December 1, 2007
Grand Opening of the
Greene County Historical Society Museum and Genealogy Research Center in the old Greene County Jail

Story by Alex Carrier
Photographs by Mick Carrier

I look at  photos of the day and think how ironically perfect it is that the museum should go into the old county jail.  This place where, for so long, those believed to be the worst of our past were held secure; now, secures within its barred windows and block walls  all the past - the worst and the best - for  generations to come.

The space is small, intimate like the secrets it whispers to those who would ask it questions. Births, marriages, deaths and more - the begat and begotten of Greene's ancestral line.  Bits and pieces, trinkets and treasures of daily lives long past cozy among the shelves, within cases and along counters.

Overhead lights clutched against the ceiling so as not to intrude on the singular space glitter their light back from metal overhead.  Real leather-bound books, not paperbacks but those rich with the care of all who held their covers and turned their pages, march like obedient soldiers across bookshelves as if they too know the serous work they do. 

In the complex, living organism that is Greene County, long-term memory has found a secure place to hold close and hold forth the past.  I look forward to learning even some of what it has to tell.

Photo page 1     Photo page 2     Read Historical Society account

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^{Greene County Historical Society Museum and
Genealogy Research Center
Greene County Historical Society
38 Court Street
PO Box 185
Stanardsville, Virginia 22973
Phone:  434-985-1409
Email
(MapQuest)}