Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 27, 1995 TAG: 9502270017
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
There's one to Lot Cary - a slave who later gained his freedom in the early 19th century; another one in Jamestown to honor the first Africans brought to America; and a national one to Booker T. Washington.
Yet, none of these is as old, or as anonymous, as the 141-year-old obelisk that honors a man who died trying to save the lives of others in Rockbridge County.
That man was Frank Padget.
His tale began on the Maury River on Jan. 21, 1854.
A boat was being hauled up the river by horses when its towline snapped. The boat, which was carrying some 45 people (34 of whom were slaves) went rushing down the river's rapids out of control.
Padget, with a crew of five, volunteered to try to save them.
He rescued all but one man, who was stranded on a rock. When Padget went back to get the man, his boat hit a rock, and Padget went under. It was the last time Frank Padget was seen alive.
Alongside the James River on CSX Railroad property, covered by weeds and bird droppings and flanked by trees and overgrown bushes sits Frank Padget's monument.
Although the 5-foot stone has been there for more than a century, few people know it's there. And a 1993 state law, which made it illegal to trespass on railroad property, deters those who are aware of its existence.
But the legal threat is only part of the problem.
The monument also is inaccessible. Once on CSX property, there are no directional signs, and it's about a half-hour treacherous hike over a rocky surface to reach it.
But thanks to retired naval officer Tom Kastner, the monument's days of obscurity may soon be over.
Kastner is lobbying hard to uproot the monument from the spot where Capt. Edward Echols had it erected more than a century ago.
When Echols commissioned the monument there was wisdom to his judgment for locale. After all, it stood alongside the James River canal - the day's equivalent of Interstate 81. Years later the canal was filled in, and tracks were laid by C&O Railroad.
Little changed in the years that followed. The monument was still in a high-visability spot. From their train windows, passengers could see the monument and be reminded of the man who risked his life to save others.
But when passenger service became but a memory to CSX, so did the monument, which was out of sight and out of mind.
"Hardly anyone visits [the monument],'' Kastner said. ``I know of at least 220 people who know about it only because I told them. And that leaves a large number of people that don't."
Enter Bill Trout, president of the American Canal Society. Years ago he saw the need for better access to the Padget monument.
He went to Richmond's city council with a proposal: Make a copy of the monument and put it in Richmond next to the Headman Statue, which commemorates another black waterman. They rejected the idea, saying Padget's monument "looked too much like a headstone," Trout said.
Trout then scouted for another spot. This time he settled on a stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway, where a restored canal lock had been built. But that plan never got off the ground either.
Undaunted, Trout took rubbing paper and a crayon and made a copy of all four sides of the monument. He pasted the imprints onto a Styrofoam block, and voila! - he had a copy of the monument to display around Richmond. Its latest venue was the state library in RIchmond about a year ago.
"It's a very important story,'' Trout said. ``It shouldn't be lost sitting there miles from where anyone can see it."
That's why he's hoping this go round will be different.
"After several years of trying to figure out what to do with [the monument], Kastner finally found something that's the best thing," Trout said. "Instead of just having articles saying it's out there, it's time to actually do something about it."
\ Kastner's plan for the monument started coming together in 1993.
"When the legislature passed the law making it illegal [to go on railroad property], I said, `Let's cease talking about it and go get it done,''' said Kastner, who has lived in Rockbridge County for about six years.
And he did.
As Kastner saw it, there were two problems: Frank Padget's memorial sitting in obscurity, and a lack of recreational access to the James. There's access in Snowden and in Buchanan, but nowhere in between. He offered one solution: a Frank Padget Memorial Park, complete with a boat landing for recreational use.
Next, he picked the site - a breathtaking spot just overlooking the river's gorge. It's about two miles up the James River from where the monument currently is, and it's just beyond the site of the accident that made Padget famous.
The localities were his next stop. He got Glasgow's Town Council and Rockbridge County Supervisors to pass resolutions promising to share in the responsibility for the park's maintenance.
With those resolutions in hand, he went to the state level. He pleaded the monument's case to the Department of Historic Resources, and won.
"There's a real opportunity to take steps now so this story will not be forgotten again," said Bob Carter, historian for the Department of Historic Resources.
But the fight isn't over yet. There's one wrinkle left: CSX.
The railroad has not agreed to move the monument - the state hasn't approached the railroad yet - and the land Kastner wants for the park is CSX property.
However, the Game and Inland Fisheries Department may have inadvertently solved the latter issue for Kastner.
In late 1994, the department negotiated a deal with CSX to lease about two acres of CSX property for a boat landing, said Phil Lownes, assistant chief of the lands and engineering division of the department.
The department wanted to use the land to provide better recreational access to the James. So, it asked CSX for the land it owns just beyond the meeting of the Maury and James rivers.
The plot of land Game and Inland Fisheries may be leasing, and the land Kastner wants to relocate the monument to are one in the same.
Lownes promises that won't be a conflict.
"Once we get the land, we have no problem with the monument being relocated there," Lownes said.
But that's assuming the department gets the land - the contract with CSX hasn't been signed - and that Kastner and the department of Historic Resources get the monument.
Whatever happens, Carter said his department doesn't plan to give up.
"If this doesn't work, then there's possibility of moving the marker somewhere else... This is an important story in Virginia that people ought to know about," Carter said.
by CNB