NEWPORT BEACH

After a roller-coaster ride through local politics, former Mayor John Hedges and his family have moved to Charlottesville, Va. The Hedges bought a farm, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, said John Moorlach, Orange County’s treasurer and a family friend. The Hedgeses moved several weeks ago after a couple offered them cash for their Balboa Peninsula home, Moorlach added. Escrow on the home closed in two weeks, and before many of the Hedgeses’ friends knew it, they were gone.

Among those who didn’t meet up with Hedges before he left was Mayor Dennis O’Neil. “I like to think we remain good friends,” O’Neil said, adding that he and Hedges did not always see eye to eye on government business. “I was fascinated with his political leadership because he did not bend on principle,” O’Neil said. “And it’s difficult to be in politics and not compromise.”

Hedges was unavailable for comment, but his wife, Maria, said of the new family farm: “It’s beautiful.”