Editor:

Why do we call a historical home “historical?” It belongs to a bygone time, yet it establishes continuity with the past. It is part of our cultural inheritance. Yet the term “historical home” also has a connotation of superior craftsmanship and vision. Homes, for example, in the National Register of Historic Places, simply outclass the vast majority of modern constructions.

A Victorian home, in all of its glorious detail, is an example of what we cannot produce anymore as a culture.

Without living reminders of what we can strive to create, who will aspire to those heights again?

Beauty awes our moral sense. To make something beautiful is an endeavor, and to behold something beautiful is an experience of grace.

Beauty isn’t the same big box retailer or commercial fast-food chain that pops up in a month and looks the same on every interstate exit in the country. It isn’t the scribbles on a canvas that passes for “art” today. The beautiful has an unmistakable touch of the eternal.

The homes on High and Appomattox Streets are irreplaceable architectural treasures that enrich the spirits of the people of Farmville. Anything that evokes this feeling in humanity is priceless — and worthy of preserving.

Longwood’s growth should respect the historic character of Farmville and maintain its small scale. Transient developers and rental companies have imperialistically changed the historic district of Farmville by the power of the dollar against the wishes of its residents.

Ashten Whited

Farmville