Good crowd for the reception at the Virginia Room, showcasing some of the most interesting stuff you haven't seen before.
Like the massive compendium of the Roanoke Times, each page - each edition, pre-1900's.
The Roanoke Beacon, the journal of Roanoke during the early to mid-1800's. The one on display was from 1854. Only 15 originals are still in existence. If I recall - the Beacon published for 15 years or so. Works out to 1 copy per year, if that.
The work the staff of the Virginia room does to preserve and protect, yet keep available all the historic documents it possibly can is beyond admirable. It's heroic. And seeing just a sliver of what they are facing - I'd go so far as to say Herculean.
X-Mayor Smith was there, as was Current-Mayor Harris. The Missus had a nice chat with the mayor regarding the website, of which he knew something about. Nice to know the site is being noticed by those in control of the city.
There were many other nametags on the desk of city council members, the Vice-Mayor, City Manager, and those who sit on the board of the Library and and other such folk.
And myself - your humble webmaster. Not as humble as Mr. RoanokeFirefighters who used the whole shindig as an excuse to do more research, but humble enough as to be more interested in the micro-typed advertisements from the August ??, 1898 edition of the Roanoke Times than being the self-promoting media whore that you expect me to be.
The questions that run through my head when doing the research for the site are as follows: Who? When? What? Then What?
Example: The Ponce De Leon.
Who? Some guy named Trout
When? 1890 or so
What? A hotel, previously a small inn (burned), which burned, was
rebuilt, burned again, rebuilt again, closed, opened as Crystal
Tower (1932).
Then What? Crystal Tower office building, now home to TAP Roanoke. Basement still has spring and stream running under it.
No sign of Roanoke Times editor who fell in, trolls carried him off I
presume.
Of course, this is the condensed version. The real version is very much still an ongoing project - as we begin to delve deeper into the history and mystery of the Ponce, and it's sister Hotels - The Patrick Henry, Hotel Earle, and the numerous other hotels which led lives here in Roanoke. Even the mysterious and impossible to locate Powhatan Hotel (look around, you won't be seeing its advertisement for long).
The etherial time that each place holds, the sense of everything each place has seen. Those are all available for you to explore in the Virginia room at the Main Library downtown.
By the by, I am very dissappointed to say I was neither mugged, harassed, nor did I find a single puppy to kick while walking the streets of downtown Roanoke after dark. Shame on you, Roanoke. You have an image to uphold.
But still, it was a wonderful evening at the library - refreshments were provided (although I did abstain from eating, as I had a pot of chili working at home), along with enough staff to answer any questions and fulfill any need. Even if it is just turning a page in history.
