American Music Landmarks Project

09/26/2026

Flood recovery update from our founder Sheryl and twin sister Sherry! 🚧💦🍁🍂

Today with grateful hearts we're thinking of those who've supported our flood recovery and share branches on our family tree, whether a blood relative or those whom we had met during our college days in the Marching 110, through our professional work in music or otherwise. 🍁🍂

With your help, we remain encouraged by the progress we’ve made though we have much work yet ahead. On Wednesday our gas furnace was checked, cleaned and the filters, tubing and thermocouple were replaced. We've already put it to the test on these last few chilly nights and the furnace is working wonderfully! ♨️ And more good news arrived yesterday when we were informed that the funding for a new refrigerator was approved and the appliance store has been notified to contact us regarding delivery and installation!

In addition to our anticipation of a new refrigerator next week, a professional deep cleaning service will be visiting us on Wednesday to address the dried flood silt on the subflooring, baseboards and inside the lower kitchen cabinets. They have offered a discounted rate of $884.80, with an $150 deposit which we’ve already paid at the time of booking and $367.40 due next week with the remaining balance owed as a monthly payment of $183.70 for the months of November and December. We are seeking help with covering this expense as well as the remaining $150 needed to complete the removal and replacement project for the bathroom subfloor prior to Wednesday so the crew will have safe access to clean the space.

As always, we welcome your messages of support including your feedback and ideas as we move forward in this recovery together. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] or [email protected]. We are still accepting donations by mail at P.O. Box 155, Trimble, OH 45782 as well as via PayPal ([email protected]), Venmo () and Cash App (SherylDavis26).

Thank you! 🧡
Sheryl & Sherry

09/21/2026

A hearty THANK YOU to those who have supported our founder Sheryl and twin sister Sherry in their flood recovery so far! 💓💓

My twin sister Sherry and I would like to thank the individuals and organizations who have been on this journey with us since last month. You recognized our plight and call to action, communally giving your time and/or money to make a meaningful impact in our flood recovery. We are grateful!

The following 14 donors gave contributions that totaled $2,815.35: Jack Dreznes, Diana Chalfant, Tina Kelly, Ian Zeitzer, Dan Whitmyer, Doug Thompson, Virginia Finsterwald, Mark Roese, LeRena Major, Susan Doran, Shawn and Tracey Hurley, Lisa Kieliszewski and Shanna Taylor.

✨Thank you!✨

The McDougall Church in Amesville gave $150 in gift cards.

✨Thank you!✨

We sincerely appreciate the Christ Community Wesleyan Church in Albany (Pastor Joe Robinson), Zach and Rachel Chiki and Virginia Finsterwald for gifting us a washer and dryer. Clarissa Reynolds (via HAPCAP) is arranging for a refrigerator to arrive this week.

✨Thank you!✨

In terms of sweat equity, we’d like to clap it up in a big way for Chuck Davis, Casey Davis, Kenzie Morris, Brad Kennard, Steve Vernon and Village of Trimble employee Chuck Byers.

✨Thank you!✨

Those who offered equipment and/or debris clearance include the Athens County EMA, Village of Trimble, Mayor Doug Davis, Marc and Tami Null, Dustin Jennice and Chuck Davis.

✨Thank you!✨

Food and cleaning supplies were contributed by the Athens County EMA, the American Red Cross and an anonymous church in Parkersburg.

✨Thank you!✨

We are indebted to all of you for your outpouring of support during this most difficult time. We’ve made important strides, but still have a long way to go. On Friday, we removed the last piece of floor covering and some subflooring. Malone’s professional deep cleaning service will be here on September 30th which will cost a discounted rate of $884.80.

With cooler weather around the corner, another immediate need is for our gas furnace to be assessed, cleaned and repaired (if needed) as well as the vents and ducts. This, along with the deep cleaning, are vital next steps in flood water remediation that will be followed by the restoration process such as drywall removal and other necessary construction-related work. We have not yet received estimates for these services but we'll share that information and other news as we receive it.

We welcome your messages of support including your feedback and ideas as we move forward in this recovery together. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] or [email protected]. We are still accepting donations by mail at P.O. Box 155, Trimble, OH 45782 as well as via PayPal ([email protected]), Venmo () and Cash App (SherylDavis26).

Again, THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts! 💓💓

Sheryl & Sherry

09/16/2026

AMLP September newsletter update: https://www.musiclandmarks.org/so/b4Q2IMXWK

Our founder Sheryl and twin sister Sherry really need your support at this critical time in their lives. Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions or wish to discuss specific ways you can help. Thank you! ❤

Want to help with our flood recovery? For those who are able to give, we are accepting donations by mail at P.O. Box 155, Trimble, OH 45782 as well as digitally via PayPal ([email protected]), Venmo () and Cash App (SherylDavis26). Lending a helping hand by contributing your skills...

09/11/2026

An update from our founder Sheryl about her and twin sister Sherry’s continued recovery from the Aug. 11th flood. Please help if you are able, even by sharing this post. Thank you! ❤

Hello, everyone! 👋 My twin sister Sherry and I are checking in at the 30-day mark of our flood recovery; tomorrow will be one month since the devastating August 11th weather event. We want to thank everyone who has generously shared their time, resources and kind words and prayers of support. 🙏 They sustain us and enable us to continue in the right direction. In our next update we wish to acknowledge all individuals by name who grant us permission to do so. We are still accepting donations by mail at P.O. Box 155, Trimble, OH 45782 as well as via PayPal ([email protected]), Venmo () and Cash App (SherylDavis26). Please contact me at [email protected] with questions or for ideas on more specific ways to help. ❤️

Despite the physically and mentally wearying task before us, we continue forward. We have cleared the barn, the large, outdoor room (addition) and closet on the back porch of our family home, both of which have received initial pressure washings along with our front and back porches but will require additional rounds to completely remove the flood silt. The house itself has also been cleared of nearly all flood-damaged belongings (i.e., furniture, major appliances, etc.) and floor coverings. Everything that has been saved is boxed up or placed on tarps and the house has been drying out with dehumidifiers and fans running around the clock. Going through our parents’ and family’s personal effects and keepsakes has been made more difficult and emotionally draining for us under these circumstances.

We are ready to advance our flood water mitigation towards restoration in the family home and are seeking a company providing those services in our area that is available to provide an estimate and is willing to work with us on financing. As mentioned in my first update, unfortunately in the transition of ownership to us the flood insurance policy had not been renewed prior to the Aug. 11th weather event, leaving us with a tremendous absence of coverage to rely on that Dad always had in place.

The American Red Cross visited us on August 18th to complete a general assessment of damage to our family home that they sent on to their national team. Today we found out that we do not qualify for their financial assistance program because the waterline in the house did not meet their required 18” threshold. Our waterlines measured up to 14” for the interior and 15”-16” for the exterior, back porch areas. They said an appeal of their decision would be denied which we are not pursuing.

We created a damage report and provided it our mayor of Trimble Village Doug Davis on August 27th. It was later shared with the Athens County Emergency Management Agency (ACEMA) for consideration as part of Governor DeWine’s official Sept. 2nd request for a presidential declaration to activate the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Individual Assistance Grant for 23 counties in Ohio, including Athens County. We are awaiting the decision. If approved, any FEMA disaster assistance we receive will be applied to the recovery of our family home as eligibility is limited to primary residences and does not consider secondary buildings/”non-essential separate structures” on the property, which would exclude the other three buildings on our adjoining historic parcels - the post office building, house next door and barn.

The post office building and house next door that complete our historic adjoining parcels have not been addressed at all yet and we are concerned particularly about the structural integrity of the post office exterior wall nearest our family home due to an already sinking brick pier foundation that may potentially have been worsened by the strong currents from the Sunday Creek watershed Aug. 11th. This historic parcel illustrates the custom of a merchant building their general store (a quintessential Appalachian two-story galleried storefront that later became the Trimble Post Office from 1945 to 2010) and their home (our family home) close together.

With the exception of our barn, these other three buildings (the post office, our family home and house next door), constructed in the late 1800s/early 1900s and located in the heart of the Village of Trimble, represent increasingly rare surviving examples of the community’s early commercial, cultural and civic history during the Hocking Valley industrial expansion of coal mining and brick manufacturing within the National Register of Historic Places “Little Cities of Black Diamonds” microregion. On July 26, 2026, just over two weeks prior to the flood, Sherry and I held a small pop-up event in front of the post office building to commemorate the 251st anniversary of the US Mail, honor our family’s legacy of public service, and as a first step in engaging our neighbors’ interest and support for its rehabilitation to become a vital community resource once more.

📸 Sept. 7, 2026 - Twins at work! 🚧🪣💦

08/20/2026

Our founder Sheryl and her twin sister Sherry need your help, if you are able. Thank you.

Friends, my twin sister Sherry and I really need your help. Our family home and adjoining property (four buildings in total) were flooded on the evening of August 11th and in the transition of property ownership to us we had not yet renewed the flood insurance policy prior to this event, which has put us in a very difficult position. The water receded the next morning, August 12th, and our family home received 10” to 14” of water (a foot or more in most areas that we measured), and today, after several days of constant downpours and flash flooding, we were able to get into the barn at the back of our property, an even lower-lying area, finding our dad’s bike had been completely submerged and determining a waterline of over four feet (49 ½”).

We lost our dad 11 months ago today and Sherry removing his bike from the barn this afternoon, discovering it in the state that it was, and then watching it be hauled away to the dumpster, was very emotional for us. Dad passed September 19, 2025, at the age of 95, wholeheartedly evergreen and generous to his family, friends, neighbors and strangers his entire life. We never took for granted the rare opportunity of having a dad with the life experience and wisdom of the Silent Generation.

PHOTO: Oct. 6, 2022 - Dad, 93, on his new bike we got him for his birthday that June, in front of the former Trimble Post Office where he served as postmaster for nearly 43 years. Dad and our grandpa were our community’s postmasters for the entire tenure of the 3 Congress Street location from 1945 to 2010.

PHOTOS: August 19, 2026 – Dad’s bike and our small barn, although the siding was repainted and new doors installed last year, it was built by our maternal grandfather using architectural salvage from his family’s 1800s farmhouse. As children we had two ponies Bill and Jinx and then later pet lambs Brandy, Caradale and Rosie that we had shown for 4-H at the Athens County and Ohio State fairs. This was their home.

IMAGE: July 26, 2026 – Sherry and I hosted a pop-up event at the former Trimble Post Office building as a first step to engage residents’ interest and support for its rehabilitation as a community resource and to honor our family’s legacy of public service. The post office is also unfortunately flooded but we haven’t gotten a chance to assess the damage or do anything about it. The photo at the top is of the post office on July 4, 2026, and Dad is pictured in the photo below on the last day of post office operations April 29, 2010.

For the initial clearing, cleaning and drying out, we are in immediate need of:
• Financial support (Sherry and I cannot work while we are recovering from the flood and we need help paying bills, utilities that will be much higher due to water usage for cleaning and running dehumidifiers and fans around the clock, gas and groceries)
• Manual labor to 1) help us move things out of our family home and three other structures (post office building, house next door and barn) to the dumpster and to dry, covered areas to save or determine salvageability and 2) clean and dry out all spaces
• Rental of 1-2 large event tents, large tarps and packing boxes to create dry, covered areas to place items to be saved or determined whether salvageable
• Cleaning tools and supplies, safety gear, drying equipment (fans and dehumidifiers)

We are currently accepting donations by mail at P.O. Box 155, Trimble, OH 45782 as well as via PayPal ([email protected]), Venmo () and Cash App (SherylDavis26). Please contact me at [email protected] with questions or ideas for more specific ways to help. Thank you for your time and consideration.

08/01/2026

Did you know our founder Sheryl and her twin sister Sherry were featured in Rosanne Cash’s “The Walking Wounded” music video? It was filmed at the Historic Dyess Colony: Johnny Cash Boyhood Home in Dyess, Arkansas during the inaugural Johnny Cash Heritage Festival in October 2017 where the twins were approached and asked to take part. This was Sheryl’s first time visiting the home completely restored and opened to the public since conducting a student research project there when preservation efforts were just getting underway. "The Walking Wounded" is a poem written by Rosanne's father she set to music as part of the "Johnny Cash: Forever Words" album. Check out the video here: https://youtu.be/Q1gmZRzydzY?si=gBOrjLHfFPoVqu9m.

07/22/2026

First step in honoring this chapter of my family’s public service legacy and a rare surviving example of the community’s early history that offers a new dawn of hope and possibility. Thank you to Tomcat Bridgebuilders for sharing the belief that local history can serve as a bridge to the future, providing identity, connection, opportunity and access to improve and enrich our lives, the village and township. I am grateful for your sponsorship of this initial effort to get the conversation (movement!) started at 3 Congress Street! 💓 -Sheryl

07/05/2026

Happy 250th Birthday, America! 🗽🎆 Subscribe to our email list at musiclandmarks.org for the latest news and updates on our Mixtape250 free public resource campaign hitting the airwaves this summer! 📍🎶🏠

06/20/2026

Happy Juneteenth! 🎉 We’re celebrating this special occasion by highlighting some of the Black music landmarks we've represented in our work so far. Today also marks the beginning of Civic Season so we're encouraging you to invite Gen Z family and friends to join us now through July 4th to explore how these places and many more have shaped American democracy and the sound of our nation in its 250th year!

https://www.musiclandmarks.org/post/happy-juneteenth-amlp-celebrates-black-music-landmarks-and-start-of-civic-season-nearing-us-250th

Photo: House of Miles East St. Louis founders Lauren Parks and Jas Gary Pearson celebrate the centennial anniversary of jazz icon Miles Davis, born May 26, 1926. 📍🏠🎺

06/13/2026

Jace Bain, rising filmmaker and radio DJ from Oklahoma is the winner of our Michael trivia contest to kick off Real to Reel: Music History on Location! 🎶🏠🎬 Thanks to our friends at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for awarding Jace with two complimentary tickets to the Rock Hall! 🎫🎉

Read about our latest initiative and the Michael Jackson and Jackson family landmarks featured in our trivia contest: https://www.musiclandmarks.org/post/amlp-premieres-real-to-reel-music-history-on-location-during-national-preservation-month-2026.