Israel Cross, a leader of freedmen community in Eastern Virginia knew this truth and spoke of it often. He farmed for six days and preached on Sunday. He ended every sermon with,

Aubrey Gore, born and raised on Dry Fork, after serving in the Navy for many years, has returned home.

"Our original settlement, it starts at the Mack Ferguson line. From there, there is a feeling that comes over you. I can't convey it to you. Coming in when you hit that line there is a feeling, right, I am at home. And the peace ,the serenity ,the pride, is something that just wells up within me. The casual viewer might not even see it. The mountains, when I look and see the head of the mountains, I know I am coming home. In the winter sometimes, I look and they're snow capped and the rest of the mountains coming down, just look at the beauty of it. It brings me a peace, and the snow caps on the top of the mountains look like someone with wisdom. It is like I am looking at an old friend, like a mentor. This is the way that I see, to take you in and show you, the average citizen that doesn't live there, probably wouldn't see too much. They wouldn't see the same things I see, the pristine beauty, the history, the memories. It speaks to me."

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