A small group of thoughtful, committed citizens invite others interested in the local history, Appalachian culture and the strong neighborhoods that the Pilot Community Center once supported, to a meeting at 6 p.m. on May 23.
Welcoming everyone – from Pilot and beyond – the meeting will help the community decide together whether to sell the old building, its land, or both, or to revive it – taking the reins from aging and gone caretakers, reimagining the old building, celebrating the community it held not long ago and might hold again.
Standing in the grass, Ted Veggeberg, solid shouldered, tanned neck and hair close-clipped salt-and-pepper, he’s a former Marine and Pilot goat farmer, is talking about the nearly hundred-year-old, two-story, cupola’d building. It began as a school in the 20s and became a center of the Pilot community in the 60s.
Veggeberg and local artist and musician T. Byron Kelly have been tending the grounds and the building trying to take the reins to revive it.
“There’s a use for it,” Veggeberg is saying. “Byron and I have been wracking our brains, but it’s not up to us to decide and that’s the reason for the meeting,” he said stepping up onto the old porch.
“I’d like to see it perform the function of a community center again. Boy Scout meetings. The Rotary club would have chicken barbecues and turkey shoots here. It was a hub of community activity, but it’s dwindled in the last 10 years.”
The building and its grounds have been cared for and tended for decades, but recently, a loss of interest, and tragically, the deaths of two long-time, knowledgeable caretakers, Tom Morris and Edwin Cole, have brought the building and its people to a reckoning.
“We’ve been in a tail-spin since then. We really don’t know what to do with it. That’s what the meeting is for,” he said, “to ask people what the community needs.”
Ten years isn’t long, but the paint on the pretty porch is peeling and the pressed tin roof is leaking. Out in the grassy lawn, the once-crowded picnic shelter, its long tables and barbecue chimney need sweeping, the baseball backstop timbers are leaning in the corner and the tire swing looks dangerous. But the field is flat and grassy surrounded by old trees on the quiet road.
“You don’t realize how big this field is ‘til you try to mow it!” Veggeberg said laughing. “It hasn’t been used in a long time, but we’re hopeful to change all that.”
But everything hinges on the roof.
“There’s a quick fix to stop the bleeding,” Veggeberg said. “The cost would be very manageable for that, a couple thousand dollars maybe to patch it, but tens of thousands to replace it.”
About a year and a half ago, the community held a meeting. Caretakers were weary. “We posted fliers up at the Pilot Mt. grocery and called all the people of Pilot together to se what we wanted to with the property and there were about 12-15 people there maybe.
Veggeberg was hopeful.
“There seemed to be some energy to let’s reinvigorate and fund raise and fix some issues with the roof and come up with ideas and make this structure perform as a community center again.”
The group came up with fundraising ideas: antique car shows and spaghetti dinners, a park.
“There’s no park between here and Christiansburg. Why should families have to drive 20 minutes to bring their kids to a park? We could provide basketball court, swings, that would provide a function for this community. Fitness. Some parking. That wouldn’t be a lot of money. And we already have the land.”
Veggeberg is a trained historian. His graduate work involved successfully placing a building on the National Register of Historic Places list, a notoriously meticulous and time-consuming process.
“That’s your ticket to the dance,” he said. “If you can get designated on the National Register, then a lot of things can happen. I’m in a fortunate situation, I’m a former Marine and a goat farmer. There’s some history work to do, but it’s not impossible.”
Forming alliances and partnerships with local organizations and leadership is a first step. Meeting with Montgomery Museum of Art and History in Christiansburg and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
A blue and gilt Heavenly Highway Hymn book is on the music rest of the ornately carved piano in the classroom.
“If we do nothing . The roof’s going to collapse and a piece of history would be gone.
This shouldn’t go away. It’s important,” he said.
Reviving the building could begin with a request for partnership with museums, the Appalachian studies departments of the universities, the county parks department. Support and attention from Montgomery County for the southern one-third of the county, Veggeberg says is not unreasonable.
“This building…” Veggeberg said standing next to the wall-long chalkboard in the light of the tall, schoolhouse windows. “I really feel like this a microcosm of history writ large. We either care about our local history and culture, or we don’t.”
Walking around back to the barbecue pavilion, it’s easy to imagine a summer of barbecue smoke, cut grass and the clang of horseshoes.
Veggeberg sees it too, but his approach is both idealistic and pragmatic.
“In my life, approaching things methodically. The first thing to do is to frame the problem. What happened? Why has it fallen into physical disrepair and lack of use? We need to address those things. I don’t know what they are right now. I’m a newbie, but other people do. That’s what the meeting will tell us,” he said.
Right now, the biggest issue is the roof.
The building’s in pretty good repair. It’s not caved in on itself. It just needs to be repaired. It dosn’t need to be made back perfect and the whole nine yards like it was. It’s not terrible,” he said laughing. “It can be done.”
The meeting to decide whether it actually will be done, the saving of this handsome old rural place and the rekindling of community, will be held on May 23 at 6 beside that old piano with the light coming in those big windows under that leaky roof.
People who might like to attend are people who are interested local history, art, architecture, building social capital, nonprofits, grant writing, and roofing. Everyone is invited.
