voicesofleecountyva.com

  The Silhouette and the Slogan: What We Lose When We Brand the Land By Jerry Buchanan There is a distinct difference between being a place and being a destination . Looking at these two signs, the shift is clear. In 1949, Virginia didn't feel the need to sell itself. The sign was a quiet statement of fact: a hand-painted silhouette of the Commonwealth, a bit of elegant script, and the sturdy white posts of the Department of Highways. It looked like a signature at the bottom of a deed—permanent, proud, and rooted. Fast forward to the modern era, and the landscape has changed. The 2015 sign is sleek, reflective, and "on-brand." It’s designed for a car moving at seventy miles per hour, optimized for a quick glance or a roadside selfie. We’ve traded the map for a heart and the history for a slogan. While "Virginia is for Lovers" is an iconic piece of marketing, many of us feel a twinge of nostalgia for the old black-and-white boards. To the modern traveler, the ne...

  The Haint of Dryden: Where the Wilderness Road Meets the Iron Rail By Jerry Buchanan  Estimated reading time: 4 minutes "A reimagining of Yoakum Station as it appeared in the late 1700s—a lone circle of wood and fire tucked into the mist-heavy shadows of the Lee County ridges." 1. The Founding and the Railroad (1870s–1890s) The Post Office (1879): The community was officially recognized when the post office was established in 1879. The Namesake: Dryden was named for Captain Dryden , a railroad official. This directly supports your use of the L&N Railroad as a central pillar of the town's identity. The Steel Ribbon: While the railroad was the lifeblood of the town, it didn't arrive in Lee County until around 1886. Before that, the area was isolated, accessible only by wagon through rugged mountain gaps. When the L&N (Louisville & Nashville) finally connected through to Norton, Virginia, in 1891, it turned Dryden from a sleepy hollow into a vital link...