Donna Gayle Akers - Abingdon

This compilation of images from Abingdons history provides a window into history and shows changes from a frontier fort to a thriving community. Not intended to be a formal and thorough history, this volume attempts to merely document some of the historical changes through historic and modern photographs. Much of the information for the captions was gathered from documented histories, printed sources, and personal stories. The authors best efforts were made to verify major events and facts, but conflicting data and sketchy information made fact-finding challenging.

An endeavor of any type is never accomplished alone. The completion of this book would not have been possible without the prior research by local historians, the preservation of photographs by individuals, Douglas Patterson (longtime Abingdon photographer), the Town of Abingdon, and the Historical Society of Washington County, Virginia, and the generosity of all of the above in allowing me to use their information, interview them, and scan their images of Abingdons history. I would like to thank the following individuals who provided images, historic information, and contacts for this volume: the Town of Abingdon, Lorena Harris Bolling, Jimmie Lou Bowden, Lowry Bowman, Lynda Campbell, Dot Cowan, Janice Taylor Duncan, Allen Gregory, Margaret Harris, Edith Maiden Hatcher, the Historical Society of Washington County, Garrett Jackson, Stephen Jett, Irene Meade Johnson, Peggy Johnson, Charles G. Jones, Nancy King, Verna Lowe Mahaffey, Myra Worsham Martin, Norma Counts Meade, Jane Oakes, Douglas Patterson, Elmer Rosenbaum, Sean Taylor, Fred Tweed, Michael Worrell, and Emmitt Yeary.

The assistance of Elizabeth Bray, my editor with Arcadia Publishing, was integral to completing this book in terms of technical assistance and moral support. As always, thanks to my two sons, Owen and Riley, and my family in Abingdon for their support and love.

Unless otherwise noted, all now images are from the authors collection.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Donna Gayle Akers is proud to be a ninth-generation Washington County native and member of the Blacks Fort Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She grew up just outside Abingdon near the Rich Valley community and Whites Mill and attended Abingdon High School, James Madison University (where she received a bachelors degree), and University of Virginia (masters degree). Combining her interests in local history, genealogy, historic preservation, and oral histories, she has compiled six books in Arcadias Images of America series ( Abingdon , Washington County , Washington County Revisited , Boone , Blowing Rock , and Watauga County ), and published Legends, Stories and Ghostly Tales of Abingdon and ashington County,Virginia (Laurel Publishing) and a childrens book, Plumb Full of History: A Story of Abingdon,Virginia (High Country Publishers).

Her books have received positive reviews by nationally known authors such as Lee Smith and Sharyn McCrumb, as well as the press. She has been accepted at the prestigious writing workshop at Hindman Settlement School in Kentucky, where she has studied writing with well-known authors.

Donna has received numerous regional writing awards, and published articles and stories in Appalachian Heritage, Smoky Mountain Living, High Country News , and High Country Press . She was invited to be a featured author at the Virginia Festival of the Book and has judged several writing contests.

She has written and recorded humorous anecdotes on mountain living for WNCW in Spindale, North Carolina.

She and her two sons, Owen and Riley, live near the Blue Ridge Parkway just outside Boone, North Carolina, where she researches local history, writes books, and teaches writing workshops to children and adults. Her current writing projects include a novel set in a small town strangely similar to Abingdon, as well as a Civil War era novel set at Whites Mill near Abingdon.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Davis, Edward H., and Edward B. Morgan. TheVirginia Creeper Trail Companion . Johnson City, TN: 1997.

The Historical Society of Washington County. Historical Houses of Washington County, Virginia, The Historical Society ofWashington County,Virginia Publications Series II, No. 6 (Spring 1968).

King, Nanci C. Places in Time:Volume I Abingdon,Virginia 17781880 . Abingdon, VA: 1989.

. Places in Time:Volume II Abingdon, Meadowview and Glade Spring,Virginia . Abingdon, VA: 1994.

McGuinn, Doug. TheVirginia Creeper . Boone, NC: Bamboo Books, 1998.

Neal, J. Allen. Bicentennial History of ashington County,Virginia . Dallas, TX: Taylor, 1977.

Summers, Lewis Preston. History of SouthwestVirginia 17461786,Washington County, 17771870 . Johnson City, TN: The Overmountain Press, 1989 (reprinted from the 1903 edition).

Warmuth, Donna Akers. Abingdon,Virginia. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2002.

. Washington County . Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2006.

. Washington County Revisited . Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2008.

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CHAPTER 1

STREET SCENES TRAVELLED AND SEEN

ABINGDON POSTCARD GREETINGS. This postcard shows the towns early promotional efforts, advertising the Barter Theatre, the Martha Washington Inn, and tobacco production and agriculture. Along the left of the photograph can be seen Patterson Photography Studio, Vance Hardware, Garrett Insurance, and Peoples Drug, while on the right are the Belmont Hotel and restaurant and Peoples National Bank. (Myra Worsham Martin.)

ABINGDON DEPOT. With rail service beginning in 1856, this Abingdon Depot building (1909) started the Abingdon Branch, which terminated in West Jefferson, North Carolina. First owned by the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, then Norfolk and Western, the tracks connected the town to trade and commercial centers. The tracks are still used by Norfolk Southern Railroad, but the depot has been renovated and now holds the offices of the Historical Society of Washington County, Virginia. (Town of Abingdon.)

BELMONT HOTEL. The well-known Belmont Hotel (later the Eureka) was built by Henry Hopkins Scott in 1887 at the corner of Wall and Main Streets. This two-story building contained a restaurant and various commercial shops on the bottom floor, including grocery stores, pool halls, a barbershop, and shoe stores. Parties and dances were held in the 1940s and 1950s in the building. The hotel was torn down before 1981 to construct the present-day post office. (Town of Abingdon.)