Queen Alice cares both about her hive and about education. She and her colony live at Rockfish Valley Community Center, which provides a venue for cultural, recreational, social and educational activities for the residents of the Rockfish Valley. Queen Alice is a strong leader, keeping her colony healthy and encouraging the community to care about pollinators through her presence at RVCC, where folks are committed to providing a habitat for pollinators in their gardens and hosting plant ID workshops.
Queen Alice is named after Alice Freeman Palmer, an early advocate for women's college education.
Queen Beatrix and her colony live in a quiet corner of a beautiful garden at Wildrock Nature Play and Discovery Center, which promotes nature play for health and happiness. Queen Bea keeps her colony calm and gentle, vibing with the gardeners and all those who come to Wildrock to spend healing time in nature.
Queen Beatrix was named after Beatrix Potter, who, along with creating well loved characters like Peter Rabbit, was an enthusiastic naturalist.
Queen Bethune believes in edcuation for everyone and maintains a calm hive that watches over the campus of Charlottesville Area Technical Education Center (CATEC), which helps high school students and adults obtain the jobs they seek. The bees in Queen Bethune's hive have access to a community garden that's directly connected to CATEC's culinary arts program.
Queen Bethune is named after Mary Jane McLeod Bethune, one of the most important Black educators and leaders of civil and women's rights in the twentieth century.
Queen Frida is vibrant and strong, traits she passes on to the rest of the colony. These bees build their beautiful wax comb in a hive situated right next to Visible Records, an artist-run gallery and studio in Charlottesville, VA, that provides artists and activists with the space and tools to expand their practice and build creative community.
Queen Frida is named after Frida Kahlo, one of the most famous Mexican artists of all time.
Queen Marie and her colony are tucked away on a hill surrounded by blackberry brambles and pines. She and her hive work hard to pollinate the area and reflect the quiet calm of their environment. Their hive is situated within the property of Hope's Legacy, which rescues horses and donkeys and finds them forever homes.
Queen Marie is named after Dr. Marie Clark Taylor, the first woman to receive a PhD from Fordham University, a degree she used as a professor of botany at Howard University, where she later became the chair of the botany department.
Queen Marianne is a vivacious monarch, and her bees take after their mother. Her hive benefits from their location: SCAN Land, a native wildflower habitat managed by the Scottsville Center for Arts and the Environment. The bees in Queen Marianne's hive forage and pollinate the wildflower habitat, ensuring it's beauty and longevity.
Queen Marianne is named after Marianne North, a plant hunter and botanical painter of the 1800s.
Queen Metrodora is healthy and calm, providing a great environment for her colony to thrive. Her hive is located at Green Dogs Unleashed, which is committed to rescuing and rehabilitating dogs in need, and professionally training them to become therapy dogs. The bees in Queen Metrodora's hive forage in and pollinate Green Dogs' community and memorial gardens.
Queen Metrodora is named after an ancient Greek physician who wrote the oldest medical text known to have been written by a woman. She also pioneered surgical treatments for breast cancer and uterine cancer.