fabric of history: Recent Episodes
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For more than one hundred years this was the Place. A community unified by kinship, workplace, church, and agrarian traditions.
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Judy Marie Johnson was born on March 22, 1942, and raised in Jamestown, NY, by her mother, Ruth Enlund Martin, and her grandparents, Richard and Sigrid Enlund. She graduated from Lycoming College and later earned a master’s degree in special education from Temple University. After graduate school, she traveled and worked in Europe, where she met her former husband, Butler Burton, with whom she had three children.
Judy lived a life marked by compassion, dedication, and activism. She worked in education and social services in Charlottesville, VA; St. Paul, MN; and the Netherlands before returning to Charlottesville in 1986, where she continued her work as an educator. She became an early advocate of the farm-to-table movement, serving as manager of the Charlottesville Farmers Market. In the late 1980s, she founded Renaissance Womyn Flowers and Gardens, designing flowers and gardens into her 80s. Judy had a deep appreciation for nature, nurturing beauty and life with every plant she tended.
She was a passionate advocate for feminist, social, and environmental causes, attending countless protests and demonstrations over the years. She loved volunteering and providing floral bouquets to The Haven, Loaves & Fishes, and many other social service organizations. Judy valued creativity and self-expression throughout her life. She nurtured a love of art in her children and delighted in creating guerilla art installations around Charlottesville. Judy also had a lifelong love of music and was a valued member of the Charlottesville Women’s Choir, the Charlottesville Threshold Singers, and the Green Grannies.
She died peacefully on June 24, 2026, in Charlottesville at the age of 84. She was preceded in death by her mother and her sister, Kathie Johnson. She is survived by her children, Hannah Laurison of Philadelphia; Benjamin Burton of New York City; and Molly Comfort of Waynesboro, VA; her seven grandchildren, Ingrid and Charlie Laurison, Mia and Dean Burton, and Liam, Claire, and Eli Comfort, and many dear friends. Her legacy lives on through those who knew and loved her. May her memory bring comfort and peace to all whose lives she touched.
Donations in Judy’s name to the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC, or Planned Parenthood are appreciated.
Compassionate Cremation Services of Ruckersville, VA is honored to serve the family.
like a bad penny
What’s happening?
In June 2025, the Board of Supervisors denied a request to dump fill in the Moore’s Creek floodplain.
The developer has fast-tracked back with a revised plan: 4 buildings + parking on a site zoned Light Industrial (not residential, not mixed-use).
The developer is already approved for and building 160,000 sq feet of light industrial space on the foot hill that drains into this flood plain and into Moore’s Creek, which outlets into the Rivanna just beyond the Woolen Mills.
Board of Supervisors meets Wednesday, January 14 at 6 PM (Lane Auditorium, 401 McIntire Rd) to hold a public hearing and vote on this matter.
Visit for more information and sign petition
Jean Visits at the Mill with Nellie Melton Annie Baltimore’s oldest sister (nee Marion) and Ethel Leathers Marion, uncle George’s wife. Both had worked at the mill.
http://historicwoolenmills.org/fabric/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Marchants-Park.mp3
Sec. 4.17.1 – Purpose.
The purposes of these outdoor lighting regulations are to protect dark skies, to protect the general welfare by controlling the spillover of light onto adjacent properties, and to protect the public safety by preventing glare from outdoor luminaires. To effectuate these purposes, these regulations regulate the direction of light emitted from certain luminaires, and limit the intensity of light on certain adjacent properties, as provided herein.
The County of Albemarle has a lighting ordinance. The building pictured above is at 475 Franklin Street, in the County.
1. The spillover of lighting from luminaires onto public roads and property in residential or rural areas zoning districts shall not exceed one-half foot candle. A spillover shall be measured horizontally and vertically at the property line or edge of right-of-way or easement, whichever is closer to the light source. (Amended 10-17-01)
2. All outdoor lighting, regardless of the amount of lumens, shall be arranged or shielded to reflect light away from adjoining residential districts and away from adjacent roads. (Added 10-17-01)
The residence pictured above is located in the City of Charlottesville across Franklin Street from the building with poorly designed lighting. Maybe the County rules only apply to light that falls in the County?
King Golden Banshee
Preservation Piedmont
invites you to join them for their third annual Labor Day Open House at the Woolen Mills Chapel, 1819 East Market Street, Monday September 1, 11:00am to 1:00pm.
Bring a bag lunch, enjoy the traditional Irish Music of King Golden Banshee.
Preservation Piedmont will provide drinks and desert.
My neighbor Roy. I met him in 1990. I was on the roof of my house and this 75 year old guy climbed the 32 foot extension ladder and introduced himself.
Two pages excerpted from: FROM PORCH SWINGS TO PATIOS
An Oral History Project of Charlottesville Neighborhoods1914 to 1984.
Prepared By The Department of Community Development, Charlottesville,Virginia, 1990
download pdfdownload pdf
Sunday May 11 thirty bipedal folk showed up for BPAC’s monthly neighborhood walking tour.
We walked and talked. Didn’t manage to go everywhere and see everything. But we did see where Woolies worked, where they went to Sunday school…
Where they were laid to rest.
Ben Chambers and Tommy Safranek of the City planned the route. Julie Basic of the Historic Resources Committee supplied an excellent historic fact sheet. The weather was perfect.
We talked about asphalt, sidewalks, fire engines, life in the 19th century, zoning, flood plain fill, alleys, easements, right sized streets, cut through traffic, historic rehabilitation, affordable housing, sewer sheds, water treatment, giant sequoias, trespassing. We talked about Dominion Power, the Railroad, Bagby Circus Grounds, Parks and Rec, the car jumping the railroad track, the car hitting a house. The senior silo. The young people taking care of the old folk. It was a hardy group. We had an excellent time.
Photo from above the site looking south-west, Franklin Street wetlands to the left, City neighborhood to the right.
Photo from above the site looking north-west, working peoples’ homes.
Photo from above the site looking north-north-east
Photo from above the site looking down. Franklin street wetland to the left, a portion of the proposed site in the middle, Carter’s Breads to the right.
Photo from above Carter’s Breads looking south
I write regarding SP202400026, a request to grade and fill 1.5 acres of the Rivanna floodplain adjacent to the seven acre Franklin Street wetland conserved by the RWSA.
Biodiverse land adjacent to river systems, land which provides inestimable environmental services being zoned as “industrial” is an obsolete and ill-informed and destructive practice.
For decades the County’s policy has been to protect wetlands and floodplains wherever possible. Retaining and restoring land cover near streams is fundamental for biodiversity, water quality and the common good. Such conservation is a first rate example of the purpose and benefits of planning. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title15.2/chapter22/section15.2-2223/
Typical site-specific studies and models almost always show flooding changes are projected to be minimal. However, the cumulative effects of reducing floodplains exact a price professional planning can avoid.
Just say no.
For decades Woolen Mills neighbors have asked the City for relief from “cut through” traffic, vehicles using neighborhood streets to avoid traffic lights. The step in that direction from the city has been signage. We are a City of literati and surely, the written word should suffice. The above is the first sign on E Market warning truck drivers.
The second sign strongly suggests that tractor trailers turn right…
Dead end! This third sign is within the area the City designates as the Woolen Mills neighborhood.
And so, vehicles proceed. Maybe they didn’t understand? Maybe they thought the warning applied to others?
I think the yellow signs are advisory. They are a suggestion. I don’t think the drivers get tickets for their incursions or suffer financial penalties for the items they break.
Recently the TJPDC voted to raise the Federal Classification of our neighborhood streets to a more intense category “minor collector”. Will that help?
Possibly employ a different advisory sign?
A page from the 1975 Street Tree Plan
The City of Charlottesville builds great paper castles.
Fifty years ago, in the spirit of Lady Bird Johnson, Charlottesville had a plan. Ours is a southern city. Walking in the summer can be insufferable. Let’s plant some trees! A great idea. It costs about ten dollars to plant a tree. The plan was to plant about 72 trees along Market Street between Meade Avenue and the county line. The outcome was one tree planted. Yes! Give that child a gold star.
Download the plan
Join Preservation Piedmont for the second annual Labor Day Open House at the Woolen Mills Chapel on Monday, September 2, 9:30 AM -11:00 AM!
Enjoy coffee, donuts and conversation with friends and neighbors, and a chance to hear the latest on Preservation Piedmont’s work to repair and revive the chapel.
Additionally, ReLeaf will be at the Chapel Open House to provide you with information on this fall’s Woolen Mills neighborhood free tree planting program.
In 1987, 73 year old Roy Jackson Baltimore introduced himself to me. Explained that I was living in his uncle John Baltimore’s house. The explaining started then and continued for decades.
Roy had much to share. He loved his neighborhood. (1516 E Market visible in the background)
Parks and Recreation is doing a master plan. Consider participating..
Parks and Recreation Dept ParkandRec@charlottesville.gov
Dear Charlottesville Parks & Recreation Stakeholder,
This is a reminder email to respond to the invite below for the Parks & Recreation Master Plan Focus Group Meetings. If you have already responded, please ignore. Thank you.
Planning is underway to develop a Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Master Plan for the Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Department. This document will guide future planning, policy, and development of Charlottesville Parks and Recreation programs and facilities for many years. The goal of the Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Master Plan is to provide a concise and user-friendly roadmap that will incorporate the community’s values to assist the City with decision-making regarding key issues.
We know you are passionate about parks and recreation and we are respectfully requesting your valuable input at an upcoming Focus Group Meeting so that the collective park and recreation vision of the community in Charlottesville can be developed.
The City of Charlottesville has contracted with PROS Consulting to conduct and develop this study and they will be in town the week of February 5th to conduct focus group meetings in-person. Our consultant, Mike Svetz, is copied on this email to assist with scheduling. We are very excited to have PROS on board as they did a fantastic job with our 2005 Master Plan. Once we hear back from the majority of you all, Mike will email to you a calendar invite for the meeting. The focus groups will be conducted IN-PERSON and will last approximately 50 minutes.
Please respond to this email by MONDAY, JANUARY 22nd with your two most preferred dates and times from the list below or if you are unable to participate.Monday February 5th:
10-10:50am, Parks & Recreation Admin Office, 501 East Main Street
11-11:50am, Parks & Recreation Admin Office, 501 East Main Street
1-1:50pm, Parks & Recreation Admin Office, 501 East Main Street
2-2:50pm, Parks & Recreation Admin Office, 501 East Main Street
6-6:50pm, Parks & Recreation Admin Office, 501 East Main Street
Wednesday February 7th:
9-9:50am, Parks & Recreation Admin Office, 501 East Main Street
10-10:50am, Parks & Recreation Admin Office, 501 East Main Street
11-11:50am, Parks & Recreation Admin Office, 501 East Main Street
1-1:50pm, Parks & Recreation Admin Office, 501 East Main Street
2-2:50pm, Parks & Recreation Admin Office, 501 East Main Street
If you are unable to attend a focus group meeting, we hope you will provide feedback on Charlottesville Parks and Recreation on the project website Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Master Plan | EngagePros (mysocialpinpoint.com).
Thank you for your interest in Charlottesville Parks and Recreation and we look forward to hearing from you one way or the other by Monday January 22nd.
Once we receive responses from most people, we will send out meeting invites to confirm your date and time no later than Wednesday January 24th.
We are looking forward to hearing back from you all.
At this point the driver has failed to see several signs regarding street usage. Tell them, tell them again, tell them again
Zoning is a tool that legislators use to direct the day to day life in their territory. Zoning can be a glass of water for a thirsty person or club against the head of an enemy.
For 40+ years, neighbors have corresponded with legislators and folk in Government about Woolen Mills zoning. This year, an advisory board member responded (thank you Lyle) but otherwise, no member of the City Council, of the deciders, has chosen to engage us in conversation.
In 2000, for the Comprehensive Plan, NDS came to the neighborhood and requested input. It was a different era.
This post is a cursory examination of zoning when used without the consideration of The People whose neighborhood will be shaped by the zoning. We are interested in why zoning practice is repeatedly bad zoning practice. We interact and interact and little changes.
Mr.Tolbert on the “very hard line between industrial and residential.” Now the hard line is between IX-5, NX-3 and residential. Carrying forward the vision of Council from 1957.
South of Market Street/Woolen Mills Road subdivision plat
A neighborhood is a living thing composed of topography, culture, people, plants, pathways, businesses, animals and architecture. Neighborhoods require planning and care. It has been So Discouraging trying to obtain planning and care from our City. Neighborhoods are sensitive.
The land affected by split parcel zoning lies in the area of the Woolen Mills between Carlton Road and Franklin Street. It is the land north of the C&O railroad tracks and south of East Market. This acreage has been the seed for multiple conflicts in the past 35 years.
7 years before the annexation of the area in eastern Woolen Mills and Harland Bartholomew and Associates has a plan to line the south side of Market all the way to the Rivanna with Industrial.
In the beginning, In the 1950’s, around the time that Council approved Harland Bartholomew’s “Workable Program for Urban Renewal” they looked down the road with guidance from HBA and made decisions regarding future zoning of Woolen Mills backyards.
AlbCo adopted zoning in the late 1960s (1969?) Zoning wasn’t a concept familiar to Woolen Mills people, planning for the zoning was done to them in advance of the 1963 annexation. We are not aware of a public process.
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This is the region of split parcel zoning, residential in the north, industrial in the south.
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With the passage of the decades the green residential boundary bordering the southern edge of Market Street has gradually been eroded.
The proposed zoning map removes another 390 feet of the residential gateway to the neighborhood on the south side of Market. For decades we have fought lot by lot to determine the zoned future of the WMN.
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The current Council expresses the intention to remediate the damage done by their predecessors in the 1950s in selected neighborhoods. I wish that Council would act with an awareness that the damage of HBA’s planning advice extended beyond Charlottesville center city.
The split parcel zoning, residential contiguous to industrial, has resulted in numerous land use conflicts over the decades. Thousands of staff and resident hours have been invested in addressing the incompatible zoning district pairings in PUD, SUP, rezoning and BZA public hearings. There have been zoning violations and lawsuits. Neighbors have breathed particulates, smelled stink and been exposed to debilitating noise. xx
The proposed zoning map needs adjustment in the Woolen Mills neighborhood.
1-pause the proposed Woolen Mills R-B zoning to avoid displacing current residents and motivating the destruction of modest homes. Talk to those who will be affected!
2-abide by the mapping logic and hold with NX-3 zoning instead of NX-8 for the Wright’s property. No ten story buildings at present!
3-Complete the Small Area Plan (SAP) formally requested by Joe Rhames on behalf of the Woolen Mills in August 1988 before up-zoning Woolen Mills residential properties beyond R-A.
Tomorrow night, City Council is expected to officially refer the new “Development Code” to the City Council. Local journalist Sean Tubbs is interested in receiving community responses to a line in the staff report which accompanies the Development Code, it … Continue reading →
Since the city and consultants first introduced the Future Land Use Map in 2021, right up until the most recent pop-ups held by consultants and NDS on the Draft Zoning Ordinance (DZO), residents have asked for visualizations of what actual Charlottesville streetscapes could look like under the new regulations. Neither the city nor its consultants have obliged. We believe that while visualizations do not function as arguments for or against the DZO, they are an indispensable tool for residents trying to form an opinion on various aspects of the proposal. We have therefore prepared several simulated visualization of specific blocks in Charlottesville — both to provide the tools that residents asked for and didn’t get and to show that there was no difficulty involved in preparing visualizations that could have reasonably prevented a competent consultant or NDS department from providing them. You can find the videos below. We anticipate the we will add more over time. If you have an area for which you’d like to see a visualization, please reach out to us via email. Please bear in mind that the purpose of the videos is to help give viewers a concrete sense of height, massing and coverage. These are not architectural renderings or surveys and are necessarily approximate. We do not suggest that the generic 3D models we used are predictive of the architectural styles developers would use or that the blocks we simulate are more likely than others to be redeveloped.–A Nonymous
petition to dial back proposed zoning
Piglet, pig, hog, our close biological cousins. Out for a stroll on Franklin Street. Not minding the absence of sidewalks.
Betty Lou and Randy
Lucian Randolph “Randy” Scruggs was born on October 6, 1936, to Lucian Scruggs Sr. and Virginia Hall Scruggs. He died on March 2, 2023.
Survivors include the love of his life, Judy Lang Scruggs; a daughter, Dr. Katherine Scruggs and her husband, Pete Smith, of Pittsburgh, Pa.; a granddaughter, Kristina Scruggs of Va. Beach, Va.; two grandsons, Patrick Scruggs and his wife, Nicole, of Richmond, Va., and Wyatt Smith of Pittsburgh, Pa.; a sister-in-law, Peggy Howdyshell and her husband, Dr. Larry Howdyshell, of Roanoke, Va., and Vicki Miller and her husband, Brian, of Charlottesville, Va., as well as a number of cousins, nieces and nephews. Randy was predeceased by his parents, Lucian and Virginia Scruggs; a sister, Betty Lou Scruggs; and a son, Rick Scruggs.
Randy lived in Charlottesville all his life where he attended McIntire School. He served in the Air Force in Korea. After his service in Korea, he worked for the U.S. Postal service for 33 years. After retiring from the Post Office, he worked at both Teague and Hill and Wood Funeral Homes. He attended University Baptist for a number of years, and belonged to Aldersgate United Methodist Church. He was a lifetime member of Elks Lodge # 389, and also belonged to the American Legion Post # 74 for over 30 years.
In his younger years, Randy was a master gardener, his gardens being the envy of the Woolen Mills Neighborhood. He enjoyed reading western novels, listening to country music and watching sports, especially the UVA Women’s Basketball teams.
Randy was generous to a fault. He lived his faith quietly and loved his family dearly and unconditionally.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 1500 East Rio Road, Charlottesville, VA 22901 or St. Jude’s Hospital.
A visitation will be held from 6 until 8p.m. Monday, March 6, 2023, at Hill and Wood Funeral Home, 201 N. 1st St., Charlottesville, Va. Funeral services will be held 2 p.m. Tuesday, March 7, 2023, at Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 1500 East Rio Road, Charlottesville, VA 22901. A graveside service will follow at Riverview Cemetery, 1701 Chesapeake Street, Charlottesville, VA 22902. Condolences may be expressed to the family at hillandwood.com.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – The Charlottesville Department of Utilities is excited to add the Arbor Day Foundation’s Energy-Saving Trees Program to its lineup of energy conservation initiatives. This partnership provides 200 free trees to Utilities customers within the City of Charlottesville, … Continue reading →
This is a tale about the 22 houses on the left. The 1300 block of Chesapeake Street. The lots are long and skinny, they are zoned R1s, they are intended for residential use. The crow’s eye view. The houses’ average … Continue reading →
The above from local independent journalist reporter Sean Tubbs. Sean thoroughly covers local events. Subscribe and support his efforts!
People in the City are nervous about the planning currently going on. What will the plan do to the City? How does the land use map work with zoning? What will it mean? The photo above is Franklin Hill, a … Continue reading →
From the fog of COVID, a draft land use map has emerged. The planning document looks to be a blue print for urban renewal and the starting gun for the teardown of affordable housing in the Woolen Mills Neighborhood. People … Continue reading →
The Charlottesville and Albemarle Railway (C&A) was a short electric street railroad operating within the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, during the early 20th century. The line was preceded by several streetcar lines operating both horse-drawn and electric powered … Continue reading →
I had a little bird, Its name was Enza. I opened the window, And in-flu-enza. In October of 1918 200,000 people died in the United States from the Spanish Flu. Thirty-seven year old David Baltimore, a son of the Woolen … Continue reading →
Walked around the Charlottesville Woolen Mill/Willowtree site yesterday. It is beautiful. Historic tax credits and Brian Roy’s vision, grit and persistence in action. It is thrilling to see the Mill buildings rehabilitated, revitalized. The quality of construction done 100+ years ago shines through. All framed by a pleasing landscape plan and a natural setting that humans have called home for millennia.
After 50+ years of quiet, the Charlottesville Woolen Mill is preparing to reengage. Very exciting!