By STEPHANIE A. JAMES
Staff Writer
A dedication service was held last Tuesday at Holiday Lake 4-H Educational Center after the site received a Virginia Historical Highway Marker.
The marker was unveiled among a crowd of people who attended the dedication service.
The marker is situated near a 4-H sign adjacent to the pool area on the property.
The service boasted several speakers, including State Senator Frank Ruff, Director Virginia Cooperative Extension, VA Tech Edwin Jones, Assistant State Forester Ron Jenkins, Field Representative for U.S. Congressman Robert Hurt Paul Hoffman, Capt. Robert Mawyer of Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
At the conclusion of the dedication service, stories of years past were told.
"We are very satisfied. We have a treasure here that a lot of people are not aware of. The fact that it is a historic district it will continue over past years." Holiday Lake 4-H Educational Center President Preston Willson said by phone.
There are a number of qualifications for a site to receive a historic marker.
The 4-H Center's site qualified because the property is associated with events with a broad pattern of history, and it also possesses high artistic value.
The site dates back 61 years ago when the first 4-H camp was established in 1940 and a year later it officially became a camping ground.
The 4-H Camp is the second-oldest 4-H camp in Virginia.
In the late 1930s, the Works Progress Administration built the lake on the property.
It is the only state-owned lake in the state that is in "good" use, said 4-H President Preston Willson.
When built by the WPA workers, the Mess Hall, now the Rachel F. Lawson Dining Center, was the largest building at the Camp. It was and still is the largest interior gathering area in the 4-H Educational Center.
The site consists of over 30 buildings that comprise a scenic wooded landscape.
It includes a dining center, 15 cabins and an associated cabin site, a girl's bunk house and boy's bunk house (two contributing buildings), a boy's bath house and girl's bath house, main office building,
According to the marker, the 4-H Education Center is surrounded by the Appomattox-Buckingham State Forest, and adjacent to Holliday Lake State Park, the 1937 rustic-style building originally housed WPA workers who built the State Park and took part in reforestation of the area.
In 1974, the site became Holiday Lake 4-H Center, which is adjacent to the 150-acre Holliday Lake State Park.
Located in Appomattox County, the 4-H Center is 14 miles northeast of the town of Appomattox.
There are different activities and summer camps at the 4-H Center.
The center hosts different workshops such as astronomy, geology, forest investigation, wildlife study, wildflower investigation and lake ecology among other topics.
In addition to workshops, the site has classes as well, including duck decoy carving and Flintlock rifle building.