MARTINSVILLE, Va. (Romero Report) — Beverly Woody, a sixth grade U.S. history teacher at Martinsville Middle School, has published her first book, “Patrick Pioneers Part One.”

The book is the culmination of a three-year effort by Woody to research and record the lives and stories of the people of Patrick County.

This first volume contains 100 stories from the county’s residents from the 1700s to the present day across over 400 pages, a news release by Martinsville City Public Schools said.

Woody, who grew up in the county and graduated from Patrick County High School, said she developed a passion for history early in life.

She conducted her first interview with mountain folks at the age of 10.

“I have always had a passion for local history,” Woody said in the release. “I loved listening to the older folks in my family tell stories about how things were when they grew up. I often wished that my grandparents had written their stories and memories down for future generations.”

She believes books on a community’s local history are important because the stories they tell are so relatable to others in that community.

“I was telling my students that Patrick Henry once lived in Henry County and where they could find the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) monument that was placed at the corner of his former home. I had two students come into class the next morning and tell me they had their parents take them to see the monument after school. Local history is real and tangible.”

In writing her book, she relied on local census and death records as well as interviews with family members and digitized newspapers from the Library of Virginia.

The release said the book is currently available on Amazon and will be on sale locally for the first time on July 28 during the Tom Talks History program at the Ararat Ruritan Club, 4711 Ararat Highway in Ararat.

The event begins at 2 p.m. and proceeds from the day’s book sales will support the Perry Family Scholarship, which supports college-bound seniors from Patrick County High School planning to major in history.

Woody said she plans to donate future proceeds from the book to the Patrick County Historical Society and Museum and the Martinsville-Henry County Heritage Museum to be used for youth educational programming.

She currently serves on the board of directors for both institutions.

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