FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Amherst County Museum presents the program, Bridge Burner, on June 11 at 2:30 p.m. Amherst -- Author Michael Rucker will regale us with the story of his civil war ancestor Dr. William Parks Rucker, whom he heard his family refer to as the “black sheep” in the family when he was a child. Thus began an eight year search on Dr. Rucker resulting in the book Bridge Burner: The Full and Factual Story of Dr. William Parks — Rucker Slave-owning Union Partisan. The program will be held on Sunday afternoon, June 11 at 2:30 p.m. in the Hamble Center, behind the Museum, located at 154 South Main Street in Amherst, and is open to the public with no admission fee. Light refreshments will be served. Upon receiving an engineering degree from Virginia Tech Mr. Rucker accepted a job with Caterpillar Inc. in Peoria, Illinois. He traveled extensively with Cat and lived abroad in various locations in assignments with the company and retired after a forty year career with the company. During a visit to Lewisburg, West Virginia Mr. Rucker visited the Greenbrier Historical Society and inquired about Dr. Rucker. He was shown a large box of material about his ancestor told that Dr. Rucker was known as a “local character” – and scoundrel. Mr. Rucker visited nine county courthouses, the National Archives, the Library of Congress, two state libraries and several historical societies in pursuing the trail of this “character.” He said that along the way many individuals came forward to provide information. “Several times just when I was about to wrap this story up, along would come someone else with a new nugget of information – and off I would go to research it. It was exhausting, but fun.” The Program is made possible by The Greater Lynchburg Community Trust. The Amherst County Museum and Historical Society is a nonprofit educational organization whose mission is to discover, collect and preserve objects related to the history and genealogy of Amherst County. The society exhibits, interprets and offers its collections to provide educational experiences for people of all ages. For additional information contact Octavia Starbuck, Director, Amherst County Museum and Historical Society at 434-946-9068 or by the website email: [email protected].

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