Eye on the Past highlights the history and heritage of the people, places, events and institutions within the broadcast region of Blue Ridge PBS.

Using archival photographs, each episode focuses on the well-known to the often forgotten elements of the past that shaped the life and culture of Southwest Virginia.”

The historic Gainsboro Library in the African-American neighborhood of Gainsboro in Northwest Roanoke still operates today, thanks to generations of Gainsboro residents. Nelson Harris dives deeper into the story.

A look at how the Town of Floyd came to be and how it was originally named after a former president.  Learn more at VisitFloydVA.com

A trip down memory lane as we revisit Craig Healing Springs Resort in Craig County during its heyday as a lodging and medicinal springs destination. Between 1909 and the mid 1940's, the resort boasted of cool mountain air and popular outdoor amenities. 

A look at the history of Natural Bridge and the Natural Bridge Hotel.

Nelson Harris takes us back to 1881 and the days of the Norfolk and Western’s Roanoke Shops.

On this episode of EYE ON THE PAST, Nelson Harris talks about the short and tumultuous history of the former Virginia College. 

On this episode of EYE ON THE PAST, Nelson Harris brings us the back story of one of Roanoke’s shortest running tourist attractions, the Roanoke Incline.

Nelson Harris takes us back in time to the days when child labor was the norm.

Nelson Harris brings us the fascinating, yet short, history of Norfolk and Western’s Powhatan Arrow.

On this edition of “Eye on the Past” Nelson Harris takes us to Montgomery County to learn about a school founded to educate former slaves.

On this edition of “Eye on the Past” Nelson Harris takes us back to 1916 and the start of prohibition in Roanoke.

On this edition of “Eye on the Past” Nelson Harris takes us back in time to the very beginning of one of Virginia’s most important military academies, Virginia Military Institute.

On this edition of “Eye on the Past” Nelson Harris takes us back to 1882 and the very early days of the Roanoke City Market.

When young Ed Mabry built his grist mill in 1908, little did he know that it would become one of the most popular tourist attractions along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Nelson Harris has the backstory on this episode of Eye on the Past.

Created from farmland, the Roanoke-Blacksburg Airport has had a long and colorful history.

In 1928, Julian Stanley Wise started the very first all-volunteer first aid crew due, in part, to a traumatic incident he witnessed at the age of nine. Today, thousands of rescue squads exist throughout the United States.

The unnecessary death of a black doctor in 1915 leads to the founding of Roanoke’s first African-American hospital.

A look at how a small Methodist academy for boys would eventually become the largest land grant university in Virginia.