Watch Our Move!
The Blue Ridge Institute Renovation Project
Renovation of Blue Ridge
Farm Museum is Underway
The sight of construction work and heavy equipment hasn’t been
an uncommon one over the last couple of years at Ferrum College, but
students, faculty, staff, and motorists traveling down route 40 will
see something not seen very often; the renovation of an 1800 Virginia
Blue Ridge German farm replica. The work to accomplish this renovation
is slow and meticulous and is expected to take up to two years to complete.
The new location of the buildings will remain on the south side of route
40 west, across from the BRI building, but will be moved several hundred
feet away from the road. This adds a safety element when area elementary
schools come for educational tours. The move also puts the farm museum
in an accurate historic position. The buildings will now authentically
represent what an 1800-era Virginia German farm would have looked like,
something Executive Director Roddy Moore says is necessary. “Any
time we interpret the past, we need to look at the entire cultural setting
and landscape. It is important that we make sure that we place each building
in a similar setting where they would have originally been found.”
The renovation of the buildings is funded through a grant from the Virginia
Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Committee and private
donors.
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Links:
» An
1800s Va. farmstead starts move to new home
Richmond Times-Dispatch
» Blue
Ridge Farm Museum gets ready for an unusual move
Channel 7 News Coverage
» Farm
Museum relocation work begins
The Franklin News Post