Is That You, Dr. Cottrell?

Last month, Steven Beauter was kind enough to share an incredible vintage photo album with me, which featured more than a dozen pictures from 1918-era Penniman, Virginia, a “ghost city” six miles from Williamsburg. There are several unidentified folks...

Flipping Insane…

Back in the day, “Flipper” was a television show, featuring a bottle-nose dolphin. Flipper was, in fact, a lot like Lassie with fins. I remember crowding around the television with the fam to watch Flipper on Saturday nights. (As I tell my daughter, ours...

That Rascally Haskell

Today, despite all the publicity about recycling, we’re still a very wasteful society, and even more so when it comes to housing. More than 35% of all debris at modern landfills is construction debris. HGTV is the worst offender, encouraging millions to rip out...

One Word for Sandston: Oopsie

When you drive into Sandston (Virginia), you might see this historic marker (shown below) which states that Sandston (a WW1-era DuPont munitions site) had “230 Aladdin houses, that were erected for plant workers.” That’s the “oopsie.”...