Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Giles County students, teachers and residents gather in Pearisburg’s courthouse square to view the unveiling of a giant county map students helped create as part of the county’s yearlong centennial celebration. Students were given 6-inch-square pieces of the ceramic map to decorate however they wanted.

PEARISBURG -- Giles County students in fifth through eighth grades have already left a mark on the county, and it is 17 feet tall.

In honor of the county's yearlong bicentennial celebration, more than 750 students were each given a 6-inch-square ceramic tile -- pieces of an 11.5-by-17-foot mural depicting a map of Giles County -- to decorate.

"The children were able to do anything they wanted to," said Denise Blakeney, chairwoman of the Giles Bicentennial Committee.

Popular items included Virginia Tech symbols, Giles High School footballs, butterflies and flowers.

The tiles were fired at Giles High School with the help of art teacher Rhonda Colavecchio, cleaned and then fitted together.

The mural and a structure built to protect it were unveiled Thursday morning to students and residents.

Teddy Bailey, a county maintenance employee, started building the structure in early December. Pearisburg artist Rahn Binkley engineered the color scheme and design of the larger mural last January, and Giles County art teacher Nikki Pynn brainstormed the idea and coordinated instructional time in the schools.

"Nikki Pynn and I taught the kids for a month and a half," Binkley said.

Binkley said this took place last school year. Some students were instructed to use warm colors and others to use cool colors to create the underlying map of Giles.

County borders and the New River and Appalachian Trail were pre-glazed onto select tiles, and some students who randomly received these tiles chose to paint hikers or recreation enthusiasts on the paths.

Members of the Giles Bicentennial Committee also designed and painted tiles. Committee member Pat McCracken and others helped with the cleaning of the tile.

"The cleaning of the tile took most of April and May," McCracken said. "We had to take the tiles and paint an edge on them so the adhesive will make a good seal because they're going to be outside. The edge had to be just a certain way and then we would wipe it off with water."

The children's wall of art is the second-to-last event that the Giles Bicentennial Committee hosted this year.

It also released a 292-page commemorative book on Friday that encapsulates residents' personal stories of the community. The book is for sale at county offices and through the Giles County Chamber of Commerce.

"Each project that we've had this year has been so unique and so representative of Giles County and its residents," McCracken said. "It gave them a lot of opportunities to celebrate."