Mount Airy and Eastern Railroad "The Dinky"

12/29/2024

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10/21/2024

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10/10/2024

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09/17/2024

HISTORY TALK AND BOOK RELEASE SEPTEMBER 29 AT 2 PM.
TOM TALKS HISTORY
J. E.B STUART AND HIS BROTHERS IN THE CIVIL WAR
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 AT 2 PM
ARARAT RURITAN CLUB,
4711 ARARAT HIGHWAY, ARARAT, VIRGINIA
Historian Tom Perry will discuss the lives of William Alexander Stuart, John Dabney Stuart, and James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart, all born at Laurel Hill, Stuart’s Birthplace, in Ararat, Virginia, and discuss their careers during the War Between The States. William Alexander Stuart ran the saltworks in Saltville, Virginia, one of the two places that the Confederate States of America had for the vital natural resource. John Dabney Stuart was a doctor in the 54th Virginia Infantry in the Army of Tennessee. James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart rose to the rank of Major General and commanded all of the cavalry in Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia.
This is a fundraiser for the Perry Family Scholarship.
Admission is free. Donations for the scholarship are accepted.
Sponsored by the Ararat Ruritan Club.
Contact Tom Perry at [email protected] or 276-692-5300 for more information.
The Perry Family Scholarship: Betty, Erie, and the Student Essays will be released the same day as the talk.
Author and Historian Thomas D. Perry started the Perry Family Scholarship in 2021 when his parents died within two months of each other. Since then, eight students from Patrick County High School in Stuart, Virginia, have received $500 each. This book is divided into three parts. In Part One Perry writes about his mother, Betty Jane Hobbs Perry, who gave Tom his love of books and history. In Part Two Perry writes about his father, Erie Meredith Perry, an educator for thirty years in Patrick County. In Part Three the student recipients write a 1,000 word essay about the topic of their choosing from the Civil War in Virginia to the Holocaust. Recipients are required to write an essay to be considered for the scholarship. Funds from this book will go to the Perry Family Scholarship.
Scholarship recipients and their essays include:
The Renaissance by Whitley Manns
Transportation by Sydney Presa
N**i Leadership by Laurel Puckett
The Holocaust was mass murder by Macy Hall
Daniel Boone by Cole Snyder
An Excursion to the White Sulphur Springs by James Caudill
The History of Religion in the Middle Ages by Irene Smith
The Civil War and Virginia’s Role In It by Nate Large
The 300 page book is available on Amazon for $19.99
https://www.amazon.com/Perry-Family-Scholarship-Student-Essays/dp/B0DG8G2FNJ

07/15/2024

06/08/2024

The 2024 Perry Family Scholarship recipient is Nathan “Nate” Andrew Large, the son of Jonathan and Joy Large. Nate’s paternal grandparents are the late Roy and the very much alive Sylvia Large. Nate’s maternal grandparents were Charles and Rosemary Moore. Nate’s siblings are Christian Ruscelloni, Elleigh Large, and Aubreigh Large, who live on Raven Rock Road in Ararat, Virginia.
Nate is the eighth recipient of the Perry Family Scholarship started by Thomas D. “Tom” Perry to honor his parents in 2021. $3,500 has been donated to Patrick County High School Seniors from the Dan River District, where Erie Perry taught and was Principal at Blue Ridge and Red Bank Schools. The student must author a 1,000-word essay on the historical topic of their choosing. Nate wrote about “The Civil War and Virginia’s Role Within It.” Tom Perry hopes to publish all the essays submitted to raise money for the scholarship.
Nate plans to study engineering at Virginia Tech. He graduated PCHS with his Associate’s Degree from Patrick Henry Community College, where he was on the Dean’s List and was a member of the Beta Club at PCHS. Boyd’s Restaurant hosted Nate and Tom Perry for lunch to present the scholarship to Large, where Nate’s grandmother Sylvia joined them. Thanks to Rodney Boyd and his family for supporting the Perry Family Scholarship.
On January 22, 1889, Thomas B. and Mary Jane Barnard, Nate Large’s ancestors, donated two acres of land to the North Carolina Friends or Quakers for education, a church, and a cemetery. Today, the Fellowship Church and Blue Ridge Elementary School are the descendants of that donation. It is a great honor that the Perry Family Scholarship could remember the donation by the Barnard Family by giving this year’s scholarship to Nate.

05/16/2024

https://theenterprise.net/perrys-latest-book-to-be-released-next-week/

Local author and historian Tom Perry’s latest book, “White Sulphur Springs North Carolina: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow,” is set to be released on Sunday, May 19 during his Tom Talks History event at the Ararat Ruritan Club at 2 p.m. Perry said the book is about the history of the White Sulp...

05/12/2024

TOM TALKS HISTORY: WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS NORTH CAROLINA
Book Release SUNDAY, May 19 At Ararat Ruritan Club At 2 PM As Part Of Tom Talks History
A new book will be released White Sulphur Springs North Carolina: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.
PROGRAM IS FREE. FUND RAISER FOR THE PERRY FAMILY SCHOLARSHIP
This 100 page book tells the history of the White Sulphur Springs on Riverside Drive, Highway 104, just north of Mount Airy, North Carolina. There was once a nearly 200 room resort hotel along the Ararat River, where people came to drink sulphur water that smelled like rotten eggs. Hydrotherapy was once a big thing for our region. The history of the place goes back to before the Civil War when J. E. B. Stuart’s mother wrote about people coming to take the waters just downstream from her home at the Laurel Hill Farm, the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace.
I will release this book on May 19 as part of this year’s Tom Talks History that the Ararat Ruritan Club allows me to do at their building as a fundraiser for the Perry Family Scholarship that I started to honor my late parents. I will give a talk about the White Sulphur Springs and have the new book and my others that will be used to raise money for the scholarship. We have moved the talks from Saturday mornings to Sunday afternoons to attract people when their schedules might not be so hectic. These programs are free. It would be appreciated if those attending wish to purchase a book or donate to the scholarship.
TOM TALKS HISTORY TALKS IN 2024
This year, there will be a program on July 28 by my guest Beverly Belcher Woody, who writes the Patrick Pioneers for The Enterprise.
On September 29, I will be doing a program about J. E. B. Stuart and his brothers, William Alexander Stuart and John Dabney Stuart, in the Civil War, the weekend before the Civil War Encampment at Laurel Hill, on October 5-6, 2024.
My books are available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/.../Thomas-David.../author/B002F4UJGE
Autographed books are available via Square
https://laurel-hill-publishing-llc.square.site/

03/08/2024

https://youtu.be/7G3VQliF8CI?si=jtZmZ4wRJ7vN9Y7J

We’re kicking off our 2024 season with local author Tom Perry!Tom Perry is a historian, author, and community volunteer. He is a Patrick County native and gr...

02/09/2024

02/01/2024

https://theenterprise.net/trust-plans-stuarts-birthday-celebration/

The JEB Stuart Preservation Trust on Saturday, February 3 will hold a birthday celebration honoring Patrick County native Major General J. E. B. Stuart, CSA. His birthday is on February 6. The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Ararat, Va. Ruritan Club Building, located at 4711 Ararat Highway...

01/28/2024

January 27 2024