*Currently in Progress*
Ferrum Forward, working with the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum, applied for a state historical marker in 2022 and the proposal was accepted by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources that same year. Funds were raised to cover the cost of the marker and it is currently in production, with the installation date to be determined. It will be installed in front of the St. James United Methodist Church on Rt. 40. 

The sign will read:

"Ferrum (Latin for iron) developed ca. 1892 along the new Roanoke and Southern Railway linking Roanoke, VA, and Winston-Salem, NC, known as the “Punkin Vine” line. The village became a regional shipping hub early in the 20th century. St. James Methodist Church (ca. 1896) is Ferrum’s oldest brick building. The Virginia Methodist Conference, at the initiative of its Woman’s Missionary Society, established Ferrum Training School in 1913 to educate mountain children. The school grew into Ferrum College and the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum. During Prohibition, a number of Ferrum residents were involved in a lucrative illegal whiskey conspiracy that ended in one of the longest trials in VA history."