Local author and historian Tom Perry’s latest book “Patrick County Virginia’s Northern Border: History And Memory Along The Blue Ridge Parkway From Volunteer Gap to Shooting Creek,” was published earlier this month.
Perry said his book is laid out so that if you start driving on Main Street in Mount Airy, North Carolina and drive up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and keep going north, you’ll hit every chapter in order.
“So it starts really with Orchard Gap, and the next gap over is what we call Volunteer Gap. One of the first things you’ll come to is of course the Puckett’s Cabin which is Aunt Orleana Hawks Puckett, the famous midwife,” he said.
Perry also has chapters about the Rev. Robert Childress and the Rock Churches, the origins of Mayberry as the source for Andy Griffith’s fictional town, Circle M Zoo, and Lever’s Leap, Rock Castle Gorge, and other points of interest.
In addition to focusing on the history of the area, Perry said his book also includes his own memories of the area.
“When I was a kid, we had a river boat in Patrick County that rode the Dan River. I rode the Dan River Queen many, many times, we even went to Boy Scout camporees where we would ride the river boat over to the other end of the pond and we’d camp. So I try to remember the memory I have of all of that,” he said.
Throughout his book, Perry said he also provided further reading information about the different topics.
“If there’s a book about this particular subject, I would put a little blurb in there about the book,” he said.
One of the things he really wanted to do with this book, Perry said, is note the worsening condition of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
“The maintenance budgets for the Parkway have been cut for years and years. It’s not just a Donald Trump thing, it’s many, many administrations and congresses that just don’t put money into the maintenance for the National Park Services.”
“They had to put a new roof on Mabry Mill, well the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation had to do that. The National Park Service doesn’t have the money to do it.”
“I try to point out things like that the national parks are a great idea, but in 30, 40, 50 years down the road, you aren’t putting money to keep it up, and that’s a travesty in my opinion,” Perry said.
While he does this throughout the book, Perry said he really ramps it up in the chapter about Mabry Mill.
“Because if you pay attention to Facebook at all, you’ll know that’s been a hot topic about the way Mabry Mill looks, the fact the pond has been allowed to fill in pretty much, the roof was bad until last year when the foundation put a new roof on it and the Puckett Cabin,” he said.
For Patrick County, Perry said the Parkway is important as it’s a primary driver of tourism to the area.
“It always has been,” he said.
Perry noted his 500-page book goes into a lot of different subjects and includes many photos.
“ looking for pictures of Mabry Mill and pictures of the Dan River Queen, so there’s lots and lots of pictures. There’s pictures of Mabry Mill before they started restoring it, there’s pictures of when the Parkway wasn’t even there,” he said.
Perry’s book is available on Amazon, on https://laurel-hill-publishing-llc.square.site, and at select retailers in Patrick County.
