by Neil Richard
Photos by Rebecca Gamble
As a fan of history, I find hearing the stories more compelling than memorizing the dates. As a young child, my father dragged me through countless battlefields and historic towns where I did my best to occupy myself in a time without cell phones. Sometimes this meant taking photos of statues. Or sleeping. Or reading a book. But when I could participate in the Boston Tea Party by throwing a bundle of "tea" overboard in Boston, I found history a little more interesting.
Since then, my love of history has grown. Mrs. Ashton and Mr. Picariello, high school teachers, and my college professor Dr. Joseph Laythe, helped feed that love. But there were stumbling blocks along the way. Mr. Pekarek in high school and Professor Hickey in college gave me a tough time. I didn't know it then but it was for my own good. After all these years, my love of history has become even stronger. But more focused. I don't care that much about the dates. Or the buildings. Or the cities and countries. It's the people. The people that make the history. The people that lived the history. The people that told the stories we know and love today.
Or in the case of the Smoot Library, the stories we didn't know.
The Lewis Egerton Smoot Memorial Library has been a cornerstone of King George County for the past 50 years. But it's more than just a building. It's more than just the books that sit on the shelves inside. This Library has a history that goes beyond the past 50 years. It has connections to Presidents, famous buildings, and, in some cases, it's tied to some not so pleasant points in history.
