ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 12, 1996 TAG: 9606120025
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PEMBROKE
SOURCE: CLAYTON BRADDOCK STAFF WRITER
Recreation, Virginia history and family fun will be joined in a new park purchased by Pembroke on Monday.
The 1.1-acre parcel, to be named the A.H. Snidow Park, was purchased from Margaret Snidow, widow of Charles Dent and daughter of the late A.H. Snidow.
The new park - named in memory of the person who owned the land the longest in the Snidow family - eventually will provide a new shallow-draft boat ramp on the New River, picnic tables and other public recreation facilities.
The park - in the shadows of the newly named Castle Rock Bridge and the adjacent old steel-span bridge - will be connected to a 25-acre wooded lot.
Pembroke already owns the larger lot, where hiking trails, nature trails and wooden bridges already are in use, and an automobile parking lot is planned, Town Manager Randi Lemmon said. The two lots will be combined for a wide range of recreational activities, he said.
Both parcels are near the Treasure Island Playground, which recently opened and is drawing crowds from across Giles County and beyond.
Pembroke bought the Snidow property for $15,000, which is $1,500 less than the value established by a Virginia Department of Transportation appraiser.
Many sources provided money so that the town could buy the land, including $1,000 from an advocate of the project - the National Committee for the New River - and $2,500 from American Electrical Power Co. No town funds were spent on the project.
The land was part of the original Horseshoe Farm, granted by the king of England more than 230 years ago to Col. Christian Snidow. It was part of a large grant that encompassed the New River's large horseshoe bend, Lemmon said.
Pembroke will build a fishing-canoeing-johnboat access point and picnic area on the 1.1 acre park beginning in the fall, Lemmon said. Construction will come from grant funds and donated material. More than $38,000 remains in a grant from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, with an additional $5,000 from Hoechst-Celanese Corp., as part of a grant awarded to Giles County for development of recreational facilities.
Pembroke expects to open the park next spring, Lemmon said.
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Map by staff. color.by CNB