I here were other New I)eal programs that, af

I here were other New I)eal programs that, af fected Rappahannock. The home demonstration agents were geared at that time toward employing local people who needed work to assist those who needed help. In Rappahannock, Mrs. Matilda Garner organized a contest of young girls, all of whom sewed dresses for under GO cents that were then exhibited in a program. There were sewing rooms in the county, one in Washington where the Washington House of Reproductions is now; and one in Sperryville. No one interviewed remembers whether women were paid for this work or did it voluntarily to help the poor who needed clothes. Kilby remembers WI'A workers putting in a sand path to the outhouses at Relle Meade School.

A survey of historic homes and other places in the county was conducted by Margaret Atkins and Helen Gore under the auspices of the WI'A, and many fine photographs of Blue Ridge homes and families were taken. Elsewhere in the state, women were employed in slum clearance work and the creation of bird and wild-flower sanctuaries. There was even a brigade of women in Portsmouth and Norfolk chasing rats with dogs, brooms and sticks.