You don’t have to have Brocks Gap roots to enjoy our Heritage Day on April 18 at J. Frank Hillyard Middle School. Three programs during the day cover a broad range of interests, especially for our northwestern Rockingham area—Native American history, Hopkins Gap settlement history, and the story of Rockingham’s only Civil War general. Here are more details:
11:00. If you’ve wondered who crafted the arrowheads we find in plowed fields, you can learn more at 11:00. Dr. Carole Nash will present “Where the Waters Converge: Native American History in the Upper North Fork Valley.” She has taught at James Madison University for 37 years. Her research focuses on the Piedmont, Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley, specializing in Native American archaeology and environmental history. She is president of the non-profit Mountain Valley Archaeology in Mount Crawford which partners with communities on archaeological and historical research in upland Virginia. Dr. Nash is the author of many technical reports, papers, and publications, including co-author of Middle Atlantic Prehistory: Foundations and Practice.
12:30. Each section of Brocks Gap was settled by groups of families who moved here from other places and developed slightly different customs and traits. At 12:30, Dr. Peggy Ann Shifflett will discuss Mountain Men of Hopkins Gap: Migration, Survival, and Violence, her newest book. Four Hopkins Gap families moved to Rockingham between 1880 and 1900 from Greene County, VA. She details how the community embodied Appalachian Mountain “values which allowed a healthy life for all. At the same time, the values…led to violence. Violence was enhanced by moonshine production, especially after the passing of the Volstead Act in 1919.” Dr. Shifflett grew up in Rockingham County and earned her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. She retired from Radford University where she was Chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Professor of Sociology. She is the author of Red Flannel Rag: Memories of an Appalachian Childhood and four other books about growing up in Appalachia.
2:00. Only one person in Rockingham County achieved the rank of general during the Civil War – Harrisonburg native John Robert Jones. (Jones was the great-grandson of Brocks Gap’s Michael Baker). When Dale Harter started researching Jones in the late 1980s, very little was known about him and most people didn’t want to talk if they knew something! In this presentation, you will learn about the life of John Robert (J.R.) Jones both before, during, and after the war, the reasons why he was forgotten for so long on the pages of history, and his family connection to Brock’s Gap. Dale Harter was born and raised in the Dale Enterprise and Gravels Road communities. He also has roots in Brocks Gap and Hardy County. He earned his BA in Journalism and History from JMU and two master’s degrees from the University of South Carolina in Applied/U.S. History and Library and Information Science. For many years, he worked and volunteered for the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society as a museum curator, archivist, and newsletter editor. He currently lives in Chesterfield County and is the librarian at Albert Hill Middle School, in Richmond.
The 34th Brocks Gap Heritage Day is a free event open to the public, in the cafeteria of J. Frank Hillyard Middle School. Enter by the cafeteria doors at the far left of the building. If stairs are a problem, there is a ramp from the bus circle into the cafeteria. Come for a program or stay all day, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Over 200 posters feature vintage photos of families, occupations, churches, and communities.
Other organizations will be on hand to talk history: Rocktown History, Plains District Memorial Museum, Daughters of the American Revolution, and Chimney Rock Chronicle. Other researchers of local families will have displays of their work.
BHS/JFH Band Boosters will be running the concession stand, featuring sandwiches like Turner Ham and others, snacks and drinks.
Four new books will be unveiled this year: Brocks Gap Schools: Bergton, Criders, and Fulks Run by Pat Turner Ritchie; Mountain Men of Hopkins Gap: Migration, Survival, Violence by Peggy Ann Shifflett and Lori Bennett; Rev. Bill Zirk’s book on the history of the Poor House in Rockingham County; and A Dance of Life by local author Carol DeHart.
The Brocks Gap Schools book has information on over 50 one- and two-room schools in all areas of Brocks Gap, plus a few neighboring schools. Dale MacAllister generously contributed his school research on these schools. Many of the photos of school buildings and school groups, some over 100 years old, were collected by my late mother Lena Albrite Turner at previous Heritage Days.
We hope to see you on April 18.
