March 8, 1979; Joseph Beard quoted in Beard/Harrison/Pryor, March 6,
1979.
[216] "Wheat Production Control Plan," _Herndon News-Observer_, July 27,
1933; "Wheat Allotment Based on Averages," _Ibid._, August 17, 1933;
Beard/Harrison/Pryor, March 6, 1979.
[217] Derr Report, 1936, 4. The Potato Act, which would in fact have
been disasterous for small farmers, was actually before any crop was
harvested. However, its effect was still to create some hostility to
government programs among farmers.
[218] Derr Reports, 1930, 1931, 1934.
[219] _Virginia Farm Statistics_ (Richmond, 1926, 1930, 1936).
[220] Beard/Harrison/Pryor, March 6, 1979.
[221] _Ibid._
PART V
_Community_
Beyond the family, with its special working relationship, the
neighborhood community was the chief social unit for the farmer. It made
available services the family could not provide for itself and added
sociability and security to the farmer's life. It also had some
influence on the tenor of his work because a dynamic community spirit
prompts individual enterprise. The Floris neighborhood on which this
study is focused was such a vigorous community. Fairfax County was
filled with similar crossroads which gave an identity to each farming
area and, with post office, blacksmith and general store, fulfilled the
farmer's simple requirements. Floris seems to have shown an
outstandingly progressive impulse, however, and a social interaction
which made it an area of particular cohesiveness and community
longevity.[222]
The root of community interaction is neighborliness--an interest in and
concern for other people. Villages contain the same variety of human
relations and personality as large cities, with the advantage that the
smaller number of people are more easily known and understood. There
could be irritating aspects to this (privacy was not always available in
abundance) but also a warm familiarity. The people of Floris were so
well acquainted that each man's favorite kind of pie was community
knowledge.[223] Lottie Schneider, who grew up near Herndon, gave a
charming description of village life in her book, _Memoirs of Herndon,
Virginia_:
Everyone was interested in his neighbor. We shared our joys and
sorrows, were sympathetic to each other. When we went down the
street we knew everybody and would stop to greet each other. There
was a village atmosphere of friendliness and kindness. How often I
pause over every memory and savor again the charm of the friendly
neighbors, the school and church relationships, the simple everyday
happenings which like a weaver's shuttle steadily wove the lights
and shadows into the tapestry of life.[224]
Neighborliness went beyond social interaction; it was also the basis for
mutual aid and cooperation. Work on hauling projects, barn raisings and
emergency assistance was readily available. "If somebody got sick and
couldn't milk his cows, why the neighbors would go over and help him,"
related Joseph Beard.
I remember the neighbor next door to me had the flu, and everybody
thought he was going to die and the snow was about twenty inches
deep.... There was a wife left there with three ... small children,
not of school age. My father not only did our work, but he went
over and did their work too.[225]
Mutual assistance, concern and hospitality were the bedrock of community
relations.
[Illustration: A map of the Floris community, c. 1930, drawn from memory
by Joseph Beard.]
Rapid communications made information on everyone's activities
neighborhood knowledge. County agent Derr noted that it was "remarkable
how rapidly news travels, whether good or bad," and that this was in
fact an asset to his work.[226] The postal agent and telephone operator
were two other information catalysts. The postmaster, Thomas Walker, was
notorious for reading the postcards which passed his way, and often
called the recipients to inform them of impending visits by relatives,
or tidings of birth or death.[227] Telephone lines were put up in 1916,
"strung on trees, just old poles up and down the road"[228] and this
greatly speeded channels of gossip and necessary information. The
telephone operator worked from her own bedroom and was the source for
all the latest news. "If you didn't know what was going on in the
neighborhood, all you had to do was ask the telephone operator," one
Floris resident observed. "She knew everything."[229] In a more
pragmatic sense the operator was depended upon for help during
emergencies. The fear of isolation, a chief liability of rural areas,
was much reduced by the improved roads and telecommunications of the
first decade of the 20th century.
The telephone operator was particularly helpful in locating rural
doctors when they were needed in an emergency. Like the veterinarians,
doctors were not relied on for minor illnesses but were called on in
extreme cases. Jack Day and William Robey were among the doctors who
travelled by horse and buggy (and later in early model Fords) to make
housecalls. They were loved and accepted by the community: "We thought
of a family doctor about like we did our minister."[230] Fees were
usually $1.00 for a housecall though farmers would sometimes offer a
bushel of corn or a chicken in payment for their treatment.[231]
The doctors contributed a great deal to the well-being of the community.
Rural families, however, were resourceful in finding home remedies for
many ailments. Some of these were long-respected herbal preparations,
but others were used more because of tradition than effectiveness.
Frances Simpson described the special folk medicines of her family near
Herndon:
When an epidemic was reported in the village during the winter, she
prepared the dreadful smelling _asafetida_ bags which she tied about
our necks under our dresses. They were supposed to ward off
diseases.
When my sisters and I had colds, mutton _tallow plasters_ were put
on our chests and fastened to our underwear. These sticky, clammy
plasters were worn until all signs of cold had disappeared.
_Sulpher and molasses_ by the spoonful were given in the spring 'to
help clear out our systems....' Calomel was an often used remedy
for the liver until the doctor forbade its use.
My mother had a bad case of erysipelas and her leg was in a fearful
state. Nothing seemed to help it. One night she dreamed my sister
Dora, who had recently died, came to her, told her to make
_poultices of cabbage leaves_ wrung in hot water and apply them to
her leg. She followed instructions and in due season her leg was
healed.[232]
[Illustration: G. Ray Harrison, c. 1925. Photo courtesy of Ray
Harrison.]
[Illustration: The Harrison family's mule team on a shopping trip to
Herndon about 1914. A young Ray Harrison is riding in the wagon. The
stores in Herndon provided basic supplies and services for the Floris
community. Photo courtesy of Ray Harrison.]
The Floris community was an early outgrowth of a mining settlement near
Frying Pan Run. Robert Carter, of Nomini Hall in Westmoreland County,
owned the land which he believed contained rich copper ore. Though roads
were built and several mining attempts made, the mineral proved to be of
poor quality. The access offered by roads built by the miners (for
example, West Ox Road on which Frying Pan Farm is located) opened the
area to agriculture. The first permanent community was formed by a group
of Baptists, who successfully petitioned Carter for permission to build
a church on his property. One of their early churches, a simple, frame
structure built in 1791, still stands near the center of the
community.[233]
The origins of the area's unusual name are obscure--some believe either
Indians or early miners who camped in the vicinity mislaid a frying pan
and named the creek after their loss. Others feel that the circular
shape of a round pool into which the run flows influenced its
appellation. Until 1879 the community at the crossroads of the West Ox
and Centreville Roads was also called Frying Pan, at which time it was
thought too undignified a name. It was rechristened Floris, according to
one source, after the prettiest girl in the neighborhood. Another story
relates that summer boarders near Frying Pan Post Office thought such a
lowly name would cause ridicule among their city friends. They called
the town Floris, which means "flower" in Latin, to tone up the image of
their warm weather "resort." By the time of the name change, the village
had expanded somewhat from an 1801 description of "four log huts and a
Meeting House,"[234] but it retained its small personal character. In
the 1920s and 1930s it consisted of a blacksmith shop, general store and
post office, a boarding house, three churches and two schools, as well
as the surrounding farms.
* * * * *
The focal point of the Floris community during this period, and the
factor which gave it a countywide importance, was the Floris Vocational
High School. The school was the result of the Smith-Hughes Act, passed
in 1917 to organize agriculture and home economics courses on the
secondary level of education. H. B. Derr tried unsuccessfully for two
years to establish such a course in Fairfax County but met with little
support from the members of the school board, who favored traditional
academics. It was finally through the farmer's clubs and community
leagues (forerunners of the PTA), especially those in the Floris area,
that Derr was able to convince the county of the program's potential. By
1919 farmers and merchants had donated some $17,000 to start
construction of a building, and in honor of the special efforts of
agriculturalists in Floris, it was decided to locate the school
there.[235]
[Illustration: A sketch of the plot of land originally deeded to the
school board in 1876 by George Kenfield for a Floris school. Fairfax
County Deedbook H-5, p. 617.]
[Illustration: Mr. Jack Walker, the engineer in charge of the
construction of the Floris School 1920. Copy of photo in Virginiana
Collection, Fairfax County Public Library.]
[Illustration: Floris Vocational High School under construction, c.
1920. Note the tennis game being played in the front of the old
building. Copy of photo in Virginiana Collection, Fairfax County Public
Library.]
The Floris Vocational High School was the third to be built in
Virginia.[236] It was extended from an existing, two-year high school,
founded in 1911, but the property on which it was built had actually
been deeded to the school board over forty years earlier. In 1876 George
Kenfield deeded about six acres of land to the Frying Pan School
Association and the property remained in school use through several
owner changes.[237] One- and two-room schools stood on the land until
1911 when a larger building was completed.[238]
The citizens of Floris had worked together to raise money for the
vocational school; they also contributed their skills and time to its
construction. Under the direction of two (often dissenting) contractors,
a Mr. Sheffield and Jack Walker, pupils and parents helped to raise the
three-story brick structure, and later to build a smaller agricultural
shop a short distance from the main schoolhouse. The school was open to
the entire county but the immediate community continued to feel a
special interest in it. The Floris Home Demonstration Club served hot
lunches in the school for many years and around 1924 they sponsored the
hiring of a music teacher at their own expense until the county and
state finally gave support to the teacher.[239]
Floris Vocational High School was an immediate success. In 1924 it had
150 pupils, evenly divided between primary and secondary grades, and
hailing chiefly from the Herndon area. Students walked or rode horseback
to reach their classes; some, such as Virginia Presgraves Harrison from
Loudoun County, boarded with local families.[240] The high school
offered the standard curriculum courses of English, American and
European history, algebra, geography, physics and chemistry. Courses in
higher mathematics (plane geometry and trigonometry) were optional as
were English history and foreign languages. The school differed from the
county's other secondary institutions in the varied agriculturally
oriented courses it taught. Boys learned the principles of agronomy,
animal husbandry, soil control and veterinary science, and were expected
to put the theoretical knowledge into practice with test animals and
acreage on their home farms. They also sharpened their skills in
agricultural shop courses. Under the guidance of Ford Lucas and, later,
Harvey D. Seale, they were taught carpentry, motor repair,
blacksmithing, indeed, everything from building chicken coops to "how to
put a roof on a barn and keep it from leaking."[241] Classes for the
girls also stressed the relationship between theory and practice. The
rudiments of nutrition, food preparation, fabric and clothing
construction, were carried over into "Hominy Hall," a house owned by
William Ellmore, which housed the kitchen and serving areas for domestic
science courses. The girls spent several hours a week in this building,
gaining proficiency in the work which would probably occupy most of
their lives. Like the majority of the students' homes, Hominy Hall had
no running water, and baking was done on a large, wood-burning
stove.[242] The classes were taught by, among others, May Calhoun and
Louisa Glassal. Elizabeth Ellmore, principal of Floris Vocational High
School in 1929-1930, noted that because of the school's personal nature
the teachers had a fair amount of leeway in the character and depth of
the courses they taught--as much, in fact, as their students would allow
them.[243] One early teacher found the pupils very apt indeed, with
abilities equal to those of the town children she had previously taught.
Stated Lulah Ferguson:
So far as the interest was concerned you'd find that maybe those
children in Falls Church were a little more interested in affairs
in general, a little better informed generally, than these were,
but so far as their attitude towards studying or wanting to know,
you wouldn't find any difference. These country children were
really just as eager or maybe more so than some of the small
town....[244]
[Illustration: The championship girl's basketball team of Floris
Vocational High School, 1924-1925.]
[Illustration: The "Floris Follies," a minstrel presented at the Floris
school in March, 1939. Such activities were usually staged to benefit a
community activity. Photo courtesy of Louise McNair Ryder.]
[Illustration: The students of Floris Vocational High School, 1924.
Identified in July, 1970, as follows: Top row left to right: Jay Leith,
Warren Rosenburger, Jessie Torreyson, George T. McWhorter, III, Marie
Poland Bonde, Stella Sibley Jones, Eunice Milam Middleton (teacher),
Audrey Barton, Kelsie Hornbaker; Second row: Irving McNair, Louise
Melcher Ritter, Kate Patton Kincheloe, Sarah Patton Middleton, Rebecca
Middleton, Bradley Shear, Gilbert Presgrave; Third row: Amy Rogers
Nixon, Elsie Andrews Brown, Georgeanna Brogden Harrison, Camilla Carson
Harnsburger, Kneeland Leith, Irene Rogers Deuterman, Welby Nalls, Wade
Bennett; Fourth row: Frances Leith Greenwade, Lena Andrews, Gladys Robey
Embrey, Emma Ellmore, Gem Thompson, Alan Allison Fleming, Howard
Armfield, George Harrison, Allan Shear, Edgar Reeves; Fifth row: Sue
Creel, Grafton Utterback, Richard Lee, John Keyes; Sixth row: William
McWhorter, Martha Smith, Harriet Moulthrop Cheek, Erline Bready, Oliver
Keyes, Withers Murphy, Charles Austin, John Hessick, Joseph Beard;
Seventh row: Ruth Higdon, Rosalie Smith, Eleanor Bowers Matthews, Mary
Smith Douglas, Daniel Nalls, Ralph Armfield, Turner Hornbaker, Frank
Kidwell, Carroll Murphy; Eighth row: Bessie Beard Garrett, Ruby Hyatt,
Gladys Utterback, Elma Middleton Nalls, Ned Sutphin; Ninth row:
Katherine Hummer, Bernice West, Lillian Adrian Munday, Ruby Ambler
Bocato, Elizabeth Powell Austin, Mae Blevins, Virginia Presgrave
Harrison, Dora Cox Robey, Kathlene Adrian Presgrave. Photo courtesy of
Emma Ellmore.]
Studious or not, the Floris pupils also had their share of fun at
school. Richard Peck recalled playing several pranks during school
hours, such as catching copperhead snakes and letting them loose in the
classroom, or mixing together soil samples painstakingly collected for
County agent Derr. Much to the mischievous students' hilarity, a puzzled
Derr remarked, "I had no idea the soil was so uniform out here."[245]
Though afternoon farmwork occupied most of the pupils' spare time, some
extra-curricular activities were also offered. Plays were given annually
by the senior class, an example being the 1925 production of "Home
Times" billed as "very attractive" by the _Herndon News-Observer_.[246]
The Floris Vocational High School also boasted highly competitive
athletic teams, especially in basketball and track. For a school of its
size, it showed unusual competence and enthusiasm, winning both boys'
and girls' county basketball championships several years running. In
1928 their track team competed with 800 high schools in the state,
finishing fifth overall and claiming two of the seven records which were
broken.[247] In this, as in the academic standing of the vocational
school, the community's dynamism and interest influenced its high degree
of excellence.
Graduation exercises were also community events. The students worked for
weeks planning a memorable evening for proud parents, friends and
relations. The 1927 graduation from Floris Vocational High School
featured an invocation by Reverend Glenn Cooper of the Floris
Methodist Church, valedictory and salutatory addresses given by Virginia
Presgraves and Joseph Beard, respectively, and a talk on the promising
future for farmers by Professor Walter Newman of VPI which the local
paper described as "worthy of the attention of any farming community in
our state." These formalities were followed by musical selections,
including a duet by Gilbert Presgraves and Joseph Beard, who sang the
school song, "Our Old High." Next came the presentation of diplomas "in
a most pleasing fashion." Wrote the _Herndon News-Observer_: "Each student
was complimented on his success while his classmates were roused to
great hilarity by some well-directed humor."[248]
[Illustration: A maypole dance held at the Floris Elementary School in
1923. Celebrations of this sort were held each May 1. Miss Katie Grok is
the teacher on the right. Photo courtesy of Margaret Mary Lee.]
[Illustration: A 1910 photograph of the Floris Elementary School, built
in 1900. The building was replaced by a two-year high school the next
year. Copy of photo in Virginiana Collection, Fairfax County Public
Library.]
Floris Vocational High School graduated its last class in 1930. The
previous year the school board had voted to consolidate the county's
schools. The school consolidation movement was aimed principally at
small one and two-room schoolhouses; by combining these local
institutions, better facilities could be afforded and, consequently,
teachers of high caliber attracted. The county's farm families had
clamoured for just such a reorganization for many years, but the measure
was contingent on the availability of good roads because rural children
would have to travel some distance to the new district schools. The
purpose of the judgment as passed did not really pertain to the Floris
School, yet it came under the school-board's jurisdiction and
consequently the Floris High School pupils were moved with those of
Forestville to join Herndon High School.[249]
Agriculture courses were also offered at Herndon High School, for
example, in 1933, 43 boys were enrolled in farm-oriented programs. Yet,
the closing of the Vocational High School was a decisive loss for
Floris. The school had been built and maintained by local money and
labor and was thus a strong focal point in the neighborhood. It had
encouraged community self-esteem and the area's pride had been reflected
in the strong academic programs the school produced. The district high
schools were less personal in nature and broader in scope; they did not
so accurately fulfill an individual locale's needs. An illustration of
this was the rigid adherence to school attendance regulations at Herndon
High School. Whereas a neighborhood school would often allow a farm boy
or girl to be excused from classes during peak work periods of
harvesting or butchering, the new consolidated schools were less
flexible. In one case a student who persisted in helping his family was
continually kept behind and never did graduate. Like other "progressive"
movements, consolidation of rural schools advanced the quality of life
in only some areas. It made available more modern equipment and a wider
range of teachers and curriculum, but in social relations and community
benefit, the advantages were not so clearcut.[250]
* * * * *
[Illustration: The Home Economics and Future Farmer's Club of Floris
Vocational High School in the mid-1920s. Photo courtesy of Emma
Ellmore.]
The other main institutions which gave character and definition to the
Floris community were the churches. There were three places of worship
there in the 1920s and 1930s, all of them protestant. The old Frying Pan
Baptist Church had been a continuous congregation since the
mid-eighteenth century. They were the least social and most dogmatic in
their religious practice; members of the other churches used adjectives
such as "old school" or "hard-shell" to describe the Baptists. After the
turn of the century and during the Depression, the Baptist Church was
less regenerative than the others in Floris and most of the members were
older people.[251]
Less doctrinaire, the Floris Methodist Church and Floris Presbyterian
Church, were a more active part of the community. The church buildings,
with their large seating capacity, made natural auditoriums for farmers'
meetings, lectures and entertainments. The two churches cooperated in
sponsorship of an Epworth Youth League, which, though it held its Sunday
night meetings in the more centrally located Methodist Church, was
non-denominational in character. The Reverend Glenn Cooper reported in
1927 that "the Floris League, being an independent and a community
organization does not take up any denominational work, but is interested
in local charities and its own entertainment."[252] The Presbyterian and
Methodist churches also worked together in planning holiday programs and
avoided conflicts by considerately scheduling their important festivals
on different dates. At Christmastime, they were especially careful to
plan their carol programs so that the entire community could attend both
services. As there was a great deal of intermarriage between the two
churches, this also reduced family strife.[253] Both groups welcomed
members of other faiths. One Presbyterian recalled an occasion when his
father greeted a new family just moving into the neighborhood and
invited them to attend the local services. "This man said, 'Well, you
know I'm a Roman Catholic.' My Dad said, 'It doesn't make any difference
what you are, we'd sure like to have you come if you can.' This was the
general attitude."[254] Indeed, so ecumenical had the organizations
become that the General Conference of the Methodist Church became
somewhat alarmed. As early as 1905 this body noted that although its
members were leading quiet, orderly lives and attended church services
frequently, still the congregation was "not satisfactory in some very
essential respects." "Our people have been in the past and are now very
negligent and indifferent as to the duty of informing themselves about
our doctrines and church policy," stated the minutes of the church's
quarterly conference. "There must be a more general study of the church
discipline and a larger circulation and a close and careful reading of
our church papers."[255]
The churches were rarely used for political purposes. Instead, the
farmers relied on their farmer's clubs to exert this kind of pressure
and seemed to feel that the religious bodies should concentrate on
paving the spiritual road to heaven rather than the connecting road to
the market. In addition to the regular activities of Sunday school,
Bible classes and regular worship services, however, these institutions
fulfilled a strong need for fellowship and social interaction.
Sunday school picnics and ice cream socials were perennial favorites
sponsored each summer by the churches. The picnics were frequently held
on attractive parts of neighboring farms, or sometimes as far away as
Seneca or Great Falls. Each family would bring a large hamper of food,
but the fried chicken, watermelon and pies were spread out on the tables
to be shared by everyone. While the parents gossiped or talked politics,
the children played and sometimes went swimming. These picnics, like
other community events, were held jointly by the Methodists and
Presbyterians.[256] The ice cream socials, however, were another story.
Here a mild rivalry set in as ladies vied with one another to produce
the most admirable cake, and even a slight competition arose over the
ice cream. An area resident confided that there was some speculation
about which denomination's members owned cows giving the creamiest milk,
thus producing the "most sinfully rich" ice cream.[257] No doubt this
comparison diminished in importance when one was faced with the wide
variety of homemade flavors, using fresh fruits and extracts. Sometimes
in early summer the socials would feature strawberries along with the
ice cream. On a quiet summer evening, with the fireflies flickering like
beacon lights and a whispering breeze lapping at tableclothes and
skirts, these must have been particularly pleasant events.[258]
Significant holidays also brought about special church programs. At
Easter the churches were banked with flowers and a singular rejoicing
occurred, and on Mother's Day an appropriate program was offered. The
1926 service included a suitable sermon and original Mother's Prayer by
the minister and several selections by the choir, among them "When
Mother Sang to Me," "Don't Forget the Old Folks," and "Our Mother."[259]
The year's main celebration was, of course, at Christmas. Each church
had a Christmas tree, cut by an adult, but decorated with "feet and
almost miles" of popcorn strings by the neighborhood's young people,
including those just returning home for the holidays. The warm ambiance
of these services is evident in the following description, recounted by
Joseph Beard:
They always had the little people from what you consider the
primary grades on up to sixth or seventh grade recite some little
poem or some story or something of this kind. You nearly always had
a chorus or choir, small, of people in the neighborhood that would
sing Christmas carols. You always had a minister who read or
recited the Christmas story from the Bible.... The churches were
lighted with oil lamps, and they would put candles on the Christmas
tree, wax candles and they would light those wax candles and then
blow out the lights. It's a wonder we never set the church on
fire.... But there would be this beautiful tree with all these
lights on it, and hidden down under the tree somewhere would be a
great big crate of oranges. Santa Claus usually came in and ... he
would ring sleigh bells and walk down through the aisle and make
some kind of remark. He would have a sack on his back. This always
held tiny little sacks of candy. They started with the smallest
children and gave each one of them one orange and one sack of hard
candy. They went on up the line as far as the oranges and the candy
lasted. If you didn't have a crowd even the adults would get a sack
of candy and an orange, but if you had a large crowd, why it
stopped at whatever age it ran out along the line. This was an
affair at which the program would probably take an hour, an hour
and fifteen minutes. But it was cold in there you know ... they'd
have a great big, old pot bellied stove, but it was in one place in
the church. Everybody couldn't sit around that stove, so you sat
there in your overcoats sometimes.[260]
[Illustration: Miss Gladys Thompson and the Floris Community Orchestra,
1929. The members at this time included: Front row: Haley Smith, Louise
Cockerill, Louise McNair; Second row: Richard Peck, unidentified, Miss
Gladys Thompson (director), Jack Patton, Mary Peck, Franklin Ellmore;
Back row: Helen Presgraves, Ethel Andrews, Mary Win Nickell, Elizabeth
Ellmore, Helen Peck. The old car in the background is the one in which
Miss Thompson first traveled. Note the old four-room schoolhouse also in
the background. Photo courtesy of Louise McNair Ryder.]
Other groups offered activities to fill the farm family's leisure hours.
An elementary school teacher who taught music as a sideline, Gladys
Thompson, organized an orchestra about 1928. It consisted of her violin
pupils and other musically inclined citizens and was called the Floris
Community Orchestra. Twelve violins, and mandolins, saxophones, piano,
drums and banjo made up the group which played for school plays and
community events. They also put on an annual recital and one year even
gave a vaudeville show. "I remember she used to fill up her small
one-seated roadster with music students going to practices and
performances," fondly wrote a member of the orchestra, Louise McNair
Ryder. "One of my greatest pleasures was clambering into the rumble seat
with my violin."[261]
Musical groups also sprang up spontaneously. One, which Joseph Beard
referred to as a "little old hillybilly band," included besides himself
on fiddle, Virginia Presgraves (piano) and her uncle Austin Wagstaff on
ukulele. Richard Peck played banjo and saxophone for the group. They
played together over a period of several years, using no sheet music,
but becoming so comfortable with each other's playing that they could
anticipate the variations and style of their fellow musicians. They
practiced in the schoolhouse, playing country tunes such as "Camp Town
Races," "Old Black Joe," and "Shortnin' Bread" for their own amusement.
They rarely entertained an audience.[262] Sometimes too the school or an
unofficial group sponsored musical events, a notable one being the
concert by "Al Hopkins and his Buckle-Busters," a celebrated country
band from North Carolina.[263]
In addition, serious organizations like the Farmer's Clubs, Community
League or church-affiliated women's clubs, mixed work and play by
sponsoring picnics, quilting bees, and oyster suppers. The record made
of a pleasant outing by Farmer's Clubs #1 and #4 to the Great Falls in
1913 was typical of many excursions in later years:
It goes without saying that all present had a very enjoyable day.
The children spent much time on the swings and Merry-Go-Rounds
while the older members spent the day in viewing the falls....
While still others enjoyed fishing.[264]
Home Demonstration Clubs also put on their share of entertainments, with
buffet suppers and skits, rounding off one year with a "husband-calling
contest."[265] Even the business meetings themselves were social
occasions at which dinner and friendly conversation were mixed with more
critical concerns.
Oyster suppers were a regional specialty held all over the county, of
which Floris sponsored its share. They were often money-making events
(as were the ice cream socials) at which dinner cost from twenty-five to
fifty cents and featured stewed and fried oysters. Lottie Schneider
recalled the bustle of preparation for an oyster supper given in
Herndon, involving the setting up of tables and benches and flower
arrangements, and the difficult choice to be made between fried or
stewed oysters and the many different relishes brought by each
lady.[266] The suppers in fact generally held an overabundance of food.
Again, Joseph Beard described the scene:
There were always a few who didn't like oysters and they always had
ham for those.... Anything that you would have in a farming
neighborhood like that, when you sat down to eat it was just like
having a Thanksgiving dinner. Everything from sweet potatoes to
scalloped potatoes to macaroni and cheese to string beans to
corn-on-the-cob to tomatoes [would be served]. Most anything that
could be raised or produced in a vegetable garden or in a truck
patch they'd bring. Then we had custard pies and lemon pies and
apple pies....[267]
The money made at the oyster dinners was used for school projects, to
buy church furnishings or aid in mission work.
* * * * *
Professional interest and pleasure were likewise combined at the various
fairs held in the area during the late summer. The county sponsored a
fair at Fairfax Courthouse until 1933 which featured new farm machinery,
exemplary produce and livestock, and a gay carnival atmosphere. The
_Herndon News-Observer_ gave a colorful account of the county festivities
in its September 23, 1926 edition:
The first day was largely devoted to judging, the second day saw a
large picnic by Dranesville farmers, the County Chamber of Commerce
and the 4-H Clubs frolicked on the third day while the visible and
invisible empire [of the Ku Klux Klan] held sway on the last day.
Good racing cards filled much of the afternoon. The prizes were
more substantial and the performances proportionally good. Every
exhibit building was loaded with all varieties and grades of
exhibits, while the livestock was as equally interesting in its
magnitude and diversification.
The flower department was carried partly out of the building where
loving hands [had] specially devoted time and energy toward
perfection. The woman's department, with nearly a thousand entries,
was a wonder of culinary art. The poultry building with every
squeek and squawk imaginable, fairly dazzled the farmers and their
friends, who came to see what Fairfaxians and their friends are
doing. Certainly no other fair in Virginia presented an arena of
keener competition and the prize winners deserve to be most highly
congratulated....[268]
The midway was a swirl of ferris wheels, merry-go-rounds and every
variety of game by which you might separate yourself from surplus
funds.
The region boasted a similar fair held generally in Prince William
County and having the dual purpose of promoting and celebrating the
dairy industry. The Piedmont Dairy Festival, as it was called, was
modeled after the famous Shenandoah Apple Blossom festival and was
jocularly known locally as the "Cow Blossom festival."[269]
Floris itself held a substantial fair in the years following the
decision to stop running a county exhibition. It grew out of the yearly
"Flower and Vegetable Show" which had been sponsored by the 4-H and Home
Demonstration Clubs and took place on the school grounds. The community
divided itself into committees which met year-round to plan the produce
and homemaking judgings, livestock shows and entertainment and the
result was an event of countywide interest. A program from the 1939 fair
lists among the categories "three summer squash," "best adult clothing,"
"best buttonhole," and "best Holstein heifer." Prizes consisted of cash
(usually one to two dollars) or practical items such as five gallons of
fly spray. Ironically the award for the best team of draft horses was
three gallons of oil.[270]
A good deal of pride in everyday achievements resulted from the
contests. Elizabeth Rice, writing of the excitement caused by the fairs,
recalled the year she entered a devil's food cake in the county
exhibition and "received the blue ribbon and a prize from Swann's Down
Company of a cake mold, measuring cups, spoons and a box of Swann's
Down cake flour." "I still feel 'up' over it," she concluded.[271]
Others took their entries a little less seriously. Emma Ellmore
remembered the year her mother simply cut a tangled mass of clematis
from the back trellis, stuck it in a white vase and entered it in the
flower-arranging contest, to win a blue ribbon from judges who admired
its exceptional artistry.[272] The day was concluded with a
"tournament," in which the neighborhood's young manhood vied with one
another for the honor of crowning their lady queen. Lance in hand, "Sir
Lancelot" or "Sir Frying Pan" rode at a gallop on a "steed" (often a
draft horse) attempting to spear a ring suspended above the track. The
winner reigned at the square dance that evening which capped the day's
entertainment.[273]
Blue ribbons and fair championships were respected and admired by the
neighbors and gave the recipient a certain amount of status. In a
community in which no one had much ready money, this evidence of
leadership or skill counted for a great deal. One person suggested that
a large family gave a farmer a certain standing among his peers, and
that homemaking was equally respected with the outdoor work. A clever
manager was perhaps most admired of all. As Joseph Beard remarked:
"There are some people who have very little money, but have the ability
to use it in the right place at the right time and get a great deal more
out of it than others. I suspect that the person that had the highest
standard of living with what they had to do with was respected more than
any one thing."[274]
Farmers from the Floris area also held private entertainments, such as
the Peck family reunion of 1927, or the bridge parties which became so
fashionable in the late 1920s and 1930s.[275] On rare occasions they
travelled to Washington to see a show or to shop. More often they went
to Herndon which had long catered to the farmer's needs. Stores, grain
companies and mills, blacksmith and livery stables built their business
on fulfilling the farmer's everyday requirements, while ice cream
parlors and movie theaters provided pleasant distractions. The latter
was an especially popular form of entertainment for young couples on
dates. Frances Simpson recalled the excitement of going to the movies
and the unique personality of the Herndon theater:
What a fascination was that theater or 'movie hall' as it was
called.... It was a real treat to go with our friends to the movies
at the movie hall, not that we always saw one when we got there.
Sometimes the reel would break, other times a tremendous storm
would come up and the electric power would be shut off, leaving the
player piano to carry on alone in the darkness while we crept home
with flashlights, and more than once an angry skunk sought refuge
under the movie hall causing the audience to disperse in three
minutes flat. Still, it was great fun.[276]
All of these community events--ice cream socials, fairs, Community
League meetings, and school events--were attended by the whole family.
Social activities were less strictly drawn along age lines than they are
today; young and old enjoyed the same amusements. The ladies chatted
while preparing the dinners at Farmer's Club meetings, and the children
came along and played together. Funerals and weddings were also family
events for children were expected to learn of life's joys and sorrows
through participation. This too encouraged community cohesiveness, as
all parts of the society were included in its rituals, and children
learned at an early age that they played an active role in the
neighborhood's well-being; there was a place for them within the
community which would last the length of their life. Strong evidence of
this community identity is seen in the large numbers of Floris young
people who, even in the face of urban opportunities, elected to stay on
the family farm, or chose careers in the agriculture-related fields of
veterinary medicine, extension work or fish and wildlife
protection.[277]
* * * * *
Floris and the other closely knit agricultural villages of Fairfax
County were exceptionally unified and supportive. Yet even these
communities had fringe groups, which were not entirely fulfilled within
the neighborhood or accepted by the majority of farmers. In some cases,
this was caused by under-stimulation and exasperation at the slow
patterns of rural movement. "We were bored to tears," wrote one Floris
resident of the long Sunday afternoons spent discussing nothing but
politics.[278] More frequently an individual was ignored or shunned by
the society because of personal problems which had become a community
nuisance: drinking, drugs or sexual indiscretions. The families of such
social deviants were pitied and aided, but the offending individuals
were avoided--"To whatever extent we could we would ostracize them." In
one extreme case the neighborhood took the law into its own hands and
lynched a man suspected of rape. "This man may have been innocent as you
look back on it now but they thought he did it and they got rid of him
right then," related one local citizen. "They just wouldn't put up with
that. It just wasn't tolerated, that's all."[279]
The largest group outside the community's mainstream was the black
agricultural workers. Except in the realm of employer/employee relations
they had little social intercourse with their neighbors. Floris
Vocational High School was not open to Negro students and the schools
that were available to blacks were much inferior to those which taught
white children. No high school existed at all for the blacks and the
one-to three-room schools that existed were "in the most dilapidated
condition," with no water, heat or adequate toilet facilities.[280]
Edith Rogers made a revealing comment about the quality of the teachers
when she stated that she knew of one that had a degree.[281] In
extension activities blacks were also often overlooked. The first black
4-H club was organized in 1934 without the help of the county agent's
office, and it was only after two years of exceptional work that he
belatedly recognized its existence. "The colored club at the Vienna
School was organized, but we did not expect much from it," Derr reported
in 1936.
A few days ago we were considerably surprised to have the Principal
of the School send in her report ... Nearly every colored boy and
girl nine years up to eighteen did some work ... Taking it in we
feel it is a credible showing for a colored school that has not
received its full share of assistance in club work.[282]
Black activities in churches and farmer's clubs were similarly ignored.
Some black families appear to have been respected for their industry or
farming ability. The George Coates family near Floris was one. White
neighbors exchanged work and admired the Coates progressive techniques,
but still "never went so far as to sit down to dinner with them."[283]
Blacks were excluded from the area's fairs, socials and concerts, except
in rare cases when a rope kept the audience segregated.[284] Among
themselves they, of course, had their own entertainments, but in general
the broader opportunities and amusements of the county were closed to
the blacks.
In the inter-war period another group was increasingly on the fringe of
the established community. These were the urban migrants who came along
the new roads and railroad lines, seeking an escape from city stresses.
The earliest to arrive were summer residents, then came the part-time
farmers who wanted country air but city pay. Finally the unabashed
suburbanite who looked only for a quiet place to rest between bouts of
urban employment moved in. Nearly all came seeking how they could
benefit by living in the country, not what they could contribute to it.
At first county residents welcomed this influx with open arms; they saw
the expansion as a boon to employment and markets. Only later did they
begin to realize that, in small ways and large, the forces of economic
expansion would alter the shape of their community.[285]
Those who migrated chiefly in order to farm were welcomed by the county
farm families, but those who were unaccustomed to country ways caused
some problems for the rural folk. An editorial in the _Fairfax Herald_ for
April 23, 1926, bemoaned the loss of many of the county's lovely
wildflowers, for the suburban residents frequently ignored trespass
rules to pick the flowers.[286] Also alarming were the differing habits
and manners of the city migrants and threat of an infiltration of
"unusual and often undesirable" people. Hearing rumors that a nudist
colony was to be established in the county's Dranesville District, the
_Herndon News-Observer_ declared stoutly
We have a lot of objectionable people in the county, who have
spilled over from Washington, but we will at least require that
they bring their 'duds' along before they can hope to experience a
cordial reception.[287]
A more critical matter was the importation and propagation of insects
from the city, such as the oriental fruit moth, which thrived in the
carelessly kept backyard plantings of suburbanites and then wreaked
havoc in commercial orchards. County agents Derr and Beard spent
considerable time advising these newcomers and helping them plant their
gardens.[288]
Aside from these minor alarms, the urban influx had really serious
consequences for the farmers of Fairfax County. As the numbers of
non-farm residents grew, political interest lines began to be drawn and
in some cases the farmers began losing control over local governing
policies. This did not happen in all areas; for example, the County
Board of Supervisors consisted solely of farmers well into the 1940s.
However, in some vicinities there were definite political repercussions
from the suburban population, such as in Herndon, which although
commercially oriented, had always been sympathetic to the farmer's
views. In the years after the arrival of the electric trolley, city
workers and farmers battled at the polls over mayoral candidates and
council representatives; by the 1920s the town council was dominated by
businessmen and professionals.[289]
This growing tendency towards political alienation for the farmer was
foreshadowed in a letter of complaint written by the Farmer's Club #1 to
the Governor of Virginia in October, 1909:
The attention of the Fairfax Farmer's Club No. 1 has been called to
the fact that the delegates from this county to the Farmer's
National Congress are not farmers, one being Sheriff of the County,
the other a merchant--both reputable citizens but neither
interested directly in agriculture.[290]
Like the other changes shaking the farmers' world, the loss of
government influence created a disturbing sense of impermanence and
estrangement. This, coupled with the previously mentioned tax rise
(which was exacerbated by the influx of people, all purchasing land and
creating a rise in prices due to demand) indicated to the farmer that he
was losing control over a world which had for generations remained
secure and settled. Ultimately, these forces crowded him out altogether,
and simultaneously destroyed most of the pastoral communities to which
the suburbanites had hoped to escape.
PART V--NOTES
_Community_
[222] For an extensive study of community relations, see Kolb and
Brunner, _A Study of Rural Society_, 75-139.
[223] Beard/Pryor, January 23, 1979.
[224] Schneider, _Memoirs of Herndon, Virginia_, 35.
[225] Beard/Pryor, January 23, 1979.
[226] Derr Report, 1930, 16.
[227] Ellmore/Netherton, March 2, 1978.
[228] Beard/Pryor, January 23, 1979.
[229] _Ibid._
[230] _Ibid._
[231] Andrew M. D. Wolf, "Country Medicine in Fairfax County, Virginia,
at the Turn of the Twentieth Century," unpublished monograph, January
23, 1976, copy in Virginiana, 5-6.
[232] Frances Darlington Simpson quoted in _Out of Frying Pan_, 26.
[233] Louise Ryder, "Some Thoughts about Frying Pan Baptist Church,"
unpublished monograph, June, 1972; and "How Frying Pan Park Got Its
Name," _Fairfax Herald_, n.d. (clipping), and miscellaneous notes on
Frying Pan by Louise Ryder, June, 1977, courtesy of Louise Ryder.
[234] John Davis quoted in Ryder, "Some Thoughts about Frying Pan
Baptist Church," 4; Schneider, _Memoirs of Herndon, Virginia_; and Ryder
notes.
[235] Derr Reports, 1919 and 1925; and Beard/Pryor, February 27, 1979.
[236] _14th Census of the United States_, 1920, National Archives and
Records Service.
[237] Fairfax County Deed Books, Liber E-6, 48-51; and Liber H-5,
616-617.
[238] Nickell and Randolph, _An Economic and Social Survey of Fairfax
County_, 70-71.
[239] _Ibid._; Beard/Pryor, February 27, 1979; "Floris Home Demonstration
Club," _Herndon News-Observer_, March 10, 1932; Howard Simmons, "History
of Floris Vocational High School," unpublished monograph, n.d., copy
courtesy of Elizabeth and Emma Ellmore; Ellmore/Middleton/Pryor, March
8, 1979; and Gladys T. Spencer to Mrs. Ernest Ryder, February 15, 1979,
copy courtesy of Louise Ryder.
[240] Harrison/Pryor, February 5, 1979; Nickell and Randolph, _An
Economic and Social Survey of Fairfax County_, 71; Peck/Netherton,
February 23, 1978; Greear/Netherton, March 23, 1978.
[241] Simmons; Ellmore/Middleton/Pryor, March 8, 1979; Beard/Pryor,
February 28, 1979; and Harrison/Pryor, February 5, 1979.
[242] Simmons; Ellmore/Middleton/Pryor, March 8, 1979.
[243] Ellmore/Middleton/Pryor, March 8, 1979.
[244] Interview with Lulah Ferguson by Steve Matthews, Falls Church,
Virginia, August 16, 1971.
[245] Peck/Netherton, February 23, 1978.
[246] _Herndon News-Observer_, March 12, 1925.
[247] Simmons, "Floris Retains High Rating at Blacksburg," _Herndon
News-Observer_, April 20, 1928.
[248] "Commencement Exercises in Our County High Schools," _Herndon
News-Observer_, June 16, 1927.
[249] Simmons; Minutes of Farmer's Club #1, June 6, 1910; and
Ellmore/Middleton/Pryor, March 8, 1979.
[250] Rogers/Corbat, et al., June 12, 1970.
[251] Ryder, "Some Thoughts About Frying Pan Baptist Church";
Beard/Pryor, January 23, 1979; Beard/Harrison/Pryor, March 6, 1979; and
Schneider, _Memoirs of Herndon, Virginia_, 8.
[252] _Floris United Methodist Church: An Historical Account, 1891-1974_,
(Herndon, Virginia, 1975), 40.
[253] Beard/Pryor, January 23, 1979.
[254] _Ibid._
[255] _Floris Methodist Church_, 23.
[256] Ellmore/Middleton/Pryor, March 8, 1979; Beard/Pryor, January 23,
1979; Harrison/Pryor, February 5, 1979; Peck/Netherton, January 23,
1978.
[257] Telephone conversation with Louise Ryder, January 25, 1979.
[258] _Ibid._; R. Middleton/Netherton, February 24, 1978;
Ellmore/Middleton/Pryor, March 8, 1979; Beard/Pryor, January 23, 1979.
[259] Ellmore/Netherton, March 2, 1978; and _Herndon News-Observer_, May
13, 1926.
[260] Beard/Pryor, January 23, 1979.
[261] Gladys Spencer to Louise Ryder, February 15, 1979; and note to
author by Louise McNair Ryder, n.d., (spring, 1979).
[262] Beard/Pryor, January 23, 1979 (notes taken after interview); and
Harrison/Pryor, February 5, 1979.
[263] Beard/Pryor, January 23, 1979; and Peck/Netherton, February 23,
1978.
[264] Farmer's Club #1, Minutes, August 21, 1913.
[265] Lucy Steptoe Report, 1924.
[266] Schneider, _Memoirs of Herndon, Virginia_, 27-28.
[267] Beard/Pryor, January 23, 1979.
[268] "Fairfax County Fair," _Herndon News-Observer_, September 23, 1926.
[269] Derr Report, 1931; and Peck/Netherton, February 23, 1978.
[270] Program, Fifth Annual Floris Community Fair, Thursday, August 24,
1939, copy in Beard Report, 1939.
[271] Rice to author, January 30, 1979.
[272] Ellmore/Middleton/Pryor, March 8, 1979.
[273] Nearly everyone spoke enthusiastically of the Floris fair. See
especially Harrison/Pryor, February 5, 1979; Beard/Pryor, January 23,
1979; Ellmore/Middleton/Pryor, March 8, 1979.
[274] Ellmore/Middleton/Pryor, March 8, 1979; and Beard/Pryor, January
23, 1979.
[275] "Family Reunion at Floris," _Herndon News-Observer_, May 5, 1927;
"Events in Floris," _Herndon News-Observer_, March 21, 1935.
[276] Simpson, _Virginia Country Life and Cooking_, 52.
[277] Among those who chose such careers were Joseph Beard and John
Beard (county extension agents); Franklin Ellmore, on the staff of
Virginia Polytechnic Institute; Chester McLaren, head of agricultural
education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute; and Jack Patton, of the
Fish and Wildlife Commission in North Carolina; see
Ellmore/Middleton/Pryor, March 8, 1979.
[278] Peck/Netherton, February 23, 1978.
[279] Beard/Pryor, January 23, 1979.
[280] E. B. Henderson and Edith Hussey, _History of the Fairfax County
Branch of the NAACP_, October, 1965, 7-8.
[281] Rogers/Corbat, et al., June 12, 1970.
[282] Derr Report, 1936.
[283] Beard/Harrison/Pryor, March 6, 1979; and Beard/Pryor, February 27,
1979.
[284] Peck/Netherton, February 23, 1978.
[285] See, for example, "The Future of Fairfax County," _Herndon
News-Observer_, October 20, 1927.
[286] Editorial, _Fairfax Herald_, April 23, 1926; and Beard/Pryor,
January 23, 1979.
[287] "The Nudist Camp," _Herndon News-Observer_, October 8, 1933.
[288] Derr Report, 1937; and Louis A. Stearns, "The Present State of the
Oriental Fruit Moth in Northern Virginia," _Virginia Agricultural
Extension Bulletin 234_.
[289] Netherton, et al., _Fairfax County_, 483.
[290] Farmer's Club #1, Minutes, October 21, 1909.
PART VI
_Frying Pan Park_
The population boom of the post-World War II period (with the consequent
demand for land), the huge jump in land taxes, and competition from
larger, more efficient farms, spelled doom for the family farm in
Fairfax County. The county's farmers had spent much of the inter-war
period adjusting to the new agricultural modes, but they could not adapt
to the burgeoning metropolitan area's desire for expansion. The
construction of Dulles International Airport in the late 1950s further
depleted the county's agricultural areas, wiping out both the Willard
community and much of the farmland around Floris. Even those farmers who
had noticed the trends of twenty years felt a nagging sense of loss and
resentment at the passing of their traditional way of life.[291]
Frying Pan Park is an attempt to give citizens a glimpse of their
heritage by recreating the familiar patterns of family farming. Its
location (near the corner of West Ox and Centreville Roads) in the
still-quiet Floris center makes it ideal for interpretation of the more
tranquil past. The park's purpose is primarily educational and
historical, however it also offers recreational activities. These
include equestrian facilities, bridle paths and nature walks, as well as
the model farm.
The idea for such a park began in 1957 when Joseph Beard, then the
county agent, began proposing uses for the old Floris School property
which was no longer needed by the county schoolboard. He advised the
Fairfax County government that the land and school buildings be
established as a youth center. As such, it would be available to the
Future Farmers of America, the 4-H Club, scouting groups, and similar
organizations to stage fairs, hold meetings and provide recreation.[292]
This proposal was accepted and in 1960 the land was deeded to the
Fairfax County Park Authority whose powers of police protection and
maintenance were superior to those of the individual young people's
organizations. An independent citizen board was also established at this
time and the Park has been continually administered by the Park
Authority and Frying Pan Park Supervisory Board.[293] The latter
consists of representatives of agricultural, homemaking and youth
organizations such as the Agricultural Extension Advisory Board, the
Fairfax County Granges and the Future Homemakers of America. Under their
direction, the 4-H not only began to clean the grounds, but staged a few
tentative activities. The early success of the events, coupled with a
growing interest in the park by equestrian groups, led the Fairfax
County Park Authority to acquire bits and pieces of adjoining property
throughout the 1960s and 1970s, enlarging the original holding of 4.39
acres to 87.6 acres. They also constructed several buildings for use in
livestock exhibitions and horse shows.[294] A model farm, strongly
advocated by the county agent, Grange and other farm-oriented groups was
also proposed in this first decade. A dearth of development money and
popular pressure to expand the equestrian facilities combined to delay
its inception.[295]
[Illustration: Master plan of Frying Pan Park showing ideal arrangement
of the model farm, exhibition halls, and equestrian facilities. Fairfax
County Park Authority, 1974.]
In 1965 the Park Authority bought the Floyd Kidwell farm next to the
original school tract which consisted of some 40 acres with several farm
buildings. The Kidwells had owned the property since 1934; their farm
being the very sort of family operation that proponents of the model
farm project hoped to show.[296] Money was still scarce for the farm's
development, however; therefore, most of the land was earmarked for
equestrian use--only a third was set aside for the model farm.
Additional acreage, purchased in 1974 (and again in 1977) and the
acquisition of the Kidwell farm buildings made more extensive and
authentic cultivation possible; the farm was finally established in
1974.[297] Because the land was pieced together from numerous sources,
the farm is presented as a representation of small-scale farming in the
county, not an exact recreation of the Kidwell farm. In its patchwork
composition, it echoes the trends of the county for few farms stayed
intact during the fluctuations of the 1920s and 1930s, but were added to
or diminished depending on the cash flow.
Model farms originated in Scandinavia, where entire villages were
preserved during the late 19th century in order to save the folkways
which were rapidly eroding in the wake of industrial development. In
this country the earliest efforts at such preservation took place in the
1940s. They had only scanty growth until a thoughtful article by Marion
Clawson was published in _Agricultural History_ in April, 1965. This piece
alerted preservationists and historians to the possibility of such
projects and influenced the establishment of nearly one hundred such
"open-air museums," among them the National Park Service's Turkey Run
Farm near McLean, Virginia.[298]
Frying Pan Farm differs from most of these restorations in its portrayal
of 20th century farming, a time and way of working that many older
people can still recall. Rather than show the slow and hand-operated
life of a pre-mechanization farmer, Frying Pan Farm shows the farm in a
dynamic transition. In the words of the supervisory board, it recreates
a time that "had not given up the idea of home-cured meats, home
vegetable gardens, home orchards, apple butter, sorghum molasses ... but
it was considering the use of farm tractors, milking machines, and
tractor-drawn equipment...."[299] The farm thus portrays crop and
pasturage rotation, and some mechanized activity with a 1940 tractor,
yet the farmer harvests his grain with a horse-drawn binder. Most of the
equipment is from the pre-World War II period and animals have been
chosen or bred to conform to those available in the 1930s. A volunteer
program, established in 1976, aids the farmer in tending the large
vegetable garden, and the livestock which consists of poultry, hogs,
rabbits, goats, sheep, dairy cows and draft horses. Frying Pan Farm
cultivates corn, wheat and hay crops and includes a late-19th century
farmstead, a frame barn, shed, henhouse, and rabbit hutch and a machine
and separator shed. An orchard and additional crop acreage and fencing
are planned. Far from being a zoo or a site of isolated craft or
mechanical demonstrations, the farm is operated daily as if agriculture
were its only aim. Crops are grown not merely for show but to feed the
animal stock and manure is used to fertilize garden and grain fields.
The visitor who stops by the farm does not see a prearranged
interpretive display, but chances on the farmer performing that day's
necessary work: milking, haying, repairing fences, or plowing.[300]
[Illustration: Laura Parham and Kim Stanton work in the vegetable garden
at Frying Pan Farm. Volunteers do much of the garden work at the site.
Photo, Fairfax County Park Authority.]
[Illustration: This early threshing machine is one of the pieces of
period equipment owned by Frying Pan Farm. Photo, Virginiana Collection,
Fairfax County Public Library.]
[Illustration: The farmyard at Frying Pan Farm in early fall. The barn
houses livestock such as horses, pigs, sheep, goats, and dairy cows.
Photo, Fairfax County Park Authority.]
The farm boasts one structure not properly belonging to it, but
nonetheless most relevant to the interpretation of early 20th century
farm life: the Moffett Blacksmith Shop. The shop was owned by Henry
Moffett and stood in Herndon for 70 years, from 1904 until the Frying
Pan Park Supervisory Board bought it in 1974. At this time the shop was
torn down and reassembled near the model farm as a memorial to their
former chairman (and donor of the funds to save the Moffett Shop),
Hatcher Ankers. Henry Moffett, realizing that the advent of the tractor
and automobile would eliminate the need for his business, displayed
considerable foresight by collecting blacksmithing tools all over the
Washington area. His shop now houses some of this equipment and another
portion is in the Smithsonian Institution, though Moffett no longer does
any smithing. The park offers courses in ornamental iron working at the
shop.[301]
The presence of the Moffett Blacksmith Shop at Frying Pan Park
emphasizes the interdependence of farmer and smith. The machinist of his
day, the blacksmith repaired wagon tongues, and mended heavy plows and
other farm equipment. As late as the 20th century, the smith produced
tools, and ornamental items in addition to his steady business of
shoeing horses. His work required a sensitive understanding of farming
and the quirks and habits of the farmer and his animals. Henry Moffett
himself owned a farm, giving him special insight into the
agriculturalist's needs, a factor which may have been partially
responsible for the comparative success and longevity of his business.
"I had more trade than any man around here," Moffett admitted. "During
the Depression we showed more profit per man than any other business."
Blacksmithing was a trade which required skill, but also courage, to
wield heavy instruments, work with molten metals and face stiff
competition and the sometimes ugly customers. Henry Moffett seems to
have combined these qualities with a rare integrity. When competition
became keen among the many Herndon forges, Moffett refused to resort to
the accepted practice of defaming the other smiths to build up his own
business. Stated Moffett, "I figured if I can't make it without bringing
somebody else down I shouldn't bother."[302]
[Illustration: The farmer's house at Frying Pan Farm. Photo, Fairfax
County Park Authority.]
[Illustration: Two young girls meet two young goats at an exhibition at
Frying Pan Park. Photo, Fairfax County Park Authority.]
[Illustration: John Hopkins, a park employee, demonstrates the use of
period blacksmithing tools in the Moffett Blacksmith Shop. Photo,
Fairfax County Park Authority.]
[Illustration: Pat Middleton, a contestant in a 4-H Club fair, held at
Frying Pan Park. Copy of photo in Virginiana Collection, Fairfax County
Public Library.]
[Illustration: A cattle judging on the grounds of the Floris school,
1950. The shed, built in 1918, was used continually in the early
twentieth century to house exhibits and fairs. Copy of photo in
Virginiana Collection, Fairfax County Public Library.]
The continuance of farming and limited blacksmithing in the Floris area
provides a continuity with earlier eras that is also reflected in the
equestrian and youth activities of the park. The site of the old Floris
School was used during the 1930s for the Floris Community Fair and has
for several decades been the site of the 4-H fair, which features many
of the same activities as earlier exhibitions. A description of the 4-H
fair of 1976 reads much as the accounts of 40 years previous:
Highlight of the opening ceremonies on Thursday evening, August 5,
will be a goat-milking contest.... The program will open 7:30 p.m.
with the posting of the colors by twenty 4-H members on
horseback.... Projects on exhibit will include everything from
animals to a rocketry display.... Six performances of local dance
and instrumental groups have been scheduled and square dancing will
take place at 2 p.m. Saturday. Horse shows will run continuously in
the park's two rings during both days.... In addition the Extension
Homemakers Club will present more than 20 working crafts exhibits
on how to make everything from cottage cheese to doll-house
furniture....[303]
In addition, several minor judgings are held each year. During 1970 for
example, events at the park included a poultry judging, four dog shows,
four sewing club events and one rabbit show.[304] Agriculturally
oriented youth groups are also encouraged to meet at the park, and the
master plan for development of Frying Pan Park calls for space for home
economics and mechanical shops, areas for crafts instruction, an
agriculture library, and dormitory rooms. In all of these pursuits,
Frying Pan Park carries on the traditions of professional training in
the field of agriculture established by the Floris Vocational High
School.[305]
The use of park space for equestrian activities likewise mirrors the
county citizens' continued interest in rural pleasures. The horse shows
and facilities are the park's most popular feature, drawing over a
thousand people per day for some events. Fifty-five equestrian events
were staged in 1976, and the schedule now includes three Class "A"
weekend shows sponsored by the American Quarterhorse Association, and
judging for points in dressage, jumping, and other standard events. The
construction of an indoor show ring was begun in the summer of 1979, and
is expected to further expand the park's activities, especially
providing space for winter shows. The park also expects to continue its
program of week-long camps for pony clubs, and its extensive network of
bridle paths.[306]
Frying Pan Park is unique both in its attempt to interpret a style of
living which has not yet completely vanished, and in its combination of
educational and recreational facilities. Its aim is not merely to
display old-fashioned implements or provide for the enjoyment of a
special interest group. Rather it seeks to maintain a tradition of
interest in rural life and culture by continuing to pursue it actively.
The trials, hopes, and quiet pleasures of the countryside can be best
appreciated where the farm is a living entity. The richness of the
farmer's achievement is evident to the park's visitors through fairs,
horse shows, and simply in gazing at a lushly billowing field of corn.
[Illustration: Dressage competition at Frying Pan Park, 1978. Equestrian
activities have proved to be among the most popular events at the park.
Photo, Fairfax County Public Library.]
PART VI--NOTES
_Frying Pan Park_
[291] Netherton, et al., _Fairfax County_, 544-568; and Beard/Pryor,
February 27, 1979.
[292] Joseph Beard to W. T. Woodson, Fairfax, Virginia, March 26, 1957,
copy in Frying Pan Farm files, Fairfax County Park Authority (hereafter
cited as FCPA).
[293] Copy of deed, December 6, 1960, in Land Acquisitions files, Frying
Pan Farm, FCPA; and telephone conversation with Joseph Beard, April 26,
1979.
[294] Additional land was acquired as follows: .9726 acre on
condemnation award from Floyd Lee, July 5, 1962 (cost $1,250); 38 acres
bought from Floyd Kidwell, June 26, 1965 (cost $1,500 per acre); 5.2771
acres on condemnation award from Emma Neal Lee, January 29, 1965 (cost
$3,958); 3.5684 acres (including house and outbuildings) bought from
Floyd Kidwell, March 26, 1970 (cost $34,275); 19.0766 acres bought from
Annie May Poole Whittier, September, 1974 (cost $80,121.72); and
21.63898 acres on condemnation award from Robert E. Clark, May 31, 1977
(cost $173,000). It is interesting to note the rise in land prices
during these years. See Land Acquisitions records, FCPA.
[295] Beard/Pryor, February 27, 1979.
[296] See deed between Asa E. Bradshaw and Floyd Kidwell, in Fairfax
County Deed Books, Liber L-11, 297.
[297] Memorandum from Frying Pan Park Supervisory Board, April, 1972;
notes from Farm Committee, June, 1972; and "Proposed Plan for Kidwell
Farm," Frying Pan Park, January, 1974, all in Frying Pan Park files,
FCPA.
[298] John Schlebecker, _Living Historical Farms: A Walk into the Past_
(Washington, D.C., 1968), 5-16.
[299] Memorandum, April, 1972.
[300] Interview with John Hopkins, farm manager, March 6, 1979.
[301] "Henry Moffett: 'A Mighty Man,'" _Washington Star_, April 18, 1976;
notes on interview with Henry Moffett by Nan Netherton, Herndon,
Virginia, n.d., (1978).
[302] _Ibid._
[303] "4-H Bicentennial Fair at Frying Pan Farm," _Fairfax Journal_,
August 6, 1976.
[304] 1970 Annual Report, Frying Pan Farm files, FCPA.
[305] Master Plan, Frying Pan Farm, 1977, copy in files, FCPA.
[306] Annual Report, 1976, Frying Pan Park; untitled memorandum, May 3,
1974, both in files, FCPA; and Hopkins, March 6, 1979.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Manuscripts and Interviews
All transcripts and notes from interviews are in the Virginiana
Collection, Fairfax County Public Library.
Bailey, Neal. Interview by Nan Netherton. Herndon, Virginia, December
12, 1978.
Beard, Joseph. Interview by Nan Netherton and Patrick Reed. Fairfax,
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Beard, Joseph. Interview by Elizabeth Pryor. Fairfax, Virginia, January
23, 1979, and February 2, 1979.
Beard, Joseph and Holden Harrison. Interview by Elizabeth Pryor. Floris,
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Carey, Patricia M. _A Selected Bibliography of Resources on the History
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McNair, Wilson D. "What I Remember." Unpublished manuscript in
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Middleton, John and Edna. Interview by Nan Netherton. Herndon, Virginia,
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Millard, Emma. Interview by Dana Gumb. November 15, 1972.
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Peck, Richard. Interview by Nan Netherton. Herndon, Virginia, February
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Transcriber's Notes:
Underlined passages are indicated by _underline_.
Punctuation has been corrected without note.
The following misprints have been corrected:
"buildings" corrected to "building" (page 1)
"acomplishing" corrected to "accomplishing" (page 28)
missing "c" added (page 29)
"for" corrected to "from" (page 58)
"commuity" corrected to "community" (page 69)
"Febrary" corrected to "February" (page 80)
"mongraph" corrected to "monograph" (page 80)
"innnocent" corrected to "innocent" (page 108)
"familes" corrected to "families" (page 109)
"politlcal" corrected to "political" (page 110)
"alientation" corrected to "alienation" (page 110)
End of Project Gutenberg's Frying Pan Farm, by Elizabeth Brown Pryor