All of the videos on this page are available for credit card purchase through the Orange County Historical Society. Most of the videos listed are also available in person at the Orange County Historical Society and the Arts Center in Orange.
Producer Phil Audibert used modern day photographs, video of recent re-enactments plus 1860s era photographs to illustrate that the Civil War was felt in Orange County for all four of its years. The hour-long film focuses more on the impact of the war and its consequences on the citizens of Orange County than on troop movements and tactics. Watch full video
When the Gordonsville Volunteer Fire Company turned 100 years old in 2016 it commissioned AHHA Productions to produce a documentary that traced the company’s history and tradition of community service that dates back to 1916.
Old photographs, newspaper clippings, 8 mm movie film, old VHS tapes, interviews with veteran firefighters and an exciting mock call all contributed to this fast moving five part tribute. DVD available through the Gordonsville Volunteer Fire Company. Trailer
On February 2nd, 2013, Gordonsville Virginia turned 200 years old. Because it has been Phil’s hometown since he was eight years old, he and Susie and Ross decided to do something about it. The result is Gordonsville…A Strong Fabric. It tells the story of a resilient community from its humble beginnings as a tavern at a crossroads up to the present day.
There are many stories here: the railroad, the Civil War, the boom years and the bust. Fires, fried chicken, and the future all figure into it, but it’s really a story about its people and the strong fabric of their community. Trailer
In 1984, Phil Audibert had the good fortune to meet, photograph, and interview Edna Lewis, author of the seminal cookbook on southern cuisine, The Taste of Country Cooking.
Born and raised in the freedman’s community of Freetown in Orange County, Virginia, Edna went on to become the “Grande Dame” of southern cooking. She gave, not just southern cooking, but all American regional cuisine a place to call its own. And she was one of the first to preach the benefits of Earth to Table and Grow Local, Eat Local.
Her memory was honored at the Orange Downtown Alliance’s first edibleFest, for which, Phil and Susie and Ross Hunter produced a 25-minute video documentary. Trailer
In 1949 a group of Orange County, Virginia, businessmen put WJMA AM on the air. This video tells the story of WJMA’s growth and development from and idea through 1984. During that time WJMA FM was added as well as an award winning news department. Over the years, the station won many state and a few national honors.
Interviews with many of the people who brought the station to life and many archival photographs are included. There is a second 90 minute disc of longer stories that would not fit in the 90 minute documentary. Trailer
Following the 1954 Supreme Court decision in the Brown vs. Board of Education case and the passage by Congress of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, schools across the south gradually began the process of integration. In some communities, this process was not without friction and violence.
In Virginia, some schools actually closed rather than integrate. But not so in Orange County. Despite resistance from some of its citizens and pressure from outside groups, the desegregation of the Orange County Virginia public school system, albeit 11 years in the making, happened smoothly. Why?
This documentary seeks to answer that question by exploring the process, from the creation of the first fledgling African American schools in the late 19th century through consolidation and resistance in the mid 20th century to full integration…a process that took almost 100 years. Trailer
Available for purchase by credit card on the Orange County Historical Society site.