Have you ever wondered how your community got its name? We’re happy to report that in the case of Horsepasture, it’s exactly what you might expect. Located just a few miles outside of Martinsville, the district of Horsepasture got its “claim to name” in the 1830s. As the story goes, some travelers from up North were passing through the area. An account on the Bassett Historical Center website states that the group’s horses were “undernourished and overworked.” The travelers continued trading their horses for some of the local Virginia ones. When the time came to return North, they rode through the same community again. They saw the sickly horses they traded earlier that year, which were healthy and grazing on the “high-quality grass.” Legend has it that the travelers remarked that the area had the “best horse pasture”—and the name stuck. Today, you can still travel through Horsepasture to the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains. Though now, you’re more likely to do so along U.S. Route 58 in...