Category: Uncategorized (Page 5 of 9)

Susan Yarborough brought us this great photo of a 1937 Ford Tudor Sedan stopped at the old Laurel Springs ESSO and Post Office. The building was located approximately where the current Laurel Springs, North Carolina, Post Office and Fire Station now stand.

To commemorate the holiday, let’s consider a different kind of a “Father”, this weekend.

Alleghany native, Robert L. Doughton could, arguably, be considered the “Father of the Blue Ridge Parkway.” After all, without his efforts in navigating the legislation through Congress, the whole project might never have been funded.

Isom and Phoebe Cheek Fender, Great-Grandparents of Tom King from Whitehead, married October 1st, 1867.

Saddlebags and surveying equipment, donated by Pratt Davis, from Letcher E. Edwards, who lived at Stratford, North Carolina.

Mr. Edwards served as Alleghany County Register of Deeds 1924-32 and 1942-45.

Letcher E. Edwards (1877-1975) married Hattie Joines Hendrix (1895-1989) at Twin Oaks, NC,
May 9, 1942. He is believed to be the only Alleghany Register to issue his own marriage license.

Mr. Edwards’ second wife was Pratt’s husband, Duane Davis’ Aunt Hattie (and he was her second husband). Duane was born in 1945 and spent summers with Hattie and Letcher.

The couple had no children of their own. Letcher taught Duane how to use the tools eventually he gave his nephew.

From Bobby Irwin’s family:

A (very cool!) photo of a group on an outing atop Stone Mountain at Roaring Gap, North Carolina, May 21, 1924.

Stone Mountain State Park was established in 1969 and it was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1975.

Meet Mary “Polly” Reeves who married Alexander B. McMillan. She died when she was 96 years old- in 1894, a mere 127 years ago. This photo was made in 1891.

Mrs. McMillan was born around Independence, Virginia in 1798- just after John Adams was elected our 2nd president- and was 62 years old when the Civil War began.

Standing-room-only crowd enjoying the Readers Theater production of
Inherit The Wind, by Jerome Lawrence, and given by the Alleghany Community Theatre – on a hot July afternoon in 2007, at the Alleghany County Courthouse.

Ed Adams questions a witness while Richard Doughton presides as judge. Dan Murray played the attorney for the defense. Susie Gamble played the Clerk of the Court and Randy Boger played the Bailiff.

Each of these “actors” played roles that they acted out every day of their professional lives. This and the venue of the actual Alleghany courtroom added realism to the drama that featured the 1925 Scopes “Monkey” Trial.

The crowd filled the balcony at, what was probably, one of the few events held here that everyone went home happy!

— Photos by Imaging Specialists.

A New Display in the Library from the National Archives and the Alleghany Historical Museum.

Just in time for the upcoming election!
American women were long denied the right to vote. In 1920, the newly ratified 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibited the states from denying the vote on the basis of sex.
For (much!) more information, please visit:
https://museum.archives.gov/rightfully-hers

Did you know that one of the most photographed sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway is right here in Alleghany County? Of course you did.
There are many scenic vistas here, but the little stretch of road at Grassy Gap draws photographers like a magnet.
The gentle, sloping curves, the rugged rail fences, the pastures and the pines make for a lovely landscape that artists have tried to capture for many years.

Information from Brenda Irwin Frizzell about her father’s World War II mess kit that was found on a Belgian battlefield and returned to him 47 years after it was lost. We shared this article with the Alleghany News, an important partner of AHGS.

Printed in 1981, by the United States Library of Congress, this book  features,

“An essay from the Blue Ridge Parkway folklife Project conducted by the American Folklife Center in cooperation with the National Park Service in August and September 1978”

It was edited by Lyntha Scott Eiler. Terry Eiler. and Carl Flelschhauer and includes many photos of Southwest Virginia and Northwest North Carolina.

We love it because it contains stories and images of Alleghany County.

The Sparta Restaurant  –  Sparta, North Carolina

Town and Country Barber Shop  –  Sparta, North Carolina

Click the photo to see the entire book in PDF format.

BlueRidgeHarvestBook_sm

Here are transcripts of letters from “the War to End All Wars,” sent home to the Blue Ridge and printed in the Alleghany Star, 100 years ago during World War I. They were clipped and saved by the Irwin Family and are part of Minnie Lou Irwin’s papers. John Irwin brought them to us, after he found the articles in his mother’s papers. The Alleghany Star evolved into the Alleghany News, and we are posting the letters from their “Somewhere Over There” series here, with their permission.

to S. O. Edwards from his son Private Carper E. Edwards

to I. O. Reynolds from his son Walter

to Mrs. A B Taylor from her son Corpl James Luther

to Mrs. Lulu Landreth from her brother-in-law Jno M. Landreth

Here are outside views of the building we are purchasing. It will be the new home of the Alleghany Historical Museum on Main Street in Sparta, NC.
If you’d like to help, donations can be made here.

Our mailing address is PO Box 817, Sparta, NC 28675
AHGS is a certified 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Donations are tax-deductible.

From the spring of 1945 until 1948, Thelma O. Davis owned and operated Thelma’s portrait studio on Main Street over the Belk’s Department Store, at the corner of NC18 and US21 (where Alleghany Historical Museum is located, today.)

After completing a course in portraiture at New York Institute of Photography and working for a time in other studios, Thelma returned to Sparta to venture out on her own. She and her assistant did all types of portraiture from 2 x 3 wallet size to 8 x 10 family groups and the like. All printing, mounting, etc. was done in the studio except for Kodak rolls, which were sent out for developing.

Color portraits were not available at that time. If anyone who wanted a color portrait, it was done by hand, using Marshalls Photo Oils.

A display case, on Main Street, featured the “Portrait of the Week.” Many families were able to obtain memorable keepsakes as a result of this business.