The Sound of Peace

At three p.m. on the afternoon of April 9, 2015, the Goochland Courthouse bell was rung to commemorate the 150th anniversary end of the Civil War. Hostilities ended when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General U. S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. The event was organized by the Goochland Historical Society.

Isabel Duke, Sofie Pryor, District 3 Supervisor Ned Creasey, and Dr. James Bowles, Sr., assisted by two young men from Gum Spring United Methodist Church, tolled the bell, one minute for each of the four years of war. 

The cost of the conflict, in lives, material, and unfulfilled promise cannot be calculated. It should, however, serve as a reminder of the consequences of national discord. People of a nation as free and diverse as America will never march in lockstep to the same drummer, but we must learn to dance around each other in respectful harmony.