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Friends of New London Accepted As An Official Community, Virginia 2007
Community Program
On
September 14, 2005, the Friends of New London, Virginia, Inc. was
accepted as an official, independent community in the Virginia 2007
Community Program. This followed the submission of FNLV participant
applications which were endorsed by David Laurell, Campbell County
Administrator, and Nanci Drake, Director of Tourism, Bedford County.
The Virginia 2007 Community Program is a celebration of the 400th
anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. Gov. Mark R. Warner has
welcomed Friends of New London as a participating community in the
commemoration of "the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown,
Virginia,
Our Nation's Birthplace."
Gov. Warner added, "Through a two- year- long series of statewide
and national commemorative events and programs, we will mark the
establishment of Jamestown as the first permanent English settlement in
the New World. We will reflect on four remarkable centuries by
recognizing the contributions and sacrifices of the diverse people who
built our nation, including the Virginia Indians, Europeans, and
Africans who first met on the shores of the James River."
Participation in the Virginia 2007 Community Program is open to a
combination of neighborhoods, cities, towns, counties, regions,
organizations, and groups. Each participating community has been asked
to complete five steps. These are: to organize a 2007 planning
committee; to look at the past; to discover the unique contributions
from, or assets of, the community; to develop legacy projects and
events, and to invite the public to join in the celebration, with the
theme, "Come
Home to Virginia...
Our Nation's Birthplace."
Events will be advertised and coordinated on a statewide level,
in a process intended to "strengthen Virginia communities far beyond
2007." Amy L. Ritchie, Manager of Statewide Programs, Jamestown 2007,
has told us, "The program will have a positive impact on tourism and
local economies through the many legacy projects and educational
programs being planned by Virginians across the Commonwealth." Her
office has provided Friends of New London with an official Virginia 2007
Community Program flag, a Resource Guide, and other promotional
materials.
Additional coordination is being done locally, with the
assistance of Friends of New London's steering committee. Revely
Carwile, Jr. has attended all the meetings of Campbell County's steering
committee, chaired by Mike Daly, Director of Campbell Co.'s Youth,
Adult, and Community Services department. He participates with county
staff members, including the county administrator, two members of the
county Board of Supervisors, the directors of the county's Office of
Economic Development, the library system, Parks and Recreation, and
Social Services, as well as representatives from Altavista,
Avoca,
Patrick Henry's
Red Hill,
and other county organizations. Cindy Lewis has met with Nanci Drake,
Bedford Co. Director of Tourism and will help with coordination with
their countywide steering committee. Additional volunteers are
encouraged to join this committee.
A number of local and statewide events are scheduled for 2006 and
2007. A goal is to have at least one local event each month, beginning
in the spring of 2006. While some emphasis is given to Jamestown,
Williamsburg, and other colonial sites, any historical event older than
25 years is eligible for inclusion into the program. In this way, the
celebration will highlight the contributions of all Virginians.
Marketing and media publicity for these events will provide
Friends of New London with the added benefit of helping to broaden
awareness of the efforts of our group. The mission statement and goals
of Friends of New London, Virginia, Inc. fit nearly hand in glove with
the goals of this statewide program. The founding of New London
village, its rise, fall, rebirth, and subsequent decline all serve to
illustrate multiple aspects of historical changes regionally and
nationally.
The Friends of New London will sponsor a number of activities,
and will coordinate its activities with those of neighboring
communities. Events scheduled will complement those scheduled at Thomas
Jefferson's Poplar Forest, Historic Sandusky, Avoca, the Lynchburg
Museum System, D-Day National Memorial, Explore Park, Appomattox, Civil
War Trails, Bedford Main Street, and many others. In this way,
marketing will be widened and the public will be invited to share in
events at multiple sites. For example, July 4th events scheduled in the
early afternoon at Poplar Forest may complement Friends of New London
activities scheduled for that morning or evening, allowing tourists to
visit both.
Development of museum exhibits and programs by the Friends of New
London will be met with statewide assistance to notify the public of the
museum. Educational activities and projects of the Virginia 2007
program match FNLV's desire to compile, disseminate, and make available
to visitors research materials in the research room of the Friends of
New London Museum. Archaeological and other research or surveys into
Native Americans in the vicinity, the colonial arsenal at New London,
the Bedford Alum Springs hotel, Gen. David Hunter's raid upon Lynchburg,
and other, unique aspects of New London all may be benefited by the
Virginia 2007 program.
Tentative Virginia 2007 Community events at New London include
activities surrounding Thomas Jefferson's birthday on April 13th, the
4th of July, and the October anniversary of Cornwallis' surrender at
Yorktown. Research by FNLV members into local families tentatively will
culminate in Memorial Day activities to mark the graves of veterans in
New London's cemeteries. The heritage of the Wilderness Road may allow
FNLV to celebrate its connections to Daniel Boone, Col. Richard
Callaway, and others.
It may become possible to include a celebration of the 250th
anniversary of New London. While New London had been a village in
Brunswick Co., and the seat of Lunenburg Co. in 1748 and of Bedford Co.
in 1754, it was not officially recognized as a town until March 27,
1757. A 2007 celebration of this event could bring national and
statewide attention, as well as a local opportunity to enlighten
citizens and officials of Campbell Co., Bedford Co., and the region.
FNLV current projects also meet the criteria of the statewide
program. These include: cleaning of trash and brush from several
vacant lots within the village; plans to renovate Dr. Kabler's former
office and the building formerly occupied by the New London United
Methodist Church, and to research local cemeteries and local churches.
FNLV's plans to encourage volunteer participation, including the local
schools, match the statewide goals.
As volunteers from the Friends of New London work to interview
local residents or descendents of local families, we will be able to
include those citizens in the statewide celebration. Volunteers may
learn of recollections and memories of participation in the 1957
celebration of Jamestown's 350th anniversary, as well as of the 1907
events surrounding the 300th anniversary. These recollections may be
posted onto the Friends of New London website as well as onto a
statewide website devoted to those memories.
Accordingly, we may ask our volunteers and friends to join with
us to become involved in Jamestown 2007, to "Come Home to Virginia...
Our Nation's Birthplace," and to celebrate the unique contributions of
New London and her sister communities.
Reve Carwile, Jr.
December 28, 2005
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