DOWN HOME SERIES by Rebecca Jackson, Contributing Writer

Again in the year 2003, we’re making our way around the region, each issue The Plains Strasburg visiting a small town and meeting 66 some of the folks who make up Blue Grass

the heart of electric co-op country. Orange 95 Crisfield On this year’s second Charlottesville 64 81 stop, we’ll be ... 64 Richmond Bedford White Stone

Roanoke Grundy 81 460 95 South Boston 77 South Boston 85 ZuniZuni

Down Home in REBECCA JACKSON PHOTOS Bedford ly reasonable real estate taxes, and hos- pitable, friendly people, Bedford’s a place One of Virginia’s fastest-growing communities, picturesque that is easy to call home, whether you’re a Bedford is home to the national D-Day monument. descendant of some of the area’s 18th-cen- tury settlers, or a newcomer from another region of the country. edford, Virginia, is a rich mother- At the same time, the City of Bedford A decade ago, Bedford was listed in a lode for history buffs, with its and Bedford County, which surrounds it, publication called “America’s 100 Best Brestored late-19th-century down- are witnessing explosive residential, busi- Small Towns,” praised as an ideal place to town historic district, antique shops wel- ness and industrial growth. The county, put down roots, raise a family, or start a coming customers on nearly every corner, according to demographers, is developing business. and abundance of antebellum and at a pace almost rivaling that of Virginia’s Located between the metropolitan areas Victorian-era residences, all of which have urban crescent. of Roanoke and Lynchburg in the western a story to tell. Yet with its low crime rate, comparative- Piedmont of central Virginia, Bedford is

Bedford-area officials open the annual Elderfest, an event for active senior citizens in the community. At right is The Cedars, one of many restored homes in Bedford County. 36 Cooperative Living/February 2003 Patriotism and national pride abound in Bedford. (Inset) Civic-minded residents pitch in to bag potatoes for the needy. The majestic Peaks of Otter provide the back- Victory Plaza, surrounding the massive drop for wide expanses arch, includes five points of inlaid granite of farmland in Bedford representing the five Normandy beaches. County. Flags of the 12 Allied nations supplying forces or materials during the invasion stand home to the National D- at the perimeter of the plaza. Day Memorial. Bedford Water cascades down a 16-foot granite was selected for this wall, representing the wartime architecture honor, and the majestic monument constructed to commemorate it, for a community its size during because the region lost 19 soldiers the first the June 6, 1944, invasion of day of the D-Day assault in World War II. the coast of Normandy, France. This was the highest per-capita loss of life On June 6, 2001, President George W. Bush and 20,000 others, including local and for- eign dignitaries, gathered atop the City of Bedford’s highest pinnacle to dedicate the $25 million memorial. The memo- rial site covers 88 acres. Overlord Arch greets each visitor as an impressive, 44- foot structure with a polished, green granite façade that bears the word “Overlord,” the code name of the Normandy land- ing. Below the arch, a featured piece of statuary called Final Tribute stands as an acknowl- edgement of the sacrifices made during the assault.

Crowds gathered on June 6, 2001, for the dedication of the National D-Day Memorial.

February 2003/www.co-opliving.com 37 The Peaks of Otter also has scenic shaded 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The pavilion features activ- If You Go... picnic grounds, campgrounds, cabins and ities from Jefferson’s era, including brick hiking trails, including one that offers a vig- making, building a bucket, and writing with National D-Day Monument orous hike to the top of Sharp Top Mountain. a quill pen. There is also a toddler’s corner Purpose: To memorialize the valor, fideli- Call 540-586-1081 or 800-542-5927 for with puzzles and coloring pages. Adults ty and sacrifices of the Allied forces on D- more information. must accompany children to the hands-on Day, June 6, 1944. area. Memorial Hours: Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest Self-guided grounds tours are also avail- daily. Closed on Christmas Day, New Year’s Poplar Forest, Bedford County home of able. Visitors can walk the grounds with Day and Thanksgiving Day. Openings third U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, offers brochures describing the site and the before or after normal operating enslaved workers. They also can hours by special arrangement. view the exhibits at the restora- Foundation office hours: Open tion workshop, archaeology lab- Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 oratory, slave-quarter site, and in p.m. Closed on Christmas Day, the lower level of the house. New Year’s Day and Thanksgiving Also available in the lower level Day. of the house is a 15-minute film For more information, call 540- on the restoration work and 586-DDAY. archaeological excavations. For ticket prices and addi- Peaks of Otter, tional information, call 434- Blue Ridge Parkway 525-1806. Nestled between two of the three mountains that make up the Peaks Smith Mountain Lake of Otter in Bedford County is the Beautiful, 23,000-acre Smith Peaks of Otter Lodge and Mountain Lake, with approxi- Restaurant, located at Milepost 86 mately 500 miles of shoreline, on the Blue Ridge Parkway and Antique Boat Show at popular Smith Mountain Lake. lies along the southern border of open all year. The lodge is the flag- Bedford County. The lake offers ship of a chain of visitor concessions strung 40-minute guided tours of Jefferson’s octag- water sports, outdoor recreation, and a vari- along the Virginia portion of the Parkway. onal house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, from ety of other leisure activities. You can call the All are owned and operated by the Virginia April through November, except Thanks- Welcome Center at 540-721-1203 or 800- Peaks of Otter Company under contract with giving Day. 676-8203. the National Park Service. Tour topics include Jefferson’s design and Smith Mountain Lake State Park, on Va. In addition to the lodge, other visitor loca- construction of his retreat, located off U.S. 626, covers 1,506 acres with 16 miles of tions include: The Camp Store and Bus 221 in Forest (Bedford County), his land- shoreline, a public beach, fishing, boating, Station, located near the Peaks of Otter scape design, the plantation community, the swimming, hiking trails, picnicking, camp- Lodge; a service station, also located at the rescue of the property and its restoration. ing, a public boat ramp, furnished cabins Peaks of Otter Lodge; The Otter Creek Tours also include the hands-on history (off-water as well as lakefront) and interpre- Restaurant, located at Milepost 60.8, about pavilion, which is available daily Memorial tive programs. Call 540-297-6066 for more 27 miles from the lodge and restaurant. Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, information. ■

of German bunkers, to what is surely the First Called Liberty Normandy, France, and Bedford, England. most moving part of the memorial. It is here, First called Liberty when it was founded Most of the buildings along both sides of amid water jets zipping like machine-gun in 1782, tradition says the city took its name Bridge Street in the city were at one time fire from a pool at the base of the wall, that for one of two reasons, namely, because of constructed of wood, so that when a fire was statuary has been placed depicting the strug- Patrick Henry’s great speech on “liberty” or discovered early on the morning of Oct. 12, gles and deaths of soldiers on the Normandy because of the newly gained freedom the 1884, very little could be done to save the beaches. colonies had so recently won from England. heart of downtown. There was no organized A peaceful and reverent site, the memori- The county, and later, the city, adopted the fire department and a meager water supply, al offers panoramic views of the city below, current name from John Russell, Duke of so soon the core of the city succumbed to a as well as the Blue Ridge Mountains. Bedford (Bedfordshire, England). huge blaze. The fire, however, proved a Future plans for the memorial include Today, through a new organization called blessing in disguise, for when the owners construction of a 49,000-square-foot educa- the Bedford International Alliance, and rebuilt, the business establishments were tional center that will showcase a theater, lec- because of its ties to European communities made larger and of more permanent materi- ture hall, galleries, compelling exhibits, pro- developed during and after World War II, al such a brick. grams and projects designed to preserve and Bedford has forged twinning relationships Those buildings, occupied by book interpret the history and lessons of D-Day. with several villages hugging the beaches of shops, antique, hardware and furniture 38 Cooperative Living/February 2003 stores, quaint eateries and other businesses, federate General Robert E. Lee stand today, refurbished to their late 19th- played prominent roles in 19th-cen- century splendor thanks to Bedford’s desig- tury Bedford. Jefferson’s Bedford nation as a Virginia Main Street city in 1985. County retreat, the octagonal Poplar Bedford Main Street, Inc., a tax-exempt Forest estate, completed in the first organization empowered as a public-private decade of the 19th century, is a pop- partnership to help Centertown Bedford pro- ular tourist destination near Lynch- mote a positive image, revitalize the eco- burg. Avenel, built in the 1830s and nomic base and preserve local character, once the centerpiece of a thriving organizes or co-sponsors a variety of public southern plantation, was visited fre- celebrations and events each year. These quently by Lee, a close friend of the include street festivals such as Centerfest home’s original owner. Avenel, also (held the last Saturday in September and reputedly the haunt of a lady ghost attracting as many as 10,000 spectators to attired in mid-19th-century garb, downtown for the event); the Christmas also is open to tourists. Both Poplar parade; retail sales; public concerts, most Forest and Avenel are favorite sites recently “blues and barbecue” and July 4 for community club meetings, spe- jazz concerts, with part of the proceeds ben- cial dinners, weddings and recep- efiting the National D-Day Memorial; and tions. Memorial Day ceremonies. Bedford Main Bedford’s reputed location as the Street manages and schedules events at the site of the legendary Beale treasure Bedford Farmers’Market, where local grow- has lured fortune seekers for genera- ers market their produce from spring until the end of the year. The organi- zation also manages events at the Bedford students work hard to community stage. beautify their school. On the historical stage, third pres- ident Thomas Jefferson and Con- cially designed for disabled visitors. The community also boasts a new Stan and Lisa Butler (below) repre- visitor and tourism center, jointly sent Bedford’s Little Town Players. owned by the city and county, near The group garnered a U.S. Presi- the site of the National D-Day dential Volunteer Action Award. Memorial, an expanded central YMCA with a branch in Moneta on the south side of Bedford County near Smith Mountain Lake, and Bedford County is the most rapid- another YMCA facility planned in ly developing locale outside of Huddleston, also near the lake. Virginia’s urban crescent. Health-care needs are addressed by Bedford Memorial Hospital and several tions, each claiming to have deci- emergency medical crews throughout the phered a secret code pinpointing the county. The hospital is a modern, full-serv- hiding place of the cache. ice, 166-bed facility, employing more than Bedford has witnessed many 380 full- and part-time employees. It has improvements and positive develop- grown into one of the largest employers in ments during the last decade, all the community, contributing more than $7 aimed at quality of life and services million annually to the local economy. The for its residents and entrepreneurs. hospital has come a long way since its early Among them were construction of a beginnings in 1955. Its newest addition, new Bedford central library and sev- dedicated in October 2000, encompasses eral branch libraries in the county, a 32,000 square feet, has spacious quarters for new Bedford Elementary School, modern imaging and mammography suites, renovation of the old Bedford an outpatient physical-therapy unit, pre-sur- Elementary School for use as a mid- gery and outpatient testing areas, and a dle school, Liberty Lake Park, which comprehensive laboratory. Thirty-three includes ball fields, a lake stocked physicians currently staff the hospital. with trout and other game fish, a Bedford’s booming public education community center, picnic shelters system includes 21 schools, including three and hiking trails, one of them spe- high schools and three middle schools. An February 2003/www.co-opliving.com 39 award-winning Bedford Science and Technology Center also offers local sec- ondary students two-year vocational Memories of certification programs in auto technolo- gy, electricity, drafting and design, car- pentry and a host of other trades. a Native Son The lovely 1895 Masonic Building by Audrey T. Hingley, housing the Bedford City and County Contributing Writer Museum was restored to its former or Bedford native glory during the past decade. F Boyd Wilson, 81, The museum’s new, three-story memories remain addition includes an elevator, restrooms vivid: “They [the dy- for disabled persons and fire exits. With ing] were falling all the recent opening of the third floor for around you … you exhibit space, the museum now has were scared, and more room to display many objects that any man that said he are rarely seen. There are a new Native wasn’t was a liar.” American exhibit and a refurbished On June 6, 1944, Civil War exhibit. A Black History some 30 Bedford room is planned. soldiers participated The museum hosts about 7,000 visi- in the D-Day Invasion with over tors a year with about 1,500 of them 154,000 others from a dozen Allied Bedford County school students. About nations. Bedford lost 19 sons that day The memories of D-Day remain vivid for Bed- 1,100 visitors make use of the muse- (with two more dying later in the ford native Boyd Wilson. Bedford lost 19 sons um’s extensive genealogy library each Normandy campaign, as did two oth- that day, and Wilson knew every one of them. year and many more write the Bedford ers assigned to other companies), Genealogical Society with inquiries. earning the town of 3,200 (in 1944) other reason. I called on Him, and I called the sad distinction of suffering the highest on Him a lot,” he adds. Blessed with Natural Beauty per-capita D-Day losses in the nation. Bedford provided a company of soldiers Today Wilson is one of only six Bedford (Company A) to the 29th Infantry Division Bedford is blessed with natural D-Day veterans still alive. The community’s when the National Guard’s 116th Infantry beauty, situated in a picturesque valley loss was his loss, too, because “I knew every Regiment was activated. Wilson, who’d at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. one of them.” enlisted in 1938, had already landed in It is bordered on the north by the majes- Given its losses, Bedford was a logical northern Africa and Sicily before coming tic Peaks of Otter, part of the Blue choice for The National D-Day Memorial, ashore on Omaha Beach. A squad leader, Ridge Parkway system and offering a dedicated June 6, 2001. The nine-acre only half of his dozen-member squad made lodge open year-round, fishing, hiking, memorial captures the D-Day experience, it out alive. camping, and bus-shuttle service to the with three plazas commemorating specific “The landing craft took us all the way to summit of Sharp Top Mountain, one of stages in the invasion that reversed the the beach. Everywhere you turned, there the twin peaks on the community’s course of World War II. A watery landing would be rifle fire coming at you. We lost northernmost horizon. To the south lies scene, complete with simulated enemy fire, 162 men in the first five minutes of that bat- the 500 miles of shoreline of Smith landing craft, and bronze soldiers struggling tle. I was thinking ‘Kill me and get it over Mountain Lake, its azure waters and toward shore, is particularly haunting. with’ but at the same time I was moving for- upscale, lakefront developments attract- Boyd Wilson can be found most days at ward,” Wilson recalls. “There was a beach ing some 21,000 visitors annually. The the memorial, a thin man, cap in hand, hov- house 500 yards off shore, and my goal was lake, created in the mid-to-late 1960s as ering almost ghost-like as he pauses to talk to get there; when I got to the house, it a hydroelectric impoundment, also is to many of the over 400,000 visitors who almost surprised me I was still alive.” one of the most noted retirement have come since the memorial opened. The Wilson, who also served in Korea, spent Meccas in the eastern United States. old soldier is a haunting reminder of the ter- 21 years in the National Guard. He went on For the enjoyment of residents and rible sacrifices made to establish an Allied to work 18 years as a traffic manager for Del visitors alike, Virginia created a state foothold in Normandy, France, that could Monte Foods before retiring at age 65. park on the Huddleston waterfront of push out across occupied Europe and bring He has no regrets about D-Day: “If you Smith Mountain Lake. The park covers the war with Germany to an end. could’ve seen the [Nazi death] camp in “I think I owe that much respect to Dachau, Germany … I walked in there, the nearly 1,500 acres, including 16 miles those boys,” he says of why he comes. “I bodies were just stacked up, it was so terri- of waterfront. In addition to a full range think people should know what hap- ble people couldn’t believe it. D-Day was a of water activities, the park offers miles pened, and I think it helps them to talk to turning point.” of hiking trails, places to fish, a public someone who was there. Tourists walk up, As for the memorial, Wilson says, “It’s boat-launching area, camping and pic- shake my hand, and tell me they appreci- worth the trip.” nic spots, a white sandy beach, conces- ate what I did. The National D-Day Memorial is open sions, a visitor’s center and waterfront “They ask, ‘How did you survive?’ I say, daily 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Call 1-800-351-DDAY ■ cabins available year-round. the Man up there looked out for me. No or visit www.dday.org. ■ 40 Cooperative Living/February 2003