Ted comes to

Ted comes to

Rappahannock

Pellegatta came down to the county for the first time in 1971, when a friend of his was filming a documentary on the area entitled, Come Day, Go Day, Come Sunday.

The film depicted the black community in the area who worked on farms, either their own farms or others. And how they waited for Sunday to come when they would go to church, play music, and have picnics.

His friend asked him if he would come down and see this place. And Pellegatta became a weekender in the county until 1990, when he became a permanent resident.

Setting up shop

At the time when Pellegatta came to the county, he was working as a wine importer, dealing in mostly Moroccan wines. His biggest client was Disney’s Epcot Center in Florida. He could do his job via fax and telephone and reside in Rappahannock.

Pellegatta says, “That’s when I opened the gallery. Tanya Richie had a gallery above mine in the Clopton House. I was below street level and she was above.”

A year after Pellegatta had been here, the wine importing was over. He began making a living from his photography and various other jobs.

Pellegatta reflects, “After the wine business, I was totally broke. I worked in the kitchen at 4 & 20 and at Bleu Rock (two restaurants in the county).”

“Then, I diversified a lot of ways to sell my product.”

Pellegatta’s photographs were plastered on tiles, tshirts, postcards and posters. He did CD covers, catalogue covers, web sites, and calendars for the county in 1996 and 1997.

And he has become a permanent fixture and practically an institution in this county.

If you would like to see his “snapshots”, Mountainside Market in Sperryville is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. You can oftentimes catch Pellegatta there having coffee and talking with friends.

If you would like to reach him at home, his number is (540) 937-5588. I