A sold-out courthouse is the norm for the Carroll County Historical Society whenever it presents “Thunder in the Hills,” but the group entertained an extra special guest Saturday.
Now in its fifth season since its debut 12 years ago, “Thunder in the Hills” and the Carroll County Historical Society were presented with a letter of commendation Saturday on behalf of Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares. Making the event even more special was the fact it was read by Miyares’ Community Liaison Officer, Carroll County native Matt Hall.
“We are privileged to have with us today Mr. Matthew Hall, a community liaison officer for the Attorney General of Virginia’s office. We are so pleased because he has a letter of commendation,” said Shelby Inscore-Puckett of the Carroll County Historical Society. “This group has worked so hard. I cannot tell you the hours that they have spent and some of these guys have been here for every one of these plays (over the past five seasons).”
Hall said he wanted to say thank you on behalf of Attorney General Miyares.
“This is a true honor for me. I grew up in Carroll County and to come back home on behalf of the Attorney General is just a humbling experience,” Hall said. “And I really do want to thank my parents, who are here, for giving me a chance to do this.”
Hall then read the letter from Miyares aloud:
“Dear Carroll County Historical Society,
Congratulations on your most recent production of “Thunder in the Hills.” I deeply admire your willingness to preserve the history of our great Commonwealth.
Your production of “Thunder in the Hills” provides a living history of the J. Sidna Allen Courthouse Tragedy. This horrific tragedy continues to be the largest loss of life in a courtroom in the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia. I commend your historical research efforts and your work to produce an accurate depiction of what occurred on the fateful day of March 14, 1912.
My administration’s motto is “Preserving the American Miracle.” Preserving the history of Carroll County and the Commonwealth is of great importance, and I congratulate you on another successful performance of “Thunder in the Hills.”
Sincerely,
Jason S. Miyares
Attorney General of Virginia.”
Inscore-Puckett reminded audience members that the Carroll County Historical Society also opens the Allen House in Fancy Gap up to the public the first weekend of each month for tours. The group has put in a tremendous amount of time in preserving the house. Frank Levering, local playwright and author of “Thunder in the Hills,” told the audience this may well be the last time this group puts on the play “because everybody like me is getting long in the tooth.”
Levering called it an amazing experience performing “Thunder in the Hills” over the last 12 years since the centennial of the shootout. It came out of humble beginnings, and quite frankly could have gone much different if not for a couple of key people.
“Shelby will remember that first weekend we did the play in 2012, we had two sheriff’s deputies posted out there in the hall because the local authorities were actually worried trouble might break out and they wanted a display of law enforcement at the courthouse just to make sure there wasn’t trouble between descendants of the Allen family and descendants of some of the folks who lost their lives in the shootout,” Levering said. “That made your blood run cold, seeing those deputies out there, and it certainly sobered up folks who walked through those doors like you just did. I think it gave them a sense of history. Even though it was 100 years after the shootout, this was a reminder that here in Carroll County after 100 years there is still some really hard feelings. I didn’t quite know what I was getting into.”
The late Randall Gravley, former mayor of Hillsville, asked Levering many years ago when he was going to write a play on the courthouse tragedy. This went on for several years until the centennial rolled around.
“And I thought well, if I am ever going to do it, this is the time. And there were a of number people, I could certainly count them on one hand, who came to me and said this is a terrible idea. You really shouldn’t be doing this. And a couple of them were descendants of the Allen Family,” Levering said. “And over the course of these 12 years, this is our fifth season doing this particular play. A large number of the Allen descendants of the Allens have come to this play from all over the place. And descendants who were affected by the tragedy have come. And in this play we have a direct descendant of a juror killed in the shootout, Augustus Fowler. David Fowler is a direct descendant and he is playing Augustus Fowler in the play. Victor Allen is a descendant of the Allens. About Victor, this young fellow was a key guy in sort of crossing the lines and making people accept the play because Victor agreed to play Sheriff Webb in the play, the enemy, and when Victor did that everybody said, ‘Okay, this is going to be okay.’”
Allen Worrell can be reached at (276) 779-4062 or on X@AWorrellTCN
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