Open High Recognized Again

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.

St. Andrew’s Church dedicated, 1904

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.

Article continues…

New Year’s Eve Party Mayhem

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.

Times Dispatch: Volunteers Reclaim Hollywood Cemetery

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.”

Tuesdays 3-6pm – Byrd House Renegade Market brings you Fresh and Tasty stuff!

From announcement:

Come to the Byrd House Renegade Market – Tuesdays from 3 to 6 pm

This week our gang of 5-7 wild bunch vendors will feature such things as Stewing Chickens, Holidays Wreaths & Greens, Chicken Eggs, Egg Noodles, Honey, home-baked Breads, Jams, Pickles, Leafy Greens, Turkey and Turkey Eggs, Sweet Potatoes, Rabbit, Really real Butter, Cider, Focaccia, Apples, Apple Butters…such good stuff!

Byrd House Market helped debut the Save Our Food Holiday Festival at the Farm Bureau this past Saturday at the new fairgrounds in Caroline County. We were visited by lots of people who had heard about our market on the news or through friends, were delighted to see the bounty of our vendors and our WBCH kids gardening, selling and shopping at the market. We met farmers and wine-makers, long-time locals and new neighbors and each one walked away with a flier listing each of our vendors and our new BHM bumper sticker: “Eat Good. Grow Great.” Special thanks to Epic Gardens, Pleasant Field, Empress Farm and Perennial Pleasures Plant Pharm for their donations to our booth display!

Check byrdhousemarket.blogspot.com for a recipe – BHM Lightly Curried Winter Vegetable Stew!

We’ll have cocoa for the kids this week, so come on by! And get the new “Eat Good. Grow Great.” bumper sticker, too.

Ana Edwards
BHM Market Manager

—
Byrd House Market
William Byrd Community House
224 South Cherry Street
Richmond, VA 23220
ByrdHouseMarket@gmail.com
(804) 643-2717

CiCi’s Pizza school fundraiser tonight

From a neighbor:

Help raise money for

OPEN HIGH SCHOOL

by EATING PIZZA!! That’s right!

Here’s what you do:

Come to CiCi’s

7516 West Broad Street

on THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10,

from 5-8 p.m.

and mention your school at the

register.(Tell your friends and family to do the same) Enjoy all the pizza you can eat!

CiCi’s will donate 15% of your net sales back to

your school. Raising money has never been easier!

So, bring a friend and enjoy all the pizza, pasta,

salad and dessert you want!