We have launched our Bland FAQ - a feature designed to enable users to ask and answer questions, to share their knowledge of Bland County and Rocky Gap in Southwest Virginia, and to create a knowledge base of frequently asked questions about Bland County and Rocky Gap in Southwest Virginia. Visitors and residents are welcome and encouraged to submit questions. If you know the answer to a posted questions, please feel free to share your knowledge and submit an answer. If you believe a posted answer is wrong, or could be improved, please post a comment. The Bland FAQ feature may be accessed from the user menu in the left column of each page.

Sharon Lutheran Church and Cemetery, are situated on the edge of the tiny village of Ceres in Bland County, Virginia and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The following excerpts from its nomination as submitted to the US Department of Interior, National Register of Historic Places, provide an overview of the historic site and its significance. For more information, read the full nomination, a copy of which is available in the "Downloads" feature of this website.

Like most of the German cemeteries of Southwest Virginia, Sharon Cemetery is set on a knoll amidst rolling farmlands. The present frame church probably dates from 1883, when it was built as a union church for the Presbyterians and Lutherans of Ceres. This church is four bays long, with round-arched, stained-glass windows; a square tower with a bell-cast pyramidal roof and cross finial projects from the center of the gable-end entrance facade. The exterior of Sharon Church has been covered with aluminum siding, but the interior remains as it was built. Golden-oak, Gothic-style pews are set in an arc, facing the oak Eastlake style rail and the shallow chancel. A gold-painted, Eastlake-style chandelier and an apparently locally made mid-19th-century table are among the other furnishings of interest.

Mountain Glen (also known as the "Repass-Hudson House"), located in Bland County, Virginia is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The following excerpts from its nomination as submitted to the US Department of Interior, National Register of Historic Places, provide an overview of the historic site and its significance. For more information, read the full nomination, a copy of which is available in the "Downloads" feature of this website.

The farm at Mountain Glen is located in a hollow on the lower slopes of the northwest side of Walker Mountain in Bland County, Virginia, overlooking the valley watered by the North fork of the Holston River. The farm is centered around a large two-story frame double-pile center-passage house, and includes nineteenth and twentieth century agricultural and secondary domestic structures. Mountain Glen is significant as an unusual and well-preserved example in Bland County of a large, frame house of the double-pile center-passage form. The house was built in the mid- to-late- 1850s. It has been continuously occupied by members of the Repass and Hudson families.

Welcome to www.Bland.Biz - the "Web 2.0" website serving the communities of Bland County, Virginia. Watch this site as we roll out new features. Register as a user and take advantage of the opportunity we offer to promote your business, share news and announcements of your group or organization, interact with fellow residents of Bland County, Virginia via the internet, and keep abreast of whats going on in Bland County, Virginia.

This site will be primarily devoted to promoting local content contributed by local businesses, organizations and residents. If you are interested in being a contributor, contact us. We welcome the opportunity to provide you the ability to promote your local business, share the success of your local sports teams, promote your local club or charity. Register as a user and take advantage of the free opportunities we offer to promote your business, share news and announcements of your group or organization, interact with fellow residents of Bland County via the internet, and keep abreast of whats going on in Bland County, Virginia.

The first step to use our features is to register as a user on our site. Then, as you explore www.Bland.Biz let us know what feature or news you want to share. Upon verification, we can give you privileges to input and post your news instantly.

Local businesses may become "Link Partners" and receive free promotion via banners ads, links and the ability to post news and announcements. Local Businesses may also list themselves for free in our local Business Directory and grow their business via the world wide web.

Local organizations, charities, and contributing writers may even profit by contributing content as qualifying contributors can earn financial rewards via Google Adsense from clicks by visitors to the news, announcement and content you supply.

Bland.Biz is what is known as a "Web 2.0" website - i.e. a feature that is composed of contributions by those who view and participate in the site. Anyone can participate. In order to post, you must be a registered user of the website. Posting is subject to our Terms of Use as linked from the bottom of our Home Page. By posting, you adopt and agree to our Terms of Use and News and policies applicable to various features as a binding legal agreement. These include (i) a representation by you that the post is accurate, does not contain any copyright content of any third party unless you have the right to post it, (ii) a prohibition against any posting that is slanderous, illegal, containing "hate" material," (material expressing racial, religious, sexual orientation or other bigotry) or known to you to be untrue, and (iii) a representation by you that if posting on behalf of an organization or other person, that you have the right to make such posting. Violators are subject to loss of posting and/or website access privileges. If you observe any posting which violates our Terms of Use, please notify us via our contact link (on the Home Page) and report the abuse and we will endeavor to promptly investigate and remove if appropriate.

Understanding the difference between our "Articles, News & Announcements" feature and "News & Announcements from the Community."
"News & Announcements from the Community" is intended to be an organized community "blog" which enables all registered users to submit and self approve for posting news and announcements on a variety of topics relevant to daily life in our local region. That feature is unmoderated, thus registered users have the flexible ability to post news and announcements relative to the topic. Submissions to that category will be "pruned" after a reasonable period of time. We will, upon request, create a new topic category or subcategory for use by any regional neighborhood or community based organization so that members of that group may readily find and post news of their organization or neighborhood.

The "Articles, News & Announcements" feature is a more moderated news area, where all articles are approved by the website moderator or a vetted contributing writer. We welcome providing serious writers the opportunity to publish articles and stories of the history and heritage of the local region. We also are open to local writers who wish to write regular columns on a variety of topics (we are open to suggestions) relevant to local readers.