The movie theater hiding inside a Culpeper mountain
Culpeper HQ
Front Porch
The Remarkable Things Hiding Close to Home
Photo by Library of Congress
Some weeks remind us that you do not have to travel very far to find something remarkable.
There is a mountain in Culpeper holding millions of pieces of America's recorded memory. There is a local farm that has welcomed children from Camp Fantastic for 23 years. There are polo ponies, sloths doing yoga and a free movie theater where Top Gun is preparing to buzz the tower.
Malinda and I spend a lot of time encouraging people to be tourists where they live. This week, we found several good reminders that there is still plenty in our own backyard we have not seen, experienced or fully appreciated.
Partner Spotlight
The Final Seats at the Table
On August 29, GATHER will welcome guests to Historic Salubria for Provision & Forage, a five-course communal dinner inspired by Virginia's early table.
The evening brings together food, history and place through dishes shaped by the moment when Old World provisions met ingredients found in the fields, forests and waterways of the New World. Guests will share a welcome gathering, curated beverages, a five-course dinner, historical insight and one long table inside one of Culpeper County's most remarkable settings.
Only a handful of tickets remained at the time of publication. If you have been thinking about joining us, this is the moment to claim a seat.
One of the most remarkable movie theaters in America is hidden inside a Culpeper mountain. The story of how it got there involves a Cold War bunker, a billionaire and a national treasure.
Before Mount Pony became home to millions of films, recordings and broadcasts, the Cold War bunker stored billions of dollars in reserve currency. The money was intended to help replenish the nation's cash supply following a catastrophic attack.
Today, the mountain protects a different kind of national treasure: America's recorded memory.
What to Do This Week
Five Good Reasons to Leave the House
The fair is back, the sloths are stretching, polo ponies are charging, and Top Gun is returning to the big screen. Here are five good reasons to leave the house this week.
Five days of rides, games, fair food and live music on the midway. Thursday brings the annual Firemen’s Parade at 6:30 p.m., Saturday adds a lawn and garden tractor pull, and admission and parking are free. It is everything a small-town summer fair should be, including at least one food decision you may reconsider on the ride home.
Yoga generally encourages you to slow down. Sloth Yoga removes any remaining ambiguity. Stretch, breathe and practice alongside some highly qualified relaxation consultants from Gracie’s Backyard. Advance registration is required.
After reading about the remarkable movie theater hiding inside Mount Pony, you can experience it for yourself. The Packard Campus is screening the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun with free admission and seating available on a first-come, first-served basis. Aviator sunglasses remain optional but emotionally appropriate.
August 16, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. | Liberty Hall Polo Club
Military teams take the field for an afternoon of polo celebrating America’s 250th anniversary. Expect fast horses, skilled riders and considerably more coordination than most of us can manage while standing still.
A mystery has arrived at the vineyard, and guests are invited to help solve it. Gather your sharpest friends, follow the clues and remember that accusing someone before the second glass of wine is generally considered poor detective work.
There are certain sentences you never expect your wife to say.
"We need an astronaut" is one of them.
Malinda had been asked through District Talent to help provide entertainment for a Camp Fantastic field trip in Culpeper. Apparently, NASA was unavailable. This meant the honor fell to the next most qualified candidate: a middle-aged man whose experience with space travel consisted mainly of complaining about the legroom on commercial airplanes.
This week took us from a mountain preserving America's memories to a farm creating new ones.
Somewhere in between, we found a free movie, a long dinner table, polo ponies, yoga sloths and one astronaut whose space program remains severely underfunded.
That is a fairly good picture of Culpeper. Remarkable things are happening all around us, often behind doors we have passed a hundred times or because neighbors quietly keep showing up year after year.
Go see something. Help someone. Pull up a chair. And if your wife asks whether you own a spacesuit, remember that "why?" is probably the safer first response.
With ❤️ from Culpeper - Malinda & Tim
Culpeper HQ is a weekly local guide to who to know and what to do in Culpeper.
If you liked this issue, forward it to one friend who keeps saying, “I never know what’s going on around here.”
We’ll be back next Wednesday with more local stories, weekend picks, and small-town discoveries hiding in plain sight.
