthened Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage, she points out. Lynching was rampant, and statues of Confederates such as Lee “were part of an effort to remember the Lost Cause, to restore the past glory days of white Southerners,” says Szakos. “That is not what we stand for as a city.”
Those guys in white robes at the 1924 dedication of the General Lee statue? Not the Klan, according to the historical society, but the Richmond Light Infantry Blues, a Virginia state militia. Photo Norris Collection, C’ville Images
She also notes that Lee is not a Charlottesville native, nor is there any record of him ever being here. “This is not about whether Lee was a good man,” she says. His statue is a symbol that is “continuously hurting our neighbors.”
To those who say the issue is dividing the community, Szakos responds, “I don’t think this is creating divisiveness. It’s exposing divisiveness.”
Mike Farruggio, who ran for City Council in 2013, is offended by the rush to action in a city where everything else “is discussed and discussed and discussed.” Says Farruggio, “I think it’s very disrespectful and at the very least it could be put to a referendum.”
He’d like to see a plaque acknowledging the park’s history—that “Paul McIntire gave it for white people,” he says—while addressing the concerns of people in 2016.
Civil rights activist Eugene Williams, who headed the local NAACP in the 1950s, wants more commemoration of the city’s dark past, such as the slave auction at Court Square. Says Williams, “Both the slave auction block and General Robert E. Lee are history. I think City Council should be ashamed showing discrimination in dealing with history.”
UVA professor Ervin Jordan is a Civil War historian who’s written three books, including Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia. He’s also one of the few African-Americans in the country who specialize in Civil War history.
As a historian, Jordan says he’s not in favor of removing the statues. “Civilization should be constructive rather than destructive,” he says. “Charlottesville has enough space to erect new statues.”
He points to another consideration: “It costs a heck of a lot of money to move a statue. That Lee statue is pretty solid.” He estimates Charlottesville could spend several hundred thousand dollars to take it down, as well as spend money fighting lawsuits that he predicts Confederate groups will file.
The issue of how to handle distasteful symbols of the past “has troubled us for a long time,” says historian Ed Ayers, former University of Richmond president and former UVA dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Academics and historians agree: more history, not less.”
Interpreting the statues is not a substitute for having a conversation about them, he says. “We have to have an honest reckoning with what these statues are and where they come from.”
Those who defend them purely on the grounds of history don’t go far enough, he says. “All the history around us is constantly being revised,” and the Lee statue was put up four generations after the event it memorializes. “These statues were put up through a political process, and they’ll come down from apolitical process.”
The good news? “It’s a sign of civic health we’re having these debates,” says Ayers. “It’s what we’d expect a democracy to do, to wrestle with these topics.”
Correction: Mayor Mike Signer did not sign Bryant’s petition as originally reported.
Equipment manager Chris Moore says organization is key to keeping track of each piece of equipment players use, as well as managing practice and competition uniforms for the 250 student-athletes he assists. Photo: Amy Jackson
In the world of athletics, it’s often the coaches and players who receive the most recognition. They are, after all, the stars on the court or field or in the pool, the ones who are directing the flow of the competitions, making the winning shots or jumping further than their opponents. But they didn’t reach the top by themselves. Behind them on a daily basis is a strong support staff made up of assistant coaches, academic advisors, doctors, athletic trainers and equipment managers, to name a few. Meet five of these behind-the-scenes team members who are currently assisting the University of Virginia’s coaches and helping its student-athletes excel both on and off the field.
Chris Moore
Equipment manager, men’s baseball, softball, track and field, women’s soccer and volleyball
The black desk phone rings: It’s Rawlings again. UVA Athletics equipment manager Chris Moore already spent an hour on the phone with Rawlings employees earlier in the day, finalizing plans for new gray uniforms for the baseball team. The uniforms will be more traditional as opposed to the throwback style players are wearing now. And in about a month the team will switch to a new cream-colored uniform. Moore generally gets two to three calls a day from Rawlings, which he works with on not only designing new uniforms but in helping the company tweak new equipment for UVA’s baseball players to use.
The company approaches UVA, its No. 1 advisory school, with an idea of what it wants to make, then the student-athletes wear-test the equipment in the fall (the final products are issued in the spring). Student-athletes fill out forms electronically to give feedback about each product they test, and Rawlings follows up with Moore to get his overarching opinion. In the past year Moore flew to Japan twice to work with Rawlings on developing new batting gloves and bats.
“From the handle on the grip of a bat to the leather on the palms of batting gloves, it’s good to get our players’ feedback since we’re one of the top programs in the nation,” Moore says. “That way they have a sense of, ‘I helped create that.’ They can’t say, ‘This bat is bad,’ because they helped create that for two months.”
Another job perk other than flying to new countries is traveling with the teams to road games, meets and matches. Moore was in the dugout last year when the baseball team won its first national championship. He said the experience was unbelievable and that the win is still sinking in in a way—after all, there was plenty of work to do once they returned. During baseball season he estimates he works 60 to 70 hours a week between practices, games and everyday duties.
Reminders of Moore’s contributions to the baseball team’s success line a shelf above his desk: a glove Rawlings gave him after the baseball team won the championship and a jewelry stand hand wearing four rings: the largest being the national championship ring.
But baseball isn’t Moore’s only focus. He oversees the equipment and practice and game uniforms for about 250 student-athletes. He stays organized with multiple spreadsheets that track everything from what bat a baseball player is currently using, shoe sizes, jersey and T-shirt sizes (often different) down to which players prefer elastic waistbands in their pants. Moore also devised a labeling system with adhesive stickers on the back of sneakers. The stickers correspond to an athlete’s locker number, so if shoes are left on the field they can be returned. He estimates the track team goes through 500 to 600 pairs of shoes a season. One distance runner can need up to six pairs alone. In the matter of an hour three students stop by Moore’s office: one needs a new shorts size, another asks about getting a different kind of sock and the third wants the sports bra cut out of her singlet. Oftentimes he answers the student-athletes’ questions before they even ask—he can anticipate their needs.
The best part of Moore’s job are the relationships he develops with the players. He loves seeing them grow from 18-year-olds into strong student-athletes. His role is that of a parent or role model, he says, and he keeps in contact with a lot of them after they graduate.
“My biggest thing is that you treat others with respect and you just show these kids the right way to do things and how enjoyable college life can be as a student and an athlete, because they’re never going to get this time back,” he says. “They have four years to excel in the classroom and on the field and, hopefully, win a national championship. As a staff member it’s so gratifying to see that they’ve reached the top level, and they’ll always have that memory.”
Randy Bird
Director of sports nutrition for all UVA teams
Randy Bird, director of sports nutrition for UVA teams, says athletes need to eat a meal or snack every three to four hours to provide the fuel their bodies need for recovery. Photo: Amy Jackson
How did your position as the team nutritionist begin? How long have you held the position?
I accepted the position of director of sports nutrition at UVA in August of 2010. Prior to UVA, I was the sports dietitian at the University of Kansas.
What are some of the more important habits/knowledge you’ve tried to instill in the players?
Food is their fuel. They need to put the best fuel possible into their body. Athletes need to eat a meal or snack every three to four hours to provide the fuel their muscles need and the building blocks necessary for recovery. Athletes need to eat fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. The more stress athletes are under, the more produce they need. In addition, protein should be spaced out multiple times per day (preferably in four or five doses of protein-rich foods).
What are some common mistakes that you see athletes make in their diets?
Skipping breakfast. Inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables. Inadequate fluid intake. Recovery after training and competition is not taken seriously.
What are some things you look for when conducting an athlete’s nutrition assessment that can make an immediate impact on performance, health or recovery?
The primary factors I evaluate are normal hydration habits and total energy intake. Performance and health can be compromised if the athlete’s activity does not match the primary factors. Hydration affects performance quickly, so that is one of the first things I evaluate. If athletes under fuel during the day, they tend to overeat at night. This leads to decreased muscle recovery and increased fat storage.
Are food sensitivities something you are evaluating more often with athletes?
This is definitely an area that is getting more attention. As athletes are diagnosed with intolerances, we devise a plan to properly fuel the athlete and meet their micronutrient needs while avoiding problem foods.
How would you like things to continue to develop in the future in terms of what players put in their bodies?
I really like how athletes are becoming more food-focused. Athletes shouldn’t worry about what supplement to take until they have built their foundation on the right food and hydration strategies.
How can non-athletes embrace your ideas to live healthier lifestyles?
Realistically, everyone should be eating the same types of foods. The general public just needs less of it. Most are marginally active when compared to our athletes. So, the general public doesn’t need to consume the total number of calories that our athletes consume. However, the general public should focus on the types of food athletes eat and the patterns should be the same.
Blair Moore
Athletic trainer, women’s lacrosse
Blair Moore, with women’s lacrosse, says athletic trainers become moms away from home for the student-athletes. She’s on call 24/7 to help the players. Photo: Amy Jackson
No matter how talented a student-athlete is, injuries at the collegiate level are common. In her 12th year as the athletic trainer for the UVA women’s lacrosse team, Blair Moore most often sees ankle sprains, ACL tears and hamstring and quad strains.
“I’ve always loved sports, however, I’m not very talented,” she says. “So I knew I always wanted to do something that kept me close to athletics.”
Moore is in charge of injury prevention and rehabilitation treatment for the team, taking care of anything from a sore throat to a concussion. Practice days, which eat up a lot of Moore’s time, are when she takes care of details that never cross most fans’ minds.
“Starting at 1, we start getting girls ready for practice,” Moore says. “That means taping ankles, getting girls heat if they need it, stretching with them, getting them warmed up before practice. Then we practice for a few hours and then we’ll come back and it’s ice tubs, more stretching out, dealing with any injuries that came up in practice.”
Moore notes that in addition to these responsibilities, she is on call 24/7 for her student-athletes and accompanies them to the doctor or the emergency room at any hour.
“It is very rare, but probably two months ago I had a girl call me at 10pm with severe abdominal pain and we talked through it, and I asked her what she ate and when the pain started,” Moore says. “I called a general practice doctor and talked it through with him, called her back and talked to her again until the pain started to subside. We’re still the person that they call, whether it’s athletic or not.”
Moore jokes the athletic trainers take the place of “moms away from home,” overseeing every aspect of the athletes’ health.
“I talk to our nutritionist probably every day about food for a student-athlete,” she says. “If a student-athlete gets injured, I’m calling over to the academics office to make sure that they can get in touch with faculty in the classroom. …Even in just the equipment room, we’re talking with them about helmet fit.”
Although injuries are never a desirable outcome for a student-athlete, Moore says that helping a student rehabilitate after an injury is the most satisfying part of her work.
“There’s always some doubt in the students: Will I be able to go back? Will I be as good?” Moore says. “And to see the will in some of these student-athletes to face that adversity and overcome it is really rewarding, and that’s why I continue to do it. Seeing someone get back to play and be sometimes even faster or stronger than before is incredible.”
Adam Brooks
Assistant director of academic affairs, men’s tennis
Adam Brooks, assistant director of academic affairs for men’s tennis, says staff’s first priority is not winning championships but helping develop players for the future and where they want to go in life. Photo: Amy Jackson
In the world of college sports, it’s often easy to forget about the student in student-athlete. With multiple practices and games every week, it can be hard to imagine these young athletes also strive to excel in the classroom. But Adam Brooks, the assistant director of academic affairs for the Virginia men’s tennis team, knows full well how much academics factors into these students’ lives.
Growing up with a father who coached Division III football and baseball at Bluffton University, Brooks knew he wanted to stay involved in the world of college sports. After obtaining a teaching license and completing graduate school at the University of Akron, Brooks started work at the University of Virginia in 2009 with men’s tennis.
“I was kind of thinking of how I could blend these two fields,” Brooks says of the job search. “Education and sports, how can I put those together? And this seemed like a perfect fit.”
Despite the backseat that academics seems to take in college athletics, Brooks says the men’s tennis program at UVA is “all in.” When the team lost its first ACC match in almost 10 years February 15, breaking a 140 consecutive game-winning streak, the entire tennis staff discussed the loss at its regular 6:30am Tuesday meeting.
“I think it makes an academic coordinator feel important to be included in those conversations,” Brooks says. “For me, personally, it helps to hear the trainer talk about how a certain student is doing on the court because if he gets injured then I can know how that’s going to affect him academically. We all really want to know what’s going on with every aspect of a student-athlete’s life.”
Brooks’ main responsibility is to ensure that the men’s tennis players meet the eligibility requirements of the NCAA, such as minimum GPA benchmarks, but he stresses that the department’s goal is much higher than the minimum.
“Our own office goals are much more than graduation and much more than eligibility, and that’s definitely a benefit to working with the men’s tennis program,” Brooks says. “Our first priority is not winning championships, but developing these guys for life. We want to make sure that they know who they want to be and where they want to go in life.”
The NCAA requires an athlete to have a 1.8, 1.9 and 2.0 GPA by the end of their first, second and third years respectively. In addition to these benchmarks, athletes are also required to meet UVA’s graduation requirements, which include completing 120 credits and a major.
Although Brooks meets with many players weekly to make sure they are on track for graduation, he notes that head coach Brian Boland keeps the team highly self-motivated.
“Tennis had the highest men’s team GPA this past year [3.37] when they also won the national championship, and they also had the highest GPA in the athletics department that year,” Brooks says. “These guys are getting it done and that’s Boland—he’s not going to be okay with a guy who’s striving for eligibility requirements, someone who’s barely meeting a 2.0.”
With a high-achieving group, Brooks says he focuses more on getting to know his student-athletes and counseling them on how to approach issues in the classroom. Among other things, Brooks sets up organizational calendars with first-year students, holds mock office hours for students who are not sure how to approach a professor and helps students identify classes that interest them.
“I found a position at one of the best universities and towns in the country and one of the best tennis institutions in the country,” Brooks says. “The culture and the staff…we’re all of one mindset, and it makes it such a great culture to be a part of.”
Henrik Wiersholm
UVA men’s tennis player
An average day for Henrik Wiersholm looks like this: eat, sleep, tennis, repeat. As a second-year on the Virginia men’s tennis team, he has two practices a day and often travels for matches on the weekend.
He is usually out of the house by 8am and doesn’t get back until 12 hours later, when he finally gets started on his homework. If he’s lucky, he might squeeze in some time to hang out with friends.
His days on the road, though, are even longer—he often doesn’t eat dinner until 9:30 or 10pm. You won’t hear Wiersholm complaining about his busy schedule, though.
“I think that there’s a structure to what we do that makes it so that there’s not any time to procrastinate, you know?” Wiersholm says about his allocated homework time. “You have to put in the work. …Other students, when they don’t have that structure that a student-athlete has, they’ve got all sorts of time to do their homework and then it becomes a little bit different.”
Although Wiersholm admits that finding time for homework can be tough, he wouldn’t change anything.
“I love team practice,” Wiersholm says. “We come out, play points, compete against each other and, I mean, I love competing, so that’s the part of tennis that I like the most and the part of my day that I like the most.”
Daily schedule
7am: wake up
8 or 9am: individual practice
10am–3pm: class
3:30-6:30pm: team practice
and workout
7pm: eat dinner
8pm: start homework
11pm: go to sleep
Dr. John MacKnight
Professor of internal medicine and orthopedic surgery, primary care team physician and medical director of UVA sports medicine
Dr. John MacKnight, primary care team physician and medical director of UVA sports medicine, says one way they get injured student-athletes back in competition quickly is by working with them multiple times per day, so players derive the benefits of aggressive injury management and physical therapy from the moment they are hurt. Photo: UVA
How do you keep athletes healthy/get them back playing after an injury?
From a health standpoint, we focus on lots of preventive strategies. Great sleep quality, adequate hydration, well balanced, energy-rich diet. Adequate preparation physically involves consistent, well-devised training routines that ensure adequate strength, flexibility, balance and stamina to accomplish their athletic goals. No question that optimizing those parameters not only helps to prevent injury but speeds return from injury.
Are there any innovations used here?
The realm of strength and conditioning and injury prevention is always evolving and there are myriad theories about how best to accomplish those things. Core stabilization activities and a focus on functional muscle development that is unique for each sport (as opposed to just making everyone big) are really big concepts right now that clearly work for most athletes.
How do you get them back on the field/court so quickly?
We have the ability to see and work with our athletes multiple times per day, so they derive the benefits from aggressive injury management and physical therapy essentially right from the time they are hurt. Although some injuries require a fixed amount of time to resolve, regardless of what we do for them, many lesser injuries can be handled more quickly and can result in a more rapid return to sport without compromising the health and safety of the athlete.
What’s the first thing you do when assessing a player?
The first assessment is always about severity of illness or injury. Does this athlete have any features that make their presentation a true emergency? In the absence of that, which would warrant immediate intervention and transport to the hospital, I take a systematic approach to the history of the injury or illness, perform a focused physical exam of the affected area and decide upon immediate management as well as the athlete’s suitability to continue sport on that day.
You oversee all student-athletes on UVA’s 25 teams. Is there a player’s recovery story that stands out to you?
Two stand out this season. [UVA men’s basketball guard] London Perrantes’ return from appendicitis and [UVA football wide receiver] T.J. Thorpe’s return from a broken clavicle. Both are testaments to great care by my surgical and orthopedic colleagues and to the improvements in surgical techniques, which have allowed for far faster recovery times than in the past.
How many doctors assist a team?
We have an extensive staff of physicians who care for our athletes. It really does take a team of physicians to meet all of the needs of the student-athlete population. At UVA we have three primary care sports medicine physicians, four sports medicine-oriented orthopedic surgeons, subspecialty orthopedic surgeons, a team cardiologist and a host of other specialists who help us meet the varied demands of our athletic population. On game day, there are generally three to five physicians present to provide game management.
What is your area of specialty when you’re not with the teams?
I am a general internist and see primary care internal medicine patients in a separate clinic at the Fontaine Research Park.
Defenders of the statue of General Robert E. Lee include a great-nephew of sculptor Henry Shrady.
Rammelkamp Foto
The Charlottesville park bounded by Jefferson, North First, Market and North Second streets isn’t the only Lee Park under heavy scrutiny.
Last July, a group of folks in Dallas led a demonstration at Oak Lawn’s Lee Park to demand that a General Robert E. Lee statue be removed and the park renamed. Activists felt called to “un-dedicate” the statue and rededicate it to “the spirit of the abolitionist movement, raising the spirits of six genuine heroes of the Civil War era”—Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Denmark Vesey, Maria Stewart, Harriet Tubman and Senator Hiram Revels, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Though the acts of un-dedication and rededication had no legal recognition, another issue concerning Confederate war memorials could—and this one hits a bit closer to home.
A Virginia state law says localities can’t “disturb or interfere” with Confederate monuments, but a judge in Danville ruled that legal protection does not apply to structures erected before 1998. A Confederate flag flown since 1996 above the last capitol of the Confederacy at the city-owned Sutherlin Mansion was removed in August.
This decision has been appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court.
On March 10, Governor Terry McAuliffe vetoed HB587—Republican Delegate Charles D. Poindexter’s bill—which would clarify conditions of the previous ruling in Danville and prohibit localities from removing any war memorials, including Civil War monuments, regardless of the date they were erected.
Though the Republican-controlled legislature passed the bill by a margin of 82 to 16 votes in the House, with local delegates Rob Bell, Matt Fariss and Steve Landes voting yay, and 21 to 17 in the Senate, Democratic Senator Creigh Deeds says he voted against it.
“Ultimately, localities are going to have to decide how they’re gong to commemorate the past,” Deeds says, adding that the discussion ought to be broader than just between 140 legislators at the General Assembly. “You can’t whitewash or change history,” he says. “You just have to learn from it.”
In Virginia, Deeds says the Civil War is commemorated in many different ways, with Confederate statues in every county, and high schools and roads named after Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis.
While he says he would be cautious about moving Charlottesville’s General Lee statue, he commends Mayor Mike Signer’s proposal of a Blue Ribbon Commission on Confederate Memorials to evaluate the community’s stance on the statue removal and renaming of Lee Park, explain the policy behind the effort, assess costs, explore options and develop a fundraising strategy.
In a statement proposing the task force, Signer alludes to dark chapters in Charlottesville’s past, including slavery, lynchings, Jim Crow, segregation and Vinegar Hill.
“We see one of those chapters every time we’re in Lee Park or Court Square, where, in the 1920s, city leaders elected to celebrate the Confederacy and, by extension, slavery, by placing large monuments to Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson,” Signer says.
Deeds hopes the commission will consist of a broad cross-section of community members.
“If [a commission] is appointed, it shouldn’t just be made up of people with a predetermined view of what should happen,” Deeds says. “To be a genuine commission, it needs to be made up of people who are willing to consider all sides to come up with the right approach.”
Signer says planning for the task force is still in the early stages and he is discussing options while researching examples of similar groups in places such as St. Louis and Baltimore. “My hope is that this will be a deliberative and hopeful process that truly engages the community in exploring how we can best change the narrative in Charlottesville,” he writes in an e-mail.
Julie Langan, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, says her department is working to help UVA grad Molly Ward, Virginia secretary of natural resources, develop a list of best practices for how communities should approach historic monuments. Governor McAuliffe requested a report from the group by December, Langan says, and they are in the early stages of electing people to serve on the commission.
“We’ll want geographic representation,” Langan says. “We’ll want people who have diverging points of view.”
Langan, like McAuliffe, believes conclusions should be reached by the community and not regulated by state law.
“My inclination is to view something like the [General Lee] sculpture in Charlottesville more as a work of art than a Confederate memorial,” she says.
In the National Register of Historic Places, Langan points out that documentation for the monument at Lee Park has little to say about the Civil War. It emphasizes the high artistic value of the sculpture, the history of its design and its production.
Paul Goodloe McIntire, who gifted Lee Park to the city in 1918, signed a deed June 14 of that year that said he desired “to erect thereon a statue of General Robert E. Lee and to present said property to the City of Charlottesville, Va. as a memorial to his parents, the late George M. McIntire and Catherine A. McIntire.”
Although some may question whether the city is able to remove the statue or rename the park that McIntire gifted, the deed says, “This conveyance is made upon condition that the said property be held and used in perpetuity by said city as a public park, and that no buildings be erected thereon, but the authorities of said city shall at all times have the right and power to control, regulate and restrict the use of said property.”
The City Market, which runs from April through December, starts up again from 7am to noon Saturday, April 2, in the parking lot bordered by Water and South streets and First and Second streets. Photo: Ashley Twiggs
City Market returns, and other food and drink news
Spring has finally sprung, and on Saturdays in Charlottesville, that means only one thing: The City Market is back. Starting at 7am on April 2, more than 100 vendors will set up booths between Water and South streets near the Water Street parking garage downtown from now through December.
The producer-only market, which has been around since 1973, is made up of local farmers, food vendors and artisans selling everything from just-picked fruits and veggies to freshly roasted coffee and handmade jewelry.
Construction in the area has clogged up traffic for the last couple weeks, but rest assured the market will indeed operate regardless of the roadwork going on around it. For updates and a list of this year’s vendors, check outcharlottesvillecitymarket.com and the City Market’s Facebook page.
New lights at Blue Light
It’s been nearly four months since Blue Light Grill served its last meal. Owners Richard Ridge and Kelley Tripp bought the business last spring, and in December they closed the doors and began gutting the space, overhauling the menu and turning Blue Light into The Fitzroy.
Gone are the sleek, modern fixtures, cubby booth tables and blue accent lights. The room now features an exposed brick wall, dark-stained wood shelving, tufted booths and black and white subway-style tiling behind the expanded bar.
“We want to be a place where people can gather and know they’re going to see people they know. That was one of the things about Blue Light,” says Ridge. “It was around a long time and had a lot of iterations, but we saw from taking it over that this was a place people knew they could come together, meet people, mingle. We wanted to keep that same sort of feeling.”
Ridge says he and Tripp (who will run the kitchen) are still finalizing the menu, which will include “classic comfort food” like roast chicken, rib-eye and sandwiches such as a shrimp po’ boy and lobster roll, plus small plates. Ridge also promises the Blue Light seafood-loving crowd that The Fitzroy will indeed serve oysters, both raw and roasted. Ridge, who will manage the bar, says they will serve “cocktails rooted in the classics.”
We’ll keep you posted as the restaurant’s opening day gets closer, and, in the meantime, feel free to stop by for an application if you’re looking for a gig as a host, server, bartender or busser.
Tasty tidbits
29 is the magic number…Local food blogger Simon Davidson, who writes The Charlottesville 29, recently completed and posted his list of “the ideal 29” restaurants in town. Limited time only…Starr Hill Brewery just released its Four Kings IPA pack, which includes three variants of the King Hop Imperial IPA plus the original. Bienvenido, Bebedero…The brainchild of the guys behind The Whiskey Jar, The Bebedero is now open for business, serving up classic Mexican food and housemade margaritas in the former Glass Haus Kitchen space. Trumped…Featured in the Washington Post two weeks ago, local sommelier and C-VILLE columnist Erin Scala wrote a piece explaining why she won’t put Trump Winery bottles on restaurant menus, despite the fact that the wines are pretty tasty.
The elephants in “Christophe Vorlet: Works on Paper” are on display at Les Yeux du Monde gallery through April 10. Photo: Courtesy of the artist
Christophe Vorlet painted his mailbox pink, but purely for functional reasons: It makes it easier to give directions to people. That the mailbox also serves as roadside art didn’t factor into the decision, he says. Much of Vorlet’s approach to visual art is filtered through a similar matter-of-factness. As an illustrator and graphic designer who has succeeded in making a living off creative work for decades, this approach certainly hasn’t hurt his career. Yet an exhibition at Les Yeux du Monde this month, “Christophe Vorlet: Works on Paper,” demonstrates that there is more than functionality in the work that has led Vorlet to be internationally known.
Born in Bern, Switzerland, Vorlet grew up in a family with little interest in art. “I never dreamed I could make a living drawing,” he says. It wasn’t until after high school that he studied art, gaining admission to Zurich’s Kunstgewerbeschule in 1973. There, he was selected for an apprenticeship and honed his skills working for a magazine photographing concerts, designing album covers and fine-tuning his typographical skills. “Every letter, for me, is a picture,” says Vorlet. “It’s all proportion and balance, which is the ultimate philosophy.”
This grew into designing logos and then editorial illustration work for newspapers and magazines, on which he built a successful career in Switzerland, before moving to the United States in the late 1970s with his wife, Katherine.
Barely speaking English when he arrived, Vorlet made ends meet between work as an illustrator and other odd jobs. “I tried to start at the top, because it’s easier than the other way,” he jokes. He worked hard, had luck and got his illustrations in front of a number of eyes, with reprints overseas and commissions helping pay the bills along the way. He credits Robert Crumb and Saul Steinberg as major influences. Both are easy to identify in Vorlet’s editorial illustrations, as well as in smaller details of his fine art work. Whether it’s the cross-hatching and attention to texture and bulge of Crumb’s illustrations, or the simple lines and sharp wit of Steinberg’s, Vorlet sources a rich history of illustration that makes his own art feel timeless.
In 1989, after stints in New York City and Los Angeles, he and Katherine packed their worldly goods into a Volkswagen bus. “We hoped to find open space and warm weather,” so they drove up and to the right, he recalls. What they found was snowy Lake Tahoe, but they continued on to Death Valley and then on to the East Coast. Along the way, they visited a friend in Charlottesville and decided it might be a good fit, eventually landing in an 1875 farmhouse in Troy, where Vorlet now has his studio.
In addition to the pink mailbox, Vorlet has customized the homestead with his personal aesthetic, imbuing the everyday with art that resists highbrow or academic interpretations. It is simply part of the landscape, while still existing completely separate from it. “It has to work with nature,” says Vorlet. “Of course it can never compete, but it can stand its ground.”
His approach to his fine art and illustration work is similarly unsentimental and practical. “Seeing things is probably the most important,” says Vorlet. “If you see it, you should be able to draw it.” With a journeyman’s approach, he is also careful to note that the art world is nothing more or less than any other industry. It is a way to make a living, if you’re lucky.
“Works on Paper” marks Vorlet’s third exhibition at Les Yeux du Monde, after almost a decade without any local exhibitions. Though the exhibition features more than 30 of Vorlet’s editorial illustrations, the focal point is undoubtedly the large elephant works.
Comprised of 15 panels each, the six works are a grid of smaller, framed drawings of elephant parts. All but one of the elephants face to the right and all but one have broken tusks. “The tusks don’t fit into the frame. There’s no special meaning to it,” says Vorlet, when asked by an admirer about the significance of this choice. Indeed, he often works to demystify his art, explaining the functionality behind seemingly aesthetic choices.
For instance, the background of one elephant is painted a light caramel color that is leftover indoor latex paint; another features acrylic paints that Vorlet bought in Switzerland in the 1980s—all used for the simple reason that they were available when paint was needed. Other elephants are strictly pen and ink or graphite. Each exhibits the topography of a rocky desert in some places, mountainous terrain with weaving rivers in others. The landscapes are magnifications of the drooping and chapped hide of an elephant.
“I love elephants, I always have. It’s an idea I’ve worked on for many years,” says Vorlet. “I enjoy looking at [the elephant’s form]. It has a calming effect.” He created the first of these elephants around 1991 with nine panels. Each iteration is just “one of so many interpretations of this particular beast,” says Vorlet. As with all of his art, there is no myth of a creative genius at work in the elephants, or indeed in the exhibition overall. It is simply the collected works of an artist with the experience and skills to make us see the world through his pen and perspective. “There’s no real magic,” explains Vorlet. “Yet, there is.”
Governor Terry McAuliffe in Charlottesville. File photo.
After expressing interest in an Albemarle County location last fall, Oregon-based Deschutes Brewery has announced that its first expansion into the East Coast will take place in the Star City, instead.
Governor Terry McAuliffe announced March 22 that the brewery will invest $85 million in its Roanoke location, creating 108 new jobs.
“This is another high-profile win that shines a spotlight on the commonwealth and reinforces that we are a leading state in the craft beer industry,” McAuliffe said.
Deschutes was founded as a brew pub on the banks of the Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon, in 1988. Although it’s still family and employee owned, the brewery now ships beers to more than 28 states and is known for brews including the Fresh Squeezed IPA, Black Butte Porter and Mirror Pond Pale Ale.
Michael LaLonde, president of Deschutes, said the company is excited to be heading to Roanoke. “We love the region and everyone we’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with during this process has been incredible,” he said. “We have absolutely been blown away with how the community rallied around bringing us here and has given us such a warm welcome.”
“The fact that the CEO of Deschutes specifically used the term ‘welcoming’ implies that Roanoke was welcoming and other spots were less welcoming,” Timothy Hulbert, president of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, says. “We would be one of those other spots.”
In September, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors voted to approve zoning 35 acres plus 16 acres of green space for the brewery, instead of the 85 acres with 138 for a park and green area that were originally proposed.
If the brewery had come to Albemarle, Hulbert says an extra $800,000 per year would have been initially generated by property tax, and with incentives, eventually $1 million per year. He calls it “a million dollars a year that Albemarle County doesn’t have for schools or other projects.”
“Lesson learned?” Hulbert signed an e-mail after Deschutes announced its Roanoke location. “Hope so.”
Bob Stroh has been a fixture promoting downtown Charlottesville for 40 years.
File photo
Former Charlottesville mayor Dave Norris has been named general manager of the Charlottesville Parking Center, which has just sued the city Norris served for two terms as mayor.
The lawsuit alleges the city has kept parking fees below market rate in the Water Street Garage, which is managed and partially owned by the parking center.
Norris succeeds Bob Stroh, who retired after 40 years of service just weeks after being publicly chastised for his grammar in a letter he wrote Mayor Mike Signer about changes in the procedures for public comment at City Council meetings. Signer confirmed the reprimand in a March 9 Newsplex report.
Stroh also headed the Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville, and has been succeeded there by George Benford.
Stroh retired March 25, and did not immediately respond to a message from C-VILLE.
“Bob Stroh has been a highly respected public servant for four decades, working tirelessly on behalf of downtown businesses and with the CPC with a constant eye on improving our downtown as a place to live, work and visit,” says Norris in a release. “I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to work closely with him for so many years and look forward to continuing his legacy in the years to come.”
Norris served two terms as mayor, and has worked for a number of nonprofits, including Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Central Blue Ridge and PACEM—People and Congregations Engaged in Ministry—and most recently as director of community impact for United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg.
Fans gather at the airport in the wee hours Monday to welcome the Cavs and Coach Tony Bennett back from a weekend in Chicago that had the highs of winning the Sweet 16 over Iowa State and the lows of losing to Syracuse in the Elite Eight.
Photo Matt Riley
In an unlikely second-half comeback, the Syracuse Orange took down top-seed Virginia 68-62 in the Elite Eight Sunday, ending the Cavaliers’ postseason play. Of Bennett’s four tournament appearances with Virginia, this year’s Elite Eight was the deepest postseason run the team has made.
“We will have some tough nights because you’re so close you could taste it,” said Coach Tony Bennett in a post-game press conference, “but absolutely joy will come in the morning for what these guys have established for Virginia basketball.”
For third-year student Max Ober, who attends every home game he can, the team’s exit was a mixed bag of emotions.
“We made it farther this year than the past two, but it’s disappointing to lose to a team that we know we can beat,” Ober says, referring to the Cavaliers’ 73-65 win over Syracuse in the regular season.
In their Elite Eight rematch, the Cavs built up a 14-point lead at halftime and appeared to have firm control over 10th-seeded opponent Syracuse. For the majority of the second half Virginia maintained the lead, but a three-pointer by Syracuse’s Malachi Richardson at the seven-minute mark began a 15-0 run that left the Hoos trailing 64-58 with three minutes to play.
With seniors Anthony Gill and Malcolm Brogdon both scoring below their averages, making only 10 and 12 points, respectively, the Cavaliers struggled to keep up their offense in the second half. Committing a tournament-high 13 turnovers only fueled Syracuse’s fire, directly leading to 15 of Syracuse’s points.
“I was calm for a while until I realized our defense was not getting stops,” Ober recalls of the last 10 minutes, “and the offense was being pushed off their rhythm by the press. Everything started to lean in favor of Syracuse.”
Despite Virginia’s disappointing tournament exit, Bennett’s Cavaliers have given UVA arguably three of its best seasons, recording 89 wins to surpass 1981-1983’s 88 wins. In 2014, the Cavs finished first in the ACC for the first time since 1981 and also won the ACC tournament for the first time since 1976. They received a No.1 seed in the NCAA tournament and reached the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1995’s Elite Eight run.
The 2015 Cavaliers clinched the ACC regular-season title for the second year in a row and earned a 2-seed in the NCAA.
This year’s 2016 season brought a new slew of “firsts” for Bennett’s team, with Malcolm Brogdon being the first player to earn both ACC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, with the Cavaliers going undefeated at home for the first time since 1982 and, of course, with the Cavalier’s first appearance in the Elite Eight since 1995.
As the season ends, seniors Malcolm Brogdon, Anthony Gill, Mike Tobey, Evan Nolte, and Caid Kirven will graduate with 112 career wins, matching the school record set by the senior class of 1983. Despite their undeniable legacy, Ober worries about what the future will look like for the Cavaliers.
“I thought this was the year for UVA,” Ober says. “They are losing key seniors, the go-to scorers. Luckily Coach Bennett has been building a program of depth, so there are players to step up, but they will have to take on new roles. Without Malcolm, I wonder who will be the go-to scorer.”
In this C-VILLE Live video, we sat down with millennials—both “old” and “young” millennials—to discuss the perception of their generation, what they want to be known for and what the bring to the table in terms of the future of society. Both C-VILLE staff and people we interviewed for this week’s cover feature sat in on the discussion.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
2:00: What our panelists think about the words people used to describe millennials
4:10: Millennials are concerned about what jobs will be available when they graduate
5:25: What do you think of when you hear the word millennial?
8:07: Discussion of TIME covers from other generations
11:17: We read what readers said the legacy of the millennial generation will be
15:24: Effect of technology on millennials’ jobs
18:49: What do you think this generation will be known for and what do you want it to be known for?
22:20: What millennials are using social medio for
25:11: The important of cell phones to the next generation and the millennial generation
28:46: Millennials are a nostalgic generation
32:05: Why do millennials document everything with photos?
35:27: How do millennials get their news?
41:03: Print versus digital: Do you still read hard copies?
