Just three days before the 2016 Bluemont Fair (the third weekend in September), Epling Landscaping generously and professionally installed a handsome, new, permanent interpretive sign on the front lawn of the newly restored Snickersville Academy.
The illustrated DuraReader sign, purchased from EnviroSigns of Wooster, Ohio, sketches in all the basic elements of the story of this 191-year-old landmark. Those familiar with Bluemont may notice that the sign bears a family resemblance to the already-standing EnviroSign at the Bluemont Station Mill and Tower on Railroad Street.
The new way-finding sign tells the “Lives and Times of the Snickersville Academy”– from its beginnings as Snickersville’s first schoolhouse and church (1825), to its continued use as a school through the Civil War (1861-1865), to its brief career as a public school (1870-1872), to modification for use as private rental housing around the turn of the century, to four decades of being the family home of Susie Neal and her children, grandchildren, and young great-grandchildren (early 1940s-early 1970s), to the restoration of the log structure by Friends of Bluemont (2010-2016).
This year’s Bluemont Fair featured touches of town-specific history and the history of American Indians in the area.
Recalling times when the village roads were for horses and foot traffic only.
Indian Village
A joint project of the Sanctuary on the Trail and the Bluemont Montessori School — a teepee and wigwam were erected, Native American crafts were displayed, and demonstrations of Indian dancing were presented.
New Banners Denote Historic Buildings
Also at this year’s Bluemont Fair and throughout the village: the bright blue banners with the names and dates of Bluemont’s historic buildings. The banners—designed, produced, and hung by George and Natalie Evancheck of Friends of Bluemont—will remain through the Blue Ridge autumn leaf season. Friends of Bluemont’s palm-card-sized walking tour map of the village will be available at the post office, the Bluemont Community Center, and the Bluemont General Store. The map also features a square QR code, which, when scanned with your smartphone, directs you to more information about our historic places on the web.
Future Fairs
The Academy’s first public use in over a century occurred in mid-October when the Bluemont Fair Committee selected the Snickersville Academy to host its 2016 “wrap-up” session. Some new ideas about next year’s Bluemont Fair are already bubbling up. In particular, people are talking about how to weave more elements of re-enactment into the annual fair. Strolling impersonators of national and local historical personages? Take your picture with George Washington? Or Colonel Mosby? Skits about the lives of children who went to school at the Snickersville Academy? More wagon rides into Boulder Crest?
Following this event, Friends of Bluemont completed the Snickersville Academy restoration by whitewashing the building to enhance its period authenticity and seal the log and chinking walls.