Our story .

Cair Paravel has been in the family since 1968 when Jeanne F. and Cecil C.H.Cullander purchased 183 acres of mountain land from Jack, Jesse and Lottie Breeden and E.C. Compton/Dabney Davis. The Breedens, originally settled on Lewis Mountain and were displaced during the creation of Shenandoah National Park.

Every summer, holiday and weekend the Cullander family- Cecil, Jeanne, Christopher, Eric, Martha and Nicholas- would pack up the International Harvester Travel-All and head from the city to the farm. Originally living in a simple log structure with no running water or electricity their summers were filled with hiking, riding horses, bathing in the rivers and creeks, battling grapevines, clearing meadows, working in the large vegetable garden and canning/preserving food for winter.

As the Cullander children grew up and scattered to Oregon, California, Idaho, and New Mexico Cecil and Jeanne moved full time to Cair Paravel. With the move they started to expand the farmstead adding dairy goats, sheep, ducks and chickens.

With Jeanne’s passing in 1984 Whitt and Martha Cullander Ledford returned to Virginia bringing their children and purchasing *83 acres from Cecil. The Ledford family is now the custodians of this marvelous land.

In 2017 Whitt and Martha’s youngest daughter Madi and partner Grant moved to Cair Paravel. With the birth of Cy the farmstead became a fourth generation endeavor. Although Lillian + Howard; Mia + Brendan and their children Henry & Wyatt; Gretchen + Austin don’t live at the farmstead they are frequent visitors helping with many of the farmstead projects. 

You may also see our long term tenants, Mark and Ruth, working the trails and enjoy the lovely mountains. They have been much loved member of the Cair Paravel Farmstead since 2014 and have become family. If you see Mark out and about be sure to thank him for building all the wonderful trails that surround the property.

*Cecil’s other acreage was sold with beneficiaries being the Southern Environmental Legal Defense Fund and the  University of Wisconsin’s Department of Scandinavian Studies Madison.