History in hand: New Va. app tells historic tales along local trails

WASHINGTON — Yes, stocking up on snacks is important, but part of planning for a road trip these days involves filling your phone with an army of apps that can help you locate the cleanest restrooms and steer clear of the nastiest traffic jams.

And this summer, there’s a new app for your road-trip arsenal: the Virginia History Trails app.

The platform, which contains more than 400 stories of 200 sites throughout the Commonwealth, can be used in a number of ways. The “near me” feature allows users to explore historic points of interest near their geographic location.

For example, in the D.C. area, the app highlights Herndon’s Frying Pan Baptist Meeting House, the Manassas Industrial School, even Eden Center, a popular Falls Church shopping center built by South Vietnamese immigrants and refugees that arrived in Northern Virginia before the fall of Saigon in 1975.

Oysterman Chris Ludford opens one of his oysters after harvesting on some of his leased oyster beds on the Lynnhaven River in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Seafood has been important to Virginia for centuries. And the Virginia History Trails app highlights the town of Urbanna, which sits along the state’s Oyster Trail. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Seen through the window of Tay Do, a Vietnamese restaurant, a man smokes outside at the Eden Center in Falls Church, Va. on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010. Virginia's new smoking laws have made it illegal to smoke inside restaurants and bars. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
In the D.C. area, the app highlights Herndon’s Frying Pan Baptist Meeting House, the Manassas Industrial School, even Eden Center, a popular Falls Church shopping center (pictured) built by South Vietnamese immigrants and refugees that arrived in Northern Virginia before the fall of Saigon in 1975.  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
This is an undated photo of country western singer Patsy Cline at Nashville's Grand Old Opry.  (AP Photo)
The Virginia History Trails app celebrates the “queen of country’s” Virginia roots. Patsy Cline lived in Winchester from 1948 to 1953. (AP Photo)
** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE **The replica Jamestown ships, The Susan Constant, center, Godspeed, right, and Discovery ply the waters of Hampton Roads as they make their way to Virginia Beach to participate in the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Va., Tuesday, April 24, 2007. The centerpiece of the 18-month commemoration of the 400th anniversary of America's first permanent English settlement is almost here after a decade of planning. About two-thirds of the tickets for the  "America's Anniversary Weekend" extravaganza May 11-13 remain available; 31,587 had been sold as of April 19. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The Virginia History Trail app tells the stories of the women of Jamestown. Early settlers quickly realized the importance of women in maintaining a family structure. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
This Sept. 30, 2017 photo shows wine tasters relaxing on the patio at the James Charles Winery & Vineyard in Winchester, Va. Thomas Jefferson may have been Virginia's first winemaker but it took another 200 years for the industry to blossom in the state. Today with 300 wineries, Virginia is the country's fifth-largest wine region. (AP Photo/Sally Carpenter Hale)
Of course the app includes information on the state’s founding fathers, but it also goes into detail on the growing wine industry. (AP Photo/Sally Carpenter Hale)
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Oysterman Chris Ludford opens one of his oysters after harvesting on some of his leased oyster beds on the Lynnhaven River in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Seen through the window of Tay Do, a Vietnamese restaurant, a man smokes outside at the Eden Center in Falls Church, Va. on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010. Virginia's new smoking laws have made it illegal to smoke inside restaurants and bars. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
This is an undated photo of country western singer Patsy Cline at Nashville's Grand Old Opry.  (AP Photo)
** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE **The replica Jamestown ships, The Susan Constant, center, Godspeed, right, and Discovery ply the waters of Hampton Roads as they make their way to Virginia Beach to participate in the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Va., Tuesday, April 24, 2007. The centerpiece of the 18-month commemoration of the 400th anniversary of America's first permanent English settlement is almost here after a decade of planning. About two-thirds of the tickets for the  "America's Anniversary Weekend" extravaganza May 11-13 remain available; 31,587 had been sold as of April 19. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
This Sept. 30, 2017 photo shows wine tasters relaxing on the patio at the James Charles Winery & Vineyard in Winchester, Va. Thomas Jefferson may have been Virginia's first winemaker but it took another 200 years for the industry to blossom in the state. Today with 300 wineries, Virginia is the country's fifth-largest wine region. (AP Photo/Sally Carpenter Hale)

“We’re really glad to bring visibility to stories that matter and that people should know about more,” said Kathy Spangler, executive director of Virginia’s 2019 Commemoration, which launched the app.

Travelers can also use the app to plan a trip along themed “trails.” The app groups together sites based on categories, including immigration, presidents, exploration, women, resistance and religious liberty.

Clicking on the category for women brings up political contemporaries like Leslie Larkin Byrne, the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress from Virginia in 1993, and cultural icons, including Patsy Cline, who lived in Winchester from 1948 to 1953.

The subject of immigration highlights the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, the Mauck Meeting House in Luray, and Columbia Pike in Arlington.

Spangler points to one of her favorite stories on the app, which is the 1951 Morton School Strike in Farmville, a town about an hour outside of Richmond. The app shares the story of Barbara Johns, who at the age of 16 led a strike over substandard facilities at her high school. Civil rights lawyers filed a lawsuit on behalf of the school’s students, which eventually became part of the U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education.

“We’re excited about bringing these stories in a way to people that are contemporary today, but have value from the perspective that the places that we live matter, their history matters, and (the stories are) as relevant today as they were then,” Spangler said.

The app is free to download and is part of Virginia’s 2019 Commemoration, which marks the 400th anniversary of a handful of significant events take took place in 1619, including the first representative legislative assembly, the arrival of the first enslaved Africans to North America and the first official English Thanksgiving. And while not all of these events are ones that should be celebrated, Spangler said it’s important for the state to share full, authentic versions of these histories.

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