freestateofpatrick.com blog

I saw this posted on another Patrick County blog recently anonymously, but I think I know who did it in regard to my assisting the Nesters and supporting the Rolling Thunder Raceway. It surprised me because getting thanks is something that I am not use to. “A special big thanks to Tom Perry He has done a good job getting the word out on the internet and all and his writing on that free state of patrick is really good and has helped RTR. It is really good to have a friend that will stick up for you like Tom has for Gary and his wife.” Winston Churchill once said, “Neither look for nor expect gratitude but rather get whatever comfort you can out of the belief that your effort is constructive in purpose.” I recently took time to look around the community I grew up in and to take note of some positive things that I know would not be there if I had not acted. This is not to blow my own horn, but to show something that I firmly believe in that we should not wait until people are gone show appreciation for the work and the impact they make on others. These are small things in a small rural community in rural bucolic Virginia, but they have meant much to so many people. Out on the Dan River at Meadowfield there is a bridge over the river at the site the Mount Airy and Eastern Railroad “The Dinky” rolled through powered by steam one hundred years ago. It is also the bridge built in the late 1940s that my neighbor Sgt. Major and Deputy Sheriff Zeb Stuart Scales help to build. It was my great pleasure to seek successfully his name placed on that bridge. Read more about it here. Zeb Stuart Scales Bridge My father worked in the Patrick County School System for twenty-eight years. He lived in Ararat, where he spent most of his career as teacher at Blue Ridge High School and Principal at Blue Ridge Elementary School after a sojourn at Red Bank Elementary in nearby Claudville. He was treated horribly in my opinion at the end of his career and if you ever wonder why I am not happy with the “Clique in Stuart” you know now. For years I wanted to honor him at the school. I got him placed on the Mount Airy Sports Hall of Fame, but I wanted to see him honored at the place he devoted his career. Well, several years ago a marker was put up at Blue Ridge Elementary School that did that along with honoring some of the many great teachers, staff and principals who make that school so special to those of us in the western end of the county. Read more about it here. They Touched The Future. Of course, in Ararat, Virginia, as the sign says was born one James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart. Now, the organization that owns the property that was the Laurel Hill Farm does not give me credit and I don’t need their approval. I know that I started the movement and through my work the money was raised and the site is saved.  Read more about that here. http://www.freestateofpatrick.com/Laurelhill. So while people walk or ride by these things everyday without a second thought, I do not. I think about how much satisfaction it gives me to acknowledge people for their service and that it would be not be there if I had not acted and that is enough for me. You will not see my name on the marker at the school, the bridge or at Stuart’s Birthplace and that is alright because I know.
  

“Don’t await rewards for your good deeds
A reward won’t make them good
Don’t await judgment of any foes
They’ll receive just what they should.”
          

On May 17, 2007 at 1:30 p.m. a ceremony was held to honor eight teachers and staff for their service to the Patrick County School System was held. In 2006, I worked with Supervisor Jonathan Large, School Board Member Billy Aldridge and the staff of Blue Ridge Elementary School and the School Board Office to honor his father retired Blue Ridge Principal Erie M. Perry and thirty others with twenty years of service in the school system from the Dan River District or at Blue Ridge School. Visit the webpage on Blue Ridge School History to learn more about last year’s ceremony at http://www.freestateofpatrick.com/blueridgeschool.htm

Here are my comments from 2007: “Thank you all for coming today. I especially want to thank those former honorees who contributed to continue this project, Peggy and Clyde Marshall, Dorothy George and Maxine Smith. I would like to thank the Blue Ridge PTO and especially Ann Guynn Markwith, Lola Weatherman’s niece, who twice has come through to assist with this project. The original idea here was to honor the service of people while they are still alive. We made some mistakes last year, but I would rather try and fail than not to try at all. We should remember the positive contributions that people make and we should say thank you. I wanted to honor my father’s nearly thirty years of service to the school system of Patrick County and am glad he could join us today for this event. I especially want to thank Supervisor Jonathan Large, whose family gave the two acres of land for this school 118 years ago. Without you Jonathan this would have never happened. Thanks to Principal Deekens, School Board Member Billy Aldridge and congratulations to Superintendent Judy Lacks on her service and her upcoming retirement. No disrespect to Mrs. Lacks, but the new Superintendent Roger Morris co-wrote a novel about J. E. B. Stuart. You can never have too many books about Ararat’s own J. E. B. Stuart. Today we honor Betty Kirkpatrick, who retires this year after taking care of the J. E. B. Stuart books and all the books in the Patrick County High School Library. James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart did not attend Blue Ridge School. Nor did Orlean Puckett, but the third most famous person from Ararat, Bob Childress I believe did. The children here today have these famous people from the same place they come made their imprint on this nation whether in the military, helping to bring children into the world and saving the souls of those before they left this mortal coil. One person who did attend Blue Ridge was Fred Brim, who due to our nation’s segregation policy had to watch the bus go by him every morning because of his race he could attend Blue Ridge, but he became the principal of Blue Ridge Elementary. I brought my first grade annual, Harvest, with me today as Fred Brim taught Chemistry and Math in 1967. We were the first segregated class in Patrick County history. It was the “Summer of Love” when hippies were invading San Francisco and The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper. That year the annual was dedicated to one of our honorees Evelyn Martin now Hazelwood, who taught Math. Another honoree was Lola Weatherman, who taught Home Economics and sponsored the Future Homemakers of America. We are pleased to have Lola’s brothers Theodore and Gray Guynn with us along with wives Bertie and Louise and niece Marie Guynn, who is the Secretary of this school.    Katie Hiatt taught fourth grade in 1967. Two years later she would teach third grade and be my teacher. I did not have much hair in the 1960s, but Katie Hiatt found it. Bus Drive Otis Clements was in the annual and we are pleased to have his daughter in law, our former Dan River District Supervisor Kathy Clements with us today. After school I walked across the road and spent several hours with Agnes King, who we honor today. Aunt Aggie was a place for Coca-Cola, Fifth Avenue candy bars and talk about history when not playing Rook with Arthur Boyd. These nine people we honor today did as the marker says they touched the future they taught. If you do not think a bus driver influences the kids on his or her bus, you never rode from Willis Gap all the way to Patrick County High School. In 2008 we honor the service of Clarence Bowman, Gray Bowman, Otis Clements, Jewel Haynes, Evelyn Hazelwood, Katie Hiatt, Agnes King, Betty Kirkpatrick and 94 years young Lola Weatherman, Aunt Lola.         Like the Friends of Quakers who believe in Peace, I hope today we bring some peace of mind to those who spent their lives touching the future educating the children of Patrick County. These nine and the thirty-one from last year who touched the future.”

 
At 1 p.m. on May 24, 2006, a ceremony was held to dedicate a granite monument to thirty-one employees of the Dan River Supervisory District with at least twenty years teaching with at least one year at Blue Ridge School. Principal Carolyn Deekens welcomed the crowd, Supervisor Jonathan Large spoke of the project, Historian Tom Perry gave the keynote address honoring those chosen and Superintendent of Patrick County Schools Judy Lacks accepted the monument for the Patrick County School System. For many years I wished to see my father honored for his twenty-eight years of service in the Patrick County School System as a teacher at Blue Ridge High School, Principal at Red Bank Elementary School and Principal at Blue Ridge Elementary School. I met with Supervisor Large and Dan River School Board Member Billy Aldridge in January to discuss the matter. From that meeting a plan to honor all still living retirees that met the criteria and some recently passed away was decided. Large and I worked with Sarah Leigh Collins of the Patrick County School Board Office and Fern Agee of the Patrick County Retired Teachers Association to make a list of honorees. Consulting with Principal Deekens and Superintendent Lacks the information was collected and a list decided upon for this year’s ceremony. It is hoped that in the future those who retire and those who have passed away can be honored as well. The marker has plenty of space for more names. We raised money within the community of Ararat while Supervisor Large worked with Cory Goad of The Granite Guys, a Mount Airy firm that works with granite. Mr. Aldridge presented the plan to the Patrick County School Board at their last meeting and it was approved. Aldridge assisted in the installation of the marker along with Keith Puckett and Kent Pendleton of Patrick County Maintenance.
 
Here are my comments from 2006:  “In January 1889, the Barnard Family donated two acres to the Quakers to establish a school here. Today, one hundred and seventeen years later we honor some of those educators and staff of the Dan River District who spent their careers in the Patrick County School System at Blue Ridge School. My personal thanks to School Board Member Billy Aldridge for his support and work on this project. Thanks to Principal Deekens and the staff of Blue Ridge Elementary School for making today possible.  I would like to thanks the many private individuals who donated to this project especially Ann Guynn Marwith and her family, the family Zeb Stuart Scales, many family members of the honorees and the guys of the White Pines Country Club who know one of our honorees as Erie-sistible. Jonathan, leadership is being willing to move ahead of the curve and to take risks. I know that this process has been frustrating for you, but you kept to your guns and because of your perseverance we are here today. I thank you for that and your service to the Dan River District. Twenty years ago Teacher and Astronaut Christa McAuliffe said before she went to touch the face of God on the space shuttle, “I touch the future, I teach.” The thirty-one people we honor today have effected the future in more ways than will ever know. Today, I am not objective today. I think I could tell a story about everyone of the people we honor today including my second, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh grade teachers.  I think Blue Ridge is the greatest school in the world. A school does not live by teachers alone today we recognize the teachers aides, people who cooked and served in the lunch room, custodians, bus drivers and support staff of this school:  Mary Burkhart, Arlene Gwynn, Delcie Montgomery, Philgene Montgomery, Omelia Pilson, Burton Reynolds and Annie Tolbert. Teachers who touched the future include: Peggy Best, Mary Sue Bowman, Sandra M. Clement, Jeanne Currier, Nona Flippin, Mary Lee Montgomery and the greatest basketball coach in the history of this school Edward Nester. I never had Dorothy George, Becky Holland, Ann Radford or Toni Wray as teachers, but I think I always had them as friends. We want to acknowledge several married couples who together made a mark on this school: Jean and Charlie Cook, Margie and Homer Hall, Peggy and Clyde Marshall, Maxine and Wendell Smith. Maxine, I think I learned more from you than any teacher I ever had. Peggy, thanks for the letter. Homer, Margie was simply the best. We want to acknowledge the service of Thompson sisters, Maybelle Smith and Mattie Young. I wish Mattie was here with us today. I would like to close with three people who I thought about the most when planning what I would say today. First, let me say to you Evelyn Powell Kurtz. Of all the teachers listed here today and I think all these people were teachers, you had a very special influence on my life. Great teachers bring their subject to life. You took me to my first play. You exposed us to music and art. You were my librarian and other than my mother, you brought books into my life. I thank you for sharing what was not in the textbooks. We want to remember the service of Fred Brim, who could not attend this school due to segregation. He had a dream. He aspired to one day being principal of this school and he achieved that goal. For the students assembled here today let me speak to you in his words, “Do not come to me complaining. You can do whatever you set your mind if you are willing to work and to put forth the effort. Do not let anything stand in your way of getting an education.” I would also tell you to look to the example of Fred Brim. He is one of the best men I have ever known. Today we acknowledge the history of this school. Thirty-Two years ago, I was sitting in the same spot that my favorite drummer Tyler Joe Scales will tomorrow when he graduates from the seventh grade at Blue Ridge and goes off to Patrick County High School. That year was the only year I had my father Erie Meredith Perry as principal, but I have had “Erie-sistible” 45 years as a father. Today we honor his 28 years and the other thirty individuals whose names are carved on the stone sitting beside the flagpole representing nearly a century, 1000 years, of service to Blue Ridge and Patrick County. The Quakers who started this school believe in peace. I hope we have given some peace of mind to these honorees by remembering their service to the school system of Patrick County and their effect on the future through the children they educated. We did not need to carve your names on a stone and if we got it wrong I apologize, but I would rather try than do nothing. You deserved more than that and we needed to say thank you.” 

At a recent meeting the Patrick County Board of Supervisors recognized and thanked Raleigh and Shelby Puckett for establishing The Hollow History Center in Ararat in September 2005. The resolution honoring the Pucketts states that the center “was opened to systematically collect, preserve, and share the history of that area known as ‘The Hollow’ (present-day Ararat)” and the mission has been expanded to include all of the Dan River Magisterial District. The resolution states that Raleigh and Shelby Puckett have “contributed greatly to the preserving the history and culture of Patrick County.”

Click Here To Learn More
 

In the summer of 1749, William Charton and Daniel Weldon of North Carolina met Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson of Virginia on the banks of Peter’s Creek in Patrick County. Their mission was to extend the boundary line between the two colonies from the spot William Byrd II had stopped in 1728. Joshua Fry, born in England in 1700 and educated at Oxford, taught math at the College of William and Mary. He served in many capacities such as magistrate, County Lieutenant of militia and Surveyor living in Albemarle County. Peter Jefferson, described as a strong and quiet man, married into the Randolph family. He named his home, Shadwell, in Albemarle County after the parish where his wife, Jane, was christened. He learned surveying from William Mayo, who accompanied Byrd on the survey twenty years earlier. The party crossed the western section of today’s Patrick County and extended the boundary line 90 miles west to Steep Rock Creek in present day Washington County. Unlike Byrd’s survey, no diaries or journals of the trip survive, but the “hardships” endured became something of legend in the Jefferson family. They crossed the Dan River near present day Claudville and the Ararat River on land that would a century later belong to Archibald Stuart. The Blue Ridge Mountains and the New River awaited the party. On December 13, 1749, they reported to the Council of Colonial Virginia with maps and expense reports. Virginia rewarded the two men with 300 pounds sterling for their “extraordinary trouble.” In 1750, Acting Governor Burwell commissioned the two “to draw a map of the inhabited part of Virginia,” which was completed in 1751. The map shows landmarks those of living in Patrick County today would recognize such as the Irwin now Smith River, Wart Mountain in Virginia and Mount Ararat, now Pilot Mountain in North Carolina.  Three years later, Virginia appointed Fry Commander-in-Chief of Virginia forces in the French and Indian War with Lieutenant Colonel George Washington as second in command. Fry died on May 31, 1754 after his horse threw him leaving the future father of our country in command. Peter Jefferson became the County Surveyor and Lieutenant in Albemarle and a member of the House of Burgess. Sadly, he died on August 17, 1757 leaving a wife and children among them a fourteen-year-old son, who said “his father’s mind was naturally strong, but that his education had been neglected.” Peter Jefferson made sure his oldest son was well educated by local teachers and at William and Mary. The son inherited 7500 acres near Shadwell that included a place he called the “Little Mountain” or Monticello. Thomas Jefferson wrote one book in his life called Notes on the State of Virginia with a map based on the one his father had surveyed while traveling through Patrick County.

The Rolling Thunder Raceway is getting ready to begin a second season in Ararat, Virginia. After a successful partial season last year, Gary and Alesia Nester, are preparing for a full season of racing in six different classes. The first race is scheduled for April 4. Admission is $10 per person, $20 for the pit area, children 6-12 are $5 and children under 6 are free. Gates open at 5 p.m. with racing starting at 7 p.m. There are a few bleachers, but most people bring their lawn chair and enjoy racing under the stars. All racing usually ends by 11 p.m. on Friday nights. No alcohol is allowed inside the gates and law enforcement is present to make sure that no one is drinking or causing a disturbances. The Nesters want the racetrack to be a family place. The host non-profit groups such as the Dan River Park and church groups are given free passes and allowed to sell items to help raise money. Gary stresses that he wants to be a good neighbor and help the community by allowing groups to raise money along with the rescue squad and fire department. Finally, in the dire economic times Patrick County is experiencing, the Rolling Thunder Raceway employees twenty-four people at present almost all from Ararat with a yearly payroll of $60,000.

The dirt track located at 3532 Friends Mission Road along the Ararat River is about one mile from Blue Ridge Elementary School. You can reach them at

http://www.rolling-thunder-raceway.com

or 276-251-1949.

Americans will often travel for hours to visit a place that is not as interesting as a place right in their own neighborhood. Growing up in Ararat, Virginia, Hunter’s Chapel Church about one mile north of Laurel Hill, the birthplace of J. E. B. Stuart in Patrick County community is such a source of history right before our eyes. The cemetery at Hunter’s Chapel contains the mortal remains of James T. W. Clement, Company E, Sixth Virginia Cavalry. Recently, I looked into his service record after having him part of my life for years, but never paying much attention to this Civil War veteran. Serving in the Pittsylvania Dragoons, Clement enlisted in April 1862. He witnessed many memorable events during the Civil War. He like many of the members of Company E was at two sad places for the Confederate cavalry during the war. On June 6, 1862, Company E stationed on the Port Republic Road witnessed the death of the Virginia cavalryman Turner Ashby. In fact, members of the company carried the fallen “Knight of the Valley” off the battlefield that day. Union forces captured Clement that summer and exchanged him in December 1862. His record reports him absent wounded in December 1863. The battle of Yellow Tavern on May 11, 1864, called “the darkest day I have seen” by one member of the Sixth Virginia resulted in the capture of thirty men from the regiment about the time Colonel Henry Pate lost his life just after shaking hands with his commanding officer. The two men had been at odds and reconciled just before both suffered mortal wounds. The former antagonists met eight years earlier when the commander rescued Pate from the clutches of anti-slavery fanatic John Brown in Kansas. After Pate’s death Clement fell into Union hands when captured at Yellow Tavern. Clement may have been among sixty men who made a last stand during the battle so the Southern forces could flee the field was later exchanged near the end of October 1864. Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart of Patrick County, Pate and Clement’s commanding officer that day at Yellow Tavern, suffered a mortal wound moments after shaking Pate’s hand and giving Company E of the 6th Virginia Cavalry and James Clement the dubious distinction of being present when Stuart and Ashby both met their ends. Recent scholarship by Robert E. L. Krick concluded that John Huff, the man given claim by his commanding General George A. Custer, did not shoot Stuart. I have often thought what it would be like to spend a few moments with Clement or other veterans of war and persuade them to speak of what they saw right before their eyes. Did he relive the war imagining the horror and the glory he witnessed and the sadness he must have felt being present when both of these Southern cavalrymen met their ends leading troops into battle.