Newsletter of
the Free State of Patrick Internet History Group
Notes From The Free State Of
Patrick May 2008
"There is nothing new in the world except the history you
don't know" -- Harry Truman
Surry County North Carolina lost a
soldier in Iraq, Adam Marion, two weeks ago. Take a few
moments to remember his family in your prayers and the
families of all those who gave their lives in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Here are some stories from the Mount Airy News
about Adam.
My friend Porter
Bondurant passed away while I was in Augusta, Georgia, with
my mother over Easter visiting her 82 year old sister
Kathryn. I say Porter was my friend because I knew him my
entire life. When I was a kid he gave me candy when I went
into his store, now the J. E. B. Stuart Grocery, on the hill
above the home he shared with Pearl. He was born before
World War One and served in World War Two. He is the only
man I know who rode the Mount Airy and Eastern Railroad “The
Dinky” and we videotaped he and his older sister Caroline
Susan Bondurant Culler “Carrie Sue” several years ago
talking about it. Porter took Kenney Kirkman with me and
Gordon Axelrod on his John Deere Gator along with the path
the railroad took across his land. Many times I would stop
and talk to Porter by myself because along with his sister
Carrie Sue he was history in Ararat. He could tell some
whoppers, but he could tell some serious and moving stories
about his life from playing practical jokes on a stingy man
carrying apples on a wagon to his disgust with a man that
abused a mule pulling a wagon up the hill by his house. He
could take us back to the days when Clark’s Creek was damned
up to form an ice skating pond just below his home or his
experiences in Belgium and France with the locals, but more
about that later. Porter lived on the land that his
great-grandfather Pedigo lived on. In fact, his family’s
neighbors were J. E. B. Stuart’s family and I believe that
Porter’s grandmother knew the young Civil War General born
in Ararat in 1833. Apparently, they live a long time in his
family as his 94 years indicate. Porter joined the U. S.
Army on July 7, 1943 at age 29. He served in the Motor
Transport Division, Headquarters Command in Europe for two
years and one month. He received the Good Conduct Medal,
European African Middle Eastern Theater Ribbon and the World
War Two Victory Medal. He served in the campaign that freed
Europe from the Nazis. Before being honorably discharged on
June 12, 1946, he drove trucks supply the armies of Patton
and Bradley over 200 missions across France, Belgium and
Germany. One story is that he searched the records of HQ in
Richfield, England, and found his brother Peter Floyd
Bondurant was in London. Porter got a pass and reunited with
his brother in London, where the latter was with the 8th
Air Force Fighter Squadron. Porter was one of the charter
members of the Ararat Ruritan Club in 1953. In 1961 he
opened Blue Ridge View Grocery, now J. E. B. Stuart Grocery,
and operated the store for fifteen years. What a view of the
Blue Ridge it has. Porter now rests in the Pedigo Cemetery
with that same view of the Blue Ridge and all of us in
Ararat will miss him.
Visit Tom Perry's booth #110 in the
Just Plain Country Store in Stuart Virginia
Books include hardcover fiction, history:
local, civil war and presidential, paperbacks and audiobooks.
Exhibits on Patrick County history along
aisle wall of booth.
"We are the Hokies. We will prevail, we will prevail. We are Virginia Tech. "
-- Nikki Giovanni
You might not have heard of her, but Angela Tincher
might be the greatest female athlete in the history of Virginia Tech. Imagine
striking out 2,000 batters. Only two other women have accomplished that. Imagine
throwing a perfect game against the United States Olympic Team. That is what
this two time All-American did this year. Her team are the two time ACC
Champions.
Wolf Creek Farm Bed and Breakfast
along with Patrick County Historian Tom Perry are working together to bring
tourists to The Free State Of Patrick with history. A special package is offered
at the Wolf Creek Farm Bed and Breakfast in Ararat, Virginia. With your two
nights’ stay at Wolf Creek Farm, plan to have breakfast with Patrick County’s
historian, Thomas D. Perry. Tom, a graduate of Virginia Tech,, is the author of
The Free State of Patrick: Patrick County Virginia in the Civil War, Ascent
to Glory: The Genealogy of J. E. B Stuart, J. E. B. Stuart’s Birthplace: The
History of the Laurel Hill Farm, Images of America: Patrick County, Virginia,
God’s Will Be Done: The Christian Life of J. E. B. Stuart and the upcoming
Notes From the Free State of Patrick: Patrick County and Regional History -
Volume One. After a full country breakfast, enjoy a tour of sites in Ararat
associated with Civil War General J. E. B Stuart, Reverend Bob Childress, made
famous in The Man Who Moved A Mountain and mid-wife Aunt Orlean Hawks
Puckett, made famous by her cabin along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Other
topics will include the Mount Airy and Eastern Railroad along with stories,
legends and infamous crimes in the area known as The Hollow, Friends Mission and
Ararat, Virginia, which are the same place. Tours are flexible and our guests’
interests in any particular subject can be expanded with tours to the “Rock
Churches” ministered by Bob Childress or a stop by Aunt Orlean’s humble, rustic
mountain cabin along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Experience history at its best as
Tom brings J. E. B Stuart alive along with other famous Patrick County residents
of the past. Copies of Images of America: Patrick County (Tom Perry’s
newest publication), The Man Who Moved a Mountain by Richard C. Davids
and Orlean Puckett: The Life of a Mountain Midwife by Karen Cecil
Smith will be yours to take back home along with wonderful memories of your time
spent at Wolf Creek Farm. A hay ride and campfire will complete your evening as
you experience the wonders of solitude and stars as far as you can see!
Availability is dependent on the author’s schedule and only Advance Reservations
can take advantage of the tours. Many people come into Patrick County and
improve the place we live. My family were once “outsiders” when they came to
“The Free State Of Patrick” the year before I was born in 1959. I think new
blood and new ideas are good especially if they bring better economic times to
the area. One of the good things to come to Ararat is the Wolf Creek Farm Bed
and Breakfast (http://www.wolfcreekfarmva.com) located off the Rabbit Ridge Road
on 688 Gid Collins Drive. Cindy Hoback says she dreamed of operating a bed and
breakfast for twenty years while living on the Hoback’s cattle farm northwest of
Charlotte, North Carolina, where she grew up. Gary Hoback grew up in West
Virginia. He served on the U. S.S. Bennington during the Vietnam Conflict and
for over twenty years in the U. S. Naval Reserve where he was part of the
Seabees, the Construction Battalion as a Senior Chief. Cindy, a nurse, is the
mother of two beautiful daughters. Tracey, who holds a Master’s Degree in Social
Work works for the Saluda Center where she is a Marriage and Youth Councilor.
She and husband Hector live in York, South Carolina, and are the parents of
Alexis and two recently born twins Marisa and Brisa. Younger daughter Kelley is
a Recreational Therapist at the University of North Carolina Hospital at Chapel
Hill. Now, I must admit that I am biased towards the Hobacks. I house sit for
them, which means I get to feed the dogs and the wood stove while sitting in the
Henry VIII recliner (Gary prefers to say he looks like Robert E. Lee not Henry
VIII) and watch the Hoback Digital TV when they visit granddaughters. What the
Hobacks have I like to say is they get it. History and tourism can help the
economy of Patrick County. We have developed a history tour of Ararat where I
escort their guests around the community talking about Reverend Bob Childress
“The Man Who Moved A Mountain,” Midwife Orlean Hawks Puckett and J. E. B.
Stuart. All three of these people, some of the most famous from Patrick County
all spent most of their lives in Ararat, Virginia. The Hobacks get it. The
Hobacks got to Ararat “as quick as they could” in July 2003 and you can contact
them at 1-800-416-9653 (Wolf) or at
info@wolfcreekfarmva.com.
This page will have stories, photos and genealogical resources for those who had
ancestors from the county in the War Between the States.
Perry is editing and adding material for a second edition of The Free State Of
Patrick: Patrick County Virginia In the Civil War. Specifically, if you photos
of soldiers in uniform or letters from people in Patrick County and would like
to contribute them please send Tom Perry an email at
freestateofpatrick@yahoo.com.
Patrick County Jail
The Patrick County Jail has been a topic and much discussion
of late. Here is some history surrounding the politics surrounding it from after
the War Between The States that shows the more things change the more they stay
the same.
Late on the evening of May 11, 1864,
Dr. Charles Brewer worked over a severely wounded patient at his home on Grace
Street in Richmond, Virginia. The patient, Brewer’s brother in law, was shot in
the abdomen from the pistol of one of United States Cavalry General George
Armstrong Custer’s men. As Brewer worked to remove the clothes of his patient,
he took off the yellow sash of the cavalryman. The sash stained with blood
resides in the Virginia Historical Society’s exhibit The Story of Virginia.
Did Brewer think of the term yellow for the cavalry? We will never know, but all
know the song.
Around her neck she wore a yellow ribbon
She wore it in the springtime
And in the month of May
And if you ask me why the heck she wore it
She wore it for her soldier in the U. S. Cavalry Cavalry, Cavalry
She wore it for her soldier
In the U. S. Cavalry
Brewer may have thought of seven years earlier when he had this same man,
shot in the chest by a Cheyenne at the Battle of Solomon’s Fork in July 1857.
The young soldier survived that wound, but as Charles looked at him now he knew
the prognosis was not good. Brewer no doubt remembered the young Lieutenant
James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart and his young wife Mrs. Brewer’s sister. Flora
Cooke Stuart and Maria Cooke Brewer were the children of Virginia born Phillip
St. George Cooke and his wife, Julia. They all met while serving in the U. S.
Cavalry in Kansas Territory in the 1850s.
James Ewell Brown Stuart, born at
his parent’s home in Patrick County on February 6, 1833, and educated in
southwest Virginia and West Point. He served seven years mainly in the 1st U. S.
Cavalry from 1854-1861. He resigned in May 1861 and offered his sword to
Virginia. He rose in rank to Major General commanding all of Robert E. Lee’s
cavalry in the Army of Northern Virginia. He met his mortal wound on the
afternoon of May 11, 1864, at the Battle of Yellow Tavern, just north of
Richmond. Shot by a Union soldier, who fell from his horse and saw a Confederate
officer silhouetted by the sun among his artillery surrounded by men of the 1st
Virginia Cavalry. The shot found “Jeb” Stuart, who did fall from his mount, but
was helped down, placed on another animal and led behind the lines to a wagon.
As he left his last battlefield, Stuart saw his men retreating. He yelled to
them, Go back, go back and do your duty as I have done mine. Go back; go back,
I’d rather die than be whipped.”
Transferred to the Brewer home,
Stuart spent a fitful night placing ice on his wound and gradually growing
weaker as he bled to death internally. During the day of May 12, Stuart’s chief
of staff and first biographer Henry B. McClellan visited his stricken chief. As
he left, McClellan met President Jefferson Davis, who as Secretary of War for
the United States appointed Stuart to the 1st U. S. Cavalry in 1855. Davis
thought Stuart was well, but when the doctors told him of Stuart’s fate. Davis
asked Stuart, who replied that he was willing to die if God and his country felt
he had done his duty. Davis returned home to what we call the White House of the
Confederacy and his wife Varina recounted in the book that they knelt in prayer
that Stuart might be saved for his country.
Evening came to the Brewer home;
several ministers came in and sang Rock of Ages with the wounded
officer. Stuart told Charles Brewer that he would like to see Flora again, but
that “I am resigned. God’s Will Be Done.” He passed away around 7:30 p.m. on
Grace Street to the grace of his savior. Flora arrived before midnight.
On May 13, Friday the thirteenth,
they buried J. E. B. Stuart in the first of two graves he had in Richmond’s
Hollywood Cemetery as the guns of Sheridan’s cavalry still resonated outside the
Capitol of the Confederate States of America. That morning the Brewers held a
wake for their dead brother in law on Grace Street, the site today of the
Richmond Police parking lot. Recounted in The Pattons by Robert H.
Patton, one visitor was Confederate Officer George Patton, who brought his son.
The boy remembered that day seeing General Stuart lying on the billiard table
with a white sheet covering his torso and how vividly it contrasted with the red
beard of the slain officer. Many years later young Patton often spoke of that
day with his friend John S. Mosby as the latter bounced Patton’s son, World War
Two General George S. Patton, on his knee. Patton remembered because when his
father exited the Brewer home there were yellow roses all over the yard of the
home. The leader of the mechanized cavalry knew about the term yellow for the
cavalry.
The following day, May 14, 1864, the
City Council of Richmond approached Mrs. Stuart about leaving her husband in
Richmond, the city he gave his life defending. Four days later Patrick County’s
Gentlemen Justices approved a resolution remembering their fallen county man.
Each spring at Laurel Hill, the birthplace of J. E. B. Stuart in Patrick County,
flowers bloom beside the Virginia Historical Marker at the entrance The flowers
planted by Mrs. Betty H. Perry around the sign written by her son pay silent
homage to the man born there and the branch of the service he served. Forsythia
blooms yellow for the cavalry.
James T. W. Clement of the 6th Virginia Cavalry
(Related history to the above.)
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.
J. E. B. Stuart's Birthplace Vandalized
According to Patrick County Sheriff Dan Smith, the JEB
Stuart Birthplace historical site in Ararat received property damage in the
early morning hours of Sunday, February 3rd. The Ararat Volunteer Fire
Department responded to a call at the birthplace and extinguished a fire at the
scene. The fire destroyed a picnic table and damaged the grounds in the
surrounding areas. Anyone with any information in reference to this incident is
urged to contact the Patrick County Sheriff's Office at 276-694-3161, or Crime
Stoppers at 276-694-5000. The J. E. B. Stuart Preservation Trust is
offering reward of $500for information leading to the
arrest and conviction of the individual or individuals responsible for the
recent acts of vandalism at the birthplace site and the theft of up to 24 road
signs advertising the Highland Games recently held at Laurel Hill in Ararat.
Contact is the Sheriff Department at 276-694-3161.
The recent fire
damage at Stuart’s Birthplace, a whole lot of noise about nothing in my
opinion, will probably an excuse to lock the place up except for the civil
war encampment ever year. It is a shame those twenty years of building up a
site is ignored, while one act of vandalism is deemed worthy by our local
media. Twenty years ago when I began thinking that we could save part of the
Laurel Hill Farm, where Patrick County’ most famous son, James Ewell Brown
“Jeb” Stuart was born in 1833, the idea was to turn it into a park and give
it away for the future as a county, state or national park. I think the time
has come for this process to begin. It is obvious that the organization the
J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, Inc. has run its course and
is at best treading water and they are losing the battle. Recent events show
they can no longer protect the site from vandalism. A county, state or
national park at Laurel Hill would attract visitors from the Interstate 77
corridor, a mere ten miles away along with the Virginia Welcome Center along
the North Carolina/Virginia state line. In fact on a clear day you can see
I-77 coming down the mountain from Stuart’s Birthplace. It would also bring
the massive numbers of Mayberry tourists from Mount Airy, North Carolina, a
mere five miles away. The Stuart’s 1500 acre property’s southern border was
the state line. Although you would not know it from reading our local
newspaper, which has not written a story about the property in over a
decade, Laurel Hill is interpreted with eight signs telling the history of
property written by me until butchered by the birthplace and five more under
the “Stuart Pavilion” written by Robert J. Trout. Additional interpretation
could be used for such topics as the Mount Airy and Eastern Railroad, Ararat
River, etc. The eras of history already interpreted are the
Native-Americans, American Revolution, Antebellum Farm, Slavery and the
Civil War. The Mitchell House could be interpreted as a twentieth century
tobacco farm unless the board is going to let it fall down. This house
could be a perfect vehicle to tell the story of a tobacco farm in the 1900s
and a perfect outlet for the Tobacco Commission monies. Instead of trails
not needed along the Danville and Western Railroad or skateboard parks, why
not a national park in Patrick County connected with the most famous person
from Patrick County. The research is done. The book is written. The history
is documented. The interpretation and the trails are built. I cannot
imagine a site on the Virginia and National Registers of Historic Places
associated with such a prominent person from the War Between the States that
is not a park at this point nearly twenty years after inception. While
having an encampment and dressing up in uniforms and hoop skirts is nice, it
is my understanding that it does even pay the bills anymore. Highland Games
are fun too, but the Stuarts were lowland not highland Scots that were
shipped off to Northern Ireland to become Scots-Irish before continuing on
to Pennsylvania and the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Eventually, they came
to Patrick County on Mrs. Elizabeth Letcher Pannill Stuart’s inheritance
after Archibald literally lost the farm. A state and national park with
professional trained historians would make sure the real history of the site
is explored not this sort of thing that while entertaining is not the
history of the Laurel Hill Farm. This is a project that could get
bi-partisan support from Democrats Rick Boucher, Ward Armstrong and Roscoe
Reynolds. I bet our former Congressman Virgil Goode would support it.
Virgil has actually been to Laurel Hill. An affiliation with the state or
national park systems would give Laurel Hill much needed exposure such as
signage along major roads, being marked on the Virginia maps and exposure in
Welcome Centers and Visitors Centers that it presently does not get. The
original idea in the 1970s was to have a wayside belonging to the
Commonwealth of Virginia and I think that is what Laurel Hill needs to be
now. A state or national park in Ararat would put the site in safe hands
that is obviously does not have now.
Read more about Tom Perry's
concerns for the site he saved
William Jefferson Blythe Clinton visited
Mount Airy, North Carolina, this week. The 42nd President of the
United States of America spoke at the Mount Airy Middle School along the
banks of the Ararat River. It is not known if Barney had to give up his one
bullet during the former POTUS Mayberry visit to campaign for his wife,
Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is running against Barrack Hussein Obama for the
nomination of the Democratic Party. As far as I know this is the only time a
President sitting or former has visited the town I was born in. (Shhh don’t
tell anybody I still have not forgiven my mother for having me south of the
border.) While no one would confuse me as a fan of Bill Clinton, but history
is history. So around 8 p.m. we headed for the middle school. We did not
wait for hours to see Clinton and we were some of the last to get into what
I estimated was a crowd of about 600, not thousands as the media reported. I
was able to stand directly in front of the media riser about twenty feet
from Clinton as he spoke. He is tall and looked better in person than I had
seen him on television. He had heart surgery several years ago and he is
certainly not the robust “Bubba” of his White House years. He was introduced
by Rufus Edmonston who described Clinton as the man with the truth, which I
thought was funny for a man impeached for perjury and disbarred by the legal
profession for lying under oath. Bill did his usual good job of campaigning.
When he ran in 1992 I remember saying to several people that the Republicans
needed to be scared to death of him because he had the touch. If you do not
see through him he is someone who has serious personal charm. On the way I
out I did spot something to show my support for the only Clinton that I
would support for president, if he/she/it could run for office. I got a
Bring Sox Clinton Back to the White House 2008 button.
Notice the former President over this fat boy's shoulder. :-)
Rock and Roll History
The night before I saw the former POTUS I saw The Boss. Bruce Springsteen
played in the Greensboro Coliseum. This photo below is from his January 1985
concert in the same building the only other time I saw him. In 1985 he
played over four hours, but only about three in 2008. This photo from my
collection shows him dancing with a young lady he plucked from the audience
to dance with at the end of Dancing In The Dark, the song's video launched
the career of Friends star Courtney Cox for those of us old enough to
remember or care.
If you are interested in this subject I wrote a very personal blog about
it
Congressman Rick Boucher announced the
awarding of federal funds in the amount of $220,000 for renovate the
Woolwine Covered Bridge called Jack’s Creek on April 22, 2008. The money
will restore and protect the bridge, including a new roof, security features
and fireproofing. Total cost of renovations is $284,167. Virginia Tobacco
Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission provided $37,320.
The Virginia Covered
Bridge Society, Inc. recently donated a miniature covered bridge to the
Bassett Historical Center. The miniature of the Jack’s Creek Covered Bridge
in Woolwine was donated in the name of Izzy DeJesus, the first President of
the VCBS. It was delivered on Thursday, March 6, 2008. Marty Wyatt of
Chesterfield, Missouri built the miniature. Here are some photos of the
event.
Bassett Historical Center Announces Concert Fund Raiser
The Bassett Public Library Association and the Bassett
Historical Center have a fund raiser on May 16th , Friday night, at Bassett
Country Club. This is a concert and silent auction and we are looking forward to
the music that will be heard that night, and seeing the interesting items that
have been donated for the silent auction. This is being sponsored by Draper
Flowers and Gifts and Collins-McKee-Stone, Bassett Chapel. The Camden Trio will
be performing at 7:45pm and we are looking forward to hearing Peter Ramsey, Lynn
Gardner and Hillary Port. Lynn lives in Martinsville and is founder and director
of the Camden Consort, an ensemble dedicated to the performance of early music.
She is the principal keyboardist for the Danville Symphony. Hillary is a member
of Camden Consort, the Danville Symphony, and Starmont Swing Band. Originally
from the United Kingdom, she lives in Collinsville. Then, there is Peter Ramsey
who is the newest member of Camden Consort. Peter is an avid genealogist, a
member of the American Recorder Society and the Mideast Recorder Workshop in
Pittsburgh. He serves as organist of Pocahontas Bassett Baptist Church and lives
In Henry, Virginia. Get ready for the harpsichord, recorders, and the bass as
classical music will abound. We shall begin at 6:30pm with the social hour, hors
d’oeuvres, bidding at the silent auction as we listen and enjoy the music that
Peter has chosen to entertain everyone. Music from the 1940s through the 1960s
will certainly be remembered, and possibly if you have a favorite, he just might
be able to remember that one, too! The concert will be from 7:45pm to 8:30pm and
then you will have a few minutes to do your last minute bidding. There are large
items, small items, middle-sized items…all new, interesting, and just waiting
for a new home! We have two lithographs, one each of Generals Robert E. Lee and
Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson. Limited edition prints, both are from the “Four
Ages of Lee” series published by Luther E. Caudill, Jr., colorist, artist and
art historian. They are 14 X 16, framed, and initialed by the colorist. Patricia
Buckley Moss, honored this year as one of the “Virginia Women in History 2008”
has given us the print “Warmth Within” to be auctioned. “Warmth Within” is known
as Mary’s Cabin, owned by Mary Guynn, of Galax. The 140 year old cabin was
originally home of the Hooker family who owned Hooker Furniture Company of
Martinsville. Also, a rare Moss framed print “The Calf Best Loved” has been
donated by Bradley Draper. Moss uses the considerable commercial success she has
earned as an artist to aid charities for children and to promote the use of the
arts to help children with learning disabilities. An original painting by Doris
Bridges Draper, award winning local artist, has graciously been donated by Mrs.
Draper for the auction. A brass proof replica of Engine 611 was donated, made by
Chris Marks, proof #3, Class J of No. 611. Our own local Karen Eggleston
featured on QVC has donated one of her sculptures, a beautiful egg, for the
auction. A painting donated by Lee Smith and framing donated by Royal Stone,
Outback Frame Shop, is an original painting from a copy taken from a study by
Donald Fields of Collinsville. A wood carving by Earl Draper has also been
donated for the auction. Ernie Williams, owner of Gallery Number One in
Martinsville is a professional artist and wood worker, now a member of the
American Gourd Society. He has donated two of his pieces for the auction, a
small Christmas ornament gourd with Bob White Covered Bridge and a carved turkey
call with Bob White Covered Bridge. Baskets of goodies will certainly strike
your fancy. “Food for the Gods” is a basket full of chocolate goodies including
Godiva Liqueur, chocolate-coated spoons, biscotti, Godiva Belgian Blends drinks
just to name a few of the items filling the basket. A basket entitled “Container
Gardening” is just the thing for getting you ready to plant flowers and herbs,
and another basket entitled “Hair and Toe” that has shampoo, mousse,
conditioner, spray, a scarf, comb, brushes, a certificate from KUTS, miracle
foot repair, Curel foot cream, a pumice stone, and other items. Visits to the
Village Spa for a massage, a spa pedicure, and one week of unlimited tanning
sound dreamy! Furniture? Oh, yes, quite a bit, from Bassett Furniture
Industries, A C Furniture, Inc., Bassett Mirror Company, Stanley Furniture,
beginning with a bar and stools, a game table, chairs…even the poker chips.
There is a wingback chair, a gooseneck lounge chair, and other items such as a
5X7 Aubusson carpet, a hammock, a green and white needlepoint rug, an Olde Towne
Alexandria Holiday Wreath, a silk floral arrangement from Draper Flowers and
Gifts, collectibles and other surprises. Come and see for yourself and possibly
take something home with you! This night, of course, is a fund raiser for the
Bassett Historical Center’s expansion project. We hope that you will attend,
enjoy the company and music and will help the Center to get closer to beginning
their building addition. If you should have questions about the concert, please
call the Center at 629-9191. Just send a check to the Historical Center at 3964
Fairystone Park Highway, Bassett, Virginia 24055, $30 single and $50 for a
couple. Tickets may be picked up at the door. Please provide us with your email
address or phone number so that we can let you know we received your check. The
check should be written to the Bassett Historical Center Building Fund.
Regional History
Library Receives Government Funding
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. http://www.bassetthistoricalcenter.com
The Bassett Historical Center “The Best Little Library in Virginia”
From the Doomsday Book of William the Conqueror written in 1085 in England to
the latest research on the Goblintown Grist Mill in Patrick County there is only
one local resource that holds both and that is the Bassett Historical Center of
the Blue Ridge Regional Library, in my opinion, the best local history library
in Virginia. Many years ago while reading Henry Wiencek’s The Hairstons, An
American Family in Black and White on page 175, I came across a section on
finding obscure material at the library in Bassett. Intrigued I began to visit
the library. Over the years in researching J. E. B. Stuart, I have traveled from
West Point to Kansas to many libraries, but I never cease to return to the banks
of the Smith River. If you are stuck on a genealogical question, finding an
ancestor from the Civil War or just want to kill some time reading about Thomas
Jefferson, this is the place for you.
The historical center contains nearly 7000 family files and books on all the
local families, bound material and books from all the counties in Virginia and
many counties in West Virginia, North and South Carolina, Kentucky and
Tennessee. Copies of the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, William and
Mary Quarterly, Virginia Genealogist, Magazine of Virginia Genealogy,
Appalachian Quarterly, Family History Magazine, AAHGS News, Ancestry and
Piedmont Lineages are among the periodicals you will find at the Center. A
visit to the banks of the Smith River might include an encounter an opportunity
to talk railroads with Kenny Kirkman. Patrick County’s own Pamela Hollandsworth
volunteered cataloging the papers of my mentor O. E. Pilson. Other collections
include those of Lela C. Adams, John B. Harris, Grady Garrett, Eunice Kirkman,
Ruth F. Morris and the Henry County Bicentennial Collection (29 volumes) made up
of transcribed records from minute and/or order books, plus loose papers found
in the Henry County Courthouse. Internet connections to Ancestry.Com,
AncestryPlus, and HeritageQuest provide the patrons with census records and can
be a used as a guide when one is searching for someone not in the immediate
area. They also provide social security records of a deceased person, plus vital
statistics, military records, and books in which a family surname is
referenced.
For years, the historical center was located in the back room of the present
building, but in 1998, the regular library moved across Highway 57 to a new
facility leaving the entire building on the banks of the Smith River to the
Historical Center. Today, the back room over looking the river contains military
and Native American materials. If you want to find your ancestor in the Civil
War, there is no better room to begin that search. All of the Howard Virginia
Regimental Series along with the entire index of Confederate Soldiers published
by Tom Broadfoot, the Time-Life series on the war and most of the Official
Records of the war are present with many supplementary publications. You can
work with large screen computers as George Stoneman and Jubal Early peer down on
you from pictures above the door and if you sit in the right place you can look
upon Sauratown Woman or a glance to the shelves will bring you in contact with
my favorite item, a brick from Stuart’s birthplace. The staff of the Blue Ridge
Regional Library’s Bassett Historical Center are Library Director Patricia Ross
with Fieldale’s Anne Copeland, Mr. Sam Eanes and Cindy Headen will come through
for you too. Copeland summed up what any historical library should do, “the
amount of material we are able to share with the public only came about because
so many people were willing to share with us.”
Laurel Hill Publishing is pleased to
announce the release of God’s Will Be Done: The Christian Life of J. E. B.
Stuart by Thomas D. Perry. The 147 page book is a biography of Patrick County
Virginia’s most famous son Civil War General James Ewell Brown Stuart focusing
on his faith along with his life and military career. The book will be available
locally exclusively at Booth #110 in the Just Plain Country Store in Stuart,
Virginia, until February 12 when it will be released nationally. Cost of the
book is $14.99.
Did you know that J. E. B. Stuart?
Founded churches in Kansas that are still
standing.
Gave $100 to the formation of a church in
Patrick County.
Bought his men copies of the scriptures
from his own pocket.
Gave Temperance speeches throughout his
life after promising his mother at 12 he would not drink.
These are some of the history revealed in
this new book.
Thomas D. Perry is the author of Images
of America: Patrick County Virginia published by Arcadia J. E. B. Stuart’s
Birthplace: The History of the Laurel Hill Farm, The Free State of Patrick:
Patrick County Virginia in the Civil War and Ascent To Glory: The Genealogy of
J. E. B. Stuart published by Laurel Hill Publishing.
Perry started the J. E. B. Stuart
Birthplace in 1990, the 75 acre park that preserves the site of the house where
Stuart was born and spent his first 12 years. Visit
www.freestateofpatrick.com/Laurelhill.htm for information about the history
of the site. In 2005, Perry started the Free State of Patrick Internet History
Group, the largest historical organization relating to Patrick County Virginia
history with 550 members. Membership is free of charge to anyone interested in
history. Members receive a monthly email newsletter about local and regional
history.
www.freestateofpatrick.com/fsop.htm.
Perry will be speaking on March 1, 2008,
at the first annual symposium at the Bassett Historical Center. He lectures all
over the country about Stuart and Patrick County History. He is a Life Member of
the Patrick County Historical Society and on the Board of Directors of the
Bassett Historical Center, Patrick County’s regional history library.
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.
Edith Brown's Pasture (Related history to the above.)
The address 3514 Riverside Drive is the last address in
North Carolina before you cross into Patrick County traveling from Mount Airy,
North Carolina, to Ararat, Virginia. It is owned by Edith Brown. Today it is
just a grass pasture that was recently a tobacco field. This small acreage is
one of the more historic pieces of property in our area if you see history as
the people and things that traveled across it. The first thing you can notice
about the pasture is the dividing line between North Carolina runs across it.
This line first surveyed in 1749 brought two men from Virginia of note through
Edith Brown’s pasture. The first Joshua Fry (1700-1754) was born in England.
When he died by falling from his horse on a later military campaign, a young
Virginia took his command and rode it to greatness. His name was George
Washington. The other Virginian to walk across the pasture in 1749 was Peter
Jefferson (1708-1757), the father of our third President, Thomas Jefferson. The
son was the author of the Declaration of Independence, Governor of Virginia,
Founder of the University of Virginia, amateur architect and surveyor. These two
men traveled with commissioners from North Carolina William
Churton and Daniel Weldon along with surveyors and slaves to extend the
boundary line between the State of North Carolina and the Commonwealth of
Virginia. The previous survey ended in 1728 along Peter’s Creek in Patrick and
Stokes counties respectively. This survey included William Byrd II, who left a
journal and a “secret” journal of his experiences. Peter Jefferson may have, but
his home Shadwell burned in 1770 and most of his papers were lost. This group
extended the boundary line to Steep Rock Creek near Damascus, Virginia. Less
than a hundred years after the survey a young redheaded boy on a horse rode
through the pasture on his way back and forth to Mount Airy to pick up the
family mail, accompanying his mother to church or shopping excursions in the
“Granite City” long before it was a city. Tradition holds that the mother
stopped at Linger Longer, the home of the Fultons just a few miles closer to
town, and changed into her best bonnet from the everyday bonnet she wore at
home. From 1825 until 1859 this family owned the land in Virginia that is part
of the pasture. The red head’s name was James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart. Another
bit of history came chugging along powered by a steam locomotive fifty years
after Stuart rode his horse. The Mount Airy and Eastern or “Dinky” Railroad came
through this pasture from Mount Airy on its way to Kibler Valley to haul lumber
to furniture factories. It carried people to the White Sulphur Springs just
south on the Ararat River and sometimes just north in Virginia to Pedigo’s pond,
which froze in the winter to allow ice skating. The railroad ran for about
twenty years 1900-1920 with various owners running about nineteen miles along
the Ararat River, to Clark’s Creek, to Fall Creek to the Dan River and into the
Kibler Valley. In 1990 you could have seen this author in the driveway of 3514
Riverside Drive with Joe Bill Brown, Edith’s late husband. Here we came to an
agreement that preserved Stuart’s Birthplace. Edith Brown’s pasture has seen
history made and history preserved. It might seem a stretch to imagine all this
happening on one small piece of ground, but that is why we should preserve
history so that these stories are not lost.
Patrick County History and Tourism
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. 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 a Confederate General’s birthplace
and even the 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 and well. Tom Bishop
and others have brought it back from oblivion. While I don’t agree with
everything that Tom and the Chamber do, I joined the Chamber for the first
time this year because I saw that something, anything was better than
nothing. 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.
What a nice tribute to one
of my dearest friends! (Libba Robertson) I wholeheartedly agree with you!
I also agree with you and
the "Shame in Ararat." Something really does need to be
done!"
Liz Lindon, Blacksburg
Genealogy Queries
The Patrick County Genealogy Society will publish genealogy
queries in the quarterly newsletter of the organization and monthly in the local
newspaper. Send queries to David Sheley 4522 Dobyns Road, Stuart, VA 24171.
Newsletter From The Reynolds Homestead
The Reynolds Homestead is producing a
monthly email newsletter. Please contact Lisa Martin at
martinlm@vt.edu
Washington Times Civil War Page
Every
Saturday the Washington Times newspaper produces a Civil War Page. Here is a
recent article on J. E. B. Stuart.
The Free State Of Patrick: Patrick County Civil War Virginia Second Edition
Tom Perry is looking for more photos and letters for an updated second edition
of the book on Patrick County In The Civil War to be released in 2009. Send an
email to
freestateofpatrick@yahoo.com if you know of any letters or photos of Patrick
County Civil War soldiers that could be used.
Images of America: Patrick County Virginia
On Sale
Just Plain Country Store and Antique Mall Booth #110 in
Stuart, Virginia
If you would like to receive this monthly email newsletter,
please send an email to
freestateofpatrick@yahoo.com
with the word ADD in the subject line.
Membership
is 552 people interested in Patrick County History and
receiving the monthly email newsletter.
The Free State Of
Patrick website
www.freestateofpatrick.com reached 73,348 hits since
inception and 50,542 in the last year.
New Series Of Books By Tom Perry Beginning In 2008
Copyright 2007 Tom Perry. No material to be used without permission.
"Never attribute to malice what you can explain with stupidity" -- Hanlon's
Razor