Virginia's Heritage Music Trail

"Explore the Crooked Road"

The Crooked Road, Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, winds through the mountains of Southwest Virginia. Here, the Bluegrass, Old Time, and Traditional Country music is as beautiful and rugged as the landscape itself. Our mission: Supporting economic development by promoting Heritage Tourism and Blue Ridge and Appalachian culture.

To begin exploring the crooked road: Click Here.

VCHS Spring Fling

The Vardy Community Historical Society's "Spring Fling" is today, the day after the first annual MHS Conference in Rogersville (more on that later next week).

The Spring Fling, which lasts from 10 am till 2 pm, features Appalachian crafts such as basket and chair weaving, apple butter making, corn grinding, shuck dolls, hominy making, a tractor show, and plenty of music. The location is the Vardy Church Museum, in Vardy, which features displays from the Presbyterian mission which provide education opportunities for Melungeon children from 1899 to the early 1970s.

The location of the VCHS homepage has changed; to visit: Click Here.

Wise County History and Genealogy

The Wise County Historical Society was established in August of 1992 as a result of a small group of 14 individuals meeting in 1991 in the cafeteria of the Wise Appalachian Regional Hospital in Wise, Virginia to discuss the possibility of publishing a book on our county and city heritage. From that time on monthly meetings were held which resulted in organizing the Historical Society in 1992 with 61 charter members. Today we have over a thousand members from across America. The first publication was The Heritage of Wise County and The City of Norton-Volume1 .

Our objective is to promote historical studies, by the collection and preservation of historical manuscripts, and for kindred purposes in the best interest of southern Appalachian regional history and history in America. Also to aid in the research of genealogical history and preserve it for future generations.

The WCHS publishes The Appalachian Quarterly.

To visit the Wise County Historical Society online: Click Here.

To visit the Wise County GenWeb site: Click Here.

Some Colonial Records of Virginia, 1619 -- 1668

Some some colonial records of Virginia spanning the years from 1619 to to 1668, including the proceedings of the first Virginia legislative assembly, have been made available online by Project Gutenberg. The title not withstanding, these records are by no means complete but may be of interest.

Table of Contents

• I. The First Assembly of Virginia, held July 30, 1619
• II. List of the livinge and the dead in Virginia, Feb'y 16, 1623
• III. A briefe declaration of the plantation of Virginia, during the first twelve years, when Sir Thomas Smith was Governor of the Company
• IV. A list of the number of men, women and children, inhabitants in the several Counties within the Collony of Virginia, in 1634
• V. A letter from Charles II., acknowledging the receipt of a present of Virginia Silk, 1668
• VI. A list of the Parishes in Virginia, 1680
• VII. Addenda

To view: Click Here.

The Richmond Daily Dispatch Online

The Richmond Daily Dispatch is the result of a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and collaboration between the University of Richmond, Tufts University's Perseus Project, and the Virginia Center for Digital History. There are currently 1384 issues of the paper available online, ranging in date from November 1860 through December 1865.

Though far removed from Southern Appalachia in both place and outlook, the Richmond Daily Dispatch was the newspaper of record for the entire Confederacy.

To view its wartime archives: Click Here.

Eastern Kentucky University's Center for Appalachian Studies

The Center for Appalachian Studies at Eastern Kentucky University was created in 2000 to coordinate and promote a multi-disciplinary approach toward teaching, research and service on issues pertaining to Appalachia. The Center brings together a diverse group of teachers/scholars primarily from the social sciences and humanities, but also from art, biology, environmental studies, social work and health sciences. Utilizing their wide-ranging talent, the Center endeavors to link the human and technical resources of EKU with the teaching, service and research needs of the students and communities we serve.

To visit the Center's web site: Click Here.

MHS June 12th Conference Program

The first annual Melungeon Historical Society Conference will be held this Friday, June 12th, in Rogersville, Tennessee at 955 McKinney Avenue, beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Program:

• 9:30 am - Registration
• 10:00 am – Wayne Winkler: Introduction to Melungeons
• 11 am - Roberta Estes: DNA and Genealogy
• Noon - lunch break
• 1:30 pm – Wayne Winkler: The Term "Melungeon"
• 2:00 pm - Kathy James: DNA Results of Selected Gibsons and Collins Including Probability of Relationships
• 3 pm - Kathy Lyday-Lee: Teaching About Melungeons at Elon University
• 4 pm - Katherine Vande Brake: Century of Progress
• 5 pm - Jack Goins: Induction of the Melungeons, from Newman's Ridge to Louisa County, Virginia
• 6 pm - Roberta Estes: Core Melungeon DNA Project

The MHS Blog will report on the conference as descriptions and pictures become available.

The following day in Hancock County, the Vardy Community Historical Society will hold their spring Fling at the Museum on Vardy Road in Hancock County. Come out and meet some cousins during a Melungeon weekend in Tennessee!