This 24-minute birthday special episode talks about one of the finest, Roanoke-built steam locomotives to traverse the rails of Southwest Virginia. A sole survivor of the Y5/Y6 mallet locomotives, N&W Y6a 2156 is one of the N&W's "Big Three" alongside the A-Class 1218 and J-Class 611. 2156 was built to pull the heaviest coal drags and freight trains through the Appalachians, with the largest tractive effort recorded in the history of USA Steam Locomotives. Today marks 82 years ago it rolled out of the Roanoke Locomotive Shops. (82nd birthday) *Sorry if there is any miss steps in the re ..read more

New Town was a Neighborhood Community like no other. Similar to Roanoke's Gainsboro community, New Town - located north of Downtown Blacksburg - was the center of African American life and culture, along with social and community pride. The neighborhood dates very far back and and many were in high spirits and happy despite the many hardships of discrimination. Tune in to this 20-minute episode about one of the oldest African American Communities in Montgomery County and its nearly 100 year history ..read more

This (not actually an) episode will give you a sneak peek at what can be expected for this year regarding episodes and lecture content. Several celebrations, birthdays, and commemorative events will be discussed. But listen in to hear what's in store for this new season of "History from Southwest Virginia ..read more

Thank you for this year and I wish you all a wonderful Holiday. I hope that you learned many things from my posts this year and in previous years. History On, my friends ..read more

Ever wonder how a small, 9-mile spur rail line got its name? How far back in time does its story go? How big of a deal was the Huckleberry line to the area? Listen to this 30-minute episode to learn about the history of coal in the Blacksburg-Christiansburg area, the early founding of the first coal company, its later run under N&W, and the fate of the singular rail line that ultimately connected Blacksburg to the rest of Montgomery County prior to the arrival of automobiles ..read more

This 1-hour episode looks deeper into some of the oldest college football programs to exist in SWVA, and how they continue to carry a school tradition, despite many setbacks and issues some due to events happening in US History. Some colleges began a football team for money, others prestige. Listen to hear why and how these college teams began, where many fell, become delayed, and rise again, and when or how they made school history; (the number of championships, a origin of on-going tradition(s), and/or impressive season records ..read more

Hi everyone. Yeah, sorry its been a very longtime since my National Women's Month Episode in April. However, I am making some major plans to comeback and made some epic changes that will hopefully grow my listener numbers. Listen now to hear what's new for "History from Southwest Virginia" and let me know what you think if you get the chance ..read more

In lieu with National Women's History Month as it comes to a close, this 20-minute episode looks at the last child born to the 10th US President of the United States, John Tyler. Margret Pearl Tyler Ellis is her name and she resided in the quiet Southwest region of Virginia for nearly 10 years, unknown. Not much of her story, while residing here was told... until now ..read more

The City of Roanoke is home to many famous people, some of whom were black. Let’s look at some of the many known or unknown people who had made a difference in the history of this once railroad city ..read more

A ..read more