An Iron Will

HUNTLY, VIRGINIA – Nol Putnam forges wind from iron, his hammer metronomic at 2½ strikes a second, steel against iron against anvil. The angle of the peen and the force of his follow-through shape hot metal the way a rolling pin pushes pastry. Putnam, 80, has been creating art from iron for more than 40 years. His…

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The American Windsor

Photography by KEITH LANPHER

On the Eastern Shore, the Lewins carve, bend and paint so folks can sit in comfort                       Kurt Lewin pulls the drawknife toward himself, and oak shavings fall to the floor. He alters the angle and pulls again. Thousands of times a day he will…

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A River Of Chips

photography by Eric Lusher

Mount Jackson, Virginia – Inside a beige cinderblock building half an hour from Harrisonburg up I-81, 15,000 pounds of potatoes a day thunder down a stainless steel chute and through a chamber where they’re tossed by an auger, knocking off farm soil that is then captured and reused as topsoil for Route 11 Potato Chip employees.…

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Hashi Food Truck

photography by KEITH LANPHER

Ross Riddle ladles rice porridge as thick as grits from a stainless steel pot, steam billowing. He adds a dollop of butter, then a bit of Virginia breakfast sausage he has dressed up with cilantro and salt, plus sugar and chilies and vinegar, the flavor a meld of Southern Americana and Southeast Asian. He tops…

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Rooted in the Shore

Photography by Keith Lanpher

In Chatham’s vines, centuries of tradition come together. There is a minerality to these Eastern Shore wines, a hint of slate and granite and the shells of creatures tossed ashore by the long-ago meteor that cratered out the Chesapeake Bay and scrambled the soil. There is salinity – from the wind or the Bay or…

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