When my next door neighbor, Barb, asked me if I wanted to head out to Virginia for the Waterford Festival, I assumed she was talking about some discount outlet place for the beautiful Irish crystal. And while I really love the stuff, my friends drink far too much to be trusted with it in my house.
Then she said, "No, Silly! It's the annual crafts festival in historic Waterford, Virginia!"
So we took off this morning, and an hour later found ourselves in a 
monumental traffic jamb outside this little town about an hour northwest of Washington, inching toward a huge field that served as a parking lot for the event.
So we parked and walked down a steep hill and back a bunch of decades.
The first thing we saw (or rather, heard), on the steps of The Corner Store, was The Dominion 4, a traditional barbershop quartet, singing Zippidy Doo Dah. Now that's one way to put me in the mood for fun.
Then we walked to the old school house, now boarded up, where there was a huge field with amazing smells. The whole trip from Washington, Barb talked about the fried Portabello mushroom concession, and when we reached the food area, I made a beeline. The mushrooms and artichokes totally surpassed my expectations.
And the houses were amazing. Some date back to the 18th century, when the city was founded. Its early citizens, mostly Quakers who left Pennsylvania, prospered until the Civil War, when they sided with the Union. In Virginia, that was not a great short-term strategy.
After the War, Waterford fell on hard times, starting with the railroads passing them by. There was little growth or development until the 1930's, when a group of Washingtonians were looking for summer places and began to restore the dilapidated, but solidly built and charming, homes of Waterford.
This town in architecturally diverse. Here are some examples of the homes - log, stone, frame, and combinations of all of the above.
This charming town and it's crafts festival get a WOW!
Comments(3)