June 23, 2002
A Passion For Preservation
Resident of Curtis community creates booklet about region
By Marcia Apperson
Bedford – Driving to the intersection of the Curtis community is like going back to a time when children rode horses to the general store and a blacksmith was busy working across the road.
Although the blacksmith shop and grist mill are gone, Annis McCabe is hoping to preserve the beauty of the green landscape and gurgling streams that run through the property.
The small community is located off Virginia 122 at the intersection of Virginia 640, or Wheats Valley Road, and 639, also known as Coltons Mill Road.
McCabe and her husband, Bill, moved from Forest to the more remote area 23 years ago. The land they bought included several old buildings and a general store.
They live in the main house where Onion Mountain serves as a backdrop. The original part of the house is a log cabin built more than 180 years ago.
The community once had a post office, voting precinct and sawmill. There are records of a Curtis Debating Society.
In an effort to protect what’s remaining of the small community, McCabe recently made a booklet with information and pictures of Curtis and the surrounding Wheats Valley.
She distributed copies to the local and state government officials to educate them on the area.
“I saw it as my civic duty to speak up,” McCabe said.
The idea came out of a workshop McCabe and other members of the Bedford Citizens for Land Preservation attended last month.
Virginia’s United Land Trusts (VaULT) sponsored the workshop at the Holliday Lake State Park 4-H Center in Appomattox. It was one of six workshops to be held throughout the state to develop a plan for protecting natural resources.
McCabe said the group was asked to be specific in naming what it wanted to see preserved.
After much discussion, the group narrowed their priorities down to a list of five priorities. Curtis made the list along with protecting farms, watersheds, the remaining Monacan nation’s land, and the Blue Ridge Parkway.
After the meeting, McCabe said she felt compelled to follow up on the discussion and spent a few days making the booklet. It contains color photographs of the valley, fields, creeks, pastures and wildlife in the area.
McCabe said she wanted people to learn about Curtis and understand her passion to preserve it.
“I just wanted them to know why we championed this area,” she said.
Some of the officials, who had not heard of Curtis, said the booklet worked.
“It did make quite an impression,” Del. Preston Bryant, R-Lynchburg, said. “It’s an excellent example of grassroots activity, which is among the most effective ways to make an impression on policy makers.”
Phillip Thompson, the county’s planning director, agreed that McCabe’s effort was a positive way of letting planners know what the residents like or dislike.
“I think it’s very helpful,” Thompson said.
The McCabes say they want to raise awareness so the region’s beauty and history isn’t lost to development.
While the McCabes are encouraging others to take action, they are also trying to do their part to restore part of the Curtis community.
Tradition says that Curtis may have originally been part of a land grant the King of England gave to a colonel for his service in the British Army, according to a book about Villages in Bedford written by the Peaks of Otter Chapter of Daughters of American Revolution.
Through the years, the small community grew and a general store was built in the late 1800s. The store still stands at the fork in the road.
The store closed in 1927 and remained so until 1980, when it opened as a natural food cooperative.
The store closed again, but the McCabes, along with the help of Kay Montgomery, are planning to reopen the store in a couple of months.
Montgomery lives in an apartment above the store and will work there once it opens. She has been spending her days cleaning the store and polishing the wooden shelves and counters, which are the original interior.
Montgomery said she’ll sell a variety of goods, including food, plants and crafts.
She doesn’t want the general store to be a place where people come just to shop. Montgomery said she hopes it will be a gathering place again for friends and neighbors.
A black dog seemed to like the idea, as he rested on the porch in front of the old-fashion Coke machine during a sunny afternoon last week.
