For all those 3- to 5-year-old adventurers with cabin fever, the Claytor Nature Study Center has a cure: a four-day “Animals in Winter” hike series that will get them exploring the forest throughout the month of February, searching for traces of wildlife and learning about animals’ winter survival strategies. The center, nestled at the foot …
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A ring of children crowd around a kneeling camp counselor, who holds a dragonfly just inches from their faces. “How can you tell this guy is a predator?” the counselor asks. “Big eyes!” one child volunteers. “Spiky legs to hold prey!” another says. This is a typical scene at the Clifton Institute, an environmental education …
Virginia’s Germanic heritage story starts with a title dispute. Anxious to settle the Shenandoah Valley, the Colonial Government at Williamsburg began selling off pieces of land west of the Blue Ridge in the 1730s. However, there was a catch: this land had already been claimed from across the Atlantic by the British Lord Thomas Fairfax. He would file suit, but lost his …
Continue reading “VOF partners with Shenandoah nonprofit to conserve Valley’s Germanic heritage”
The Virginia Outdoors Foundation is seeking proposals for open-space easements that would result in new outdoor recreation and education opportunities for the public, especially in cities and towns where such opportunities are lacking. To help fund the acquisition of easements, VOF has allocated approximately $600,000 from its Open Space Lands Preservation Trust Fund. These funds …
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In 1760, about 30 years before construction began on the White House in the District of Columbia, a Mennonite settler named Martin Kauffman II built his own little White House in Page County, Virginia. Kauffman constructed the building as a residence and Mennonite meeting house, locating it at the foot of the Massanutten Mountains, along …
