Tazewell County Hits the Big Screen
The Town of Pocahontas, Va. became famous last week when it was featured on a BBC America series, “The American Future: A History by Simon Schama.” The four part documentary was filmed during the presidential election of 2008 and takes a look into “the four critical issues facing the United States: war, religious moral fervor, immigration, and the relationship between the expectations of prosperity and the reality of economic and environmental limits,” says BBC America and producer/historian Simon Schama of Columbia University.
Aside from Pocahontas, another area that may look familiar is Doran, also located in Tazewell County. According to the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, local historian Tom Childress reported the BBC production team visiting Pocahontas twice, and a small church in Doran once.
Why, you might be asking yourself, were these little towns of Tazewell County selected for a look into America as a whole? Well according to Childress, “They found it to be a place that showed the industrial development of the United States… There’s still plenty in Pocahontas to be saved.” To find out exactly what is to be saved, I guess you would have to have seen the show.
While I myself have not visited Tazewell County, I’m now thinking that maybe if I want to know what America is really all about, I should probably make the trip. Who knew Southwest Virginia would become so famous? Watch out Hollywood, here comes Tazewell County!
 - Kristina Ticknor Â