Preston Memorial Campaign Needs Your Help!
Some checks and pledges have been received from chapter members to help meet our chapter’s $40,000 commitment to Botetourt County to help build a handsome memorial to Colonel William Preston at the county’s new visitor center location at Greenfield, but Treasurer Fulton Galer, 5030 Woodmont Drive, SW Roanoke, VA 24018, would welcome your generous contribution to the Preston Memorial Campaign (and/or a three-year pledge) at any time. Such contributions are tax deductible. As well, they are an expression of your support for the current major project of your SAR chapter. Please consider sending a check earmarked for this patriotic project today.
The Preston monument's design by Hill Studios has a compass rose at the center surrounded by a concrete walk and bronze plaques. Col. William Preston represented Botetourt County in the House of Burgesses in the 1760s. He signed the Fincastle Resolutions, the first statement adopted by colonists in defense of liberty and a precursor to the Declaration of Independence and was a Revolutionary War colonel. He died in 1783 at age 53 from wounds suffered at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.
Our chapter has promised the county that we will raise $40,000 over three years to construct this monument on the grounds of what was Preston's 18th century plantation at Greenfield in Daleville. The Botetourt County Board of Supervisors agreed to reserve an area for the monument in 1996 when the Greenfield property was rezoned for office park and industrial uses. The county has set aside the site and will provide lighting and parking and has a long-range plan to preserve the cabins that remain on the site after a fire destroyed the main building and to build an interpretive center nearby. Our fundraising campaign was jump-started by a $3,000 contribution from the Virginia Daughters of the American Revolution.