My friend, William H. “Marty” Martin, was born in Leesburg Virginia in 1941. While I am devastated to have to share that he suddenly and unexpectedly passed away this week …
Author Archives: Joe Villari
The 2022 Artistic Fellowship (Bringing our traditional folk music back to life!)
2022 Artist Fellowship (Bringing our traditional folk music back to life!) Project: Reviving the musical past of the Bull Run Mountains Arts & Disciplines: Folk/Traditional Arts, Music/Sound, Music Composition Theme: …
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Warning: Insane cuteness ahead!
Scolopax minor, or the woodcock, is a quirky, enigmatic little bird with a variety of different names throughout its range – the timberdoodle, the hokumpoke, the bog sucker, the Labrador …
Welcoming Deneith Reif
The Preserve is thrilled to welcome our new Preserve Assistant, Deneith Reif! Hailing from sunny Florida originally, Deneith comes to us via the National Park Service where she worked as …
Thanking Preserve Heroes
Yesterday I was made aware of a 10 year old boy with autism who ventured away from his uncle’s home that borders the preserve’s Jackson Hollow section.The kid left home …
Of Parks and Preserves
Preserve Manger Joe Villari here. I recently posed near some glorious elm trees where I had the chance to reflect on the difference that 800 acres can make… Close in size …
Remembering Old Mother Leathercoat
The first President of these United States of America, George Washington, started surveying at such a young age that he was once known as the “boy surveyor”.Starting his career as …
Introducing “Our Lady of the Gap”
Positioned on the Northern face of our historic Thoroughfare Gap, our Lady gazes down upon the historic Spout Spring that has quenched the thirst of thousands of Mountain locals and …
Ode to a fallen friend
Located at our confluence, our beloved beech was the definition of a trooper.Its root system half pulled out of the Earth by a windstorm decades ago and its trunk since …
Glow-in-the-dark mushrooms? Spotlight on Eastern jack-o-lantern
A team of our staff and volunteers recently found a patch of Eastern jack-O-lantern mushrooms (Omphalotus olearius) while out performing trail work (kudos to PATC’s Mike C and his eagle …
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