Attack, Attack, Attack
As the potential of U.S. involvement in World War II became more evident, initial steps were taken to prepare troops what for lay ahead through "precautionary training." The 34th was deemed one of the most service-ready units, and Ellard A. Walsh was promoted to major general in June 1940, and then succeeded to division commander in August.
The 34th was subsequently activated on 10 February 1941, with troops from North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa. The division was transported by rail and truck convoys to the newly constructed Camp Claiborne in Rapides Parish, Louisiana near Alexandria.
The soldiers started rigorous training including maneuvers in Alexandria starting 7 April 1941. The 34th then participated in what became known as the Louisiana Maneuvers and became a well-disciplined, high spirited, and well prepared unit. In the early phase of the maneuvers, General Walsh, became too ill to continue in command and was replaced by Major General Russell P. Hartle on 5 August 1941.
On 8 January 1942, the 34th Division was transported by train to Fort Dix, New Jersey to quickly prepare for overseas movement. The first contingent embarked at Brooklyn on 14 January 1942 and sailed from New York the next day. The initial group of 4,508 men stepped ashore at 12:15 hrs on 26 January 1942 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  While in Northern Ireland, Hartle was tasked with organizing an American version of the British Commandos. During this organizational period, a unit of U.S. Army Rangers and the 168th Commandos were formed.
On 20 May 1942, Hartle was designated commanding general of V Corps and Major General Charles Ryder, took command of the 34th. The division continued training in Northern Ireland and Scotland until it boarded ships to travel to North Africa for Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa, in November 1942.
The 34th saw its first combat in French Algeria on 8 November 1942. As a member of the Eastern Task Force, they landed at Algiers and seized the port and outlying airfields. Elements of the 34th took part in numerous subsequent engagements in Tunisia, notably at Sened Station, Sidi Bou Zid and Faid Pass, Sbeitla, and Fondouk Gap.  In April 1943 the 34th assaulted Hill 609, capturing it on 1 May 1943, and then drove through Chouigui Pass to Tebourba and Ferryville. The Battle of Tunisia was won, and the Axis forces surrendered.
The 34th now stationed in Oran, trained intensively for the invasion of the Italian mainland, with the main landings being at Salerno (Operation Avalanche) on 9 September 1943, D-Day. The 151st Field Artillery Battalion went in on D-Day, 9 September, landing at Salerno, while the rest of the division followed on 25 September. Engaging the enemy at the Calore River, 28 September, the 34th, as part of the VI Corps, relentlessly drove north to take Benevento, crossed the winding Volturno three times in October and November, assaulted Monte Patano, and took one of its four peaks before being relieved on 9 December.
In January 1944, the 34th was back on the front line battering the Bernhardt Line defenses fighting along the Mignano Gap.  The 34th took Monte Trocchio as the German defenders withdrew to the main prepared defenses of the Gustav Line. On 24 January 1944, during the First Battle of Monte Cassino they pushed across the Gari River into the hills behind and attacked Monastery Hill. The performance of the 34th Infantry Division in the mountains has been called one of the finest feats of arms carried out by any soldiers during the war.
The unit sustained losses of about 80 percent in the infantry battalions. They were relieved from their positions 11–13 February 1944. Eventually, it took the combined force of five Allied infantry divisions to finish what the 34th nearly accomplished on its own.
After rest and rehabilitation, the 34th landed at the Anzio beachhead 25 March 1944. The division maintained defensive positions until the offensive of 23 May, when it broke out and took Cisterna, raced to Civitavecchia and the Italian capital of Rome. The 34th, now commanded by Major General Charles Bolte, drove across the Cecina River to liberate Livorno, 19 July 1944, and then took Monte Belmonte in October during the fighting on the Gothic Line. Digging in the south of Bologna for the winter, the 34th jumped off the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy, 15 April 1945, and captured Bologna on 21 April. The pursuit of the routed enemy to the French border was halted on 2 May upon the German surrender in Italy and the end of World War II in Europe.
The 34th Infantry Division participated in six major Army campaigns in North Africa and Italy. The division is credited with amassing 517 days of front-line combat,  more than any other division in the U.S. Army. One or more 34th Division units were engaged in actual combat for 611 days. The 34th was credited with more combat days than any other division in the war. The 34th suffered 3,737 killed in action, 14,165 wounded in action, 3,460 missing in action, and 1,368 men taken prisoner by the enemy, for a total of 21,362 battle casualties. Casualties of the division are considered to be the highest of any division in the theatre when daily per capita fighting strengths are considered. The division's soldiers were awarded ten Medals of Honor, ninety-eight Distinguished Service Crosses, one Distinguished Service Medal, 1,153 Silver Stars, 116 Legion of Merit medals, one Distinguished Flying Cross, 2,545 Bronze Star Medals, fifty-four Soldier's Medals, thirty-four Air Medals, with duplicate awards of fifty-two oak leaf clusters, and 15,000 Purple Hearts.
1 Johnson, Jack (Winter 2012). "Allies". Newsletter for Members and Friends of the Military Historical Society of Minnesota. XX(1): 1–3
2 Army Navy Journal 77. Washington, DC: Army and Navy Journal, Incorporated. 1904. p. 38.
3 Background of the Selective Service System. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 7 June2013.
4 Camp Claiborne Louisiana, Western Maryland's Historical Library. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
5 Jeffers, H. Paul (2007). Onward We Charge: The Heroic Story of Darby's Rangers in World War II. Chapter 2: Penguin Books.
6 Staab, William (2009). Not for Glory. Vantage Press. p. 69.
7 Howe, George. "U.S. Army in World War II, Mediterranean Theater of Operations – Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West. Hyperwar Foundation. pp. 423–437
8 Howe, George. "U.S. Army in World War II, Mediterranean Theater of Operations – Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West". Hyperwar Foundation. pp. 423–437
9 Atkinson, Rick (2008). The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943–1944. Macmillan. p. 260.
10 Majdalany, Fred (1957). Cassino: Portrait of a Battle. Longman, Green and Co. p. 87.
11 "34th Infantry Division". U.S. Army Center of Military History.
12 "History of the 34th Infantry Division". Minnesota National Guard.
"The Red Bull in the Winter Line"
Painted by Donna Neary, c. 1988
Thank You to Our Generous Supporters
Like any infantry section, we are only as effective as our support element. Thank you to those who help to ensure history is not forgotten.
Mr. John Maxton
Store #1490 Rockford, ILL


To maintain the buildings heritage, we used historic stone repair techniques for the stone and brick masonry repair and conservation work. All new limestone was sourced from the same quarry as the original stonework.
Flashing replacement, caulking repairs around the windows and building cleaning was also performed as part of this contract. All work was completed while the building was occupied, and special safety measures were taken for pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
Classified as a Federal Heritage Building in 1990, the Victory Building was built under Canada’s Public Works Construction Act in 1934. It was one of the largest buildings constructed in Canada during the Great Depression era and it represents a new type of office building that efficiently housed several departments under one roof. It was also one of a very few buildings constructed in Winnipeg during the Depression era. Construction employed local contractors and labourers, created a demand for Manitoba materials like Tyndall limestone and was a key factor in stimulating the local economy. It is also know as the Federal Building and the Dominion Public Building.


1. Vrina Plain Cremation tomb in April 2007
2. Vrina Plain Cremation tomb post conservation in June 2010
3. Vrina Plain Cremation Tomb: plan and elevation (BF)
'The substantial remains of a masonry tomb can still be seen on the Vrina Plain, situated on a slight rise some 300m to the east of the settlement nucleus. The ruin was first recorded by Ugolini, along with other funerary remains in the late 1920's, more or less in the same condition it is to be seen today. The tomb survived the 1960's clearance of the Plain, and since it's exposure it has been employed as a sheep pen and as a shelter for shepherds on the otherwise exposed plain. A consequent and highly noticeable deterioration in the tomb's physical condition since the mid 1990's prompted a drawn, photographic and measured survey, in part as a heritage management excercise.
The tomb consists of two elements: a vaulted chamber with a solid tower-like superstructure above. Any traces of facing stones, or plastered outer surfaces, have long since disappeared. The surviving structure measures 2.85m wide across the vault and 1.80m along it's length. The vault walls average 0.57m in thickness and the entire lower section is 1.95m high. Above this, the superstructure is 1.40m in diameter and 1.24m high; the tomb presently stands 3.19m above ground level. Below ground it appears to be constructed on very shallow foundations.
The Tomb chamber itself is quite well preserved. This is a vaulted space 1.57m long, 1.50m wide and 1.06m high. In the centre of the eastern and western walls are two semi-circular loculi for cinerary urns. Each measures 0.44 x 0.42 x 0.56m.Their bases are raised 0.15m from the floor of the chamber. Both the northern and southern walls have largely been demolished to permit it's use as a shelter, though enough remains to show that the southern wall was once continuous. The access to the tomb chamber must, consequently, have been from the north, that is, from the side facing the lake. The surface of the interior (the vault, the floor and the loculi) is entirely covered with a layer of plaster up to 20mm thick. Limescale (sinter) covers much of the remaining plaster and may have contributed to it's survival. This does, however, make it difficult to discern whether the interior was ever painted.' ( Andrew Crowson and Oliver Gilkes: The archeology of the Vrina plain: An Assessment.)
The Vrina Plain is a flat treeless expanse prone to fierce Spring and Autumn storms which arrive swiftly with heavy rains and extreme lightning and thunder so it is no surprise that this vaulted masonry structure has been used as a shelter by man and beast alike. Nearby there is a modern memorial to a shepherd killed by lightning.
For conservation purposes the structure was first examined in the early summer of 2007 and the following major facts were noted:
1.1. That a large piece of the masonry forming the upper western section of the vault was detached from the monument resulting in a substantial diminution of support for the 'tower-like superstructure'
4. Illustrates: (a) the distance from the main mass of the fragment, (b) the source of the fragment and (c) the fragment itself (June 2007)
There is nothing to explain the distance from the monument at which the fragment now rests.
1.2. Loculi to west and east both broken into, as was infill to north and south.
5. Openings to all points of the compass (June 2007)
1.3. Poor condition of interior plaster.
5. Interior plasterwork. (June 2007)
Substantial sections of the inyerior plaster work remain intact. Although there is no obvious evidence of polychromy this plaster constitutes an important historic detail.
2. Conservation Plan.
2.1. To replace missing core work to the vault to strengthen support for the masonry above. At first it was thought that we could simply replace the missing section but this was found to be to heavy to lift carefully into place with the available equipment. it was also felt that to replace this section withouth the use of stainless steel pins to fix it in place would probably recreate the original instability that had caused the loss in the first place.The missing section was left to lie and replacement core was constructed from scavenged stones and lime mortar. The rebuilding of this section was felt to be a structural necessity.
6. Work in progress to rebuild supporting vault (June 2007 René Rice pictured)
2.2. To Fill openings to north and south and to prevent further damage to loculi to east and westby covering openings. The south opening had some of the original wall material in place and therefore it was decided to complete the rest of this opening with similar masonry. Preventing ingress into the monument's interior had to be a priority of our work. Barriers had to be strong and materially undesirable to avoid theft. The North opening had no original material and it was deceided to fill this with a single layer of concrete blocks, rendered over with a sympathetic roughcast mortar. The loculi were filled with core stone to match the surrounding stonework. All progressed smoothly except for the blockwork which was destroyed partially once by inquisitive hands and had to be rebuilt.
7. Existing masonry in south opening (June 2007)
8. Beginning of masonry infill (on plastic seperation layer) (June 2007) (Albana Hakani pictured)
9. Interior of south opening infill (June 2007)
10. South opening infill complete (June 2007)
The north opening was filled with concrete blocks and rendered over with a roughcast lime mortar.
11. North opening blocked-in (June 2007)
12. North opening roughcast rendered (June 2007)
2.2.3. Loculi: east and west
13. Eastern loculi opening blocked (June 2007)
14. Western loculi opening blocked (June 2007)
2.3. Conservation of interior plasterwork.
Fragile plasterwork was consolidated by filleting and strengthening broken edges and grouting voids where necessary,
15. Plaster conservation (June 2007)
16. Conservator (Albana Hakani) working on the interior plaster of the cremation tomb. (June 2007)
The conserved monument must be monitored at regular intervals to check the integrity of the blocked openings and prevent continued ingress of sheltering persons and beasts.
17. Conserved Cremation Tomb June 2010


Olivet’s Roaring Tiger Battalion honors those who have served
Posted: Dec 06, 2012
“Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory,” General George S. Patton once said.
At Fortin Villa, home of Olivet’s Roaring Tiger Battalion, U.S. Army ROTC cadets stood at attention while giving homage to those who have fought before them at a recent ceremony. Their respect was shown while the “Armed Forces Medley” was played and during the flag folding ceremony. The flag was presented to General Kotter, who was the guest speaker for the service.
General Kotter stressed that, “once a soldier, a soldier for life.” He sees service in the military as a worthy endeavor.
“It’s another way for our appreciation. We serve our country. We enjoy those liberties because of them,” Gen. Kotter said.
The battalion was grateful for those who have led by example.
“I think they’re a true inspiration; a sign of selflessness, people I aspire to be,” Cadet Davina Anderson said.


The Turf Company enjoys some of the most established relationships in the industry and as its marks 25-year history, it had the privilege of being a part of yet another milestone – the centennial celebration of one of its strongest brands and long-time partner, The Toro Company.
Founded in 1914 in Minnesota, USA, The Toro Company established its legacy in turf and landscape maintenance by building market leadership through a relentless commitment to innovation. By understanding the needs of its customers, the company developed products and services including more than 1,500 patents to help its customers succeed worldwide.
In the Philippines, The Turf Company enjoys the distinction of being the exclusive distributor of the Toro brand of golf course maintenance equipment and irrigation systems which accounts for about 80 percent of the company’s turf management business.
Since its founding, The Turf Company has maintained a solid partnership with Toro, one that continues to flourish to this day and benefits some of the country’s finest golf and sporting courses as well as upscale golfing estates. Turf is also proud of its excellent after-sales service and reliable technical support, a reputation Toro also shares on a global scale.<p/P<
“To have Toro as one of our strongest brands since day one speaks volumes on the very fruitful and solid partnership that we have with them. We at Turf are very much honored to have witnessed and been part of such a momentous occasion in the history of Toro,” said Mario Lopez, General Manager of The Turf Company.
Toro centennial celebration
A dinner reception at the Radisson Blu in Minnesota kicked off Toro’s week-long centennial celebration attended by distributors, dealers and retail partners from around the world.
Delegates were given a tour around Toro’s manufacturing facility in Tomah, Wisconsin; the Windom Plant and the company’s headquarters in Bloomington, Minnesota where it all started. A product exhibit of the company’s history showcased some of its vintage products.
Highlight of the event was the Worldwide Awards Banquet and Recognition at the St. Paul RiverCentre graced by Toro top executives including incumbent Toro CEO Michael Hoffman, past CEO Kendrick Melrose, Toro’s Managing Director Australia & Asia Pacific Richard Walne, and Distributor Operations Development (Global) Manager Billy Secord.
During the awards night, red and green blazers were given to top sales people while gold bulls were presented to international distributors. Mario Lopez received the Bull Award on behalf of The Turf Company in recognition of the company’s 25-year partnership with Toro.


The Pilgrims’ Way was one of the major routes to Canterbury, the spiritual capital of England and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its Christian heritage is owed to a famous Roman missionary, St. Augustine, who was sent from Rome in 597 AD by Pope Gregory to convert the Anglo-Saxons. The mission was a success: that same year Augustine baptized King Ethelbert of Kent. Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury, whose modern successor is the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Canterbury is also important because of St. Thomas Becket, another Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered in the cathedral in 1170 at the hands of the king’s knights. Miracles were reported around Thomas’ tomb almost immediately and it soon became one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Europe. A journey of pilgrims to Becket’s shrine served as the frame for Geoffrey Chaucer’s 14th century classic “The Canterbury Tales”.
Canterbury Cathedral is one of the oldest Christian churches in England and it continues to play a central role in English Christianity. Dedicated in 602 AD by St. Augustine, it still functions as the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the symbolic seat of the Anglican Communion. The grandeur of the architecture reflects Canterbury’s historic and religious importance, as does the magnificent collection of medieval stained glass windows depicting biblical scenes and miracles experienced at Thomas’ shrine.
Canterbury continues to be a popular destination, consistently one of the most-visited cities in the United Kingdom. Many historical structures fill the area, including a city wall founded in Roman times and rebuilt in the 14th century, the ruins of St Augustine’s Abbey and a Norman castle, and the oldest extant school in the world, the King’s School.
Given the importance of Canterbury, over the centuries several important tracks were pressed into the ground by the feet of thousands of pilgrims. The North Downs Pilgrims’ Way is an ancient track between Winchester and Canterbury Cathedral following St Swithun’s and North Downs Ways. The trail provides fairly easy walking through woods, over chalk grassland, minor roads and through orchards and farmland, especially in Kent. It follows a major chalk ridge past charming villages and historic churches.
An alternative route is the South Downs Pilgrims’ Way, also known as the Old Way. It is a medieval route to Canterbury beginning in Southampton connecting 78 churches, four cathedrals, three river sources and nine holy wells.
A third major trail to Canterbury begins at London’s Southwark Cathedral and travels southeast past Rochester and through the Kent Downs before arriving at the famous cathedral. This is the trail that appears in Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”. It is a good option for people who are short on time but want to visit both London and Canterbury.


14 Feb 2017 Druid Hills Tour & Events
Ryan Graham, Chairperson, Druid Hills Civic Association Tour Committee, announces the 2017 Druid Hills Tour of Homes & Gardens and Makers Market, April 21-23, 2017.
“The vibrant tradition continues as the historic Druid Hills neighborhood welcomes neighbors and visitors alike to tour homes featuring architecture from renowned architects, experience award winning interior design, enjoy southern fare, hear local musicians, see Georgia artists and explore Emory Village. ‘History Happens Here’ through the vibrant community culture of Druid Hills where tour goers will find inspiration, celebration, and a focus on preserving and extending the vision of noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.”
One of the longest running and premiere tour of homes in the nation, the 2017 Druid Hills Tour of Homes & Gardens and Makers Market celebrates its 49th year with six homes and one garden that feature the work of master renovators and landscape designers:
- 834 Lullwater Road, Honora and Dan Handley
- 1250 Fairview Road, Stephanie and John Giegerich
- 928 Oakdale Road, Charlie Andrews and Burt Tillman
- 1017 Oxford Road, Drs. Shannon and James Hamrick
- 1125 Oxford Road, Sarah and Scott Ellyson
- 1371 North Decatur Road, Emily and Andrew Webb
- 1022 Lullwater Road, Julia Roberts (Garden open for tours Saturday only)
The tour will also feature a series of events open to the public at Emory Village and throughout the neighborhood including:
- Makers Market on Saturday 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM Slice & Pint Parking Lot
- Local Bands on Saturday 6:00 – 10:00 PM, Slice & Pint Parking Lot
- Patch Dash 5K Fun Run/Walk and Tot Trot on Sunday 8:00 AM (proceeds benefit Press On To Cure Childhood Cancer: www.pressonfund.org)
- CDC Museum Tour on Friday, 11:00-12:30 (complimentary shuttle departs from Slice & Pint Parking Lot at 10:30; advance registration requested via the tour website and photo ID required)
- Bike rentals and walking maps available at Will Call / Slice & Pint Parking Lot
- Lullwater Preservation Garden Plant Sale
The tour events take place Friday, April 21, 1:00 – 5:00 PM; Saturday, April 22, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM; and Sunday, April 23, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM. Individual and discounted group tickets may be purchased in advance on the website: druidhillstour.org. Proceeds from the tour, events and merchandise benefit the Druid Hills neighborhood, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
About The Druid Hills Civic Association: The Druid Hills Civic Association was founded in 1938 to preserve Atlanta’s Druid Hills neighborhood and to protect its unique heritage of parks and architecture. The Association carries out these responsibilities by exercising vigilance in zoning matters, maintaining a liaison with local governing bodies, informing the citizens of community issues, and promoting the general welfare of the community for the enjoyment of its residents today and in the future.


The St. Joseph-Salem Heritage Society is an non-profit Ohio Corporation that is qualified by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax exempt Charitable Trust under Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
The organization was founded in 2005 to:
Recover, preserve and maintain the heritage of Salem, St. Joseph Parish Community and to show our appreciation for the 164 years of sacrifice our ancestors endured so that it may inspire future generations.
The History of St. Joseph Salem Catholic Parish
In 1831, Ezra Stewart, the first white man settled in what is now Salem Township, Wyandot Co., Ohio, on the edge of the Wyandot Indian reservation. Soon after his arrival other pioneers came, and by 1837 the portion of the township not included in the Indian land, increased rapidly the number of settlers. By 1845, after the Indians had left, over 50 persons had patented land within the township. It was named after the town of Salem in Massachusetts by Job Matheson, the first Justice of the Peace to serve as such, who came from there.
Christian Brooks, a Catholic, was the first to buy government land in 1846 in Salem Township. In 1847, John Schumacher bought land and moved onto it with his wife and her family, Henry Eberle. These first Catholics settled in the forest and before the land could be cultivated trees had to be uprooted and carried away. There were Indians to be feared, for some Indians refusing to resettle in the Southwest remained to harass the white settlers. Isolated families of Wyandot Indians who had refused to go West with the Tribes in 1843 still camped among the brush. The pioneers could not be discouraged, however; and through three years of peril, darkness and strife they persevered in building up their land and their faith.. By 1849 there was a neighborhood of Catholics consisting of John Schuhmacher, Henry Eberle, Andrew Fetter, John Stumpf, Peter Pauly, John Best, all with their families; also Christian Brooks, Matthew Haut and Anton Eberle. All settled in the deep, thick woods. These Catholics located in the thick forests had to clear their land of trees before being able to cultivate it.
The year 1849 marks the beginning of the congregation and parish of St. Joseph Church in Salem Township. In the spring of 1849, Bishop Amadeus Rappe, first Bishop of Cleveland, made a visitation of areas of his diocese. He celebrated Mass in the log cabin of John Schuhmacher. This was the first gathering of a congregation and the beginnings of the new mission. During the same year a log chapel, 20x26 feet was built on the property of John Schuhmacher. Christian Brooks who was a skilled mason, designed and built the little chapel. In it an altar of bricks was constructed. After the chapel was completed, a Sanguinist Father from New Riegel came whenver possible to conduct services. Young Henry Damian Best served as altar boy, later becoming a priest.
The little settlement gradually augmented. Between 1851 and 1859 relatives of the first settlers, surnames of Davidson, Orians, Logsdon, Arnold, Draper, Balduf, Fleck, Keller, Messmer, Fox, Moll, Brodman, Frey, Link, Myers and Payne came from Germany to join their pioneer relations. During the fifties, people already living in the surrounding regions moved in to Salem Township. These latter were descendants of the colonial day Maryland Catholics. Some of these had sons and daughters who came with them. The older boys and girls were growing up and marrying. Some remained in the settlement, others moved away. The congregation was flourishing and growing.
After ten years, they became dissatisfied with the log chapel and its location, since it was not close to the roads the county was laying out. By deed of November 13, 1858, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Pauly donated an acre of land a mile or so away at the junction of two roads. On May 7, 1859, Benjamin H. Draper and his wife, Martha, deeded about 2 ½ acres of land across the road for a cemetery. A new church 50x25 feet was built during the year 1859, a wood frame structure, at a cost of one thousand dollars.
The faith of the pioneers was kept at a peak by the hard working, self sacrificing Fathers from New Riegel. These priests thought nothing of walking the distance from their own settlement to Salem, that the pioneers might hear Mass. These priests had charge of the parish until 1875.
In the year 1875, the parish at Kirby, up to that time a mission of Upper Sandusky received its first resident pastor and St. Joseph’s congregation became attached to Kirby as a mission. The congregation at Salem now numbered over 38 families and the faithful came from Carey and Kirby to the services. The need for a larger church became evident. Construction began in August of 1883. The new edifice, completed and opened for services in early 1885, was a frame structure. It measured 40x80 feet and had a 128 foot tower. It was blessed on May 29, 1888.
Wood proved not to be the best building materials. This was found to be true in 1893 when a defective flue caused the frame structure to burn to the ground. This happened on a Sunday, shortly after noon. Rev. Henry Best, a son of the parish, held services that morning. Confirmation was held at St. Joseph’s the next day. The ceremony was held in the old church that still stood beside the charred remains of the new.
The burnt church was insured for $5,000 and the parishioners decided to add to this amount and build another church, this time of brick. On June 3, 1894 the cornerstone was laid for the new St. Joseph’s, the church which stands today in Salem Township. Though the church had been in use since December of the year it was begun, the formal dedication was not held until two years later. Much to the admiration and surprise of the Bishop, the entire cost of $11,000 was paid in full before the dedication took place.
St. Joseph’s celebrated its Diamond Jubilee on the Feast of Corpus Christi, June 19, 1924. The Centennial Celebration was on July 24, 1949. St. Joseph’s 125th Anniversary celebration was held on October 27, 1974. The Sesquicentennial celebration was held on July 4, 1999.
There was never been a resident pastor at St. Josephs. The Franciscan priests of Our Lady of Consolation Basilica, Carey, Ohio, assisted the parish through most of its 156 year history.
Being located in a rural district, the parish never had a period of great expansion. Neither was it ever forced to disband for lack of parishioners. Though the congregation was small in comparison to urban parishes, the faith is firmly rooted in the soul of each and every member.
Bishop Leonard Blair of the Toledo Diocese, through his agent - Father Kent Kaufman, closed St. Joseph Parish as of July 3, 2005. The church building and meeting hall are now owned and maintained by the St. Joseph-Salem Heritage Society to preserve and maintain the heritage of the Salem St. Joseph community and to show respect and appreciation for the 157 years of sacrifice their ancestors endured in service to the community and the Roman Catholic Church. The Society hopes to inspire future generations to live in the spirit of Christian community.
Copyright © 2021 St. Joseph - Salem Heritage Society - All Rights Reserved.


This is a community for the discussion of actual history related to Age of Sail fandoms such as Hornblower, Master and Commander, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Other non-naval fandoms of the same period (especially rare lit fandoms, historical RPS, and other 18th/19th century military fandoms) may also be discussed.
This is a slash-friendly community, and content may be adult in nature.
Topics of discussion may include, but are not limited to: tall ships and sailing, naval battles and tactics, costume, culture, etiquette, history of sexuality, crime and punishment, food and drink, literature and poetry, politics, religion, health and medicine, famous people, etc etc etc. History-related fannish meta is also welcome.
Links to fanfic etc are not welcome on this community unless they are accompanied with a discussion of the actual history relevant to the work. For instance, if you had to research the history of the grog ration for your Hornblower fic, tell us a bit about that along with your fic link. Keep it educational, in other words.
NEW MEMBERS: Upon joining, please post an introduction as follows:
* Your favourite historical fandom(s) - and tell us why * A book or website recommendation related to age-of-sail history * An interesting historical fact from the age of sail OR * A historical question you've been dying to know the answer to


National Register Historic Districts
Main Street, Remington: Built in 1918 for Luther Allison as a post office and grocery
store. It was the post office until 1957, now a variety store with apartments above.
Historic Maps reveal a lot about our past. They can confirm a hunch we have about the location of a cemetery, as well as show us the locations of old stores, villages and old road beds. For any novice or expert, consulting historic maps is a crucial first step in conducting sound historic research.
Visit our collection today to start your journey.
Extract from Fauquier County 1914 Map identifies the village of Upperville
Civil War Education
A Fauquier County brochure commemorates the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War titled: Strategic Battlefield Sites of the Civil War.
In 2006, Fauquier County initiated a long-term, citizen-based planning effort to document its significant Civil War resources. The initial focus was on twelve battlefields included in the top 384 most important battles of the Civil War, as determined by Congress in the late 1990s. In 2007, the County obtained a grant from the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program (ABBP) for a comprehensive, public education project to build and strengthen the capacity of community-level preservation planning involving property owners, interested citizens, and historians.
The grant, as well as donations from local organizations, helped to fund an all-day event at Fauquier High School, entitled Bivouacs and Battlefields in March 2009 Volunteers from an ad-hoc group, named the Battlefield Support Committee, helped organize the event. The group remains dedicated to offering educational tools to the community about all aspects of Civil Was history.
Over 200 people attended presentations by historians, visited a soldier’s encampment, spoke with local preservation groups, and enjoyed viewing period-artwork by local school children. Brochures on each nationally-significant battlefield can be downloaded to give you a flavor of what significant events took place right here on Fauquier County soil.
The ABPP recently completed a statewide survey of Virginia’s most significant battlefields, including those in Fauquier County. (http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/abpp/CWSII/CWSIIStateReportVA.htm).
A Fauquier Farm with deep roots: shrouded by the distant trees are
buildings that survived the Civil War. This was "Dr. Hamilton's"
place west of Remington, which was used as General Meade's
headquarters during the war.
Preservation Groups & Projects Thanks to the creativity and enthusiasm of Fauquier County’s citizens and preservation groups, a number of notable projects are underway. You can make a difference in your community by participating in one of many groups listed below, or even form your own. We love to hear about your local preservation efforts!
Citizen-based planning efforts, documentation, recognition programs, and increased levels of land preservation will undoubtedly continue to strengthen protection of historic resources.
Statistics indicate that the County is steadily losing its historic building stock. According to the U.S. Census, between 1940 and 2000, the County experienced a loss of almost 35% of its 5,296 pre-1940 residential buildings. The County also lost a considerable number of its historical barns, silos, and other agricultural outbuildings during this same fifty year period.
Another 150 historic homes were demolished or came off the tax rolls between 2000 and 2006.
Documenting the Past, Preserving a Place In the 1980s, Fauquier County enacted zoning and land use policies to protect the County’s rural heritage from intrusive suburban development. In turn, these public measures have fostered increased amounts of private land preservation initiatives and historic property stewardship.
National Register Historic Districts and Virginia Landmarks Register Districts identify the County’s most distinguished set of historic resources. Fauquier County is proud of its twenty-one nationally-significant areas. These resources provide local residents a high quality of life, as well as attract tourists. The nominations documenting the historical information on each district and other properties listed on the National Register may be obtained from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources web site.
Federal and State Rehabilitation Tax Credits are available to property owners of individually listed National Register Properties, as well as contributing resources within National Register Historic Districts for residential and commercial buildings. Please contact the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.


Spin a blindfolded child and ask her to pin the tail in the middle of a map of Virginia and she could do a lot worse than Louisa County. East of Charlottesville and north of Richmond, Louisa County is about five hundred square miles of small towns, old family farms, and a tangled crisscross of streams and rivers.
In 1926, fourteen year old H. Spurgeon Moss faced a choice. Moss was a tall, bespectacled lad who loved to read but seventh grade was the end of the line for black children in the segregated schools of Louisa County, Virginia. The Virginia Constitution of 1869 had mandated the creation of free public education for all, provided that “white and colored persons shall not be taught in the same school but in separate schools under the same general regulations as to management, usefulness, and efficiency.” (Louisa Historical Society)
Sadly, the education of African-American children in the Jim Crow south seldom lived up to this mandate. The few schools that existed for black children were usually poorly equipped log cabins, church buildings, or rooms in private homes, funded by African-American churches and northern philanthropists. (Louisa County Historical Society)
Moss’s family valued hard work and education. Grandfather Boykin (his mother’s father) had purchased five hundred acres beside the North Anna River in the northeast corner of Louisa County in 1877. How did Grandfather Boykin save enough to buy such a large plot of land? Mining gold? Or did he have a skilled trade? Either way, the land he purchased may still have had remnants from one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. The Battle of the North Anna took place along the banks of the North Anna River the first week of May 1864. Sixty-seven thousand Union forces against fifty-three thousand Confederates with a casualty count of forty-two hundred men.
Economic conditions in Louisa County were extremely difficult after the Civil War. Combined tax revenues in 1870 were one-fourth of what they had been in 1863, when property tax on slaves alone earned the county $58,389. (Louisa Historical Society) Grandfather Boykin purchased the land bordering the North Anna River, registered the deed for his land at the county courthouse, and hired an attorney to draw up a will so that when he died, the land would go to his daughter. Some neighbors thought it foolish to pay good money to a lawyer just to prove the land he was raising hogs on was actually his, but Grandfather Boykin had lived in Louisa County long enough to know that everything had to be written down, certified, and in the court house or some sheriff would come knocking on his door to take it all away. Sections were sold off over the years, a few acres here, a few acres there, some to pay for education, some to cover hospital bills, eventually whittling down the farm to 116 acres in 1926. (Daily Progress, July 26, 1970, A New Dam Brings an End to Old Ways.)
Fourteen year old H. Spurgeon Moss had grown up fishing on the banks of the North Anna River. He’d grown up raising hogs, chickens, and cattle. His precious few spare moments were spent reading under the large oak in his front yard. Moss wanted to further his education so he could help his people, but that meant leaving Louisa County. It meant leaving the farm his grandfather had built and moving one hundred miles north to Washington D.C. He packed his clothes, kissed his parents goodbye, and road in the back of a segregated Greyhound bus up to Washington DC for high school. Relatives met him at the bus station. He made the honor roll at Dunbar High School, (The Washington Post, February 24, 1929) and worked his way through school as a dishwasher then as a waiter, graduating from Minor Teachers College with a bachelor of science in education in 1934. (Miner Teachers College was the principal school to train black teachers in Washington DC for more than 70 years.) Mr. Moss would eventually take graduate level classes at Virginia State College, Virginia Union University, and Boston University, and earn a Master’s Degree in Guidance Counseling at the University of Virginia.
His first teaching job was at segregated Mount Garland Elementary School. He taught fifth and sixth grade. The arrival of this tall, handsome educator must have caused quite a stir. Mr. Moss was quickly promoted to principal. A couple of years later, in 1940, Louisa County consolidated white schools and converted some of the surplus white school buildings to black schools. Mr. Moss decided to go back to teaching at Plum Tree Elementary School. He transferred to the Louisa Training School, Louisa County’s only black high school (built in 1929, too late for Moss to attend.) He taught biology and chemistry, and served as assistant principal. In 1953, Louisa County closed the Training School and opened the A.G. Richardson High School with an enrollment of 293 students and eleven teachers. Mr. Moss was the social studies teacher and assistant principal. As the social studies teacher, he’d take busloads of students on field trips to the state capitol to see how state government functioned and to shake hands with their representatives. “Hitch your wagon to a star,” he’d tell them. Mr. Moss’s concern for his students was legendary. (Interview with Rev. Larry Lewis, November 26, 2018)
Teaching full time didn’t cover the costs of raising a family and maintaining a one-hundred acre farm. Even with the added responsibilities as an assistant principal, Mr. Moss needed to supplement his income. For year he traveled to Atlantic City, New Jersey to wait tables during summer break. “I made more money there in the summer than I made teaching the rest of the year,” he said (Daily Progress, July 26, 1970, A New Dam Brings an End to Old Ways.) Former students remembered Mr. Moss with affection. “He was a very down to earth person, personable. He was so encouraging to students. In the summers, he always went to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to work, and he would bring a group of high school students with him. He secured jobs for these young people at the various hotels there along the Boardwalk. He gave them work experience and he was their chaperone during the time they were away from home, and he took very good care of them. He made sure they went and did what they were supposed to do while they were there in New Jersey.” ( Interview with Rev. Larry Lewis, November 26, 2018 via telephone)
In May, 1954, the Brown v. Topeka Board of Education case came before the Supreme Court. In a rare unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court effectively overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson doctrine of “separate but equal” and declared racial segregation of public schools unconstitutional. Virginia Senator Harry S. Byrd was outraged. He proposed “Massive Resistance” to the court’s ruling and in 1956 the Virginia state government adopted a policy to block the desegregation of public schools. Schools shut down in Prince Edward County, parts of Warren County, Charlottesville, and Norfolk. Unlike these places, schools in Louisa County never closed. Segregation remained deeply entrenched in the cities, but in the farmlands and outlying areas segregation was less pronounced. In areas that had only one grocery or hardware store, a kind of natural integration occurred, even friendships.
Mr. Moss came together with other educators to develop a plan to integrate the public schools. This was locally referred to as the “Freedom of Choice” plan and was sent to parents and announced in the local newspaper, The Central Virginian, on March 30, 1966. The intention was the elimination of segregation based on race, color or national origin. Students and parents had thirty days to choose the school the student would attend the next school year. (Louisa County Historical Society) Mr. Moss encouraged several of his students to choose white schools. The plan did not achieve total desegregation but it began the process. In doing so, Louisa County didn’t experience the anger, turmoil, or closing of public schools that many other Virginia counties and cities experience. Peace and civility were maintained largely due to the foresight of Mr. Moss along with other visionary educators such as Mr. Harry Nuckols. (https://www.culturaltourismdc.org/portal/miner-teachers-college-building-african-american-heritage-trail)
By 1968, Mr. Moss had taught school in Louisa County for thirty-six years. His wife, Ruth Moss, had taught for thirty-eight years. They’d put all three of their children through college. His oldest daughter taught English in Fairfax, his son taught industrial arts in Fairfax, and his youngest daughter, the wife of a former Army officer, was secretary to the Dean of the College of Dental Science at Howard University. He’d stopped going to Atlantic City every summer to wait tables and looked forward to retirement. He raised brood sows and would sell about forty young pigs each fall. He had eight cows as well as turkeys and chickens. His favorite animals were his six saddle horses. Farming was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He still sat under the large oak tree in the front yard to read. This was where he wanted to grow old. This was what his grandchildren called “Grandfather’s Zoo.”
In late February 1968, when the forsythias were starting to bud, two white men drove up the newly paved road to his farmhouse in a truck with the county seal on it. Chickens scattered when the white men drove up. “Mr. Moss,” one of the men called out, “the county sent us to survey this section of land. I just wanted to let you know we’ll be working on your property.”
“What’s the survey for?”
“I don’t rightly know, Mr. Moss,” one of the men answered. “The county says jump and we jump.” Mr. Moss smiled good-naturedly and waved the men on.
The white men were still on his property when he came home from work that evening. He saw their truck drive away just after sundown. They came the next day, waving to Mr. Moss as they drove by. After the second day of strangers on his property, Mr. Moss decided it was time for him to take a look at what they were doing. He saddled his favorite mare and rode the well-worn trail down to the river. Springtime was still a few weeks away and no place on earth was prettier in the springtime than his farm. He felt a deep pride in all his family had accomplished. Neither slavery nor Jim Crow could stop his grandfather from building the farm. In time, he would pass the land to his children and grandchildren.
He rode past the stretch of pines where the deer herds liked to settle down for the night. They left their imprint on the soft beds of pine straw. He was coming up on his cattle pasture when he saw the orange survey markers. Rows and rows of them, all the way down to the North Anna River. What was the county doing? Putting in a new road? Building a new bridge across the North Anna River? Either way, he didn’t much appreciate the county not sending him a notice that the surveyors would be on his land or what they were doing. He’d lived in Louisa County almost all his life, just stepping away to go up to Washington DC for his education. He’d paid his taxes and contributed his time and talents. The very least the county owed him was to tell him the truth.
By April, Mr. Moss was making real progress bringing black and white students together. He was guidance counselor for the newly integrated Louisa County High School. A.G. Richardson High School, where he used to teach social studies, had been converted to an elementary school and renamed Thomas Jefferson Elementary school, much to the disappointment of the African-American community. As Reverend Lewis would recall, “The only thing was that when they were renaming schools, we weren’t abreast of that so much that the names of our schools were maintained. That got away from us and that’s how Thomas Jefferson Elementary and Trevilians Elementary were renamed. Those schools were originally named for a black person because they were black schools during segregation. So we lost the names of those schools.” (Interview with Rev. Larry Lewis, November 26, 2018)
Four days into the month of April, 1968, the news of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination swept across the nation. Students came into Mr. Moss’s office with tears in their eyes. He’d listen to their fears, share his wisdom, and remind them that they were not alone. On the day of Dr. King’s funeral, four hundred Louisa County citizens, mostly African American, gathered at the First Baptist Church. A few clouds marred the morning sky. Daffodils beckoned and azaleas barely hinted at their true colors. The mourners clutched handkerchiefs and held hands as they waited for the pastor to call for their pilgrimage to begin. He gave the signal and they walked in silence the three blocks from the church to the Louisa County Courthouse. If they spoke, it was in reverential whispers. No music. No singing. No band played on this spring day, not at this memorial. They walked past the old confederate war memorial, erected in front of the courthouse before most of them were born. The single confederate soldier cast in bronze, holding his rifle at his side and nestled within a granite block, indifferent to the grief-stricken mourners.
The pastor of the Trinity Parish walked up the courthouse steps and addressed the crowd. He stood in front of white marble pillars and offered up a heartfelt prayer for peace, love and brotherhood. The pastor of the Church of Christ of Charlottesville spoke next. He acknowledged the fear that had gripped all who gathered. “We won’t be afraid anymore,” he said barely above a whisper.
Those in attendance answered, “Amen.”
“Our quest for equal rights will not be denied.”
The world was off-balance, as if the solid land under their feet had shifted. After the speakers, after the final prayers, they all left in silence. They returned to their homes and their jobs, and if Mr. and Mrs. Moss were among the mourners they returned to their farm. (Richmond Times Dispatch, April 10, 1968, Several Hundred Attended Memorial Service for Dr. King at Louisa Courthouse)
Spring was a busy time for farmers. Mr. Moss took a few minutes extra with his favorite mare that morning, brushing her mane. She rubbed against him, as if she knew what troubled him. Mr. Moss had kept saddle horses all his life and still marveled at their strength and gentleness. He stopped and pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket. He’d felt so tense since he’d learned of Dr. King’s assassination. He was worried about his children and grandchildren. Worried about his students. Worried about the county’s tentative steps toward equality. Sometimes life was nothing but a truckload of worries. Only his farm gave him peace.
“Spurgeon,” he heard his wife call from the farmhouse. “Spurgeon, you have a phone call.” Their neighbor from a nearby farm was on the phone. “He says it’s important.”
“Tell him to hold on.” Mr. Moss put away the brush and headed to the house. Ruth handed him the receiver. “Hello,” he said.
“Spurgeon, did you see the news? We’re about to be boiled out.”
Mr. Moss didn’t understand. He’d seen images on the television of buildings on fire, of the police with dogs and guns, of people running and screaming. “What? What are you talking about?”
“Front page news,” the neighbor said. Moss grabbed his hat and car keys and was halfway out the door when he stopped. These were uncertain times and he didn’t like the idea of leaving his wife all alone. He kissed her on the cheek and told her to keep the doors locked.
Mr. Moss handed the drugstore clerk a dime and picked up the April 10, 1968 Richmond Times-Dispatch. The main headline was about Dr. King’s funeral. Thousands Attend King Rites. “My, my, my,” he murmured under his breath. Below the headline was the haunting image of black-clad mourners walking beside a mule-drawn wagon bearing the shrouded coffin. Jackie Kennedy was in attendance, the newspaper said, as was Bobby Kennedy. But it was the other, much smaller headline that mentioned Louisa County: Vepco Plans Louisa County Nuclear Plant.
VEPCO, short for the Virginia Electric and Power Company, planned to turn part of the North Anna River into an 11,000 acre lake and to build on its shore a half-billion dollar nuclear generating plant. The power company said the plant would have a total output of four million kilowatts, which equal the present generating capacity of the entire Vepco system. The plant would be built in three or four units. The first would have a capacity of 800,000 kilowatts and would be completed in 1974, Vepco said.
The newspaper reported on a meeting between Vepco’s senior vice presidents, T. Justin Moore Jr., Vepco President John M. McGurn, and Virginia Governor Mills E. Godwin Jr.. Other Vepco officials sat down to a two-hour private meeting in Louisa with the county’s business and political leaders and told them of the plant and the lake. No one bothered to tell the affected landowners.
Mr. Moss walked out of the drug store without even realizing it. He was standing on the sidewalk reading the newspaper. Shoppers walked by but he didn’t see them. He felt the burning sting of betrayal. As Mr. Moss would later tell a reporter, “Then I read in the paper that county officials had given Vepco right-of-way, and assured them that the citizens of the county would cooperate 100 per cent. Surveyors had been on my land months before and when I asked them what they were surveying, they said they didn’t know. I wonder why the supervisors didn’t tell us. We didn’t know one thing about it until we read it in the papers or heard it on the television. It was a terrible bombshell.” (A New Dam Brings and End to Old Ways, Daily Progress, page C4, July 26, 1970, by Jerry Simpson)
Mr. Moss looked down Main Street. There was the police department. There was the hardware store. There was the County Courthouse with the statue of the confederate soldier in front. Did everyone know except him? He kept reading:
Besides the boating and the recreation business the lake was expected to bring into the predominately-agricultural county, the plant itself was expected to add more than $900,000 to Louisa’s annual tax revenues. It would employ between 75 and 100 persons and add a payroll of $750,000 each year to the county’s economy. “It’s the biggest thing and has more potential than anything that has ever hit Louisa. It is terrific,” said one of the business leaders who attended the Louisa meeting.
“The supervisors have assured Vepco that Louisa people will cooperate with them in every possible way,” said another leader, the Rev. Joe T. Carson, who heads the Louisa County Industrial Development Corp.
From neighboring Orange County, R. Lindsay Gordon III, chairman of the county’s board of supervisors, call the lake “manna from heaven”. Most of the profits will come to Louisa and Spotsylvania, Gordon said, but Orange will benefit also. “Anytime that much money is being spent, some of it is going to rub off on surrounding areas,” Gordon said.
Vepco planned to form the lake by building a 75-to-100 foot high dam across the North Anna River near Smith’s Mill Bridge, just west of the Hanover County line. The dam would form a 17-square mile lake, with 100 miles of shoreline. Most of the lake site is wooded. A Vepco spokesman said no more than 75 homes would have to be evacuated to make way for the lake.
“No more than seventy-five homes!” Smith’s Mill Bridge was only two miles from Mr. Moss’s farmhouse, as the crow flies. His property touched the bank of the North Anna River. Was his farm going to be flooded? What would happen to his pigs, his cattle, and his beloved saddle horses? What would happen to all the wildlife on his property? The deer and rabbits and wild turkeys? Today of all days, first Dr. King’s funeral and now this, it was a punch in the gut like he’d never felt before.
The generating plant itself would go up about five miles up the lake from the dam, on the Louisa shore. The plant would use an entirely new type of water cooling system. The plant would take in water from the lake, use it power the generating units, and then release it into cooling lagoons, a series of large ponds that would be diked off from the lake. As the water passed through the lagoons it would cool to normal lake temperature. Then it would be fed back into the lake.
“Company officials gave no date for the completion of the second unit, and they said they had no idea when the final units would be added. However, it is believed the second unit is being planned for 1975 and 1976. Ragone estimated that the total cost of the dam, the lake site, and all the units together would probably come to more than $500 million.” (April 10, 1968 Richmond Times Dispatch, Vepco plans Louisa County Nuclear Plant)
The article concluded with a map of Louisa County showing the proposed dam and power plant sites. The proposed lake was right on top of Mr. Moss’s farm. How would he break the news to his wife? How would he break the news to his children? The land was their legacy. He folded the newspaper and returned to his car. He returned to his beloved farm and quietly handed the newspaper to Ruth. She read it with the same shocked disbelief he had felt.
His heart could barely take it, one piece of bad news after another. He walked down to the small creek on his property and sat on a fallen log. Small frogs jumped in the creek at his arrival. April was a beautiful month in central Virginia. Warm enough to enjoy the sunshine but cool enough to keep the mosquitoes away. Now he knew what his neighbor had meant when he said they were about to be “boiled out.” The surveyors had left orange markers all over his property, now it all made sense. They must be for the proposed dam, lake, and nuclear power plant.
The history of Mr. Moss is part of a larger work by author Carolyn O’Neal exploring the impact of the North Anna Nuclear Power Station on the citizens of Louisa County. She is also exploring the impact of Lake Anna, which was built to provide fresh water to the nuclear power station to keep the reactors cool. Many farms were condemned and much private land was confiscated to build the lake and power plant.
If you or your family were impacted when Virginia Electric and Power Company dammed the North Anna River and built the North Anna Nuclear Power Station, please share your story. Leave a reply below.
Three schools in Virginia were named for Dr. Archie Gibbs Richardson: elementary schools in Culpeper and Blackstone, and A.G. Richardson High School in Louisa. Richardson was a prominent African-American educator and a prolific speaker and writer. His papers can be found at Johnston Memorial Library, Virginia State University. The Lexington native graduated from Virginia State University in 1927. He held a Master’s Degree from Butler University in Indianapolis, a Doctorate of Education from Columbia University and an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree awarded in 1957 from Virginia State University. Richardson served eight years as principal of the Mecklenburg Training School in South Hill. He worked for a year as director of academics at Saint Paul’s College in Lawrenceville. (Saint Paul’s College was established by former slave Russell Solomon James, a contemporary of Booker T. Washington, in1888.) In 1936 he was appointed Assistant State Supervisor of Negro Education with the Virginia Department of Education. When that post became obsolete with school integration, he was appointed Associate Supervisor of Elementary and Secondary Education. Then, in 1966 he was named Associate Director of Education, a position he held until his retirement in 1966. Dr. Richardson was the first African American to be named to the staff of the Virginia Department of Education.
(Richmond Times Dispatch, October 19, 1979, A.G. Richardson, Educator, Dies http://louisaheritage.org/schools/agrichardson.htm A.G. Richardson history from the Louisa County History Society)


Meaning and symbolism of the peacock feather
Peacock feathers have captivated us humans for quite some time. Their stunning and unique beauty has done more than please our eyes but they have enriched our souls and ignited our minds. Many cultures hold the belief that such a dazzling feather, so easily discarded during their annual molt, must be a sort of gift from an enchanted beast.
The belief that the peacock is the earthly manifestation of the Phoenix, means that it’s most prize possession, it’s feathers, hold much power. The presence of shimmering mesmerizing color and the “eye” that adorns each feather is considered promote luck, enhance one’s protection, and boost awareness. Of course their uniqueness is also thought to symbolize beauty, love, and attraction. This is the reason peacock feathers are often recommended in Feng Shui as a cure for being single and help attract a desirable mate.
From the earliest recorded times, peacocks were parts of royal collections. The Phoenicians are believed to be the first to have imported peafowl to Egypt. It is not surprising that the beautiful plumage made it a desired object for kings and the aristocracy, and to own a peacock became a royal monopoly. To possess even a small feather could only been as the result of a theft and the penalty for being caught with a feather was death. Because of the peacock’s assumed incorruptibility, the bird became a symbol of immortality and resurrection. This, in turn, led to the custom of the feathers being used at funerals, meaning that the deceased person was not really dead, the spirit survived and eventual rebirth was assured. It was even thought that the presents of the feathers actually helped in the life hereafter. This custom had a side effect. The feathers now became closely linked with death and people, forgetting the original association with immortality and rebirth. People started to dread the presence in their home of peacock feathers as they spelled death; they were no longer an assurance of life ever after but an omen of doom.
Greek and Roman Mythology
In popular Greek and Roman mythology, peacock feathers were considered all seeing. This belief was perhaps enforced by the myth of Argus. Legend has it that the eyes of the peacock were those of Argus the hundred-eyed giant. He was a loyal servant of the Goddess Hera. She transferred the eyes of her servant to the tail of the peacock so that she would always have ‘an eye’ on Zeus, her unfaithful husband. When she realized Zeus had been with the maiden Io, Zeus cleverly turned Io into a cow to conceal her from Hera. When Hera saw through the disguise she requested the cow as a gift, and Zeus could not refuse her. Hera implored Argus to keep watch over Io, so she could not be changed back to human form and be with Zues. Zeus then sent Hermes to recover Io. Hermes knew that he could not escape detection from Argus’ 100 eyes so. He began to play sleepy lullabies on his flute and soon Argus’ eyes closed and he fell asleep. Hermes then cut off his head. When Hera found Argus, dead and headless, she removed his one hundred eyes and placed them on the tail of her favorite bird, the peacock. The peacock became sacred to both the Greek and Roman civilizations, which treasured it as the guardian of their temples, wifely virtue and conjugal rights. Only priests were allowed to handle the beautiful bird and any other ordinary person doing so could be put to death for such a sacrilegious crime. Possession of even one peacock feather defied sacred tradition and therefore, to have such a feather at home would create bad luck.
Peacock feather are prominent in Hindu mythology. The feather and the bird appear in many Hindu stories and myths. The bird itself is said to have angel feathers, a devil’s voice and the walk of thieves. Several gods and goddesses are depicted at riding the bird, but Krishna was said to have worn the feathers of the peacock in his hair. Today many gurus use peacock feathers to deliver the blessing called Shaktiput to their disciples.
And it doesn’t end there. Many more religions and cultures have placed special significance and power in the peacock feather. Muslims, Ancient Japanese Mythology, many ancient and modern Chinese traditions and even Christianity all recognized the symbolic stunning beauty of the peacock feather.
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Remembered for its political and historical importance during the American Revolution, Boston, Massachusetts has knowledge to share with anyone who visits. This city is full of American history – with buildings, museums, and monuments galore – as well as having a popular shopping destination in Faneuil Hall.
5 Things to do:
If you enjoy art, then you’d probably be interested in the fourth largest museum in the U.S. Founded in 1870, this museum contains more than 450,000 works of art and attracts more than a million visitors every year. It recently became part of Tuft’s University School of Arts and Sciences and has been claimed as a “must see” by reviewers on TripAdvisor.
Much like the Civil War trails that can be found and followed in Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, the Freedom Trail marks 16 locations significant to American history. It makes for a casual 2.5 mile walk through downtown Boston, where you can visit historic buildings and locations that are now surrounded by modern day structures. Information about the trail can be found at the office of the National Park Service on the first floor of Faneuil Hall.
This floating museum offers thorough information on what happened around the event of the Boston Tea Party. They provide interactive exhibits, authentically restored tea ships, and will even let you throw tea into the harbor! With lively staff, knowledge and unlimited tea to share, this museum is a popular destination for history buffs and tourists alike.
Putting American history aside for a moment, there’s also a beautiful memorial dedicated to the Jews who died in the Holocaust. Located in downtown Boston, this site was dedicated in October 1995 and is lit up and open to visitors 24/7.
5. Bunker Hill
Built to commemorate the Battle of Bunker Hill, this granite obelisk was completed in 1843. During visiting hours, anyone can climb to the top. Be careful – that hike includes 294 steps! (Local jogging enthusiasts can be seen including this trek in their daily run.) The site also includes a small museum commemorating generals and soldiers. Both of the buildings are free to visit.
These are just a few of the destinations to visit while staying in Boston. There are many other sites to see and places to shop, it might take more than one trip to see it all!


13 July 2018
Members of Salisbury Green Party were involved in the recent celebration of the 60th anniversary of CND.
The CND 60th Anniversary Symbol was photographed at Stonehenge and again, on 14th June, at the Salisbury CND AGM and talk at Sarum College.
Kate Hudson, General Secretary of National CND, was the guest speaker. Kate spoke to a well-attended public meeting on the global situation regarding nuclear weapons.
On the positive side there is now a UN treaty banning nuclear weapons that was agreed by 120 countries, including Austria, Ireland and the Holy See in Europe. But there is also increasing international tension and fears around the spread and use of nuclear weapons.
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists have moved the Doomsday clock to two minutes to midnight, the closest it has ever been to nuclear apocalypse since the organisation was founded shortly after the second world war. It was last at 2 minutes to midnight in 1953 at the height of the Cold War.
There is still much for CND to do as it marks its 60th anniversary.


Senators Bullock, Wojno, Horn, Bayer, McCann, Moss, Santana, Brinks, Alexander, Polehanki, McMorrow, Chang, Geiss, Hertel, Outman, Daley, Lauwers, MacGregor, MacDonald, Stamas, Runestad, VanderWall, Theis, Lucido, Victory, Johnson, Hollier and Ananich offered the following resolution:
Senate Resolution No. 52.
A resolution to commemorate May 23, 2019, as the 120th Anniversary of the Michigan Municipal League.
Whereas, The origins of the Michigan Municipal League were initiated in 1899 when a group of mayors sought to collaborate with one another and form an organization to focus on ‘good government’ and to strengthen the concept of home rule; and
Whereas, The original bylaws envisioned an organization whose purpose was “the affiliation of municipal officials and the general improvement of every branch of municipal administration…”; and
Whereas, Michigan organized a state municipal league in 1899, following California, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The organization was known as the League of Michigan Municipalities, and its founding members were: Adrian, Albion, Alpena, Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Bay City, Benton Harbor, Big Rapids, Cadillac, Charlevoix, Charlotte, Coldwater, Detroit, Dowagiac, Eaton Rapids, Flint, Grand Haven, Grand Ledge, Grand Rapids, Hillsdale, Holly, Hudson, Ionia, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Ludington, Manistee, Marshall, Mason, Monroe, Muskegon, Niles, Owosso, Pontiac, Port Huron, Rochester, Saginaw, St. Louis, Stanton, St. Joseph, Traverse City, Wyandotte, and Ypsilanti; and
Whereas, The League’s continuity was secured in 1928 by creating a permanent home in Ann Arbor, hiring a full-time employee, publishing a periodical, and establishing a clearinghouse of information. Harold D. Smith was the first director and built the League into a statewide organization by doubling membership his first year and doubling it again in his second year; and
Whereas, In 1957 the League expanded its presence by establishing an additional consultation and research office in Lansing, and ten years later held its first legislative conference bolstering its advocacy and coverage of municipal issues at the state level; and
Whereas, 120 years later, the mission statement reads: The Michigan Municipal League is dedicated to making Michigan’s communities better by thoughtfully innovating programs, energetically connecting ideas and people, actively serving members with resources and services, and passionately inspiring positive change for Michigan’s greatest centers of potential: its communities; and
Whereas, The League continues its legacy of service to meet the challenges of Michigan’s 533 cities and villages; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate, That the members of this legislative body commemorate May 23, 2019, as the 120th Anniversary of the Michigan Municipal League; and be it further
Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the Michigan Municipal League as evidence of our esteem for being Michigan’s voice for local government over the last 120 years.


NOTE: This article is a republication- Source: IndieWire (Christian Zilko).
Carlos Saura, one of the most towering figures in the world of Spanish cinema, has died at the age of 91. The news was first announced by the Film Academy of Spain.
Born in Huesca, Aragón, Spain in 1932, Saura’s childhood in the shadows of the Spanish Civil War played a key role in shaping his creative worldview. When he began making films in the late 1950s, he rose to prominence for his willingness to criticize Francisco Franco for the effects his regime had on Spanish life.
His important early works included the 1966 drama “The Hunt,” which won Saura the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for his portrait of Spanish Civil War veterans dealing with life after the conflict. He won another Silver bear in 1968 for “Peppermint Frappé,” a movie that was immortalized in film history when Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut interrupted its Cannes screening out of solidarity with protesting students and workers. His films “La Prima Angélica” and “Cría Cuervos” later won special jury prizes at Cannes in the 1970s.
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Excellencies, distinguished scholars, ladies and gentlemen.
I am pleased to join you all today at the inauguration of the International Conference on Gallipoli 2021. This is the first major commemoration of the Battle of Gallipoli to be hosted by any platform of national significance in India. Perhaps, it is only appropriate that it should be done jointly by two venerable, historic bodies – the United Service Institution and the Indian Council of World Affairs. Their coming together with international participation has provided an opportunity to not only reflect on the Gallipoli campaign, but also to assess India’s contribution to World War I. I know that the specific theme today is of Gallipoli Revisited; but this is also an occasion to revisit the larger issue of India’s global participation and presence.
2. The contribution of Indian soldiers fighting in the First World War as part of the victorious Allied armies has been the focus of a joint project between India’s Ministry of External Affairs and the United Service Institution of India between 2014-2018.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a personal interest in this issue, speaking about it during his official visits to Australia, France, the UK, and Israel. He had presented a silver replica of the statue of an Indian soldier of the 14th Ferozepore Sikhs to his then host, Prime Minister Tony Abbot of Australia in November 2014. I believe that the original stands at the Officers’ Mess of 4 Mech (1 Sikh), the linear descendant of this very unit that fought at Gallipoli. 16,000 Indians were part of the Gallipolimobilization, among the more prominent for any national group. One in every ten actually perished on the battlefield whose singularity is perhaps best captured in the words of a serving German General: "Seldom have so many countries of the world, races and nations sent their representatives to so small a place with the praiseworthy intention of killing one another.”
3. You are all aware that during World War I, over 1.3 million Indians served overseas at the cost of 74,000 casualties. Gallipoli was ofcourse not the only theatre where they distinguished themselves. From the trenches of the Western Front to the deserts of Mesopotamia, from Central Asia to East Africa, Indian valour and fortitude were in evidence across vast geographies of conflict. In fact, intrepid Indian aviators were even among the earliest aces in the skies of Europe. Our casualties are commemorated in numerous memorials and cemeteries around the world. 13,000 names are engraved on the stones of the India Gate that many of us pass every day in New Delhi. By rights, no account of this period should have ignored the contribution of Indian soldiers. Yet, that is not how it has always been in reality.
4. It may be understandable that other powers had their own interest in depicting history to their advantage. After all, this is, at the end of the day, a hegemonic exercise that is part of a larger strategic assertion. However, for many years, in India’s case,hesitations of history made us reluctant to claim this aspect of our heritage. It has now done so by moving beyond traditional military occasions like Armistice Day and recognizing the political significance of Indian soldiering abroad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself set an example by visiting the Neuve Chapelle Memorial in France during his April 2015 visit and lauding Indian courage and sacrifice there. Two years later, during his historic visit to Israel, he similarly went to the Haifa Memorial that marks the sacrifices of Indian lives during its 1918 liberation. A less reserved Indian embrace of its past was naturally reciprocated by the world.
5. In November 2017, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium recognized the contribution of Indian soldiers to the defence of Belgium by placing a wreath at India Gate, and inaugurating an exhibition "India in Flanders Fields” in New Delhi. In January 2018, Prime Minister Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu participated in the renaming ceremony of the Haifa-Teen Murti Memorial in New Delhi. In November 2018, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, inaugurated the Indian Armed Forces Memorial at Villers Guislain in France, on land donated by the French Government to mark the contribution of Indian soldiers to the freedom of France during World War I. I have no doubt that we will see many more such gestures in the future.
6. In many ways, the Gallipoli campaign had a resonance far beyond its military significance. The British, French and Germans felt its political and strategic repercussions almost immediately. For Turkey, it holds a special meaning as the birthplace of its modern nationhood. The ANZAC legend too emerged from this gruelling experience, strengthening the national identities of Australia and New Zealand. Each one of the diverse contingents that were deployed obviously carried back its own memories and lessons. That for India perhaps requires more study and greater introspection. The Allied defeat shaped India’s further participation in the war and the subsequent deployment in Mesopotamia. The difference that it made to the strategic outcomes has contributed to the West Asia that we know currently. By 1918, Indian performance including at Gallipoli led to the creation of the King’s Commissioned Indian Officer. We also have some understanding of its implications for our National Movement and the quest for independence, subjects already explored by some noted scholars. Where we could do with more attention are the consequences for India’s emergence on the global diplomatic stage as a national actor.
7. In the aftermath of Gallipoli, India was included in the Imperial War Cabinet even though it was not a Dominion. This, in itself, was a recognition of the importance of its military contribution to the Allied efforts. The consequence was the inclusion of India in the British Empire Delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. India thereby obtained the right to sign the Treaty of Versailles and became a founder member of the League of Nations. Decades later, India’s contribution in the next World War similarly enabled its presence at the Washington Conference in 1942 with 25 othernations. The resulting Declaration by United Nations set in motion the contemporary structures of multilateral institutions that we are familiar with today, including the UN and its specialized agencies, the IMF and the World Bank. To those who have been reluctant to recognize the significance of the Indian war effort in the 20th century, we could well ask whether the early experience of global engagement could have come without participation in these conflicts. And that is necessary to stress because these diplomatic exposures were really the foundational lessons in the evolution of India’s world view.
8. Insofar as World War I and the Gallipoli campaign were concerned, we should also remember that the war effort had the support of mainstream Indian political opinion at that time. It was hoped that by supporting Imperial Britain in its hour of need, India would place it under moral debt and thereby advance its own aspirations. This infactwas advocated by none less than Mahatma Gandhi himself. These disappointed hopes, as we all know, accelerated the movement towards complete independence. They also later shaped the Indian political attitude towards World War II. Each experience offers its own lessons in realpolitik. But cumulatively, they laid the basis for a suspicion of the West that was further reinforced by the decisions of the Cold War. Today, the rebalancing of the global order may have created new convergences.Greater national confidence with less ideological baggage has encouraged stronger interactions.But the past does explain some of the scepticism, especially on developmental issues.
9. This conference is devoted in large measure to an exchange of comparative lessons from the Gallipoli experience. It is natural that this subject should be addressed by group of military historians assembled from across the world. And I’m equally conscious that lot of the discussion would be on the political, strategic and diplomatic repercussions of this. But I would like to take the opportunity, both as a Foreign Minister and a student of international politics, to share some thoughts about the political consequences of this campaign and that era. As you would note, there is so much food for thought from this extraordinary event that its ripples are felt even a century later.
10. The most obvious question is that of soldiering for common good. It is worth recalling that Indian soldiers during the World Wars were motivated neither by conquest nor acquisition. Their driving force was infact a military ethic, honour and the dignity of a professional soldier. This shaped their self-perception and behaviour abroad, building an image of discipline and responsibility.The standards with which the Indian military is associated with at home and abroad, like so many things, has its history too.This is particularly relevant to an India that is now poised to enter a different phase of its evolution.But I would also submit that this holds points of interest for the rest of the world as well.
11. The exemplary demeanour of Indian soldiers in World War I, on or off the battlefield, has set us on the long road to peacekeeping. With 50 missions and 2,53,000 soldiers – in addition to police personnel – India has been the largest contributor to UN peacekeeping.Indians have served with distinction in regions close to Gallipoli and continue to do so even today.The largest number of UN troops who have made the supreme sacrifice are also from India. Our soldiers bring with them a culture of empathy and fairness, seeing friends and partners rather than aliens or strangers. Indian peacekeepers are rarely perceived as an external imposition; indeed, they are easily woven into the fabric of local society.As a result, they can go beyond their assigned role to become catalysts of change.
12. The story of the first ever all-female Formed Police Unit for UN Peacekeeping in Liberia in 2007 is noteworthy in that regard. The Unit was instrumental in combating sexual and gender-based violence in that country. The inspiring presence of Indian women in uniform encouraged a process of empowerment in Liberia. The number of women applicants infact to the Liberian National Police trebled in the next two months. Female enrolment in the Liberian Police Academy went up from four per class in 2006 to 30 per class in 2007, and to 100 per class in 2008. Recruitment of women in the Liberian Security Services rose from 10 to 17 per cent.So we have a case here where Indian women peacekeepers were seen as a force for good, worthy of emulation; just as the ramrod straight Indian soldiers doing duty in the cold, frosty battlegrounds of World War I Europe had won the respect of their peers and locals alike.These actually have been the best ambassadors that India could have had in contemporary times.
13. In a world that is regrettably less multilateral than it should be, and wanted to be, common good is increasingly a national initiative. In our own region, India has stepped forward as the first responder when it comes to humanitarian assistance or disaster relief. We are seeing that often, whether it is the civil war in Yemen, the earthquake in Nepal, the cyclone in Mozambique or the mudslides in Sri Lanka.Some of the travails that the Covid-19 pandemic subjected us to were also addressed by Indian military deployments. Our military medical teams contributed to stabilizing public health situations in Kuwait, Maldives, Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles and Comoros in the last year.Challenges, however, are not only in the times of crisis.The global commons, for example, struggle everyday with threats to maritime security.The dangers of terrorism or organized crime are ever present. Climate change is making natural disasters more frequent. And Human-made conflicts have not receded a century after Gallipoli.Ideally, every significant challenge should have been addressed by an agreed mechanism or regime. But the realities are far sadder and it is increasingly clearer that the responsibilities of the current times will have to be borne more by those who have the capability and willingness to do so. In that sense, the spirit of Gallipoli would continue to guide India’s contribution to global welfare.
14. Soldiering for common welfare is obviously shaped by the attitudes of a society. One that has historically embraced the world, rather than kept it at a distance, has obviously a more willing stance. In contemporary diplomacy, that is also reflected in sincere, genuine support for multilateralism.Where that falls short, it is now expressed in plurilateral initiatives.India is today a vigorous proponent of multilateralism and an articulate advocate of its reform. Those resisting changes in the global order today justify their obduracy as adherence to the military contributions and outcomes of the last World War. But in truth, Gallipoli and other World War events underline that India was among the countries that was short-changed in this respect. Whether it is the past or the future, there is a strong case for global decision-making to be more truly representative.That Indian internationalism has, in fact, only become stronger with time strengths this case. And understandably it is expressed in dimensions beyond the military one. If India leads an International Solar Alliance or a Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure now, the instincts driving them are not that different.This is true as well of the widening development partnerships in agriculture, energy, digital or education that extend today from the Pacific Islands through Africa to the Caribbean.
15. Gallipoli is, of course, but one - even though an important - example of India’s global military footprint in the modern era.The World Wars revived opportunities for far-off deployments of Indian power after a considerable gap in its history.But they do remind us of two underlying truths: one, the seamless nature of the world, and two, the global impact of India.Both realities were unfortunately obfuscated by recent history that divided the world into artificial compartments even while downsizing Indian power. However, the rebalancing of the world order and the ensuing multipolarity is driving a long-awaited correction.India is today in the midst of reclaiming history and re-asserting its interests beyond orthodox silos. It is evident in the Act East policy, the Indo-Pacific vision, reviving ties with Gulf and West Asia, and the outreach to Africa.It is equally clear that connectivity – a concept that Gallipoli so strongly symbolizes – has become even more salient in the 21st century Great Game. As Indians look at the world with fresher and clearer eyes, global battlefields where we have shed blood to determine momentous outcomes are both a reminder and an inspiration.
16. History means different things to different people at different times. Gallipoli is no exception, and all its participants had their own take of it. But our understanding of its significance also evolved with the passage of time. The past naturally continues to cast its shadow in all countries, be it in terms of a larger outlook or a narrower policy. The relationship is always stronger with those when we have bled together.Sometimes, specific experiences shaped our thinking: like those of Indian soldiers on the Western Front in 1915 subjected to the use of chemical weapons. At another level, the camaraderie of the past is always a factor in the relationships for the future. This sentiment was very much in evidence when Prime Minister Modi was in France in 2015. As India braces for a multipolar world with new equations, these are building blocks of no small value. In India, if we have been selective in our reading of past events, the subjectivity reflected the politics of the day. For decades, a great tradition and a valiant record got less than its due, even though our current capabilities are built on those very foundations.Indeed, our historical assessments were tailored to serve more contemporary and immediate objectives.As we now finally move beyond, perhaps the time is ripe for objectively revisiting our global contributions.A confident nation can be equally confident about its past.At the very least, it would be helpful to a society that should be preparing seriously for what awaits it.
17. Ladies and gentlemen let me conclude by once again expressing my appreciation for this laudable initiative at convening an international conference on Gallipoli.It is a timely message to us that India has always been relevant to global events and must continue to think in that mode. It is a reminder too that our interests and influences are much broader than competitors might suggest.And most of all, it is an affirmation of the value of India as a cross-roads ideal to encourage and hold meaningful and thought-provoking conversations.
Thank you for your attention.


The oldest patisserie in Paris, since 1730
Stohrer, the oldest patisserie in Paris, was founded in 1730 by King Louis XV’s pastry chef, Nicolas Stohrer. Still located rue Montorgueil, this establishment has taken on mythical qualities over time. Now listed as a historical site, its lavish décor was designed by a student of Paul Baudry, who decorated the Opéra Garnier.
Century after century, this mecca for both sweet and savory delicacies, where everything is prepared in-house, has offered the best of classic French pastry. Rum babas (invented by Nicolas Stohrer himself), puits d’amour, old-fashioned religieuses, exceptional vol-au-vent…
Faithful to traditions, the Dolfi family, who hold the reins of the House, wish to perpetuate the spirit of Stohrer by relying on an exceptional heritage and the know-how of its team of pastry chefs.
NICOLAS STOHRER, THE LEGACY OF A VISIONARY
Nicolas Stohrer was pastry chef to Stanislas Leszczynski, Duke of Lorraine, former King of Poland, and father of Marie Leszczynska, who married Louis XV of France. He invented the rum baba, which has since become a legendary recipe. The story goes that Stanislas once complained that his Kouglof (a brioche from Alsace) was too dry, so Nicolas doused it with Tokay or Malaga wine (according to diverging accounts), which he later replaced with rum. Nicolas Stohrer was also the creator of many other classic French pastries, such as the Chiboust cream tart, the puits d’amour and the traditional-style religieuse.
Nicolas was a visionary in the way he went about his work as a pastry chef. When he set up shop on rue Montorgueil, he brought a modern vision to his commerce by offering chou pastries in a wide array of forms. He was also the first to bring together under the same roof different skills and techniques that were separate trades before: pastry making, of course, but also confectionery, cake-baking and wafer-, waffle- and spiced-bread making. Thanks to Nicolas Stohrer, pastry chefs ceased to be just makers of savoury “pies” and embraced all forms of sweet treats as well. But that doesn’t mean he stopped making his famous vol-au-vents, for which Parisians still flock to the shop at 51 rue Montorgeuil.
Stohrer’s repertoire is unparalleled and the shop continues to propose the best of what classic French patisserie has to offer: rum babas, Chiboust cream tarts and traditional-style religeuses – all invented by Nicolas Stohrer – as well as his exceptional vol-au-vents.
A HISTORIC ALLIANCE, IN 2017
The Dolfi family took over Stohrer in 2017, marking the coming together of two histories and a new chapter for the rue Montorgueil shop. Stohrer now combines its classic excellence with the expertise of the Dolfi family, which over the years has become the “guardian” of expertise in sweet treats.