Schuyler, Virginia

Schuyler (SKY-lur) is a town in Nelson County, Virginia, close to Charlottesville.

In 1882, the community -- originally "Walker's Mill" -- was named for Schuyler George Walker, local mill operator, and the area's first Postmaster.

In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, the town became a small industrial center with the establishment of a stone cutting plant for the area quarries of the Alberene Stone Company, which took the native and acid-resistant soap stone and milled the rock into flat table tops for labs and hospitals. The Great Depression essentially knocked this main economic pin right our from under the area and it never fully recovered.

Schuyler was the birthplace and home of writer Earl Hamner Jr.. He is best known for the CBS television series The Waltons, which was based on his experiences of growing up the eldest child of a large rural family in depression era America.

The region suffered greatly from the remnants of Tropical Depression Camille, which dumped two and three feet of rain in the area in August of 1969. The flooding and landslides are a major weather event of the late 20th Century.

The region is also known for producing high-potency marijuana, usually referred to as "The Schuyler Skunk", regardless of the actual strain of cannabis represented. Many surrounding pine plantations which have been clear cut and replanted provide enough sunlight for the crop to thrive, while producing enough ground cover to help the plants escape the notice of helicopters searching for it. To the lament of some, the area is now heavily targeted by fly-overs, making large-scale production far less common than the pre-war-on-drugs era. While efforts to eradicate marijuana in the Schuyler area have had some success, efforts to eradicate the drunk-driving, dog-fighting, drag-racing, deer-poaching, dope-growing rednecks have not. In the late 1990's, a big-talkin', high-falootin' State Trooper tried for a time to prove that he could "clean Schuyler up", to no avail.

37°47′33″N 78°41′54″W