Tag: The Big Picture

Categories
News

The big picture

Photo by Alanna Mahon.

Mint Springs Valley Park temporarily closed on Friday, August 9, after a failed culvert pipe made its way through the road surface at the entrance to the park following heavy rains from Tropical Storm Debby. Central Virginia saw several inches of residual rainfall during Debby’s trek north, and the high water levels forced the pipe through the pavement. This isn’t the first time this particular culvert has caused trouble. “This is the same location where the pipe was replaced in 2020,” says Albemarle’s Superintendent of Parks Jim Barbour. “However, the cause of the 2020 failure was … an old and degraded galvanized culvert pipe.” Debby’s effects also prompted the county’s swimming beaches—at Chris Greene Lake, Walnut Creek, and Mint Springs—to close until water levels fall. 

Categories
News

The Big Picture

Photo by Susan Sorensen.

The top of the Water Street Garage was a popular spot on Monday, April 8, when residents gathered a little before 3pm to see the partial (about 86 percent) eclipse, when the moon blocked a large part of the sun from view. If you missed it, you’ll have to wait a while for a similar experience: On March 30, 2033, only Alaska will be included in the path of totality, but a partial solar eclipse will be visible over most of the rest of the United States. In the contiguous U.S., totality will occur again on August 22, 2044, over North Dakota and Montana.

Categories
News

The Big Picture

Supplied photo.

Charlottesville’s oldest restaurant just reached a milestone. Opened in 1923 by University of Virginia alums Billy Gooch and Ellis Brown, The Virginian (shown at left in 1983) celebrated its 100th anniversary on September 23. The Corner mainstay has grown and changed a lot during the past century, from serving soda during Prohibition, to desegregation in the ’50s, and hosting debaucherous downstairs parties in the ’70s. The coveted bar stools were reserved for fourth-year “Corner Kings” until 1930, when first-years came and made the narrow eatery their own. Andy McClure (another UVA grad) took over the restaurant in 2001, and today The Virginian remains a late-night favorite among students, who can’t get enough of the Stumble Down Mac N’ Cheese, The Famous Virginian Club, and the hard-to-beat happy hour deals. Here’s to a hundred more.

Categories
News

Marking history

In 1959,  7-year-old Charles Alexander (Alex-Zan) walked into Venable Elementary School, accompanied by his mother, Elizabeth Alexander, and fellow classmates Marvin and William Townsend. He was among the first Black students to attend the newly integrated Charlottesville City Schools. On April 8, just down the road from Venable, Alex-Zan celebrated the unveiling of the Black History Pathway sign on Fourth Street between West Main and Preston Avenue. The honorary naming is part of the ongoing effort to preserve and highlight the city’s African American history. “This pathway and celebration are making sure that we maintain and observe history,” says Alex-Zan. “If we’re not careful, we’ll lose this history.”