Spring 2025 Newsletter
New Exhibit Space
Any day now, we will begin the work for our new exhibit space. The first step is to demolish most of this “unsightly” shed behind our museum. We will then redo and replace with a beautiful space to hold many historic West Point items. We are still 25% away from our fundraising goal. Please consider helping us financially with this project. Thank you.
Terminal Tea Time
The Terminal Hotel is one of the most famous historic landmarks in West Point history. We hope you can join us on April 5 to hear more about the local railroad, The Terminal Hotel and the involvement of the Dooley family. Dr. Mary Lynn Bayliss is the expert on The Dooleys of Richmond and a best selling author about their history.
Military Exhibits
With the help of a grant from Dominion Energy as well as help from the John Harper family, we will soon be refreshing our military room exhibits. There will be a separate part of the exhibit devoted to John Harper a local WP hero who was a WW2 prisoner of war. Stay tuned for more information.
HSWP Board of Directors
During the March meeting of the board of directors of HSWP, the 2025 officers and board were named and approved:
- President, Edwin Malechek;
- Vice President, Sandra Willis;
- Vice President and Treasurer, Terry Hall;
- Secretary, Levi Jones.
Elected to the board were:
- Debbie Ball,
- Ty Bland,
- Jill Dalton,
- Sam Drewry,
- Karena Funkhouser,
- Katie Gibson,
- Donald O’Connor,
- Dale Seward, and
- Jim Vadas.
Two new board members were also added:
- Ann Byrne and
- Dawn Geron Greggs.
Joanne Wright remains as administrative assistant and our MVP.
New Members for 2025
The Historical Society of West Point, Virginia welcomes the following new members in 2025: R. J. Cole and Family, Jim Fostek, Teresa Bohannon, Kay Lawson, Paul Sniegon, Dawn Geron Greggs, and Rachel Wills! We would like to invite you to renew your membership or join if you are not a member. Dues are still only $25 a year for individual, $35 for a family and $100 for a business. Your dues help us share the history of our town.
History Tidbit
West Point was incorporated in 1870 but the town existed long before that. In the 1650s, John West who was one of the early Colonial Governors of Virginia sold his plantation in Yorktown and patented over 3000 acres on the Pamunkey and Mattaponi rivers. He called it West Point. For much of the 19th century, it was called Delaware town in honor of his brother but then reverted back to West Point. Stop by the HSWP museum to learn more about the West family.
Odds and Ends for 2025
We awaiting the arrival of our spring brick order and will place another order in August. This is a great way to honor a loved one. We are working on two projects for 2025. One project is the addition of historical markers around our town and the other is the offering of HSWP plaques for homes in our historic district. Stay tuned for more information on both of these projects. We will also continue sending out additional chapters to Bill Palmer’s book, Untold Tales of Old West Point.
Candid/Guidestar Award
The Historical Society of West Point has been awarded the Gold Seal from Candid/ Guidestar for 2025. This is an honor and recognizes HSWP as a worthy non-profit to support financially.
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