Paula Whyman will discuss "Bad Naturalist: One Woman’s Ecological Education on a Wild Virginia Mountaintop" at New Dominion Bookshop on January 11. Supplied photo.
In Bad Naturalist: One Woman’s Ecological Education on a Wild Virginia Mountaintop, Paula Whyman recounts her attempts to restore the ecosystem of a mountain that she and her husband bought. “I’ve been working on the mountain restoration for nearly four years now, since we bought the land in early 2021,” says Whyman. “I started work on the book several months after I started the meadow project.”
Situated near the Rappahannock River at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the land will feel familiar to local readers through Whyman’s descriptions of towering white oaks, black cherry trees, Albemarle pippins, and blackberries, as well as kudzu, autumn olive, and trees of heaven. It’s a place full of butterflies and bumblebees but also ticks and wasps.
But, how does one buy a mountain? After decades in the D.C. suburbs, Whyman and her husband decided to retire to the country. So they shopped around and bought the mountain much as anyone would buy any real estate. Their 200-plus acres of land encompass a roughly 1,400-foot mountain, full of neglected farmland and pastures, overgrown meadows, and forests along its slopes.
A different book might have interrogated the privilege of being able to buy a mountain or the potentially colonial impulse to do so, but Whyman eschews this in favor of meditating on what it means to own the land at all. “It still feels to me like a ridiculous and foreign concept, to own something like a mountaintop,” writes Whyman. “Where does such ownership begin and end? Do I own the soil and the rocks and the mosses? The toads by the pond, and the dung beetles, too?” These are questions she continues to chew on throughout the book.
Laying the groundwork for her land conservation and restoration project, Whyman writes, “I was driven by the particular goal of establishing a native meadow wherever we ended up—a neat, organized, narrowly defined project.” However, she is quickly disabused of the idea that this is a simple undertaking or one that she will have control over—or indeed one that will even involve planting a meadow.
Indeed, Whyman recruits a laundry list of experts, from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Smithsonian’s Virginia Working Landscapes program, and the Virginia Department of Forestry, to independent arborists and restoration contractors as well as a wildlife biologist and a forester. She hopes that these professionals will help her select the “correct” way to rehabilitate the land she has purchased. Along the way, Whyman gains valuable perspectives and ultimately discovers that there is not one right way to proceed, but countless considerations and perspectives to weave together. She also learns about the risks of disturbing an ecosystem, the hard way—unintentionally creating opportunities for chaos to flourish as she attempts to fix a variety of aspects of the land, from erosion to invasive plants. As she gains this firsthand experience, the tone of the book changes, from at times inelegant self-deprecating humor to a more thoughtful approach, reflecting on lessons learned.
Supplied photo.
As much as Bad Naturalist is a tale of Whyman’s efforts to improve the land, it is also a personal chronicle that brings attention to, and vocabulary for, her new surroundings. She invites the reader to join her in learning the names of unfamiliar native flora and fauna throughout the book, from broomsedge and spotted knapweed to purple panic grass and grasshopper sparrows. “The more I paid attention to what was right around me, the more interested and curious I became, and the more I could see how every creature and plant are connected,” recalls Whyman. “There are so many of these interconnections, I’ll never run out of new ones to discover, and that to me is inspiring.” She also digs into invasive plant legislation in Virginia: Indigenous practices of intentional burning to support healthy ecosystems, carbon sequestration, and habitat fragmentation, among other research topics to build her knowledge as a budding conservationist.
“My advice to aspiring conservationists or naturalists would be to start by looking closely at the natural world wherever you find yourself, and see what you’re drawn to, where your passion lies,” says Whyman. “If it’s birds, start watching them, and you’ll notice things you might not have noticed before. Maybe try to find out what one thing you could do, one thing you could plant, to attract more birds where you live. Maybe there’s a park where you live that could use some TLC, and volunteers for such an effort might be welcome.”
As for her own mountain and the TLC needed there, Whyman reflects, “I wanted the book to read like a well-shaped story, and that required some discipline [but] … nature doesn’t stop, of course; the mountain keeps changing.” Indeed, she has two new conservation and land stewardship projects underway. “I now have two American kestrel nest boxes in the meadow, thanks to the folks at the Grassland Bird Initiative,” says Whyman. “They are studying kestrels to try and increase the population and to find out what’s behind their decline in this area. So, this winter, I’m keeping an eye out for kestrels that might be scoping out those boxes for nesting in the spring. I’m also waiting for a prescribed burn on two large fields that I have not burned before. It will be a big experiment to see what grows there afterwards.”
In 2024, Charlottesville City Council agreed to contribute $8.74 million to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville and the Piedmont Housing Alliance for the purchase of Carlton Mobile Home Park. Photo by Eze Amos.
One of the toughest issues facing the greater Charlottesville region is the ever-increasing cost of housing, a barrier to financial stability for many. The problem has been getting worse over the past few years due to rising property assessments, increasing income disparity, and a shortage of housing.
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a household’s rent or mortgage is considered affordable if the cost of shelter is no more than 30 percent of its income.
“For a family of three at 30 percent of [area median income] (roughly $20,700), affordable rent would be $520 per month, including utilities,” reads the summary of a housing needs assessment conducted for the City of Charlottesville in 2018. “At 50 percent of AMI (roughly $34,500), the family could afford $860 per month.”
Under HUD guidelines, households that routinely spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs are considered stressed. This assessment was seven years ago and since then, the area median income had increased with both inflation and the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
By 2021, the AMI for a family of three at 30 percent had increased to $25,300 and $42,200 for a family at 50 percent of AMI. By 2024, those figures had jumped to $33,000 and $54,900 respectively. In other words, more people are now eligible for subsidized places to live.
Since the pandemic, the cost to buy a house has increased. The latest figures from the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors show that the median sales price in the region increased from $326,900 in the third quarter of 2020 to $455,000 in July through September of 2024.
The City of Charlottesville used its housing needs assessment to create an Affordable Housing Plan, which called for a series of reforms and a moral commitment from the city to spend $10 million a year on building, preserving, and maintaining units whose rents are within reach of those with lower incomes.
“To date, over $35 million has been identified,” said Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders in a briefing to council in early December, adding that the draft five-year capital improvement program has another $52 million for projects.
“If you add all that up, that’s $99 million in less than 10 years,” Sanders said.
The first phase of development at the Southwood Mobile Home Park will have 350 homes. Photo by Stephen Barling.
The City of Charlottesville in recent years has used some of its share of federal COVID funds (as well as its own cash) to buy existing units. This includes the $5 million given to the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority to purchase the 74 units known as Dogwood Housing from Woodard Properties. In late summer 2024, council agreed to contribute $8.74 million to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville and the Piedmont Housing Alliance for the purchase of 6.5-acre Carlton Mobile Home Park.
The city has also provided millions in matching funds for projects being pursued by the Piedmont Housing Alliance, including the ongoing redevelopment of Friendship Court into Kindlewood.
The Affordable Housing Plan also led to a new zoning code intended to make it easier to build new units by mostly eliminating single-family code. Areas that had been zoned for one unit per lot now allow for more units, depending on the district.
For instance, developer Nicole Scro filed plans in December that would replace a single-family house on St. Clair Avenue in the Locust Grove neighborhood with six units. To get that level of density, three of the units have to be rented at 60 percent of AMI.
For larger projects, the zoning code requires one out of every 10 units to be made available to households below 60 percent of AMI. So far, only one project has been submitted that would satisfy that requirement but the 180 units at 1000 Wertland St. will also be designated at some affordability level. One new apartment complex proposed at 1609 Gordon Ave. capped the number of units at nine to evade the affordability rules.
In response, the city is working on a tax abatement program to provide millions in incentives to developers who provide the units. Sanders told council that it will be expensive but he did not provide an estimate. Further details will be revealed this year.
Trump’s shadow as the new year begins
The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump will set the tone for a different four years than those under the nation’s 46th president. A key feature of the Biden administration was investment in infrastructure in order to stimulate the economy.
For instance, HUD recently awarded Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville $29.1 million to assist with redevelopment of the Southwood Mobile Home Park. The funding will pay for infrastructure during the second phase of work.
Dan Rosensweig, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville, expects big changes in the housing world this year, but “we just don’t quite know what those changes will be.” Supplied photo.
Sunshine Mathon, executive director of the Piedmont Housing Alliance, said he is watching for the impact of new administration policies locally as the federal government moves away from climate justice.
“[There is] a potential for huge cuts and/or a ‘burn it down and rebuild it’ strategy that could completely disrupt thousands of peoples’ lives locally and millions of lives nationally,” Mathon said in an email.
No one knows what Trump will do until it happens, but his nomination of Scott Turner to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development would shake up the way public housing operates across the nation. Turner is a former NFL player who operated the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council in the first Trump term.
“2025 will likely bring big changes in the housing world,” said Dan Rosensweig, Habitat’s executive director. “We just don’t quite know what those changes will be.”
Rosensweig said one aspect to watch is whether Trumpian policies such as tariffs and mass deportation of immigrants could increase the cost of construction. Full Republican control of the federal government will have implications.
“We will also likely see a federal budget that eliminates or reduces reliable subsidies for affordable housing programs and construction,” Rosensweig said.
Housing advocates will likely press local and state officials to make up some of the difference by expanding programs and devoting more money.
Local projects in 2025
Regardless of dark clouds on the federal horizon, the Piedmont Housing Alliance is charging ahead with existing plans. The second phase of Kindlewood construction is expected to start soon, with 104 units in five residential buildings. Of these, 54 will be created for existing Friendship Court residents and four will be reserved for home ownership.
When Kindlewood was Friendship Court, all 150 units were reserved for households making less than 30 percent of the area median income.
“With redevelopment, there will be new homes at two additional tiers of affordability, providing more options for current and future residents,” reads a detailed profile of this second phase on PHA’s website.
PHA’s Financial Opportunity Center and Housing Hub will be located on the ground floor of a multifamily building. The other four buildings will be townhouses with some units reserved for households making 80 percent of the area median income.
Mathon said he is also hopeful construction can move forward on a 71-unit project at 501 Cherry Ave. that is being developed with Woodard Properties. Council has committed at least $3 million in capital funds. The city’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services wants to see a new site plan after going through three iterations so far.
Mathon is also hoping a partnership project with Habitat at the former Monticello Area Community Action Agency site on Park Street will break ground. The city’s capital budget for this year includes $1.86 million for that project. The city has approved a site plan with the Planning Commission signing off in mid-November of 2024.
Rosensweig said Habitat will finish the first phase of development at the Southwood Mobile Home Park with 350 homes, about two-third of which will be affordable. The second phase will get underway as well with 52 Habitat homes.
“This year, we were once again confirmed by Habitat International as the single most productive Habitat affiliate for our service area size in the U.S. and Canada,” said Rosensweig.
Habitat will also begin work on construction of 16 homes in Charlottesville’s Flint Hill development. In addition, planning will get underway with residents of the Carlton Mobile Home Park.
The city has also provided millions in matching funds for projects such as the redevelopment of Friendship Court into Kindlewood. Photo by Stephen Barling.
Looking ahead to policy changes
One of the biggest forces in affordable housing in the community is the Charlottesville Low-Income Housing Coalition. During the Cville Plans Together initiative, advocates pushed for a new zoning code that would allow for density in areas of the city that had previously been reserved for single-family homes. Now one of them wants Albemarle County to follow suit.
“I hope Albemarle County passes a Comprehensive Plan that ambitiously addresses zoning reforms to allow more affordable housing,” said Emily Dreyfus, an organizer with the Legal Aid Justice Center. Albemarle has been reviewing its Comprehensive Plan for more than three years and the draft chapter on housing is not yet available for review. Supervisors adopted a plan called Housing Albemarle in July 2021 that identified housing production as the No. 1 goal.
Dreyfus also wants Albemarle County to commit to $10 million a year and CLICH will be making a big push in that direction as the year gets underway.
There are several apartment complexes in the area that have rents subsidized through low-income housing tax credits and some of these are set to expire in the future. The National Housing Preservation Database notes that the affordability requirement for 200 units at Hearthwood Apartments ends on January 1, 2027, and mandatory income restrictions at Mallside Forest expire two years later. In late November, Dreyfus notified the Planning Commission of the looming Hearthwood expiration.
“One thing that does worry me a little bit, gives me a little bit of heartburn, is in fact Hearthwood,” said Planning Commission Chair Hosea Mitchell at a November 26 work session. “It looms large and I just want us to be certain that we’re thinking about that because we don’t want to revisit the [Carlton] mobile home crisis that we faced a few months back.”
Dreyfus said CLICH also wants governments and nonprofits to be able to intervene in other situations. Last year, an investment firm called Bonaventure purchased the Cavalier Crossing apartment complex on Fifth Street Extended with an eye toward increasing revenue. While that property never had a rent subsidy, its relative age translated into affordability. That will change as units are renovated.
“Cavalier Crossing will undergo a comprehensive renovation to upgrade unit interiors, amenities, and curb appeal,” reads an announcement of the purchase. “Bonaventure will enhance the existing amenity package which already includes a swimming pool, fitness center, basketball court, and volleyball court, to deliver an upscale community in a market where demand significantly outpaces supply.”
In 2024, Dreyfus helped organizers to get enough residents of the Carlton Mobile Home Park to support an effort by Habitat and PHA to purchase the site. They relied on a requirement that the owner issue a public notice when a legitimate offer is made. Dreyfus and others want that sort of notice extended to other types of properties.
Regional and state efforts
The high cost of housing is felt across the entire commonwealth, and policy outcomes are influenced by what comes out of the General Assembly each year.
Supplied photo.
Isabel McLain, the director of policy and advocacy with the Virginia Housing Alliance, said one of the group’s legislative campaigns in 2025 will be to increase the Virginia Housing Trust Fund, a program created in 2013.
“Currently it is funded at $87.5 million, which is the highest it’s ever been funded,” McLain recently told the Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership. “We have been asking for the past couple years to reach $150 million a year.”
The trust fund contributes to many projects across the state, including the first phase of Kindlewood. McLain said another legislative request will be to extend the life of Virginia’s Housing Opportunity Tax Credit Act. The program is currently scheduled to end on December 31.
There’s also an effort to establish a Virginia-based rental assistance program to fill in gaps not covered by the federal housing voucher program.
“We’re seeing increased housing cost burden as rents continue to increase, so there’s all the more reason and all the more urgency for the state to take responsibility and try to do more to fill that gap,” McLain said.
Regionally, the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is working on gathering data on the current housing needs in the area. They will work with the Virginia Center for Housing Research at Virginia Tech to update information with a hope of providing better real-time metrics about housing needs.
For anyone looking for more information on the overall topic, mark your calendar for March 12 and March 13. That’s when the Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership will hold its next affordable housing summit.
Ahead of the 2025 state legislative session, Dels. Katrina Callsen and Amy Laufer launched their respective reelection campaigns. Both Charlottesville-area delegates have been endorsed by state Democratic party leaders, including Speaker of the House of Delegates Don Scott and state Sen. Creigh Deeds.
Callsen gathered supporters at the Virginia Discovery Museum on December 29 to kick off her bid for reelection. In her freshman term, Callsen worked on bipartisan legislation, including a bill to formalize kinship care in Virginia. If reelected to represent the 54th District, she said health care, affordable housing, the environment, and education would be her top priorities.
Del. Amy Laufer formally announced her bid for reelection in a January 2 press release. The 55th District—which includes parts of Albemarle, Louisa, Nelson, and Fluvanna counties—is one of the only rural areas represented by a Democrat in the state legislature.
“We’ve got so much work to do in strengthening and investing in our public schools, finding ways to make health care more affordable and accessible, protecting our environment, creating more affordable housing, defending women’s rights, as well as the rights of our most vulnerable community members,” said Laufer in her campaign announcement.
The Virginia General Assembly convenes for its first session of the year on January 8.
Meanwhile, former Charlottesville-area congressman Denver Riggleman is considering a run for governor, according to a January 1 interview with The Washington Post. The one-time Republican representative said he would run as an independent and has begun putting together an exploratory committee.
If Riggleman enters the gubernatorial race, he will likely face expected-Democratic nominee Abigail Spanberger, who he endorsed in her 2022 bid for reelection to Congress. Both the Democratic and Republican gubernatorial races currently have only one candidate—Spanberger and John Curran, respectively—but there’s still time for others to make a run at either party’s primary.
Racing ahead
Dashad Cooper formally announced his candidacy on January 3 for the Charlottesville City School Board. He previously ran for City Council, coming in fourth in the three-seat race in 2023.
Three board seats are on the ballot this November, with the terms of Emily Dooley, Vice Chair Dom Morse, and Chair Lisa Larson-Torres all expiring at the end of 2025. In a joint statement released January 4, Dooley and Larson-Torres confirmed their intent to run for reelection.
At press time, Morse had not indicated whether he would seek another term.
Elvira Clayton’s “Knotted History” is featured in “That Feels Good! Labor as Pleasure” at Second Street Gallery through January 24. Supplied photo.
“That Feels Good! Labor as Pleasure” at Second Street Gallery brings together 10 artists working in a variety of media and styles whose work shares a labor-intensive, often repetitive, approach. For curator Francisco Donoso, the repetitions and effort yield not just interesting artwork, but also pleasure for the artist creating it.
Donoso cites as inspiration adrienne maree brown’s [sic] philosophy laid out in her book Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good. Fiber artists in particular are known for this, and several are represented at Second Street.
John Fifield-Perez’s striking weavings, “Shift/Phase 02,” woven with double weave blocks, and “Pink/Pinch 01,” woven with the lampas technique, present markedly different styles. Resembling traditional weaving, “Shift/Phase 02” is unmistakably contemporary with its almost day-glo colors, bold geometric design, and the numerous yarn ends left dangling. A form of brocade, lampas weaving features two layers that are woven simultaneously. The artist’s interest in the lampas technique derives from its association with Los Angeles artist Diedrick Brackens, whose work explores queer identity. “I first saw modern lampas weave in Brackens’ tapestries,” says Fifield-Perez. “So it holds a connotation of contemporary queer weaving traditions for me.”
Elvira Clayton addresses the legacies of enslavement in her ongoing “Cotton and Rice Project,” which centers on an 1859 Savannah, Georgia, slave auction, one of the largest in history, in which 436 men, women, and children were sold. Her sculptures “Black People” and “Knotted History” feature bits of cloth tangled up with twigs, rice, cotton bolls, sequins, and wire—the fragmentary traces of the enslaved—and convey with their snarls the chaos and heartache endured.
A multimedia piece featuring crochet, a vintage clock radio, and sound, Kathleen Granados’ “Distant (B Sides)” explores familial history, memory, and identity. Granados augments cassette tapes her late father made as a young man with music she chose, cobbling together an intergalactic oldies radio show that resonates outward into space. The clock radio and cabinet reference a domestic setting. Clad in hand-crocheted black yarn, the cabinet both emerges from and recedes back into the surrounding crocheted cosmos. Different stitches arranged in a vortex shape suggests the universe expanding beyond the cabinet. The amorphous shape and the way the bottom part drapes onto the floor underscores this feeling of expansion. Granados dots this inky swathe with a smattering of reflective appliqués to suggest distant stars.
“I like this idea of memory enduring throughout space,” says Granados. “I think of how radio waves, once they’re broadcast, continue to travel through the cosmos. There’s no sound in space, but I like to imagine that if that sound ever reached a distant place that it could be heard. It plays into this idea that these moments we share with our loved ones endure. That’s the impetus behind making the piece talk.”
Joyful and eye-popping, Max Colby’s maximalist creations reference the glittery excess of drag and celebrate nonconformity. Erect, yet soft, the sculptures incorporate both masculine and feminine attributes. “As she engages in this laborious time-consuming process of stitching and making and stuffing, Colby, who is a trans woman, is thinking about the way gender is binaried and the way that nature is perceived and understood and filtered through,” Donoso says.
Nicole Yi Messier and Victoria Manganiello’s art collective, Craftwork, combines traditional craft with state-of-the-art technologies to produce sumptuous textiles that, though machine-made, are based on algorithms derived from plants. So while the weaving is high tech, the patterns are natural and the dyes, which come from organic and inorganic materials including plants, minerals, and fungi, are both synthetic and natural.
There’s no question that Fidencio Fifield-Perez’s woven paper strips rolled over with lithography ink—“Salmon Colored Kid 1” and “Salmon Colored Kid 2”—are made through a painstakingly laborious process. The elegant restraint and stillness created by Fidencio, John Fifield-Perez’s husband, are emblematic of classic minimalism, but here, the weaving also references the handwoven mats of the artist’s native Mexico.
“Vessel Aflame” and “Wild Urn” reveal much about Sarah Boyts Yoder’s oeuvre. Both monotypes, the works compositionally resemble each other thanks to the outline of a vase—one of Yoder’s recurring symbols—that appears in both. These recognizable shapes also disrupt the abstraction, creating an interesting tension between nonobjective and representational.
With its staccato brushstrokes, Richard Yu-Tang Lee’s series “Rain in a Burning Garden” conveys the visual and auditory effects of rain. The allover repetitive nature of the brushstrokes suggests the unrelentingness of a downpour. Glitter adds a rain-slicked quality to the paint, while the title inserts a sense of trepidation.
Laura Josephine Snyder’s nonobjective work appears infused with symbolism. This quality together with its natural pigments, curious forms, and repeated lines recalls Hilma af Klint’s curious paintings and also the cartological quality of Aboriginal artwork. “The diver’s legs (to the sea)” is a mysterious and intense piece, thanks to the two “eyes” that stare out at the viewer.
In the Dové Gallery, Richmond-based Hannah Diomataris shows us another level of labor-intensive repetition with her “Sticker Work.” Using recycled bar codes from stores and libraries, which she cuts into tiny, uniform pieces, Diomataris creates complex arrangements of patterns that awe us with their beauty even as they rattle us with their obsessive attention to detail.
In 1986, former president Jimmy Carter (right) visited UVA to speak to an Introduction to American Politics class taught by Larry Sabato. Photo via UVA Communications.
As the nation mourns the passing of former president Jimmy Carter at the age of 100, the University of Virginia Miller Center is commemorating and celebrating his impact on its flagship initiative: the Presidential Oral History Program.
Founded in 1975, the Miller Center is a nonpartisan organization focused on studying the presidency and its accompanying history and policy. After the National Archives stopped conducting its outgoing presidential interviews, the Miller Center started its own oral history project. The Carter administration was the first participant.
In a comment via email, Miller Center Professor and Co-Chair of the Presidential Oral History Program Russell Riley shared the impact of Carter and his administration on the growth of the program.
“The main actor in the development of the oral history program at the Miller Center was Professor James Sterling Young, then head of the center’s program on the presidency,” said Riley. “[Young] began consulting with staffers from the Carter White House to secure their cooperation with a project once they left office in January 1981. Carter himself was also consulted and agreed to endorse these efforts, which was instrumental in getting his senior officials to cooperate.”
At Carter’s suggestion, Young and the team first interviewed members of the administration before speaking with the former president himself.
The Carter administration interviews “were absolutely indispensable for the emergence of an ongoing program in presidential oral history,” said Riley. “The Miller Center demonstrated that a privately funded research institution could actually get the work done. But it also demonstrated to scholars, journalists, practitioners, and students the tremendous value of hearing from those in the arena about their experiences and collective wisdom.” He noted that the Carter administration interviews helped reshape public perception of the presidency, shifting away from an overwhelmingly critical lens.
More than 20 members of the Carter administration participated in the oral history program, including Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy David Rubenstein, Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs Stuart Eizenstat, White House Chief of Staff Hamilton Jordan, and advisor and friend Charles Kirbo.
“I’m eager to cooperate as much as possible today. I don’t have any restraints at all to express to you,” said Carter at the beginning of his interview, and then he offered to help connect the center with any outstanding interviewees. “I still have some influence, and I’ll be glad to help these procrastinators expedite any decisions.”
After his day-long interview on November 29, 1982, Carter continued his involvement with the Miller Center over many decades. He returned to Charlottesville for a 1987 public forum, the dedication of the Scripps Library wing of the center, and worked with the Miller Center to lead an election reform effort following the 2000 election.
The Carter interviews inspired the reinvigoration of the presidential oral history project in 1999. To date, the Miller Center has published oral history projects covering former presidents Carter, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.
In addition to his own oral history project, Carter participated in a currently unreleased interview about his relationship with Clinton.
Almost 44 years after the conclusion of his single term, Carter’s presidency continues to shape elements of the U.S. presidency and the Miller Center’s work.
“Domestically, Carter led a major effort in favor of deregulation, which in many ways was a precursor to what happened more vigorously under President Reagan,” said Riley. “In foreign policy, he was both a major peacemaker—including a masterful effort to bring peace between Egypt and Israel, and negotiating a return of the Panama Canal to Panama—and was responsible for helping to put human rights at the center of U.S. foreign affairs.”
Scholarship covering the Carter administration, and all of the published oral histories, continues at the Miller Center by drawing on the extensive archives of interviews. The center is currently working on interviews with the Obama administration, the first Trump administration, and soon, the Biden administration.
Beyond the presidency, Riley believes that Carter’s humanitarian work after leaving office set a precedent for his successors. “Former presidents today may well decide to cash in on their status, or just to play golf, but in so doing they defy public expectations, created by Carter, that public service is a continuing role for former presidents,” said Riley.
While the Carter administration’s public perception has shifted over the decades, the former president has long been celebrated for his volunteer and advocacy work post-presidency. Carter and wife, Rosalynn, worked with Habitat for Humanity for more than 30 years, with over 4,447 homes built, renovated, or repaired.
Carter, the longest-lived president, died on December 29, 2024. At press time, his remains are being transported to Washington, D.C., to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
The Charlottesville High School musical theater ensemble brings a student-directed production of A Chorus Line to area audiences. Spotlighting an array of Broadway dancers auditioning for roles in the eponymous chorus line, the action builds across a bare stage. The personalities of potential performers are on full view as the cast of would-be stars describe life events that drew them to dance. Directed by CHS senior Murray Susen, these January performances precede a trip to Charlottesville sister city Besançon, France, where the troupe will mount additional shows this spring.
Friday 1/10–Sunday 1/12. $15, times vary. Charlottesville High School’s Black Box Theater, 1400 Melbourne Rd. theatrechs.weebly.com
Reid's co-owner Sue Clements says increased costs and theft as well as a change in shoppers' habits contributed to the decision to close. Photo by Eze Amos.
Despite community outcry and fundraising efforts, longtime Charlottesville grocery store Reid Super-Save Market will close on January 25. Neighboring nonprofit Twice is Nice has purchased the Reid’s space, and plans to move in in early 2026, according to a January 6 press release.
Reid’s co-owner Sue Clements says many factors contributed to the decision to close the family-owned business; namely, “the cost of goods and services going up, increased theft, [and a] change in shopping habits.”
Multiple parties reportedly wanted to purchase the Reid’s property. In addition to a mutual interest in quickly closing an agreement, Clements says it “felt right” to sell to Twice is Nice, which will now have a more permanent home in the Preston-Cherry corridor.
With its two leases expiring at the end of 2025, Twice is Nice has been looking for a new location in the area of its existing stores. Finding a space has been difficult with the rapid development of the area, according to Twice is Nice Operations Manager Lori Woolworth.
“The entire Twice is Nice team feels that it’s a real loss for Charlottesville to have Reid’s close its doors,” says Woolworth. “I just feel like this is a great opportunity for [Twice is Nice] to stay within the city, to consolidate, to be able to continue to grow.”
Renovations are underway to modernize the rooms at 200 South Street Inn while retaining the historic charm. Supplied photo.
A company that specializes in managing accommodations for area visitors is now overseeing two additional downtown properties.
Stay Charlottesville now operates a six-room inn at 400 W. High St. as well as the 200 South Street Inn.
“What’s happening is these really great properties need updating and they had huge amounts of cost associated with them over the last couple of years that drove them to be not successful, so the model needed to change,” says M. Travis Wilburn, one of Stay Charlottesville’s founders.
Wilburn started the company in 2010 when he built a guesthouse on his property that was originally intended for an aging relative. He began renting it out on a short-term basis and created the business to help others manage rental properties to earn extra income. Since then he’s created the Charlottesville Insider website to promote the area as a destination.
“Our group is able to oversee these hotels and be able to drive more direct traffic,” Wilburn says.
While reservations are being taken now at 400 West High, 200 South Street Inn is closed until the spring for renovations.
“Our revitalized vision will keep everything you love about 200 South Street Inn while enhancing it with modern amenities and fresh experiences, like an outdoor pool,” reads the website.
Charlottesville’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services staff are currently processing the application to build that pool.
An LLC called Renaissance Investment purchased the two properties that make up the South Street Inn for $3.46 million in December. A separate entity called 400 West High Street LLC bought the property with that address in June for $1.41 million.
The Inn at 400 West High was established in 2011, but closed last year. The South Street Inn has been in business since 1986 and had been operated by Brendan Clancy since 1991.
Area occupancy rates remain steady, according to data compiled by the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau. October of 2024 was the busiest in recent history, with nearly 80 percent of area rooms booked.
Wilburn says there’s been an increase in the volume of area lodging, and both of these inns will be marketed to groups that can take over the entire property for special events.
“I think they are one-of–a-kind unique opportunities to be able to stay as a family or as a group in these really awesome properties close to downtown and have it just be your own private party,” Wilburn says. “That is not an opportunity that is easy to find.”
The city collected $8.12 million from the lodging tax in FY2023, a rebound from the $3.8 million collected during the pandemic-constrained FY2021. Last spring, council raised the lodging tax rate from 8 percent to 9 percent and budget staff anticipate bringing in $9.56 million in the current fiscal year.
Wilburn says this is paid by people from outside the community, providing valuable revenue for the city.
Later this year, the Virginia Guesthouse will open in the University of Virginia’s Emmet-Ivy Corridor with 214 rooms and nine suites. Developer Jeffrey Levien continues work on building a Marriott hotel at 218 W. Market St. There’s still no sign of movement on what will happen with the skeleton of the unfinished Dewberry Hotel.
The Blue Ridge Irish Music School presents a double-feature screening of Absolutely Irish and The Tunnel from local filmmakers Paul and Ellen Wagner. The first film brings together standout stars of the traditional Irish music scene for a concert held in the intimate Irish Arts Center of New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood. The latter explores the history of the Blue Ridge Railroad Tunnel at Rockfish Gap, built by Irish immigrants in the 1850s. The evening includes a discussion of the Blue Ridge Tunnel project by Kevin Donleavy.
When it’s cold outside, you need extra motivation to get the blood pumping. Boston’s reggae-rock outfit The Elovaters do just that with uplifting tropical sounds that warm your soul and get you moving. Fans of acts like Slightly Stoopid and Sublime find plenty to love from this East Coast group channeling the island culture. Expect dub-inspired echo effects, an emphasis on the upbeat, and a lot of references to herbal refreshments.
Thursday1/9. $32, 7pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. jeffersontheater.com
