Here’s a roundup of news briefs from around Southwest and Southside. Send yours for possible inclusion to news@cardinalnews.org.
Jimmie Vaughan to play the Harvester on Aug. 16
Harvester Performance Center has scheduled two more shows for its summer schedule.
Four-time Grammy winner Jimmie Vaughan & The Tilt-a-Whirl Band will take the stage Wednesday, Aug. 16 at 8 p.m. with “King” Solomon Hicks opening.
Hicks was named the 2021 Blues Music Awards Best Emerging Artist for his album “Harlem.”
Tickets start at $47 and go on sale Friday at harvester-music.com.
On Saturday, July 22, The Alum Ridge Boys & Ashlee will play the Harvester for the next performance in the Town of Rocky Mount’s Homegrown Music Series.
The Floyd County-based string band plays regularly for dances and festivals around the country and in 2021 they won the old time band contest at the 85th Annual Old Fiddlers’ Convention in Galax, Virginia.
Early-bird tickets start at $6.25 and go on sale Friday at harvester-music.com.
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State approves new historical markers, including ones in Lexington, Mecklenburg County and Roanoke
The Virginia Department of Historic Resources has approved five new historical markers, including ones in Lexington, Mecklenburg County and Roanoke.
The Lexington marker will recall businesses that appeared in the Negro Motorist Green Book, a guide for Black travelers published from 1936 to 1966 that featured lodgings, restaurants, and other public accommodations across the country that welcomed African Americans during the segregation era. The Green Book listed several stops in Lexington including the Franklin Tourist Home, the Rose Inn, Washington Café, and the J.M. Wood Tourist Home. The marker will be located at 106 East Washington Street and was sponsored by Historic Lexington.
The Mecklenburg County marker recognizes the Sunnyside School that educated young women in algebra, chemistry, Latin, religion, and proper etiquette during its years of operation from ca. 1870 to 1908. The Carrington sisters Agnes, Emily, Isabella, and Mildred established the school in their residence after the end of the Civil War, when the demand for education among those who did not previously have access grew. The sisters, who were well-liked by the community and were longtime supporters of Clarksville Presbyterian Church, welcomed day students as well as boarders at their school. The marker will be located at 104 Shiney Rock Road in Clarksville and was sponsored by Sunnyside Sisters Bed & Breakfast.
The Roanoke maker recognizes the founding of Virginia Western Community College. The text will read: “From 1956 to 1959 Virginia mandated Massive Resistance against the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown decision desegregating public education. In 1958, business leaders from around the state created the Virginia Industrialization Group to oppose Massive Resistance and reverse the damage it had done to education and the economy. Their efforts helped establish a system of technical colleges in 1964 that evolved into the Virginia Community College System in 1966. Roanoke Technical Institute, a branch of Virginia Tech, was combined with the University of Virginia’s Roanoke Center to form what became Virginia Western Community College. This was the first community college to open under the new system.” It will be located in the 3000 block of Colonial Avenue and was sponsored by Nelson Harris, a Roanoke historian who has been instrumental in many other historical markers in the region.
The other two markers approved were in Portsmouth, for the Key Road School that served Black children in grades 1 through 7 for close to half a century, and one in Virginia Beach to mark the expedition that Francis Yeardley sponsored to the Albemarle region of present-day North Carolina in 1653. This party returned with several Native Americans including a chief, possibly Kiscutanewh of the Weapemeoc (Yeopim), who lodged for a week at Yeardley’s residence. Yeardley agreed to build an English house in the Albemarle for the chief and to foster, educate, and baptize his son. Yeardley also purchased a large tract of land in “Carolana” from the chief and had a house built ca. 1655 near Albemarle Sound for fur trader Nathaniel Batts, North Carolina’s first documented permanent English resident. Other settlers began arriving in the region soon thereafter.
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Forest Service reschedules volunteer cleanup at Lake Moomaw
The George Washington and Jefferson National Forest’s James River and Warm Springs Ranger District is rescheduling the volunteer cleanup event at Lake Moomaw from Friday, April 28, and Saturday, April 29 to Friday, May 5, and Saturday, May 6 from 10 am – 3 pm.
Volunteers will assist with picking up trash, weed eating, moving, blowing leaves, moving brush, and cleaning facilities. The Forest Service will provide tools and personal protective equipment. Minors may participate with parental consent.
Volunteers should arrive at the Bolar Flat Marina area parking lot at 10 am in weather and work-appropriate clothing, footwear, water and food. Forest Service staff will meet volunteers for a safety discussion and training for the day’s activities.
In the event of poor weather conditions, this event will be rescheduled for Friday, May 12, and Saturday, May 13.
Interested volunteers are encouraged, but not required, to RSVP by contacting the James River and Warm Springs Ranger District by telephone at (540) 839-2521, or by email, to Will Harris at william.harris@usda.gov.