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Join us at MidMountain Retreat for the Histories & Harmonies Hootenanny on May 17, 2025!
MidMountain
About
We are an arts collective and project in constant creative growth that believes in the power of people to reclaim space and caring for your neighbors. We operate out of MidMountain Retreat at 338 Arnolds Valley Rd, Natural Bridge Station, VA 24579.
Our mission: Growing a resilient creative community by sharing time and natural space to develop the art of storytelling while literally nourishing our neighbors. We must imagine a better future where we celebrate differences that make us collectively stronger to grow that future.
Our collective is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, working to support arts programming, organizing professional creative development, and seeking community input about interpreting the property’s past—which includes ties to colonization and human bondage.
MidMountain operates from a five-acre arts retreat on the James River in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia that is also hosts several artists in residence. The grounds are being developed into a sustainable food forest with plans for agritourism and mutual aid distribution thanks to a River Buffer restoration partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the James River Association, and the Virginia Department of Forestry.
Want to support our programming work?
Join MidMountain by Mail to provide us monthly support and receive exclusive postcard art prints featuring work by MidMountaineers. If you commit to an annual donation of $100 or more by becoming at MidMountaineer by Mail Member, you'll also receive a physical card card that allows you free access or shop discounts at over 1,300 museums, botanic gardens, and other institutions via the North American Reciprocal Museum Association!
You can also just donate, in any amount.
Want to get direct digital updates from us? Sign up for MidMountain by eMail below!
Community Calendar
Want to visit to work on a creative project here?
Check out our Residencies and Fellowships.
Private rentals of the MidMountain Retreat LLC space are also available via Airbnb and VRBO if you just want to visit for fun!
Have ideas for how to help us grow?
Get in touch via: info@midmountain.org. For the most up to date information, follow us on Instagram or Facebook or sign up for email updates above.
Who is this?
Andy "River" Peterson and AnaMarie King are the curators at MidMountain and manage much of our regular operations. We are also led by diverse, growing board that helps cultivate our project. It currently includes:
Mariam Baksh is a federal policy reporter, with stints at The Washington Post, The American Prospect, and Marketplace Public Radio over the years, and knows way too much about U.S. cybersecurity policy. She's also been a public-interest organizer and is a visual artist with an interest in creative nonfiction.
Chad Clark is founder, composer and producer of the Washington, DC band Beauty Pill. Clark is also a film and theater composer.
Carolyn Fiddler is communications director for Daily Kos and is the nation’s foremost expert in state politics. She's spent her professional life working for various Democratic and progressive organizations. Fiddler is from a small town in Virginia you've never heard of, and her comic book collection is probably bigger than yours.
Katie “Magdalene” Hanzalik is a philosopher, multidisciplinary artist, and activist based in Winston-Salem, NC. She writes This Week in the South for Scalawag Magazine.
AnaMarie King is an emerging, originally self-taught, multi-disciplinary artist and photographer. Experimentation, play, and collaboration drives her photo practice and contributions to social ventures. King experienced organizing public-facing, accessible and interactive community experiences meant to inspire creativity and center marginalized perspectives.
Olatunji Olaigbe is a Nigerian freelance journalist. He was a winner of the 2021 IOM West and Central Africa Migration Journalism Awards and has contributed to Wired, Rest of the World, Vice News, Inkstick, and more.
Edward Ongweso, Jr is a New York City-based reporter covering labor and technology for Motherboard, VICE News’s technology section whose work has focused on app-based gig labor platforms, antitrust and antimonopoly law, labor movements, capital markets, and surveillance technologies. Ongewso also co-hosts a weekly podcast on technology and political economy: This Machine Kills.
Audé Negrete-Baños is a passionate advocate for social justice focusing on children’s, women’s, and Immigrant’s rights. For over two decades her advocacy work has taken her around the United States and Mexico.
Christine Sajecki is an encaustic painter, children's book author, and community activist. She is most recently from Baltimore , and currently maintains a her studio practice at ThunderBRidge, an arts and cultural community down the road from MidMountain.
Abby Wendle is a sculptor of metal and sound. She enjoys swimming and saunas, gardening, and walking in the woods with her cat. Wendle currently works as a reporter and producer for NPR’s Embedded.
The Site
We share space with MidMountain Retreat LLC just outside the small town of Natural Bridge Station in central Virginia at 338 Arnolds Valley Rd, Natural Bridge Station, VA 24579. The grounds feature a three-story brick home, multiple outbuildings including our Post Office Community Center and extensive outdoor space with cleared areas suitable for large events or installations as well as access to 400' of private frontage on the James River.
The main house is 3,500 square feet, with sleeping for up to 18 people across 4 bedrooms and shared areas, 2.5 bathrooms, a modern open-concept kitchen, dining/event space, a gallery/theater, an dormitory space (only offered for use in arts projects, not private rentals.)
Although the site is secluded, it’s also within walking or biking distance of basic conveniences, including gas and limited groceries, in Natural Bridge Station and a short drive to many interesting sights! There is also a train on the other side of the river that may occasionally be heard rushing past!
Within a 15 minute drive:
The town of Glasgow
The Blue Ridge Parkway
Natural Bridge State Park
Cave Mountain Lake
Hiking in Thomas Jefferson National Forest
Halcyon Days Cider Co
Great Valley Farm Brewery and Winery
Virginia Safari Park
Dinosaur Kingdom II
Public access points and outfitters on the Maury and James Rivers
Within a 30 minute drive:
Lexington and Buena Vista
Devils Backbone Outpost Brewery
George C. Marshall Museum
The Virginia Horse Center
Cyrus McCormick Museum
Boxerwood Nature Center and Woodland Garden
Within a 60 minute drive:
Roanoke, Staunton, and Lynchburg
Shenandoah National Park (South Entrance)
The Monacan Indian Nation and Ancestral Museum
Goshen Pass Natural Area
Crabtree Falls
Panther Falls
The Blue Ridge Academy of Music
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum
Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia
Roanoke Pinball Museum
Virginia Museum of Transportation
O. Winston Link Museum
Within a 90 minute drive:
Charlottesville and Harrisonburg
Wintergreen Resort
Our arts programming relies on donations from individual supporters and grantmakers, including Mid Atlantic Art's Central Appalachian Living Traditions Program, Virginia Humanities, W&L's Community Fund, and the Appalachian Community Fund.
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