Virginia 250: Botetourt County in 1911

With Virginia and the nation celebrating 250 years of freedom from England in 2026, I thought it might be fun to occasionally bring up some local history.

Some years ago, a water leak in the Botetourt County Courthouse* led to a lucky find for genealogy researcher Loretta Caldwell.

While looking to see what papers may have received water damage, she came across almost a full year of the 1911 Buchanan News.

The paper was published from the early 1900s until 1973 in Buchanan. O. E. Obenshain is listed as editor on the 1911 copies. The Library of Virginia, which has microfilm of most of the issues, lists Obenshain as the publisher also.

Caldwell said the papers received minimal water damage. After drying them out, she placed them in a special cardboard holder.

The Botetourt County Library several years ago participated in a newspaper project and had several years of the Buchanan News and The Fincastle Herald placed on microfilm. That film is available for review in the Fincastle Library. However, the year 1911 is missing from those documents, so these fragile papers are not readily available on film.

The Fincastle Herald, which was established in 1866, was also in print at that time. Many old issues of the Herald are on microfilm, but others are lost to time.

Old newspapers can be a fascinating source for history of a community. The 1911 issues of the Buchanan News speak of a simpler time in many instances, but some of the events could have happened yesterday.

There are lists of who was invited where for dinner, school honor rolls and meetings. Virginia game laws said you could not kill a robin. A black bear was seen in Cloverdale. The entire state had only 4,514 prisoners behind bars.

A call went out for a new high school, with folks arguing in letters over the location (Buchanan or Lithia). 

A number of articles reflect the agriculture nature of the county. Eagle Rock apparently had a school of agriculture at that time. “Oregon Fruit Growers afraid of Virginia Growers,” touted one headline.

In September, a report called “The Automobile on the Farm” began, “One of the forces helping the “back to the land” movement and improvement of rural and economic conditions at this time is the automobile.”

In nearly every issue, there is a discussion of “good roads” and how to get them.

Other events of note:

• In January 1911, fire swept through the Town of Fincastle. It burned down an entire block, taking with it a drugstore, two groceries, a confectionary shop, a harness shop, a law office and the Town Hall. The fire started in the drugstore and the town had no fire department.

• In Buchanan that spring, Maude West, 19, was murdered by J. William Powell, 25, who then turned the gun on himself. “Little dreaming, or suspecting, the awful fate awaiting her, she innocently went to her doom!” the newspaper reported.

• In March, the federal government began its National Forest program. Botetourt County land was on the list. Much of northern Botetourt is still national forest today, part of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.

• Around the same time period, the Board of Supervisors set a tax levy at $1.10 per $100 value. According to the report, 41 cents out of each dollar went to the school system, while 45 cents out of each dollar went to a road fund. The remainder went toward other uses.

• And in October, Mary Johnston, by that time a famous author from Buchanan, spoke out in favor of women’s suffrage. She wanted the right to vote.

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Originally published in The Fincastle Herald in 2008.

*Currently demolished with a new courthouse under construction in 2026.

Red Roses for a Blue Lady

 

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Photos taken with my iPhone SE at Friendship Manor in Roanoke, VA

I Still Watch Commercials

Do you remember when the dancing
raisins "Heard it Through the Grapevine"?

I watch commercials on television, during those rare times when I actually watch TV. Mostly I listen to the lyrics to see how a popular song has been re-worded to suit the advertiser. Some of them are quite creative. Some of them aren't.

My favorite back in 2008 was an AT&T ad that played with "The Name Game": "Let's call Judy – Judy, Judy bo boody, banana fanana mo boody" – or something close to that. It was a long commercial and looked pretty expensive. A shorter toothpaste ad used the same jingle, but "bubble bubble bo bubble" never sat as well as Judy.

To be sure, I didn't know the tune was taken from an oldie ("The Name Game") until I heard the original on the radio. Just one more example of pop music rearranged, though tastefully done by Ma Bell, I thought.

Commercials distort songs all the time. Around the same time period, the dancing raisins of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" caused a sensation. You could buy the little clay critters in stores (and one sits on my bookcase). 

"Get Closer" extolled fresh breath for years, while the "Anticipation" of ketchup from a bottle was a slogan for so long that I still can’t hear Carly Simon without picturing a slow pour.

The list could go on, but you get the idea.

And mostly, it's okay. I like hearing the commercials. They're part of my heritage as a TV child. It's only when the song is so irritatingly different from the original that I get annoyed, which is why "bubble bubble bo bubble" didn't sit as well as "Judy Judy Bo Boody," I suspect.

As a bad example, a pantyhose producer took ZZ Top's "Legs" – a gritty rock anthem – and slowed it down with female singers. My husband, an ardent rock and roll fan, nearly threw his coffee mug through the TV screen.

These days, Fleetwood Mac has become a favorite target for advertisers. I recently heard "Go Your Own Way" reworked for PayPal into "Pay Your Own Way," with Will Ferrell mugging at the camera. 

Lexus took "Landslide" for their holiday campaign, wrapping a family's generational history around a luxury SUV. And don't get me started on "Everywhere," which has been selling everything from cars to credit cards. 

Beautiful songs, all of them. But hearing Stevie Nicks belting out a financing offer still feels strange.

Maybe the ad representatives know exactly what they're doing. A familiar tune makes you look up from your magazine – or, these days, from your phone. It pulls you back from the fridge a little quicker. They realize the viewer will return, if only to groan.

And you know what? I think they're still right.

I just wish they'd leave "Landslide" for crying in the car, not leasing it.

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Original version published in 2008 in The Fincastle Herald. Updated and revised in 2026.

Sunday Stealing

Thursday Thunks

1. Is there anyone whose home you enter without knocking? Does anyone (who doesn't live with you) have permission to enter your home without knocking?

A. My husband goes into his parents' house without knocking, but I knock. No one enters my home without knocking.

2. Tell us about a school trip you took.

A. When I was in sixth grade, my class went to Williamsburg. We bunked together in various rooms, and we toured the historic area. I was entranced with the shrubbery maze at the Governor's Mansion.

3. Name three things within arm's reach right now (but they can't relate to your phone, computer or laptop).

A. Within arm's reach, you will find a glass of water, a pair of binoculars, and a stapler.

4. Weather permitting, do you dry your clothes outdoors on a clothesline?

A. I do not use an outdoor clothesline because of my allergies. Pollen gathers on the clothing and makes me sick. If I dried clothing outside, I'd have to run it through the dryer just to get the pollen off before I could wear it.

5. If every flower in the world only bloomed in one color, what color would you like to see?

A. Lavender.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

Saturday 9: Like My Mother Does

Saturday 9: Like My Mother Does (2011)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Lauren Alaina tells us she knows she's beautiful and strong because she sees herself as her mother does. Who in your life consistently sees the best in you?

A. My friends.

 

2) She sings that her mother is her "rock." In this context, what do you think that means?

A. It means she turns to her mother when she is feeling low or in need of advice.

 

3) When Lauren performed this song in concert, she brought her mother Kristy up on stage and held her hand as she sang. Kristy said she was touched, but also embarrassed because her daughter was the entertainer, not her. Do you get shy when all eyes turn to you?

A. Yes, I am shy. I have a difficult time in front of people.

 

4) Lauren began reading in pre-school and always read well above grade level. As a child, were you a big reader? Are you a big reader today?

A. I have always been a "big reader." I used to average about 100 books a year, but since I got progressive lenses, I only average about 50. Reading is harder on my eyes than it used to be.

   

5) According to the National Restaurant Association, we like to eat out on Mother's Day, and brunch is especially popular. If you could have whatever you want for brunch, what would you order?

A. Scrambled eggs, bacon, grits, biscuits and gravy, and if I were very hungry maybe a blueberry pancake with the blueberries cooked in the pancake and maple syrup.

6) Mother's Day is the third biggest card-sending holiday in the US, just after Christmas and Valentine's Day. Who received the last card you purchased?

A. My mother-in-law will receive the last card I purchased.

 

7) While flowers are the most popular Mother's Day gift, jewelry comes in second. Are you wearing any jewelry as you answer these questions? If yes, did you receive it as a gift or buy it yourself? 

A. I am wearing my Timex watch and some pearl earrings. I bought both of them myself.

 

8) According to the National Retail Federation, more and more of us are celebrating our mothers by taking her to a paint and sip event, a pottery class, or candle or soap making. Which of those four options do you think you'd enjoy the most?

A. I would enjoy the paint and sip event.

9) While there's a spike in phone traffic on Mother's Day, these days it seems the trend is texting. On holidays, do you receive more calls or texts?

A. I receive a mix of both.

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I encourage you to visit the posts of other participants in Saturday 9 and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however. 

Thursday Thirteen

We are having a drought here, and all the rain forecasts are no-shows. We're about 9 inches of rain short. The pastures are not doing well, and there is very little grass to cut to make hay.

I thought maybe a list of 13 songs that have "rain" in the title might help drop a little water from the sky.

1. Have You Ever Seen the Rain? by Creedence Clearwater Revival (1970)

2. Purple Rain, by Prince (1984)

3. Rainy Days and Mondays, by the Carpenters (1971)

4. Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, by B.J. Thomas (1969)

5. I Wish It Would Rain, by The Temptations (1967)

6. Set Fire to the Rain, by Adele (2011)

7. Here Comes the Rain Again, by the Eurythmics (1984)

8. Kentucky Rain, by Elvis Presley (1970)

9. Only Happy When It Rains, by Garbage (1995)

10. A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, by Bob Dylan (1963)

11. Crying in the Rain, by The Everly Brothers (1961)

12. Rainy Night in Georgia, by Brook Benton (1969)

13. Fire and Rain, by James Taylor (1970)

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 958th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Virginia 250: The Stoplight That Stopped a Town

 

Sometime in the 1930s, or maybe even the late 1920s, the town of Fincastle had a stoplight.

 

That's not a sentence most people would expect to read. Fincastle, the quiet county seat of Botetourt County, tucked into the Valley and Ridge country of western Virginia, doesn't exactly conjure images of traffic control. But there it hung: a big black four-way stoplight, suspended on a diagonal wire between two poles at the intersection of Main and Roanoke Streets, overseeing what was then one of the busier crossroads in that part of the state.

 

I reported this story in 2005, when the Fincastle Volunteer Fire Department donated the old stoplight to the local museum. The department had kept it since 1970, when firefighters pulled it from the basement of the Botetourt County Courthouse during the fire that destroyed that building. It had followed them to their new firehouse in the mid-1980s, sat on display for a while, then ended up in a closet. Former fire chief Jimmy Firebaugh told me at the time that as far as he knew, it no longer worked and some of the parts were missing.

 

But the light itself wasn't the story. The story was what people remembered about it.

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Virginia Cronise, who was 83 in 2005, believed the light hung at the intersection from about 1935 to the early 1940s — no more than ten years, she thought. But Virginia Smith of Buchanan, who was 80 at the time, remembered it from even earlier. Her family moved to the corner of Roanoke and Murray Streets in 1927, when she was just three years old, and she grew up watching that light.

 

"When I got old enough they taught me to walk out to the drugstore corner and watch the stoplight and cross over to what was then Smith's store," she told me.

 

When she was about eight, she received a puzzle map of the United States. That summer, she sat and watched the vehicles coming through the light and wrote down the out-of-state license tags in a tablet, then checked her map to see which car had come the farthest distance.

 

Patty Ellis, about thirteen years younger than Cronise, started school in 1941 and had no memory of the light at all. "I think I would have remembered walking up and down the street and seeing it," she said.

 

So the window was probably somewhere between the late 1920s and the early 1940s. No one knows exactly when the Fincastle Town Council voted to take it down. The old town records were in storage and not readily available when I reported the piece.

 

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The light oversaw a genuinely busy corner. US 220 ran down Roanoke Street in those days, meaning all the traffic between Roanoke and Clifton Forge passed through Fincastle. A Greyhound bus stopped right there on its way to Covington, causing a regular little knot of congestion when it pulled in for passengers. Whittlers sat on a bench nearby and watched the traffic go by, and, according to town character Bobby Waid, they also whittled on one of the light poles so persistently that it had to be wrapped in cable to keep them from working it down to nothing.

 

Waid had the best story. He remembered his grandfather deciding one day that he'd watched people drive long enough to know how to do it himself, and he set out from the family farm. He made it all the way into town without a problem, until he hit the stoplight.

 

"Daddy said, 'You have to stop, the light's red,'" Waid told me. "And the old man started pulling back on the steering wheel and started hollering, 'Whoa! Whoa!'"

 

Waid wasn't sure whether his grandfather ran the light.

 

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Why did the light come down? That's where the memories diverge.

 

Waid believed it was the war. Like the rest of the nation, Fincastle participated in total blackouts to keep enemy aircraft from spotting the lights of the town. Twelve bulbs on a four-way stoplight would have been hard to explain away in that context.

 

Local historian Dottie Kessler had a different theory. She believed the light came down after US 220 was rerouted. Once all of the through-traffic stopped going through town, the need for a stoplight simply evaporated. She had a photograph dated 1940 showing the light still in place, which at least narrowed the timeline a little.

 

Virginia Smith knew what happened to it after it came down: it went into storage at the old Western Hotel, because her aunt and uncle ran the hotel at the time. From there it made its way to the Courthouse, where it sat in the basement until the building burned.

 

Corky Bolton, a Fincastle native, put it simply: "Most people couldn't believe there was a stoplight in Fincastle, but it was there all the years I was growing up."

 

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Does the intersection need one now? Bobby Waid had thoughts on that, too.

 

"I don't see a lot of broken glass up there," he said. "It's so congested people are real careful, because everybody's parking all over the place."

 

Some things about small Virginia towns don't change much, even across 250 years.

 

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Adapted from a piece originally published in The Fincastle Herald, 2005. Quotes and ages reflect interviews conducted at that time.

Sunday Stealing

In the Past Month Meme

During April, did you . . . 

1. Drink alcohol?

A. No. I do not drink alcohol and haven't since I was about 20. The last alcoholic drink I had was wine in 2012, when my college professor brought in blackberry wine to celebrate our last class when I was working on my master's degree. 

2. Eat sushi?

A. I have never eaten sushi and since I have developed an allergy to fish, I doubt I ever do.

3. Go shopping with friends?

A. I went shopping with my husband and he is my friend, so I suppose so.

4. Eat an entire box of cookies by yourself?

A. I do not recall eating an entire box of cookies by myself. My husband helped.

5. Dye your hair?

A. I haven't died my hair in 30 years. I guess that's a "no" answer as well.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

 

Saturday 9: I'll Get By

Saturday 9: I'll Get By (As Long as I Have You) – 1944

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) "I'll Get By" was very popular song in the 1940s, and we're taking a look at the recording by Dick Haymes and Harry James because it got the most airplay. Can you think of another song that has been recorded by more than one artist?

A. Just My Imagination, which recorded by The Temptations and The Rolling Stones.

2) In this week's song, vocalist Dick Haymes sings that he won't complain about the rain. Do you have any complaints about the weather this morning?

A. We are having a bright, bright, sunshiny day. However, we are in a drought and really need rain. 

3) Dick was briefly married to movie queen Rita Hayworth. Known as The Love Goddess and The Strawberry Blonde, Rita was famous for her magnificent mane. She dyed her dark brown hair red to get attention and it worked. Have you ever experimented with a different color? If yes, were you happy with the results?

A. I used to put highlights in my hair, but that was 30 years ago. I soon developed an allergy to the highlight stuff, and my hair is just now it's natural mix of brown and white.

4) Dick was the lead vocalist of the Harry James orchestra. Like Dick, Harry had a movie star wife. Betty Grable was famous for her legs. Her bathing suit poster inspired hosiery manufacturers to single out her perfectly proportioned thighs, calves and ankles. Betty herself joked, "I'm a star for two reasons, and I'm standing on them."  What do you think is your best (physical) trait?

A. Everyone tells me I have nice skin. Even the dermatologist I saw recently said I have nice skin. So I guess I'll go with my skin.

5) Betty's weren't the only legs that fascinated Harry. He was known for his stable of thoroughbred racehorses. Have you ever been to the races?

A. I have never been to a horse race. I have been to NASCAR races, though. That was a lot of horsepower, just not the natural kind.

6) Teenaged Harry played trumpet with The Beaumont High School Royal Purple Band. Did you belong to groups or clubs while you were in high school?

A. I was a member of the high school band, the forensics team (for a short while), and a member of the National Honor Society.

7) In addition to "I'll Get By," Judy Garland's "Trolley Song" topped the charts in 1944. When did you most recently take public transportation?

A. I don't know when I last took public transportation. I think we took a tour bus around Asheville when we were there in the early 2000s, but I'm not sure if a tour bus counts as public transportation.

8) Also in 1944, Diana Ross was born. First with the Supremes, then as a solo artist, she has sold more than 100 million records, making her one of America's most successful female singers. Who is your all-time favorite "girl singer?"

A. I will have to go with Melissa Etheridge, since I recently saw her in concert and she gave me a hug. I like other female singers, such as Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow, Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, Chrissy Hynde, etc., but none of them have given me a hug.

9) Random question – Last week we asked about the garage. Let's turn our attention to the glove compartment (aka glove box). What have you got in there?

A. I have my registration, the manuals for the vehicle, and a couple of surgical masks left over from the pandemic.

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I encourage you to visit the posts of other participants in Saturday 9 and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however. 

The Coyote

The coyote two-stepped across the knoll, her dark lithe body visible in the dusk. She was a big animal, large-dog sized.

I had heard the coyotes howling late in the evening the night before, a lonesome spine-tingling moan that made me shiver.

We had been to check the cows because the bawling from one had reached us across the evening quiet. An escape attempt by the animals earlier that day had probably resulted in a mix-up between a momma and a calf, we thought, so we hopped in the truck to make it right.

The coyote was a long way off; that is how we knew she was big. She was easy to see, dancing there, moving about the newly mown field.  Chasing a mouse, perhaps.  We eased the truck to a stop and killed the engine.

Before us, the alfalfa field was filled with deer.  A doe with a fawn.  A small buck with the velvet covering his antlers, making the little prongs look huge. We had enough daylight to make out the details. I could still see the spots on the little fawn. It and the coyote looked to be the same size.

Darkness was falling quickly. My husband considered taking a shot at the coyote. We’d lost a newborn calf a few weeks ago. A coyote seemed as likely a culprit as vultures. My Audubon book says they eat small mammals; newborn calves would qualify.

But he lost the shot as the twilight grew heavy and the night fell closer. His gun echoed across the farm as he missed. The coyote took off, as did the deer, their white tails waving goodbye to us as they jumped a fence and raced for the woods. I pulled my hands from my ears.

One thousand and one fireflies blinked around me, their light twinkling like stars fallen from the sky. In the distance, the train going toward the cement plant raced clackety-clack over the rails, and then her whistle let out a long moan. Unlike the coyote’s call, the train’s howl left me feeling sad, not shaken.

The night was alive with sound, now. Tree frogs, crickets.  Not long after the gunshot blast, I heard a faint “who-who” as an owl called from far away. Tires from a truck on the road behind us hummed a tuneless song that crescendoed as the vehicle sped by.

My husband turned the key to start the truck and take us back home. Once there, I sat out on the deck and lulled the night to silence with my guitar. I let the last note of Scarborough Fair linger, its sound meshing in with the calls of the frogs, and then surprisingly, the howl of a coyote.

 

A version of this was published in 2004 in The Fincastle Herald.