Every historic place has a unique preservation story. There’s something about it that makes it special to the people who live near it, something that makes it part of the fabric of that community. Every person passionate about historic places and their history has a unique preservation story. Something that compels them to spend their …
This Poetry Month, we’re exploring underrepresented stories and poets. From Lucy Terry Prince to Paul Laurence Dunbar to Maya Angelou, African American poets explored rich and complicated themes in several genres, from verse to ballads and epics and every form in between. In the early parts of the 18th century, many African American poets emulated …
Native American poetry is steeped in oral tradition, which is the legacy of passing down cultural stories from older generations to younger generations through speech. In fact, within Native American culture, poems are often referred to as “songs” because they were traditionally sung not written. Historically, Native American poetry has focused on many themes, including …
The romantic poetry shared between Sidney Lanier and Virginia Hankins stands as one of the most passionate periods in Bacon’s Castle’s history. Born in Georgia, Sidney Lanier served in the Confederate Army and became well-known for his highly musical poems. While serving in the Confederate Army in Virginia, he met Virginia Hankins, who lived at …
We’ve all heard the phrase, “No taxation without representation!” In 1765, the passage of the Stamp Acts unexpectedly unified American colonists in protest against a tax. The Act threatened American liberty, freedom of the press and incited rebellion and mob attacks throughout the colonies. One of the loudest voices to oppose the Stamp Act was …
Preservation Virginia has partnered with JTI Leaf Services for the past five years to provide a Tobacco Barns Mini-Grant program to restore historic barns in Caswell County, North Carolina and Halifax and Pittsylvania Counties in Virginia. We’re pleased to highlight one of our recent projects, the Bray Tobacco Barn. The tobacco barn owned by Joe …
Our restoration craftsman, Mike Adams, has been hard at work at our historic sites during the off-season. Historic preservation is an ongoing, never quite finished process, and these cold months are the perfect time to tackle small projects, like remaking and replacing windows. Today, we’re highlighting two recently completed projects at Patrick Henry’s Scotchtown and Smith’s Fort. …
In part two of our update on past Most Endangered Historic Places listings, we’re diving into the grassroots efforts that helped protect the Rappahannock River at White Stone and the rebirth of Selma Mansion in Loudoun County. If there’s an endangered historic place in your community, submit a nomination for the 2018 Most Endangered Historic …
For more than a decade, we’ve presented our annual list of Virginia’s Most Endangered Historic Places. The list raises awareness of the Commonwealth’s historic places, including buildings, archaeological sites and cultural landscapes, at risk from neglect, deterioration, insufficient funds, inappropriate development and/or insensitive public policy. Protecting and preserving endangered places is a complex process that …
