{"id":76,"date":"2020-03-26T15:01:11","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T15:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/patcovahistory.org\/?page_id=76"},"modified":"2023-06-14T20:20:18","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T20:20:18","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/patcovahistory.org\/index.php\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mission:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To maintain a non-profit association of persons interested in the history of Patrick County, Virginia and surrounding areas, and to encourage the collection, maintenance and preservation of significant historical material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1971, several citizens in Patrick County decided that an organization was needed to preserve the history of the county.  After making inquiries of neighboring counties where historical societies were already functioning and contacting the Virginia Historic Landmark Commission for advice, the Patrick County Historical Society was formed on December 16, 1971.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Officers\nwere elected and Mrs. Nannie Ruth Terry served as the first president.  In 1972, the Society\u2019s first priority was to\nmake plans for a museum.  An offer was\nmade and accepted on the former office building of Dr. B. A. Hopkins on Buena\nVista Avenue in Stuart.  After a generous\nresponse to a fund-raising drive, the building was purchased and renovated, and\nan open house was held on March 25, 1973.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. and\nMrs. Fred Clifton, of Vesta, donated most of their vast collection of\nhistorical items to the new museum.  Mrs.\nMay Ross McDowell, of Tennessee, founder of the Patrick-Henry Allied Families\nof Virginia, also donated items from her historical collection.  By the end of the 1980\u2019s, the museum\ncollection was rapidly outgrowing its available space due largely to generous\ndonations of items given by county residents and other friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nthe Patrick County Board of Supervisors voted to undertake the construction of\na new library building for the county, the Historical Society offered to donate\ntheir museum building to the county in exchange for equal or greater space in\nthe new building.  After reaching an\nagreement between the two Boards, the Historical Society moved to the new\nlocation on Blue Ridge Street in the spring of 1991.  On Saturday, June 9, 1991, the new\nlibrary\/museum building was dedicated and officially opened with former\nVirginia Governor and Patrick County native, Gerald L. Baliles, as principal\nspeaker. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genealogical\nmaterial was added when the museum moved to the new location, allowing local\ncitizens the opportunity to explore their ancestral roots without having to travel\nout of the county.  In 2018, a new\nGenealogy Room was created and plans were approved by the Board to reorganize,\nwith renovations scheduled to be completed in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Board:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Reynolds, President<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beth Ford, Vice President<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gene Stirewalt, Treasurer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabrielle Walker, Secretary<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Board Members: Greg Arens Carolyn Beale  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sylvia  Cummings      Paula Drady            <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Douglas Dunlap\u00a0\u00a0 James Hines Wanda Isaacs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Shirley Keene<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike McKenzie\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B. J. Nolan Beverly Belcher Woody<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mission: To maintain a non-profit association of persons interested in the history of Patrick County, Virginia and surrounding areas, and to encourage the collection, maintenance and preservation of significant historical material. History: In 1971, several citizens in Patrick County decided that an organization was needed to preserve the history of the county.  After making inquiries … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-76","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/patcovahistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/patcovahistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/patcovahistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patcovahistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patcovahistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/patcovahistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":281,"href":"https:\/\/patcovahistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/76\/revisions\/281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/patcovahistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}