Page News & Courier
Heritage and Heraldry
Anniversary date targeted for Summers-Koontz roadside marker
Article of August 20, 1998
While a lonely graying monolith marks the site of the Summers-Koontz
execution in Shenandoah County, there is nothing in Page, except the mention in books, regarding the incident that took the lives of the two young men. With that in mind, the Summers-Koontz Roadside marker fund has been established to erect a marker to be located along Route 340 in Page County, somewhere central to the respective grave sites of Summers and Koontz.
Contact has already been established with the Department of Historic Resources in Richmond, Virginia to obtain relevant information to erect the roadside marker. In accordance with guidelines established by the Historical Marker Program, the marker will be remain the property of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Beside the title and text, the marker will bear only the identification number assigned to it by the Department of Historic Resources, the seal of the Commonwealth, and the following signature line: "Department of Historic Resources, [date]." The name of the sponsoring individual or organization cannot be included. The marker will be silver-painted cast aluminum with black uppercase and lowercase letters.
Current objectives are to raise the funds necessary by January 1999 in order to raise the marker on the 134th anniversary of the incident on Sunday, June 27, 1999. Aproximately $1,200 is needed to cast the marker. Raffle tickets will be sold to help in funding the effort beginning July 18, 1998 for a drawing to be held on the last day of the Page County Heritage Festival in October. Prizes include: 1st Prize) The Joe Umble Civil War art print entitled An Affectionate Farewell. 2nd Prize) Five books of the Virginia Regimental Histories Series that include Page County units - these books include Robert Moore's Danville, Eighth Star New Market and Dixie Artillery, Rick Armstrong's 7th Virginia Cavalry, John Divine's 35th Battalion Virginia Cavalry, Terrence Lowry's 10th Virginia Infantry and Lowell Reidenbaugh's 33rd Virginia Infantry. 3rd Prize) A one-year subscription to Blue and Gray Magazine.
A savings account has also been created expressly for the purpose of the marker has been established at the Farmers & Merchants Bank in Stanley. Contributions may be mailed directly to the bank at the following address:
The Summers-Koontz Roadside Marker Fund
Savings Account #136719
c/o Farmers & Merchants Bank of Stanley
P.O. Box 10
Stanley, Virginia 22851
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