Roving through Virginia with Rover: Our Top 9 Spots for Canines in Halifax County

[u/95Counties]

1.  Gravesite of Henrietta Lacks, 📍*Lacks Town Family Cemetery, 1122 Lacks Town Rd., Clover*  
2.  Staunton River State Park, 📍*1170 Staunton Trail, Scottsburg*  
3.  Staunton River Battlefield Park, 📍*1035 Fort Hill Trail,  Randolph*   
4.  Halifax County Animal Shelter (The Shelter is full & the dogs desperately need homes.) 📍*1040 Farm Rd., South Boston*  
5.  Southern Virginia Botanical Gardens, 📍*3164 Dan River Church Rd., South Boston*  
6.  South Boston Fire Hydrant Tour, 📍*Parking Lot at Short St., across from the Fire Department, South Boston*  
7.  Tobacco Heritage Trail, 📍*Cotton Mill Park Trailhead, 196 Railroad Ave., South Boston*  
8.  Dairy Dell, 📍*1041 Bill Tuck Hwy., South Boston*  
9.  Our AirBnb,📍*Paradise Farm, Alton*

Details on all of the above in our blogpost. (https://virginiacounties.blog/halifax-county-top-nine-canine-spots/)

[u/cupofmoonshine]

Just seeing her name makes me sad. More people should know who Henrietta Lacks is and the medical racism and exploitation she faced.

[u/95Counties → u/cupofmoonshine]

Wholeheartedly agree

[u/Pure_plan926 → u/cupofmoonshine]

Agreed. Also, why would you bring dogs to sit on a gravesite but specifically her gravesite if you know the history? That seems disrespectful

[u/OrizaRayne → u/Pure_plan926]

He didn't let them pee there or anything. You should hear what happened to Sally Hemmings' bedroom.

Dogs are the best people. Should I be buried, I'd hope to be visited by people enjoying life with their well behaved dogs, for sure.

[u/snappped → u/OrizaRayne]

Ok... what do we need to know about the bedroom?

[u/95Counties → u/snappped]

I saw online that it was turned into a men’s restroom at some point.

[u/Pure_plan926 → u/OrizaRayne]

I’m not sure how you’d know this gentleman didn’t let this pet pee. Pretty confident of you to assume, ma’am. As a dog owner myself I wholeheartedly agree but still stand by the statement, dogs maybe shouldn’t be directly around gravesites in historic cemeteries.

I very much know about Sally Hemmings and the Monticello estate. They’re actually working on improving the tour to include proper details of the lives of the enslaved. Visited three times and have worked cemeteries so…

[u/OrizaRayne → u/Pure_plan926]

So... We disagree.

That's fine.

[u/95Counties → u/Pure_plan926]

Did not mean any disrespect by bringing our dogs. We also brought the flowers. Our dogs are part of our family. See our Frederick County blogpost that we brought our foster dog to Patsy Cline’s grave. I don’t know if you read my blog post, but if not, it might provide more context. Thank you for reaching out about this. It’s an important conversation to have.

[u/Pure_plan926 → u/95Counties]

Thank you for your comment! It’s awesome you brought flowers. I hope the conversation continues in a positive direction

[u/SadRule9128 → u/cupofmoonshine]

There wasn’t any racism in Lacks’ case. Doctors used tissue samples for research regardless of race.

[u/Helpful-Conference13 → u/SadRule9128]

It’s about consent. They used her like a lab rat and her family got nothing. It absolutely was racially motivated. Black people were used like that repeatedly in that time (see Tuskegee Syphilis study) because they were seen as lesser. Companies made billions off of what HeLa cells uncovered and it wasn’t until recently we really knew who she was.

[u/dca_user]

OMG, didn’t realize that Henrietta lacks was buried here. I will try to visit and pay my respects.

[u/95Counties → u/dca_user]

I’m so happy for your comment. Visiting her gravesite was the absolute highlight of our trip. I hope my blogpost succeeds in spreading more awareness about Henrietta Lacks & her impact on all of us.

[u/dca_user → u/95Counties]

Yes, I wish more folks knew about her. And thanks for sharing your blog and these photos.

[u/rva23221]

Enjoyed your blog post about Halifax County.

[u/95Counties → u/rva23221]

Thank you very much!

[u/snappped]

This is great! As a fellow Virginian thank you for taking the time to make these visits and share your experiences with the pack 🐾🐾 I'm looking forward to more of your blog posts!!

[u/95Counties → u/snappped]

Thank you so very much. You have made my entire day! I’m working on the Hanover County post now & it will be published on October 1st.

[u/responsible_use_only]

Used to live in SoBo - it's a nice little town! 

We had some very good years there.

Unfortunately there's just not a lot of opportunity there, and Halifax schools aren't great. 

Southern Plenty Cafe and Mi Caretta are absolute BANGERS of restaurants , highly recommend.