Family Visitor Collection
Barbara and Elizabeth Middleton on Sharp Top Trail

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Record 124/194
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Collection Barton Middleton
Date 1987
Description l-r: Barbara Middleton, Elizabeth Middleton heading up the trail to Sharp Top at the Peaks of Otter in 1987. This photo is a re-creation of another photo in this collection taken in 1972.
Notes This picture is one of a series that documents an annual family gathering at Peaks of Otter Lodge to celebrate Thanksgiving between the years 1972 and 1989, and recreates an earlier picture taken in 1972. The family included Barton and Barbara Middleton, Barbara's parents, Joe and Mary Mann, Barbara's sisters Beverley and Susan, Beverley's husband, Michael Fichera, and their children, Chris and Lauren. Occasionally, two of Mary's sisters and Barton's mother also attended.

Joe and Mary Mann discovered Peaks of Otter during Beverley's sophomore year at Randolph Macon College in nearby Lynchburg, Va. The Middletons met the Manns at the Peaks of Otter for the first time in September, 1971. When Joe Mann offered to rent a suite of rooms in the lodge for the following Thanksgiving, the Middletons accepted the invitation. Year after year, Joe Mann rented the same six rooms-five for family members to sleep in and a sixth as a "game room," where everyone gathered for spirited Scrabble, Monopoly and Rummy Cube contests. Family members drove in from New Jersey, Maryland, Georgia and North Carolina for Thanksgiving and Friday night dinners at the lodge, hikes to the top of Flat Top, Sharp Top and Harkening Hill, and picnics near Polly Wood's Ordinary. The annual picnic was held no matter what the weather.
ID 2003.3.14
Title Barbara and Elizabeth Middleton on Sharp Top Trail
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Last modified on: April 11, 2006