OVT Celebration and Exhibit Dedication Sept. 22 in Abingdon

By Staff Reports

The Town of Abingdon, Va., and the National Park Service will unveil new exhibits at the Abingdon Muster Grounds on Sept. 22.

The exhibits, two years in the making, focus on life in backcountry Virginia in 1780, the Overmountain Men and the Battle of Kings Mountain.

In 2007, the Town of Abingdon purchased the Muster Grounds property, the northern trailhead of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, before it could be sold for development, forever preserving this piece of our country’s history. In partnership with the Overmountain Victory Trail Association and the National Park Service, the Town constructed the W. Blair Keller Jr. Interpretive Center to tell the story of 1780.

This fall, during the annual muster honoring the Overmountain Men, the new exhibits for the Interpretive Center will be unveiled!

The celebration will begin at 12:30 p.m. Colonial interpreters in period dress will be onsite for demonstrations. The new exhibits will be dedicated and unveiled at 3 p.m. Artifacts from the era will be displayed in cases, generously provided by Patricia Hatfield’s Virginia Society Daughters of the American Revolution State Regent’s project.

Fife and Drum Corps from Marshall University, Guilford Courthouse and Watauga Valley will perform throughout the day and during the Evening Retreat Program, beginning at 6:30 p.m.