Virginia Department of Historic Resources
(dhr.virginia.gov)
For Immediate Release
October 2025

 

Contact:
Ivy Tan
Department of Historic Resources
Marketing & Communications Manager
ivy.tan@dhr.virginia.gov
804-482-6445

State Board Approves 8 Historical Highway Markers

—Markers cover topics in the counties of Mathews, Nelson, Patrick, Botetourt, and Pittsylvania, and in the cities of Suffolk, Danville, and Roanoke—

—Text of each marker reproduced below—

PLEASE NOTE: DHR creates markers not to “honor” their subjects but rather to educate and inform the public about a person, place, or event of regional, state, or national importance. In this regard, erected markers are not memorials.

 RICHMOND – The Department of Historic Resources (DHR) has announced eight new historical markers coming to roadsides in Virginia. The markers will feature various topics in the commonwealth’s history, including the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail that stretches from Yorktown to the state of Oregon; the life and career of a Roanoke-based doctor who opened the first eye bank in western Virginia and one of the first eye, ear, and throat hospitals in the commonwealth; and 20th-century schools built to serve Black students during the period of segregation in Virginia’s public schools.

The Virginia Board of Historic Resources approved the markers on September 18, 2025, during its quarterly meeting in Richmond hosted by DHR.

After a decade during which recreational cycling became increasingly popular among young Americans in the 20th century, four cycling enthusiasts started to plan Bikecentennial76 in 1973 to commemorate the nation’s bicentennial. Inaugurated at Jamestown in May 1976, Bikecentennial76—a monthslong event—included tours along a specially designed route known as the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail. Stretching 4,250 miles on public roads from Yorktown to Oregon, the trail passed through Botetourt County, the proposed site for the marker. Approximately 4,100 cyclists from across the country and beyond encountered rural vistas, small communities, and historic points of interest while riding on the TransAmerica trail. The eastern third of the trail encompassed more than 500 miles in Virginia and was designated U.S. Bicycle Route 76 in 1982.

One new marker focuses on Christianity in the new republic following the end of the American Revolutionary War:

 

• Tradition maintains that Christian worship near the site of Cypress Chapel Christian Church in the City of Suffolk began circa 1750. A Church of England chapel was completed in 1760 but was abandoned after the Revolutionary War. A congregation affiliated with the Christian Church, a denomination organized in 1794 after splitting from the Methodists, moved into the chapel and became known as Cypress Chapel Christian Church. In 1858, the first regular session of the Southern Christian Convention, which formed in 1856 after a schism with northern churches, met at the chapel. The Rev. William B. Wellons, a nationally prominent leader in the denomination who had been ordained at Cypress Chapel Christian Church in 1846, served as its pastor until 1872. The present sanctuary was built in 1925.

 

Two new markers highlight the ways in which Black Virginians contributed to the commonwealth’s economy in the 18th and 19th centuries:

 

• Built in 1794 by John Barnett, the Danville Canal evolved from a millrace into a linchpin of Southside Virginia’s transportation network. In the mid-1820s, the Roanoke Navigation Company, a partnership between the states of Virginia and North Carolina to promote commerce by improving waterways, led an initiative to improve the canal, which stretched three-quarters of a mile long. Fifty enslaved laborers built three lower locks with basins and a stone upper lock and wing dam. These enhancements facilitated travel around the falls of the Dan River and made coastal markets more accessible to Virginians living farther away from the shoreline. Free and enslaved African Americans operated the batteaux that transported products along the river. The Danville Canal was repurposed in the 1880s to power the city’s booming textile industry.

 

• Gilbert’s Restaurant in Pittsylvania County was built circa 1945 by the Rev. Robert G. Gilbert to serve as a café, store, gas station, and tourist home for Black patrons during Jim Crow segregation. Robert and his wife, Arzelia, ran the business until 1971. Afterwards, the couple’s son and daughter-in-law operated the establishment primarily as a restaurant until it closed in 1999. Located on U.S. Route 29, a major arterial road connecting the mid-Atlantic and the Deep South, Gilbert’s Restaurant became a regional hub for the Black community and a haven for Black travelers during the period of segregation. Customers who stayed or dined at the enterprise included Fats Domino, Lloyd Price, the Singing Siamese Twins (Yvonne and Yvette McCarther), James Earl Jones, and defense attorneys for the Martinsville Seven case.

 

Two markers recall schools built to serve Black students during the period of segregation in Virginia’s public schools:

 

• The story of Antioch (Rosenwald) School in Mathews County began circa 1869, the year Black men in the Susan community built a log school at the urging of Black women. Antioch Baptist Church met in the school during the church’s early years. A new school building was completed from 1926 to 1927 for children in grades one through seven. Funding for the new school mainly came from the Black community, which contributed $3,700 for the building’s construction. Mathews County contributed $500 while the Julius Rosenwald Fund—the school-building program established in 1917 by the president of Sears, Roebuck, and Co. and inspired by the work of Booker T. Washington—contributed $700. The Rosenwald Fund helped build approximately 5,000 schools for Black students in rural communities across the segregated South, including three in Mathews County. During its years of operation, Antioch School served as a community center that fostered social and cultural activity. The school closed in 1948 and remains the county’s only Rosenwald-style building.

 

• As federal courts were mandating equality for segregated schools in the late 1940s, the Black community in Patrick County campaigned for a consolidated school to replace inadequate facilities. Patrick Central School opened in 1952 to serve the county’s Black students in grades one through twelve, providing them with a full high school education for the first time. The school’s teams, clubs, and cultural events encouraged community cohesion and pride. Its alumni went on to work in education, government, medicine, engineering, the military, and other fields. Patrick Central closed in 1966, the year the county fully desegregated its schools to comply with federal guidelines.

 

The career of a Roanoke-based ophthalmologist who founded one of the commonwealth’s first eye, ear, and throat hospitals and western Virginia’s first eye bank grounds one new marker:

 

• Elbyrne G. Gill, who was born in Bedford County in 1891, opened the Gill Memorial Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital in 1926 in the City of Roanoke. Gill hosted annual conferences that provided postgraduate courses for eye, ear, nose, and throat specialists at the hospital, which was one of the first of its specialty in Virginia. Physicians from across the United States attended these conferences, which featured renowned faculty, including current and future Nobel laureates. A charter member of the Roanoke Lions Club, Gill served as president of Lions International, a community service organization with chapters worldwide, for one term from 1943 through 1944. Gill established the first eye bank in western Virginia in 1957. An active leader in Roanoke’s civic life, he also chaired the local board of health for 25 years. Gill died in 1966.

 

The Board also approved a marker focused on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Nelson County:

 

• Just west of the Rockfish Gap scenic overlook in Nelson County lies the northern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway, a 469-mile-long scenic route that links Shenandoah National Park in Virginia with Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. Designed to highlight the scenery and cultural heritage of southern Appalachia, the parkway was built to stimulate the region’s economy during the Great Depression. Constructed between 1935 and 1987, it remains an internationally recognized feat of landscape architecture and engineering. Development of the parkway was led by the National Park Service and relied on the collaboration of federal agencies, New Deal public works programs, private contractors, and the governments of North Carolina and Virginia. The Blue Ridge Parkway is the longest linear park in the United States.

 

Following the Board of Historic Resources’ approval of the markers, it can take upwards of six months or more before a new marker is ready for installation. The marker’s sponsor covers the required $3,000 manufacturing expenses for a new sign.

Virginia’s historical highway marker program began in 1927 with installation of the first markers along U.S. Route 1. It is considered the oldest such program in the nation. Currently there are more than 2,600 state markers, mostly maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation, except in those localities outside of VDOT’s authority.

Full Text of Markers:

(VDOT must approve the proposed location for each marker in its right-of-way; local public works departments must do so in jurisdictions outside VDOT’s authority.)

TransAmerica Bicycle Trail
In 1973, after a decade in which recreational cycling became increasingly popular among young Americans, four cycling enthusiasts began planning Bikecentennial76 to mark the nation’s bicentennial. The months-long event, inaugurated at Jamestown in May 1976, featured tours along a specially designed route known as the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail, which stretched 4,250 miles on public roads from Yorktown to Oregon and passed here. Roughly 4,100 riders from the U.S. and beyond encountered rural vistas, small communities, and historic points of interest. The eastern third of the TransAmerica trail, including more than 500 miles in Virginia, was designated U.S. Bicycle Route 76 in 1982.
Sponsor: Jennifer and William C. Lee
Locality: Botetourt County
Proposed Location: Catawba Road west of US 220

Cypress Chapel Christian Church
According to tradition, Christian worship near this site began ca. 1750. A Church of England chapel was completed in 1760 but was abandoned following the Revolutionary War. A congregation affiliated with the Christian Church, a denomination organized in 1794 after splitting from the Methodists, moved into the building and became known as Cypress Chapel Christian Church. The first regular session of the Southern Christian Convention, which formed in 1856 after a schism with northern churches, met here in 1858. The Rev. William B. Wellons, a nationally prominent leader in the denomination who had been ordained here in 1846, served as pastor until 1872. The present sanctuary was built in 1925.
Sponsor: Cypress Chapel Christian Church
Locality: City of Suffolk
Proposed Location: 1891 Cypress Chapel Road

Danville Canal
John Barnett built a canal here in 1794 that evolved from a millrace into a linchpin of the region’s transportation network. The Roanoke Navigation Company, a joint effort by Virginia and North Carolina to promote commerce by improving waterways, enhanced the 3/4-mile-long canal in the mid-1820s. Fifty enslaved laborers built three lower locks with basins and a stone upper lock and wing dam, facilitating travel around the falls of the Dan River and making coastal markets more accessible to the interior. Goods were transported on batteaux operated primarily by free and enslaved African Americans. The canal was repurposed in the 1880s to power Danville’s booming textile industry.
Sponsor: The Danville Research Center for African American History and Culture
Locality: City of Danville
Proposed Location: 424 Memorial Drive

Gilbert’s Restaurant
The Rev. Robert G. Gilbert built Gilbert’s Restaurant here ca. 1945 as a café, store, gas station, and tourist home for Black patrons during Jim Crow segregation. He and his wife, Arzelia, ran the business until 1971, after which their son and daughter-in-law operated it primarily as a restaurant until its closure in 1999. Located on US Route 29, a major artery connecting the mid-Atlantic and the Deep South, the enterprise was a regional hub for the Black community and a haven for Black travelers. Among those who stayed or dined here were Fats Domino, Lloyd Price, the Singing Siamese Twins (Yvonne and Yvette McCarther), James Earl Jones, and defense attorneys for the Martinsville Seven case.
Sponsor: Pittsylvania Historical Society
Locality: Pittsylvania County
Proposed Location: 401 N. Main Street, Chatham

Antioch (Rosenwald) School
At the urging of African American women in the Susan community, African American men built a log school ca. 1869. Antioch Baptist Church met there in its early years. In 1926-27, a new school was built here for grades one through seven. Contributions came from the Black community ($3,700), the county ($500), and the Julius Rosenwald Fund ($700), established in 1917 by the president of Sears, Roebuck, and Co. and inspired by the work of Booker T. Washington. Rosenwald funding helped build about 5,000 schools for Black students, including three in Mathews Co. Antioch School, a community hub of social and cultural activity, closed in 1948 and is the county’s only remaining Rosenwald-style building.
Sponsor: Antioch Baptist Church
Locality: Mathews County
Proposed Location: 183 Antioch Road, Susan, VA

Patrick Central School
In the late 1940s, as federal courts were requiring equity for segregated schools, the African American community in Patrick County campaigned for a consolidated school to replace inadequate facilities. In 1952, Patrick Central School opened 0.6 miles southwest of here to serve the county’s African American students in grades 1-12, providing them with a full high school education for the first time. Its athletic teams, clubs, and cultural events fostered community cohesion and pride. Alumni worked in education, government, medicine, engineering, the military, and other fields. Patrick Central was closed in 1966, when the county fully desegregated its schools to comply with federal guidelines.
Sponsor: Patrick Central School Alumni
Locality: Patrick County
Proposed Location: Salem Highway (Route 8) near intersection with Black Jack Road

Dr. Elbyrne Grady Gill (1891-1966)
Dr. Elbyrne G. Gill, a native of Bedford County, opened the Gill Memorial Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital in this block in 1926. Through the hospital, one of the first of its specialty in VA, Gill hosted annual congresses that offered postgraduate courses for eye, ear, nose, and throat specialists. By featuring renowned faculty, including current and future Nobel laureates, these conferences attracted physicians from across the U.S. Gill, a charter member of the Roanoke Lions Club, served a term as president of Lions International in 1943-44. In 1957, he opened the first eye bank in western VA. A leader in Roanoke's civic life, Gill chaired the local board of health for 25 years.
Sponsor: Nelson Harris
Locality: City of Roanoke
Proposed Location: 700 block of South Jefferson Street

Blue Ridge Parkway
Just west of here is the northern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway, a 469-mile-long scenic route that links Shenandoah National Park in VA with Great Smoky Mountains National Park in NC. An internationally recognized feat of landscape architecture and engineering, the parkway was designed to highlight the scenery and cultural heritage of southern Appalachia and to stimulate the region’s economy during the Great Depression. This project, led by the National Park Service, relied on the collaboration of federal agencies, New Deal public works programs, private contractors, and the governments of NC and VA. Constructed between 1935 and 1987, the parkway is the longest linear park in the U.S.
Sponsor: American Society of Civil Engineers, Virginia Section
Locality: Nelson County
Proposed Location: Rockfish Gap Scenic Overlook, I-64 East

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