DOWN HOME SERIES by Nelson C. Hyde Jr., Contributing Writer

Again in the year 2002, we’re making our way around , each issue visiting a small town and meeting some of the folks who make up the heart of electric co-op country. On this year’s fourth stop, we’ll be ... Down Home in WWiinn tt ee rgrg rere ee nn From snowboards to wi l d f l o wers, this Nelson County resort PHOTOS COURTESYOF WINTERGREEN RESORT community has it all.

aritoni Redshaw had never “There is no in Peru,” said been on skis when she came to Re d s h a w , as she watched other skiers head Mthe from her down one of the resort’s 20 slopes. “I got a hometown of Piura, Peru. After all, Piura is season pass, and now I’m coming here every only a few degrees from the equator. But in da y .” So far, she said, she is sticking to the March Redshaw made a round trip from beginner slope. Richmond to Win t e r green Resort every day That day, with the temperature in the 30s, of her two-week winter vacation from -making machines were pouring new Vir ginia Commonwealth University. snow onto the slopes. Yet, in another part of

Ro c k climbing for the outdoor enthusiast ...

Win t e r green, golfers were well into a morn- ing round, with the thermometer registering in the 50s. Yes, Vir ginia, in a sense there are two Win t e rg r e e n s . Win t e r green “on the mountain” is a multi-faceted, four-season resort high in the . Stoney Creek at Win t e r green is a largely residential develop- ment around three nine-hole golf courses some 3,000 feet lower in the valley. The mountain section of Win t e rg r e e n dates from a grant of 10,000 acres in 1794. Tod a y ’ s boundaries are almost identical to that tract, once known as “The Big Survey.” Planning of Win t e r green began in 1972, just three years after the flood spawned by In addition to grea t skiing, sn ow b o a r ding and snowt u b i n g ,Win t e r green offer s .. . Hurricane Camille had devastated Nelson Plush accommodations at Mountain Inn ...

County and taken nearly 150 lives. The resort Poised at the top of The Plunge on a March A spa and fitness center with indoor and is now the county’s largest employer and day was a group from Charlottesville cele- outdoor pools, hot tubs and steam rooms ... pays more than half of Nelson County’s real brating John Paul Smithdeal’s seventh birth- estate taxes. da y . As the children clambered onto the tubes, also become members of the Win t e rg r e e n The ski area opened in 1975, and play the adults hooked the tubes together. Th e Property Owners Association, which is began on Win t e rg r e e n ’ s mountain golf course more weight, the more speed, they explained. responsible for road maintenance, snow — Devils Knob, at more than 3,800 feet alti- “A great birthday present!” said young removal, fire and rescue units, and police tude — a year and a half later. Mountain Inn Smithdeal. fo r c e . opened in 1980 and the Stoney Creek Golf Around the sports facilities on the moun- One retiree, Jac k Renard, moved to Course in 1988. Under a 20-year develop- tain are more than 1,000 homes, visible in the Stoney Creek from Annapolis, Md. ment plan, new facilities continue to open. wi n t e r , hidden among trees in the summer. Al l “W h a t ’ s so great is the location is so cen- The latest, opened last winter, are The Blue but 10 or 15 percent of those are second tral for people who like to ski, play golf or Ridge Express, a high-speed, six-passenger homes. At Stoney Creek, on the other hand, play tennis,” he said. “It’s a family-oriented , and The Plunge, a 10-lane tubing hill nearly all of the 400 or so homes are year- place. One thing that attracted us was the cal- that shoots passengers on inner tubes down a round, and many are retirement homes. iber of the folks here. And nobody cares what 900-foot snow slide. (A mini-lift brings them Property owners become members of you did before you came.” back up.) Win t e r green Partners Inc., which owns and Ra y Smith came to Win t e r green from operates the ski slopes, golf courses, tennis Burlington, N.C., when he retired. courts, restaurants, Win t e r garden Spa, and the “W e happened to be driving by and recreational facilities at Stoney Creek. Th e y stopped to look. Th e r e ’ s trout fishing, nature, golf — everything we liked,” he said. Fishing on Lake Monocan, excellent gol f Renard and Smith were part of a four- co u rs e s , and the list goes on and on. some on the Stoney Creek golf course with two other retirees who found Win t e r - season ever, said Kendall Nelson, the green to their liking: Kemp Bond fr o m re s o r t ’ s director of communications. Yet If You Go... North Carolina and Joe Dunn fr o m during the past winter, a few days were el s o n ’ s County’s landscape slopes, sometimes pre- Ma s s a c h u s e t t s . too warm to keep the slopes open. ci p i t o u s l y , from 4,000 feet in the Blue Ridge Not All Play “Mother Nature is fickle,” said Nelson. NMountains to an altitude of 300 feet along the James And after March? The golfing pace Ri v e r . The 471 square miles of the county once were part of Not everyone at Win t e r green has picks up on the 27 holes at Stoney Creek, Goochland County … and of Albemarle … and of Am h e r s t . come to play there or live there. Reb e c c a and the 18 holes at Devils Knob reopen. Nelson itself came into being in 1807, and its historic court- Di ck i n s o n came to work. She was one of Tennis activity accelerates on the 19 out- house in Lovingston dates from 1809. 80 youths from Australia and New door clay courts (there are three indoor The first stop for a visitor should be Ne l s o n ’ s Vis i t o r Zealand working at the resort last winter courts as well). The Win t e r green Nature Ce n t e r on the lower floor of the county library, located beside under a program called Work USA. Th a t Foundation, an award-winning environ- U.S. 29 in Lovingston. There, the visitor will find the maps, or ganization, and others like it, hold job mental program, schedules hikes on the the brochures and the personalized guidance for a tour of fairs and conduct interviews in their 30 miles of marked trails that it main- this picturesque rural county. There, too, directions are avail- home countries and arrange jobs in the tains. Swimmers, boaters, picnickers and able to Ne l s o n ’ s five apple orchards, five wineries, two United States. The youths receive a fishermen head for the 20-acre Lake motels, seven bed-and-breakfast inns and three camp- sa l a r y , but pay for their own air travel, Monocan. Mountain biking, skateboard- gr o u n d s , depending on the traveler’s needs and interests. rent and meals. ing, paintball and rock-climbing attract Telephones: (800) 282-8223 or (434) 263-5239. Or go to ww w. n e l s o n c o u n t y. c o m . “Some save up a good bit of money,” visitors to “Out of Bounds,” the resort’s South of Lovingston and about two miles off U.S. 29 is the 20-year-old Dickinson said. She took adventure park. Rodes Farm Stables in the 4,800-acre Oak Ridge Estate, featuring a mansion built the opportunity to use her summer (in Stoney Creek offer horse-related activi- in 1802, as well as its own railroad station, rotunda green- Australia) months to see some of this ties ranging from lessons to sunset trail house, carriage house and a restored harness-racing track country as well. “I’ve been to New Yor k , rides. And The Treehouse is the central where the first races in decades were held last year, with and I went to Mardi Gras,” she said. point for children’s activities year-r o u n d , pari-mutuel betting. Races will be held again this year in “Next month, before I go home, I want to with hikes, storytelling, crafts and finger- September and October. Oak Ridge also is the site of the visit , Chicago, Seattle and painting in various age groups. In addi- Nelson County Summer Festival on the last weekend in California.” At Win t e r green, she was tion, the Win t e r garden Spa & Fitness June. Extensive renovations are continuing, and tours and working two jobs — in the ski office and Center offers aerobics, indoor and out- special functions can be arranged by calling (434) 263-8676. in The Gristmill, a snack bar, to raise the door pools, hot tubs, steam rooms and a Or check www.o a k r i d g e e s t a t e . c o m . mo n e y . In the summer, Win t e rg r e e n full line of spa treatments. On the grounds of Oak Ridge is the Orion Shotgun employs groups of youths from the A Spring Wildflower Symposium Sports Center, which provides a broad range of clay-target northern hemisphere, many of them was scheduled this month, with a shooting. Its programs range from individual shooting from eastern Europe. Memorial Day Country Fair, the Win t e r - instruction to competitive events. Telephone: (434) 263- Winter sports activities center on green Performing Arts Summer Music 6622. See www.e x e c u t i v e - a d v e n t u r e s . c o m . Mountain Inn, a plush but rustic central Festival, a 4th of July Jubilee fireworks For fans of “John Boy” and the rest of the family on “The facility that meets anyone’s idea of a ski pa r t y , an Arts and Crafts Fair, a Celtic Waltons” television series, Wal t o n ’ s Mountain Museum is lodge with its stone counters and Festival, and a Labor Day Spectacular to open from March through November in the community of Sc h u y l e r . The museum is in the former school building that columns, plus a wide variety of upscale follow during the summer. shops. In addition to the 20 ski slopes (12 was attended by Earl Hamner Jr., who created the television Still Room to Roam series, based largely on his Depression-era boyhood. lighted for ) and The Plunge, Reproductions of sets for the series are in the museum, and the resort offers the only snowboard half- And yet, with all those activities, there is a reunion of the cast there on the third weekend in pipe in Vir ginia for devotees of a sport 6,740 of Win t e rg r e e n ’ s 11,000 acres Oc t o b e r . Telephones: (888) 266-1981 or (434) 831-2000. few Americans were familiar with until have been set aside as wilderness. More And check www.w a l t o n m u s e u m . o r g . this year’s Winter Olympics. Wh e n than 400 types of wildflowers bloom Also in Schuyler is the New World Stone Company, an guests rent skis or snowboards, they can among the oaks and hickories. The envi- art gallery and sculpture garden where visitors can watch the get a free beginner lesson as well. And a ronmental consciousness of the resort artists working with Virginia soapstone. Telephone: (434) morning of skiing on the mountain can be was demonstrated when it relocated 83 1 - 1 0 5 1 . paired with an afternoon round of golf at 5,000 native plants to make way for Th e Appropriately for a rural county, much of Nelson’s appeal Stoney Creek for the price of a lift ticket. Plunge. “We saved thousands of native is in the outdoors. About a quarter of the county is in the Lodging is available at the inn or in azaleas — moved them around the George Washington National Forest, which is replete with the villas and condominiums (with one resort,” Nelson said. And 2,000 of the hiking trails, including part of the Georgia-to-Maine to seven bedrooms), which are privately re s o r t ’ s original 13,000 acres were given Appalachian Trail, 25 miles of which lie in Nelson County. owned but rented through Win t e rg r e e n to the National Park Service. Much of the trail parallels the along the Resort when their owners make them The resort is about two hours driving co u n t y ’ s western border. av a i l a b l e . time from Richmond, three hours from On the other side of the county, the Nelson Downriver, The season for the winter activities Washington, DC. For overnight reser- an event for kayaks and canoes, takes place the first Saturday in May on the Tye, Rockfish or James River — usually runs from early December vations or lodging information, call depending on water levels. And the boats in the Ja m e s through March, with allowance for the (800) 266-2444. For more information, River Bateau Festival stop over at Wingina on the James whims of the weather. The 2000-2001 dial direct at (434) 325-2200 or visit on the Monday after Father’s Day each year. ■ season was the longest and coldest ski ww w. Wi n t e r greenResort.com. ■