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Fire guts house;
Town is left
without water
By Mary Ann Kuhn
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
The sky was Santa Fe blue, the air crisp and the morning held promise for a perfect day.
Fifteen minutes after 8 o’clock last Saturday, as the town of Washington was waking up, its inns and B&Bs busy cooking coffee and muffins, their overnight guests readying for showers, the water in the village suddenly slowed to a trickle, then stopped.
Having no water in a town that depends on hospitality for income is money going down the drain.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said David Huff, owner of the Country Cafe, who not only was preparing breakfasts but also two catered graduation events. “I was washing fruit and vegetables for the graduation parties we were catering that night, when the water just stopped.”
Darlene Moore, owner of the Beauty Box hair salon, said her first customer of the day, not to be deterred, returned to her home outside town, washed her hair, and came back to have it styled.
The mayor of Washington, Gene Leggett, began fielding calls from his home on Harris Hollow Road while Councilwoman Claudia Mitchell ran over to Tbwn Hall to answer the phones. Everyone was calling to find out why there was no water, especially those in the hospitality business who were concerned that their guests might be unhappy about going showerless.
Most residents were not aware that, only a few miles away, all of Rappahannock County’s volunteer firefighting resources—all six fire companies—were at 205 Grand View Road in Tiger Valley fighting a raging fire at a red-brick house with flames “three times the height of the house,” according to Washington fire chief Ann Spieker, first on the scene.
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