Vinton Liddell Pickens

Vinton Liddell Pickens (January 1, 1900 – November 25, 1993) was an American artist and activist based in Loudoun County, Virginia, where she chaired the county's first planning board from 1941 to 1964.

Vinton Liddell Pickens
A young white woman, seated on a step outdoors, wearing a dark blouse and long skirt, and a hat with a floppy brim
Vinton Liddell, from the 1922 Bryn Mawr College yearbook
BornJanuary 1, 1900
Charlotte, North Carolina
DiedNovember 25, 1993
Ashburn, Virginia
Occupation(s)County planner, artist, activist

Early life

Vinton Liddell was born in Charlotte, North Carolina,[1] the daughter of Vinton Liddell Sr. and Jane Hyde Hall Liddell (later Battle).[2][3] Her parents were both born in Pennsylvania; her father owned a cotton mill, and died in 1915.[4] She attended the Shipley School and graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1922.[5] She pursued further studies in Rome,[6] and at the University of North Carolina.[7] She studied painting with Eugen Weisz.[8]

A large brick mansion, photographed in color in 2012
Janelia Manor near Ashburn, Virginia, built for Vinton Liddell Pickens and her husband in the 1930s (photo from 2012)

Career

In 1941, Pickens was appointed to the first Loudoun County planning commission, and became the commission's chair.[9] On her watch, Loudoun County established zoning ordinances that banned billboards; she was also head of the commission during the construction of Dulles Airport.[2] She was also president of the Virginia Citizens' Planning Association.[10] She led demonstrations against the Concorde as an environmental hazard in the 1970s.[11] Pickens was named Loudoun's 1986 Citizen of the Year. She gave an oral history interview to the Loudoun County Oral History Project in 1990.[12]

Pickens was also an artist, whose colorful landscapes and drawings were exhibited nationally,[8][13][14] including a solo show at the Mint Museum in Charlotte in 1954.[15] She published a book about her travels in Sri Lanka, Serendipity (1964).[16] She was an active member of the Bryn Mawr Alumnae Association, the Loudoun Sketch Club and the Leesburg Garden Club.[17][18]

In 1987, in her late eighties, Pickens took a four-week, 1160-mile canoe and houseboat trip from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, with her daughters and other friends, retracing the 1878 trip her great-grandfather took on the Clarion, Allegheny, and Ohio rivers.[19][20]

Personal life

Vinton Liddell married journalist Robert Sylvester Pickens in 1924.[7] They had two daughters, Jane and Cornelia, and lived at Janelia Farm in Loudoun County from 1936.[21] She was widowed when Robert Pickens died in 1978,[22] and she died in 1993, aged 93 years.[6] The Virginia legislature passed a resolution in tribute after her death.[2] There is a collection of the Liddell and Pickens family papers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,[23] and another collection of Liddell family papers at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.[24] Her farm in Loudoun County is now the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

References
  1. Borden, Pat (1977-10-11). "Home Looks Different Now". The Charlotte Observer. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "Virginia Senate Joint Resolution 67". TrackBill. 1994. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
  3. "In Honor of Miss Vinton Liddell". The Charlotte News. 1915-12-30. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Death Comes to Vinton Liddell". The Charlotte News. 1915-05-15. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. Koklanaris, Maria (1990-01-11). "Loudoun's Pioneer in Planning". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
  6. Hostetler, Gerry (1993-11-28). "Vinton Liddell Pickens lover of tradition, dies". The Charlotte Observer. p. 40. Retrieved 2021-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. "Newspaper Man, Student, Wins Bride". The Times Dispatch. 1924-02-19. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Mrs. Pickens' Paintings to be Shown". Asheville Citizen-Times. 1955-01-30. p. 28. Retrieved 2021-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Loudoun Supervisors Mark Women's History Month". Loudoun Now. 2021-03-25. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
  10. "Planning Groups to Hold Meeting at Charlottesville". The Times Dispatch. 1956-08-03. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. Rubin, James H. (1977-04-18). "D.C. Finds Concorde Not So Bad". News-Press. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "A Guide to the Loudoun County Oral History Project, 1975-1998". Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, Virginia. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
  13. "N. C. Artist Exhibiting Paintings". The Charlotte Observer. 1971-04-22. p. 40. Retrieved 2021-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. VanKleeck, Richard (1969-06-29). "Art in Asheville". Asheville Citizen-Times. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Reception Set at Mint Museum". The Charlotte Observer. 1954-12-02. p. 28. Retrieved 2021-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. Pickens, Vinton Liddell (1964). Serendipity. New York: Vantage Press. OCLC 2571067.
  17. "History". Leesburg Garden Club. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
  18. "Mrs. Pickens Hostess in Loudoun". Evening Star. 1938-06-19. p. 43. Retrieved 2021-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. Dulen, Jackie (1987-06-25). "Virginia Woman Ends Four-Week River Trip Retracing 1878 Voyage". The Paducah Sun. p. 18. Retrieved 2021-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. Bonifer, C. A. Duane (1987-06-18). "Woman, 87, Travels Down River to Relive Great-Grandfather's Trip". Messenger-Inquirer. p. 17. Retrieved 2021-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. Fishback, Mary (1999-05-20). Loudoun County: 250 Years of Towns and Villages. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4396-2682-5.
  22. "Robert S. Pickens". The Charlotte News. 1978-11-13. p. 27. Retrieved 2021-08-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. "Liddell and Pickens Family Papers, 1820-1997". University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
  24. "Collection: Liddell family papers". UNC Charlotte Finding Aids. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
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