L. E. Smoot Memorial Library | King George County, Va
The library was built in 1969 by Ann Hopewell Smoot in memory of her husband, Lewis Egerton Smoot, and opened in 1970. Mrs. Smoot ran and privately financed the library from until 1973, when an ordinance to create the board of trustees was adopted by the King George County Board of Supervisors. Mrs. Smoot donated the land, the building and its contents to the county, along with a donation of $700,000 to establish an endowment fund to maintain the free public library.
While the principal amount remains intact, the interest generated from these initial monies is used to fund the library. The board of trustees appoints a library director and manages the library as a political subdivision of the county, meaning it operates independently from the county aside from annual budgeting.
