THERE IS no better evidence of a community’s continuing vitality than it taking care of its own heritage.
Floyd County is dotted with unincorporated communities that largely cling to their identities by doing precisely that. Lindale, perhaps the largest of these, is also a good example.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) there, Post 4911, is restoring a monument paying honor to its fallen soldiers during World War I and II. There are 30 names on the brass plaque on the stone monument, all of whom fell not only defending their nation but also Lindale — and all the communities like it.
The VFW plans not only to repair the deteriorating mortar but hopes to find an artillery piece to help make the site more notable, as well as to landscape it.
This effort comes hard on the heels of members of the same community managing to find a new, forever home for the “Lindale Star” — the lighted Christmas symbol that hung from the now-closed textile mill’s smokestacks for decades.
Many similar “little places” throughout this region take similar pride in their roots and have seen “grassroots” efforts undertaken to preserve them. So have many old country churches that continue to tend to antique cemeteries or bring them back from the invasion of brush.
THESE VOLUNTEER efforts are much to be encouraged as all of us, no matter where we grew up, remain a part of that place. There remain far too many almost forgotten and neglected tangible reminders of yesteryear awaiting helping hands to give them something more akin to a life eternal.
Much of Greater Rome’s rather special appearance and “sense of place” stems not so much from the big tourist-type attractions like Myrtle Hill Cemetery but from the landscape being sprinkled with smaller “hometown” monuments and tributes to what came before.
The month of May is a particularly good time to think about such things as it is the fourth annual National Preservation Month sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation along with state agencies, community groups, nonprofit organizations, and local governments.
The theme is “This Place Matters,” particularly appropriate hereabouts where Lindale, Cave Spring and others constantly give evidence that this is true.
THERE IS MUCH to be admired about what is new and modern hereabouts but it is the continuing interest in, and care of, what was once new and now is old that is actually the most admirable.
It is important that current — and future — generations have the ability to stay in contact with such things. It is what provides us with a sense of continuity, of being rooted, that even newcomers to the area can then sense as they put down their own roots.
Look around where you are now. Is there something similar to what Lindale residents are undertaking that could be done?
And, even if you are willing to help, why wait around until somebody asks for your assistance? Why not ask for theirs, and then go out to bring the past more visibly into the present. It’s what makes a community out of what otherwise would be only a collection of people living in close proximity.
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