On 18 Sep 03, Hurricane Isabel blew through the East Coast, including the historic village of Waterford, VA, which is about five miles west of Leesburg. A large piece of a maple tree in the schoolyard of the Second Street School, the old one-room school in Waterford, fell across the oak fence around the school.
Waterford was established in 1733 by Quakers. The Second Street School was originally for the black children of the area and is now a teaching center where classes of schoolchildren come from the surrounding area to see what education was like a hundred years ago. The school is also open during the annual Waterford Fair, which is a great craft show with outstanding crafters who demonstrate their crafts throughout the three days of the Fair.
I was fortunate to be in Waterford a week after the hurricane had knocked down part of that maple tree which stands just inside the crook in the fence at the rear of the school, as you can see from the picture above. I just happened to have my chain saw in the car so, with permission from the right folks, cut several pieces of the tree to take home for bowls. I prepared certificates of authenticity for each one and took them back to sell in The Old Mill at the Waterford Fair a year later. It was a great way to preserve some of the history of the school and I felt as though I was doing my part to preserve the historical village.
If you are interested in more information about the Waterford Fair and the historical village of Waterford, VA, please click here. If you are interested in obtaining a bowl from that tree, three will be available at a fine arts and antiques auction to be held in Waterford on May 22, 2005. As of March 2005, I am finishing up three more bowls from that same tree which I will donate to the Waterford Foundation for that auction. If you click on that link above for Waterford, then select "Waterford Country Auction" from the left-hand column of the Waterford Foundation home page for more info about the auction itself.