The Muse: April 2005

Are you a part of the history of Amherst County? Help bring this history of Amherst forward. Do you remember the Reaves trials? The wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables that were sold along main street? Miss Margaret Vorhees? Miss Genie Cox’s piano lessons? The many tourist homes? Piccolo? Amherst has had her share of lovable characters who should be remembered. I challenge you to write your stories and bring them along with pictures of the past by the museum. If you can’t get to the museum, give us a call and arrangements will be made to pick them up.

Mary Frances Olinger, President

The Members and Friends of the Nelson County Historical Society invite you to attend the unveiling of the Cabellsville Historic Highway Marker, Sunday April 17, 2005 at 3:00 pm. at the intersection of Route 29 and Cooperative Way, Colleen. A reception will follow at Trinity Episcopal Church on Oak Ridge Road.

This marker commemorates the first courthouse in Amherst County which was also used as the first Nelson County courthouse after Nelson County was created in 1807 by an act of the General Assembly.

Member information: The Museum operates as a non-profit organization. We must fund all maintenance, replacement, and operating expenses, so fundraising is very important. The Museum recently replaced a heat pump and air handler, along with some floor repairs.

• Saturday, April 30, will be the Museum’s Annual Home Tour! From 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. these homes will be open. Click here for details. Be sure to check it out!

• Saturday, June 4, from 8 a.m. until we’re done! This will be a bigger-and-better-than-ever Yard Sale plus Fun for the Entire Family. Some member volunteers are going to make this year’s Yard Sale into a Big Event!

  We would like to upgrade the items for sale so that our merchandise will be of even better quality. Please donate "gently-used" items that will be appealing. You, our members, have always been generous. Bring items to the Museum between May 31 and June 3.During the day there will be an auction, live music, displays, and demonstrations. Watch for the Big Tent!

  Proceeds will go toward an additional facility . The Museum has a sizeable collection of agricultural equipment and promises for more items if we have a place to display and shelter them. We estimate the cost to be $30,000 or more.

  Help make this fundraiser a big success!

• Virginia Road Orders, compiled by the Virginia Transportation Research Council, June 2004 (CD)
• 34th Battalion Virginia Cavalry, by Scott C. Cole, 1993
• Colonial Records of Virginia, Clearfield Publishing
• Estate Inventories: How to Use Them, by Kenneth L. Smith, 1984
• Marriages of Goochland County, Virginia, 1733-1815, compiled by Kathleen Booth Williams, reprinted by Clearfield Company, Inc., for Genealogical Publishing, Inc., 1998
• Goochland County, Virginia, Deeds, 1741-1745, T.L.C. Genealogy, 1990
  
• New Camera

  The above is a plat of Edgewood in the Town of Amherst. The original resides in the Amherst County Courthouse, but now that the Museum has acquired a new digital camera, Museum staff now have the capability to photograph, at high resolution, court records bound in books that are too fragile for a photocopier.

  Transcribing manuscript from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries can be rewarding. Perhaps even more fun is looking at the tiny drawings of buildings found on plats.

  
  
• Microfilm of The Amherst New Era-Progress is currently on loan to the Museum from Amherst Public Library. While the library is between microfilm readers, we at the Museum (where we have a microfilm reader) have made an agreement with them to provide a place where the microfilm can be used, So for now, the library is loaning us the microfilm of The Amherst New Era-Progress from 1931 until 2000 when filming of the newspaper ceased. There are a few gaps in the collection, but it is a valuable resource and we are delighted the public library is just as pleased with the arrangement as we are!

Recently donated on behalf of the Amherst Chapter DAR is a rare copy of the Amherst Democrat, dated 1884. Checking with the Virginia Newspaper Project, it has been determined to be the only known copy extant. It is the oldest Amherst newspaper in the county.

• Sarah E. Bohn, Amherst, VA
• Barbara Fegan, VA
• Laura Blondino, Lynchburg, VA
• Kevin Hansen, Madison Heights. VA
• Mr. & Mrs. Martin Guidice, Forest, VA
• Marcia Swain, Amherst, VA

Do you have a copy? Do you have an ancestor who enlisted from Amherst, or a surrounding county, who wore a gray uniform between 1860-1865? If so, you will probably be able to locate him in "Amherst Men in Gray." Discover his regiment and the battles in which he fought. This book has information about Amherst Companies and their parent regiments, including the 2nd Virginia Cavalry: the 19th, 49th, 50th, 51st, and the 58th Virginia infantry. It also covers the battles of Manassas, Chancellorsville, Antietam, Gettysburg and others.

Copies of Amherst Men In Gray may be purchased at the at the Museum. Click here for order form.

Board members will be attending the Annual Conference of the Piedmont Historical Society in Madison on Saturday, April 9. The program will include presentations about preservation techniques for a variety of historic artifacts. Included will be preservation of paper and photographs, wood and in particular furniture, and pottery and stone, with an emphasis of Native American artifacts.

The Muse changes from a quarterly to a bi-monthly publication with this issue, making it easier for readers to remember dates for upcoming events and special exhibits at the Amherst County Museum, and allowing them to read more articles about Amherst’s history.

If one of your friends tells you he or she has not received this issue, please ask that person to check with the Museum Director. Only dues-paid members of the Amherst County Museum & Historical Society are eligible to receive The Muse.

Above, the Fall 1976 issue from Volume 1, A Quarterly Bulletin of the Amherst County Historical Museum, indicates that the Museum’s first publications were quarterly. The Cover drawing was by an unknown artist, and depicts the Leonid Shower of 1883.

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