Herbert Barbee

He was the son of William Randolph Barbee (1818–1868), also a renowned sculptor, with whom he studied in Florence, Italy for some time.

[2] He lived for much of his life in his home county, where he had something of a reputation as an eccentric, and where he was not respected by many of the locals due to his propensity for carving nude figures.

[9] Barbee's most notable work is a memorial to the Confederacy in Luray, erected in 1898; called the "Confederate Heroes Monument", or sometimes "Barbee's Monument", its erection is said to have been inspired by a visit to the battlefield at Gettysburg,[10] although the more immediate reason for its creation was as the focal point of a proposed park, called Henkel Woods Park, whose construction was never completed.

[11] Its design is said to have been based on the memory of a sentry Barbee saw standing on the mountain above Thornton Gap one winter's day during the Civil War.

[13][14] The latter was commissioned in 1900, although the date at which it was actually constructed is unknown;[13] the former, a red obelisk which sits on the green just north of the old jail, was unveiled in 1920,[15] and includes as part of its design a bas relief portrait of John Singleton Mosby.