Contratulations to CorgimomX3 for being FTF!!!
Cache is located near the Heritage Public Library. I am amazed at how hard people must work to have a library in a small rural community. The Lirbrary has been located in three different locations since I moved to New Kent in 2000. Very thankful to all who help keep the library running.
In August 1981, The Heritage Public Library was formed as a non-profit organization by a group of local citizens who aspired to have a library to serve the counties of New Kent and Charles City. It initially was run completely by volunteers and a retired librarian, Elizabeth Long, who together helped make the library possible. When the library opened its doors it contained a large collection of donated books from people in the communities. It was located in a 630 square foot cinder block building on Courthouse Road in Providence Forge, VA that was made available lease free from C & F Bank.
In 1984, the library moved nearby into the 5000 square foot former V. M. Watkins Old General Store at the corner of Courthouse Road and Boulevard Road. But, before the library could move into this new larger location, volunteers installed carpeting, painted walls, setup bookcases, cleaned, and did other needed maintenance. New Kent and Charles City county residents contributed over 1800 volunteer hours to help with this move. A relocation celebration was held on November 10, 1984 which started nearly at sunrise with a walk and ran until sundown with music and raffle drawings. Ms. Mary Thomas Carswell, a former library president, said that the added space allowed for the library to become part book depository, part church, part bridge club center, part cake decorating school, and even part movie theater. Ms. Carswell said that the library was becoming the local cinema for the two counties because neither county had a movie house. Due to conditions of this old building in Providence Forge, the library was closed to the public. There were no available locations that could accommodate the entire library’s collection. Fortunately, two locations, one in Charles City and another in New Kent, were found that could accommodate our needs. Part of the Heritage Public Library quickly reopened in a small temporary location in the shopping center at Chesapeake Circle. The other part of the Heritage Public Library opened in a small courtroom of the Charles City courthouse. The New Kent location resided at the Chesapeake location until the Spring of 2017 when it moved to its permanent location in Maidstone Village in New Kent closer to the county seat and nearer to county schools. The Charles City library location will move to a newly constructed location in the Courthouse complex in Charles City in the Spring of 2019. (Content, picture and permission for cache placement, provided by Heritage Public Library)
Contratulations to CorgimomX3 for being FTF!!!