The Piedmont Environmental Council honors the history and heritage of the many hundreds of families that once called the Blue Ridge Mountains home through a variety of activities, events and partnerships.
Creating a Digital Record – The Formation of Shenandoah National Park
Left image: J. Bernard and Ruby Bolen and family in front of their Rappahannock County home in the 1890s. Photo credit Rappahannock Historical Society. Right image: A sample document from the JMU database. In the 1930s, nearly 200,000 acres of privately-owned land in eight Virginia counties were taken by the ...
These Hills Were Home
A walking history guide to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Northern Greene and Western Madison County, Virginia. Kristie Kendall with her book "These Hills Were Home." PEC's Historic Preservation Manager, Kristie Kendall, has a huge passion for the human history of the Blue Ridge Mountains. So much so, that she ...
Annual Mountain Heritage Events
Attendees check out a schedule of events during the 2015 event at the Thornton Gap Primitive Baptist Church in Rappahannock. Photo by Paula Combs. Each spring since 2012, PEC hosts a mountain heritage day in a different location and different county surrounding Shenandoah National Park to recognize the history and ...
Blue Ridge Heritage Project
The Blue Ridge Heritage Project unveiled its first memorial site in 2015 in Madison County. Photos by Kristie Kendall. Incorporated in 2013, the Blue Ridge Heritage Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to continue the work of honoring and preserving the culture and traditions of the mountain people. For over ...
The Great Homecoming: An Open House at the McAllister Cabin
At about a quarter past eleven, on the last Saturday in March, the faint sound of music carried from the McAllister Cabin, down to the swift-moving Moorman’s River and throughout the winding roads of the Sugar Hollow area of Albemarle County. The old familiar tune being played was not in ...