The 2024 Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation Kegley Preservation Awards were presented before 50 attendees during the Foundation’s Annual Meeting and Awards Reception held on Thursday, November 21, 2024 in the sanctuary at the new Belmont Lofts located at 825 Stewart Avenue SE in Roanoke, Virginia.  

These awards presented annually recognize notable examples of historic preservation, rehabilitation, stewardship, education, advocacy, and restoration projects that have maintained or added to the Roanoke Valley and surrounding area’s historical, architectural, and/or cultural heritage.  They serve not only to commend the winners’ hard work, but to also promote public awareness of the values of older structures, the importance of individual historical efforts, and the significance of education and environmental work in our community.

“Recognition of people, programs and projects that help to promote good stewardship and preservation of these resources is an important part of achieving the mission of the Foundation,” explained Alison Blanton, Awards Committee co-chair. Blanton noted that this year’s list has a wide variety of nominees from private and public renovation projects to Lifetime Achievement awards to heritage education.

Visit the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation Kegley Preservation Awards webpage for additional information including previous years’ Kegley Preservation Award winners.

SAVE THE DATE as YOU are cordially invited to attend the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation Annual Meeting & Kegley Preservation Award Presentations on Thursday, November 21, 2024 beginning at 6:00 PM.

Belmont Lofts
825 Stewart Avenue SE
Roanoke, VA
6:00 PM

Light refreshments will be available

Everyone Is Welcome

Hope to see you there!

The Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation, Inc. regularly publishes a bi-annual newsletter that shares historic, cultural, and natural preservation-related information and activities taking place throughout the Roanoke Valley, the surrounding counties and their municipalities.

We hope you will enjoy our most recent issue:  

2024 Summer Focus on Preservation Newsletter

Visit our website’s Newsletter page for a comlisting of past newsletters.

Only July 5th, 2024, the Claytor Memorial Clinic building in Gainsboro, a historic site known as one of Southwest Virginia’s earliest Black family-owned medical clinics, received official recognition from the state with a new historical marker. Founded by Dr. John B. Claytor Sr. in 1948, in memory of his late wife Roberta Claytor, the clinic provided crucial healthcare services at a time of racial segregation.

The unveiling ceremony also underscored the challenges faced by the Claytor family during Roanoke’s urban renewal period, which threatened their clinic and nearby properties with eminent domain. Despite legal battles, the Claytors prevailed, leading to legislative changes that curtailed localities’ use of eminent domain. Jordan Bell, a Gainsboro historian, emphasized the community’s responsibility to preserve and restore the clinic, noting its symbolic importance in revitalizing the entire Gainsboro area. Vice Mayor Joe Cobb echoed these sentiments, calling for city support in restoring the clinic as a focal point of community resurgence.

Despite this honor, the future of the clinic, closed since the 1990s, remains uncertain. Efforts by the Claytor family to secure funding for restoration, including a proposal to use federal pandemic relief money from Roanoke City Council, were ultimately unsuccessful. The city had intended to repurpose the site as part of a community hub for small business development and healthcare, but negotiations faltered.

The new marker, located in the cul-du-sac next to the clinic, marks the culmination of a year and a half of efforts led by Nelson Harris, former City of Roanoke mayor and local historian. Funds for the state marker were raised by the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation from the proceeds from their annual Scavenger Hunt and Pub Crawl.

This marker is part of Roanoke’s growing collection of historical markers, with a significant focus on acknowledging overlooked Black histories.

On June 25th at the Dumas Center auditorium located at 108 Henry Street NW in Roanoke, VA, the Gainsboro Branch Library hosted Defiant Libraries: Virginia Lee and the Secrets Kept by Good Bookladies, a lecture and book event honoring the legacy of librarian Virginia Lee. A lecture by Laura Helton, assistant professor at the University of Delaware and author of Scattered and Fugitive Things: How Black Collectors Created Archives and Remade History, highlighted Virginia Lee’s clandestine fight against access restrictions on Black readers and Black literacy during Segregation in Roanoke.

Following Helton’s lecture, a panel discussion was held and moderated by Nelson Harris, with special guests Dr. Curtis Reeves, Jr., Dr. lvin and Virginia Schexnider, family of Virginia Lee, and Carla Lewis, former librarian of the Gainsboro Branch Library.

Exclusive event book sales will be by Book No Further.

This is one interesting lecture you will not want to miss, so SAVE THE DATE!!

A grassroots effort seeks to turn a crumbling school building into a bustling community hub

The Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation, Inc. regularly publishes a bi-annual newsletter that shares historic, cultural, and natural preservation-related information and activities taking place throughout the Roanoke Valley, the surrounding counties and their municipalities.

We hope you will enjoy our most recent issue:  

2024 Spring Focus on Preservation Newsletter

This week, the City of Roanoke, VA recognized RVPF Trustee, Alison Blanton, as a Historic Place-Saver.  Alison performs vital work as the Senior Preservation Fellow at Hill Studio. She continues to be active through preservation-focused community groups and is a Trustee of the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation and also serves on the Board of Friends of Mountain View, Inc.

Visit planroanoke.org/historic-preservation to learn more about Alison  and her work. 

Congratulations Alon this well-deserved recognition!!