You don’t have to be from Criders, Bergton, or Fulks Run to enjoy Brocks Gap Heritage Day on April 20 at J. Frank Hillyard Middle School Cafeteria. If you enjoy photos of by-gone eras, like farming with horses and mules, building roads with steam machinery, or attending picnics dressed in suits and fancy hats, you’ll love seeing our 180 posters.
If you want to research your Rockingham County or Shenandoah Valley families, my personal library of family, local, and regional history books will be available to use. Other researchers will be there to answer questions and share information. We expect researchers for the Biller, Tusing, May, Roadcap, Turner, Smith, and Basore families, and probably more.
Our programs this year will be outstanding, covering a broad range of interests.
Interested in local Civil War history? Or have Brethren or Mennonite backgrounds? The 11:00 program by author Karl Rhodes will enlighten you on all these topics. His new book Peggy’s War is the true story of his great-great grandmother Peggy Heatwole Rhodes who helped Brethren & Mennonite draft resisters go west and north to avoid military service. Peggy lived in the Mole Hill area of Rockingham County. When the men traveled west, one of the main trails they took led them through Brocks Gap across the Shenandoah Mountain.
Is World War II history more interesting to you? The 12:30 program by Del. Joe T. May will describe Forest L. “Speck” Fulk’s experiences during World War II. On the way to the Philippines, Speck’s LST 749 was hit by kamikazes and sunk. The ship’s crew had been warned not to assume they’d be rescued if they were attacked. As he floated in the ocean after the attack, Speck watched other sailors being pulled underwater by sharks. Unexpectedly, a ship returned after dark to pick up as many survivors as possible. The next day rescued survivors including Speck fought in another battle. Speck survived the sinking and lived to be 104 years old (1918-2022).
Our way of life in the mountains is the general topic for the 2:00 program. Dr. Peggy Shifflett will discuss her latest book, Mountain Women Live On: Life and Legacy of Appalachian Women. It tells the story of Hopkins Gap women’s lives and their influence on future generations of women. She has written four other books about growing up in Hopkins Gap: The Red Flannel Rag; Mom’s Family Pie: Memories of Food Traditions and Family in Appalachia; The Living Room Bed: Birthing, Healing, and Dying in Traditional Appalachia; and On the Way to Toe town.
Brocks Gap Heritage Day started in 1991 to encourage folks to learn about their family histories and local history. Especially at the early Heritage Days, folks brought in old family documents like family Bibles, letters, deeds, and photographs to be copied for future books. Many of those items have been included in the 50+ family histories published since then. Attendees come from out of state, too. One year there were 17 different states represented. This year we expect groups from California, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
Other organizations participating this year include Rocktown History (Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society), Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Chimney Rock VFW post, Chimney Rock Chronicle, and Plains District Memorial Museum.
Heritage Day is free and open to the public, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Donations are accepted to purchase tombstones for our Brocks Gap family cemeteries. In 2023, we erected stones in the West, Roadcap and Shaver cemeteries, through Heritage Day donations.
