Covered Bridge Festival in Woolwine, VA

Neighbors and newcomers alike celebrated Virginia's heritage and the renovation of a historic landmark at the Covered Bridge Festival in Woolwine, Va. on June 21.
The Patrick County chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans presented the names of all the area's Civil War veterans, then fired a cannon three times to honor the county's veterans.
"There's a misconception about [the Civil War]," said Barry Morrison, a Woolwine native with Confederate soldiers on both sides of his family. "It was about state's rights. It wasn't about slavery, because these people here in this community couldn't afford slaves."
Morrison, a member of the Covered Bridge Committee that paid and organized renovations one of Woolwine's two bridges, sold almost 200 commemorative covered bridge ornaments at the festival. He has a long history with the Jack's Creek Bridge, which now functions only as a footbridge because the highway rerouted in 1979.
"I have ridden a school bus through that bridge, and the bus has scraped both sides going through," he said.
The bridge was built in 1914, and the names, initials, and hopes of Stuart County's bridge-users are part of the bridge's protected inside. The earliest discernible mark is from 1934.
The Patrick County Historical Society hosted a booth illustrating parts of daily life a century earlier. Vendors sold food and handmade crafts.
The area's Bible Belt heritage was not forgotten either. The festival began with a prayer and included a booth by the Grace Baptist Church, where Pastor Mark Elkins asked passerby to consider the "million-dollar question" of personal salvation.
Two missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also helped by supervising a bounce house for the children.
Madison Weber, a missionary from Utah, said the community's focus on its roots and on unity impressed her. 
"The hospitality of people around here clearly shows what's important to them," she said.
Shannon Simmons, a missionary from Idaho, said the community's small town appeal is authentic - the people really know and take care of each other, and they have been quick to help her though she is a newcomer.
"Everybody here knows each other so well that we'll knock on someone's door, and they'll say, 'You talked to my cousin last week,'" she said.
Patrick County has two of Virginia's seven covered bridges, which is necessary as five rivers begin in the county. The Covered Bridge Committee put on the festival to celebrate the community's heritage, but its next goal is to commence renovations on the nearby Bob White Bridge. They sold almost 200 covered bridge ornaments at the festival to start the fundraising effort.
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