You have hit on the great gap in our local historic preservation effort. There is inadequate research and writing being done. As an example, the new Civil Rights Trail, recently released with great fanfare, has basic errors, not in the oral histories but in other details about local buildings and people. That should not be acceptable. We have also lost buildings because of misunderstandings about their significance. I have said for years that what is old is not necessarily historic and what is historic is not necessarily old. A robust discussion is needed that includes more than those folks who think they know everything about preservation. Cute and quaint ought not to be a guiding force.
Dr. Gaila Sims will speak about FAM's new slave auction block exhibit during the Virginia Professional Communicators' spring conference on May 5 at the Fredericksburg branch of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library. The luncheon speaker will be Kristin Green, who will speak about her new book, "The Devil's Half Acre: The Untold Story of How One Woman Liberated the South's Most Notorious Slave Jail." Members and nonmembers can attend. https://vapc.org/vapc/vpc-spring-conference-will-push-boundaries/
You have hit on the great gap in our local historic preservation effort. There is inadequate research and writing being done. As an example, the new Civil Rights Trail, recently released with great fanfare, has basic errors, not in the oral histories but in other details about local buildings and people. That should not be acceptable. We have also lost buildings because of misunderstandings about their significance. I have said for years that what is old is not necessarily historic and what is historic is not necessarily old. A robust discussion is needed that includes more than those folks who think they know everything about preservation. Cute and quaint ought not to be a guiding force.
Dr. Gaila Sims will speak about FAM's new slave auction block exhibit during the Virginia Professional Communicators' spring conference on May 5 at the Fredericksburg branch of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library. The luncheon speaker will be Kristin Green, who will speak about her new book, "The Devil's Half Acre: The Untold Story of How One Woman Liberated the South's Most Notorious Slave Jail." Members and nonmembers can attend. https://vapc.org/vapc/vpc-spring-conference-will-push-boundaries/
Bravo. Regretably, not everyone wants the story told.
Robert Kravetz, amateur historian and tour guide.