Montgomery County, Virginia, is a southern Appalachian county founded in 1776. Throughout the county's antebellum history, as with most other regions of the South, four major population groups were visibly present. There were slaves, free blacks, white slaveowners, and white non-slaveowners. Little research has previously been conducted on the antebellum people of the Appalachian South. This work is a social history consisting of cross tabulations of data found in the county's manuscript census reports for 1850 and 1860. County court records also provide much useful information on the people and their activities before the Civil War. Together they form an invaluable source of information on antebellum mountain life as a forgotten segment of southern society. / Master of Arts

<p>Montgomery County, Virginia, is a southern Appalachian county founded in 1776. Throughout the county's antebellum history, as with most other regions of the South, four major population groups were visibly present. There were slaves, free blacks, white slaveowners, and white non-slaveowners. Little research has previously been conducted on the antebellum people of the Appalachian South. This work is a social history consisting of cross tabulations of data found in the county's manuscript census reports for 1850 and 1860. County court records also provide much useful information on the people and their activities before the Civil War. Together they form an invaluable source of information on antebellum mountain life as a forgotten segment of southern society. </p> / Master of Arts

The basis of any human existence is a space to inhabit to support that existence. Space, given by nature or created by man is always determined by the "planes" by which the particular space is enclosed. The issue, (what kind of materials these planes are made of - a roof, a wall , a column), is most important for the impression the space creates on the inhabitants. Having layers of different materials create, articulate and order the spacial layout for a building is the central theoretical statement. In order to translate this theoretical Q statement from the realm of the written words into the language of architecture - sketches, drawings and models examples of two designs are offered. / Master of Architecture