Why Crozet? is a long-running feature highlighting the people and places that enrich Crozet and the surrounding towns and countryside. The series often tells stories about ordinary citizens who have lived extraordinary lives outside the limelight. This month, we write about a local nonagenarian who has recorded and published 30 such stories.
Curtis Peterson has been retired far longer than he worked as a builder. At 91, he fills each day with more than many of us do in a week. These years have enabled him to learn to play the cello and the accordion, grow mushrooms, establish a foundation for young musicians, and write books, among many other things. He jokes that he also practices at being a nonagenarian.
“But you could say I’m primarily in maintenance,” he said—and anyone owning a small farm would understand. Peterson and his wife, Anne Chapin, own Firefly Farm near White Hall…