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Tom Calhoun has been selling country hams since 1964 in downtown Culpeper at his store, Calhoun's Ham House.
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Tom Calhoun has been selling country hams since 1964 in downtown Culpeper at his store, Calhoun's Ham House.
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Tom Calhoun has been selling country hams since 1964 in downtown Culpeper at his store, Calhoun's Ham House.
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Tom Calhoun has been selling country hams since 1964 in downtown Culpeper at his store, Calhoun's Ham House.
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Tom Calhoun has been selling country hams since 1964 in downtown Culpeper at his store, Calhoun's Ham House.
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Tom Calhoun has been selling country hams since 1964 in downtown Culpeper at his store, Calhoun's Ham House.
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Tom Calhoun has been selling country hams since 1964 in downtown Culpeper at his store, Calhoun's Ham House.
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Tom Calhoun has been selling country hams since 1964 in downtown Culpeper at his store, Calhoun's Ham House.
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Tom Calhoun has been selling country hams since 1964 in downtown Culpeper at his store, Calhoun's Ham House.
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Tom Calhoun has been selling country hams since 1964 in downtown Culpeper at his store, Calhoun's Ham House.
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Small-Town MAVERICK Story by BEN SELLERS Photos by SUZANNE CARR ROSSI S
Culpeper's rural charm is jeopardized by fast development, but it's not the first scrap the area has worked its way out of. By Ben Sellers
Date published: 1/28/2006
IMPLE VALUES PREVAIL in the communities of Culpeper, Raccoon Ford and Winston--also known as ZIP code 22701.
Folks tend to shout across a busy diner when they see someone they know.
Motorists on Main Street usually yield to pedestrians.
And an American flag waves proudly from the green, antebellum house that Willie Martin has called his home since 1928.
Martin, who can still point to the room in which he was born that year, fondly remembers growing up on Culpeper's Southeast Street in the 1855 house that originally stood on a six-acre lot.
"Back many years ago, we had cows. Now, still, everybody's got big lots and mows grass," he said.
His father, T.I. Martin, was mayor from 1957 to 1970. The younger Martin recalled that at the time he could stand on the town's main drag, Davis Street, knowing half the people who passed by name and recognizing the other half.
For some of the ZIP code's approximately 22,000 current residents, however (roughly the same number as live in the city of Fredericksburg), the region's easygoing days may seem numbered.
The growing challenge
Migration is rapidly changing Culpeper's rural landscape. From 2000 to 2004, the town's population increased 15 percent, compared with a 13 percent increase over the previous 10 years. That made it the fastest-growing town in Virginia.
Meanwhile, the entire county of Culpeper grew by about 40 percent over the past 15 years, and another 40 percent population boost is projected for the next 15 years.
By 2020, in fact, Culpeper County planners anticipate a population of about 55,000--essentially double what it was in 1990.
The influx has been welcomed for the most part among longtime residents of the town, which 30 years ago was dead by comparison. "We're getting some nice growth," said Martin, a member of the Tourism Advisory Committee.
Many of the newcomers are former residents of Fairfax and Loudoun counties who drifted down U.S. 29 in search of cheaper living conditions, wide-open spaces or a place to raise a family. In the process, they've boosted Culpeper's economy. The county currently is awaiting the arrival of Target and Kohl's department stores.
Read more stories about Culpeper
Date published: 1/28/2006
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