Return to the Land

It is not clear who inhabited the Valley after Kimberline but available information suggests William Munsey was patented the Hollybrook farm area in 1782 that was conveyed to Henry Harmon Sr. in 1790. Harmon was German and had moved here from North Carolina in 1775. He became known as the grea t Indian fighter “Old Skygusta”. One of his grandsons, Colonel William Neal Harmon, farmed the land until 1898. 2 As will be shown later in the book, deeds of transfer were discovered of land being sold into our Miller family. Originally the land was sold to William Rice Miller, son of Charles T. Miller, and later deeded to Charles upon the death of William Rice by his widow, Lydia Hearn Miller. The valley now is greatly changed from the early 1800’s but still possesses its tranquility of scenery protected by the ever-existing sheltering mountains. Some of the descendants of the original Millers, such as myself, still live there watching over the land that gave birth to us.

2 Bland County Centennial Corporation. History of Bland County (Virginia). Radford, Virginia: Commonwealth Press, 1961, pp. 86-87.

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