Dear Editor:
I am writing this letter to voice my concern about the proposed destruction of the old Accomac Primary School. It seems a tragedy to raze a building in Accomack County that has significant historic value to create a new structure that will not withstand the test of time. There are so many vacant buildings in our county that are in a state of serious disrepair and should be eliminated, so I ask myself why would the school board opt to destroy a beautiful historic structure that brings credibility to the past architecture of the Eastern Shore of Virginia?
In the words of John Ruskin, “When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight or for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think as we lay stone on stone that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, ‘See! – This our father did for us.’”
Please reconsider the demolition of this beautiful structure that honors past workmanship and the pride former students took in attending this school. Let’s preserve our history and renovate the building to its formal glory.
Virginia A. Schneider,
Bloxom
