(left-to-right) Lawrence Tayson (#11), Homer Edwards (#10), Tom Truitt (#7), Eugene Higgins (#9), Paul Irwin (#3), Clarence Hendricks (#4), Oliver Sidden (#5), Web Miller (#6) and Clete Choate (#1).

c.1948 Photo from Margaret Crouse,  from a color slide shot by her father Cliff Evans.

This is a photo Edna Warden Perry brought us several years ago, of Piney Creek School decorated for some celebration – probably commencement. Mrs. Perry was a teacher for 28 years and a great friend of the Historical Society. She passed away in 2012.

The photo is featured in the Spring 2016 edition of the AHGS newsletter. The quarterly newsletter has won a prestigious Joe M. McLaurin Newsletter Award for the last 7 years.

If you’d like to recieve the AHGS Newsletter, membership in the Society is just $20 per year. If you have a story or photographs to include, contact us at: info@ahgs.org.

Reprint of The Forty-Niners from 1949

Reprint of The Echos of Sparta Hi from 1947.

Reprints of the 1947 and the 1949 Sparta High Yearbooks are now on sale! These editions are reasonably priced at just $12.50 each and proceeds from book sales go to help fund the Museum. We are also currently working on a reprint of the first Sparta yearbook from 1939. The books feature the High School grades and all elementary grades at Sparta School that year.

AHGS books can be found online at Shop.StarRoute.net or at the Museum when we re-open March 31st.

Stop by and help support the Historical Museum!

This is an image from the Alleghany County Centennial parade held in 1959 in Sparta, North Carolina. The Alleghany Historical – Genealogical Society is currently working on a book of photographs of the Centennial Celebration from half a century ago.

The new Historical Museum display at the Blue Ridge BDC.

The folks at the Blue Ridge BDC invited the Historical Society to place a display case in the lobby of the facility to publicize last fall’s photographic exhibit, Alleghany Images. They have also agreed to host presentations for future Historical Museum exhibits.
For the Spring exhibit, Fancy Pants- A Presentation of Old-fashioned Fashions, we have featured an iridescent, two-piece, taffeta outfit that belonged to Susan Parks Doughton, wife of North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Rufus Alexander Doughton. Mrs. Parks was born in 1865 and passed away in 1951.
The BDC is an important partner for the Museum as it is also the home of Wilkes Community College and, at the end of this year, the Alleghany County Public Library.
We appreciate very much the opportunity to advertise the Museum at the BDC.

The Museum opens for spring, Thursday, March 31. If you have clothes, shoes, hats or any historically, fashionable accessories you’d like to loan for display, contact Reba Evans at the museum 336-372-2115.

Below is the original scan of the image: (Click to enlarge.)

Below is a zoomed-in version with enhanced brightness & contrast. In this image, you can more clearly see the photographer’s long-distance device, which allowed him to be a part of the selfie. (Click to enlarge.)

AHGS will have a booth at Brinegar Day September 26. The event, held at Brinegar Cabin, will be from 10am-4pm, on the Blue Ridge Parkway. At our booth, we will share information on regional farming practices from the late 1800s. Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway plans to have a demonstration on making apple butter. We look forward to seeing you on the 26th of September!

The next exhibit for the Alleghany Historical Museum is called Alleghany Images and was inspired by the upcoming exhibit, Looking at Appalachia at the Blue Ridge Business Development Center. That traveling show will begin at the BDC  September 19 and last through the end of October and it will feature 175 photographs of the Appalachian Mountain region. Get more info here. The BDC is located at 115 Atwood St in Sparta, North Carolina. Contact administrator, Dale Caveny for more information or visit his blog, Absolutely Alleghany.

Looking at Appalachia is the brainchild of Roger May, “an Appalachian American photographer currently living in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was born in the Tug River Valley, located on the West Virginia and Kentucky state line…” It promises to be an interesting look at the region, “… fifty years after the declaration of the War on Poverty. Drawing from a diverse population of photographers within the region, this new crowdsourced image archive will serve as a reference that is defined by its people as opposed to political legislation.”

Our own exhibit will feature historic photos from Alleghany that represent our roots, here in the Blue Ridge. Some familiar and some never before published, the images include a look at religion, schools, families and work on the farm. The exhibit is sponsored by the Historical Society, NAPCO and Imaging Specialists.

Alleghany Images will begin September 1 and will be on display through the end of 2015. The Alleghany Historical Museum is open Thursday though Saturday from 10am to 5pm and admission is free. Donations to maintain the museum are, however, appreciated.

The current exhibit at the Alleghany Historical Museum is Grandma’s Hands – a showcase of quilts from members of our community. Read the poem that inspired the name.

David Andrew Sturgill’s essay on the Ride of Martin Gambill, featured in the current AHGS newsletter, was originally part of the 1984 New River Symposium. Read his entire essay on the National Park Service’s website, and see the rest of the articles that were part of the 1984 Symposium.

The Alleghany Historical Museum will re-open Thursday April 2 at 10:00, after being closed for the winter months. The first exhibit of the year will be called Faith of Our Fathers, and will focus on community church histories.The Museum is open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 10:00-5:00 and is located at 7 North Main Street in Sparta, across from the Alleghany County Courthouse.

The Museum is asking for loans and donations for the exhibit. The exhibit will begin with items already in the collection of the Alleghany Historical-Genealogical Society, but is expected to expand over the coming months with the help of the community. Please bring items for display during the Museum’s regular operating hours.

AHGS welcomes the involvement of every citizen of the county. If you’d like to volunteer or contribute to Alleghany Historical Museum, the Society is a certified 501(c)(3) organization and donations are tax deductible.

In an effort to reach potential new members, at the last meeting, the members of Alleghany Historical-Genealogical Society voted to move the meeting date and time from the fourth Sunday of the month at 2pm, to the second Friday of the month at 4pm. It is hoped that more people would be able to attend the weekday meetings. The last Sunday meeting will be April 26 at 2pm, and the first Friday meeting will be May 8 at 4pm at the Alleghany Public Library.