I have not seen it yet, but Oregon Hill resident Shawn Jones tells me he will soon be releasing a zine about Oregon Hill. Judging from some of the contributors, it should be interesting.
Hey Ya’ll, I have been compiling a zine about Oregon Hill. Finishing up now and hoping to publish this month. Also, taking last minute contributions through this week if anyone is interested.
Thanks,
Shawn
Shawn’s email is goshawnjonesgo@hotmail.com if you would like to drop him a line.
The Chancel Choir of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Oregon Hill, offers a traditional evening Epiphany Service of Seven Lessons & Carols to close out the Christmas season; Sunday, January 10, 2009; 5 p.m.; St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Oregon Hill, Richmond. Reception following the service in Baldwin Hall of St. Andrew’s School. Free and Open to the Public. 804-648-7980; www.standrewsec.org.
Excerpt from Times Dispatch article (with some links):
Several local high schools have been ranked among the nation’s best in a recent issue of U.S. News & World Report.
For the third consecutive year, Richmond’s Community and Open high schools have made the list with silver and bronze rankings, respectively.
Henrico County’s Deep Run and Godwin high schools also made the list for the second consecutive year, with both earning a silver ranking.
In 2008, Deep Run, Godwin and Community high schools earned a silver ranking from U.S. News & World Report, while Open earned bronze.
Standard & Poor’s School Evaluation Services conducts the rankings, which are based on student performance on state tests, disadvantaged student performance, and the opportunities provided to students for Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses.
In Virginia, about 22,000 public high schools were analyzed. Nationwide, 561 schools received gold or silver rankings, and in Virginia, eight schools received such designations. There were 36 bronze recipients in Virginia and 1,750 nationwide. Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria received the highest ranking in the report, published Dec. 10.
Despite these accomplishments, Open High, at least in the Grace Arents school building, is still scheduled to be closed in the future, even though there is the Goldman plan.
From the Times-Dispatch, January 2, 1904:
In the presence of a large congregation that practically filled the house, the beautiful new St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, of this city, was consecrated yesterday morning with Impressive exercises, led by the bishop of Virginia.
The new house of worship Is one of the handsomest In the State. Its completion and consecration was an event of no little moment to Episcopal Virginia, and the attendance was the larger, and more interested on account of this fact. The beautiful bullding, the gift of one generous member of the congregation, is, besides, the center of one of the most Interesting religious enterprises here or anywhere. St. Andrew’s parish ls known far and near for tho great wok it is doing. The ceremonies of yesterday were therefore of unusual note.
THE EXERCISES.
Tho consecration service began about 11 o’clock. In the front pew to the right of the center aisle were Miss Grace Arents, who contributed the entire
amount for the erection of the church; and Mr. Charles Bower, Mrs. D. N.
Walker, Mrs. O’Brien, and Mr. Woodson, who founded St. Andrew’s Mission In
1875.
Apart from the regular New Year’s Eve noise, there are several residents’ reports that New Year’s Eve parties at VCU students’ houses last night on Cherry and Laurel Streets were out of control and lead to street brawls and vandalism. Police and ambulances were on the scene, but no word on any arrests or specific injuries.
From this morning’s Times Dispatch:
Hollywood Cemetery, established in 1847, was one of the nation’s first cemeteries designed in the “rural style,” with meandering roads that follow the contours of 135 acres overlooking the James River just west of downtown.
The center of attention is Presidents Circle, where Presidents James Monroe and John Tyler are buried. Other notables elsewhere in the cemetery include Confederate President Jefferson Davis, six Virginia governors, 22 Confederate generals, two Supreme Court justices, Confederate soldiers, business leaders and literary figures.
Monroe, who died in 1831, was moved to Hollywood in 1859. The sarcophagus of the nation’s fifth president is topped by a 12-foot-tall cast iron “birdcage.” Tyler, who died in 1862, is buried beneath a monolithic granite shaft erected by the federal government in 1915. At the top, a bronze Greek urn is supported by two eagles. A bronze bust of the 10th president stands on a pedestal at one side.
A survey by Pennsylvania consultant Robert Mosko in 2007 estimated that a full restoration of the cemetery and its monuments could cost $7 million. Even though Hollywood remains an active cemetery, income from about 200 burials a year produces only about half of the cemetery’s $1 million to $1.5 million operating budget, with only about $75,000 allocated to restoration and preservation, said cemetery director David Gilliam. The rest of the operating budget comes from investment income.
So Friends of Hollywood was created to concentrate on raising money. The first phase has a goal of $1.5 million to $2 million, said Mary Hoge Anderson, a Friends board member. That amount would repair Presidents Circle and cover repairs in surrounding areas. Because the Friends group is set up as a 501(c)(3), it’s eligible for grants and matching gifts that the nonprofit cemetery would not be able to qualify for under its 501(c)(13) status.
The project already has received $50,000 from the Roller-Bottimore Foundation and $20,000 from the Marietta M. & Samuel Tate Morgan Jr. Foundation, both of Richmond. Restoration work has begun within the circle to repair some of the damage, including from Hurricane Isabel.
Where a falling tree had shattered the marble cross for Mary Heath Davenport Newton in Presidents Circle, a replacement stone once again is identical to the cross of Elise Williams Atkinson beside it.
A new headstone has been created for Eliza Maury Withers, whose father, Matthew Fontaine Maury, is portrayed on Monument Avenue as the “Pathfinder of the Seas.” A long-ago repair with mortar had left black streaks across the face of her headstone. The new marble stone is identical in size and shape to the original.
Other remaining projects include repairs to the ornamental cast iron fence, only a third of which remains intact across from Presidents Circle. The rest was destroyed by tour buses before the area was declared pedestrian-only.
“The cemetery is similar to a historic structure that you want to preserve,” Anderson said. “That’s what we’re trying to do here.”
“The challenge,” Gilliam said, “is to build an endowment so that when we’re no longer active with sales, we can operate.”
Press release:
According to this Facebook page, there is a snowball fight scheduled for Monroe Park this evening. Hopefully there will be some fresh snow for it. NO ROCKS!
I heard people calling out her name last night while searching and I still see the flyers up around the neighborhood, so my guess is that this cat, named ‘Nobody’, is still missing and needs to be found.
