Our Stories: First Friday Lecture Series – “School Days of the Past” w/GHS AmeriCorps Oral Historian Vicky Neal

Step back 100 years and discover what school was like for children attending one-room and small rural schools throughout the Greenbrier Valley.

Vicky Neal is our Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area (AFNHA) AmeriCorps member who has served with the Greenbrier Historical Society for almost two years on the Hidden History of Western Greenbrier County Project. AFNHA is based out of Elkins, WV, and serves 16 counties in WV, with Greenbrier County being the most southern location.

Being an Art Educator of 24 years, now retired, and an artist, she always enjoys being creative. “I feel very fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time to find out about the Hidden History project and asked to join as an AmeriCorps member with GHS. In 2009, my students and I recorded several community members about the history of the Meadow River Valley, All of us learning to appreciate our ancestors and developing videography and editing skills. Those citizens have since passed, so having a place for their oral histories to be used, along with newer oral histories, has given me a source of satisfaction and pride.”