August 9 through the years

100 Years ago – 1925

 The cost to subscribe to the Henry Bulletin, which published on Tuesdays and Fridays, was $2 per year ($36.55 in today’s dollars), $1.25 for 6 months or 75 cents for 3 months.

75 years ago – 1950

Danville contractor John W. Daniel submitted the low bid for the construction of 16 new cabins at Fairy Stone State Park. The price of $137,524 included roads, electricity and water for each of the cabins. Work was set to begin in the fall, to be finished by spring, and would make a total of 25 cabins.

50 years ago – 1975

Deborah Ann Joyce, 19, was crowned Miss Martinsville-Henry County. The pageant was held in the auditorium of Martinsville High School. She was a student at the North Carolina School of Arts.

John D. Epperly was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association in Montreal, Canada. He was an attorney with Broaddus, Epperly and Broaddus. He had been practicing law in Martinsville since 1947.

25 years ago - 2000

A new highway marker commemorating Fort Trial was erected alongside U.S. 220 at Bassett Forks. The fort protected settlers from attacks by hostile Indians. It replaced a marker erected in 1974 about a mile away which was hard to read. The fort was built in 1756 near Beaver Creek on the bank of the Smith River, 6 miles northwest of Martinsville. It had square walls about 16 feet high, made of 20-foot split timers. A frame house was in the center of the fort. It had 6-foot-high walls filled with stones and dirt.

— Information from museum records and the Henry Bulletin and the Martinsville Bulletin.