Vardy Community Historical Society

We are a 503c non-profit organization (EIN: 62-1734269). We organized in November 1997 in an effort to preserve the past for the future generations and provide an avenue for the oral histories to be shared and safeguarded. With the help of the The Nature Conservancy the church was purchased. Other grant monies from Clinch-Powell RC&D, the TennesseeHumanities Council, and many donations from the community and board members allowed the restoration to be underway. The mission of the Vardy Community Historical Society, Inc. is to record and report on the lives, times, and culture of families living in the Vardy Valley on Blackwater Creek in East Tennessee; to document the Presbyterian missionaries' contributions to the health, education and religious needs of resident families from 1862 through 1974; to restore and maintain certain local properties of historical interest built during the late 19th and early 20th centuries; and to participate with individuals, groups, and educational institutions with like interest in the origins, migration, and lives of people living in Vardy and elsewhere known as the Melungeons.