Virginia Women's History Trail - Route 58 (Tour)

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Born in the small Southwest Virginia town of Nickelsville in 1909, Maybelle Addington Carter grew up surrounded by traditional Appalachian folk music and learned to play the banjo, autoharp, and guitar. After marrying Ezra Carter in 1926, Maybelle formed a trio with her brother-in-law A.P. Carter and sister-in-law and first cousin Sara Carter called the Carter Family. One year later, the Carter Family was discovered in Bristol, TN when the group recorded its first record. The Carters shot to fame with their traditional "hillbilly music" and became known as the first country music stars. Maybelle later formed a group called Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters with her daughters Anita, Helen, and Valerie June (most famously known as June Carter Cash). Mother Maybelle Carter, as she became known during the height of her success, was a pioneering guitarist and a highly influential figure in the development of country music.

2. Nancy Melvina "Vinnie" Caldwell

One of the earliest women to win election to Virginia's House of Delegates, Vinnie Caldwell also helped her family operate the Bluemont Hotel (no longer standing) on the northwest corner of Main and Center Streets, in Galax.

3. Orleana Hawks Puckett

Successful midwife Orleana Hawks Puckett lived in a two-story log cabin on Groundhog Mountain, but was forced to move in 1939 for construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The cabin at milepost 189.9, which had also been located on her property, has been erroneously interepreted as her home.

4. Mary Sue Terry

Mary Sue Terry became the first woman elected to statewide office in Virginia when she was elected attorney general in 1985. She grew up on her family's farm in the Patrick County community of Critz, where she continues to reside.

5. Janis Martin

Rockabilly star Janis Martin, known as the female Elvis during the 1950s, lived in Danville where she worked as manager of the nearby Danville Golf Club. In 2014 Virginia's Department of Historic Resources installed a marker on West Main Street honoring Martin's career.

6. Camilla Ella Williams

An acclaimed lyric soprano and the first African American to receive a contract from a major American opera company, Camilla Ella Williams was a pioneer for Black artists in classical music. In 1979 the city of Danville named a park along the Dan River in her honor.

7. Jean Miller Skipwith

At her Mecklenburg County home, Prestwould Plantation, Jean Miller Skipwith, Lady Skipwith, assembled one of the largest libraries owned by a Virginia woman early in the nineteenth century.

8. Cleo Elaine Powell

A native of the Brunswick County community of Ante, Cleo Elaine Powell became the first Afircan American woman to serve on the Supreme Court of Virginia.

9. Edith Turner (Wane Roonseraw)

Edith Turner, chief of the Nottoway, lived on land along the north side of what is now Route 58 near Courtland, and successfully navigated nineteenth-century Nottoway and Anglo-American societies while she strove to keep the tribe's children on the reservation.

This Tour is a Thematic Tour or Heritage Trail.

Virginia Women's History Trail - Route 58

Created by Clio Admin on March 16th 2020, 12:04:33 am.

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Description

This heritage trail showcases the Library of Virginia's Virginia Women in History honorees who lived and worked from Big Stone Gap in Southeastern Virginia to Chesapeake and generally follows Route 58. The Virginia Foundation for Women started the Virginia Women in History educational program in 2000. In 2006, the foundation transferred the program to the Library of Virginia. In addition to heritage trails in Clio, resource materials for Virginia Women in History are available online and teachers may also request materials from the Library of Virginia.

Entries on This Tour

Virginia Women's History Trail - Route 58

Description

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