These series of photographs were taken the last week in September 1999.

The museum, on Rt. 617 and Rt. 800 in Schuyler, is open 7 days 10 a.m. to 4 p.m, March to November. A small admission is charged. Admission to the museum is free if you are a member of The Friends Of The Waltons. Membership to the group will "support the work of The Museum in perpetuating the family values represented by the TV series". Walton's Mountain Museum, P.O. Box 124, Schuyler, Virginia 22969. Their telephone number is 804.831.2000.

Earl Hamner Jr. created the story behind the Waltons television series based on his own family's experiences growing up during the Depression era in this rural village of Schuyler. The school building he and his brothers and sisters attended has been converted to a museum that contains nostalgic memorabilia, replicas of the sets created for the TV series, and an audio-visual presentation.

The people of the Walton's Mountain Museum can be reached at (address) Post Office Box 124, Schuyler, VA 22969, (phone) 804.831.2000, (URL) http://www.waltonmuseum.org.

The following is an excerpt (Blue Ridge Chronicles, Fall 1999) from the remarks of Earl Hamner at the unveiling ceremony of the Walton's Radio: "During the run of the series this radio sat in a prominent spot in the living room of the Walton set. On the television the radio was a constant companion to everyone in the family. It announced to the Waltons as radio did to every American family of those days the great and small events as they happened. It brought good music into our lives, all the news of the day, and entertainment we could listen to without worrying if it was okay for the children to hear. One of my favorite images of those days is of the entire family sitting in the living room listening to the radio."

Inside the museum I find the Walton's Living Room. It is a 1930s style family room with fireplace, sofa, piano, old Atwater Kent radio, stuffed chairs, and other period furnishings.

Schuyler is a hamlet near the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains with a population of about 400. It is located within Nelson county in central Virginia, south of Charlottesville off of Highway 29. Taking Route 800 north out of town and east on Route 6 leads to "Scottsville", about 15 miles away. Going west on Route 6 leads to "Waynesboro", about 30 miles away. Taking Route 617 west out of town leads to "Rockfish", about 5 miles away. Further on Route 617 and south on Highway 29 leads to "Lynchburg", about 40 miles away.

Further along my tour I find the Walton's Kitchen. It features a long table and benches at which the family had supper, an old wood cook stove, period cabinet work, an antique hutch, and a wooden ice box and butter churn.

The Schuyler school was closed by the Nelson Country School Board in 1991, thus becoming the town's Community Center. Early in 1992 the activities in the Center increased to a point where additional funding was needed. With permission and support from Schuyler's most renowned resident, Earl Hamner, Jr., a museum was planned within the Community Center to utilize and celebrate the critically acclaimed and widely popular television series of The Waltons.

My next visit finds me inside John-Boy's bedroom. It is furnished to look just like the bedroom where the writer retreated to jot down in his tablet. This room has 1930s period furniture and an old Underwood typewriter that Earl Hamner Jr. actually used when he began writing.

Beginning in April and until the opening on October 24, 1992, work was completed that transformed the Center to The Schuyler Community Center and The Walton's Mountain Museum. Since then people from every state and over twenty countries throughout the world have toured the Museum. Through admissions and sales has provided local benefits for Schuyler in the form of a food bank, a literacy program, support for the fire and rescue squads and senior citizens, playground equipment, and programs for the children, scholarships for the high school children, support of a health clinic and the library.

Also contained within the Museum is Ike Godsey's Store, a favorite for many visitors. People can re-live the warmth of an old country store complete with drink box, scales, barrels of penny candy, and other merchandise not found in stores today. The room doubles as a gift shop with locally produced craft items and articles pertaining to The Waltons.

In the novel Spencer's Mountain Earl Hamner wrote about his father, mother, and the house his family lived in when he said:

"He came out of the orchard, crossed the road and, standing under a wisteria-covered arch that covered the front gate, he looked up at his home. It was the same house his father and mother had moved into when they were married. At first Clay had objected to doing anything to improve the place because they would only be there long enough for him to build his own home on Spencer's Mountain. But then as the children came along and the house on the mountain was slow in materializing, Clay and Olivia had done their best to make the company-owned house into a home. Clay had painted the house and laid a flagstone walk from the front steps down to the front gate. He had put up a fence of sturdy locust posts and heavy wire to keep the children from running into the road that ran in front of the house. He had gone into the woods and brought back young maple trees which now had grown to thirty- and forty-foot shade trees. To the practical improvements Clay made, Olivia added beauty. Bordering the entire yard were her flowers - iris, petunias, daffodils, crocuses, black-eyed Susans. All along the fence ran roses which Olivia had raised from cuttings she had gotten from her neighbors. Over the arch Clay had built for her she trained a wisteria vine that was filled each spring with heavy scented clusters of purple blossoms."

The stories Earl Hamner describe derive from his boyhood recollections of his own family's life in his Blue Ridge birthplace, that included the Baptist Church.

Sunday School begins at 9:45 a.m. with Worship Service at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. are dedicated to the prayer meeting and choir practice.

In The Waltons the Methodist church is located in Rockfish whose minister is Rev. Caldwell (from season five, episode thirteen).

The original church was built in 1914 with timber cut from a local farm and most of the work performed by volunteers. At this time the church was known as the Bethel Methodist Church. The name changed in the 1980s when it consolidated with other area churches. The church provides a large shelter for picnicking and outdoor meals. A walking trail with meditation areas is also available to the community as well as the congregation.

"It's late now in Virginia, that ball field which once echoed to the sounds of our games is quiet except for the call of crickets and the ghosts of the children we were. For my brothers and sisters and I are all grown now, and our children play other games in places far from Walton's Mountain. Still, there's something about the fall of night that turns our thoughts homeward".

In 1880 quarrying operations were undertaken in Albemarle county and The Alberene Stone Company was established. The corporation owned and operated one of the country's largest stone finishing mills and quarries. The soapstone business and the village of Schuyler flourished at the beginning of the 20th century. Besides the finishing plant, there was at one time a company store, company houses, and a post office within the Alberene Stone Company. One employee of the company was Earl Hamner, Sr.

The New World Stone Company's telephone number is 804.831.1051.