The Virginia Foxhound Club Annual Meeting, luncheon, and silent auction are scheduled for Sunday, February 14, 2016.

This year’s guest speaker will be Martha Wolfe, foxhunter and author of The Great Hound Match of 1905: Alexander Henry Higginson, Harry Worcester Smith, and the Rise of Virginia Hunt Country.

“There was to be a contest, a Great Hound Match, between two packs of foxhounds—one English and one American.”

In her book, Ms. Wolfe sets a fictionalized version, accurately based on events, of this historic competition against the history of foxhunting in Virginia. Viewed as a metaphor for America’s brash emergence as an international power, she has written a wonderful account of the battle between two wealthy men—Higginson and Smith—with egos to match their fortunes, one representing the New World and one representing the Old World, each adamant that his hounds were the best.

Meeting and luncheon will be held at the Fauquier Springs Country Club, 9236 Tournament Drive (off Springs Road), Warrenton, Virginia 20186. A cash bar and silent auction will start at noon, with luncheon at 1:00 pm, followed by a short meeting and Ms. Wolfe’s talk. Foxhunting Life Editor Norman Fine will introduce Ms. Wolfe.

Price is $35.00 per person. For reservations, mail check payable to Virginia Foxhound Club to Judy Allen, PO Box 11, Casanova, Virginia 20139. Reservations must be received no later than February 3, 2016.

Posted January 7, 2016