Wine and dinosaurs? It’s happening

By Catherine Amos

Published: June 5, 2008

First there was Third Thursday. Now, there’s First Friday.

The Museum of Culpeper History will host its first “Libations on the Lawn” social mixer tonight on this first Friday of June, a summertime fundraising effort initiated by museum director Lee Langston-Harrison.

“It’s an awesome chance to do something socially,” Langston-Harrison said, “and while you’re here drinking, I’m going to talk to you about history. Not get it in your face, but while you’re walking around with your nice glass of wine from a local vineyard.”

The event will feature “rowdy” Irish band Whiskey Wagon and wine from Old House Vineyards. The entrance fee includes a wine glass and hors d’oeuvres. Langston-Harrison said she borrowed the idea from a small museum in Tidewater that has weekly “Cocktails on the Creek” and adapted it for Culpeper.

“Libations on the Lawn” will return each first Friday through September except July — that first Friday also happens to be July 4. Langston-Harrison said she hoped the event would become an institution to bring back each summer as a way to introduce more people to the museum.

“There’s no hidden agenda,” she said. “I just want people to come and enjoy the museum. There’s just so much here, and for some reason I just can’t break through to the community that we’re here for the community.”

Despite running on a shrinking budget, the museum remains free to town and county residents and features a variety of historical and geographical exhibits detailing facts about Culpeper. Langston-Harrison said they raised money through grants and memberships, relying on that even more after losing a third of the budget from government cuts. The museum’s numbers are higher than last year, but revenue is down, she said.

Though she is spending much of her time fundraising, Langston-Harrison said developing exhibits was her true love. She spent 30 years as a curator and said she loves to haunt the museum’s vault, where she finds treasures such as original slave shackles.

“You don’t need a lot of money,” she said. “You just need a lot of hutzpah. I love what I’m doing. We just really need to get people in. If I can get you into the museum, I can get you to come back.”
Ameriprise Financial is sponsoring tonight’s “Libations on the Lawn,” so most of the money raised will go back to the museum. There will also be a raffle for a large gift basket filled with local wine, food and chocolates.

“I think it’s an exciting new event and I hope that some local people who are not familiar with the museum will come and get introduced to it,” said board member Mary Jo Browning. “We are interested in getting people coming to support us. Any way we can get people to come and have a peep is a good idea.”

Museum member and volunteer Sarah Francis Hays agreed. Hays owns an antique shop and volunteers her time fundraising and appraising historical items.

“I think it’s an inventive way to raise money for the museum since we are going to miss the state and local contributions,” Hays said. “It’s quite dire. As well as getting a little social focus for those of us who are interested in the arts and culture of Culpeper history. I’m hoping to find kindred spirits.”

Kindred spirits interested in history like Langston-Harrison, who has served as director for the museum for nearly two years.

“I like social history,” she said. “I can give you the facts of when these battles were held, but I think it’s really much more exciting to find out why. Why in the world were people coming to Culpeper? Well it turns out it’s this really cool place. There’s so much history here that people think, ‘Oh God, history.’ But history isn’t just for the historians.”

Catherine Amos can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 138 or .