newsletter

"There is nothing new in the world except the history you don't know" -- Harry Truman

"We are the Hokies. We will prevail, we will prevail. We are Virginia Tech. " -- Nikki Giovanni

Keep Those Who Survived The Tragedy Of April 16, 2007 And Returned To Virginia Tech This Fall In Your Thoughts

Alec Calhoun, Katelyn Carney, Garrett Evans, Kevin Sterne, Sean McQuade, Elilta Habtu, Derek O'Dell, Jamal Carver, Chang Min Park, John W. Grant, Caroline Merrey, Heidi Miller, Kristine Heeger, Guillermo Colman, Matt Webster,

The Free State Of Patrick Supports The Patrick County High School Alumni Association

Special Thanks to Sue and Sammy Shelor For Letting Me Set Up All Summer in Meadows of Dan

VISIT THE FREE STATE OF PATRICK BOOTH AT THE PATRICK COUNTY AGRICULTURAL FAIR SEPTEMBER 18-22

Early on July 8, 1967, Laurence Olivier stood over the bed of the woman he been married to for twenty years. The life had left the fragile figure before him. She was British, brunette and beautiful. He wrote about the scene, “Looking for the last time at that beautiful dead face, I discerned a drawn look in her expression that I knew to be one of faint disgust.” Vivien Leigh had not died without a fight. She had two Oscars one from 1951 for her performance as Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams’ A Street Car Named Desire and the other for her memorable portrayal of Scarlet O’Hara in Gone With The Wind. Olivier wrote in his autobiography, “I stood and prayed for forgiveness for all the evils that had sprung up between us.”

It was the summer of 1967. Hippies were making a big noise on the corner of Haight and Ashbury streets in San Francisco. A month before Vivien Leigh’s death The Beatles had released (June 1, 1967)one of the great rock and roll albums of all time Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hears Club Band. That summer the “Fab Four” recorded “All You Need Is Love on June 25. “Love, Love, Love, Love Is All You Need.” The summer of 1967 was the “Summer of Love.”

In the summer of 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson mired in war in a place called Vietnam was a year away from deciding not to run for another term as President of the United States. His wife “Lady Bird” died this year. She was the only first lady I ever saw. I visited the LBJ Ranch several years ago and Mrs. Johnson was sitting in the yard with one of her daughters, Lucy I believe.

Between the time The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper and the theme song for the summer Johnson appointed the first African-American to the Supreme Court of the United States on June 13. Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall, saying, "the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place.” Marshall had worked tirelessly as the attorney for the NAACP overturning school segregation in Brown v. Topeka in 1954 and winning 29 of 32 cases before the Supreme Court.

In Ararat, Virginia, I was starting the first grade at Blue Ridge High School. It did not become just an elementary school until I was in the seventh grade. Miss Estelle King now Terry was Miss Blue Ridge while her future husband Anthony Terry was racing cars on dirt tracks in the area. My father was principal at Red Bank Elementary School and my mother had started working at Quality Mills shipping golf shirts for the next thirty plus years.

It was not unusual to begin the first grade, but now I believe we the Class of 1979 were the first integrated class in Patrick County history. I think that 1966 it was voluntary, but in 1967 it was mandatory for Black and White students to be integrated together in the public schools. I have no recollection of the momentous summer events. Race was not an issue in our house. To this day I have never heard either of my parent’s utter a racial epithet or treat anyone different. In fact, one sure way to make my father angry was to make a racial slur. I am not sure if that was because he was working in the school system or because he just didn’t like the ignorance of such thinking, but I never heard.

Patrick County High School Class of 1979, the first integrated class to graduate after twelve years.

So, I was insulated from the problems of race. In Ararat, that summer I am certain I probably shared a tobacco field with Winston and Champ Reynolds, who are Black and lived between the Guynns where I spent many a summer day in field of green tobacco and my own house. We grew up together. We played together. We still speak when we see each other and we usually laugh. I knew guys I went to high school with from Meadows of Dan who never went to school with someone of a different race until they reached Patrick County High School and most had never seen an African-American before they were teenagers.

We never had problems over integration in Patrick County I think due to the work of School Superintendent Dorn Spangler, who was a great politician from everything I have learned of him since. I met him several times as a young man and my father reveres his memory. The Black High School, Patrick Central High School, is now a shop for eighteen wheel trucks and most students at Patrick County High School I doubt ever give a thought to the fact that Black and White went to schools that were “separate, but equal.”

Dorn Spangler is the third from the left at the Mayberry School with teacher Bertie Shelor.

During the “Summer of Love” Dorn Spangler and others who loved Patrick County worked to make the change from segregation as smooth as possible and that “The Free State Of Patrick” was no longer separate and unequal.

Book Description: Formed in 1790, Patrick County is named for the Commonwealth of Virginia’s first governor, Patrick Henry, who lived in neighboring Henry County. Located along the border of North Carolina where the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Appalachian Range cross the state line, the “Free State of Patrick” is half piedmont and half mountain plateau. This dividing geographic feature is reflected in the mountain people of Scots-Irish and German descent along with English living below the mountain heights. This divergent population produced tobacco magnate R. J. Reynolds; Civil War general J. E. B. Stuart and World Series pitcher Brad Clontz.

Author Bio: Thomas D. Perry grew up in Patrick County’s most historic community of Ararat. He attended Patrick County High School and, in 1983, graduated from Virginia Tech. Perry founded the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, Inc., in 1990. The nonprofit organization has preserved 75 acres of the Stuart property, including the house site where James Ewell Brown Stuart was born on February 6, 1833. Tom is the author of Ascent to Glory: The Genealogy of J. E. B. Stuart; The Free State of Patrick: Patrick County, Virginia, in the Civil War; and Stuart’s Birthplace: The History of the Laurel Hill Farm. Perry produces a monthly e-mail newsletter about regional history from his Web site, www.freestateofpatrick.com.

PURCHASE TOM PERRY'S LATEST TWO BOOKS FOR $40. A SAVINGS OF $15. INCLUDES TAX AND SHIPPING. SEND A CHECK TO P. O. BOX 50 ARARAT VA 24053.

Tom Perry and the Star Theatre will be holding a program on Sunday, November 11, at 3 p.m. entitled "From Laurel Hill To Yellow Tavern: The Life Of J. E. B. Stuart." This PowerPoint slide program will include images and music from the Civil War era while telling the life story of Patrick County's most famous solider James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart on Veterans Day in the historic Star Theatre in Stuart, Virginia. http://www.historicstartheatre.com

The Star Theatre of Stuart, Virginia, and The Free State Of Patrick Internet History Group (www.freestateofpatrick.com) are pleased to announce a Veterans Day program to be held on November 11, 2007, at 3 p.m. at the Star Theatre in Stuart, Virginia. The program will feature Patrick County Historian Tom Perry presenting a visual slide program entitled “From Laurel Hill To Yellow Tavern: The Life of J. E. B. Stuart." Admission will be $3 per person.

This program will focus on the entire life in a new program based on Perry’s years of research on James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart, Patrick County’s most famous soldier, who served as Robert E. Lee’s cavalry commander in the Army of Northern Virginia in the War Between The States. Perry, the founder of the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace, preserved 75 acres of the original 1500 acres where Stuart was born on February 6, 1883. Perry holds a B. A. in History from Virginia Tech, where he studied under nationally recognized Civil War Historian James I. Robertson, Jr.

J. E. B. Stuart attended Emory and Henry College before going to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Stuart graduated in 1854 and spent the next seven years in the United States Army, mainly in the First U. S. Cavalry primarily in Kansas. Stuart resigned in May 1861 after the firing on Fort Sumter and offered his sword to the South. He rose in rank to Major General serving as Robert E. Lee’s cavalry general at battles such as Antietam/Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Brandy Station, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse and Yellow Tavern, where he was mortally wounded. Stuart died the next day May 12, 1864, in Richmond, where he is buried in Hollywood Cemetery.

Stuart spent his first twelve years in Patrick County’s most historic community, a place that not only produced Stuart, but Reverend Bob Childress and midwife Orlean Hawks Puckett. Stuart often wrote of his feelings for what he called “the dear old hills of Patrick.” The preservation of Stuart’s Birthplace began in 1990 when Perry and a local group began raising money to save the site, which is open every day dawn to dusk for a self-guided tour that includes over a dozen interpretive signs.

The program will also include an exhibit about Patrick County in the Vietnam Conflict focusing on the seven men from Patrick County who lost their lives in the 1960s. Perry will have his shadowbox of rubbings from the Vietnam War Memorial and an accompanying book about the seven men who lost their lives. They were Roger D. Bowman, Frederick C. Bullington, Bobby L. Corns, Israel L. Ingram, John M. James, Bernard A. Sowder and Larry J. Talley. Visit www.freestateofpatrick.com/vietnam for more information on these men.

The Star Theatre 318 Patrick Ave. Stuart, VA PO Box 414 , Stuart, VA 24171 (276) -694-7064

September 18-22, Patrick County Agricultural Fair at Rotary Field, Stuart, VA.

The documentary THE WAR explores the history and horror of World War II from an American perspective by following the fortunes of so-called ordinary men and women who became caught up in one of the greatest cataclysms in human history. This epic film focuses on the stories of citizens from four American towns taking the viewer through their personal and harrowing journeys, painting vivid portraits of how the war dramatically altered their lives

William Jackson Palmer "The Man Who Didn't Burn Martinsville, Virginia" is featured this month in Civil War Times Illustrated. Palmer born a Quaker in Delaware, worked on railroads before the Civil War erupted in 1861. He left the Friends and joined the Union army. He rose to the rank of Brevet Brigadier General riding with George Stoneman when he came through Patrick and Henry counties in March and April 1865. Palmer received the Medal of Honor for his service in the war. He moved west to Colorado, where he founded the city of Colorado Springs and built narrow gauge railroads and becoming a philanthropist leaving millions of dollars. http://www.historynet.com/magazines/civil_war_times/8871752.html

Roanoke Civil War Round Table Announces 2007-2008 Schedule Click Here To Learn More

The Third Annual Saltville Civil War Symposium will be held on October 6 in the meeting room of the Museum of Middle Appalachians starting at 9:30 a.m. features William C. Davis, Randall Osborne, Tom Perry, Jeff Weaver and Roger Allison. Cost is $30 before September 24, $35 at the door. Visit www.sbrl.org for more information.

Willis Gap Community Center
144 The Hollow Road
Ararat, VA 24053

Willis Gap Community Center holds an open jam session on every Friday night. (7:00 PM-10:00 PM). The Center has been doing jam sessions successfully for over 5 years. Jammers of all skill levels are invited to attend. Mostly Bluegrass is played during the jam, the Center also loves Gospel, Country, and Oldies. Hotdogs, chips, snacks, and drinks are available for purchase. All proceeds of the Jam Session go to the Willis Gap Community Center. The WGCC is available to rent for family, community, and church functions. Come out and visit the Willis Gap Community Center for good friends, good food, and good fun.

Welcome To The New Sponsor Of The Free State Of Patrick Rolling Thunder Raceway

Rolling Thunder Raceway held its grand opening on August 17 in Ararat, Virginia with over 2,000 people present and 100 drivers racing in seven different classes. People from Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, North Carolina and Washington, D. C. attended the grand opening.

Racing celebrities including Richard Childress’s grandson Austin Dillon and NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick have expressed interest in the racetrack. There has been some interest in local real estate from people outside the area after attending the race on Friday night. Rolling Thunder Raceway employs 27 part-timers and 2 full time employees. There were three Patrick County Sheriff Deputies present during the event and no alcoholic consumption is allowed inside the raceway. The Ararat Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad were present. The Nesters hope both organizations will be able to raise monies from their time at the racetrack. Patrick County’s Dan River Supervisor Jonathan Large said, “I think that Rolling Thunder Raceway is providing entertainment for our community and generating revenue at our local business. I think that once the problems get ironed out that this will be a big boost to the economy of the Dan River District. The Nesters have followed all the rules in building this facility. They are employing over 25 people at the track and also donating money to our local fire and rescue squads. The security is provided by our local off duty police officers. They only problem that were addressed to me were the late hour of operation. If we can get the word out that the track hopes to be done by mid night I think that will help greatly.” Several local business people have expressed support including Mike Leech of M&M Grocery and Boyd’s Restaurant in Ararat who said, “I think this is a good thing. It gives people something to do on Friday nights especially the kids in the community. I believe it will help business and bring people to Ararat.” Cathy Knowles, mother of one of the drivers said, "The race Friday was like a giant backyard barbeque. There was so much excitement, everyone lounging back in their chairs, kids running around playing in the dirt, no beer, and no vulgar language. It was really fun, new and different for the area. I think we had about 25 people in our little group, and it was catching up on old times, laughing, joking, and just good fellowship. I think a place that offers that should be showcased!" As this was the first time for racing some problems were encountered including going longer into the evening than the Nesters wanted. “We hope our local people will be patient as we iron out the issues.” Gary and Alesia would like everyone to know that, “We are an organization comprised of folks who love racing. Our desire is to provide an environment for all kinds of racing that is safe and enjoyable for the whole family. Kick back, enjoy a hot dog and a Coke from our concession stand, and have the time of your life!" Patrick County Historian Tom Perry of Ararat said, “Racing has a long history in Patrick County from the days of bootleggers through the Wood Brothers and the efforts today to build the Virginia Motorsports Museum and Hall of Fame. I welcome the family atmosphere the Nesters are trying to build and the people they will bring to historic Ararat. We have the history of Reverend Bob Childress, Aunt Orlean Puckett and our county’s most famous son J. E. B. Stuart. The Rolling Thunder Raceway is located on the historic Ararat River just down the road from The Hollow History Center. I am glad to see people trying to do something positive in our community.”

Driving Directions to Rolling Thunder Raceway. From Mount Airy North Carolina (about ten miles), take Riverside Drive, North Carolina Highway 104 (Ararat Highway, Virginia Route 773) to Blue Ridge Elementary School. From Stuart Virginia (about 21 miles) take Route 8 South, Salem Highway turn right onto Virginia Highway 103 to Claudville, Virginia, turn right onto Virginia Route 773, Ararat Highway to Blue Ridge Elementary School. From Blue Ridge Elementary School in Ararat, Virginia, on the Ararat Highway (VA Route 773/NC Hwy 104 Riverside Drive from Mount Airy, NC) turn onto Friends Mission Road (VA Route 675) beside the Fellowship Church and travel until you cross the bridge over the Ararat River. Entrance to the racetrack will be on the left as you start up the hill.

The former Hokie among 20 enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.

From 1983-84 it was my great pleasure on Saturday afternoons to watch Bruce Smith chase quarterbacks of the opposing teams around the field at Lane Stadium. While Michael Vick might have been the best offensive player in VA TECH history, Smith was the greatest defensive player and maybe the greatest player. He now holds the NFL career records for sacking quarterbacks with 200. Joe Montana called him "the best player he ever saw at that position." Bruce Smith was 6-foot-4, 265-pound defensive end, his stats were phenomenal - 277 games, 909 tackles, 316 assisted tackles and 200 quarterback sacks. I had the pleasure once of guarding Bruce in a pickup basketball game while in college. He was hilarious, talking and joking, the whole time. He did not have to push people around. He was so good an athlete you were lucky to keep up with him. I never saw a man so big, so fast and so light on his feet. It was a pleasure to have a Hall of Famer kick my butt on the basketball court.

Bruce Smith spent most of his career with the Buffalo Bills, but the last four were with the Redskins.

"SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Former Virginia Tech defensive tackle Bruce Smith was never prouder to be a Hokie than in April. A memorial service for 32 people killed on campus by a gunman who also killed himself ended with a spontaneous school chant by students of "Let's go, Hokies!" "They were absolutely remarkable. They made me so proud to be an alumnus of Virginia Tech," Smith said. "In the midst of crying I had my chest stuck out because I was so proud of being a part of the Virginia Tech family. I still get chills any time I talk about it." Smith gave many Hokie fans chills for the way he made big plays. He also sent chills through opposing quarterbacks fearful of being tackled by the 6-foot-3, 275-pound lineman. He is among 20 greats who will be enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame this weekend. The Division I-A honorees were inducted by the National Football Foundation in New York in December and will be formally enshrined during a banquet today. Others being honored include Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, former Florida running back Emmitt Smith, Minnesota tackle Carl Eller and Heisman Trophy winners Charlie Ward of Florida State and Mike Rozier of Nebraska. "It's an honor to be recognized as one of the greatest college players to ever put on the uniform. It's certainly a blessing," Smith said. "It's just a remarkable class." Speed, quickness and strength were the tools Smith used to earn his way in. He won the Outland Trophy in 1984 as the nation's premier interior lineman. He had 46 career sacks, including 22 as a junior, and 71 career tackles for losses, totaling 504 yards lost. The play he remembers most from his college days was a hit on West Virginia quarterback Jeff Hostetler. "I broke through an offensive tackle and got a clean shot going full speed at Jeff Hostetler and hit him in the chest. I knew I nailed him. He took a second to get up. He got up and took a step and collapsed," Smith said, chuckling. "They had to come and take him off the field. But he came back in the game a few plays later." Smith hopes the one thing people remember about him is "he gave it his all on and off of the field." The first player taken in the 1985 NFL draft became the league's career sacks leader, was an 11-time Pro Bowler and was twice named The AP's top defensive player. He also was named to the NFL's 1980s and 1990s All-Decade teams. Smith, who is now involved real estate development in Hampton Roads, Va., is eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009. He said the only time he thinks about it is when others bring it up. "I don't dwell on it," he said. Smith is especially proud to be representing Virginia Tech at this time as it works to recover from the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. "I think the fact that I am being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, I'm representing my university. We have nothing to be ashamed of. This is a proud university, a very strong university full of creative minds and wonderful people," he said. "It has taken decades upon decades to build this university up to where it is today and we're not going to let one sick individual bring this university down." "

ARTICLE: Jerks, Dignity and Redemption: Some Thoughts On Sports And History

Henry Aaron sends 715 out of Atlanta Fulton County Stadium On April 8, 1974.

“I would like to offer my congratulations to Barry Bonds on becoming baseball's career home run leader. It is a great accomplishment which requires skill, longevity, and determination. Throughout the past century, the home run has held a special place in baseball, and I have been privileged to hold this record for 33 of those years. I move over now and offer my best wishes to Barry and his family on this historical achievement. My hope today, as it was on that April evening in 1974, is that the achievement of this record will inspire others to chase their own dream.” – Henry Aaron

I am an Atlanta Braves baseball fan. I am because my paternal grandmother Idell Bates Perry was a Braves baseball fan. I was her oldest grandchild and there were many summer days I spent eating fried potatoes drowned with ketchup sipping Coca-Cola on ice watching the team from Atlanta on WTBS usually after another exciting episode of Perry Mason (That would be Law and Order in black and white for the uninitiated).

When I was a kid Henry Aaron played for the Braves and we watched “The Hammer” play game after game. Recently Barry Bonds broke Aaron’s all time home run record. Barry Bonds came face to face with “Hank” on the giant jumbotron screen in the outfield with the words that started this article. These are the words of a man of dignity who fought for civil rights, who lived through death threats when he approached the most revered record in sports Babe Ruth’s 714 home runs and a man when he was passed by Bonds showed a degree of class and dignity that made me proud to be a Braves fan.

I was 13 when Aaron broke Ruth’s record. I never knew about the hate mail, death threats, etc. then. I knew he was the best player on my favorite team and his color made no difference to me or my Alabama born (just like Aaron born February 5, 1934, in Mobile) grandmother. Aaron’s career is historic for many reasons. He was the last Negro League player in Major League Baseball playing for the Milwaukee Braves 1954-1965, Atlanta Braves 1966-1974 and the Milwaukee Brewers 1975-1976. During his career ten times he led a statistical category in MLB. He hit 755 homeruns, but 47 in 1971 was the most in one season. When he finished playing he was third in games with 3298, second in at bats with 12364, third in runs with 2174, third in hits with 3771, first in total bases with 6,856 and first in runs batted in 2297. He stole 240 bases, won three gold gloves, finished with a .305 batting average and was the 1957 most valuable player winning the World Series with Milwaukee. Aaron played in 21 consecutive all-star games.

I have never met Henry Aaron, but I bet he does not talk about that. He probably talks about civil rights, the lack of African-Americans in baseball’s leadership roles. Aaron likes to say things about his career such as consistency and that he did it “every single year.” One sports reporter said he was the “ultimate consistent player” echoing Joe DiMaggio who when asked why he played so hard every day replied because someone in the crowd might not have ever seen him play before.

The term “Hero” is used lightly these days, but on April 8, 1974, Henry Aaron was mine because that night with the stress of death threats and hate aimed at him he hit a home run in Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. Today the spot the ball left the field is noted in parking lot for nearby Turner Field, where the Braves play today.

Something else you might not know about Aaron was his role as player development man for the Braves. The recent run of fifteen years in the playoffs for the Braves was due a lot to Aaron’s working with young players such as John Smoltz and Chipper Jones, who still play in Atlanta.

My friend and historian Robert K. Krick is a huge San Francisco Giants fan. Once when I asked him about Barry Bonds he said, “Well Hokie Tom he is a jerk, but he is my jerk.” Bonds is suspected of having used steroids to enhance his size and strength to hit more home runs. Bonds was a great player, arguably the best of his generation, but his records will forever be tainted in many people’s eyes because of that also because he is not a warm fuzzy guy.

With recent events in sports I felt the need to comment on some comments and actions I have observed relating to sports and the sorry state of the behavior. I use to go to all the Virginia Tech home football games and I am proud of the success that Frank Beamer has brought to our alma mater. I wonder about the cost paid by us all for that success. One reason I do not go to games is the behavior of the fans who sat around me. Alcohol with raised adrenalin and testosterone levels reminded me of the “Bread and Circuses” of the Roman Empire when the Christians were killed by lions and people cheered. The language and the fair weather fans who think Beamer and his players work for them and more importantly that they know more about it the coaches and players do. Another thing that really bothers me is the behavior of the football players on the field with personal fouls and putting their personal actions above the team not to mention the off the field arrests magnified in the press. Before the fans from Chapel Hill or Charlottesville starting casting stones, I would point out that both wanted Mike Vick really, really bad to play for them.

Michael Vick has proven himself to be a jerk, but like Bob Krick says of Bonds, he is my jerk. I watched Michael Vick play nearly home game of his short two years starting at Virginia Tech. He was 22-1 as a starter losing only the national championship game to Florida State in a pre-Katrina New Orleans. He was the greatest offensive football player I ever saw in person, but Michael will now pay for his actions. There is no condoning his post-Hokie actions with relation to killing dogs, but he has done good work with the Boys and Girls Clubs. I sincerely hope he is able to turn his life around. I believe he should start by doing something sincere and positive to help animals with the SPCA or some other related organization.

I am also a Washington Redskins fan. I am often reminded of the axiom that you should never trust people who change allegiance to their teams especially through expansion (Yes I am talking about you former Redskin fans who now pull for the team in Charlotte). I recently was amazed by Michael Irvin’s comments on his induction into the NFL Hall of Fame, which follow. Nothing gives a Redskin fan more angst than a Dallas Cowboy going into anything except jail, which Irvin has done. To make it worse Irvin played for the Miami Hurricanes and although Frank Beamer owns the Hurricanes, Irvin’s spouting about “The U” is annoying at best. Irvin gave a speech on his induction into the Hall of Fame that I believe was sincere and shows that people change and maybe they see their actions were not what they should have been and that anyone change and seek redemption.

        Here is part of Michael Irvin’s speech, which he began with a prayer: “Thank you. Father, I'd like to thank you for allowing us all to travel here safely, thank you in advance for the same in allowing us to travel home. Father, thank you for the man that you sent me to help me in Bishop T. D. Jakes, my spiritual father. I ask you now to put your arms around my Hall of Fame classmate Gene Hickerson and his family. Father, hold them tight and love them right. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen.

        I want to send a special love to all the people in Dallas, Texas, special love to all the Dallas Cowboy fans all over the world. Special love goes to my hometown of South Florida and all the Miami Hurricane fans, St. Thomas Aquinas fans…

        You know the Bible speaks of a healing place. It's called a threshing floor. The threshing floor is where you take your greatest fear and you pray for help from your great God. I want to share something with you today. I have two sons. Michael, he's 10, and Elijah, he's 8. Michael and Elijah, could you guys stand up for me. That's my heart right there. That's my heart. When I am on that threshing floor, I pray. I say, God, I have my struggles and I made some bad decisions, but whatever you do, whatever you do, don't let me mess this up.

        I say, Please, help me raise them for some young lady so that they can be a better husband than I. Help me raise them for their kids so that they could be a better father than I. And I tell you guys to always do the right thing so you can be a better role model than dad. I sat right here where you are last year and I watched the Class of 2006: Troy Aikman, Warren Moon, Harry Carson, Rayfield Wright, John Madden, and the late great Reggie White represented by his wife Sara White. And I said, Wow, that's what a Hall of Famer is.

        Certainly I am not that. I doubted I would ever have the chance to stand before you today. So when I returned home, I spoke with Michael and Elijah. I said, that’s how you do it, son. You do it like they did it. Michael asked, he said, Dad, do you ever think we will be there? And I didn't know how to answer that. And it returned me to that threshing floor. This time I was voiceless, but my heart cried out. God, why must I go through so many peaks and valleys?

        I wanted to stand in front of my boys and say, Do it like your dad, like any proud dad would want to. Why must I go through so much?

        At that moment a voice came over me and said, look up, get up, and don't ever give up. You tell everyone or anyone that has ever doubted, thought they did not measure up or wanted to quit, you tell them to look up, get up and don't ever give up.

        Thank you and may God bless you.”

Michael Vick and Barry Bonds might learn something from Michael Irvin, but all three can learn something from Henry Aaron. Hank Aaron might not be the best baseball player. Some would argue that Ty Cobb of the dead ball era with tremendous average and run producing ability is. Others still see Babe Ruth with his pitching credentials and incredible power numbers as the best. Others might go with Aaron’s contemporary and Bond’s god-father Willie Mays who had 660 homeruns while serving two years in his prime in the U. S. Army. One thing I do not see anyone arguing with is the dignity and the way Aaron has carried himself when he broke Ruth’s record in 1974 and the class he showed when he Bond’s broke the record of 755 this year.

When I heard Irvin’s comments I thought about Michael Vick and Barry Bonds. I wondered if Hank Aaron might not be the exception to the rule that maybe jerks can learn from the bible verse Mark 8:36. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” I do not know him, but I am not concerned about Henry Aaron’s soul because of his dignity and class in an age of jerks who continually ask for redemption.

If you have photos and stories about racing in the county that you are willing to share please send an email to freestateofpatrick@yahoo.com.

Booth #110 recently opened in the Just Plain Country Store in Stuart, Virginia, is the place to purchase Tom Perry's books along with other books including hard cover fiction, history, civil war and paperback books at reasonable prices. Also, included is an exhibit about the seven men from Patrick County who lost their lives in Vietnam. Click here to learn more about the Just Plain Country Store Antiques and Crafters Mall http://www.justplaincountrystore.com, which is located at 301 South Main Street Suite A, Stuart, Virginia, (276)694-5556.

Patrick County Historian Tom Perry is pleased to announce a donation of over 14,000 photos and images to two regional libraries including the Bassett Historical Center of the Blue Ridge Regional Library, Mount Airy (North Carolina) Museum of History. The main collection is housed in the Special Collections Department of the Carol M. Newman Library at Virginia Tech, Perry’s alma mater, in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Patricia Ross, Director of the Bassett Historical Center comments: "Tom Perry has completed quite a lengthy project and one so important for anyone who has a Patrick County connection. These 14,000 plus photographs are an integral part of our area history and such a treasure. We at the Bassett Historical Center are so fortunate to be one of the facilities with whom Tom has shared his work, and will be sharing this wonderful project. Thank you, Tom, for being the historian that you are and for always sharing your research and exciting projects with others."

Linda Blue Stanfield, Director of the Mount Airy Museum comments: “The Museum is very fortunate to be the recipient of such a massive collection of photographs and images documenting the rich heritage of this region. We are indebted to Mr. Perry for preserving a wealth of information for future generations and for considering the Mount Airy Museum of History as a repository for his collection.”

Perry said, “As I have no children of my own to pass this down too, I began this collection of material over twenty years ago and recently began to preserve the many years I have worked to preserve and promote Patrick County history. I do not feel there is anywhere in the county that has staff, facilities or the proper vision to preserve this material. I am sure there are many people and groups who love to horde such material, bury it in their own collections or use it for their own financial gain, but I believe it should be available to the public and more importantly to people and groups who are serious about working together to promote or region through our vast and varied histories.”

The material includes over thirty compact disks with over 14,000 images scanned or photographed by Perry. Include are topics such as the Mount Airy and Eastern Railroad “The Dinky,” Patrick County topics such as covered bridges, places on the national and state registers of history and Perry’s soon to be released photo book and his writings on Patrick County in the Civil War. There are Surry County North Carolina topics and several historical related topics that cross the state line such as George Stoneman’s 1865 raid through the area and history collected along the Ararat River, which flows from Patrick into Surry County. All materials from Perry’s webpage www.freestateofpatrick.com are included. The majority of the material includes Perry’s twenty years working to preserve J. E. B. Stuart’s Birthplace, Laurel Hill, in Patrick County’s most historic community of Ararat, Virginia. Also included are materials relating to Perry’s travels and research all over the country on Civil War General James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart.

Access to the material will be restricted and researchers will have to have Tom Perry’s permission to publish or use the materials.

Beginning this fall Tom Perry will be exhibiting photos and other materials around the region. First, a revolving exhibit will be at Perry's booth #110 in the Just Plain Country Store in Stuart, Virginia, where Perry's books will be on sale beginning in August. Each year an exhibit is carried around to local festivals. In 2007, an exhibit on "The Dinky" Mount Airy and Eastern Railroad is being carried around. This includes photos of the train when it ran and photos of the discovery of the rails recently along with two topographical taps showing the route of the railroad. It will be on display in the booth beginning in November. In August through September an exhibit on Patrick County in the Vietnam Conflict will be on display in the booth (www.freestateofpatrick.com/vietnam.htm). It includes a shadowbox of rubbings taken from the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D. C. from the seven men from Patrick County who gave their lives in Vietnam. Also, included will be material on one man who came back from Vietnam to make a difference. This exhibit will be on display at the Patrick County Branch of the Blue Ridge Regional Library in October for Veteran's Day and at the Bassett Historical Center in December and January.

Patrick County In The Vietnam Conflict: Seven Men Who Gave All and One Who Came Home

August-September and November 2007, Just Plain Country Store, Free State of Patrick Booth #110.

October 2007, Patrick County Branch, Blue Ridge Regional Library, Stuart, VA.

December-January 2008, Just Plain Country Store, Free State Of Patrick Booth #110.

Henry County in the Civil War, 1861-1865 is on sale by the Bassett Historical Center Building Committee as a fund-raiser. Half the profits from this book go to the fund, to build an addition to their great library. This book contains the military records of Henry County Soldiers as well as some letters and other articles of interest. If you would like tosend a donation to them, or buy a book to help them, you can contact Pat Ross at baslib@hotmail.com for more information.

Membership is up to 476 people interested in Patrick County History and receiving the monthly email newsletter.

The Free State Of Patrick website www.freestateofpatrick.com reached 66,000 hits in September.

FALL PROGRAMS GIVEN BY TOM PERRY

"If Thee Must Fight, Then Fight Well" The Life of Brevet Brigadier General William Jackson Palmer

This talk will focus on Medal of Honor recipient and Delaware native William J. Palmer, who rode with

George Stoneman on his 1865 raid through our area. Palmer, a railroad engineer before the Civil War

went on to found the city of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and built railroads amassing a fortune after the war.

He retired and left his estate to educational and service organizations.

November 7, Civil War Round Table of Wilmington, Delaware.

J. E. B. Stuart’s Long Ride From Laurel Hill To Yellow Tavern

A slide program begun in 2004 commemorating the 140th Anniversary of the battle that took Stuart’s life.

Presented by Tom Perry, Founder of the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, Inc. This program given over a hundred times all over the country is used as a vehicle to promote Patrick County history and tourism. It covers James Ewell Brown's entire life from birth in Patrick County on February 6, 1833, until his death in Richmond on May 12, 1864.

September 25, Kansas City, Missouri, Civil War Round Table.

September 26, St Louis, Missouri, Civil War Round Table.

September 27, Topeka, Kansas, Civil War Round Table.

October 6, Museum of Middle Appalachia, Saltville, Virginia.

November 5, Montgomery County Pennsylvania Civil War Round Table.

March 1, 2008, Bassett Historical Center Symposium

Virginia Museum and Fayette Area Historical Initiative Partner For Archaeological Dig

The Virginia Museum of Natural History and the Fayette Area Historical Initiative have teamed up for an archaeological dig in an effort to learn more about the social lives of African Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the museum said Wednesday in a news release.

The dig is taking place at the site of a planned civic center at the corner of Fayette and Market streets, with the permission of the city of Martinsville, the release said.

“Archaeology is about filling in the gaps in history,” Dr. Elizabeth Moore, curator of archaeology at VMNH, stated in the release. “This is especially important in minority communities, where important information is often left out of the history books.”

Moore said she hopes to find artifacts from a dance hall, hospital and pharmacy that once stood on the site. Initial findings include broken glass, coal and factory debris.

The Fayette area was once the center of the black community in Martinsville. Major events took place from the 1930s through the 1960s, such as the June German Ball. Big name stars, such as James Brown and Tina Turner, also performed in the area.

“The partnership between FAHI and VMNH on the archaeological dig at the corner of Fayette and Market streets will bring a spark of excitement and mystery into the community,” Linda Dillard, founder and program coordinator at FAHI, said in the release. “This spark will create more interest in people, especially those that shopped, worked, worshiped, received medical care and partied (June German Ball) on Fayette Street. I also feel it will stimulate interest in individuals to participate with the dig, tell their stories, share artifacts and photos.”

The dig began Aug. 17 and is scheduled to go on until December. Volunteers are needed for a variety of jobs, including digging, sifting debris and general assistance, the release said. There is something for people with all levels of mobility, from digging to sitting in a chair screening dirt.

In addition, the public can visit either the dig site or the FAHI Museum and bring historical photos to be scanned. FAHI Museum officials also will be recording oral histories. Visitors who wish to have a oral history recorded can visit either the dig site or the FAHI Museum. For more information about the dig schedule and how to get involved, contact Janet Roetken at 634-4171 or janet.roetken@vmnh.virginia.gov

Check Out These Links

Virginia Tourism Newsletter http://www.virginia.org/newsletter/enewsletterSep2007.htm

Civil War Preservation Trust News Roundup www.freestateofpatrick.com/cwnews.htm

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST COVERED BRIDGE NEWSLETTER

The house where the last owner of J. E. B. Stuart's Birthplace, Icy Bowman Brown, grew up is available. Check the link below for more information. The property includes The Hollow Post Office.

Patrick County Yesterday Second Edition is available at the Patrick County Historical Society Museum in Stuart for $10

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