The James Madison Museum of Orange County Heritage

10/12/2026

Ridge to Root: A Special Night Where Two Legacies Converge at the Table 🍷🌱🧡

In 1976, Edna Lewis’s The Taste of Country Cooking celebrated the power of local, seasonal food. That same year, Barboursville Vineyards began its 50-year journey of expressing Virginia’s terroir through w**e.

On Thursday, November 5, join Barboursville Vineyards and the The Edna Lewis Foundation for Ridge to Root—an evening honoring two enduring Virginia legacies through storytelling, w**e tastings, and a family-style dinner.

Inspired by The Taste of Country Cooking, Chef Leah Branch will prepare a menu rooted in Miss Lewis’s documented food traditions, with storytelling led by emcee Deb Freeman.

📍 Barboursville Vineyards, Virginia
📅 Thursday, November 5
🍽 Food, w**e & storytelling

To learn more and purchase tickets, please use the link below 👇
https://www.theednalewisfoundation.org/tocc50

10/06/2026

09/25/2026

What does freedom look like when it becomes a community?
In Orange County, Virginia, one answer can be found in Freetown, a historic African American community in the Lahore area that took shape after emancipation.

Here, formerly enslaved African Americans and their descendants did more than begin again—they built. They established homes and farms, raised families, formed churches and schools, and created networks of faith, education, work, and mutual support that strengthened generations.

Freetown reminds us that emancipation was not simply a moment in history. For African American families, freedom also meant the long work of creating communities, securing opportunities, educating children, preserving family ties, and building something that could be passed from one generation to the next.

And Freetown’s legacy reached far beyond Orange County. Among its descendants was celebrated chef and author Edna Lewis, who was born in Freetown in 1916. The traditions she learned growing up in this close-knit farming community—the rhythms of the seasons, fresh ingredients, family gatherings, and food prepared with care—would later become central to the stories she shared with the nation.

But Freetown’s history belongs to more than the pages of a history book.
It lives in the memories of families.
This week’s challenge: Ask an elder what they remember about Freetown, Lahore, or another historic Black community in Orange County. Write down the names. Record the stories. Identify the people in old photographs. Ask another question.

SEND US YOUR STORIES & PHOTOS
Share your family stories, memories, photographs, documents, names, and community history with the Orange County African American Historical Society. What you know may help preserve a piece of Orange County history that might otherwise be lost.
Your family’s story is part of Orange County’s story.
Learn more and connect with OCAAHS at ocaahs.org

09/23/2026

The museum will be closed today. We apologize for the inconvenience.

09/18/2026

On October 17th, join the Orange County Public Library at the Orange County, VA Airport for a presentation on Tuskegee airman Captain Andrew Maples, Jr., a native of the Town of Orange, Virginia who grew up on Church St. and lost his life near Italy in 1944.

A historical marker about Capt. Maples can be found southeast of Coopers Cookin and Catering LLC and the The James Madison Museum of Orange County Heritage.

This event is made possible with support by the Smithsonian.