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Board of Historic Resources Quarterly Meeting14 December 2017
Sponsor Markers - Diversity
1.) Pauline Cauthorne Morton (1912-2004)
Sponsor: Lambda Psi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.Locality: City of FranklinProposed Location: North College Drive between Paul D. Camp Community College and Franklin Public LibrarySponsor Contact: Alfreda Talton-Harris, [email protected], 757-620-7155
Original text:
Pauline Cauthorne Morton
Civic minded Pauline Cauthorne Morton was born on February 19, 1912 in Dunnsville, Virginia. She completed high school in 1928 and graduated from Virginia State College in 1933 with her bachelor of science degree in education and later a master’s degree in education from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Upon marrying Samuel Percell Morton, then principal of the Hayden High School in Franklin, Virginia, she taught home economics in the high school before eventually accepting a position as assistant supervisor for home economics education and the school lunch program for the Department of Education, responsible for all of the schools in the southeastern portion of Virginia, retiring as state area supervisor after 30 years. She also served as an officer in the Statewide Home Economics Association.
In her Franklin community, she served as chairman of the Franklin City School Board, chairman of the Paul D. Camp Community College, chairman of the Franklin Democratic Party, chief officer of the Electoral Board, member of senior services SEVAMP, Franklin City Library Board and several other state and local boards and governor’s committees. Of her numerous honors and recognitions, the one which best reflects her civic involvement is a resolution from the Franklin City Council for serving on over 23 various committees for the community of Franklin. She also served as chairman of her Deacon Board at First Baptist Church, Franklin, helped form her church Sesame Street Day Care Center and helped to form the Franklin Cooperative Ministry.
She was the niece of Helen M. Cauthorne, a charter member of Alpha Epsilon chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated at Virginia State College and was initiated herself in 1931 at Virginia State. She went on to charter two Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated chapters in her local communities, Zeta Epsilon Omega (Suffolk, Virginia) in 1954 and later chartered Lambda Psi Omega Chapter in Franklin, Virginia in 1978. Beyond the local level, she served as the sixth Mid-Atlantic Regional Director of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
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She served for 15 years as president of the Virginia State University, Human Ecology Alumni Chapter, with a scholarship established in her name there and president of the Old Dominion Home Economics Association. She held lifetime memberships in Links, Inc., the Order of the Eastern Star, the National Council of Negro Women, and the local NAACP that she helped to form. She also helped to form the Cosmonettes, a Franklin social club, and served on the J. R. Thomas Camp Board of Trustees for over 50 years.
She passed away on February 7, 2004.
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Edited text:
Pauline Cauthorne Morton (1912-2004)
Pauline C. Morton, civic leader, graduated from what is now Virginia State University in 1933. She began working for the Virginia Department of Education in 1947, during the segregation era. Before retiring in 1974, she supervised home economics education across southeastern Virginia and implemented the federal school lunch program in her region. Morton was Mid-Atlantic Regional Director of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the first Greek-letter organization for African American women. She helped organize the Franklin NAACP chapter in 1943, chaired the Franklin City Public School Board and the board of Paul D. Camp Community College, and served on more than 20 other civic committees.
105 words/ 687 characters
Sources:
The Crisis, Jan. 1944.
Norfolk Journal and Guide, 20 Sept., 13 Dec. 1947, 24 May 1952, 21 July 1956, 24 Jan. 1959, 20 July 1963, 18 Jan. 1969, 21 Sept. 1974.
Petersburg Progress-Index, 23 July 1953, 15 Nov. 1963.
Richmond Times-Dispatch, 18 May 1958.
Suffolk News-Herald, 10 Feb. 2004.
Annual Reports of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Ivy Leaf Magazine, May-June 1968.
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Harry Hone, ed., Community Leaders of Virginia, 1976-1977 (1977).
Carolyn Carter Modlin, “The Desegregation of Southampton County, Virginia, 1954-1970,” Ed.D. diss., Virginia Tech, 1998.
Who’s Who in Virginia, 1974-75.
“CivicMakers: Pauline C. Morton,” www.thehistorymakers.com
“36 Years of Timeless Service,” (Lambda Psi Omega Chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.), 2014.
2.) Lt. Col. Howard Baugh, Tuskegee Airman
Sponsor: Howard Baugh Chapter, Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.Locality: PetersburgProposed Location: corner of N. Sycamore (Alt 301) and Old StreetsSponsor Contact: Richard Baugh, [email protected], 410-507-9755
Original text:
Lt. Col. Howard Baugh, Tuskegee Airman
Howard Baugh (1920-2008) was born and raised in Petersburg, VA. He graduated from Virginia State College (University) in 1941 and then joined the US Army Air Corps. He completed Pilot Training at Tuskegee Army Air Field in 1942 and was deployed to Sicily with the 99th Pursuit Squadron. He flew 135 combat missions during WWII and was credited with 1.5 Aerial Victories. His many medals and awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, the French Legion of Honor, and the Congressional Gold Medal. Also a 2006 Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame Inductee, he was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery with Full Military Honors.
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Edited text:
Lt. Col. Howard Baugh, Tuskegee Airman
Howard Baugh (1920-2008) was born and raised in Petersburg. He graduated from what is now Virginia State University in 1941, joined the U.S. Army Air Corps, and completed pilot training at Tuskegee Army Air Field in 1942. Deployed to Sicily with the 99th Fighter Squadron, Baugh flew 135 combat missions during World War II and was credited with 1.5 aerial victories. He later served as Director of Flying Training at Tuskegee. He was awarded the Distinguished
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Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, the French Legion of Honor, and the Congressional Gold Medal. A 2006 Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame inductee, he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
116 words/697 characters
Sources:
Howard Lee Baugh service records, National Personnel Records Center
Daniel L. Haulman, “Chronological Table, Airmen Aerial Victory Credits”
USA Today, 6 June 2004.
Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society, Hall of Fame members
Richmond Times-Dispatch, 26 Aug. 2008.
Style Weekly, 21 April 2004.
3.) Mt. Zion United Methodist Church
Sponsor: William A. OlsonLocality: LeesburgProposed Location: 12 North Street NESponsor Contact: Bill Olson, [email protected]
Original text:
Mt. Zion United Methodist Church
After the Civil War, the African-American members of the Old Stone Church congregation desired their own place of worship. They purchased the land at this site for $250 and built Mount Zion Methodist Episcopal Church in 1867. The Rev. William Obadiah Robey is considered to be the founding pastor. Mount Zion’s original clapboard exterior was stuccoed and the sanctuary moved to the upper floor circa 1929. Mount Olive United Methodist Church in Gleedsville officially merged with the Mount Zion congregation in 1985.
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Edited text:
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Mt. Zion United Methodist Church
Mt. Zion, recognized as the oldest continuing African American Methodist congregation in Virginia, traces its origins to the Old Stone Church, established in Leesburg in 1766. Black members of Old Stone Church, desiring their own church after the Civil War, purchased land here for $250 in 1867 and built Mt. Zion. The Rev. William O. Robey, who taught in schools for emancipated African Americans, led the congregation. From 1939 to 1968, Mt. Zion was part of the segregated Central Jurisdiction of the Methodist Church. Mt. Olive Church, established by African Americans in nearby Gleedsville in 1889, merged with Mt. Zion in 1984-1985.
102 words/638 characters
Sources:
“The Old Stone Church,” in Encyclopedia of World Methodism, 1414.
Loudoun County Deed Book 5X: 42.
Minutes of the Fourth Session of the Washington Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church (1867).
Mt. Zion History Committee, “145th Anniversary, Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, 1867-2012” (2012).
“Directory of the Presbyterian Congregation at Leesburg, Virginia” (1954).
Betty L. Morefield, et al., The Essence of a People II (Leesburg: The Black History Committee, Friends of the Thomas Balch Library), 2002.
The Washingtonian, 29 Sept. 1888.
Washington Post, 21 Oct. 2007.
Mt. Olive Methodist Episcopal Church, National Register nomination (2005).
Mt. Zion v. Eliza Diggs and other cases, Loudoun County Courthouse, Leesburg, 1926-1929.
4.) Shady Grove (Rosenwald) School
Sponsor: Shady Grove (Rosenwald) School, Inc.Locality: Louisa CountyProposed Location: 2924 Three Chopt Road, Gum SpringSponsor Contact: Taren Owens, [email protected], 804-873-2728
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Original text:
Shady Grove (Rosenwald) School
Shady Grove (Rosenwald) School operated from 1925 to 1962 in Louisa County. The building was funded with contributions from the public ($400), the Julius Rosenwald Fund ($400) and African-Americans ($700). The present day structure presents itself much as it was when constructed between 1924 and 1925, as a one room one teacher plan with original wooden floors, narrow board ceilings and narrow board walls set diagonally creating a chevron effect. Primarily African American support and labor built this school which served the educational needs of several generations of Louisa’s black community and today serves all members of the community.
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Edited text:
Shady Grove (Rosenwald) School
African Americans in this area organized a patrons’ league and campaigned in the 1920s for a new school to replace the inadequate facility then in use. Shady Grove School, built on a standard one-teacher architectural plan, opened here in 1925 for students in grades 1-7. Funding for the building came from the African American community ($700), Louisa County ($400), and the Julius Rosenwald Fund ($400). The Rosenwald Fund, established by the president of Sears, Roebuck, and Co. and inspired by the work of Booker T. Washington, helped build more than 5,000 schools and supporting structures for African Americans in the rural South between 1917 and 1932. Shady Grove School closed in 1962.
112 words/693 characters
Sources:
Shady Grove School National Register nomination (2009)
Fisk University Rosenwald Fund Card File Database
Letters (1920-1926), in The Land Between the Rivers: Piedmont Virginia Digital History; http://www.piedmontvahistory.org/archives14
5.) St. Clare Walker High School
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Sponsor: Middlesex CountyLocality: Middlesex CountyProposed Location: 2911 General Puller Highway (US Route 33)Sponsor Contact: Pete Gretz, [email protected]
Original text:
John Henry St. Clare Walker
Distinguished educator and civic leader, led one of the first state accredited rural high schools for blacks in Virginia. Son of former Virginia slaves and the oldest of 15 children, he was born in 1876 in Middlesex County. He served for 40 years as an educator of mathematics, agriculture and history. Walker was a Spanish-American War Veteran, Hampton Institute alumnus and local pioneer. His financial contributions, doctrines and legacy included a love for people, unity, achievement and progress. In 1948, the community built a new school named in his honor. His name stands for perseverance and excellence.
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Edited text:
St. Clare Walker High School
African American residents of Middlesex County established the Langston Training School (later the Middlesex Training School) in 1917 to serve elementary and high school students. The Rosenwald Fund supported construction of a new building ca. 1921. John Henry St. Clare Walker, principal for two decades, expanded the high school curriculum from two to four years despite inadequate funding. The high school moved here in 1939. Later renamed in Walker’s honor, it was among the first rural high schools for black students to be accredited by the Virginia Department of Education. Students garnered awards for academics, athletics, and the arts. The county’s school system was desegregated in 1969.
107 words/698 characters
Sources:
Easter Holmes, “John Henry St. Clare Walker, 1879-1961”
Easter Holmes, “The St. Clare Walker Story,” Southside Sentinel (1969)
Southside Sentinel, 18 June 1953, 6 Aug. 1959.
Norfolk Journal and Guide, 2 Sept. 1939, 8 July, 28 Oct. 1950, 6 Feb. 1960, 9 Jan. 1969.
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Richmond Times-Dispatch, 28 June 1953.
Tommy L. Bogger, A History of African-Americans in Middlesex County, 1646-1992 (1994).
Fisk University Rosenwald Database
St. Clare Walker Middle School history: http://www.mcps.k12.va.us/Schools/St--Clare-Middle-School/SCW-History.aspx
U.S. Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963 (Ancestry.com)
John Henry St. Clare Walker death certificate
6.) Woodlawn Methodist Church
Sponsor: Board of Trustees of Woodlawn Faith United Methodist Church and Gum Springs Historical SocietyLocality: Fairfax CountyProposed Location: 7730 Fordson RoadSponsor Contact: Lawrence Wright, [email protected]
Original text:
Woodlawn Methodist Church
This historic sanctuary is the third building erected by a community of former and free Christian slaves and their families, many who worked as slaves or free man and women of color at the Mount Vernon Estate (Home of our nation’s First President, George Washington) or the nearby historic Woodlawn Plantation. After the Civil War, members of this free African community of Woodlawn, on land purchased from the Quakers, the trustees of the Woodlawn Colored Meeting and School Association established the Woodlawn Methodist Episcopal Church, the first African American church to officially register in Fairfax County, Virginia in October of 1866. With the expansion of the Fort Belvoir Military Base, this complete community was acquisitioned by the Federal government. Many of the displaced residents moved north to the Gum Springs community and built this sanctuary in 1941 with the bell tower from the Woodlawn location atop!
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Edited text:
Woodlawn Methodist Church
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African Americans in Woodlawn, four miles southwest of here, established Woodlawn Methodist Episcopal Church ca. 1866. The Woodlawn area, formerly part of George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate, was home to people recently emancipated from slavery, African Americans who had been free landowners before the Civil War, and northern Quakers who had arrived in the 1840s. The Methodist church, built on land purchased from Quakers, housed a Freedmen’s Bureau school that became a public school by 1871. The congregation established a cemetery and in 1888 built a new sanctuary. When Fort Belvoir expanded during World War II, the church moved here to the historically black community of Gum Springs.
108 words/697 characters
Sources:
Martha Claire Catlin, “Liberty and Divine Worship: The African American Methodist Congregation at Woodlawn,” History in Motion (Winter 2016).
Woodlawn Methodist Church, Fairfax County Inventory of Historic Sites Report
Woodlawn Cultural Landscape Historic District (proposed) nomination form, 2016.
Martha Claire Catlin, “The Woodlawn Crossroads Parcel as a Historic Property” (2011).
Judith Saunders-Burton, “A History of Gum Springs, Virginia: A Report of a Case Study of Leadership in a Black Enclave,” Ed. D. Project, Vanderbilt University, 1986.
http://www.fxgs.org/cemeteryRecords.php?cid=183
Sponsor Markers
1.) Birthplace of Curtis Morton Turner (1924-1970)
Sponsor: Floyd County Historical SocietyLocality: FloydProposed Location: 229 Smartsview RoadSponsor Contact: Gerald Via, [email protected]
Original text:
Birthplace of Curtis Morton Turner
Curtis Morton Turner was born at this home on April 12, 1924 to Morton Tyler and Minnie Thomas Turner. Honing his driving skills hauling moonshine in the mountains of Virginia, he
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became an early racing pioneer and helped found NASCAR. He had 360 career wins in several racing divisions, including 22 in the 1956 NASCAR Convertible Division, and 17 in the NASCAR Grand National series. He conceived and built Charlotte Motor Speedway, was the first driver to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, piloted his own aircraft, and raced up Pike’s Peak in under 15 minutes. A Timberman, known for hard driving, and non-stop partying. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2016.
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Edited text:
Birthplace of Curtis Morton Turner (1924-1970)
Curtis Turner, stock car racer, was born here and honed his driving skills hauling moonshine in these mountains. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he became a pioneering NASCAR driver. He is credited with 360 career wins both in and out of NASCAR, including 38 of 79 starts in the NASCAR Convertible Division and 17 in NASCAR’s premier series. Turner co-founded Charlotte Motor Speedway, was the first driver featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, operated a successful timber business, and piloted his own aircraft. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1992 and the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2016.
109 words/649 characters
Sources:
Robert Edelstein, Full Throttle: The Life and Fast Times of NASCAR Legend Curtis Turner (Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 2005).
Kim Chapin, “King of the Wild Road: Curtis Turner,” Sports Illustrated, 26 Feb. 1968.
“Class of 2016 NASCAR Hall of Fame” (program), 2016.
D. L. Morris, Timber on the Moon: The Curtis Turner Story (Charlotte: Colonial Press, 1966).
Margaret Sue Turner Wright, Curtis Turner Racing Stats: His Stock Car Racing Career, 1946-1968 (2011).
Daniel S. Pierce, Real NASCAR: White Lightning, Red Clay, and Big Bill France (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, XXXX.)
Tom Jensen, “Eight Amazing Facts about Hall of Fame Inductee Curtis Turner,” www.foxsports.com, 25 Jan. 2016.
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Randy King, “Curtis Turner Lived at Full Throttle,” www.roanoke.com, 21 Jan. 2016.
Bill Kiser, “NASCAR HOF Inductee Curtis Turner: NASCAR’s Original Rock Star,” www.charlotteobserver.com, 17 Jan. 2016.
Curtis Turner biography, International Motor Sports Hall of Fame (1992).
Washington Post, 2 Aug. 1965.
2.) John Marshall’s Leeds Manor Rural Historic District
Sponsor: Citizens for Fauquier CountyLocality: Fauquier CountyProposed Location: 3459 Carrington Road, DelaplaneSponsor Contact: Susan Russell, [email protected], 540-347-7610
Original text:
John Marshall’s Leeds Manor Rural Historic District
Before the American Revolution, 160,000 acres was owned by Thomas, 6th Lord Fairfax. His land was carved out of the five million-acre Northern Neck Proprietary. After his death, the land passed to his nephew who was challenged by the courts about his right to own land since he was a British subject. The case was resolved by compromise and Fairfax’s right to sell the manorial lands was confirmed. Members of the Marshall family bought the acreage with much of the area in the historic district owned by Chief Justice John Marshall and his brother, James. Today, several Marshall family structures are within the 22,100-acre historic district. On the State and National Register of Historic Places.
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Edited text:
John Marshall’s Leeds Manor Rural Historic District
This historic district encompasses about 22,200 acres of the Northern Neck Proprietary, a vast region granted by the exiled King Charles II to seven supporters in 1649 and later inherited by Thomas, 6th Lord Fairfax. The Manor of Leeds, an area of more than 160,000 acres, was laid out in 1736 for Fairfax’s personal use, and much of the historic district lies within its boundaries. Also within the district is The Hollow, the childhood home of U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall, built in the 1760s. In 1806 a Fairfax heir sold the Manor of Leeds to Marshall, his brother James, and two other men. John Marshall later divided his portion of the land among his sons and visited frequently.
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119 words/688 characters
Sources:
John Marshall’s Leeds Manor Rural Historic District, National Register nomination (2007).
The Hollow, National Register nomination (2004).
3.) Locust Thicket
Sponsor: Taylor-Wilson Camp #10, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil WarLocality: LynchburgProposed Location: 2627 Old Forest RoadSponsor Contact: Dr. Clifton W. Potter Jr., [email protected]
Original text:
Locust Thicket House
Locust Thicket House was built circa 1786 for Maj. Samuel Beverly Scott who served in the American Revolution. During the Battle of Lynchburg, 17-18 June 1864, the property was hotly contested, and the manor house still bears the scars of that conflict. For over two centuries it has functioned as a residence, an antique shop, and a hostelry. While the estate has shrunk to a few acres Locust Thicket House remains intact surrounded by some of its original outbuildings. In the family cemetery are buried veterans from the Revolution, the War of 1812, and both sides during the Civil War.
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Edited text:
Locust Thicket
Maj. Samuel Scott (1754-1822), a Revolutionary War officer, bought land here in 1786 and established Locust Thicket, one of several plantations he owned nearby. About 30 enslaved African Americans labored on his properties. The existing house was likely built in the 1830s. During the Battle of Lynchburg, 17-18 June 1864, Union cavalry under Brig. Gen. Alfred Duffié engaged Confederates under Brig. Gen. John McCausland near here, leaving the house scarred. Among those buried in the Locust Thicket cemetery are Maj. Samuel Scott and his wife, Ann, their son Beverly Roy Scott, who served in the War of 1812, a Union cavalryman killed during the Battle of Lynchburg, and a Confederate veteran.
111 words/695 characters
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Sources:
Locust Thicket, draft NRHP nomination (1986)
Scott Family Cemetery, www.findagrave.com
Travis McDonald, “Notes on the Investigation of Locust Thicket, Lynchburg, Va.” (2013)
Peggy J. Spinks and J. B. Spinks, “Locust Thicket, Home of Major Samuel Scott and Ann Scott”
S. Allen Chambers Jr., Lynchburg: An Architectural History (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1981).
“Report of Brig. Gen. Alfred N. Duffié,” Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, ser. 1, vol. 37, 139-143.
George S. Morris and Susan Foutz, Lynchburg in the Civil War (1984).
John S. Salmon, The Official Virginia Civil War Battlefield Guide (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2001).
4.) New River Ordnance Plant
Sponsor: Pulaski County Board of SupervisorsLocality: Pulaski CountyProposed Location: State Route 1030 (Bagging Plant Road), 1.7 miles from intersection with SR 100, DublinSponsor Contact: Nancy Burchett, [email protected]
Original text:
New River Ordnance Plant
LOCATED NEARBY, ON APPROXIMATELY 2,800 ACRES, STANDS THE REMAINS OF THE NEW RIVER ORDNANCE PLANT ALSO KNOW AS “DUBLIN BAGGING PLANT”. MASON & HANGAR CO. BEGAN PLANT CONSTRUCTION IN FEB 1941. JUST SEVEN MONTHS LATER, BAG LOADING OPERATIONS BEGAN IN SEPT 1941. BY MID-1943, APPROXIMATELY 5,000 EMPLOYEES HAD LOADED MILLIONS OF POUNDS OF GUN POWDER INTO COTTON BAGS SUPPLYING GUN POWDER FOR BATTLESHIP GUNS. CELLOPHANE SEALED ROCKET PROPELLANTS WERE MANUFACTURED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN NOV 1943. CANNON FLASH REDUCERS WERE MANUFACTURED IN MAY 1944. HERCULES OPERATED THE PLANT AT FULL PRODUCTION CAPACITY WITH NEARLY 6,000, MOSTLY WOMEN, EMPLOYEES IN JULY 1944. AS WWII DREW
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TO A CLOSE IN 1945, THE PLANT WAS DECLARED SURPLUS. IN MAY 1946 THE PLANT WAS DESIGNATED AS A SUB-POST OF RADFORD ARMY AMMUNITION PLANT.
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Edited text:
New River Ordnance Plant
Just south of here stood the New River Ordnance Plant, or Dublin Bagging Plant, a World War II facility established primarily for the bagging of propellant powder used for firing artillery shells. Construction of the plant, designed and operated by the Hercules Powder Company, began in Feb. 1941 on nearly 4,000 acres of former farmland. Thousands of employees, many of them women, manufactured bags, loaded them with powder, waterproofed artillery propellants, and made cannon flash reducers. The plant shipped nearly 144,000 tons of powder before being declared surplus in 1945. Portions of the property were sold, while about 2,800 acres later became part of the Radford Army Ammunition Plant.
109 words/697 characters
Sources:
Ashley M. Neville and Debra A. McClane, “The World War II Ordnance Department’s Government-Owned Contractor-Operated (GOCO) Industrial Facilities: Radford Ordnance Works Historic Investigation,” (Fort Worth: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1996).
Robert C. Mack and Jeffrey A. Hess, “Radford Army Ammunition Plant: Written Historical and Descriptive Data,” (Washington, D.C.: Department of the Interior, 1985).
“Archives Search Report: New River Ordnance Plant (St. Louis: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1993).
H. Jackson Darst, Dublin and the Darsts: A Portrait of a Virginia Country Town and One of Its Families (Newbern, VA: Wilderness Road Regional Museum, 1992).
R. Lloyd Mathews, Pulaski County, Virginia: An Historic & Descriptive Sketch, 1907-2007 (Pulaski: Pulaski County Jamestown 2007 Planning Committee, 2007).
Southwest Times, 14 July 1944.
Washington Post, 25 Aug. 1945.
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5.) World War II Home Front
Sponsor: Pulaski County Board of SupervisorsLocality: Pulaski CountyProposed Location: State Route 611 (Wilderness Road), near intersection with SR 1039 (Staff Village Road), DublinSponsor Contact: Nancy Burchett, [email protected]
Original text:
New River Ordnance Plant’s Staff Village
IN THIS AREA, KNOWN AS “STAFF VILLAGE”, ARE HOUSES BUILT BY THE MASON & HANGER CONSTRUCTION COMPANY TO HOUSE US MILITARY, HERCULES MANAGEMENT AND TECHNICAL STAFF FOR THE OPERATION OF THE NEW RIVER ORDNANCE PLANT DURING WWII, 1942-45. THE VILLAGE ORIGINALLY CONSISTED OF 15 HOUSES. THESE TWO-STORY HOMES, COLONIAL REVIVAL STYLE, WERE BUILT UPON A 10 ACRE TRACT OF LAND FROM THE FINEST MATERIALS AVAILABLE. ALL WERE VALUED BETWEEN $20,000 AND $25,000. EACH WAS EQUIPPED WITH INDOOR PLUMBING, MODERN OIL FURNACES AND THE LATEST APPLIANCES. THE VILLAGE WAS PART OF A SALE BY THE US ARMY TO BURLINGTON MILLS CORPORATION IN OCTOBER 1947. BURLINGTON LATER SOLD THESE HOUSES TO PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS.
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Edited text:
World War II Home Front
The United States’ mobilization for World War II brought dramatic changes to this region. The Radford Ordnance Works, nine miles northeast of here, and the New River Ordnance Plant, near here, opened in 1941. Construction employed more than 20,000 people from 45 states, and thousands of workers later operated the facilities. This population boom diversified the area’s agricultural economy and transformed its infrastructure, bringing new roads, schools, retail and industrial establishments, and private and government-funded housing developments. Just north of here is the New River Ordnance Plant’s staff village, a set of 15 houses built in support of the war effort.
101 words/673 characters
Sources:
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Ashley M. Neville and Debra A. McClane, “The World War II Ordnance Department’s Government-Owned Contractor-Operated (GOCO) Industrial Facilities: Radford Ordnance Works Historic Investigation,” (Fort Worth: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1996).
Robert C. Mack and Jeffrey A. Hess, “Radford Army Ammunition Plant: Written Historical and Descriptive Data,” (Washington, D.C.: Department of the Interior, 1985).
Mary B. LaLone, Peg Wimmer, and Amanda Hartle, eds., The Radford Arsenal: Impacts and Cultural Change in an Appalachian Region (Brightside Press, 2003.
H. Jackson Darst, Dublin and the Darsts: A Portrait of a Virginia Country Town and One of Its Families (Newbern, VA: Wilderness Road Regional Museum, 1992).
R. Lloyd Mathews, Pulaski County, Virginia: An Historic & Descriptive Sketch, 1907-2007 (Pulaski: Pulaski County Jamestown 2007 Planning Committee, 2007).
Southwest Times, 14 July 1944.
6.) Sign Rock
Sponsor: VDOTLocality: Pittsylvania CountyProposed Location: 8101 Slatesville Rd., KeelingSponsor Contact: Randy Lichtenberger, [email protected], 434-941-8488
Original text:
Sign Rock
At this intersection lies a rare example of early Virginia road markers. A Virginia statute of 1738 required that all crossroads be marked by a stone or wooden post inscribed with the name of the most-noted place to which each of the joining roads led. Fewer than two dozen of the stone variety are known to survive. This marker refers to Beavers Tavern eight miles to the west and Lynch’s Ferry or the fledgling Town of Lynchburg 60 miles to the north, dating the stone to the late 18th or early 19th century. Most surviving markers are later in date and refer to places only a short distance away.
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Edited text:
Sign Rock
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At this intersection lies a rare example of an early Virginia road marker. A Virginia statute of 1738 required that all crossroads be marked by a stone or wooden post inscribed with the name of the most noted place to which each of the adjoining roads led. This marker, which dates to the late 18th or early 19th century, refers to Beavers Tavern eight miles to the west and Lynch’s Ferry, or the fledgling town of Lynchburg, 60 miles to the north. Of the fewer than 20 stone markers known to survive, most were erected in later years and refer to places only a short distance away. Stone and wooden markers ceased to be used early in the 20th century with the advent of standardized highway signs.
127 words/698 characters
Sources:
Ann B. Miller, A Survey of Early Virginia Road Stones: Sign Rocks, Milestones, and Related Objects (Richmond: Commonwealth of Virginia, 2009).
Henry H. Mitchell, “Early 1800s Beavers-Lynchburg Stone Marker,” www.victorianvilla.com
Hening, Statutes, 5:33.
Replacement Marker (Sponsored)
Sponsor: Descendants of A. D. PriceLocality: Richmond CityProposed Location: intersection of Leigh St. and North Second St.
Original Text:
Alfred D. “A. D.” Price
Born into slavery in Hanover County in 1860, Alfred D. "A. D." Price moved to Richmond in the late 1870s. Soon after coming to Richmond, he set up a blacksmith shop, which expanded into a livery stable and the funeral home that stands here, now known as A. D. Price Funeral Establishment. In August 1894, Price became one of the first funeral directors in Virginia to receive a state embalming license. He served on the board of directors of a number of businesses and organizations, including the Southern Aid Society, a prominent insurance company. Price served as its president from 1905 until his death on 9 April 1921.
108 words/623 characters
Replacement Text:
Alfred D. “A. D.” Price (ca. 1860-1921)
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Alfred D. "A. D." Price, entrepreneur, spent much of his youth in Hanover County and attended a school for African American children after the Civil War. Late in the 1870s he settled in Richmond and soon opened a blacksmith shop, which expanded into a livery stable. He later established a funeral home that moved here ca. 1898. In Aug. 1894, Price became one of the first funeral directors in Virginia to receive a state embalming license. He invested in real estate and served on the board of directors of a number of banks and other institutions. Price was president of the Southern Aid Society of Virginia, a prominent insurance company, from 1905 until his death on 9 April 1921.
119 words/684 characters
Replacement Markers (VDOT project)
For each of the 12 markers, I have included the VDOT district, county, original text, proposed replacement text, and word/character count.
1.) Bristol VDOT District; Tazewell County
XH-1 Molly Tynes’s Ride
To the north stood Rocky Dell, the home of Samuel Tynes. In July 1863, during the Civil War, Union Col. John T. Toland led a cavalry expedition from West Virginia to destroy the Virginia & Tennessee R.R. at Wytheville. The Federals camped nearby on 17 July, and when Tynes discovered their objective he sent his twenty-six-year-old daughter Mary (Molly) Elizabeth Tynes to alert the town's defenders. She rode all night, a distance of some forty miles. Confederate reinforcements arrived in time to stiffen resistance, and the Federals inflicted little damage; Toland himself was killed in the fight.
XH-1 Molly Tynes’s Ride
To the north stood Rocky Dell, the home of Samuel Tynes. In July 1863, during the Civil War, Union Col. John T. Toland led a mounted expedition from West Virginia to destroy the Virginia & Tennessee R.R. at Wytheville. The Federals camped nearby on 17 July. According to legend, when Tynes discovered their objective he sent his 26-year-old daughter Mary “Molly” Elizabeth Tynes to alert the town's defenders. Tradition holds that she rode all night, a distance of some forty miles. Confederate reinforcements arrived in time to stiffen resistance, and the Federals inflicted relatively little damage; Toland himself was killed in the fight.
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2.) Bristol VDOT District; Russell County
Russell’s Fort X-7
On the hill to the north stood Russell's Fort, an important link in the chain of forts built to protect settlers on Clinch River in the Indian War of 1774. William Russell, who established it, was a prominent soldier of the Revolution.
Russell’s Fort X-7
Conflict between Native Americans and settlers in the Ohio Country intensified early in the 1770s and reverberated in southwestern Virginia. In 1774, Lord Dunmore, royal governor of Virginia, recommended the construction of fortifications to protect settlements along the Clinch River. Russell’s Fort was immediately built in this vicinity, likely on a hill to the west. Capt. William Russell, later a Revolutionary War officer, commanded militia in the lower Clinch Valley and used this fort as his base. Russell County, formed in 1786, was named for him. During a series of Indian wars that concluded in the 1790s, the fort remained an important outpost and was attacked several times.
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3.) Culpeper VDOT District; Louisa County
Boswell’s Tavern W-207
At this old tavern Lafayette camped, on June 12, 1781, while moving southward to intervene between Cornwallis and military stores in Albemarle County.
Boswell’s Tavern W-207
This tavern was built in the mid-18th century. John Boswell bought the building and nearby land in 1761 and was proprietor until his death in 1788. About 30 enslaved African Americans labored on his property. Here on 4 June 1781 British cavalry commander Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton burned several wagonloads of American military supplies during his raid on Charlottesville. American forces under the Marquis de Lafayette camped here on 11-12 June 1781 while moving southward to intervene between Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis’s British forces and military stores in Albemarle County.
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4.) Culpeper VDOT District; Louisa County
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The Marquis Road W-206
Lafayette reopened this road in June, 1781, when moving south to intervene between Cornwallis and military stores in Albemarle County. The road has ever since been known as "The Marquis Road."
The Marquis Road W-206
In May and June 1781, British troops under Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis raided central Virginia. Outnumbered American forces under the Marquis de Lafayette attempted to limit the damage. On 11 June, Lafayette and reinforcements under Brig. Gen. Anthony Wayne camped here. The next morning, after making hasty repairs to an abandoned roadway leading southwest, the Americans marched undetected to a hill overlooking Mechunk Creek, nine miles from here. This maneuver placed Lafayette’s men between Cornwallis and crucial military supplies in Charlottesville. The road opened by Lafayette’s troops, like others traveled by Lafayette, was known for a time as the Marquis Road.
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5.) Culpeper VDOT District; Louisa County
Patrick Henry’s Home W-211
At Roundabout Plantation, eight miles southwest, Patrick Henry lived from 1765 to 1768, when he sat for Louisa County in the House of Burgesses. This was the beginning of his political career.
Patrick Henry’s Home W-211
Patrick Henry established Roundabout plantation seven miles south of here on 1,700 acres he acquired in 1765. Construction of a modest frame house began in March of that year. In May, Henry was elected to represent Louisa County in the Virginia House of Burgesses, his first public office. On 29 May he introduced a series of resolutions against the Stamp Act. Henry and his family moved into the new house at Roundabout by December. Ten enslaved African Americans cultivated tobacco on the plantation. The Henrys moved to Scotchtown in Hanover County in 1771. Roundabout was demolished early in the 20th century.
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6.) Fredericksburg VDOT District; King and Queen County
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Mattapony Church OB-3
This is the ancient colonial Mattapony Church, used by the Baptists since 1824. Here are tombs of members of the family of Carter Braxton, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Mattapony Church OB-3
The first church on this site was the Lower Church of St. Stephen’s Parish, built ca. 1674. The present sanctuary, an example of cruciform ecclesiastical architecture, was built ca. 1730-1734. After the Revolutionary War and the disestablishment of the Anglican church, the building was abandoned. Members of a Baptist congregation began worshiping here early in the 19th century and organized themselves as Mattapony Church in 1828. Fire destroyed the interior of the sanctuary early in the 1920s, but the building was restored and reopened. Buried in the churchyard are family members of Carter Braxton, signer of the Declaration of Independence.
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7.) Lynchburg VDOT District; Buckingham County
After Appomattox O-42
Just to the south a monument marks the spot where the tent of Robert E. Lee stood the night of April 12-13, 1865.
After Appomattox O-42
Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant on 9 April 1865 at Appomattox Court House, 19 miles southwest of here. On 12 April, Lee and several companions departed for Richmond. After passing through Buckingham Court House, they camped for the night near here. A monument was erected just south of here in 1918 to mark the site of Lee’s “last camp.” Lee, however, spent his final night in camp on 14 April in Powhatan County. He reached his rented house in Richmond the next day.
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8.) Richmond VDOT District; Hanover County
Lee’s Movements E-20
A short distance east, at Taylorsville, Lee had his headquarters, May 24-26, 1864, as his army moved southeastward to intervene between Grant and Richmond. There Ewell's corps turned to Cold Harbor, May 27, 1864.
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Overland Campaign E-20 (note title change)
During the Battle of North Anna (23-26 May 1864), the heaviest fighting occurred on 24 May at Ox Ford, where Confederates under Gen. Robert E. Lee repulsed an attack by Federals under Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. That evening Lee, who was ill, established his headquarters at Taylorsville, a mile southeast of here. Grant withdrew from the North Anna River on the night of 26-27 May and moved his army to the southeast, around Lee’s right flank. Lee, still sick, left Taylorsville on the 27th and moved south to defend Richmond. The armies fought along Totopotomoy Creek for several days before the Battle of Cold Harbor began on 31 May.
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9.) Richmond VDOT District; Henrico County
Outer Defenses V-17
By 1864, a complex series of fortifications north of Richmond and the James River protected the capital of the Confederacy. The outer line of western defenses crossed the road (then called the Deep Run Turnpike) here. The intermediate defensive line stood about three miles southeast and the inner line a mile farther, well within the present-day limits of Richmond. On 1 March 1864, Union Col. Ulric Dahlgren briefly penetrated the outer line to the southwest on Three Chopt Road during his abortive cavalry raid on the city. Dahlgren's force was repulsed at the intermediate line.
Outer Defenses V-17
By 1864, a complex series of fortifications north of the James River protected the capital of the Confederacy. The outer line of western defenses crossed the road (then called the Deep Run Turnpike) here. The intermediate defensive line stood about three miles southeast and the inner line half a mile farther, well within the present-day limits of Richmond. On 1 March 1864, Union Col. Ulric Dahlgren briefly penetrated the outer line to the southwest on Three Chopt Road during his abortive cavalry raid on the city. Dahlgren's force was repulsed outside the intermediate line.
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10.) Staunton VDOT District; Clarke County
Audley T-4
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The house to the north is the home of Nellie Parke Custis, George Washington's ward, who married his nephew, Major Lawrence Lewis. After her husband's death in 1839, Nellie Custis Lewis settled here, and here she died in 1852.
Audley T-4
Warner Washington, a first cousin of George Washington, acquired land in this area in the 1760s. His namesake son established a plantation later known as Audley and built a house just north of here ca. 1796. Lawrence Lewis, George Washington’s nephew, bought the plantation in 1825 but resided near Mount Vernon with his wife, Eleanor “Nelly” Custis Lewis, who had grown up in the household of George and Martha Washington and was the president’s stepgranddaughter. About 40 enslaved African Americans labored at Audley then. Nelly Custis Lewis lived here with her son after her husband died in 1839. She died here in 1852. Audley later became a renowned breeding farm for Thoroughbred racehorses.
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11.) Staunton VDOT District; Shenandoah County
Fairfax Line A-36
Here ran the southwestern boundary of Lord Fairfax's vast land grant, the Northern Neck. It was surveyed by Peter Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson's father, and others in 1746.
Fairfax Line A-36
Here ran the Fairfax Line, surveyed in 1746 to mark the southwestern boundary of the Northern Neck Proprietary, a 5.2-million-acre land grant inherited by Thomas, 6th Lord Fairfax. The grant encompassed all the land between the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers. Peter Jefferson and Robert Brooke, representing the Virginia colony, and Benjamin Winslow and Thomas Lewis, representing Lord Fairfax, surveyed this 76-mile line between the headsprings of these rivers during a nearly two-month expedition over several rugged and largely uninhabited mountain ranges. The Fairfax Line marks the boundary between Rockingham and Shenandoah Counties and, for nine miles, between Virginia and West Virginia.
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12.) Staunton VDOT District; Shenandoah County
Rude’s Hill Action A-27
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Rude's Hill was reached by two divisions of Sheridan's Union cavalry following the Confederate General Jubal A. Early, on November 22, 1864. Early promptly took position on the hill to oppose them. The cavalry, charging across the flats, were repulsed in a sharp action and fell back northward.
Rude’s Hill Action A-27
Union Bvt. Maj. Gen. Alfred T. A. Torbert, chief of cavalry under Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan, left Camp Russell on a reconnaissance mission up the Shenandoah Valley on 21 Nov. 1864. Torbert advanced through Mt. Jackson on 22 Nov. and pushed Confederate cavalry south toward Rude’s Hill. Confederate infantry and artillery under Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early formed on the hill and turned the Federals back. Pursued by Confederate cavalry under Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Rosser, Torbert’s men retreated through Mt. Jackson. The Federals spent the night in Woodstock before returning to Camp Russell, near Kernstown, the next day.
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