Lifestyles - Yesteryears for Charlottesville Daily Progress

Final home for pets,presidents

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:22:00 EDT

When the final grain of sand sifted through Edwin Anderson Alderman’s hourglass of life on April 30, 1931, he was far from home.

Robbing graves to learn

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:57:00 EDT

The University of Virginia Cemetery has become a tranquil place of beauty and dignified reflection.

Cemetery wasn’t in UVa plans

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:47:00 EDT

Midway through 1828 a deadly typhoid epidemic swept through Charlottesville, mercilessly striking down young and old.

Bough broke for chestnut

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:49:00 EDT

It was a ritual of autumn that played out from Maine into the deep South.

Meadows didn’t leave men behind

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 16:09:00 EDT

One of the finest compliments I’ve ever received came from Capt. Richard “Dick” Meadows.

Meadows was a glow-in-dark guy

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 16:58:00 EDT

As he flew over the border into North Vietnam, Capt. Richard “Dick” Meadows’ face lit up.

Rock show was a magic carpet ride

Sun, 18 May 2008 04:28:00 EDT

Word of mouth was about the only advertisement needed.

Giant effort to make it in movies

Sun, 11 May 2008 01:00:00 EDT

One of the benefits of making a classic film like “Giant” is that it can be reintroduced in movie theaters every generation or so.

Comfort of water is not really new

Sun, 04 May 2008 17:38:00 EDT

When ancient Greeks, Romans and Persians discovered how comfortable goat skins filled with water were to sleep on, they ushered in a new chapter in beds.
But it wasn’t until the late 1960s that the modern water bed was made available to the general public. We can thank an enterprising San Francisco State University student named Charles Hall for that.

Thieves in the bank’s bathroom

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:27:01 EDT

The bad guys came in through the bathroom window.
Unlike the subject of the Beatles 1969 song, “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window,” these two crooks weren’t “protected by a silver spoon.” They each had automatic pistols.

Hair-raising events in 1965 courts

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:36:00 EDT

Justice may be blind, but judges usually aren’t.
Charlottesville Municipal Court Judge Allan Spitzer could see very well. When a young man approach his bench on Nov. 4, 1965, the World War II veteran didn’t like what he saw.
Spitzer apparently felt that people entering court should reflect a certain level of personal grooming out of respect for the venerable institution. When 19-year-old Jonathan Gainsbrugh failed to meet the judge’s standards, it resulted in a legal dustup that grew into a clash of principles.

Happy 500th birthday,Palladio

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 05:06:00 EDT

In 1570 a printing press in Venice, Italy, began producing a four-volume set of books that would have a profound effect on architecture throughout the Western world.
It was titled “I Quattro Libri dell’ Architettura,” which translates in English to “The Four Books of Architecture.” The author was Andrea Palladio, who, through his interpretation of classical Greek and Roman architecture, gave the world a style of architecture known as Palladianism.

‘Home’ film is reminder of old days

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 17:43:00 EDT

As frame after frame of black-and-white film whirled through the camera, the lens stayed locked on a Volkswagen bug parked at the end of a residential driveway.
Without content, the vehicle was nothing special. But viewers who saw the stark image on their television screens in 1967 knew why the camera lingered on this seemingly innocuous scene.
The car had belonged to Grandville Anthony “Tony” Jones, a young Charlottesville soldier killed in action in Vietnam on Dec. 5, 1965. Two years later when the National Education Television network made the documentary film “Home Front 1967” the forlorn Volkswagen became one of the program’s most poignant and powerful images.

Searching for the secret to … good vibrations

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:42:00 EDT

“One of the qualities I aim for in my instruments is a quality you can hear in really great instruments, which is that the sound seems to be coming from everywhere.”

YESTERYEARS: Gardner help start local school

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:02:01 EDT

When the guns of war fell silent in the spring of 1865, much of the South lay in shambles. For four years the Civil War had raged back and forth across Virginia soil. With peace came the opportunity to rebuild, but Reconstruction was not just about clearing rubble, erecting new buildings and repairing the infrastructure.

Vested interest

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 19:02:00 EDT

A single glance at the beautifully embroidered vest can add a new dimension to one’s mental image of President James Monroe.