The signs of Farmville
Published 7:56 am Thursday, October 20, 2016
- MARTIN L. CAHN | HERALD The Prince Edward County Courthouse — topped by its bell tower — stands behind a sign erected in 2008 informing visitors that a “Light of Reconciliation” was placed there in July 2008 in honor of Barbara Rose Johns, who led a student protest from R.R. Moton High School to end educational segregation leading to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education court case. The back of the sign includes an apology from the county’s school board for closing public schools for five years in protest of integrating schools in the 1950s.
You can tell a lot from the signs around a town — commercial signs, historical signs, unique signs used for more than just information, murals, kiosks, decorative signs and even pedestrian crossing signs. Here, we present a montage of signs around Farmville we think use various ways to say, “You’re Here.” Such signs are present all around the Heart of Virginia. Email photos of your favorite signs to Managing Editor Martin L. Cahn at martin.cahn@farmvilleherald.com, and we might use them in a future edition.
MARTIN L. CAHN | HERALD
One of the sure ways to know you’re in Farmville is the lighted pedestrian crossing signs.
MARTIN L. CAHN
These two “signs” in front of the Prince Edward County Courthouse are actually memorials to county residents who lost their lives during World War II and subsequent wars. The plaque on the right monument acknowledges the sacrifices of 50 servicemen during World War II. The left memorial commemorates the lives of eight Korean War servicemen, three from the Vietnam Conflict and one from Operation Iraqi Freedom.
MARTIN L. CAHN | HERALD
A Virginia Department of Transportation sign acknowledges you’ve reached the Appomattox River. Cross it and you’re still in Farmville, but in Cumberland County. A tributary of the James River, the Appomattox is 157 miles long. It stretches from 10 miles north of the town of Appomattox to Hopewell where it meets the James River.
MARTIN L. CAHN | HERALD
Not a sign, per se, but certainly a sign of the times for downtown Farmville: one of 11 new bicycle hoops recently installed on parking meters. The hoops are both decorative and informative, acknowledging the town’s establishment in 1798.
MARTIN L. CAHN | HERALD
One of many historical markers in the region, this one in front of Longwood’s Ruffner Hall accounts the founding of four sororities at what would become Longwood University, starting in 1897. The four sororities — Kappa Delta, Sigma Sigma Sigma, Zeta Tau Alpha and Alpha Sigma Alpha — all became members of the National Panhellenic Council, which formed in 1902.
MARTIN L. CAHN | HERALD
Another kind of sign, in the form of a plaque, marks the spot of a time capsule buried on Dec. 5, 2004, on the grounds of the Prince Edward County Courthouse. It is to be opened 50 years later, on Dec. 5, 2054, a little more than 38 years from now. The capsule’s burial celebrated the 250th anniversary of Prince Edward County’s founding.
