Historian Thomas D. "Tom" Perry is the author of fifteen books on regional history surrounding his home county of Patrick. He writes on neighboring Henry County, Virginia, and the place he now calls home, Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina. In 1990, Perry started the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace in Ararat, Virginia, and recently worked to expand the Bassett HIstorical Center assisting in raising over 1 million dollars over the last twenty years.