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Official Jamestown 2007 Community

Voices of Civil Rights

Valentines, Virginia , a small community of rural south side Virginia, has an internationally recognized name.  Most of the year the community is described as a sleepy, country neighborhood, meandering along at a leisurely pace.  However, as mid-January approaches, the atmosphere changes at the community post office.  The change is directly related to Mr. Willie Wright, who began a Valentine Day Tradition in Virginia.

The Valentines Post Office was established in 1887, by William H. Valentine.  Mr. Valentine operated the first post office inside a mercantile business, managed a large farm, along with cotton ginning and a sawmill operation.  By 1999, the post office serviced about 250 families on a mail route and has some 60 lock boxes, all from the corner of Wright's General Store, where its spot in the corner is noted by the wrought iron bars, similar to an old-time bank window.

In 1951, Willie Wright became the postmaster and sometime after that started hand stamping envelopes "WITH LOVE"  and so began a tradition.  The tradition has grown and grown.  As Valentines Day approaches, the bags of mail coming into Valentines reaches the thousands. (Special request are also honored for guests and special events, such as weddings and anniversaries).

Each year the news media picks up the Valentines' story and fills the air-ways and the front page of newspapers around the world.  And even more join the tradition of having their Valentines for loved ones stamped by hand in Valentines, Virginia.  The post office was really honored and catapulted into the limelight in 1995, when the Valentines Post Office was chosen as the unveiling site of the "LOVE" stamp.

Join the people of all sizes, shapes and colors from around the world, who travel from Route 58 East near Lawrenceville to Route 46 south and follow the signs that read,".....,Valentines 13 miles,...." NO TRIP TO SOUTHSIDE VIRGINIA IS COMPLETE WITHOUT A STOP IN VALENTINES.

For more information contact the Brunswick County/Lake Gaston Tourism Office:

1-866-783-9768