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Virginia: Valley, Piedmont, Southside & Southwest » Shenandoah Valley » Rockingham County » Port Republic » Rockingham Turkey Sculpture

Rockingham Turkey Sculpture

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1955, Norwood Bosserman, Gerald Harris, and Carl A. Roseberg. U.S. 11, near the county line, 10 miles west of Port Republic
  • Turkey Sculpture on southern county border (Photograph by Mark Mones)
  • Turkey Sculpture on northern county border (Photograph by Mark Mones)
  • (Virginia Department of Historic Resources)

A bronze turkey statue standing on a stone pedestal welcomes visitors to the “turkey capital.” An identical turkey statue is near the county's northern border on U.S. 11, the old Valley Turnpike. In the late 1920s, local farmer Charles Wampler pioneered the commercial turkey industry in Rockingham County, sparked by his daughter Ruth's successful 4-H project raising a flock of artificially brooded turkeys. These finely crafted designs of a single, proud turkey stand in tribute to the significant role that the poultry industry and agriculture have played in the Shenandoah Valley. The Roman Bronze Works of New York cast the turkeys.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Anne Carter Lee
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Data

What's Nearby

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Citation

Anne Carter Lee, "Rockingham Turkey Sculpture", [Weyers Cave, Virginia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VA-02-RH23.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Virginia vol 2

Buildings of Virginia: Valley, Piedmont, Southside, and Southwest, Anne Carter Lee and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2015, 95-95.

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