Rick Britton: The story of three Albemarle County women

Local history takes center stage every Friday when Rick Britton joins Coy Barefoot on WINA’s “Charlottesville–Right Now!”

This week on the show, Rick previews a lecture series he’ll be presenting at the Senior Center on Civil War related day-trips. One of them will include a trip to Port Republic, and Rick explains just whath happened there.

But in the main topic for this week, Rick tells the story of three women with connection to Albemarle County. First, the Langhorne sisters. They were the daughters of Chiswell Dabney Langhorne, and moved to western Albemarle in 1894. Irene became the model for one of the “Gibson girls” and Nancy wound up becoming Lady Astor, the first woman to be sat in the British House of Commons. Rick also has the story of Maude Coleman Woods, a Charlottesville woman who became one of the first people to be called “Miss America.” However, the story doesn’t end well, as Rick explains.