“We have received word that Dominion’s transmission services has dropped the wholesale power feed to CVEC’s Mount Rush substation in Buckingham County affecting 1435 Cooperative members, as well as others. CVEC must await the efforts of Dominion to locate the issue and restore service and CVEC will share information as it become available.”
Roseland
Nelson County, VA
In spite of cooler temps and drizzle today, there’s no question Spring is in the air! Kat Turner grabbed a colorful shot this week in Roseland. Just a reminder that we don’t have much longer to go until warmer days settle in!
Wintergreen Resort
Nelson County, Virginia
In what’s become an Ode to Winter, the annual Splash & Dash (or Pond Skimming) was held this past Saturday at Wintergreen Resort. This year’s event included 45 contestants.
Thanks to David Brokamp for the video above. Danny Watson of Nellysford successfully makes it over the pond this past Saturday – March 21, 2015.
To see all of Paul’s photos from the event, click on our Facebook album above.
Though the calendar says it’s officially spring, winter can still play a few tricks on us in the coming days, but for the most part minds are now on warmer days ahead!
Wintergreen Resort
Nelson County, VA
With just hours to spare Old Man Winter dropped an inch or so of snow in the mountains at Wintergreen Resort Friday morning. Despite Spring’s arrival at 6:45 PM eastern time Friday evening, Winter had to make one last run while in the official season.
Not to worry! Tommy says the first full day of Spring on Saturday will be mostly sunny and temps in the low to mid 60’s!
Bold Rock Hard Cider has announced plans to begin producing its award-winning craft cider at a new facility in Mills River, N.C., near Asheville, this spring. This marks a significant move in the expansion of the growing regional craft cidery that has steadily increased East Coast distribution and is now offered from Pennsylvania through South Carolina.
Like Bold Rock’s flagship production facility in Virginia, the operation on School House Road in Mills River will make craft cider from locally apples picked at nearby orchards. In North Carolina apples will be sourced from Hendersonville-based Apple Wedge Packers, a fifth-generation family-owned business that has been operating for over 150 years.
Opening in 2012, Bold Rock formed out of the partnership between John Washburn and Brian Shanks. Washburn owned a picturesque piece of farmland in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Central Virginia, and he contacted Shanks to see if the New Zealand native and world-renowned cider expert with more than three decades of experience in the industry would be interested in working his magic with locally picked Virginia apples. The two fast friends have since put together a rapidly growing operation, turning Bold Rock into one of the fastest-growing craft cider companies in the country.
When it came time to plot expansion, Washburn and Shanks found what they needed in the mountains of western North Carolina, a region that offers a perfect extension of what the partners have created up the Blue Ridge chain in Virginia. Washburn has family roots in the area and was excited about bringing business to a place where he spent much of his youth. Upon visiting, Shanks took a bite of a Henderson County apple and quickly realized he’d found some of the best-tasting fruit in the world. With a dedication to working with local growers, the Bold Rock founders decided to come to the source.
“My experience over the years with the production of hard cider around the world has taught me about the importance of access to the very best fruit,” says Shanks. “Finding such a rich resource in Henderson County made this area the perfect fit for Bold Rock’s southern expansion. We really are truly looking forward to crafting, bottling and distributing Bold Rock Hard Cider from this site and becoming a contributing partner of the local economy.”
Bold Rock is schedule to begin production in Mills River in May 2015.
Bold Rock Hard Cider is one of the fastest-growing craft cider companies in the country. A winner of more than 30 awards in the past two years, Bold Rock produces a range of ciders, all made from apples locally grown and handpicked in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and North Carolina. As the nation’s largest independently owned cider company, Bold Rock is quickly ramping up distribution throughout the East Coast, now delivering across the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast from Pennsylvania through South Carolina.
Nellysford
Nelson County, VA
No doubt you’ve seen the bucket trucks along Route 151 in the Rockfish Valley of Nelson over the past several weeks. It’s part of an ongoing project by Central Virginia Electric to upgrade the transmission line in the Nellysford area. This also required replacing poles along the way.
“CVEC has been working on a major project to upgrade the transmission line and Nellysford circuit of the distribution line out of the Martins Store substation. This required installing new utility poles and adding a second circuit to the distribution line. When complete there will be additional capacity to ensure service reliability and that we meet the energy demands of the Cooperiative members in that area. Mastec is one of the utility contractors performing the work. A good portion of the project will be complete in the near future and the final elements will be complete by August,” Greg Kelly, Director Of Member Services with CVEC, tells us.
The project is expected to continue into the late summer. Crews are being extremely careful while making the improvements to prevents linemen from getting hurt.
“CVEC normally operates with our protective devices, known as reclosers, set to attempt to re-energize a line multiple times when a temporary fault occurs, such as a tree branch brushing against the electric line. With construction crews working in a hot environment, the reclosers are set on “one-shot” meaning that a temporary fault will de-energize the line immediately as a safety precaution.”
Photo Courtesy of Tucker Hughes : A brilliant sunrise greeted folks waking up across the Blue Ridge Monday morning – March 16, 2015. This was on Route 151 in Nelson County near Afton Family Medicine.
Central Virginia Blue Ridge
75 degrees to start off the week and a glorious sunrise, our Facebook feed was full of the pretty views Monday morning.
Our Facebook feed had lots of pretty shots of the sunrise pics.
Yes, winter is still officially here, but its days are numbered!
Roseland / Beech Grove
Nelson County, Virginia
If you went in for a long lunch Wednesday afternoon at Devils Backbone Brewing Basecamp in Roseland and came back out 2-3 hours later, you might have been just a touch confused on where you parked! Around 1:30 house moving crews started the slow journey of moving the historic Arrington Train Depot from the south side of the lot. It ended up resting very near the actual restaurant. The historic train station was originally reassembled at DB back in December 2007.
“This will be part of our overall expansion that will eventually become known as Devils Backbone Basecamp Brewpub & Meadows,” said Steve Crandall, founder and owner of the highly successful brewery and restaurant.
The historic Arrington Train Depot was reassembled on the grounds at Devils Backbone back in December 2007. Notice in the background the restaurant was not constructed just yet.Justin Crandall (left) of Tectonics II Builders in Roseland along with his dad, Steve Crandall (center) discuss the move across the parking lot on Wednesday afternoon – March 11, 2015.Crews put final touches on setting the historic Arrington Train Depot in place next to the signature Basecamp Restaurant – Wednesday afternoon – March 11, 2015.
Be looking for more as the project unfolds in the coming months.
Thanks to Stuart Smith of Roseland for the photo above. : The Nelson Middle School Gym was packed Tuesday evening – March 10, 2015 during another Dominion Open House in Lovingston.
Lovingston
Nelson County, VA
It was a packed house Tuesday night in Lovingston as countless people turned out to learn more about a proposed 42″ natural gas pipeline that would go through Nelson and adjoining counties, eventually terminating in NC.
Earlier in the day the Nelson Board of Supervisors passed a resolution asking that eminent domain not be used, or minimally, to take the property of citizens in Nelson in order to build the pipeline.
