November 19, 2025. Mountain Valley Archaeology (MVA), a community-based scientific organization, has received an “Ambassador” grant from the NADA Foundation. MVA runs a laboratory in Mount Crawford and works in the Shenandoah Valley and surrounding counties to further the study of archaeology with an emphasis on engaging communities about their own history. The $16,000 grant will help with MVA’s efforts to involve more students as interns and trainees.
The NADA Foundation serves as the philanthropic arm of the National Automotive Dealers Association. This gift was made in honor of Carolyn K. Kyger, a NADA Foundation Ambassador. Kyger’s Ambassadorship was sponsored by Carter Myers Automotive (CMA). She was CMA’s vice president of human resources before she retired in 2016 with almost 40 years of service.
Kyger chose Mountain Valley Archaeology to receive the grant, having known about their work through her daughter, historian Paula Green, who was an undergraduate student of MVA founder and JMU professor Dr. Carole Nash.
Nash was surprised and grateful to receive the grant. “We are working along quietly with many volunteers to run a laboratory to process artifacts, excavate digs on strategic sites, and help people answer their questions about the past. We rarely have time for fundraising. We are so humbled by Carolyn’s and NADA’s generosity. I look forward to getting more good work done with their help.”
Carolyn Kyger feels that caring about local history is vitally important. She notes that “Mountain Valley Archaeology is using these interesting tools and methods we often associate with more exotic, far off places, and focusing them right here in the Valley on our home communities. As a native of this area, I am thrilled to know that groups like MVA are working to tell the important stories of our past to help guide our future.”
Learn about the National Automotive Dealers Association and NADA Foundation – www.nada.org