Here is the Patrick County Historical Museum Newsletter for the Fall of 2011.

PATRICK COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY & MUSEUM NEWSLETTER Vol. XXV No. 2 Fall 2011 Publication of the Patrick County Historical Society, Inc. Hours: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. M-W, F-Sat.) Post Office Box 1045, Stuart, VA 24171 - Ph. 276-694-2840 - Website: www.patcovahistory.org Henry Ayers, President; Larry Hopkins, Vice-president; David Sheley, Treasurer; John Reynolds, Secretary It’s fall again and time for the annual General Membership Meeting of the Patrick County Historical Society. It will be held in the Community Room at the local branch of Patrick Henry Community College, off Wood Brothers Drive (formerly Johnson Street) in Stuart. We plan to meet at 3 p.m. on Saturday, October 29. Our guest speaker will be Joe Tennis from Bristol, Tennessee. An award-winning author, Joe has written several books and numerous articles over the years that have included chapters or sections on Patrick County history and legends. Beach to Bluegrass, in which he touted Virginia’s longest road, U.S. 58, is a great guidebook with historical anecdotes as well. Joe is a popular speaker and his latest book, Haunts of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Highlands, just in time for Halloween, will no doubt be of interest to our members and the public in general too. Please come and join us if you can. Bring a friend and enjoy the afternoon meeting that will be followed by a book signing and reception. In other news, we have continued to keep the museum open five days each week, although Eunice Kirkman has been out for several weeks due to health issues. The latest good news, however, is that Eunice’s health has improved and she returned to work at the museum as of October 3rd. In the meantime, Barbara Baughan, Mike McKenzie, and other board members have been volunteering a day or so each week to keep the museum open. For anyone visiting the museum lately, you may have noticed the absence of our World War Two Poster Exhibit. Designed to be portable, it was on loan to the Reynolds Homestead in Critz during June and July, and it is now on display at the Martinsville-Henry County Historical Museum through October of this year. This museum is located in the renovated courthouse in the heart of Martinsville and is worth visiting in any event. We are pleased to share this wonderful exhibit with other museums or public facilities. As noted in previous newsletters, the original posters were collected and then donated to the museum by the late Mr. Fred Clifton, one of our true “county treasures� who contributed so much to preserving local history. Then, a bequest from the estate of former society board member Bertha Pilson Coates helped make the exhibit possible. Local artist Greg Arens mounted the posters in attractive, portable frames. Another recent and very helpful donation came from Mrs. Gale Bak, the widow of life member Michael Steven Adams (1958-2010). Though living in Texas at the time of his death, Adams was a former county resident and a graduate of Patrick County High School. Steve, as he was known, had received help from Eunice Kirkman on tracing his family’s history. He was very grateful for that help - so much so that he joined the society as a life member. In Steve’s memory, Mrs. Bak donated funds to pay for several new, custom-made bookcases to house the society’s growing collection of genealogical materials. In addition, Bak’s gift included funds for cases to house the Patrick County Retired Teachers’ Association display at the museum. The donation for the retired teachers’ association seemed appropriate because Mr. Adams had been a teacher himself for several years before taking a job with the federal government. Michael Steven Adams’ obituary states in part, “He was best known for his keen wit, big heart, outstanding teaching and mentoring abilities and unsurpassed devotion to his family and friends.� Gale Bak and Steven’s only brother, Mark Adams, attended a dedication of the bookcase donation at the museum in July of this year. Again, we thank Mrs. Bak and all the other generous donors to the museum over the past year and before. The museum in its current form certainly could not exist without such support. The society continues to participate in most community festivals in the area. These included last spring’s Highland Games Festival at Laurel Hill, the Strawberry Festival in downtown Stuart, the Covered Bridge Festival in Woolwine, and the Civil War Encampment held by the J.E.B. Stuart Trust on the first weekend of October each year at General Stuart’s birthplace near Ararat. The society set up a booth in Stuart Rotary’s newly renovated building at Rotary Field for the Patrick County Agricultural Fair too. Volunteers Carolyn Beale, David Sheley, Barry and Esther Reynolds, and John Reynolds manned the booth. On display were photos and flyers from the D & W Railroad, a 100-year-old banjo, a crank telephone, a wooden churn, and May Hubbard Upton’s nurse’s cape donated by Joanne Hill. On display also was a photo brought in by Mary Haley that has yet to be identified. It includes a steam engine and another piece of farm machinery that may be a threshing machine. Thought to be from the early 20th century, neither the location nor any people in the photo are known as of this writing. Another photo of a D&W train passing “somewhere near Critz,� supposedly, was on display and needs further identification also. Although we don’t always “make money’� at festivals, we feel that meeting a lot of folks and making new friends for the society and museum is good for the organization. As in the case of the late Mr. Adams, as noted above, one never knows what being helpful or kind to one person on one day will be returned tenfold at some point in the future. Many members and friends of the Society have donated or loaned items to the museum. These family histories, books, and other artifacts will be of great value to future researchers and other visitors to the museum. Yet some questions about what the museum can or cannot accept have come up in recent months. Obviously, we simply do not have room for certain large items that well-intentioned folks would like to donate. Likewise, we may already have examples of some items that people would like to give or loan as well. We would prefer also that most donations have a “Patrick County connection� or some important historical significance otherwise. Yet family histories, historical documents, and photos are virtually always welcome. Please note that a dues statement and a return envelope are included in this letter if you choose to continue to support the Museum and its efforts to preserve our county history. As always, if you already have copies of our society’s major books, History of Patrick County, and Patrick County Yesterday, they would make great gifts for Christmas or other occasions for anyone with a Patrick County connection. If you are a life member and happen to receive a dues notice, you are not obligated to return any further contributions, unless you desire to make an extra gift to the society. Yet passing the membership application on to a friend or relative could be helpful for our base of support. Your membership dues, along with the occasional “memorial gifts� that we receive, are the primary sources of income for the society. Thanks for your support in the past and for whatever you can contribute in the future. In closing, we would like to note the passing late last year of a friend of many people in our area and a friend of the historical society, Mrs. Bili Shelton Ehmann. “Miss Bili� was the official “poet laureate� of Patrick County. Besides composing several books of poetry, she had been an educator and had written a column for The Enterprise for decades under the penname, “Jemima Casey.� Therein, her wit, wisdom, and knowledge of history were highlighted each week. She would often recall her days growing up in Stella, Va., and riding on the “Dick & Willie� train, a thrill that few yet alive have had. We will miss Mrs. Ehmann and trust that the memory of her remarkable life and career will be kept alive. Her family remains in our thoughts. John Reynolds, Secretary/Newsletter Editor