Photos courtesy of Candace Monaghan
American Pickers TV show stars Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz didn’t do any picking in Botetourt County for their popular History Channel TV show, but they did spend Thursday afternoon here filming fill-in and other segments for the show.
The 10-member crew was sequestered in a stone barn hide-a-way on Beaver Dam Farm south of Buchanan where the Wickline family served as “hosts,” so to speak.
After filming, they wandered the streets of Buchanan for a while to the delight some surprised residents and business people.
American Pickers is a documentary series that explores the world of antique “picking.” The hit show follows Wolfe and Fritz, two of the most skilled pickers in the business, as they hunt for America’s most valuable antiques.
The American Pickers came in from Bristol Thursday, stopped for the filming at Beaver Dam Farm, then headed to Lynchburg where they were doing “a pick,” Candace
Wickline Monaghan said.
Monaghan didn’t know she was going to be the local logistical contact for the show until a couple days before the crew arrived.
They got hold of her through a series of contacts that started with one of the county’s former tourism office coordinators, Katie Conner. Conner, who is now with the Virginia Tourism Corporation as a development specialist, gave Monaghan’s contact information to the Virginia Film Office, which passed her on to the American Pickers’ staff.
Monaghan said she spent some time watching some episodes of the show so she’d know what it was all about.
Wednesday evening she got another call with the word the crew would be here Thursday.
Thursday, they kept her in the loop on their arrival time, and when Monaghan asked about having the local newspaper stop by, the show’s producers were pretty emphatic. “No,” they told her.
They wanted to keep the show’s stars focused, so no distractions during the hours they set up, filmed and tore down.
Monaghan, a gifted photographer herself, said she’d shoot some pictures— some for her family and some to share with the newspaper.
When the pickers stopped in downtown Buchanan, there more photos; some that wound up on Facebook.
It’s uncertain whether Beaver Dam Farm, Botetourt, Buchanan or the Wicklines will be mentioned in any show segments, but local viewers might realize the setting during promotional clips or when Wolfe and Fritz are doing commentary in one of the shows.
— Ed McCoy