The Bland County History Archives

and the

Local History and Technology Class

The Bland County History Archives are maintained by the students of Rocky Gap High School in Rocky Gap, Virginia. They consist of cemetery catalogs, over 550 interviews, hundreds of photographs, maps, and artifacts. The collection is housed in the former Honaker Church building which is the oldest extant building in Rocky Gap. The holdings are continuously being added to. The goal of the archives is to preserve the stories of the people of Bland County and present them to the public in a variety of ways. Many of the stories are the stories of the last people to have been born and raised in a real log cabin back up a holler or on top of a mountain. These are the unique stories of Appalachia as told by its people.

The Bland County History Archives began in 1993 as an optional project in the Junior American History classes at Rocky Gap High School in Rocky Gap, Virginia. There are between 35 and 45 students in the Junior Class in any given year. Enrollment at Rocky Gap is approximately 170 students in grades 8-12. Several years ago the Local History and Technology class was initiated. The purpose of the class is to manage and organize the content of the Archives. The integration of computer technology into the curriculum takes place in a meaningful and valuable way. Students become familiar with word processing, scanning, graphics, multimedia, databases, web site design, and much more. There has been a great deal of support from the community. We hope to publish some of the material in hard copy form in the near future.

Bernie Clark's boys and coonskins on Pinch Creek circa 1960.
In the Beginning

Activities

Contributors

Hall of Fame 

Award


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