Cumberland: First for Independence >> About this site

About Cumberland: First for Independence!

The Cumberland: First for Independence web site is an electronic community network, and an initiative of the Technology Opportunities Program, Getting Rural Virginia Connected. Funded by the U S Department of Commerce, it is a project of Virginia Tech, the Blacksburg Electronic Village, and Virginia Cooperative Extension with support of local government. The initiative seeks to connect citizens with available resources and create new opportunities for small businesses. Community organizations/churches can utilize web page design and hosting services as a part of the initiative.

The “electronic village” can help solve one critical issue in Cumberland County – communication across the county. It can connect residents to each other, community businesses, resources, and eventually, the world.

The name was picked after a selection process, and it was the creative idea of Jovan Petty, an 8th grade student at Cumberland Middle School. Jovan received a $100 gift card donated by the Farmville Wal-Mart Store.

Jovan’s idea for the name was based on local historic facts concerning the Colonies Break with England, as written by M. K. Vaughan, and published in the "Crucible and Cornerstone" A History of Cumberland County, Virginia May 1969:

When it seemed as though the crack in the British Empire was widening into a full break, Cumberland was one of the first to recognize it by forming a Committee of Safety, which held its first meeting February 18, 1775 (Vaughan 9). On April 22, 1776, from the balcony of Effingham Tavern, Carter H. Harrison read the Committee's instructions to the county delegates to the state convention:

"We therefore, your constituents, instruct you positively to declare for an Independency, that you solemnly abjure any allegiance to His Brittanic Majesty and bid him a good night forever…."

This was the first positive call for American Independence issued by a governmental body. The Virginia Convention decided to follow Cumberland's lead, and this resulted in the Virginia Resolutions which were presented to Continental Congress and embodied in the Declaration of Independence (Vaughan 10).

A team (the Technology Leadership Team – TLT) of local residents gives direction to the web page design and development. Anyone who would to be involved in this special project is invited to contact Van Petty at the Cumberland Extension Office at (804) 492-4390 for more information.