STAUNTON — The first floor of the R.R. Smith Center for History and Art will be abuzz with excitement on Friday, Sept. 6, from 5-8 p.m. On that evening, all of the history and art galleries will be open for a new interactive railroad exhibit by the Augusta County Historical Society (ACHS) and the display of the work of Staunton Augusta Art Center’s (SAAC) artists in residence. It will truly be a celebration of history and art, said ACHS's Nancy Sorrells in a press release.
First the history: In early January of 1857, a newspaper article exclaimed excitedly that “daylight now shines through the Blue Ridge.” After nearly six years of chipping away at the brutally hard rock, sometimes at the rate of just nine inches a day, crews from the east and west had finally met in the middle. It took another 16 months of clearing rock, applying brick, and laying tracks before the first train chugged through the nearly mile-long Blue Ridge tunnel connecting Nelson and Augusta counties.
ACHS’s inspiring new educational interactive exhibit “Voices from the Blue Ridge Tunnel: When Men were Machines” shines a light on the human story behind the Blue Ridge Tunnel construction – the historic railroad tunnel 700 feet under Afton Mountain. The tunnel that opened in 1858 for trains and reopened in 2021 (after two decades of cooperative restoration work) to walkers and bicyclists, was designed by French engineer Claudius Crozet, but it and the railroad were built by several thousand Irish immigrants and enslaved African Americans whose blood, sweat, and lives (at least 14 Irishmen and three slaves died during construction) turned Crozet’s idea into one of the greatest engineering feats in the world at that time. This exhibit is their story.
Using hand drills, picks, shovels, hammers, gunpowder and fuses, they opened up the mountain inch by inch, laid tracks, and otherwise worked to bring America’s newest transportation sensation — the railroad — into the southern Shenandoah Valley.
And Staunton Augusta Art Center's artists in residence will be showcasing their finished work
Visitors to the reception will also be inspired by the art on display in the SAAC galleries. Throughout the month of August, SAAC has played host to a number of artists working in a variety of media as part of the center’s Arts in Practice Artists Residency that transformed the Smith Center’s art galleries into studio space for artists to create and work.
The reception is an opportunity for the public to see the finished results and meet the artists. On view will be works created during the residency by artists Martin Gieger, The Dwell Collective, Sarah Jones, Joshua Yurges, Barbara Coyle Holt, Jill Kimbrough, Rob Mertens, Candace Christy, Noelia Nunez, Barbara Bernstein, Nicole O'Conner, Hsini Des, and Angus Carter.
More: Staunton Augusta Art Center brings together diverse group for artist residency program
The ACHS exhibit has been made possible through support from Altria Client Services LLC, Augusta County Economic Development & Tourism, Augusta County Railroad Museum, Blue Ridge Tunnel Foundation, C&O Historical Society, and Virginia Humanities.
EVENT: Reception in the R.R. Smith for History and Art’s shared galleries celebrating the opening of the new Augusta County Historical Society exhibit “Voices from the Blue Ridge Tunnel: When Men were Machines” and showcasing the work of the Staunton Augusta Art Center’s Arts in Practice Artists Residency.
WHEN: Friday, Sept. 6, 5-8 p.m.
WHERE: R.R. Smith Center for History and Art, 20 S. New Street, Staunton
The combined reception highlighting history and art is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be available.
More: Ahoy! Grace Christian grad spends a year aboard a schooner as part of an educational program
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Exhibit honoring Blue Ridge Tunnel workers from Augusta County Historical Society
Local News
Comments / 0