The photo book on Henry County with chapters on Bassett, Fieldale, Martinsville, and Henry County has raised over $10,000 in 2009 for the Building Fund of the Bassett Historical Center as Perry donated all his royalties to the project along with an additional $2,000 from other sales at the library. The Harvest Foundation matched these funds making the total donation in 2009 for this book nearly $25,000.

Perry is the Chairman and Editor of the Henry County Heritage Book, which includes Martinsville. The library has a workshop for the book on VHS and DVD. The deadline for submission of stories is February 1, 2010, extended from last month’s deadline due to the response. The deadline will not be extended. Purchase of the book is $55 and must be prepaid. Cost of the book after publication will be $75 and there will only be 100 copies available. This book so far has raised over $10,000 for the Building Fund of Bassett Historical Center, which the Harvest Foundation matched raising almost $50,000 for the expansion of the regional history and genealogy library. The Henry County Heritage Book Committee is a fifteen plus person committee of all volunteers with no one receiving compensation for their work on this book, which will be published in late 2010. The non-profit effort gives anyone with a connection to Henry County from Axton to Spencer, Figsboro to Ridgeway, Bassett, Collinsville, Fieldale, and Martinsville the opportunity to write their family history along with topical stories about their church, club, or just a good historical story that might be of interest.

Perry is a 1983 graduate of Virginia Tech, where he studied under Dr. James I. Robertson, Jr. Perry started the J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace in 1990, the organization has preserved 75 acres of the 1500 acre birthplace and boyhood home of Civil War General James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart. Perry has ten books in print including: The Free State of Patrick, Patrick County Virginia in the Civil War, and J. E. B. Stuart’s Birthplace: The History of the Laurel Hill Farm. Perry’s next Henry County project will be a book of historical photos about Martinsville, Virginia, similar to the Images of Henry County book. Anyone with photos wishing to submit them for publication should contact Perry at freestateofpatrick@yahoo.com or visit his website www.freestateofpatrick.com. This book is scheduled for publication in 2010 and like the Images of Henry County will have royalties donated to the Bassett Historical Center.