Albemarle County hosts discussion and tour of Court Square
ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (WVIR) - Virginia’s House and Senate passed a bill on Sunday, March 8 that would allow localities to decide what happens to war memorials.
A tour on Monday, March 9 in Albemarle County’s Court Square grappled with some of these issues.
Sharon Dudley, a volunteer with the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society helped to guide a tour and discussion of the land and memorials in the area.
The event is one way the county is working to create a narrative around its memorials.
"This is really an opportunity for folks to come out to see the things that maybe they haven’t noticed before,” said Siri Russell, the director of equity and inclusion for Albemarle County, “and then also to engage in a conversation with other community members and with county staff.”
During the conversations, people brought up problems they have with monuments and signs, observations, and ideas for improvement. An especially involved discussion focused in on the statue of a Confederate soldier in front of the county courthouse.
“Several different people who are in it, participated in the tour, also had other like interesting historical information that they knew about the circumstances in which the statue had been put up,” said Miranda Elliott-Rader, who took the tour. "There was an interesting combination of some people speaking to how intimidating and kind of frightening they found the statue, like walking up towards the cannons that are facing directly at you.”
Russell says no decisions about the potential removal of any statues or memorials are being made right now.
“I think it’s really just another component to the conversation that we’re trying to have around that public space. What that does is give the Board of Supervisors the authority to actually take action if they see fit,” said Russell.
More walking tours discussions and panels are scheduled through April.
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