FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | February 4, 2008 |
Contact: Jennifer M. Guild, Senior Officer for Public Relations and Marketing
Tel: (804) 342-9665 | Email:
jguild@vahistorical.org
You Don't Need A Car To Visit 28 Historical Sites in Virginia
VHS Opens Exhibition that Brings Highway Markers to Life in the Museum
Richmond, VA – It would takes months, if not years, for travelers to see all of the approximately 2,200 silver and black highway markers that dot Virginia's landscape, each highlighting a place of historical interest within the commonwealth. But on February 2, 2008, the Virginia Historical Society (VHS) opens an exhibition that focuses on 28 of those markers, and visitors can learn without traveling a mile. Sites and Stories: African American History in Virginia tells stories about people and events related to African American historical sites listed in the Virginia Department of Historic Resource's Guidebook to Virginia's Historical Markers (2007).
"People sometimes don't get a sense of all Virginia history has to offer from one marker," said Dr. Lauranett Lee, Curator of African American History at the VHS. "Showing multiple markers with a similar theme side by side in an exhibition like this gives people the opportunity to see how diverse Virginia history is. And focusing on African American history allows us all to see just how much of that history there is out there."
Virginia was among—if not—the first state to launch a historical highway marker program. After the initial markers were erected in 1927, patriots, presidents, early homes, and Revolutionary and Civil War sites were well represented. In recent decades, more attention has been paid to the history of Native Americans, African Americans, and women. In 2004, the Department of Historic Resources established a diversity initiative committee to develop markers that more broadly reflect the complex culture that has existed in Virginia since the early 1600s. Lee is the VHS representative on the diversity committee and assists with research and text for many of the almost forty markers that the department erects each year.
Each of the 28 historical markers represented in the exhibit will include photographs and an object that pertains to the history discussed. Many of the materials presented are from the Society's collections. The text provided in the panels at the VHS offers a fresh perspective and does not duplicate the information on the actual roadside plaques. Lee says her goal as curator of Sites and Stories was to present details that people know very little about.
The exhibition, opening during Black History Month, hopes to encourage visitors to travel to the physical sites of the historical markers, such as Farmville, Louisa County, New Kent County, Hopewell, Christiansburg, and Norfolk. Some of the sites are tourist destinations with surviving buildings or fortifications, but others only have the markers themselves to commemorate what happened there.
People and topics presented in Sites and Stories include James Lafayette, the battle of Great Bridge, Gilbert Hunt, Lott Cary, Fort Monroe, Dutch Gap, Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, Virginia State University, African American Oystermen, Virginia Estelle Randolph, and John Jackson. Not all stories are biographical, but all concern African American people.
"It is fitting that the VHS is doing an exhibition about the historical highway markers," said Francine Archer, Marker and Diversity Program Coordinator at the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. “I often use the VHS library to access books, personal papers, and articles to get more information about possible marker topics."
Sites and Stories: African American History in Virginia, made possible with support from the Department of Historic Resources, will be on display at the VHS until July 27, 2008. After the exhibition closes, Lee hopes it will travel to small and medium–sized museum across Virginia to continue to educate visitors about the historical marker program and African American history. Copies of the Guidebook to Virginia's Historical Markers are for sale in the Society's Pusey Museum Shop.
The Virginia Historical Society is located at 428 N. Boulevard. The Story of Virginia, An American Experience, a 10,000-square-foot exhibition with more than a thousand objects covering all of Virginia history from prehistoric
times to the present is featured in the Robins Center for Virginia History. Hours: Monday-Saturday 10am - 5pm
and Sunday 1pm - 5pm (Museum Galleries only). Admission: $5/adults, $4/seniors 55+ ($2/Tuesdays–galleries
only), $3/children and students, free/members. Admission to the galleries is free on Sundays. For group tour
information, call (804) 342-9652. For more information, please call (804) 358-4901 or visit
www.vahistorical.org.
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