Teaching Local History by Glenn Burnett Patrick County High School

“Sir, if you have a milkshake and I have a milkshake and my straw reaches across the room, I’ll end up drinking your milkshake,” - U. S. Senator Albert Fall in 1924.

“I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!” - Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood

I love movies. I get it honest my father former Patrick County Teacher and Principal Erie M. “Erie-sistible” Perry can watch Turner Classic or American Movie Channels and tell you every actor, actress and movie you never heard of. With him you get the feeling that a movie not made in black and white is not a real movie. At his house Saturday morning is time for Gene Autry and/or the Sons of the Pioneers. Can you sing “Water…Water.”

So they gave away the Oscars on Sunday and Hollywood got to self-congratulate themselves and wax eloquently on their wacky political views, etc. While high school grad George Clooney might think he knows more about foreign policy than PhD. Condoleezza Rice I think he should “Shut up and act.” This was a year of dark movies and anti-heroes, but it was a year of great acting. Each year I think there are fewer and fewer good, well acted films produced. So here is what I think about the winners and losers.

Best actress nominees:
Cate Blanchett, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”
Julie Christie, “Away From Her”
Marion Cotillard, “La Vie en Rose”
Laura Linney, “The Savages”
Ellen Page, “Juno”

Cate Blanchett was born to play Queen Elizabeth I. Laura Linney is a good actress who deserves the accolades she gets. Julie Christie was expected to win, but the French actress Marion Cotlillard received the award. It is hard not to wish that Ellen Page had won for Juno, a movie about teen pregnancy. Page, age 21, from Canada gave a breakthrough performance as Juno, who gets pregnant after having sex once with her boyfriend. She keeps the baby and plans to give it away to a childless couple including Jennifer Garner, who is very convincing in the role.

Best supporting actress nominees:
Cate Blanchett, “I’m Not There”
Ruby Dee, “American Gangster”
Saoirse Ronan, “Atonement”
Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone”
Tilda Swinton, “Michael Clayton”

This was a strong group of women’s roles. Tilda Swinton was strong in Michael Clayton and deserved the win, but the other ladies were equally good. Cate Blanchett was expected to win for playing Bob Dylan. Ruby Dee, age 83, played Denzel Washington’s mother in American Gangster, a movie with incredible performances that did not get recognized. Dee deserved a nomination just for the scene where she slapped Washington’s character Frank Lucas. Ronan was the young lady who started all the trouble in Atonement. Amy Ryan was excellent in Gone Baby Gone. I came to dislike her character, which made her performance was worthy of the award.

Best actor nominees:
George Clooney, “Michael Clayton”
Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood”
Johnny Depp, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”
Tommy Lee Jones, “In the Valley of Elah”
Viggo Mortensen, “Eastern Promises”

George Clooney is a good looking dude who I hear plays a mean pickup basketball game. In Michael Clayton he gave one of his best performances. I think that a guy like Clooney does a good job if you forget he is George Clooney. Something Tom Cruise only occasionally gets. There were some tremendous and dark performances. I like Johnny Depp. Would he not be a great Civil War soldier? Hailing from Kentucky, they should slap a mustache on him and he could play Basil Duke or John Hunt Morgan. Depp sings and plays the revenge obsessed barber in Sweeney Todd and that is a stretch for any actor. Viggo Mortensen, “The King of the Rings”, gave a good low key performance as a not very nice Russian mafia hit man in Eastern Promises.

The “I see dead people” line of this year comes from Daniel Day Lewis quoted at the beginning of this article, who received the Oscar, his second, in There Will Be Blood. Director and screenwriter Paul Thomas Anderson has said that the lines came straight from a transcript of a 1924 congressional hearings over the Teapot Dome scandal, in which Sen. Albert Fall was convicted of accepting bribes for oil-drilling rights to public lands in Wyoming and California.  In explaining oil drainage, Fall’s described it this way, “Sir, if you have a milkshake and I have a milkshake and my straw reaches across the room, I’ll end up drinking your milkshake.”
The performance I really liked was Tommy Lee Jones as the father of a murdered Iraqi war veteran. Jones was strong in No Country For Old Men as the sheriff who figures out what is going on, but it too late to save anybody. Al Gore’s former college roommate deserved the Oscar too.
 

Best supporting actor nominees:
Casey Affleck, “The Assassination of Jesse James”
Javier Bardem, “No Country for Old Men”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Charlie Wilson’s War”
Hal Holbrook, “Into the Wild”
Tom Wilkinson, “Michael Clayton”

I think that this was the strongest group in the whole shebang. Javier Bardem as the assassin in No Country for Old Men received the award for his evil character with a bad hairdo. Casey Affleck gave a great performance in The Assassination of Jesse James for which he was nominated and in Gone Baby Gone directed by his brother Ben Affleck. Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton was outstanding and I think should have won. Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the best character actors working today, (See Capote or Red Dragon for examples), was nominated for Charlie Wilson’s War, a movie that is very relevant with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Holbrook, who I once saw in person portraying Mark Twain, was the sentimental choice for Sean Penn’s Into The Wild.

Best Picture nominees:
“Atonement”
“Juno”
“Michael Clayton”
“No Country for Old Men”
“There Will Be Blood”

Best Director nominees:
Julian Schnabel, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
Jason Reitman, “Juno”
Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”
Joel and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”
Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood”

No Country For Old Men received the Best Picture and Best Director deservedly, but these movies along with There Will Be Blood are not my father’s westerns. There are no singing cowboys. There are evil psychotic characters, who portray a much more realistic few of human foibles. Juno is the only movie with redeeming human beings in this category, but had no chance in a shootout. No Country to me was like a realist western sat in today’s time period. Drugs and money instead of robbing the stagecoach.

Original screenplay nominees:
Diablo Cody, “Juno”
Nancy Oliver, “Lars and the Real Girl”
Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”
Brad Bird, “Ratatouille”
Tamara Jenkins, “The Savages”

Adapted screenplay nominees:
Christopher Hampton, “Atonement”
Sarah Polley, “Away From Her”
Ronald Harwood, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
Joel and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”
Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood”

Juno received the award deserved it. I thought it was one of the funniest and clever of the year. The Coen brothers won for No Country based on Cormac McCarthy’s book of the same name.

All in all a year of dark films and anti-heroes, but I think almost always playing a bad guy is a lot more fun for the actors. This was a year you did not take your grandma to the movies, but if you want to see some great acting it was a very good year.

Author Randle Brim (right) presents copies of “Tragedy to Triumph” and a print to John Shelton, Surry EMS director, and to Doug Jones, county fire marshal.  

     

 

February 22 marked the 51st anniversary of Surry County’s worst disaster, and North Carolina’s worst school tragedy since records started being kept in 1900. A student and teacher would be the first to die from a North Carolina’s public school disaster. Friday morning, Feb. 22, 1957, parents sent their children to the Flat Rock Elementary School as they had done on the previous days. All the students were excited that morning, for they would be excused from their normal morning class assignments to attend Cora Beasley’s third grade play in the general auditorium. Celebrating George Washington’s birthday that morning, all the attending students would sing along, “Clap your hands, this is someone’s birthday. Soon the students ate their lunches, many in the basement lunchroom, some going home for lunch and then returning. Within minutes of returning to their classrooms from lunch, a recessed foot light on the stage platform exploded and ignited the western edge of the stage curtain. Smoke came first, and then flames quickly shot up the curtain. When the fire was first noticed, the curtains were fully ablaze and the fire raced across the stage ceiling as if it were feeding on gasoline.  A pitch black smoke quickly filled the auditorium, with intensive heat from the flames so unbearable, that it was melting the skin of the students. All the classrooms, grades one through six, housing approximately 430 students, had only one normal exit. That one door exited into an open hallway, being the same as the auditorium. There were two rear exits and two front exits.  Each class of the 12 classrooms had a designated exit. With suffocating smoke and intense heat, students were running, stumbling, and falling down in the pitch black hallways and down the steps. Chaos and the impending fire quickly cut off all the exit points. Many students found their way back to their classrooms. More than half of the 400 plus students had to either be thrown, pushed or shoved from the windows, either by other students or by teachers, onto the ground below, from almost a second story level. By about 1:30 to 1:40 p.m., the fire had destroyed the building. It would be early Saturday morning before the extent of the destruction and devastation could be determined. Larry Adams, 9, died in the blazing inferno. Cora Beasley, the third grade teacher, who tried to rescue Larry, would hold on for five days of suffering and pain before dying. More than 50 students were severely injured, six clinging to life for months before miraculously recovering. On Feb. 22, 2004, the Flat Rock Six, the six most critically injured students, Marsha Semones Lowe, Frank Hensley Jr., Tamela Hiatt Midkiff, Johnny Haynes, Bobby Burkhart and Benny Goodman sponsored A Time of Remembrance at the Flat Rock School Gymnasium at which over 400 people attended. The purpose was to discuss openly for the first time in 47 years what happened and to share with the community a time of testimony and emotional healing. On Feb. 17, 2007, the Flat Rock Six, sponsored a 50th Memorial Reunion for a second Time of Remembrance and to present a history of the Flat Rock School Fire in a published memorial edition. Researched and authored by Randle Brim, the 376-page book chronicles the comprehensive account of the Flat Rock School Fire as told not only by the author, but also through the doctors, the nurses, the parents and the students. The book, Tragedy To Triumph is housed in all five Surry County community public libraries at Mount Airy, Dobson, Pilot Mountain, Elkin, and Lowgap. It is also in all 17 libraries of the public schools in Surry County and in all the Mount Airy City school libraries. The book has also been distributed to the 21 fire departments of Surry County, and to each of the 15 Ruritan Community Clubs. The first Ruritan Club of the county, Flat Rock, organized the county’s first volunteer fire department, Four Way, to help protect its schools, responding to the lessons of the horrible Flat Rock School Fire. In a letter last November, Dr. Ashley Hinson, superintendent of the Surry County Schools, said response to the book has been tremendous. What has amazed me most is the number of people who have either immediate family or extended family that were touched by this tragedy. The book has been more meaningful to our school community than I had anticipated. The tragedy is a part of the history of Surry County and is also directly linked to the history of our school system.             

      

   

 

I received a copy of this book, but I really don’t read fiction anymore. I gave it to my mother is a voracious reader and she enjoyed it, which is saying something.

“An incredible achievement and a treasure. I haven t enjoyed a book so much in years. Shades of Gray is an action-packed tale of honor, valor, and love that captivates the reader from the very first page.” –Virginia Morton, author of Marching Through Culpeper

http://www.amazon.com/Shades-Gray-Novel-Civil-Virginia/dp/0979600006/ref=dp_return_1?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books
Michael Aubrecht’s Review

“The American Civil War was among the darkest of times in our nation’s history, a period in which both civilians and soldiers suffered greatly amidst the tragic circumstances that surrounded them on behalf of their respective causes. In addition to separating the country’s northern and southern states, this `Great Divide’ also cut through the fragile fabric of family and friends. As the threat of armed conflict became inevitable, loyalties among the country’s citizens became blurred and one’s sense of duty to the state often overshadowed the duty to the country.

Ultimately the War Between the States was a catastrophe of epic proportions, yet it is within this tragedy that we can sometimes find triumph. For every battlefield account depicting the worst of man, there are countless other stories that illustrate care and compassion. For every instance of hatred between the combatants, there are also stories of love. This is the basis for author Jessica James’ debut release titled “Shades of Gray: A Novel of the Civil War in Virginia.”

More than a typical romance novel, “Shades of Gray” takes the reader on a whirlwind journey across the Old Dominion with a highly original and historically accurate plotline. It is presented with a wonderful narrative that echoes the classic writing styles of days gone by, and it is through the author’s meticulous attention to detail that the book’s characters come alive. Depictions of their tenacity, both for and against one another’s causes, seem to spring from the pages and I found myself reading much faster than usual, as the forward momentum of the storyline was maintained throughout.

Our hero, a cavalier named Captain Alexander Hunter, represents the Confederate cause. He is a feared and revered trooper who is bent on stopping an equally courageous Federal scout who has repeatedly plagued the rebel army. This Yankee however, is really not at all what `he’ appears to be, and through a strange twist of fate, we are introduced to Andrea Evans, a daring, female Union Spy, who plays the part of a soldier and a Southern belle. Both characters become entangled in each other’s lives, forcing a duality of conflict that exists between their personal emotions and military obligations. The `conscience’ of this book includes examples of courage, pride, loyalty and revenge, amidst a backdrop of romance and retribution.

It is this tension between the book’s two main characters that echoes the very same sentiment that supporters on both sides of the Civil War struggled with, from the first shot at Fort Sumter to the surrender at Appomattox Court House. And it is within the history of America’s greatest conflict that we are also caught up in a love story that transcends either side’s political perspective.

In an email interview with me, Jessica James explained what inspired her to pen the book. “I am enthralled by the soldiers’ deep devotion to Christian principles and their abiding belief in everlasting life,” she said. “I have been reading Civil War nonfiction and 19th century fiction almost exclusively for the past three years. When I began to subscribe to romance and fiction magazines to keep abreast of industry trends, I discovered how revolting the romance genre now is.” She added, “I felt the need to publish something that emphasized traditional American values. Publisher, Patriot Press, sets high standards to insure good, wholesome content that is both educational and inspirational.”

Both Patriot Press and Jessica James have certainly met their goals with “Shades of Gray: A Novel of the Civil War in Virginia.” The book is a wonderful read, as well as a moving commentary on the struggles that were faced by ordinary people, who rose to the occasion and became extraordinary. It is through the teetering lives of Captain Hunter and Ms. Andrea Evans that we can find the common ground that existed between the North and South.”

(Reviewed for the Pinstripe Press by Michael Aubrecht)

Michael is the author of 

Christian Cavalier: The Spiritual Legacy of J.E.B. Stuart

Upcoming release (April) of The Southern Cross: A Civil War Devotional

by Michael Aubrecht.

“This book contains 40 vignettes, 10 encouraging essays, 5  period-sermons, 50 photos, and a verse index. As with most works in this genre, each
chapter covers a specific virtue of the Christian soldier: Courage, Duty,
Faith, Honor, and Mercy, and each segment contains: a period photo, topical
verse of scripture, an associated quote, and an inspirational story of faith
under fire. Needless to say, J.E.B. Stuart is featured quite prominently.”

– Traci Lower

Often overlooked in the career of J. E. B. Stuart is the withdrawal from Gettysburg in July 1863. Stuart receives enormous criticism for his absence on the first two days of the battle in Pennsylvania, but almost no credit for Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia’s escape back to the south side of the Potomac into the Old Dominion. In fact, this aspect of the campaign is the most overlooked part of the thousands of books on Gettysburg. Recently, that has changed as several authors have looked at the retreat July 4- July 18, 1863. National Park Service Historian Ted Alexander of Antietam says that J. E. B. Stuart “redeemed” himself in these two weeks of almost constant fighting implying that Lee would not have escaped to fight another day. The following are two books that I think give the reader serious insight into Stuart’s role as a cavalryman and a lesson in why we should not stop on July 3, 1863, in studying Gettysburg. If I had a nickel for everytime I am asked about J. E. B. Stuart and Gettysburg, I would be as fat and happy as Eric Wittenberg’s dogs. It is easy to criticize Stuart for his role at Gettysburg, but if you have not read these books then you have not looked at the entire campaign.    

 

First, released in April 2005 is Kent Masterson Brown’s Retreat from Gettysburg Lee, Logistics, and the Pennsylvania Campaign (552 pp., 61/8 x 91/4, 43 illus., 21 maps, notes, bibl., index $34.95 cloth ISBN 978-0-8078-2921-9 University of North Carolina Press) This book has received the following awards: 2005 James I. Robertson Jr. Literary Prize, The Civil War Library and Research Center, 2005 Bachelder-Coddington Literary Award, Robert E. Lee Civil War Round Table of Central New Jersey, 2005 Distinguished Writing Award, Army Historical Foundation.
 
 

Here is a blurb about it: “In a groundbreaking, comprehensive history of the Army of Northern Virginia’s retreat from Gettysburg in July 1863, Kent Masterson Brown draws on previously untapped sources to chronicle the massive effort of General Robert E. Lee and his command as they sought to move people, equipment, and scavenged supplies through hostile territory and plan the army’s next moves. More than fifty-seven miles of wagon and ambulance trains and tens of thousands of livestock accompanied the army back to Virginia. The movement of troops and supplies over the challenging terrain of mountain passes and despite the adverse conditions of driving rain and muddy quagmires is carefully described, as are General George G. Meade’s attempts to attack the trains along the South Mountain range and at Hagerstown and Williamsport, Maryland. Lee’s deliberate pace, skillful use of terrain, and constant positioning of the army behind defenses so as to invite attack caused Union forces to delay their own movements at critical times. Brown concludes that even though the battle of Gettysburg was a defeat for the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee’s successful retreat maintained the balance of power in the eastern theater and left his army with enough forage, stores, and fresh meat to ensure its continued existence as an effective force. Kent Masterson Brown is an attorney in Lexington, Kentucky. He is author of Cushing of Gettysburg: The Story of a Union Artillery Commander and editor of The Civil War in Kentucky.

 Following is Eric Wittenberg’s review of this book. “Kent Masterson Brown has spent more than twenty years researching and writing his 500+ page book on the retreat from Gettysburg. I first met Kent ten years or so ago, and I was aware that he was working on this project then. He has spent years and years on it, and it shows. This book appears destined to become a standard reference work on the subject. The bibliography is 28 pages long, and he found a tremendous volume of primary source manuscript material that is unfamiliar to even me, who has also been studying the retreat for more than ten years. The work is extremely scholarly in nature, but yet is amply mapped and amply illustrated, making it attractive to less sophisticated students of the Gettysburg Campaign. There are also unpublished photos that I have never seen before that add a lot to the story, including a photo of Capt. George Emack, the company commander who held off Brig. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick’s entire cavalry division at Monterey Pass for much of the night on July 4. Brown’s primary thrust is the logistics of the retreat, and he shows that there are many complex reasons why the definitive fight did not take place on the north bank of the Potomac River after Gettysburg. Those who are inclined to criticize Meade may well reconsider their positions after reading this. Congratulations to Kent Brown for writing a terrific and much needed book that addresses a too-often overlooked aspect of the Gettysburg Campaign in the level of detail that it has long deserved. This book definitely needs a place on the bookshelves of any student of the Gettysburg Campaign, and also on the bookshelves of any student of army logistics and how they can make or break a campaign. Highly recommended.”    

Book On Patrick County Getting National Exposure

By Geni Dowd

ARARAT, Va. — Local historian Tom Perry has now become a nationally published author with his book, “Images of America: Patrick County.” “It is 200 photographs of Patrick County,” Perry said Tuesday. “I have a large photo collection myself and people have let me scan their photos for the book.” The 127 pages of photos and summaries trace the history of Patrick County and its residents over more than the past hundred years. “What I’ve tried to do with the book is to put in pictures that told a story,” Perry said. Being a historian, Perry enjoys all of the photos and the tales they tell, but one of his favorites is one from the 1930s that involved two men from Maryland, a Patrick County man and a balloon. “The two guys from Maryland came floating down the Blue Ridge in the hot air balloon,” Perry said. “Rob Hill has never seen anything like it before, and being the good Patrick County boy he was, shot it down. The guys in the balloon said they had been shot at since they’d left Maryland, but it wasn’t until Patrick County that someone filled it so full of holes that they were forced to land.” Another connection that people don’t know about is that Andy Griffith’s mother was from Patrick County. The picture on page 113 is one of Perry’s favorites. “I’ve just loved that picture of [John Dillon] and his kids. I just liked it for whatever reason,” Perry said. Porter Bondurant, who is pictured, drove trucks during World War II and is about 95 years old now, according to Perry. His sister, Caroline, is 99 and collects pictures telling the history of her county, several of which are in the book. “I tried to find things that were interesting, different sort of,” said Perry. “I tried to distribute the pictures from across the county, though I do tend to be a bit Ararat-biased.” For example, from Perry’s findings, Caroline Bondurant’s grandmother would have known Jeb Stuart, a Civil War general from Ararat, while growing up. Something else that Perry found interesting was the cycle of history. “A hundred years ago they were fighting over this jail,” Perry said, pointing to a picture of the old jail. “The people in Patrick claimed that Stoneman’s men had burned it down and were trying to get the federal government to build a new one. Today they’re still arguing about a jail.” One chapter of the book features places that are “gone but not forgotten” such as the Meadows of Dan zoo and a river boat, old schools and older houses. Other chapters look at transportation, soldiers, life on the farm and prominent people. After all of his research, Perry ended up with around 600 pictures. “Then I had to whittle it down to 200,” he said. “I had to cut out some things that were a good story and had good pictures.” Despite the difficulty of limiting the book, Perry still had it complete two or three months before deadline. He did the book after being requested by Arcadia Publishing. “I’ve been surprised by how well it’s done and how many copies it’s sold,” Perry said. “It’s been a whole different thing.” The cover was chosen by the publisher from several the Perry submitted. “This is a funny story,” he said. “I walked into the bank in Ararat and the lady at the window is actually the guy’s (on the cover) daughter-in-law. I walked up to the counter and she said, “I want 20 copies.” It was the Christmas present for children and grandchildren because he’s the family patriarch.” This is the first of Perry’s books to be published nationally. “It feels pretty good,” he said. He’s also using the book to help local historical groups raise money and has done numerous book signings. The book is available in Pages Bookstore on Main Street, Mount Airy, as well as national bookstores and Amazon.com for $19.99. Courtesy of the Surry Messenger www.surrymessenger.com   

BOOK OFFERS NEW FACTS OF J. E. B. STUART  
 ARARAT, Va. - Many people know about J. E. B. Stuart’s military career during the Civil War, but the Patrick County native also possessed a deeply religious side that is explored in a new book. “God’s Will Be Done: The Christian Side of J. E. B. Stuart” was released nationally on Tuesday. It is the third book about the Confederate cavalry officer authored by Tom Perry of Ararat. While the previous volumes focused on Stuart’s genealogy and birthplace, the Laurel Hill farm on Virginia Route 773 in Ararat, the new book examines the role of the general’s faith in his life and military career. Among its 147 pages are little-know historical tidbits that Perry unearthed during his research for the book, released by Laurel Hill Publishing of Ararat. For example, J. E. B. Stuart - famous for his flamboyant appearance and daring exploits in such battles as Chancellorsville and Antietam - also founded churches in Kansas that are still standing today. Stuart also bought his men copies of the Scriptures from his own pocket, and contributed $100 for the formation of a church in Patrick County. The new book further reveals his opposition to alcohol, detailing how Stuart promised his mother at age 12 that he would not drink and then went on to deliver Temperance speeches throughout his life. A graduate of Patrick County High School and Virginia Tech, Perry has devoted much of his life to highlighting the contributions of J. E. B. Stuart and preserving his memory. He has traveled throughout the nation lecturing and gathering material about Stuart, which is reflected in his books, and worked tirelessly to develop the general’s birthplace into a highly regarded historical site. In the early 1990s, Perry formed the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, a non-profit organization that has preserved 75 acres of the Stuart property, including the house site where Stuart was born in 1833 and spent his first 12 years. The Laurel Hill park is open from dusk to dawn for self-guided tours featuring eight interpretative signs written by Perry. His previous books on the general were “Ascent to Glory: The Genealogy of J. E. B. Stuart” and “J. E. B. Stuart’s Birthplace: The History of the Laurel Hill Farm.”  The latest work, “God’s Will Be Done: The Christian Side of J. E. B. Stuart,” sells for $14.99.

   Courtesy of the Mount Airy News. www.mtairynews.com
      

I believe that tourism especially historic/heritage tourism could help the economy of Patrick County. Tourist come, spend money and leave. I do not believe that the Patrick County government is the necessarily the place for tourism to be coordinated. In most communities the Chamber of Commerce handles tourism and promotion. With the economic troubles we are experiencing it seems to me that is the way to go or is it. Government is not the answer to all problems. People have to take responsibility and new ideas and thinking outside the box are needed. I know from personal experience that when I asked for assistance from the tourism office that I was told how to do it myself. Well, if I am doing it myself why do I need a tourism office? When the new color brochure was released in 2007 I found to my horror that my website was not even listed. Well, I go all over the country talking about Patrick County history and that told me how much it was appreciated. I noticed that Willis Gap was not even on the map of Patrick County in the brochure. This sort of thing sends signals to us in the western part of the county and the comments about the “darn bunch in Stuart” start oozing out. When I complained I was told that it would be corrected, but I would receive the blame for the extra cost of reprinting. WRONG ANSWER. Officials should take responsibility for their actions, but since they have all resigned it is a moot point. Let someone not in the county administration building proofread material before it is released to a printer. Create brochures that are not useless in a year because of dated material. Make sure everyone is involved and everyone signs off. A government grant is not the answer to all questions. When I started the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace in 1990, I learned very early that government money and interference were not worth the trouble. The Virginia Department of Historic Resources laughed at the idea of saving the site of a Confederate General’s birthplace and even a local newspaper publisher called it a “pipe dream.” Laurel Hill could and should be a state or national park as it was intended to be. A state or national park in the western end of Patrick County would draw people from North Carolina and the I-77 corridor more than a rail trail in Stuart. The hard work is finished at Stuart’s Birthplace. The private sector is the way to go because the private sector is who benefits the most from tourism. Patrick County’s Chamber of Commerce is alive, but not well. I joined the Chamber for the first time last year because I saw that something, anything was better than nothing. Recent events have led me to believe that was a waste of my money. It is like choosing the least of two evils. I think we are choosing to doom our county to an economic dark ages. In Patrick County we need to get away from this idea that if you don’t agree with someone that you should not agree with anything they do. People disagree, but to discard people and their ideas because of one thing will doom this county to the dark ages. Change is not a bad word. Clique is a bad word. Why not let the people who benefit from tourism, local business and historic sites such as the Patrick County Historical Museum take on the cost of promoting the county and the history. We have an historical society with over $100,000 in the bank. Why not develop an historical driving tour for each section of the county beginning that historical society thereby promoting the society and the many historic and cultural sites within the county. It would be a Crooked Road of Patrick County history within the county. If the many divergent groups in Patrick County especially the historical and cultural sites do not start working together we are going to lose an enormous opportunity. Tourists and their money are going to keep on driving down the J. E. B. Stuart Highway to other places and leave the economy of Patrick County in the dust.                 

Larry Hopkins and Tom Perry will be speaking at the First Annual Bassett Historical Center Symposium on March 1. Hopkins, Vice-President of the Patrick County Historical Society will speak on the Danville and Western Railroad. Tom Perry, Founder of the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace will speak on the life of James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart. Proceeds from the event will go to the Building Fund of the Bassett Historical Center .

   

The Bassett Historical Center is pleased to announce a symposium on regional history to be held March 1, 2008, from 9:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. at the Old Bassett High School Auditorium now owned by EMI Imaging, who  is providing the facility free of charge in Bassett, Virginia. Proceeds from this event will go to the Bassett Historical Center Building Fund. All speakers are coming free of charge to support the project to expand the library.  Advance tickets are $25 and $30 at the door. Students and Senior Citizens are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.

   

Visit the webpage of the Bassett Historical Center
http://www.bassetthistoricalcenter.com  or call 276-629-9191 or email baslib@hotmail.com  for more information. Advance payment can be sent to Bassett Historical Center at 3964 Fairystone Park Highway , Bassett , VA 24055 .

 

http://www.freestateofpatrick.com/bassetthistoricalcenter.htm 

   

OTHER SPEAKERS:

Dr. Roland Parker Stephen Davis, Jr. is the Research Archaeologist and AssociateDirector of the Research Laboratories of Archaeology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anthropology. His Education includes a Ph.D. University of Tennessee in Anthropology from 1986, M.A. University of Calgary in Archaeology from 1976 and B.A. University of North Carolina in Anthropology from 1974. Davis has served on the North Carolina Archaeological Council, Archaeological Society of North Carolina and the Society for American Archaeology. Among his published works include Excavating Occaneechi Town: Archaeology of an Eighteenth-Century Indian Village in North Carolina, The Catawba Project: Research Problems and Initial Results, The Town Creek Photomosaic: Old Pictures in a New Light, John Lawson and the Native Peoples of Carolina and The Eagle and the Poor House: Archaeological Investigations on the University of North Carolina Campus. He will be speaking on Regional Native American History at the symposium. 

Henry Wiencek is a prominent American historian and editor whose work has encompassed the founding fathers, various topics relating to slavery, and the Lego Company. In 1999, The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White, which chronicles the history of the racially intertwined Hairston clan, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography and autobiography. Wiencek has come to be particularly associated with his work on Washington and slavery as a result of his most recent book, An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America, which earned him the Los Angeles Times Book Award for history. Henry wrote the series National Geographic Guide to Americas Great Houses, Virginia & the Capital Region Smithsonian Guides, Smithsonian Guides to Historic America: Southern New England - Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Old Houses, Plantations of the Old South (Great American Homes), The Smithsonian Guide to Historic America Southern New England, The Smithsonian Guide to Historic America Southern New England, World of Lego Toys, The Lords of Japan (Treasures of The World). Born in Boston and educated at Yale, Henry lives with his wife, writer Donna Lucey and their son, Henry in Virginia. He has contributed articles to American Heritage, American Legacy, Smithsonian Magazine, and Connoisseur. In 2003, Wiencek was appointed to the board of the Library of Virginia. He will speak on The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White.

 

 

 

 

Five agencies in Martinsville and Henry County will receive nearly $1 million in the federal Omnibus Appropriations Act. “I think the funds will be positive for our area and helpful for Martinsville and Henry County,” said Fifth District U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Rocky Mount, of the $935,000 included for local agencies in the 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Act Conference Report. Local organizations receiving funds “worked hard and have a good track record, and I think they helped themselves,” Goode said. Among the local agencies receiving funds is the Bassett Historical Society receiving $98,000 Goode said.

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