Front Royal approves Blue Ridge Heritage Project memorial site

On Monday evening (Oct. 23) the Front Royal Town Council approved the requested site for the memorial structure for the Blue Ridge Heritage Project by a 5-0 vote (Chris Morrison absent).  That site where a replica of a stone chimney characteristic of the homes families were driven from in the 1930’s to make way for the Shenandoah National Park will stand is off the Happy Creek Trail along Route 522 on the town’s southside at Criser Road.

Graphics of the Front Royal-Warren County site of the Blue Ridge Heritage Project memorial on the Happy Creek Trail on town’s southside. Graphics Courtesy/Blue Ridge Heritage Project

Front Royal and Warren County will join seven other county sites along the Blue Ridge Mountains where families relocated to facilitate creation of the national park will be memorialized.  The eight counties involved are Albemarle, Augusta, Madison, Rappahannock, Page, Greene, Rockingham, and Warren.  The first monuments in Albemarle and Madison counties are already up.  Each county’s “chimney” replica carries its own unique features.

The distinctive chimney design marking Blue Ridge Heritage Project communities – a lasting memorial to homesteads that didn’t last.

Town Planning Department staffer Darryl Merchant, who has become the driving force locally for the Blue Ridge Heritage Project, appeared before council at its October 16 work session to request the donation of the parcel of town land.

“Our goal is not to debate the moral rightness of the methods utilized for creation of the park,” Merchant told council.  Rather, that goal is to memorialize the personal experience and sacrifice of those families relocated, often against their will, for what was considered a greater national good.

As described by Bill Henry, one of the founders of the Blue Ridge Heritage Project, more than 500 Blue Ridge Mountain families in eight counties were displaced.  Their homes, on 1,081 tracts of land, were mostly burned to the ground, some of the more reluctant after they had been lured to meetings to ostensibly discuss what they would be offered by the federal government to relocate.

With the spotty moral history of the federal eminent domain seizure, some might find it ironic that today’s National Park Service “is very supportive” of the project, both Henry and Merchant have noted during local informational and organizational meetings.

As described in an earlier story by our Malcolm Barr Sr., the brochure produced by the Blue Ridge Heritage Project “is replete with sepia photographs of some of the families who lived and worked in the Blue Ridge and who were evicted.  One actually depicts a family carrying out household belongings ahead of their actual eviction.  Henry said descendants of these back country families are coming forward and identifying themselves since he launched the heritage project in 2013.  Many have stories handed down through the generations of their families of exactly what happened when the actual evictions took place.”

There’s always a personal side to history, whether it happened yesterday or today.

The Blue Ridge Heritage Project’s goal is to see that these stories are not lost to history.  The project brochure states: “Through educational, cultural displays and demonstrations the project hopes to accurately depict the people’s lives and to help preserve their lifestyle, crafts, music and traditions. Each county’s site will reflect the particular culture of the community.”

FRPD update

OH, and one other thing from Monday’s council meeting – Mayor Tharpe announced that ground will be broken for the new Front Royal Police Headquarters off Kendrick Lane near Monroe Avenue on November 1, at 2 p.m.

Architect’s rendering of front entrance of main building of new FRPD headquarters – groundbreaking is Halloween plus one. Photo/Roger Bianchini