Rappahannock’s spokesperson, Sue Benner, said its residents appreciate the

Rappahannock’s spokesperson, Sue Benner, said its residents appreciate the county’s farming tradition and values, along with its rural qualities. The CCED’s goal is to help communities create a system of economic development which is compatible with preserving, in our case, the county’s beauty, she said.

For example, there are no giant grocery stores in Rappahannock, she said. Instead there are country stores, “each country store has its own character.”

“What’s so wonderful (about CCED "fifs opposed to just the Nature Conservancy),” she said, “ is that they’re not talking about buying mountaintops — where for example endangered Shenandoah salamanders live — they’re talking about preserving everything that makes the community here unique and wonderful.”

“Everyone had been used to the Nature Conservancy coming in and buying up areas where there are endangered ecosystems. The CCED goes a step further, to protect communities.”

Rappahannock has had a total of eight residents participate in the three seminars.

Mrs. Benner said Rappahannock residents don’t want to attract “smokestack industries,” but they are concerned with the loss of scenic beauty in the county due to housing “sprawl” into farmland, and especially to “ridge-top development.”

“When you look at the mountain, you don’t want to see somebody’s 6,000 square foot house.” She said her young son described such treedestroying visitations as looking like "u.f.o’s perched up there.”

The Rappahannock group saw the county’s diversity as both a strength and a weakness.

Mrs. Benner said the old families, many tied to farming, are augmented by retirees, by a number of absentee owners and a large arts community.

The question, she said, is “how to get these four diverse groups to work together.”

While Rappahannock has a larger number of farmers than its neighbors, according to census data provided to the groups by the CCED, Mrs.