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Laurel Fork, Virginia

Blue Ridge Highlands, Virginia geography stubsUnincorporated communities in Carroll County, VirginiaUnincorporated communities in VirginiaUse mdy dates from July 2023

Laurel Fork is an unincorporated community in Carroll County, Virginia. It is located off U.S. Route 58 and is 12.4 miles (20.0 km) east-southeast of Hillsville, Virginia. Laurel Fork has a post office with the ZIP code 24352.Before the town was known as Laurel Fork, it was called Bolt Town, named after a Doctor Bolt and his numerous family members who originally inhabited the town. Then consisting of Sam Bolt's store, a post office, and a few farms, Bolt Town was nicknamed "Little Cincinnati" because of the perceived superior attitude of its residents. Eventually, the community took its name from the Laurel Fork Creek that winds through the hills nearby, which in turn was named after the native Rhododendron. Early English settlers, not knowing the Rhododendron's name, called it "laurel" after the shrubs they knew from England.Late nineteenth-century census records show that 60 percent of the Laurel Fork population could read and write. Around 1903 - 1904, the Laurel Fork Male and Female Academy was built, later becoming a high school. Businesses including a printing shop, a short-lived motor company, the Laurel Fork Bank, Midway Hotel and Restaurant, Laurel Fork Mercantile, Puckett's Grocery and Garage, as well as the Laurel Fork Telephone Company were also established. Laurel Fork reportedly had the first airport in the county.Among Laurel Fork's surviving historical landmarks is the Laurel Fork Primitive Baptist Church, founded in 1846, making it the oldest church in Laurel Fork and one of the oldest in Carroll County. The church was a daughter church of New Hope Primitive Baptist. The church, as well as a school next to it, were burned down and then rebuilt in 1876 on land given by Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Nester. In 1970, the church was encased in brick and now stands along Laurel Fork Road. Located next to the church is the former Point Pleasant School. Constructed in 1911, this one-room schoolhouse is commonly believed to be the descendant of the first school in Laurel Fork, which had previously burned down. Point Pleasant School closed its doors in 1948. In September 2007, the school was placed on the Virginia Landmarks Register. In October 2007, Point Pleasant School was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Laurel Fork, Virginia (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Laurel Fork, Virginia
Bellspur Road,

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N 36.7175 ° E -80.518611111111 °
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Bellspur Road 18
24352
Virginia, United States
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Ararat, Virginia

Ararat is an unincorporated community in Patrick County, Virginia, United States, south of the Blue Ridge Parkway and north of Mount Airy, North Carolina. Ararat is located near the Virginia–North Carolina state line about five miles (8.0 km) north of Mount Airy and about 25 miles (40 km) west of Stuart, Virginia. The community's name comes from the Ararat River which flows through the area. The River takes its name from the Jefferson Fry Map of 1751, which calls Pilot Mountain part of the "Mountains of Ararat." The Saura Indian name for nearby Pilot Mountain in Surry County, North Carolina is "The Pilot" and the mountain reverted to that. The large monadnock mountain was thought to resemble a bullfrog and the Native Americans named it "Ratratrat," after the sound the animal makes. Early white settlers thought what they were saying sounded like "Ararat," the mountain which, according to the Bible, was the landing point of Noah's Ark. Blue Ridge Elementary School is located in the community. Several famous people were born in the community, such as the Reverend Bob Childress; "The Man Who Moved A Mountain," and James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart, the Major General of Cavalry for Robert E. Lee during the American Civil War. Also, First Lieutenant Levi Barnard, eulogized by the band Old Crow Medicine Show in their song, "Levi". The J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace, the Laurel Hill Farm, is a preserved private park in the community that is open for self-guided tours daily and holds a Civil War encampment the first full weekend of October each year.