"Beloved Community: The North Side and East End"
Bluefield, West Virginia
Under the Mellon Foundation sponsorship, Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia (MAAV) is dedicated to the construction of new monuments in Appalachian Virginia, with the goal of highlighting untold stories of the historically marginalized, oppressed, and excluded communities in the region. With this goal, MAAV funded nine projects across the region with completion celebrations in 2024, 2025, and 2026. The Travelers Inn project was one of them, focusing on the history and people of the African American communities of North Side and East End, Bluefield, WV, as portrayed in a mural by Ellen Elmes.
of painting the 27 fabric panels that make up the mural "Beloved Community: North Side and East End," Bluefield, WV.
Her assistants were two young women, Jacenta Trigg and Valencia Johnson, and her husband Don Elmes.
Ellen was assisted by three other local artists over months in the process
Jacenta Trigg
Valencia Johnson
The month-long final process of permanently installing the mural on the wall of the old Travelers Inn was headed up by Don Elmes. He was assisted by Bluefield community members Isaac Preston and Robert Brown, as well as volunteer Renée Wienecke.
Isaac Preston
Don Elmes
Robert Brown
The mural is made up of 27 panels set edge to edge on the wall of the old Travelers Inn. Ellen painted most of the imagery at home over a period of four months. In October 2025, former and current community members of the North Side and East End were invited to a two-day “Paint-In” at the Cultural Arts Center to take brush in hand and make their mark on the mural. The engagement of parents and children, young people and old, and leaders of MAAV and the city of Bluefield in painting and memory sharing made this event a benchmark and core experience in the Travelers Inn project.
Edward Hargro
Sarah Ponder and niece
Melanie Henry
The project began with the recording at Virginia Tech of oral histories of former and current residents of the North Side and East End community. Their memories provided deep insight into the childhood experience of growing up in Bluefield’s African American neighborhoods in the mid-1900s, attending segregated schools and being mentored by caring parents, teachers, and leaders. The artist’s mural design, representing these vital stories, was also inspired by person-to-person conversations with families and individuals such as the Thompsons, the Jefferies, Viesta Trigg, and Vonnia Harris Davis, as well as emails with former residents now residing elsewhere but holding their memories dear.
Viesta Trigg
The Thompson Family
Despite segregation and racially restrictive laws during the 1900s, African American families, leaders, and educators created a protective, caring, and ambitious community for residents. This “Beloved Community” became the umbrella theme of the Travelers Inn mural project. Symbolic themes of the mural include the large hands bordering the mural – sheltering and protection at the top; and serving the needs of the community at the bottom. Sixty-two representative community and visitor portraits are set against a backdrop of Underground Railroad quilt patterns – the “Log Cabin (on left and right) that informed escaping enslaved people of safe shelter ahead; and the “Wagon Wheel” (in middle) that provided hope to continue forward towards freedom. Another symbol in the mural is the Grant Street Bridge, representing “Thresholds” - on the left, the inward journey of people coming to settle and work on the railroad, in the mines, and in classrooms; on the right; the outward journey of college graduates, military service members, and entertainers who left to make their mark in the region or the world.