Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

This time there was no picnic on Holly Rood’s leafy lawn. Instead, the Heritage Commission’s second annual Pig Picking for the Past benefit was drive-through only.

But it was still a good deal. For a 10 spot, guests could drive away with a box loaded with a hefty pulled pork barbecue sandwich, baked beans, creamy coleslaw, a bag of potato chips, a cookie and an Ale-8.

“It’s a little different” because of COVID, Steve Justice, president of the historic preservation group explained.

Pooh’s Cue cooked the pork, and the county’s constables sponsored the event. There were also volunteers for Holly Rood and the Lower Howard’s Creek Nature Preserve, both of which are under the umbrella of the Clark County-Winchester Heritage Commission, and Shearer Elementary School.

Last year’s event drew a crowd of about 100 people.

“If we do a hundred tonight, we’ll be satisfied,” Justice said.

As it turned out, that’s about how many meals they served, raising about $1,000.

The meals were distributed at the driveway behind the mansion, which was the home of Gov. James Clark in the early 19th century.

The barbecues raise money for heritage projects.

One of the projects this year will be the purchase of a historical marker to place on the front of the building at 52 N. Main St. where Mike Rowady was born.

Rowady, who died earlier this year, was an attorney for more than 60 years and a walking encyclopedia of Winchester’s past who had contributed to oral histories and newspaper articles.

The commission had at first thought the building was also the birthplace of Helen Thomas, the famous White House reporter for UPI, but it turns out that she was born on Broadway in a building that already has a small marker.

Justice said another current project is for stonemason Stuart Joynt’s hand-carved grave stones for Clark’s wife and children.

Each guest, along with his or her meal, was given a form to fill out for donations and recommendations for future historical projects.