Appomattox County

The fighting was so incredibly close to civilian life that a Confederate cannonball actually crashed right through the kitchen fireplace of a 46-year-old farmer named Wilmer McLean.

Deciding that having an artillery war in his backyard was terrible for his family's safety, McLean packed up all his belongings and moved 120 miles south to a new, quiet, isolated home in Appomattox County.

A perfectly rational, statistically sound decision to seek geographic safety away from the strategic corridors of Washington, D.C. and Richmond.

Right.

So she started this program, and it's really great because across the country, what it is is that there are local partners.

United Way happens to be the local partner for Central Virginia, the counties, Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford, and Campbell counties.

So for all of Bedford County, we're the local partner.

So these local partners across the country will register children.

Um, but if you are out in the country or out in the plains or out in, you know, like remote Montana or the Dakotas or, or some place that they might not have really, really good cell signals.

And quite frankly, uh, surprisingly, there are places in Bedford County, Amherst County, Appomattox County that, that you...

There are, there's no cell signals.

Uh, that, uh, it, it's hard to get, it's hard to get broadband internet, uh, into these places.

And, uh, And that's part of the reason why I am where I am now.

I've actually bought a farm and moved to Appomattox County, Virginia, in two very historical areas.

One where a bunch of Civil War battles were held, and the other where we live now is where the Civil War ended.

But central Virginia here is where I'm at now, 150 miles back to Fredericksburg.

I think that's good advice to wrap up our conversation on with that.

We appreciate it.

Appomattox County, Virginia farmer, Glenn Dye.

Thanks for joining us here on agriculture of America, Glenn, and wishing you a safe and a happy rest of a harvest season in the year.

Uh, absolutely.

Um, you know, I want to follow up on the data center issue for a second because, as you say, there's, uh, you know, I'm glad to hear you talk about the, uh, the local control of this, but one of the other issues in Virginia is the power in these data centers, right? So you got a couple of projects, uh, one which I think would start in Appomattox County, Virginia, stretch all the way up to, uh, uh, Culpeper, Virginia, uh, and would, uh, basically put, you know, uh, high, uh, power transmission lines, uh, you know, for more than 100 miles.

This is an issue I know in rural Virginia.

Um, I've got, uh, friends and neighbors who are impacted by this.

Mm-hmm

... just came to my district, and one of the stops he made was Appomattox County to look at the history-

Mm-hmm

... of how our country came back together.

And, you know, our history should be taught the good and the bad, and we've been up and down.

But the greatest country ever, we've lifted more people out of poverty, given more people freedom and opportunity than any country in history.

Our country came back together after the Civil War in Appomattox County, right in the middle of my district.

We have so much more that unites us than divides us.