As AHS students and faculty may have noticed while arriving or departing from school last week, Bartholomew the bear, a statue that marked the corner of Ravensworth Road and Davian Drive, was knocked down on Sunday night.

“On Monday morning, my wife went to go out of the house, and as always she looked down to make sure the bear didn’t have its baseball cap or whatever he was wearing blown off or taken. When she looked, the bear was not there. He was lying down on the ground” owner Sid Jaffe said.

At first, the family was at loss as to who could have toppled Bartholomew over. Upon closer inspection, however, they discovered a clue.

“There were footprints in the mulch, where someone had placed their feet carefully so that they could put some pressure on it and topple the bear over.”

After seeing the footprints, they looked around for more evidence that might lead them to Bartholomew’s assailant, but came up empty.

“I suspect it was a prank,” Jaffe said. “I’m not even sure that the person knew, when they knocked it over, that they would break it up on the bottom enough that it couldn’t be put back up again.”

Over the years, Bartholomew wore a varying array of outfits, from Redskins gear before a game to a Santa hat for Christmas. Annandale residents often refer to him as the Annandale bear, and when AHS students pass by the Jaffes house on their way to school the bear and its amusing outfits are a familiar sight.

The family got the idea for Bartholomew from a wooden squirrel statue that they always passed by on Loisdale Road when their kids were little.

“The owner would put a hat on it, or some kind of scarf for most of the holidays, and when he moved, the squirrel went with him. My children very much missed the squirrel” said Jaffe.

The family decided to replace the departed squirrel with something in their own yard. All that was left was deciding on an animal.

“My daughter, Jen, used to collect teddy bears, and she had hundreds of teddy bears, so bears were always very dear to us. She and her brother decided we should have a bear. He was named by my son, now Father Jaffe, after Saint Bartholomew” Jaffe said.

Fortunately, although the original bear will never stand again, the legacy of the Annandale bear will live on. “These bears are very expensive” Jaffe said. “[But] we are certainly going to replace it.”

The Annandale bear is special to AHS, and it is a testament to the connection between the school and the surrounding community. The Jaffes have lived in their home for 30 years, and have had two children and five grandchildren attend AHS.

“Annandale means a great deal to us, and all of you students do as well. We have of course decorated it for graduation, for football games, basketball. That’s one reason the bear is there” Jaffe said.