Little High Neighborhood Association

Information for and about the Little High Neighborhood in Charlottesville, VA

Events

In recent years the Little High Neighborhood has hosted a series of backyard concerts, story telling for children and adults, a garden day, experts on various topics such as the importance of native plants, annual picnics, and assorted political candidates and public officials. Our schedule for 2022 will be posted in this section of the website as soon as it's available.

Little High Summer Concert Lineup

The schedule for our world-famous backyard concert series has been set! Please watch this website and keep an eye out for emails with updates, location info, changes, and rain dates if necessary.

As always, our concerts are FREE and open to everyone… but we take the opportunity to pass the hat to help support the Haven, the multi-resource day shelter and housing resource center. which does critically important work in helping homeless people in our community. Last summer we raised more than $650 at our concerts and this year we’re going to try to do even more.

The performers themselves come from within the confines of just our neighborhood and range from outstanding professional performers (Waverly Milor) to well-meaning perennial amateurs (Jonathan Rice), with amazingly talented part-timers who have achieved critical and popular success (Luke Foster and Anya Movius) and numerous incredibly talented individuals such as Herb Beskin (once described by Entertainment Tonight as “the Vassar Clements of East Jefferson Street”), Sumner Brown (who should have her own exhibit in the Country Music Hall of Fame among other places), Brian Keena (an Americana/Jazz guitar savant), and Sudi Durland (the Mother Maybelle Carter of 13th Street) and many others in between.

The Schedule

  • June 20th: The summer series will be kicked off with the treat of hearing local professional musician (and our sound guy), Waverly Milor along with Jack Roy doing some blues. The talented singer/songwriter Luke Foster will open. A great way to start the summer!
  • July 11th: Don’t miss your chance to hear local phenom, Anya Movius for free in her own neighborhood! Anya put out her first EP in 2022 and has come out since with other songs and music videos. She was also selected to perform in Harvard’s first-year talent show in 2023. Quite a songwriting talent with a voice to match. Look her up on Spotify. The wonderful Brian Keena will open for her on guitar.
  • August 8th: Sudi’s Group. The Pied Piper of Charlottesville, Sudi Durland unites musicians for musical jams all over town. One of those groups takes place at her home right here in the Little High Neighborhood. Some really talented musicians will perform with varied instruments, songs and tunes. Start the evening by joining in with Sumner and Herb for a few sing-a-longs.
  • August 29th: The wonderful Jon Rice will show us his fingerstyle guitar chops and he may have some surprise guests with him. City Walk resident, Michael Goodwin will join us for the first time on trumpet or as part of a steel drum group to open. (City Walk is a part of the Little High Neighborhood!)

Little High neighborhood backyard concert June 21, 2022

Neighborhood Picnic on Sunday, June 2

Little High neighborhood picnic, 2022 Our next neighborhood picnic is scheduled for Sunday, June 2, from 4:30 to 6:30pm in the Meade Park Pavilion.

The neighborhood association provides the pizza, some sides, and dessert.

BYO: drink, seat, and $10 for annual neighborhood association dues.

Our summer picnic has always been a great opportunity to get to know or reconnect with neighbors.

This year, we have asked Beyonce and Taylor Swift to join us and perform some classic country music duets. No word back from them yet but our fingers are crossed!

 

Back in the day…

Rare photo taken in the Little High Neighborhood from the early 18th centuryMost of our neighborhood’s residents have arrived in just the past 10-15 years or so. The question that keeps so many of us awake at night is “What was our neighborhood like back in the day?” Please join long-time Little High Residents Leonard Taylor and Carolyn Belt to hear their stories from living memory about the history of our neighborhood on Sunday, May 19, at 4pm at 1011 Little High Street. This event is FREE and open to all Charlottesville area residents.

This event is part of the neighborhood association’s ongoing effort to gather and present the history of our neighborhood. We especially encourage anyone who knows anything about the history of our neighborhood to join us and take part in the discussion.

BYO chair, drink, and curiosity. Again, the address is 1011 Little High Street.

In other local history news…

The City of Charlottesville recently concluded an investigation into Oakwood Cemetery that found that the portion of the old graveyard suffering from persistent water damage contains  several unmarked African American graves which had been obscured for many years. In recognition of Oakwood cemetery’s historic significance, work crews will begin remediation work on the site on May 13 with the goal of  “preserving the dignity and historical significance of Oakwood Cemetery for generations to come”.

Anyone want to bet there isn’t a callously neglected and built-over slave cemetery somewhere in our neighborhood?

 

Neighborhood Bonfire — CANCELLED

The neighborhood event scheduled for Sunday, March 24 has been CANCELLED.
Everyone is invited to a a neighborhood bonfire on Sunday, March 24th from 7 -8:30 pm in the backyard of 1201 Little High (on the corner of Little High and 12th streets). The neighborhood association will provide warm apple cider, homemade goodies, fire, some chairs, and introductions. Come catch up with old friends, meet new ones, and help celebrate the arrival of spring!

House Concert Jan. 28

Brenda and Bob Cox, long-time players of traditional Celtic music, are giving a small house concert in our neighborhood (1128 Little High Street) on Sunday, January 28th at 2:30pm. Space is very limited so please RSVP to Sudi Durland if you plan to attend.

The program will be a celebration of the famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns whose birthday was January 25, 1759. Brenda and Bob Cox will be sharing music from the Burns collection and a few other Scottish selections of the same time period on the Celtic harp, fiddle and keyboard. The program will be close to an hour in length.

 

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