Schuyler
Nelson County, Virginia
By Tommy Stafford
Just over a year ago on March 24, 2016 Earl Hamner, Jr died. He was the creator of the highly popular TV series The Waltons. The long running show was based on Hamner’s childhood experiences growing up in Schuyler, Virginia during the depression era.
This past weekend many of the surviving cast members of the show and thousands of fans returned to the place that inspired the stories acted out on television in the 1970s and 80s.
The reunion was an idea put together by Ray Castro. He and others recently produced and released a biography on Earl Hamner’s life called Earl Hamner Storyteller. The project was completed and released a few months before Hamner’s death.
“For me, he was kind of like a father figure — he was a mentor,” said Earl’s documentarian, creator of the documentary Earl Hamner Storyteller, and organizer of The Walton’s 45th Anniversary event, Ray Castro.
The weekend events at Schuyler ended with a Sunday morning memorial service remembering the late Earl Hamner, Jr.
