It’s Friday, July 25, 2025.

Hey, y’all. It’s Amie.

As a kid, I was absolutely convinced a volcano was going to erupt and that’d be that (don’t get me started on falling into the abyss if the ground split wide open during an earthquake or the thought of getting sucked up into a tornado along with the neighborhood cows). I had an active imagination, and learning about Pompeii in elementary school didn’t help. 

I grew up a couple miles up from the North Carolina line and always assumed “Bird Mountain” off in the distance was the natural border. I have no facts to prove that idea, nor to corroborate that the gloried hill was actually called Bird Mountain. That didn’t stop me from believing it was a volcano waiting to erupt. My parents, of course, assured me that it wasn’t—and that there weren’t any volcanoes in Virginia.

Imagine my surprise when after mindlessly scrolling on Facebook one evening this spring, I came across a picture of a similar-looking topographical feature with a caption that read it was one of two in Virginia: volcanoes. If you’re curious about Virginia’s volcanic history, I really think you’ll enjoy Aila Boyd’s article on the subject. But don’t worry—both volcanoes around here are long-since dormant. I’m so glad you’re here. 

Rockingham County’s Mole Hill was once an active volcano. (Kipp Teague/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Here’s what you need to know: Mole Hill in Rockingham County and Trimble Knob in Highland County may look like unassuming hills but are actually the ancient remnants of volcanoes—two of the youngest volcanic features on the East Coast, to be precise. 

Our top facts: 

• Mole Hill—Rockingham County has been an area of focus for researchers, especially those from James Madison University, as the formation of the region’s mountains resulted in fractured rock layers. This gave way to molten rock that rose to the surface. It eventually cooled, forming dark igneous, or volcanic, rocks that can still be seen today.

• Trimble Knob—A study by the James Madison University Department of Geology and Environmental Science shows that the volcano experienced a two-stage eruption. The first eruption is described as quite harsh, having pushed old rocks to the surface. The second was less abrupt.
• Knowledge is power—The Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum in Winchester has a page dedicated to explaining volcanoes to kids. It even has a page that demonstrates how to build a volcanic eruption using baking soda and vinegar.

Want to learn more about this blast from the past? We’ve got additional info on each site at the link below. 

What’s your favorite natural feature in Virginia? Let me know at amie@couriernewsroom.com.  

The Virginia Capitol is seen March 4, 2010, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

Virginia hospitals across the state are expected to lose billions of dollars in funding because of President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” that substantially cuts Medicaid funding. 

The health care impacts of the federal legislation that cuts America’s social safety net to benefit the wealthy were discussed Wednesday at a meeting in Richmond by the Joint Commission on Health Care. 

Cheryl Roberts, the director of Virginia’s Department of Medical Assistance Services, did not give a specific estimate on how much Virginia hospitals are expected to lose. 

But last week, her department’s chief financial officer told lawmakers Trump’s bill was estimated to cause a $26 billion reduction in funding to Virginia hospitals.

At Wednesday’s presentation, Del. Cia Price (D-Newport News) pressed Roberts for more details on the expected costs of Trump’s bill and what the real-world impacts would be, but Roberts declined to provide them, saying she was “nervous about estimates” given how many moving parts there were. Roberts did confirm that the Medicaid reductions for Virginia would be in the billions.

• After Hurricane Helene killed two Virginians and caused billions in damage, Gov. Glenn Youngkin requested $4 billion from FEMA. Now, as part of Trump’s FEMA Review Council, he’s involved in the effort to potentially make deep cuts to the agency. (Read more here)

• Having a hard time keeping up with the back and forth between the Trump administration and the VA? Carly Seward Maher, a Dogwood correspondent, breaks down the latest developments. (Watch here)

• While Gov. Youngkin has promised long-term growth, Virginia was the only state where unemployment rose in June. (See post here)

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