Baywood is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

(CDP) in Grayson County, in the southwestern part of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 414.

History

Baywood was established as a hub community, roughly embracing the area from Meadow Creek, Edmonds, NC, Little River and New River. The area was settled in the late 18th century by several families with land grants from the revolutionary war. The nearest town was Fries, VA until Galax, VA was established in 1905. Baywood was known as Hampton Crossroads until a post office was established there in 1903. Mail was often mixed up with mail meant for Hampton's Roads, and as a result, Hampton Crossroads became known as Baywood. Arch Moore, postmaster, named the community Baywood after a tree growing in the area called the Bay Tree. After 1937, the Baywood post office was closed and mail services transferred to the Galax post office. The first 'board and telephone system' was installed for the community in 1909. This service was transferred to Inter-Mountain Telephone in 1957. The first school built in the community was a wooden structure with four classrooms on the first floor and an auditorium on the second floor. This school opened in the fall of 1913. This school was replaced by the current school in 1953.

Culture

The singers of the Cross Roads

Primitive Baptist Primitive Baptists – also known as Hard Shell Baptists, Foot Washing Baptists or Old School Baptists – are conservative Baptists adhering to a degree of Calvinist beliefs who coalesced out of the controversy among Baptists in the early 19th c ...

Church are featured on the 1978 LP ''Children of the Heav'nly King: Religious Expression in the Central Blue Ridge'' (recordings from the

Blue Ridge Parkway The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is America's longest linear park, runs for through 29 Virginia and North Carolina counties, linking Shenand ...

Folklife Project conducted by the

American Folklife Center The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. was created by Congress in 1976 "to preserve and present American Folklife". The center includes the Archive of Folk Culture, established at the library in 1928 as a repos ...

in cooperation with the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

, ed. Charles K. Wolfe), singing the hymn "Children of the Heav'nly King." The old-time

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

player Haywood Blevins was recorded at Baywood by Peter Hoover on August 25, 1961, and the banjo player James Spencer Caudill was recorded at his home in Baywood by Blanton Owen on March 21, 1974; both of these recordings are housed at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Archive of Folk Culture The Archive of Folk Culture (originally named The Archive of American Folk Song) was established in 1928 as the first national collection of American folk music in the United States of America. It was initially part of the Music Division of the Libr ...

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References

External links

Baywood, Virginia page
History Reference: Baywood, Published in 1990 by the Gazette Press, Inc., Galax, Va {{Coord, 36, 36, 37, N, 81, 00, 43, W, type:city_region:US-VA_source:GNIS-enwiki, display=title Unincorporated communities in Grayson County, Virginia Unincorporated communities in Virginia Census-designated places in Grayson County, Virginia Census-designated places in Virginia