New Online Journal Offers Entertaining ‘Anecdotes’

Interesting and sometimes amusing anecdotes about Rockbridge are available in a new, free online magazine called, aptly, “Rockbridge Anecdotes,” a companion to the more formal series “Rockbridge Epilogues.”

“Anecdotes” are available without any signup requirement at www.Rockbrige-Anecdotes.org. More than a dozen stories are currently available, The first several “Anecdotes” are vignettes excerpted from Nannie Jordan’s 1937 memoir, “Smiles and Tears of Other Years.” That memoir consists of rambling, unconnected reminiscences, usually brief and often hilarious, by a well-loved Lexington school teacher who was born before the Civil War. The manuscript was uncovered in Special Collections at Washington and Lee University’s library. Apparently never published, it was written the year after publication of Henry Boley’s famous, whimsical history, “Lexington in Old Virginia,” which it resembles closely in style.

Other “Anecdotes” range from the story of Mel Greenberg, the self-proclaimed Hollywood producer who for weeks in 1972 fooled the entire community into thinking he was making a musical about Stonewall Jackson, to a fond recollection of the day in 2004 when the Lexington train station was moved across McLaughlin Street, to the 1934 night when Tucker Hall burned to the ground in an act that many believe was justifiable arson.

“Anecdotes” differ from their sibling “Epilogues” because the latter are wellresearched by authors who are typically associated with a local discussion club or one of the area colleges. “Anecdotes,” on the other hand, are the sort of stories that do not rise to the level of scholarship but which, however, deserve to be kept alive.

New “Anecdotes” will be added frequently, though not on a regular schedule. Bob Keefe is the manager of “Rockbridge Anecdotes” as well as editor of “Epilogues,” although only the latter has the blessing of both the Historical Lexington Foundation and Rockbridge Historical Society. Another difference is that “Epilogues” also has a professional editorial board that reviews every article.