Blue Ridge Heritage Project brings our own history back to us

I sat down recently to discuss the Blue Ridge Heritage Project with Darryl Merchant.  Taking advantage of lunch break, I cornered Darryl in his office at the Town of Front Royal Planning Department.

Darryl Merchant takes a lunch break to promote local heritage project. Photo/Roger Bianchini

It was a fortuitous location to become versed in the project encompassing eight localities because Darryl has managed to find some space to post graphics tied to his efforts on acknowledging Warren County’s part in the historical event at the root of the Blue Ridge Heritage Project.

That event is the relocation of families to facilitate the creation of the Shenandoah National Park.

Local names tied to the Park exodus – Courtesy Photos/Blue Ridge Heritage Project

According to one display, that relocation involved 32 family names here, some not only VERY familiar to locals, but comprising one side or the other of their family trees.  Those names are – in alphabetical order, not playing any favorites here, kids – are:

Aleshire, Bailey, Barnhardt, Beaty (also spelled Beatty by some descendants who left the area), Borden, Carter, Clatterbuck, Compton, Cook, Corbin, Fox, Fristoe, Hartley, Hickerson, Hillidge, Johnson, Jones, Kenner, Manual, Marlowe, Matthews, Merchant (ah hah), Millar, Miller, Overall, Morrison, Pomeroy, Settle, Thompson, Vaught, Walters and Weaver.

Faces connected to the Park exodus

It is hard to get through certain parts of town without running into someone with family ties to one of those names.  And it is those descendants, along with anyone with a sense of the history of where they live, that Merchant hopes to attract as the project develops here.

“The goal is to establish a site in each of the eight counties where land was acquired for Shenandoah National Park,” a pamphlet on the Blue Ridge Heritage Project states.  Those counties are: Albermarle, Augusta, Greene, Madison, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham and Warren, the latter as we know at the northern end – “Mile 0” – of Shenandoah National Park (we’ll get back to “Mile Zero” shortly).

“In order to recognize their contributions and their losses, each site will contain a memorial to the people from that county whose land was acquired for the park,” the project’s outline continues, adding, “Through educational displays, cultural displays and demonstrations the project hopes to accurately depict the people’s lives and to help preserve their lifestyle, crafts, music, and traditions.”

The ultimate goal, as of the broad study of history itself, is to give visitors to this particular series of memorials “a greater appreciation for the impact the park had on individual lives in general and for that particular community. – Altogether, the eight sites will create an understanding of life in the Blue Ridge Mountains.”

And I would guess with the input of those descendants of the mountain people of the Blue Ridge, we might even get a glimpse into how the lives of those families has developed through the decades – preserving and evolving those traditions and values into the world they and we populate in the opening decades of the 21^st Century.

The distinctive chimney design marking Blue Ridge Heritage Project communities.

April 6: ‘Mountain Memories’

To that end, Merchant will host a public informational meeting at 7 p.m. on April 6, at the Front Royal Town Hall second-floor conference room.  Featured speaker will be Historian Jim Lillard of Madison County.  His talk will be titled “Mountain Memories”.

It is open to the public, and I join Darryl in encouraging both descendants and others with an interest in the history of Warren County and our portion of the Blue Ridge Mountains to attend.

Merchant noted that any area clubs or civic organizations seeking speakers and additional detail on the Blue Ridge Heritage Project can contact project head Bill Henry by phone at (434) 985-7905 or e-mail at – OnaRock01@yahoo.com

A little personal history – so that’s where the Merchant names comes from.

There is a Facebook page – Front Royal Warren County Blue Ridge Heritage Project – and Merchant said that at the Great Meadows Park visitor site at Milepost 51 on the Skyline Drive, a display on the project is in place.  Two communities, Albermarle and Madison Counties, have already erected their Blue Ridge Heritage memorials, a characteristic chimney symbolizing the lost mountain homes of the previous century; and Page is getting close.

Merchant said that sites are under consideration for Warren County’s memorial.  One of the early favorites is along the riverside trail running by the county dog parks off Mountain Vista Drive; another is along the Happy Creek Trail near Burrell Brooks Park off Criser Road.  Of that latter site, Merchant noted that nearby Happy Creek runs into town from Harmony Hollow near the Shenandoah National Park boundary.

What do you think? Or do you have alternate suggestions

Mile 0

And speaking of mile posts, we promised a follow up on Mile 0 (zero) – Darryl, take it:  “Last spring I took an 8,222-mile, 22-day motorcycle trip across the country to California and back.  And you meet people and discuss your home towns, and what I found was that while very few people knew about Front Royal, most all of them knew the Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway.”

In fact, Merchant pointed to a specific conversation over dinner with another motorcyclist, who commented, “Oh yea, Skyline Drive – I remember Front Royal, it’s at mile zero.”

The Warren County portion of Shenandoah National Park – the Page and Rappahan-nock boundaries are at bottom of map; and the top, Mile 0 and the Town of Front Royal.

“So, that was the genesis of the idea – Front Royal, Virginia; Mile 0, Skyline Drive;  we have this 105-mile long finger that points to Front Royal here in Virginia; and what better way to market and single out where we are?” Merchant said.

In fact, this reporter has been a charter member of “Mile Zero Club” sporting a Mile 0 magnet on the back of my vehicle for about a month as this story is being written – thank you, Darryl. In fact, while Key West, Florida has promoted itself as Mile 0 at the end of another U.S. road, Merchant found that the term had yet to be copyrighted, which he did – don’t worry, Key West, I don’t think Darryl plans to shake you down – “Maybe we can become sister towns” he commented of the dueling Mile Zero localities.

And while the Mile 0 campaign is independent of the town government, Merchant certainly views it as a compliment to town tourism marketing.  He plans to have a stand at this spring’s Wine & Crafts Festival scheduled for May 20, at which the aforementioned “Mile 0” magnets, stickers and related paraphernalia like coffee mugs will be available for sale.  He estimated a $10,000 start-up cost to get a viable promotion campaign up and running, and this will be one way to help realize that funding – mark me down for two coffee mugs, Darryl.

And we’ll see you all on April 6 at the Front Royal Town Hall at 7 p.m. for the Blue Ridge Heritage Project informational meeting.