January 2024 Intern Insights: Chance Cheek

Chance Cheek

Chance Cheek, MAAV intern, shares experiences in visiting some monuments in person.

After wrapping up a previous project before winter break, MAAV’s project coordinator, Lauren, and I began to discuss the possibility of a project for me to take on over winter break. Tossing around different ideas, we finally settled on the idea of a monument tour. When we first came up with the idea of a monument tour, I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into, though the excitement of traveling and seeing new sights carried an allure. After spending so much time working with MAAV and hearing about the sorts of monuments people wanted, it seemed time for me to see what was out there. Lauren suggested reaching out to one of the other interns, Raegan, who was working on our monument audit for suggestions on places to visit. So, with school out for winter break and a little bit of anxiety about what was to come, I set out on my adventure. After my first two visits, though, I started to grasp at larger lessons for MAAV’s journey.

The first lesson I learned was that the location of a monument matters almost as much as the story it’s telling. For example, the trek to the B-25 plaque, which honors those who lost their lives in the crash on the side of Sharp Top Mountain, is a rough hike off the regular trail.; However, it serves a distinct purpose in that it helps preserve what was left behind. At the expense of easy accessibility, it projects its story with more substance as you descend past boulders and plane parts. After reading more about it, the hike also made me reflect on what it must have been like to be the firefighters blazing the trail into an unprecedented situation. This public display at a central location conveys the importance and public support of this monument.

I also visited Standing Tall and Proud, a monument located at the Tazewell County CourtHouse. This figure demonstrates how great monuments often tell a distinct story. Both the Booker T. Washington monument (located in Hardy, Virginia) and Standing Tall and Proud proved extremely striking due to the amount of storytelling that was integrated into the monument. In the case of the Booker T. Washington Monument, this was exemplified in its location on the former plantation ground and dedication to demonstrating the realities of his life through interactive media that uplifts his success. Standing Tall and Proud engaged me through its representation of humanity and the diversity of a person’s life stories, which all culminated in displaying the importance of community. This is not to say, however, that good monuments only tell personal stories and thus must be about individuals. Sunnyside Toms Creek Memorial Park, a community storytelling project about miners’, skilled workers’, and veterans’ experiences and sacrifices greatly captivated me, especially since I only had to look up past the trees to see the hills in which they lived, worked, and sacrificed for.

After wrapping up the project and starting to reflect on all the monuments I visited, I found that diversity in presentation creates more lasting impressions. While the DHR’s Highway Marker program will always hold a special place in my heart for all the stories they have been able to tell, they can feel a bit lacking at times, just like the statue and plaque combo can be. Luckily, in my tour there was a vast variety of presentation styles used by each monument, and even when some of the more common presentation styles were used, often things adjoining them like the plane parts of the B-25, or the interactive media of the Booker T. Washington Monument made lasting memories.

Sharp Top Crash: Photo credit Chance Cheek

Standing Tall and Proud Statue: Photo credit Chance Cheek

Overall, I enjoyed the monument tour and the variety of stories and places I visited. Going forward, I am excited to harness these experiences and lessons and implement them into my work and life. It has really changed the way I view monuments and how we capture, preserve, and spread stories to our next generations.