The Muse: May 2003

Yard Sale

Saturday, June 7, 7 -1:00 PM, Museum Grounds

Are you ready for the next Museum Yard Sale? This annual event is one of our largest fundraisers and we need your help to make it happen.

After last year’s success, we will again have a room set aside with tag sale items. If you have objects at home that you feel would bring $5 or more we would greatly appreciate these donations. Tag sale items can be antique, gently used or new.

We will also be collecting other yard sale items including plants, baked goods, furniture, decorative items, kitchen items, linens, toys, games and books. Please do not bring clothing.

Items can be delivered to the Museum between 1:00-4:00 Friday June 6 IF POSSIBLE. If this is not possible we will accept items from 10:00-4:00 June 3rd through the 5th.

Don’t forget to return Saturday morning for some amazing bargain shopping. The Hill House Lemon Sale will be taking place at the same time right across the street, so you can hit two stops at once. Make sure to bring a friend!!

This fundraiser is so important in helping carry out our programs for the preservation of our heritage. Your donations are tax deductible; please bring a list for us to sign for your records if you wish to claim them.

Get To Know Your County Van Tour

June 21, 9:00-2:30

The next stop in our popular series of County Van Tours will be to sites out Rt. 60 west. We plan on visiting Coffeytown and Macedonia Church, the CCC camp in Oronoco, the community of Sandidges and possibly even the old Allen log cabin in the community once known as Willow. Plans are not yet finalized, but this should give you a taste of what to expect.

As usual, seating is limited to 30 individuals, so reservations are required. The cost per person is $5 and transportation from Amherst is provided. Bring a bag lunch as we will stop along the way to eat. Please make reservations by June 14 by calling the Museum at 946-9068.

House Tour Appreciation

Thank you to all of those who worked on the Historic House Tour. It is only through your efforts that we were able to undertake such a major project.

An extra special thank you to the homeowners who graciously offered to open their living quarters to our visitors so the history and beauty of these homes could be shared with so many people.

Genealogy Group Notes

We will meet again on Sunday, May 4 (2:30) at the Museum for an open discussion on the Seay and related families. Please join us if you have or desire information on this family from Amherst County.

Director’s Notes:
Invaluable Service

I want to take a moment to thank all of our Amherst County Museum & Historical Society Volunteers. As part of National Volunteer Week (April 27- May 3), I want to make you all aware of the invaluable service provided by these individuals. Over the past year, they have worked in the Museum to greet visitors, research genealogy requests, repair exhibits, staff and plan special events and complete many other tasks.<\P>

Several of our vital programs and activities would not have taken place without the driving force of our volunteers:

• Mrs. Alice Powell and her dedicated group of workers at St. Mark’s Church put in over 100 combined hours to ensure that our September annual meeting was the best in many years.
• As part of our genealogy research service, Mr. Charles Hamble has spent countless hours in the genealogy library and courthouse researching Amherst County individuals for people not able to travel to Amherst County.
• Mrs. Judy Faris has been the queen bee behind this spring’s Historic House Tour. Without her efficiency and dedication, we would never have envisioned tackling such a huge undertaking. In addition, this event required the assistance of nearly 100 volunteers on the 26th to serve as docents, ticket takers and house captains.
• The members of the Village Garden Club hovered over the earth last summer ensuring that the flowers remained in permanent bloom even through the drought.
• Finally, a dedicated core group has developed to maintain the Museum’s operating hours between May and July while I am on leave. During this busy time of year, they are providing a vital service to the Museum.

In a practical manner, the Museum appreciates every hour donated by volunteers as we can often convert that to in-kind gifts when applying for grants. More importantly, every individual who has volunteered even a few hours for the Museum helped to move us along in our efforts to preserve the history and heritage of Amherst County. Thank you all for your efforts and support we would not be where we are today without your assistance.

Meghan

Virginia Piedmont Historical Societies Conference

by Susan Mays

Kathryn Pixley, Lee Wilkins, Mary Frances Olinger, Charles Hamble, Meghan Wallace and Susan Mays attended the 2003 Conference of Historical Societies in the Virginia Piedmont, hosted by the Fluvanna Historical Society, on Saturday, April 5th. The conference was held at the beautiful new Courthouse in Palmyra.

Marvin Moss, President of the Fluvanna Historical Society, welcomed representatives from 14 historical societies.

The keynote speaker was Kat Imhoff, who is the Chief Operating Officer for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc. Ms. Imhoff has worked as a preservationist and planner and she shared her experiences and tips for working with property owners on historic and conservation easements.

Two workshops were offered during the morning session:

"Outreach: An On-line Approach": Gwynne Daye, President of the Scottsville Museum and Connie Geary, the Museum web master, demonstrated their expertise in digitizing old photos and documents and publishing them on their web site and newsletter.

"Historical Society Collections": Paul Ledvina and Tom Beecher, a former archivist and a retired preservationist, at the Library of Congress, discussed the preservation of documents, maps and photos.

Visitors enjoyed a delicious lunch and also had time to tour The Historic Courthouse and Old Stone Jail.

The afternoon sessions included "Positive Pointers on Preserving Our Heritage": Marvin Moss and Deborah Murdock, President and First Vice President of Fluvanna's Historical Society, talked about developing a positive attitude toward heritage preservation.

"Capturing the Elusive African-American History" was presented by Henry Wiencek, author of "The Hairstons". Patricia Ledbetter and Bob Vernon, discussed their research on Black records.

After the workshops, each representative reported on his or her societies' accomplishments for the year.

An Outline History of Bethel Part III
The Crawfords in Bethel (A Continuation)

Our last issue of The Muse began Part III discussing the roles of Nelson and Bennett Crawford in the development of the community of Bethel. In this issue, we will find out more about the layout of the community and other early landowners.

From court records and plats, a clearer image of how Bethel developed begins to emerge. It appears that the town proper consisted of twenty-four lots separated by a public road that came down the mill road to Salt Creek [present day Crab Creek Rd.] After passing the old Davies Mill, the road crossed a bridge over Salt Creek running parallel to the river with sixteen lots above the road and eight lots closest to the river. The main street, known as Pedlar Road, passed through the town and junctioned with the public road to Elon just above the 24 by 36 foot tavern, of which two chimneys remain to this day. The riverside road continued downriver, further east, across a bridge at Bethel branch, passing the quarry . . . next ferry landing and finally terminating at the mansion house later known as the Scott home place. This is the present day site of Monacan Park and very possibly was the same house site of Edward Tinsley.

Over on the other side of the river in Bedford County, Nathaniel J. Manson and wife Sarah Davies [who resided in Nicholas Davies Sr.’s old house Pebbleton] sold 500 acres of land opposite the town of Bethel to William Steen of Lynchburg. In the year 1823, Steen paid $6,000 for the land on which the Bethel ferry landing existed on the south side of the river and included a small island known as Salt Creek Island, no longer in existence.

Prosperity floated on the James River during these times in the form of bateaux. Many small riverside towns came into being and disappeared, unlike Bethel. Upriver, the 7.5 mile Blue Ridge Canal [built 1824-1828] bypassed treacherous Balcony Falls and increased the flow of trade to Rockbridge and Botetourt and points west. According to Alfred Percy’s Amherst County Story, by 1830, more than five hundred bateaux were navigating up and down the James River. Riverside land grew in demand for its fertileness to raise crops easily loaded on bateaux and shipped to market. Tobacco was king on the upper James as farm land in the Piedmont had been depleted of its nutrients.

In the early 1800s barrels of flour and cornmeal became regular cargo shipped to large commercial mills at Richmond and Norfolk. Grist mills, saw mills, boat years, stores, smithys, ordinaries and taverns all experienced increased activity and growth alongside or near the river.

Those who owned land and lots in Bethel are found in Amherst County tax books of 1818:

• Nelson Crawford one acre lot Bethel & 202 acres
• Beverly Davies 202 acres Bethel
• Thomas N. Eubank 2-one acre lots Bethel
• Henry Farnsworth 6 lots in Bethel
• Reuben Pendleton 1 lot in Bethel & 440 acres
• James Warrener [?] 1 lot Bethel
• Merrit M. White 1 lot Bethel

In comparison is another listing from Amherst County land tax books for 1834:

• Jesse Anderson (Bedford) 1 lot Bethel Value $200
• Lunsford Carter estate 1 lot Bethel Value $300
• T.W. Eubank 2 lots Value $40
• Reuben Pendleton 1 lot Bethel Value $20
• Ambrose Rucker 1 lot Bethel Value $20
• Merrit M. White 7 lots Bethel Value bldg $1900 – lots and bldg $3180

By 1850, times had changed considerably with very few names listed owning lots in Bethel. Thomas Eubank still had his same two lots; Ambrose Rucker’s estate owned one; Edward Tinsley owned a lot and Henry W. Martin of Lynchburg owned two. The Crawford name was no longer as prevalent as it once was and in its place surfaced the name of Edward Tinsley.

A major reason attributed to the decrease of lot owners in Bethel was the coming of the James River & Kanawha Canal which reached Lynchburg in 1840. Its continuance upriver on the Bedford County side of the river was hampered by want of funds and floods. In 1851 the second division of the canal had finally reached Buchanan.

Although bateaux still operated on the river and canal, their numbers had drastically dwindled. And with the disappearance of Anthony Rucker’s patented boats, so went the lifeblood of Bethel. But instead of the town dying out, it somehow adapted to changing time and in so doing assumed another identity to be known as Salt Creek.

New Exhibits

Over the summer, you will be able to enjoy three new exhibits at the Museum.

1: A Night on the Town displays many of the Museum's dresses and clothing that helped make for a truly 'social' evening. See an 1890s formal gown, dresses from the 1910s, and even a 1950s ball gown worn at Sweet Briar dances. Not only will you be able to view the changes in clothing styles, but also in the types of social activities occurring in Amherst County from the late 1800s through the 1950s.

Although a relatively rural county, Amherst has had its share of social activities in the past. Imagine getting dressed up to travel to a neighbor's for a dance, or going to Lynchburg for the weekend. Playing croquet on Sunday afternoons was another favorite social activity.

2: 50 Years and Still Growing celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Village Garden Club. See reproduction photographs dating back to the 1950s through the 1990s. Flip through Annual scrapbooks relating the activities of the group. Other artifacts from this group will also be on display. Most importantly, make sure you take time to walk the Museum grounds and absorb all the wonderful work the Garden Club has done in landscaping the Museum.

3: Through archaeology and historical research we have been able to uncover much information on the lives of early Native Americans in Amherst County. Both Monacan and Cherokee were on this land long before settlers sailed up the James River. They left behind sherds of pottery, projectile points, stone tools and many other artifacts as they moved throughout the county. Both groups also left behind important oral traditions that have been carried down to present day.

This exhibit uses artifacts discovered throughout Amherst County and Central Virginia to uncover the lives of these early people. Artifacts include specimens found in a 1970 dig near Galt's Mill, a collection of arrowheads and spear points, sherds of pottery and reproduction pottery made in the early 1980s at the Monacan Co-Operative Pottery.

Each of these exhibits will remain on display through August 2003.

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