Monday, December 19, 2011

Local Historians Awarded Virginia Volunteer Award By The VGS



Virginia Volunteer Award


Temple Lawrence(left) and Ruth Blevins are pictured in the Giles County Historical Society Research Library. They will jointly receive the Virginia Volunteer Award for 2012, sponsored by the Virginia Genealogical Society.




The Virginia Genealogical Society (VGS) has announced that Giles County Historical Society members Ruth Blevins and Temple Lawrence have been selected as the recipients of the Virginia Volunteer Award for the 2012. VGS stated "Is is the work of outstanding volunteers such as Mrs. Blevins and Mrs. Lawrence who contribute not only to their immediate organization, but also in ways that benefit the greater genealogical and historical community." The Virginia Volunteer Award will be presented at the VGS Spring Conference on April 21, 2012.






Mrs. Blevins and Mrs. Lawrence were nominated by the Giles County Historical Society for their hard work and dedication in establishing and expanding the Research Office at the museum complex. The Historical Society cited the countless hours given by both these local genealogists/historians helping the citizens of Giles County understand more about their family histories and heritage. This is an important service because many of the founding families of Giles County who settled here two centuries ago still have decendents in the area.






Both Mrs. Blevins and Mrs. Lawrence are natives of Giles County. Their institutional knowledge of the county, as well as its local families, has been an invaluable resource to the Historical Society and to the people of Giles County.






Ruth Blevins, one of the founding members of the Historical Society, helped established the Research Office to assist the public in conducting research in genealogy and local history. Along with a number of dedicated volunteers, Mrs. Blevins researched and published two large volumes on Giles County families. These vloumes serve as a foundation for those beginning their genealogical journey.






Temple Lawrence, a current board member for the Historical Society, expanded the holdings of the Research Library which now has over 600 volumes and 750 vertical files on genealogy and local history. For over ten years Mrs. Lawrence has served as the genealogist for the Historical Society assisting the public with family research. In that capacity she has established on-line access to genealogical and local history records, and initiated a program to provide on-line genealogical research for the public.






The Research Office is open Thursday afternoons from noon to 5 p.m. Genealogy questions can also be addressed via emailed at research@gilescountyhistorical.org There is a fee for on-line queries which require extensive research.






Friday, December 16, 2011

Every Time A Bell Rings, A Giles County Volunteer Gets Wings

It's the end of the year, and the Giles County Historical Society Museum complex will soon be closing from January 1st to March 1st. The Historical Society would like to take the opportunity
to thank all those who volunteered throughout the year providing much-needed support for our organization and activities. Volunteers perform a variety of tasks: greeting visitors and giving tours, assisting with genealogical and historical research, helping to mount exhibits and decorate our beautiful historic house, and providing refreshments for events. Volunteer parents have helped us manage large groups of children for our school outreach activities, and re-enactors and artisans truly transform our cultural heritage into "living" history.

Volunteers, however, are not only vital to the Historical Society, but to many organizations in
Giles County. So, in our take on "It's A Wonderful Life", thank you to all those who volunteer throughtout the year. An essay by the late humorist Erma Bombeck says it perfectly:

So Long, Volunteers

I had a dream the other night that every volunteer in this land had set sail for another country. I stood smiling on the pier, shouting, "Goodbye phone committees. Goodbye disease of the month. No more getting out the vote. No more playground duty, bake sales, rummage sales, thrift shops, and three-hour meetings."

As the boat got smaller, I reflected, "Serves them right, that bunch of yes people. All they had to do was put their tongues firmly against the roofs of their mouths and make an "O" sound-no. It was certainly have spared them a lot of grief. Oh, well, who needs them?"

The hospital was quiet as I passed it. The reception desk was vacant. Rooms were devoid of
books, flowers, and voices. The children's wing held no clowns, no laughter. The house for the
aged was like a tomb. The blind listened for a voice that never came. The infirmed were imprisoned in wheelchairs that never moved. Food grew cold on trays that never reached the hungry.

The social agencies had closed their doors-unable to implement their programs of scouting, recreation, drug control; unable to help to retarded, handicapped, lonely and abandoned. Health agencies had signs in their windows: "Cures for cancer, birth defects, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, etc. have been cancelled because of lack of interest."

The schools were strangely quiet with no field trips and no volunteer classroom aides. Symphony halls and the museums that had been built and stocked by volunteers were dark and would remain that way. The flowers in churches and synagogues withered and died. Children in day nurseries lifted their arms, but there was no one to hol them in love.

Alcoholics cried out in despair, but no one answered. The poor had no recourse for health care or legal aid. I fought in my sleep to regain a glimpse of the ship of volunteers, just one more time. It was my last glimpse of a decent civilization.

--Erma Bombeck

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Giles County Historical Society Receives Grant for Oral History Project

The Community Foundation of the New River Valley has selected the Giles County Historical Society as one of its 2012 fall grant recipients. The grant, totaling $826.39, will provide recording, transcribing and storage equipment for the Historical Society's Oral History Project. The Community Foundation funds a variety of projects across the New River Valley, believing the modest grants like this can have tremendous impact on local communities. This fall the foundation awarded over $45,000 to local non-profits. The grant to the Historical Society comes from the CFNRV's Giles Fund - resources raised by Giles citizens to be shared with Giles communities.

The Historical Society has three oral history projects planned for the coming year: Giles County Quilt Documentation, Public School Desegregation, and "Voices from Giles County." Quilt documentation is an on-going project to photograph, measure, and record quilts made in the locality before 1999.

The Public School Desegregation project will be the first time this historic period has been examined in Giles County. In 1954, the US Supreme Court ruled that state law mandating separate schools for black and white students were unconstitutional, paving the way for desegregation of the public schools. Unlike many other Virginia counties which followed the course of "massive resistance," the Giles County school board voted to voluntarily end racial segregation in the county schools. Historical Society volunteers are now conducting background research and identifying interviewees for this project. Tentative informants include members of the local African American community, former students at the segregated high school at Bluff City, students enrolled in Giles High School in 1964-5, and former teachers and administrators in the school system.

For the "Voices from Giles County" project, county residents will be interviewed about growing up and living in Giles County. The project will initially focus on older residents, and areas of interest will include childhood and family life on the farm and in town, education, employment (particularly at the Celanese plant), and historic events affecting county residents, such as the Great Depression, World War II, desegregation/civil rights, and Vietnam. "Voices" will be an
on-going oral history project for the Historical Society

Monday, December 12, 2011

"Christmas by Candlelight" group picture.



"Christmas by Candlelight" held at Andrew Johnston house pictures


Entering the Johnston house
Ladies dressed in Civil War period clothing enter the Andrew Johnston house as part of the "Christmas by Candlelight" event hosted by the Giles Historical Society.

Christmas Carols


Members of the Giles Symphonic Chorale sang Christmas carols during the "Christmas by Candlelight" event hosted by the Giles Historical Society.








Decorated Table



This table was decorated as part of the "Christmas by Candlelight" festivities hosted by the Giles Historical Society at the Andrew Johnston house.







Posing



Period clothes from the Civil War era were worn during the "Christmas by Candlelight" event held at the Andrew Johnston house. Featured is Amy Buchanan of Narrows, VA.
































Canon with cannon





Canon Tabor, along with his father Bob Tabor, poses with an 1861 civil war cannon that was on display during the "Christmas by Candlelight" event hosted by the Giles Historical Society Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011.





















Monday, December 5, 2011

Christmas by Candlelight hosted by Giles Historical Society December 3rd

We would like to thank everyone who came out to see The Civil War Christmas by Candlelight. It was a great success. We would like to thank all the ladies who fixed all the wonderful refreshments. Also, we would like to thank the Giles High School Choral Ensemble who sang all those wonderful christmas songs. We also want to thank the ladies of the Jubal Early Chapter of the UDC for helping out. Tha...nk you to Bob Tabor for bringing the canon to the event and Melinda and son for being in the house celebrating. We also want to thank all the ladies who helped out in the gift shop and the museum. Thank you so much for Joseph Yost who also was in the house. We had a great turn out and we really appreciate all the support. HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!!!!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Christmas by Candlelight hosted by Giles Historical Society December 3rd


Early portrayal of Santa Claus

In this Harper's Weekly illustration of Christmas, 1862, cartoonist Thomas Nast presents one of the earliest portrayals of Santa Claus. Santa visits a Union encampment bringing boxes of gifts for the troops. In the background soldiers amuse themselves by climbing a greased pole, chasing a greased pig and playing football.




Christmas Eve, 1862



In this magazine engraving entitled"Christmas Eve, 1862" a young mother kneels by her sleeping children and prays for her husband's safety, while he sits by a campfire and gazes at their photographs. on the upper left is an early portrayal of Santa Claus, preparing to climb down a chimney; on the upper right he visits a military camp, tossing boxes of gifts from his sleigh.








Christmas by Candlelight, 1861





It's a chilly evening on Chrismas Eve, 1861: flurries of snow whip down Pearisburg's Main Street. Dr. Harvey Green Johnston is home on leave from his duties as surgeon of the 86th Virginia Militia. His young wife Annie and their two small children, William and Carrie, have decorated the house for the special occasion, and have invited several friends to celebrate the holiday and recent Confederate victories. The beautiful brick house, built by Harvey's father Andrew in 1829, glows with candlelight and it filled with the aroma of pine, lemon teacakes, mulled cider and eggnog. Carolers from the neighborhood have stopped by to offer and extra measure of good cheer.





This Saturday, December 3, 2011, the Giles County Historical Society invites you to join the Johnstons as they gather to enjoy the holiday with family and friends. Ladies of the Jubal Early chapter of the UDC will greet you at the door and invite you into the house decorated with all the mid-nineteenth century. Members of the Giles High School Choral Ensemble, dressed in period costume, will entertain visitors with traditional carols.





The Johnston home, located at 208 North Main Street in Pearisburg, will be open from 3:00- 6:00 p.m. Admission is free.





Visitors can also view the new exhibit "The Civil Was in Giles County" in the adjacent Historical Museum. The displays describe the course and impact of the war in the county, and includes artifacts recovered in the area, as well as personal stories and memorabilia of Giles County soldiers.





By 1861, the celebration of Christmas had taken on the look and customs of the holiday we celebrate today. Forty years earlier the poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas" appeared in a New York newspaper and introduced us to our modern idea of Santa Claus: a jolly, chubby "old elf" who ddrives a sleigh pulled by reindeer. With a sack loaded with presents he drops down the chimney and fills the stockings hung by the fireplace. Two decades later Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert popularized the candle-lit Christmas tree, a custom from his native Germany. In 1850, an illustration of the royal family gathered around a decorated Christmas tree appeared in an American magazine and the custom was euthusiastically adopted here. Trees were usually decorated with garlands of dried berries, popcorn or paper chains, and hung with fruit, toys, and paper ornaments.





During the Civil War Christmas was a bittersweet holiday. Many sons, husbands, and fathers were far from home, often living in primitive conditions in cold, damp winter camps. In the early years of the war families were able to maintain many of the old customs, and to provide "care packages" for their loved ones in the military. As the war dragged on and the Union blockade of Confederate ports strangled Southern commerce, most Southerners had neither the means nor the heart to participate in elaborate festivities. Many years later a Southern woman remembered the 1864 holiday: "Christmas loomed darkly ahead. No daddy, no trip to "Grampys", no shoes, no clothes hardly, no picture books, no dolls, no candy, and no just "nuthin". Her one gift was a homemade wool petticoat-carded, spun and woven by an aunt- that was so scratchy it was unwearable.





During that same Christmas holiday a Northern magazine featured an elaborate engraving of President Lincoln welcoming rebels who are willing to lay down their arms, to "The Union Christmas Dinner". The illustration, on view at the Johnston house, foreshadows the sentiments of Lincoln's second inaugural address the following March, where he spoke of peace and reconciliation: "With malice towards none: with charity for all...let us strive ... to bind up the nation's wounds ... to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace.... Lincoln was assassinated less than a month later.





The Giles County Historical Society works to preserve, interpret and exhibit Giles County's rich historical and cultural heritage.





It provides a repository for Giles County family histories, documents, and artifacts, assists genealogical researchers, and supports the preservation of endangered the Giles County artifacts, sites, and records.





The Giles County Historical Society and Museum (921-1050) are open Wed-Fri from 12-5 PM and Sat-Sun from 2-5 PM. The Research Office is open on Thurs. from 12-5 PM. For more information please visit http://www.gilescountyhistorical.org/





Saturday, November 19, 2011

"A Civil War Christmas by Candlelight"




Please come by and join us on December 3rd, 2011 from 3-6 p.m. We are having "A Civil War Christmas by Candlelight" at the Andrew Johnston House. We would love for you to stop in to meet Dr. Harvey Green Johnston, his lovely young wife Annie, and their friends as they gather together on Christmas Eve in 1861. Come and enjoy the period music, refreshments, the Victorian Christmas decorations, and the wonderful Christmas carols from the Giles High School Choral Ensemble. We will also have our new exhibit "The Civil War in Giles County" that is displayed in the museum that is available to be viewed. If you have any questions about the event, please feel free to call the historical society at (540)921-1050.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Terri Fisher is first speaker in lecture series at the Historical Society



The Giles County Historical Society is launching evening lecture series, to be held once a month at the Giles County Historical Museum, 208 North Main Street, Pearisburg. Each month a featured speaker will discuss a topic relating to local history, genealogy research, historic preservation, personal memoir writing and other subjects.



The inaugural lecture will be given by the Historical Society's former Executive Director, Terri Fisher, on Thursday, November 3, at 7:00 p.m. Terri will discuss her recently published book Lost Commununities of Virginia, now in its second printing. The book is a project of Virginia Tech's Community Design Assistance Center where Terri is Outreach and Programs Coordinator.



Lost Communities of Virginia casts a spotlight on 30 small communities located throughout the state. These once-thriving towns, villages and gathering places provide quiet reminders of rural Virginia's past when trains or steamboats stopped several times a day, coal miners frequented the company store, stagecoaches delivered passengers and their many trunks to the mountain springs resorts, and traveling entertainers brought excitement on a summer evening. The book's contemporary photographs, the words of long-time residents, historical information and maps bring these "lost communities" alive to the reader's imagination.



Among other topics, the author will discuss the Victorian heyday of Eggleston Springs resort, and the once-bustling transportation hub of Newport, which in earlier days was so rowdy that it was dubbed "Hell's Half Acre." Other nearby towns in the book include Paint Bank, Riner and Pocahontas.



Terri holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Computer Science fro the University of New Hampshire and is nearing completion of a Masters of Architecture at Virginia Tech. Her interests are in the area of preservation and sustainable design and she is also the author of two pictorial histories of Giles County: Pearisburg and Giles County: Then and Now.



The Giles County Historical Society works to preserve, interpret and exhibit Giles County's rich historical and cultural heritage. It provides a repository for Giles County family histories, documents and artifacts, assists, genealogical researchers, and supports the preservation of endangered Giles County artifacts, sites and records.



Terri Fisher, Outreach and Programs Coordinator of Virginia Tech's Community Design Assistance Center is the author of this recently-published book that document's once-booming communities that lost their original function and now seek a new purpose.



Giles County Historical Society and Museum Admission: Free



Wed. -Fri. 12-5



Sat. - Sun. 2-5



Research Office Open only Thurs. 12-5



Sunday, October 30, 2011

Glass Blowing 101

November 6, 2011 2 P.M.

Glass Blowing 101: Make Your Own Ornament Ball
With the Giles Art Council. Taught by glass artist, Parker Stafford. Class will be held at Stafford Art Glass in Newport Virginia.

"Lost Communities of Virginia" By Terri Fisher


November 3, 2011 7 P.M.
"Lost Communities of Virginia"
This is a talk by Terri Fisher, co-author of the same book of the same name. Virginia's rural areas are dotted with traces of once- thriving communities. Learn about how these communities- including several in Giles County-- are struggling to survive or rebuilding themselves in a new and different way.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Camp Success Civil War Confederate Encampment



Camp Success is named for the civil war confederate army encampment that was located near the grounds from 1862 to 1865. Confederate forces, some garrisoned at this site, successfully guarded the narrows of the New River from incursion by the union army forces until early 1865. However, this camp won its name after a major skirmish that occurred near the site on May 10, 1862 when confederate forces under Brig. General Henry Heth that held off the retreating union forces under Lt. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes (later became president of the United States). Heth had prevented Hayes' troops from passing through the Town of Narrows on their retreat to Princeton from the "Battle Of Giles Court House" in nearby Pearisburg.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Wool Rug Hooking Workshop

October 28-29, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Wool Rug Hooking Workshop, with the Giles Art Council. Class is taught by Linda Woodbury. Students will create a 14" x 14" hooked piece similiar to a Rose of Sharon quilt square from colors of their choosing. Cost of $95.00 including linen, wool, and 2 days of instruction. Students must provide their own 14" quilting hoop and a beginner medium size rug hook with handle. Class will be held at the historical society. Pre-registration required. If you have any questions please feel free to call the historical society 921-1050.

High Praise From A Yankee Officer

In May 1862, the doctor's office was used as a headquarters by the 23rd Ohio Regiment, which included future presidents Lt. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes and Sgt. William McKinley. During his stay in Pearisburg, Hayes remarked that "This is a lovely spot, a fine clean village, most beautiful country, polite and well educated people"-- This is a high praise From a yankee officer.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

"The Battle Of Giles Court House"

We are planning on "The Battle Of Giles Court House" for June 9th & 10th, 2012. This commemorates the 150th anniversary of the battle. Our theme is "The Yankees Are Coming!" Planning is well underway by the Giles County Civil War Sesquicentennial Committee for a fun filled weekend. The events will be listed at a later date.

While waiting for that momentous day, the historical society has other events planned to mark the sesquecentennial. On December 3, 2011, we will be hosting a "Civil War Christmas By Candlemark" at the Andrew Johnston House. You are invited to join Dr. Harvey Green Johnston, his young wife Annie, their children and their friends as they celebrate Christmas in 1864.

In April 2012, "Gone With The Wind" comes to town with an exhibit of six Scarlett O'Hara and Mammy costume dolls that is created by costume historian and conservator Pete Ballard. You'll see Scarlett O'Hara's famouse gown that was made from the draperies at Tara, and catch a glimpse of Mammy's saucy red satin petticoat.

Please feel free to stop by to see the wonderful artifacts, documents, and genealogical researchers. If you have any questions please call (540)921-1050. The hours Wed-Fri from 12-5 p.m. and Sat-Sun from 2-5 p.m. Our Web site is www.gilescountyhistorical.org We are also on facebook and twitter.