Discover the history of Prince Edward County from several perspectives: through the county’s contributions to the civil rights movement, stories of students and exhibitions that bring together several eras. Add to that art and opportunities to spend time on the water. If you want to shape your stay around your own interests, you’ll find a range of themes here rather than a single common thread.
Civil Rights History from Multiple Perspectives
The Civil Rights Walking Tour is a two-mile, self-guided route to influential places and events connected with Prince Edward County’s contributions to the civil rights movement. Its 17 marked stops give the historical subject a clear structure. The tour offers a different approach from an exhibition: the story unfolds along a route, while an exhibition can bring together individual stories and eras.
The Robert Russa Moton Museum is a National Historic Landmark and is considered the birthplace of the student-led civil rights revolution in the United States. Its permanent exhibition, “The Moton School Story: Children of Courage,” tells the stories of students from Prince Edward whose experiences broadened Americans’ understanding of equality for all. The focus is therefore on the experiences of young people—a concrete complement to the broader history of the movement.
A county announcement dated January 22, 2025, introduced the exhibition “Celebrating Virginia’s History: A Look at Prince Edward County.” It describes interactive videos, artifacts and storytelling, and notes the county’s contributions during the American Revolution, the Civil War and the civil rights movement. The exhibition thus spans three distinct historical periods. Together with the walking tour and the students’ stories, it offers a multifaceted picture, without suggesting that all the offerings cover the same era or use the same approach to storytelling.
Art and Local History in Farmville
Farmville and its Historic District offer a perspective of their own. The district includes commercial, residential and industrial sections, with an illuminating collection of historic buildings. The northern section is particularly striking: it features a group of large warehouses dating from around the turn of the 20th century, reflecting the importance of the tobacco industry to Farmville’s economy. The buildings tell a story not just about architecture, but also about the role an industry played in the town’s development.
Also located in the Farmville Historic District is the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts, at the intersection of Third Street and Main Street, where US 460 and US 15 meet. The center is a shared forum for Longwood University students and faculty, as well as the people of South Central Virginia, to engage with visual art and its significance in everyday life. Its collection includes more than 100,000 works of art and design—from antiquity to the present day. Admission is free for everyone. The collection’s broad time span offers a different way to explore art history than looking at individual historic buildings.
On the Water and on the Golf Course
Farmville maintains the Farmville Blueway Paddle Trail for recreational canoeing and kayaking. The protected water corridor is four miles long: it begins at the eastern end of Wilck’s Lake, crosses the lake, enters Buffalo Creek and follows the Appomattox River to the take-out at Riverside Park. The route shows how the Blueway connects several bodies of water. Comparing paddling with history also lets you consider two different route formats: the two-mile, self-guided walking tour and the four-mile water trail.
For golf, the Manor Resort Golf Club is a specific option in Prince Edward County: the course has 18 holes and is PGA-sanctioned. Another event to consider is the annual Farmville Wine Festival, held at Riverside Park. If you’d like to include the festival in your travel plans, check the dates for your travel year.
Explore more destinations: Farmville, Tazewell, Frederick County, Winchester, Gloucester County, Russell, Pulaski County, Westmoreland County.
For the statewide travel overview: Virginia.
