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Important Steps are Being Taken Toward Constructing Envisioning the Future – Draft Site Plan Buy a Brick! - Download and print the personalized brick order form. (.PDF) You are Building What in Beaverdam??? For the past eleven years about a dozen volunteers have been busily working to bring a type of understanding of the local history and cultural about the little village of Beaverdam and the surrounding area. These volunteers have packaged this understanding with a coating of good food, games, rides and good music. This has been a one-day annual event called Beaverdam Heritage Days celebration sponsored by the Beaverdam Heritage Days Foundation (BHDF).
While the group making up the membership of BHDF has changed some in the cast of players over time, the following individuals represent some long serving members and those who are actively involved in the current program. This group is composed of long-standing members made up of Ron Umbel, Henry and Vivian Ferry, Frank Hargrove, Sr., and Aubrey “Bucky” Stanley. Another group with some significant long-standing service is composed of Charley Taylor, Greg Glassner, Pat Coffey and Pam Troxell. Some newer members who have helped “fan the fire” of Heritage Day are Corinne Dixon, Jeff & Mary Beth Williams, Art Taylor, Rick Vedan, Bev Geiger, Tony Brubaker and Janet Exline. Without the dedication and commitment of these current and past volunteers, the following and significant happenings could not be taking place. Over this time, it has been my privilege to work with these committed and dedicated people, those identified and well as many unnamed in this correspondence.
Throughout this history we have been supported by a number of caring people in the community. Mrs. Elizabeth Trainham provided a no charge ten-year lease for the Foundation on which to locate a stage for entertainment. The money for the materials for the stage was given by Delegate & Mrs. Frank Hargrove Sr. and BROMAC and Howell Construction Companies built the stage. The Gayle Family has provided a field at no charge to the Foundation as a place to hold the annual Heritage Day event. Two of our local government representatives, Delegate Frank Hargrove, Sr. and Supervisor Aubrey “Bucky” Stanley, Jr., have both helped raise funds and have worked tirelessly to support this program. David Pangburn and the Beaver Dam Depot Board have provided the Beaver Dam Depot free of charge for fund raisers and meetings. Two local bands, The Old Dominion Revue and the West Hanover Boys have provided musical entertainment for Heritage Day for the past ten years. Two other local residents need to be recognized, Cameron Wood contributed significantly toward our fund raisers and Melvin Spain, Downing Survey, contributed his time and talent to help us with the land survey. Numerous organizations and businesses has supported the holding of Heritage Day for ten years.
Early on, some individuals apparently recognized the sincerity of this struggling group’s dedication to the preservation of some of the local history. About six years ago Retta Spencer Smith approached the Foundation about its potential interest in a collection of antiques collected mostly from the western region of Hanover Country and nearby vicinities. This collection was started by her father, Howard Churchill Spencer and she continued to add to the collection. Retta wanted to find a proper place where this valuable collection, Pop’s Country Store, would stay intact and could be viewed and appreciated by many as a memory to her father. Delegate Frank Hargrove Sr. urged Retta to keep this collection in Beaverdam and this was why our non-profit Foundation was approached. A major requirement that Retta placed upon this Foundation gift was that a suitable and safe housing of this collection be provided. Housing of this valuable collection has become a major goal of the Foundation over the past six years.
Land in Beaverdam on which to construct a building and securing funds to support the construction have been most challenging for the Foundation. Locating land that the Foundation could afford has been the real challenge but again providence seemed to have intervened.
Pat Coffey made a most important contact for the Foundation regarding a section of land in Beaverdam that is owned by the Thompson heirs, most of whom are located in the Fredericksburg region. Pat has been a long-standing friend of some of the members of the Thompson family. The Thompson family has a long and significant history relating to Beaverdam. These heirs are as follows: John Kirkpatrick Thompson, Wyatt Wheeler Thompson, Margaret Thompson McCain, Emmett Lewis (Wink) Thompson, Jr., and Thomas Taliaferro (Tommy) Thompson. There is real interest in history by the members of the Thompson family. They are interested in honoring the memory of their great grandfather John Lewis Thompson and in providing an important learning complex for preserving history for future generations. Motivated by these two major interests, members of the family are considering providing a potential gift of about two acres of land to the Foundation on which to build the John Lewis Thompson Learning Center and a place to locate Pops Country Store Museum. A very important historic addendum to the Thompson property, located on the potential land to be transferred, is the existence of a small cemetery with six family graves. One of the graves is John Lewis Thompson, a Confederate States of America civil war veteran member of the Nelson’s CO VA L Artillery, for whom the Learning Center is to be named. John Lewis Thompson was born in 1840 and died in 1920. John Lewis Thompson’s wife, Sarah Blanche Thompson born June 23, 1849, is buried beside him.
Two other identified graves there are Jennie J. Thompson (August 16, 1863 – July 29, 1910) wife of L. Berkley Thompson born in 1871 and died 1951. We plan to get help in the appropriate identification of the other graves. The Foundation plans to restore these graves, properly re-erect stones and enclose the cemetery with a wrought iron fence and place an identifying plaque on the fence to appropriately point out its historic significance of this site. The Foundation cannot begin to express how significant this potential gift is for its quest to locate the museum and learning center. After this significant gift and Retta Spencer Smith’s gift of the valuable collection, many others community members have stepped forward with important contribution. Some examples are the following. Jeff and Mary Beth Williams, recent newcomers to Beaverdam, are very supportive to the cause. Jeff provided the sound system and his band without charge to the Foundation for Heritage Day 2006. Mary Beth, a corporate attorney, is providing free legal services to the Foundation to assure appropriate and legal transfer of both the antique collection and the gift of land.
Steve Hanson a local builder will serve to oversee the development and construction of the museum and learning center free of charge to the Foundation. Steve has designed a detailed plan of the processes and materials, along with Buster Buchanan’s store design, necessary to construct the museum and learning center. Our good neighbor, W. C. Lang stepped forward again to volunteer his time and equipment to construct the drain field. Greg Glassner, editor for the Herald Progress, has greatly assisted the Foundation in bringing the public’s attention to our ongoing program. Our Hanover County officials in the Planning Department have assisted the Foundation with important advice and needed information and direction.
YOU ARE BUILDING WHAT IN BEAVERDAM??? Yes, that is right, we are building the John Lewis Thompson Learning Center and Pops Country Store Museum that will honor and recognize two important families whose roots extend deeply into the history of Beaverdam. But more importantly and futuristically, this center and museum will serve to educate students and in-service teachers throughout the Richmond metropolitan area that to better understand history is to “live history.” Individuals, organizations, businesses and corporations can contribute to this important effort with money, building materials and labor by contacting our non-profit Foundation at:
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contents © 2006 Beaverdam Heritage Days Foundation. All rights
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