Walking Downtown; The Historical Marker Tour

“As with so much having to do with recognition and resource allocation in the Commonwealth, beginning in 1927 historical state markers focused on the oldest portions of the Old Dominion.” [A Guidebook to Virginia Historical Markers].​

There are 23 Markers and Memorials in Abingdon, most of them located in the Historic District. Of the 23 Historical Markers and War Memorials listed in the Historical Markers Database, more than half of them are within easy walking distance—10-15 minutes—of the Fields-Penn House or Depot Square. What is the significance of these tokens? The Historical Markers Database is described as “a catalog of public history cast in metal, carved in stone, or embedded in resin.” It includes not just “official” markers, such as those erected by the Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources or its predecessors (as well as the National Register of Historic Places), but also monuments and plaques erected by independent agencies and associations. As an example, the marker which is located beside the burial ground close to the entrance of Sinking Spring Cemetery, which commemorates the brief interment of General John Hurt Morgan, was erected by an entity called the Morgan’s Men Association. A marker located a short distance from Green Spring Road for Landon Boyd, a successful black entrepreneur who was born in Abingdon and relocated to Richmond and was asked to serve on the jury empanelled for the trial of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, was erected by an association called Civil War Trails.