NelsonHistorical.com

The Nelson County Historical Society

Celebration Fire at Oakland Museum:

On Wednesday October 9, 2009 The Nelson County Historical Society celebrated the retirement of the debt on the Oakland Museum property with a "noteburning" ceremony.

In the fall of 2004 the Nelson County Historical Society purchased the Oakland property for the purpose of establishing a county museum focused on rural life in Nelson County. With a $275,000 purchase price for the 11 acres and the existing house, the Society began the campaign to pay for the Oakland property. The initial contribution of $50,000 from the Nelson County Board of Supervisors, and contributions from Society funds along with donations from many individuals during the last five years, has allowed the Society to retire the loan debt.

Bernard L. McGinnis - President - Nelson Co. Historical Society opens the ceremony with the good news.

Bernard L. McGinnis and Andy Wright, Chairman of the
Nelson County Historical Society (lighting the fire).

The Museum opened in 2008

Oakland - Nelson County Museum of History is open on Saturdays 10-4 and Sundays 1-4. Closed - mid Dec. to mid March.

Nelson County Cemetery Book - For Sale Now!

The much awaited cemetery book has been delivered and is available for purchase. It is a compilation of more than 400 cemeteries in Nelson County with thousands of indexed names with the tombstone inscriptions gathered from the Nelson Co. Historical Society files, family descendants and on-site surveys done by interested Society members. Click for lists of Church Cemeteries and Family/Community Cemeteries.

The Nelson County Cemetery Book may be purchased from the Society for $21.00 (including tax).

They will be available for purchase, from the Research Committee, on Wednesday afternoons outside the Nelson Memorial Library from 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM. If this time is not suitable for purchase, please call Marjorie Eggleston, Treasurer 434-263-5782.

Books will also be sold at the monthly meetings of the Society.

Mail orders for the book are accepted for $21.00 plus $5.00 postage and handling for a total of $26.00

Checks made payable to:
Nelson County Historical Society
P.O. Box 474
Lovingston, VA 22949

There will be a limited number of copies available at the Nelson County Visitor's Center - Lovingston.

If you think you know Nelson County - think again!

No one knows Nelson like the members of our Historical Society and nothing covers the County’s first 200 years like the Society’s commemorative bicentennial calendar, Home Places – Home Faces. This is not your ordinary single year wall calendar; it’s more like a magazine. It covers 18 months in a large 12” x 12” format featuring mini-stories and over 100 color and black and white images. Hurricane Camille is here, along with beautiful babies and a turn-of-the-century Front Street. Nelson County Day reappears, along with past and present mills, and a panel called “Good Sports.” The calendar also introduces the little-known Nelson County medalist of the 1907 Jamestown Exposition and outlines the May 1808 meeting which gave the new county its first officials.

Illustrated with news clips and unique photos from Historical Society files and others borrowed from private collections, Home Places – Homes Faces offers a unique and lively look at Nelson County through the years. Compiled and written by award winning editor, Lillian B. Wray, whose family roots go back to the County’s early settlers, the calendar has gotten great reviews from four newspapers.

Get Yours Now! NEW REDUCED PRICE!

Order now, while supplies last, for your very own copy. Print and mail this order form.

Courthouse The Nelson County Historical Society is a non-stock corporation, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, organized solely for literary, educational and philanthropic purposes; included, but not limited to, historical research and related activities.

The objectives of the Nelson County Historical Society are to create and promote an interest in the historical education and research leading to preservation of artifacts, documents, and written records relevant to the history of Nelson County; and the authentication, preservation and the acquisition, as feasible, of historical sites and structures in Nelson County.