This year the Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park celebrates its 65th year. Each month from March until May, we'll highlight current members of the Southwest Virginia Walk of Fame, culminating in a ceremony honoring new inductees on Saturday, May 25, 2013 during the “Gathering in the Gap” Music Festival.

Our featured Walk of Fame members for March are:

Moran Lee "Dock" Boggs was an influential old-time singer, songwriter, and banjo player from Norton, Virginia. His style of play, as well as his singing, is considered a unique combination of old-time Appalachian mountain music and the blues. Today, Boggs’ recordings can be heard on the Smithsonian Folkways Collection.

"Dock" Boggs

Daniel Boone was an American pioneer and hunter whose frontier exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. In 1774, Boone was put in command of Moore’s Fort (Russell County) and Fort Blackmore (Scott County) to help in the defense of settlements along the Clinch River. In 1775, a Carolina land speculator hired Boone to establish a road by which settlers could reach Kentucky and establish a colony there. Boone blazed "Boone's Trace" which became known as "The Wilderness Road" through the Cumberland Gap and into Kentucky.

Daniel Boone

Country music has much of its roots in the legendary Carter Family of Maces Springs, Virginia. Their recordings of such songs as "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" and "Keep on the Sunny Side" became country standards. The Carter Family was elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970, the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1988, and a commemorative postage stamp honoring them was issued in 1993.

Carter Family

Ollan Cassell was born in Nickelsville and attended Appalachia High School. At the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Cassell was a semifinalist in 400m and ran the opening leg in the American 4x400m relay team that won the gold medal with a new world record of 3:00.7.

Ollan Cassell

John Fox, Jr. was a journalist, novelist, and short story writer. He made his home in Big Stone Gap and was influenced by the history and culture of the area. He is best remembered for his novel Trail of the Lonesome Pine. Today, Fox is immortalized in the Commonwealth's official State Outdoor Drama, "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine," which is produced each summer in Big Stone Gap.

John Fox, Jr.

Junius Griffin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist from Stonega, Virginia who also served as a speech writer for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. After Dr. King’s death, Griffin went to work at Motown Records, producing recordings of King’s speeches. He won a Grammy Award for these recordings.

Junius Griffin

Helen Timmons Henderson of Dickenson County was the first woman elected to the Virginia State Assembly. She became an effective advocate for Southwestern Virginia and worked tirelessly for better schools and roads. 

Helen Timmons Henderson

Make sure you visit the site again in April and May for the next featured Walk of Fame members!

Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park is in Big Stone Gap, off U. S. 23, at the corner of W. First Street North and Wood Avenue. It is 14 miles south of Norton and 35 miles northwest of Kingsport, Tenn. The facility is nestled in the Appalachian Mountains. Neighboring areas of Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina are only a one to two hour drive away. Its address is 10 West First Street North, Big Stone Gap, VA  24219.