Sunday, Aug. 9, will be a day filled with history as the VA250 Mobile Museum comes to Martinsville for a one-day visit and the Martinsville-Henry County VA250 Committee hosts its second annual symposium.
The mobile museum will be set up outside the Martinsville-Henry County Historical Society & Museum from 1 to 6 p.m. The symposium will take place inside the museum from 3 to 4:30 p.m.
Both events are free and open to the public.
While last year’s inaugural symposium was well attended, committee member and local historian Jarred Marlowe said organizers wanted to expand the event this year.
“We reached out to the VA250 people and talked about getting the museum here for our second annual 250 symposium,” he said. “We visited the museum itself back in February when it was in South Boston, and we knew that it was going to be a big attraction if it were to come to the area.”
The mobile museum is housed inside a heavily modified tractor-trailer and features digital exhibits, interactive maps and historical displays.
“There’s even a hologram of an early patriot that explains things to you, so it’s more than just signage on a wall with pictures,” Marlowe said. “There’s a lot of interactive things, a lot of digital things that people can put their hands on and actually do.”
Marlowe said he was initially skeptical of the concept before visiting the museum himself.
“But with everything set up it was very impressive, and I highly encourage people to come out and see all that it has inside,” he said.
The museum begins with the years leading up to the American Revolution and “sets the scene,” before focusing on Virginia’s role in the conflict.
“One of the things that it focuses on is the contributions of people from Virginia to the freedom of our nation,” Marlowe said.
The exhibits then continue chronologically through American history to the present day.
“When you get to the end it’s kind of a ‘what does this mean, what are the impacts for it today,’ and kind of leaves you with the lasting impacts of it,” he said.
The symposium will feature two speakers: Thomas Sobol, a park ranger at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Bill Guerrant, president of the Pittsylvania Historical Society and author.
Sobol will discuss his research on the Patriots who fought at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, the closest Revolutionary War battle to the Martinsville-Henry County area.
The battle also included Henry County Patriots, Marlowe said.
Guerrant recently published a historical novel focused on life in the region during the American Revolution, particularly the years 1780-1781.
“We’re definitely honored to have both of them come and share with us their knowledge of the American Revolution,” Marlowe said.
Marlowe said he hopes visitors leave with a greater appreciation for the sacrifices made during the nation’s founding.
“Because even though we just celebrated the 250th birthday of America on July 4, the American Revolution didn’t end on July 4, 1776,” he said. “The war continued until 1781 and British troops didn’t leave until a few years after that.”
Marlowe said the events will highlight both the soldiers who fought and the civilians who lived through the Revolutionary War era.
“I think people who come out either to the museum or the symposium will walk away with a deeper appreciation of what local people, both soldiers and people on the home front, went through during that time period and what freedom cost them,” he said.
For more information about the mobile museum, visit VA250.org.
More than two dozen people attended the inaugural VA250 symposium last year. (Contributed)
