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    Patrick County
    Patrick County
    Patrick County
    Ebook184 pages48 minutes

    Patrick County

    By Thomas D. Perry

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    About this ebook

    Formed in 1790, Patrick County is named for the Commonwealth of Virginia's first governor, Patrick Henry, who lived in neighboring Henry County. Located along the border of North Carolina where the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Appalachian Range cross the state line, the "Free State of Patrick" is half piedmont and half mountain plateau. This dividing geographic feature is reflected in the mountain people of Scots-Irish and German descent along with English living below the mountain heights. This divergent population produced tobacco magnate R. J. Reynolds; Civil War general J. E. B. Stuart; Virginia governor Gerald Baliles; Virginia's highest-elected female, former attorney general Mary Sue Terry; and World Series pitcher Brad Clontz.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439635353
    Patrick County
    Author

    Thomas D. Perry

    Thomas D. Perry grew up in Patrick County�s most historic community of Ararat. He attended Patrick County High School and, in 1983, graduated from Virginia Tech. Perry founded the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust, Inc., in 1990. The nonprofit organization has preserved 75 acres of the Stuart property, including the house site where James Ewell Brown Stuart was born on February 6, 1833. Tom is the author of Ascent to Glory: The Genealogy of J. E. B. Stuart; The Free State of Patrick: Patrick County, Virginia, in the Civil War; and Stuart�s Birthplace: The History of the Laurel Hill Farm. Perry produces a monthly e-mail newsletter about regional history from his Web site, www.freestateofpatrick.com.

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      Book preview

      Patrick County - Thomas D. Perry

      knowledge.

      INTRODUCTION

      Twenty-seven years after the founding of Jamestown by English settlers along the James River in 1607, the land that is today Patrick County, Virginia, was part of Charles City County. Over the next 157 years, the land that is Patrick County was part of six other counties. Prince George County was named in 1703 for the husband of Queen Anne, George of Denmark. In 1728, when Patrick was part of Brunswick County, William Byrd and his surveyors came as far west as Peter’s Creek. In 1746, today’s Patrick County was part of Lunenburg County, named for the Duchy of Lunenburg in Hanover, Germany. The Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain—among them George I, II, and III, the latter who lost the English colonies to George Washington and the American patriots—came from the Electorate of Hanover in present-day Germany.

      In 1752, Halifax County contained the lands of present-day Patrick. Pittsylvania County was created in 1767 and named for William Pitt, the Earl of Chatham. In 1776, Henry County contained Patrick. In 1791, Virginia formed Patrick County to go along with Henry County to honor founding father and Virginia’s first governor Patrick Henry, who lived for a time in the region.

      People often refer to Patrick County as the Free State of Patrick. The term Free State has two different meanings in relation to the Civil War. The residents of Lunenburg County, Virginia, refer to it as The Old Free State. Lunenburg, representing the pro-Confederate viewpoint, threatened to secede from the Old Dominion if Virginia did not secede from the United States. Jones County, Mississippi, representing the pro-Union viewpoint during the Civil War, called itself the Free State of Jones and acted as an independent country within the home state of the president of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis. Most people in Patrick County believe the term relates to the independent spirit of the residents. This book comes from a desire to share a fascinating history of the Free State of Patrick.

      Patrick County in 200 years produced many interesting stories and characters. Athletes such as World Series pitcher Brad Clontz and NFL player Tim Goad called Patrick County home. Politicians such as John E. Penn, Archibald Stuart, Gov. Gerald Baliles, and Atty. Gen. Mary Sue Terry (the highest elected female official in Virginia history) lived in the county. The Reynolds tobacco and metal companies originated at the Reynolds Homestead, operated by Virginia Tech. There are an endless number of stories about Patrick County history and I hope to share them with the readers.

      One area in the western section known as The Hollow produced three of the county’s most famous persons. Aunt Orlean Hawks Puckett, the midwife made famous on the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is the northern boundary of the county, spent most of her life at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains. Another was the Reverend Robert Childress, The Man Who Moved a Mountain, who is famous for preaching and helping to build six rock churches on top of the mountains. Finally, Patrick County’s most famous native son was James Ewell Brown Jeb Stuart, the Civil War cavalry general who spent his formative years at the Laurel Hill farm along the border with North Carolina. All three came from Patrick County’s most historic community of Ararat, Virginia.

      The Richmond Dispatch on November 10, 1892, wrote that Patrick County until very recently was cut off from the world. Patrick is half southwest and half piedmont in mindset. It is a beautiful place to live and a great place to raise a family. Being isolated in a rural bucolic world has preserved the lifestyle and history of the county. I take great pride growing up in Patrick County, and I spend much of my free time researching, reading, speaking, and writing about Patrick County’s history. Please visit my Web site—www.freestateofpatrick.com—to learn more about the history surrounding our county.

      The sun is rising in the seal of Patrick County and hopefully on the county’s future. (Courtesy of Jim Best and Patrick County.)

      One

      GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

      Elizabeth Brown is pictured in the 1940s at the Laurel Hill Farm, the birthplace of Patrick County’s most famous son, James Ewell Brown Jeb Stuart, in Ararat. Members of her family owned the property for nearly a century after the Stuarts and were instrumental in saving the property as a 75-acre private park. Stuart’s birthplace is interpreted and open every day for visitors. (Courtesy of Bertie Guynn.)

      One of the original Gentlemen Justices of Patrick County was Abram Penn. He served in the American Revolution fighting at the battles of Point Pleasant on the Ohio River in 1774, of Guilford

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