Preserve Our Heritage
Floyd County seems a strong candidate to receive some of the (rather embarassingly small pot of) monies being made available to American communities for cultural and historical preservation and to raise the visibility of such communities as travel destinations.
Currently, the Preserve America initiative also offers technical and financial assistance from Federal agencies that can be used to:
- bolster local heritage preservation efforts;
- support better integration of heritage preservation and economic development; and
- foster and enhance intergovernmental and public-private partnerships to accomplish these goals.
Floyd County residents can make such designation and grant offerings more likely by writing very soon to support inclusion in the Preserve America program. If you live in Floyd County, please consider writing a short letter before the deadline of May 29. Email (lmartin@floydcova.org) or fax (540 745-9305) your letter as soon as possible to Lydeana Martin, Floyd County's Community and Economic Development Director.
My letter is below in the "read more" window.
Preserve America Communities
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 809
Washington DC 20004
May 20, 2006
Dear Councilperson,
Floyd County’s potential for remaining aesthetically viable and authentic to its agrarian roots lies in its richness of both natural and historical heritage. I am writing to strongly endorse Floyd County’s efforts to become a Preserve America community.
My wife and I settled permanently in Floyd County in 1997. Of all the places we considered for our final relocation, we easily decided on Floyd. Many who live here agree that somehow, this county has managed to maintain much the appearance and rhythm of a simpler time. The landscape still looks very much as it would have in my parent’s day, and yet the community of residents here is vibrant, progressive and eclectic.
In the past few years, an increasing number of others have felt the “magic” of Floyd. Some are moving here; more are coming to participate with local events in the town of Floyd or to enjoy the rich cultural offerings of music and art in outlying venues in the county. There is increasing tension between making opportunities and services available to visitors and new residents and maintaining the unique charms of the place that they come here or move here to enjoy.
The location of Floyd County makes it an easily accessible destination for area travelers. Situated just a short drive between the heavily-visited Blue Ridge Parkway (which forms the county’s southern borner) and the I-81 corridor, it can be reached readily by travelers passing through southwest Virginia. For those who come to sample music at Floyd’s many music venues or visit art studios and crafters scattered in the beautiful hills and hollers, their time here is both enjoyable and culturally enriching.
Recognition as a Preserve America community would hold up this Appalachian county as a model to other rural communities hoping to prosper and at the same time maintain their heritage and local culture. It would also demonstrate to those who plan Floyd County’s future that there are strong reasons to protect the town of Floyd and the county from the kinds of development that unfavorably alter the pleasant vistas, clean air and water, and slower pace of life that residents know and visitors come to share.
Thank you for your consideration of Floyd County, Virginia for inclusion in the Preserve America designation.
Sincerely,
Frederick B. First, MSPT and M. Ann First, PharmD