Tornado devastates Woodville . . . Decades later, hippies call it home

“Woodville’s history is a series of layers, and one of those layers was the 1960s and 70s when the hippies came to the community,” said local historian Misty Hitt Wright whose family ties to the village date back to the 1840s.

Beginning in the mid 1960s, William Lane of Chicago began buying up farms and estates in the area, including Little Eldon, Mountain Home and Clover Hill, and combined the properties into what he named Eldon Farms.

“It was a tough time in agriculture and the older generation weren’t farming as much back then,” said Henry B. Wood III, whose family line goes back nine or 10 generations. “They were ready to sell their property, so Mr. Lane was able to purchase thousands of acres of farmland and forest.” 

Many of the farms had tenant houses for workers and their families. “When the farms were sold and owners and tenants left, Woodville lost a lot of its population and that affected what businesses were left in the community,” said Wood.

In the ‘back to the land’ movement in the 1960s and 70s, Eldon Farms became a popular destination for young people seeking alternative lifestyles. 

“I remember the free-spirited types were scattered in those houses all around Eldon and would come down to our general store to buy groceries and supplies,” said Richie Burke, whose family owned Burke’s Store in Woodville.

Sam Cliffton, a retired builder who lives with his wife, Kate, off Whorton Hollow Road, moved to Woodville in 1973 and leased a large stone house – paying $125 a month rent, half of what he paid for a tiny apartment in New York. “It was heaven,” he said. “We had hot and cold running water which was a real plus. Most of the old tenant houses on Eldon where my friends lived didn’t have plumbing.”

On Thursdays, Cliffton would invite friends from the Spyder Mountain commune near Sperryville to come down for a hot bath. “Our place was a pretty popular hangout,” he said.

Later, Cliffton moved to a house on Red Oak Mountain where he lived for 14 years. “I never met the landlord, who lived in the D.C. area, or paid rent on that house, although we kept it up quite nicely. That’s just the way things were back then,” he said.

“The old-time village folks graciously accepted us newcomers,” said Cliffton. When their son, Smith, was born in the house on Red Oak Mountain, Betty Wood, the wife of long-time village resident and county supervisor H.B. Wood, gifted them a blanket she had knitted and a Bible. “She said our son was the first child born on the mountain in 80 years. You can’t beat that for neighborliness.” 

Burke, who now is the construction and property manager at Eldon Farms, said about 25 of the tenant houses, some of which fell into disrepair, were torn down or had burned down. “Back around 1980 the Sperryville Fire Department burned a lot of houses for training purposes,” he said.

Tornado and its aftermath

During the turn of the last century, Woodville’s community life revolved around its four churches: St. Paul’s Episcopal, Woodville Baptist Church, Shiloh Baptist Church and the Woodville Methodist Church; a Temperance Hall where town meetings, dances and concerts were held; the elementary and high school; and the post office and general stores, where area residents would gather to catch up on the local news. The “Woodville Academy and Tennis Club” also was a popular spot. 

When a powerful tornado struck in May of 1929, it flattened the schoolhouse, killing one child and injuring four others.  Many homes and other buildings were crushed or damaged. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and the Woodville Baptist Church were completely destroyed. The Baptist church was rebuilt, but all that remains today of St. Paul’s is its cemetery. The Methodist church was knocked off its foundation and later was torn down. Only Shiloh Baptist Church escaped the storm’s fury. 

“The town never really recovered from that tornado,” said John Tole, president of the Rappahannock Historical Society. 

More recent efforts to revitalize the town’s community spirit picked-up when the village marked its 200-year anniversary in 1998.

“In 1997, we realized that the village was going to be 200 years old, so some of us came together and started the Woodville Community Organization (WCO) to plan for a bicentennial celebration,” said Jeff Light, a local resident and pastor of NOVUM Baptist Church in Reva, Va.

“We wanted to celebrate not just Woodville, but the entire county through a history parade and festival that showcased significant events in Rappahannock’s history. Our aim was to involve as many diverse groups as possible and revitalize our community along with neighboring villages and hamlets,” he said. 

The parade had 126 entries – floats, marching groups, live bands, re-enactors and dozens of antique cars. “We even worked with the post office, with thanks to (architect, artist and active community member) Tom Tepper, to have a personalized cancellation stamp to be used at the celebration,” said Light.

Before it disbanded around 2000, the WCO was instrumental in reducing the speed limit in the village to 35 mph, constructing the village’s boundary signs and expanding the shoulder of U.S. Route 522 through the village for safer pedestrian movement. 

An ‘idyllic’ place

What Woodville lacks in size and amenities it makes up for in its beauty.

“Our little village is in a valley between two massive open tracts of land, with towering Red Oak Mountain on one side and Eldon Farms, on the other,” said Van Carney, Stonewall-Hawthorne district supervisor, who lives in the village with his wife, Julia, and their three sons. “The topology and natural resources around us provide an ecological oasis full of wildlife, night skies and peaceful solitude. It is a wonderful place to raise a family.” 

Lynnie and John Genho agree. Both were in their mid-20s when they moved to Woodville from upstate New York in 2005. “We couldn’t believe our eyes when we arrived here,” said Lynnie. “It was so beautiful, it was like a place where you’d want to retire,” she said. John, who was hired as farm manager at Eldon Farms, remembers asking, “This place is idyllic, where do we go from here?”

“The village doesn’t have a fire department, post office, or stores where residents can congregate, but it’s the little things we do to keep the community spirit strong,” said Lynnie. “Lots of folks go for walks down Hawlin Road or up the Red Oak Mountain Road, so you are always meeting your neighbors and catching up on things.

“During the Covid years, when there was no Christmas parade in Little Washington, a group of neighbors got together and decorated the old store at Rudasill Mill Road and U.S. 522 with lights and ornaments. It was a wonderful community activity,” she said.

Lynnie hopes someday one or two acres of land along Hawlin Road could be set aside as a playground and gathering place for local kids and families. “You’d be surprised at the number of children that live in or near Woodville,” she said. “Having a place where they could congregate would be great for the community.”

A continuing concern for residents is motorists speeding through the village. The sheriff’s deputies regularly stakeout the village stretch of U.S. Route 522 for speeders, but problems persist. 

“Some years back residents were able to get the speed limit through the village reduced from 55 mph to 35 mph,” said Carney.  “But despite the lower speed limit, people still cruise through the village at high speeds. It is quite dangerous given how close many homes are to the road.”

In an effort to slow traffic, Carney is working to get solar-powered speed sensors placed at each end of the village to warn drivers they are speeding. “I’m very sensitive to this and will continue to do whatever we can with VDOT to slow traffic down,” he said.

Woodville’s future 

As for the future, most people interviewed for this article expect things will stay just as they are in Woodville. Although they mentioned one caveat – the future use of Eldon Farms.

The property primarily is a cattle operation, although several rental homes are scattered around the estate. Clover Hill, one of the oldest homes on the property dating back to 1750, serves as a venue for functions, including the John Jackson Blues Festival, Headwater’s Harvest Festival and other community activities.

“With Rappahannock County only 70 miles from Washington, D.C., its greatest asset is also its greatest liability, and that is its beautiful open space,” Eldon Farms’ owner Chuck Akre said. “Our ultimate goal is to preserve that open space for the county, and its residents.”

Akre expects entertainment and community events will continue at the Clover Hill venue – the John Jackson Piedmont Blues Festival is Sept. 30 and Headwaters Harvest Festival is scheduled for Oct 7. Currently, fees are not collected for these types of events, but that might change.

 “Outdoor entertainment events are a way of preserving open space but they do cost money to host,” said Akre. “At some point it would be nice if they would at least pay for themselves.”

Martha O’Bannon Hitt, who grew up at Clover Hill before it was sold to William Lane, fondly remembers her days on the farm. “We rode horses, helped drive cows, fed the hogs, all the fun things you do on a farm,” she said. “I couldn’t think of a better place to grow up.”

As for the future, Hitt believes change won’t come anytime soon. “I don’t think Woodville is going to change a lot, so long as it doesn’t get developed by the new owner of Eldon Farms, and I don’t think he will anytime soon,” she said.

The Tornado: Woodville would never be the same again 

 On Thursday, May 2, 1929, Woodville changed forever.

There was little warning. A powerful tornado touched down, destroying the school, churches, homes and other buildings. Lives were lost.

The four-room Woodville School was particularly hard hit. According to reports in theMadison Eagle,about 40 students were at the school. As winds began to rock the building, teachers dismissed the students.

Many found refuge in nearby homes. Others weren’t as lucky.

As parents began searching for their children, Marshall Hawkins, 14, was found dead near the school, his neck broken by a flying door. Others were blown into nearby fields and sustained life-threatening injuries. Two teachers suffered cuts and bruises.

Had he lived, Marshall Hawkins would have been the uncle of Diane Bruce who lives in Sperryville. “My mother, Marshall’s sister, was at the high school in Sperryville when the tornado hit,” said Bruce. “They had no idea what happened, but when she returned to Woodville on the school bus, she said she saw destruction everywhere. People were just staggering around with mud all over them, clothes torn and had looks of bewilderment,” she said.

The tornado struck close to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church which was destroyed and never rebuilt. The Woodville Baptist Church, which had just been remodeled, also was leveled, but later rebuilt. The Methodist Church was pushed off its foundation and later was torn down in the 1950s.

A number of homes were destroyed. The Botts’ house lay in ruins, except for the bedroom where Cora Botts lay in her bed unharmed.  According to legend, she was found singing a hymn and covered with sheets of the Virginia Baptist newspaper, The Religious Herald,which she said had protected her.

Part of the school’s roof ended up in a field 10 miles away near Ben Venue. The school’s piano was lifted over a hill and landed 100 yards away. A student’s schoolbook was found in Jefferson County, W.Va., some 50 miles away.

“The destruction here was complete as ever witnessed,” reported the Culpeper Star Exponent.

The path of the tornado continued up Red Oak Mountain in a northeasterly direction and into Fauquier County. Before it left Rappahannock, it claimed three more lives – a man near Rock Mills, and a woman and her child near Ben Venue.

A new two-room elementary school was built on the site later that year. Closed in 1954, it now is a private residence.

Woodville was one of many Virginia communities to be struck that day. 

Five tornadoes, stretching from Scott County, in southwest Virginia, to Loudon County, in the north, caused widespread devastation, reportedly killing 22 people and injuring dozens more. So deadly was the tornado outbreak, that the weather service in Virginia designates the first week in May as Severe Storm Awareness Week.

— Bob Hurley for Foothills Forum

Who’s Who of Woodville

“For such a small village, Woodville was a pretty diverse community,” said Henry B. Wood III, a Woodville native and 10th generation descendant of the Wood and Johnson families. “Over the years, the area had its share of famous and not so famous people.”

Dr. James Gideon Brown – Woodville physician, Dr. James Gideon Brown, graduated second in the class of 1889 at the University of Pennsylvania medical school. He served the village population for decades. “As a diagnostician, his opinions are sought and accepted by the profession, for in this he is a genius,” Mary Elizabeth Hite wrote in “My Rappahannock Story Book.” Dr. Brown passed away in 1950. He is buried with his wife at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cemetery.

Gerald Stanley Hawkins –British born American astronomer, Gerald Hawkins, worked in the field of archeoastronomy, a discipline focused on the practices of ancient cultures as they related to celestial objects or phenomena. He served as professor and chair of the astronomy department at Boston University in 1957, and from 1969-71 as a dean at Dickinson College, in Carlisle, Pa. Hawkins is best known for his 1965 book Stonehenge Decoded. He believed the ancient monument, located in England, was arranged in a way to predict astronomical events. Although some experts were skeptical of his analysis, others have built upon his work. After working academia, Hawkins finished his career as a science advisor at the U.S. Information Agency, retiring in 1989. He died in 2003 and is buried at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cemetery.

Emily Jane Hilscher –Woodville resident and 2006 Rappahannock High School graduate, Emily Hilscher tragically died at the hands of a gunman during the Virginia Tech shootings in April 2007. Not only the county, but the nation mourned. She was the first of 32 victims who lost their lives that day. A freshman, Emily was majoring in animal and poultry sciences and had her sights set on becoming a veterinarian. Her obituary reads: “She was an animal lover, skilled horsewoman, and an enthusiastic cook. Her free and imaginative spirit and innate talents led to the creation of a variety of artistic treasures that she shared with those whom she loved.”

John Jackson – Famous “Piedmont blues” singer and guitarist, John Jackson, a Woodville native, grew up in the 1920s in a musical family with 13 siblings. His first songs were recorded in the early 1960s. Over the years he recorded 10 albums; toured the world, playing at concerts and festivals; and performed at the White House during President Jimmy Carter’s administration. In 1986, Jackson received the prestigious National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. He passed away in 2002.

James “Jack” Kilpatrick – Syndicated columnist and television commentator, “Jack” Kilpatrick moved to Woodville in the late 1960s yet he used the dateline  “Scrabble” in his newspaper columns as he thought it would be more fetching. During the 1950s and early 1960s he was editor of the Richmond News Leader in Richmond, Va. Known for his conservative political views he appeared in the 1970s on the television news program, 60 Minutes, opposite liberal commentators. An early booster of The Inn at Little Washington, Kilpatrick appeared in a photo on the cover of the 1987 Rappahannock County calendar along with Patrick O’Connell and the inn’s staff.

Sen. Eugene McCarthy – A Democratic presidential candidate in the 1968 election, Sen. Eugene McCarthy moved to Amissville and then Woodville in 1977 after he retired from politics. “He fully embraced the community and the rural way of life here,” said his daughter, Ellen. McCarthy often asked his Washington, D.C., friends for money so he could buy their postage stamps at Woodville’s post office. “He loved that little post office and wanted to do everything he could to keep it open,” she said. McCarthy passed away in 2005 and is buried with his daughter and significant other at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cemetery.

Frank McGee – NBC News journalist Frank McGee covered politics, moderated the second Richard Nixon-John F. Kennedy presidential debate in 1960 and later covered the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. In the late 1960s, he hosted the “Frank McGee Report,” an in-depth news program. He anchored the NBC Nightly News in 1970, after which he co-hosted the Today Show until 1974, the year he died. McGee and his wife are buried at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cemetery.

Dr. Dinwiddie Phillips – Physician in the Confederate States Navy, Dr. Dinwiddie Phillips served as surgeon on the Confederate ironclad warship the Merrimack. He wrote the first account of the famous naval battle in 1862 between the Merrimack and the Union ironclad warship, the Monitor. Dinwiddie is buried in St. Paul’s Episcopal Cemetery.

Florence “Flossie” Williamson – Known as the “Herb Lady of Woodville,” Florence “Flossie” Williamson inspired Rappahannock’s herb business which eventually led to the establishment of Faith Mountain Herbs and Antiques in the mid-1970s, and later Green Comfort School, Abracadabra Massage and Wellness and Wild Roots Apothecary. In the late 1950s Williamson came up with the idea of selling floral art at what would become the annual Trinity Episcopal Church House Tour,  the proceeds of which went to local charities.

— Bob Hurley for Foothills Forum