By Cate Wachholz
Bob Hopkins, Camille Reed and Eric Wilson showed up to tell their stories for “Our American
Story,” America250’s effort to document life in the Shenandoah Valley to commemorate the
nation’s birthday next year.
The three area residents shared their experiences as “everyday Americans” in Virginia that
America250’s producers want to capture.
America250’s team stopped in Lexington on Sept. 17 in an Airstream trailer that is used to
transport recording equipment to collect residents’ stories. The project is focusing on small
towns rich in history and community leaders and citizens with a diverse range of life
experiences.
The production crew plans to travel to all 50 states and U.S. territories over the next year.
The team set up on East Washington Street in Lexington near the Rockbridge Historical Society Museum and the Lexington Visitor Center. Later, the crew moved to the Natural Bridge State Park.
Hopkins, a Vietnam War veteran and retired member of the U.S. Air Force, has lived in
Lexington since 1997. Hopkins was asked to participate by the co-chairs of the regional
Rockbridge-VA250 Committee.
“I do a lot here in Rockridge County with veterans,” he said. “I’m in the VFW, and I’m in the
Military Officers Association, and I’m a Vietnam veteran myself,” he said. “I guess they wanted
to have a veteran be interviewed today … and so I said, okay.”
Hopkins and his wife moved to Lexington after they attended a Parents’ Weekend at Virginia
Military Institute when his nephew was a cadet. He said they fell in love with the Shenandoah
Valley. Two years later, they left Las Vegas for Lexington.
“I think I’m an American dream standing here,” Hopkins said, “because I didn’t come from a
wealthy family. But I had a good family.”
Reed and her family live in Clifton Forge. She and her sons are part of the Fincastle Company, a group of historical interpreters who re-enact military and civilian life in the 18th century, especially the time of the American Revolutionary War.
She said she saw on Facebook that America250 was stopping in the area.
“I just want to talk about the African American experience,” Reed said. “I think a lot of people,
when they think of reenacting, they think of old white men. But there’s a lot of other different
groups that did reenact, that contributed to the American Revolution as well.”
America250’s team interviewed Wilson under Natural Bridge. “So, I talked about education,
raising a kid in an educational town, the nature of it,” he said. “I did my time in big cities, that
kind of stuff.”
Wilson, the director of the Rockbridge Historical Society and co-chair of the Regional
Rockbridge-VA250 Committee, is an expert on the region’s history. But America250’s
producers wanted to hear more about his personal experience of living in Virginia.
“The questions were like, when people think of Virginia, what do you think people think of?” he said.
“Our American Story” launched on July 28 in Washington. Congress established the U.S.
Semiquincentennial Commission in 2016 to plan and organize the celebration of the 250th
anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Select stories will be shared with the public through collaboration with documentary filmmakers, broadcast outlets and digital platforms, such as YouTube and Instagram. Some of the conversations also will be preserved at the Library of Congress.
Visitor Center and Rockbridge Historical Society. The crew strategically chose a spot with heavy foot traffic and historical significance. Photo by Cate Wachholz.
Between Sept. 15 and 18, the Airstream trailer traveled through Virginia, stopping in
Winchester, Harrisonburg, Lexington and Roanoke. The “Our American Story” team’s members
take about two to three weeks to plan where they are going in the state and stay for about a week.
“For Virginia, for example, we have planned the route from (Interstate) 81, starting in
Winchester, all the way down to Roanoke,” said Katie Childress Miller, the operations manager
for the “Our American Story” tour.
Miller said they prefer to set up in places with a lot of foot traffic to pique people’s curiosity
enough that they will stop by, hear about the project, and be inspired to share their stories.
“We ask people to share their story of their families and how they became part of the
community. But also, what does the American spirit mean to you?” she said.
Noah Gray, executive producer of “Our American Story,” said he and his team of storytellers,
documentary filmmakers and former journalists work to find people with interesting stories to
interview.
“Some of those people might be former presidents or celebrities, and some of those people might just be your average citizen,” he said.
Gray said he and his team focus on general themes in each interview, such as innovation, hard
work and perseverance. But, he said, every interview is different.
“There’re so many amazing stories in America,” he said. “I wish I could tell all of them. But it’s
just such an honor to be able to travel the country and to speak to people in a way that is not
captured every day.”
The next stop, beginning Oct. 6, is Arkansas, where the team will look for more people to tell
their stories.