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diff --git a/33018.txt b/33018.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..89005bc --- /dev/null +++ b/33018.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5727 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Legends of the Skyline Drive and the Great +Valley of Virginia, by Carrie Hunter Willis and Etta Belle Walker + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Legends of the Skyline Drive and the Great Valley of Virginia + +Author: Carrie Hunter Willis + Etta Belle Walker + +Release Date: June 29, 2010 [EBook #33018] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEGENDS OF THE SKYLINE DRIVE *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, Louise Pattison and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + LEGENDS + + of the + + SKYLINE DRIVE + + and the + + Great Valley of Virginia + + + BY + CARRIE HUNTER WILLIS + AND + ETTA BELLE WALKER + + + RICHMOND, VA.: + + THE DIETZ PRESS, _Publishers_ + + 1940 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1940 + + BY + + CARRIE HUNTER WILLIS + + AND + + ETTA BELLE WALKER + + _Printed in the United States of America_ + + + + +Foreword + + +Tucked away among the hills and valleys in and near the Shenandoah +National Park and the Great Valley of Virginia are stories of the +beginnings of the white man's life beyond the comparative ease of early +Tidewater Virginia. These stories are true ones and they depict +something of the courage and hardihood of the early Virginia pioneer. +Perhaps in reading of their lives we may catch something of the majesty +and charm of their surroundings which were reflected to a marked degree +in their way of living. Surely they must often have said, "I will look +unto the hills from whence cometh my strength" or how else may we +account for the developments which came as the result of their constant +struggle for survival? + +Stories of colonial Virginia on the eastern seaboard are numerous and +usually exciting but they are quite different from the tales beyond the +Piedmont. A combination of them may enable us to know Virginia as a +whole in a more appreciative way. + +Long before the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe ever set foot in the +wilds of Virginia, intrepid explorers had passed through various parts +of the Valley country. + +In 1654--more than sixty years before the Governor's expedition--Colonel +Abraham Wood received permission to explore beyond the mountains. His +purpose was to establish trade relations with the Indians. His journey +carried him through the lower Blue Ridge, crossing the range near the +Virginia-North Carolina line. + +Reference is made elsewhere of the explorations conducted by the +one-time monk, John Lederer, whose journal of the trip was first +translated from German and published in London in 1672. + +Let us plainly understand however that each of these trips was of a +migratory nature; not a thought was entertained by any of the +participants of remaining in the Virginia mountains. Any white man found +in these sections at this time was there because of good hunting +grounds, hopes of good trading, the zeal of a missionary spirit or love +of adventure and exploration. + +The earliest settlers in the Valley in most part came either from +Maryland or Pennsylvania. They came in search of rich, cheap land or for +economic reasons or in the hope of establishing greater freedom for +themselves and their children. + +Two nationalities invaded the Great Valley almost simultaneously: the +Germans and Scotch-Irish--both fine, sturdy, healthy and thrifty stock +which is reflected in marked degree among the present inhabitants of the +region. Their real interest in the new settlements may truthfully be +said to have begun about 1730 when land grants were obtained. About two +years later the actual move into the country and the house building +commenced in earnest. + +The German settlers located chiefly along the territory extending from +Winchester to Staunton. The Scotch-Irish on the other hand selected +Staunton and the valley south of the town for their claims. No nice +distinction can be made so easily, for we shall find the two groups +interspersed all along the entire length of the Valley. But generally +speaking their domains may be defined thus. + +So much fighting during the wars of our country could not have been +fought in this section of the State without leaving in its wake the +stories of chivalry, courage and accomplishment, a few of which are +included. + +It is our desire that the trips along the Skyline Drive and in the Great +Valley country may be enriched and the imagination stirred because of +the accounts included in this small book. + + + + +Table of Contents + + + PAGE + + KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN HORSESHOE 1 + + Progress to the Mines 2 + + ADAM MILLER AND HIS NEIGHBORS 5 + + JOIST HITE, THE PIONEER 7 + + GERMAN NEIGHBORS, Quakers 9 + + Dunkards 11 + + THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN THE VALLEY 12 + + INDIANS 15 + + INDIAN TALES 18 + + THE MOORE MASSACRE 20 + + WASHINGTON'S BOYHOOD FRIEND--LORD FAIRFAX 24 + + WINCHESTER--THE FRONTIER TOWN OF THE VALLEY 26 + + THE VALLEY PIKE 31 + + BERRYVILLE 33 + + FRONT ROYAL 34 + + FLINT HILL 36 + + THE SKYLINE DRIVE 37 + + STRASBURG 40 + + ORKNEY SPRINGS 42 + + STEPHENS CITY 42 + + MIDDLETOWN 43 + + THE STORY TELLER OF THE VALLEY--SAMUEL KERCHEVAL + + Pioneer Life 44 + + WOODSTOCK 53 + + The Lincoln Family 55 + + NEW MARKET 56 + + Endless Caverns 57 + + LURAY 59 + + STONEWALL JACKSON'S VALLEY CAMPAIGN 61 + + BELLE BOYD, THE SPY 67 + + HARRISONBURG 72 + + Massanutten Caverns 73 + + Grand Caverns 73 + + Massanetta Springs 75 + + STAUNTON 75 + + WAYNESBORO AND AFTON 79 + + NATURAL BRIDGE 81 + + ROCKBRIDGE 84 + + The First Academy in the Valley 86 + + VALLEY INVENTIONS 87 + + WASHINGTON COLLEGE 88 + + LEXINGTON 89 + + THE VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE 92 + + CULPEPER MINUTE MEN 94 + + BLIND PREACHER 95 + + HEBRON CHURCH 96 + + HOOVER'S CAMP ON THE RAPIDAN RIVER 97 + + CHARLOTTESVILLE AND ALBEMARLE COUNTY 98 + + Jack Jouett's Ride 104 + + Lewis and Clark Expedition 105 + + FREDERICKSBURG 106 + + KENMORE--1752 111 + + THE MARY WASHINGTON HOUSE 115 + + RISING SUN TAVERN 117 + + ROANOKE 121 + + DRAPER'S MEADOW 124 + + WASHINGTON COUNTY 127 + + HUNGRY MOTHER STATE PARK 129 + + WHITE TOP 129 + + + + +List of Illustrations + + PAGE + + George Washington's Headquarters, Winchester, Virginia 27 + + View Along the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park 38 + + "The Cypress Garden", a Scene in Endless Caverns 57 + + "The Manse", Woodrow Wilson's Birthplace, Staunton, Virginia 76 + + Woodrow Wilson's Bed, Staunton, Virginia 78 + + Natural Bridge 81 + + Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia 90 + + Virginia Military Institute 92 + + "Monticello", near Charlottesville, Virginia 99 + + Rotunda of University of Virginia 102 + + "Kenmore", the Home of Fielding Lewis and Betty Washington + Lewis, Fredericksburg, Virginia 107 + + James Monroe's Law Office 109 + + "The Mary Washington House", Fredericksburg, Virginia 116 + + "Rising Sun Tavern", Fredericksburg, Virginia 118 + + Scenic Highway in Southwest Virginia 126 + + Hungry Mother State Park 130 + +[Blank Page] + +[Illustration] + + + + +Knights of The Golden Horseshoe + + +Alexander Spotswood was the first Virginia Governor to become interested +in the glowing accounts which the hunters and trappers brought back from +the hill sections of the colony. He determined to see for himself those +distant blue ridges. + +And while historians have not told us who guided him to the upper or +western boundary of what was then Essex County, we are told that he +became enthusiastic over the rich iron ore which he found in the +peninsula formed by the Rapidan River. He decided to build iron furnaces +at a point near the river. Later he had his agent, Baron de Graffenreid, +go to Germany and bring master mechanics and their families to Virginia. + +The first German colony came in 1714 to Virginia and journeyed to +Germanna, as they called their new home on the bank of the Rapidan +River. They were made up of twelve families and numbered forty-two +people in all, men, women and children. + +The Virginia Council passed an act which provided protection for the +Germans. A fort was built for them, ammunition and two cannon were sent +and an order was given for a road to be made to the settlement. + +These men and women were brave, loyal and deeply religious. They +belonged to the German Reformed Church, which was a branch of the +Presbyterian family of churches. Here they organized the first +congregation of that faith in America and here they built their church. +They had come from Westphalia, in Germany, and of course had brought +their own customs and manners, which are not entirely gone even in our +modern Virginia. Later, as we shall see, many of this first colony left +Germanna and settled on Licking Run near Warrenton. + +In 1717 came a second German colony to Germanna. They too were brave, +loyal, and devout; but were different from the first, being Lutherans +and representing twenty families from Pennsylvania. + +Two years later, the third colony of Germans came to Germanna and from +there they settled in Orange and Madison counties. + +If Governor Spotswood earned the title of "Tubal Cain of America", it +was because these Germans were industrious, thrifty and honest. + +The Governor liked the neighborhood so well that he had a palace built +for his family. There was a terraced garden, which one may trace in the +ruins found there today. A courthouse was built there, for a new county +had been cut from Essex and was called Spotsylvania, in the Governor's +honor. Nearby was a bubbling fountain spring at which tourists stop +today to quench their thirst. This has been marked by the Colonial Dames +and over it there is a hand-wrought iron standard, giving the legend of +the spring. + +In 1732, Colonel William Byrd of Westover visited Governor Spotswood at +Germanna. He was one of the Commissioners who ran the boundary line +between Virginia and North Carolina. He held many positions of honor and +trust in the colony. His writings give an intimate picture of Governor +Spotswood's settlement: + + _Progress to the Mines._ + + "Here I arrived about three o'clock, and found only Mrs. + Spotswood at home, who received her old acquaintance with many + gracious smiles. I was carried into a room elegantly set off + with pier glasses, the largest of which came soon to an odd + misfortune. Amongst other favorite animals to cheer this lady's + solitude, a brace of deer ran familiarly about the house, and + one of them came to stare at me as a stranger. But unluckily + spying his own figure in the glass, he made a spring over the + tea-table that stood under it, and shattered the glass to + pieces, and falling back upon the tea-table made a terrible + fracas among the china. This exploit was so sudden and + accompanied with such a noise, that it surprised me and + perfectly frightened Mrs. Spotswood. But it was worth all the + damage to show the moderation and good humor with which she + bore the disaster. In the evening the noble Colonel came home + from his mines, who saluted me very civilly, and Mrs. + Spotswood's sister, Miss Theky, who had been to meet him _en + cavalier_, was kind too, as to bid me welcome. + + "We talked over a legion of old stories, supped about nine, and + then prattled with the ladies till it was time to retire. In + the meantime, I observed my old friend to be very uxorious and + exceedingly fond of his children. This was opposite to the + maxims he used to preach before he was married, that I could + not forbear rubbing up the memory of them. But he gave a very + good natural turn to his change of sentiments, by alleging that + whoever brings a poor gentlewoman to so solitary a place, from + all her friends and acquaintances, would be very ungrateful not + to use her and all that belongs to her with all possible + tenderness. + + "We all kept snug in our apartments till nine, except Miss + Theky, who was the housewife of the family. At that hour we met + over a pot of coffee, which was not quite strong enough to give + us the palsy. After breakfast the Colonel and I left the ladies + to their domestic affairs, and took a turn in the garden which + has nothing but three terraced walks that fall in slopes one + below the other.... I let him know that I had come to be + instructed by so great a master in the mystery of making iron + and that he led the way and was the Tubal Cain of America.... + He assured me he was not only the first in this country, but + the first in North America who had erected a regular furnace, + that they ran altogether upon bloomeries in New England and + Pennsylvania, till his example had made them attempt greater + works.... At night we drank prosperity to all the Colonel's + projects in a bowl of rack punch, and then retired to our + devotions.... + + "I sallied out at the first summons to breakfast, where our + conversation with the ladies, like whipped sillibub, was very + pretty, but had nothing in it. This it seems was Miss Theky's + birthday, upon which I made her my compliments, and wished she + might live twice as long a married woman as she had lived a + maid. I did not presume to pry into the secret of her age, nor + was she forward to disclose it.... She contrived to make this a + day of mourning for having nothing better at present to set her + affections upon." + +It was really from Germanna that the Great Expedition to the Mountains +began. Of course we know that Williamsburg was the scene of great +excitement when the Governor and some of his staff gathered for the +first start. The party consisted of the Governor, Fontaine, whose diary +gives us accounts of the journey, Beverley, the historian of Virginia in +1703, Colonel Robertson, Austin Smith, Dr. Robinson, Messrs. Talor, +Brooke and Mason and Captains Smith and Clouder. Others were gentlemen, +servants and guides. All were delayed when an old trapper told them that +their horses' feet would be ruined if not shod. In the sandy soil of +eastern Virginia it was not necessary to shoe one's horse, but the +rocks, as one travelled inland, would ruin the horse's feet. The party +made the best of the long wait by drinking the health of the King, +toasts to the maids left behind and in other farewells. + +The party, after five days, reached Germanna and it is from Fontaine's +journal that we are told of the details of the trip. He relates the +hardships; some, including the writer, had fevers and chills and drank +Jesuits' bark tea. Their beds, made of boughs, were not soft enough and +the men slept badly and were sore the next day after camping out in the +wilderness. They made about six miles a day. Their food was bear's meat, +venison, and wild game, which they roasted on long wooden forks over +glowing coals. And each time they ate, they also drank the King's +health, not forgetting any of his children in their toasts. Fontaine +writes-- + + "We saw when we were over the mountain the footing of elks and + buffaloes, and their beds. We saw a vine which bore a sort of + wild cucumber and a shrub with fruit like unto a currant. We + ate very good wild grapes.... We crossed a river which we + called the Euphrates. It is very deep, the main course of the + water is north, it is four score yards wide in the narrowest + part.... I got some grasshoppers and fished ... we catched a + dish of fish, some perch and a fish called Chub. The others + went ahunting and killed deer and turkeys.... I engraved my + name on a tree by the river's side and the Governor buried a + bottle with a paper inside, on which he writ that he took + possession of this place in the name of King George the First + of England.... + + "We had a good dinner, and after it we got the men together and + loaded all their arms and we drank the King's health in + champagne and fired a volley, and the Princess's health in + Burgundy and fired a volley, and all the rest of the Royal + family in claret and a volley. We drank the Governor's health + and fired a volley. + + "We had several sorts of liquors, viz Virginian red wine and + white Irish usquebaugh, brandy, shrub, two sorts of rum, + champagne, canary, cherry punch water and cider." + +It was thirty-six days after leaving Williamsburg that the party finally +reached the mountain and scaled Swift Run Gap and for the first time a +group of Englishmen looked down into the fertile valley beyond. + +The Governor was a romantic person, as well as practical, so he wanted +to have something tangible by which all of his party might remember +their thrilling trip. He asked some of his men what they thought of the +idea and someone suggested, no doubt in fun, that they call themselves +the "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe". + +Anyway, historians relate that when he returned to Williamsburg, he +promptly wrote a letter to His Majesty and told him of the wonderful +country "beyond the mountains". He also asked for a grant for the Order +of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. In due time a proclamation +arrived from England creating The Order of the Golden Horseshoe and also +fifty tiny golden horseshoes inscribed in Latin "_Sic jurat transcerde +mantes_". There was a seal and a signature and the title of Knight was +conferred upon the Governor. + +The King also had his own sense of humor and included with all the rest, +the bill for the golden horseshoes! And we are told the sporting +Governor paid for them out of his own pocket without any regrets. + +Let us start our journey from this historic spot and drive along the +recently built Skyline Drive. As we go we may look down upon the first +settlers' homes, around which are built the thrifty towns of today. + + + + +Adam Miller and His Neighbors + + +Among the earliest settlers in the valley were young Germans, Adam +Mueller and his wife and his sister. Adam, as was his family, was born +in Germany. Like many others, he had left because of religious +persecution, devastating wars and social unrest. His first home in the +new country was in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. + +Adam Miller (as his name was soon after spelled) journeyed to +Williamsburg, Virginia. There, he told someone, he wanted to make his +home. It was not long after the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe had +returned with their glowing accounts of the land beyond the mountains. +Adam listened with deep interest to the descriptions of the Valley where +a native grass grew on which buffalo fattened, where game lived all year +and where a forest fringed the fertile valleys. He decided to go with +some hunters and he found the kind of land which he wanted. Before he +returned to Lancaster he had built a rude log cabin. He returned home by +way of Williamsburg, and soon his wife and sister were getting ready to +set forth. Many of his German neighbors were interested also, and +historians claim he was the first German to build near Massanutten +Mountain. + +His neighbors were Abram Strickler, Mathias Selser, Phillip Long, Paul +Long, Michael Rinehart, and Jonathan Rood. Some give the date of this +settlement as early as 1726. Adam Miller took out his naturalization +papers a few years later and today, the visitor may read the quaint +document hanging on the walls of the Miller home, near Elkton, Virginia. + +His log cabin was soon outgrown. He was a good farmer and his wife and +sister helped him. His crops were larger each year. Besides, Adam was a +business man. He secured a large land grant and he soon was selling off +farms to other Germans who came from Pennsylvania and from Germany. + +The Millers built a larger home and they bought some good sturdy +furniture to replace the crude tables and chairs which were home-made. +They took pleasure in getting the home all ready before they moved into +it. They had even spread the beds with the new hand-woven coverlets +which his wife and sister had made during the long winter nights. The +next night they would sleep in their new home. But during the night, a +fire broke out--no one ever knew its origin--and everything was +destroyed before the family woke up! + +The Millers were undaunted, so they built again. We are told what good +neighbors there were in those days. The men took their own axes and cut +down the trees. They dressed the lumber, sawed the timbers by careful +measurements, laid foundations, and built chimneys. It did not take so +long to build a house. The visitor today will see a big white house on +the road between Luray and Elkton, almost beneath the shadow of old +Massanutten Mountain. He will see the marker which tells him that this +house was built by the Miller family. Inside, the visitor will see +priceless early American furniture. He will see rosewood and later +Empire furniture, too, as other generations added to their heritage. But +when one goes into the log cabin kitchen he will stand in reverence +before a collection of early Dutch tables, chairs, platters, plates of +Delft and pewter, spoons of the same ware. There is a huge corner +cupboard which everyone would like to have for his own. This house no +longer has a direct descendant of Adam and his good wife to occupy it, +for the last one of his line recently died. + +Adam Miller was not only a good neighbor to his German friends but we +are told they did not have much trouble with the Indians during the +first years he lived in the Valley. However, he was a brave fighter +during the Indian Wars and his record is given in _Henning's Statutes_. +He lived through most of the Revolutionary War and no doubt longed to +fight in behalf of the country which had given him the opportunity to +develop it. + + "On Sunday evening, Dec. 3rd, 1749 a young Franciscan went with + us (_Diary of Leonard Schell, a Moravian Missionary_) to show + us the way to Mathias Schawb, who immediately on my offer to + preach for them, sent messengers to announce my sermon. In a + short time a considerable number of people assembled to whom I + preached. After the sermon I baptised a child of Holland's. We + stayed overnight with Mathias Schawb. His wife told us we were + always welcome and we must come to them whenever we came into + that district. + + "Toward evening a man from another Dutch settlement, Adam + Miller passed. I told him that I would like to come to his + house and preach there. He asked if I were sent by God and I + answered yes. He said if I were sent by God I should be + welcome, but he said there are at present so many kinds of + people that often one does not know where they come from. I + requested him to notify his neighbors that I would preach which + he did. + + "On Dec. 4th we left Schawb's house commending the whole family + to God. We travelled through the rain across the South + Shenandoah to Adam Miller's house who received us with much + love. We stayed over night. + + "On Dec. 5th I preached at Adam Miller's house on 'Whosoever + thirsteth let him come to the water and drink.' A number of + thirsty souls were present. Especially Adam Miller took in + every word and after the sermon declared himself well pleased. + In the afternoon we travelled a short distance, staying + overnight with a Swiss." + + + + +Joist Hite, the Pioneer + + +When Joist Hite arrived in Virginia he and his family were required to +settle on the land bought from the VanMeters. His purchase was made in +June 1731. In October of the same year, he and Robert McKay obtained a +grant from the Colonial Government to have 100,000 acres of land +surveyed on the west side of the mountain, with the agreement to bring +in one hundred settlers within two years. During that year, Hite moved +in and settled on that land, but he got an extension of time for +bringing in other settlers. By Christmas of 1735 Hite had brought in +fifty-four families. + +All this land was in the County of Spotsylvania and Hite found that he +and his brothers were too far away from the courts so he became +interested in getting a new county organized in 1734. This was named +Orange, in honor of the Duke of Orange. Later on, having acquired more +land, he found himself again too far removed from a court house. And +again he applied for a new county. In fact he needed two counties for +all his lands and ever-increasing settlers. In 1738 Orange County was +divided into three counties, namely: Orange, Frederick, and Augusta to +the west of the mountain. With Joist Hite and his wife Anna Maria came +their daughters, Mary, her husband George Bowman, Elizabeth and her +husband Paul Froman, Magadelena and her husband Jacob Chrisman, and +their sons John, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham and Joseph. Hite, we are told, +allowed his sons-in-law to choose their own homesteads. + +His wife, Anna Maria, died in 1738 at Long Meadows and soon he married +again. We read the following quaint marriage contracts between him and +his second wife: + + "In the Name of Jesus + + "Whereas, we, two persons, I, Joist Hite and Maria Magadelena, + Relict and Widow of Christian Nuschanger, according to God's + holy ordinance and the knowledge and consent of our Friends and + Children and Relations are going to enter into the holy state + of Matrimony. We have made this Nuptial part one with the + others. First promise to the aforesaid Maria Magadalena all the + Christian Love and Faithfulness. Secondly, as neither of us are + a moment secure from death so I promise her Home or Widow Seat + so long as she lives and the Heir to whom the said House shall + fall shall provide the necessary Diet and Cloathes and if that + do not please but that she rather desire to have her + commendations in any other place, so shall the foresaid Heir to + the House yearly pay her Six Pounds ready money and this is my + well considered desire. + + "JOIST HITE." + + "And Likewise wife, I Maria Magadalena promise the aforesaid + Joist Hite. First of all, Love and Obedience. Secondly, I am + designed to bring with me to him some cattle, money, household + goods which in agreement with attested witnesses shall be + Described and should I die before the said Hite so shall the + said Hite have the half thereof and the other half shall be + delivered back again to my heirs and this is also my well + considered desire. Thirdly and Lastly, whoever of the aforesaid + persons shall die first the half of the portion the Woman + brings with her shall go back to her heirs." + +The following goods were brought by the said Mary Magadelena to Joist +Hite: + + "1 In ready money, twenty two pounds seventeen Shillings and + four pence. + + 2 Two mares one colt value of fourteen pounds. + + 3 Two drawing steers value three pounds, ten shillings. + + 4 Two coarse beds Cloathes in all three pounds, Sixteen + Shillings and six pence. And said money is adjudged to be in + Virginia Currency the 16th day of November, 1741, also one + horse mare, six pounds." + +Another neighbor pioneering in the Valley was Jacob Stover who secured +land grants. History records that he resorted to unusual methods in +obtaining them. Upon application, it was necessary to convince the +authorities that the applicant could furnish a sufficient number of +families to settle the land requested. Stover did not have the required +number. He took himself to England to petition the King and in order to +be convincing he gave names to every living thing he possessed--dogs, +sheep, horses, cows and pigs! After his successful trip which resulted +in receiving the land grant, he commenced selling small acreages to the +new-comers. He enriched himself materially, but incurred the wrath of +his associates. + + + + +German Neighbors + +QUAKERS + + +Long ago, a shrewd trader from New York, John VanMeter, came into the +Valley. He made friends with the Delawares and often went with them on +their hunting trips. Once he even fought on their side against their +enemies, the Catawbas. While on this visit South, he saw for the first +time the fertile native grass, which grew "five or six feet high", in +the Valley. When he returned to New York he told his sons about the rich +country, far to the South, and advised them to secure some of it. One of +them, Isaac, took his father's advice and came to Virginia in 1736-7 and +with a tomahawk cut certain trees, thus making his original claim. This +was called the "Tomakawk Right". + +Isaac and his brother John secured a warrant from Governor Gooch for +forty thousand acres of land. Later on they sold or transferred part of +their grant to Joist Hite who was later called the "Old Baron". The +latter was one of the hardiest pioneers and in 1734 was appointed by the +Virginia Council to act as magistrate. This gave him authority to settle +disputes, and to uphold the laws of Virginia as well as to punish all +offenders. + +Hite soon built a stone house on Opequon Creek and his sons and +daughters grew to be splendid men and women. His sons-in-law, George +Bowman, Jacob Chrisman and Paul Froman and their families had come with +him from Pennsylvania. Robert McKay, Robert Green, William Duff, Peter +Stevens and several other families helped each other select land, build +homes and a fort. + +We are told that the Indians had heard of the kindly relations which +existed between the Indians and William Penn's colonists. We know he +paid the Indians for their lands, and records show that many of the +Germans, especially the Quakers, who settled on Apple Pie Ridge also +bought lands from the Indians. These settlers were never disturbed by +the Indians. However, when it came to the lands which we now call the +Great Valley of Virginia, the Indians were agreed among themselves that +no one tribe was to possess any of it. The lands were so fertile and so +much game feasted there, that all should be at peace when in the Valley. + +So when the first Quakers came we find these names recorded: the Neills, +Walkers, Bransons, McKays, Hackneys, Beesoms, Luptons, Barretts, Dillons +and Fawcetts. + +Another Quaker, Ross, obtained a warrant for surveying lands and his +lines were run along the Opequon, north of Winchester, and up to Apple +Pie Ridge. Soon many other Quakers from Pennsylvania were moving into +the Valley to settle on Ross's surveys. By 1738 these deeply religious +people had built homes and were holding monthly meetings to worship God. +They had tiny settlements up and down the Valley. They cultivated their +farms, took little interest in politics, cared very little for worldly +intercourse and made excellent neighbors. Their manners and dress were +plain, their furniture only what was necessary, their homes were crude, +but their barns were large and their cattle were well protected. + +They refused to pay taxes during the Revolutionary War or to bear arms. +Then their neighbors began to ridicule them, calling them cowards, and +were no longer friendly. Officers came and seized their crops or +property and sold them to raise funds with which to carry on the War +against England. The Legislature enacted a law whereby a Quaker either +had to fight or pay a substitute to fight for him. Their personal +property was put under the hammer and soon they were reduced to poverty. +One incident will give us a picture of those far-off days. James Gotharp +lived with his neighbors on Apple Pie Ridge. One day during the +Revolutionary War officers came, demanding that he should march away +with them to join the militia; he refused. The men forced him to come +along and later he was made a guard. He was placed beside a baggage +wagon and told to let no man go into the wagon who did not have a +written order from the commanding officer. Along came an officer who +started to climb into the vehicle. James called to him and demanded to +see his order of authority. The officer cursed him and stepped up to +climb in. James caught him by his legs and pulled his feet off the step. +This caused the officer to fall, striking his face against the wagon, +bruising his nose and mouth severely. + +The dress of the Quakers is still picturesque and many are to be seen in +certain sections of the Valley. They wear a broad brimmed hat, a long +frock coat, generally black. The women wear full skirts, down to their +ankles, black hose, plain black shoes, with round toes. Their bodices, +usually black or gray in color, are severely cut, with long plain +sleeves, with a high neck, relieved by a white collar. They usually wear +a small cap, made of the same material as their dress. + + +DUNKARDS + +Lending an air of uniqueness yet to the Valley towns is that religious +sect called Dunkards. One sees the women of that denomination, with +their little black bonnets, on almost any street in any town along the +Lee Highway. + +At one time the sect was called Tunkers. They are an offshoot of the +Seventh-Day Baptists and had their beginnings in the Valley a little +after 1732. + +When Dr. Thomas Walker passed through the section on his way westward he +noted in his journal on March 17th, 1750, "The Dunkards are an odd set +of people, who make it a matter of religion not to Shave their Beards, +ly on Beds, or eat Flesh though at present, in the last, they +transgress, being constrained to it, as they say, by the want of a +sufficiency of Grain and Roots, they having not long been seated here. I +doubt the plenty and deliciousness of the Venison and Turkeys has +contributed not a little to this. The unmarried have no private +Property, but live on a common Stock. They don't baptize either Young or +Old, they keep their Sabbath on Saturday, and hold that all men shall be +happy hereafter, but first must pass through punishment according to +their Sins. They are very hospitable." + +The Dunkards built a part of their faith around their disapproval of +violence, even for self-defense, and their submission to fraud or +wrongdoing rather than resorting to court trials. + + + + +The Scotch-Irish in the Valley + + +Many reasons caused the people of Europe to emigrate during the +eighteenth century. In Ireland and Scotland an unrest was spreading as +seen in the story of John Lewis. + +He was born in Ireland and was a thrifty gentleman. He fell in love with +and married Margaret Lynn, daughter of the laird of Loch Lynn, a +descendant of a powerful Scotch clan. They were very happy with their +three little sons and soon John Lewis rented more lands from a landlord. +These lands brought him more and more wealth and the landlord grew +jealous. He told Lewis that he would not let him continue to cultivate +them, although the lease was not expired. + +One day the landlord came to the Lewis home. He brought many of his +hirelings and demanded that Lewis vacate the house at once. At the time, +Lewis' brother was ill and could not help him defend his home. +Margaret, his wife, and a few servants quickly barred the doors and +windows and defied the landlord to enter. + +The infuriated man began to fire into the house and one shot killed John +Lewis' brother and one wounded Margaret. John could not stand such an +outrage any longer, so he rushed out and in the fight which followed, he +killed the landlord. + +His family and neighbors, knowing the influential Irish would not give +him a fair trial, urged him to flee the country. At last he consented to +go, but before he did, he carefully wrote down all the details of the +trouble and sent it to the proper authorities. Then he hastily left the +country and soon was on his way to Virginia. Lewis went to Williamsburg +after landing in Virginia. There he met a weaver, Salling, who told him +some of the wildest stories he had ever heard. + +The weaver had known a peddler, named Marlin, who took his pack far into +the land beyond the mountains and traded his pewter ware, beads, +compasses and other small articles to the Indians for furs. He told +Salling such marvelous stories of the Indians and country that the +weaver asked to let him go on one of his trips with him. This he did, +and the weaver had plenty of adventures before he finally got back to +Williamsburg. + +The two men reached the Valley and were far beyond the Blue Ridge +Mountains when the Cherokee Indians, thinking they were spies, took them +prisoners. Marlin had the good fortune to get away, but Salling was +carried farther across another mountain range into what is now Kentucky, +where the Indians went to hunt buffalo. Here the Cherokees were attacked +by their enemies from Illinois. Salling was again captured and carried +off to the southwest. He was adopted by an old Indian squaw as her son +and for some time he lived with her. At last a Spaniard bought him and +took him as an interpreter to Canada. There he met the French Governor +who sent him to New York and after six years, he at last reached +Williamsburg. + +You would think Salling after this would have settled down and become a +weaver again. But life was too tame. When Lewis asked him about the +lands in the Valley, Salling decided to take him and the Englishman, +John Mackay, who also wanted to go. Lewis found the country all that +Salling had promised him and he decided to settle on a creek which bears +his name today. + +He obtained authority to 100,000 acres of land in and near the ground on +which he built his fort-like house. Before very long, many of his +friends and neighbors from Ireland were on their way to Virginia to join +him. Many of them settled in Western Augusta near Fort Lewis. One can +imagine how happy it made John Lewis to be told that the authorities, +upon investigation, had granted him a pardon and absolved him from all +blame in the killing of his landlord before he left Ireland. These +Scotch-Irish, like their German neighbors, did not have very much +trouble from the Indians for several years. + +Thomas, a son of John Lewis, studied and went to represent his county in +the House of Burgesses. He was a man of sound judgment and voted for +Patrick Henry's celebrated resolutions. + +Andrew, another son, was a soldier, and made his home in Botetourt +County. During the Indian Wars, he was made a General but not until he +had proved his worth in many a battle. He served with George Washington +on July 4th, 1754 when Fort Necessity was taken, and he was present when +the articles of the treaty were agreed upon. When Washington was made +Commander-in-Chief, it is said he asked Lewis to accept the commission +of brigadier-general. In 1776 he commanded the Virginians when Governor +Dunnmore was driven from Gwynn's Island and we are told he gave the +order for attacking the enemy and he himself lighted the match to the +eighteen-pounder. + +General Lewis resigned in 1780 and on his way home was taken ill with +fever. He died near Bedford, about forty miles from home. + +We cannot give all the accounts of William, Andrew and Charles, the +other sons, but if one would read interesting captures and escapes from +Indians, he will find that of Charles most exciting. + +The sons of John and Margaret Lynn Lewis helped to develop the Valley of +Virginia and their name is an honored one wherever it is found. + + + + +Indians + + +Early historians give us some accounts of the various Indians in +Virginia. Opechancanough, a warrior chief from the East, went to war +with Sherando, a member of the Iroquois tribe. Opechancanough in +crossing the mountains on a foraging expedition was once attacked by +Sherando who felt his tribe should not have to share its hunting grounds +with anyone else and resented the invasion. A fierce battle took place, +with no one victor. + +Opechancanough liked the country, so when he returned to his town below +Williamsburg on the Chickahominy, he left his son and a few warriors to +watch the hunting grounds which he had found so rich in game. This son, +Shee-wa-a-nee, with his band soon had to fight the main body of the +Iroquois and Sherando drove the Chief east of the mountains. + +Opechancanough left the lowlands as soon as the news was brought to him +by runners. He gathered his warriors and set off with a large force. He +fell upon Sherando and in the fierce battles which followed, he slowly +drove him from his grounds, and he never returned from his home near the +Great Lakes. + +Sheewa-a-nee was left again in charge of the Hunting Grounds and from +that day the Shawnees held the lovely Valley until the coming of the +white settlers. + +The settlers kept many of the Indian names for both mountains and +streams. Opechancanough river was so called for the Great Chief. Legend +and history tell us that in his later years he became blind and could no +longer hunt in the lovely Shenandoah Valley. + +There were many tribes of Indians in the country and though they did not +all speak the same language, they did have a common tongue and could +understand each other. + +After 1710 all the lands west of the Blue Ridge Mountains were spoken of +as Indian Country. The different tribes evidently had understanding +among themselves about certain boundary lines as individual tribes had +certain domains. When one violated these rights, there was a war in +which whole tribes sometimes would be completely wiped out. + +The Shawnees, the most powerful and warlike of all, claimed all the +hunting grounds west of the Blue Ridge and as far west across the +Alleghany as the Mississippi. They had three large towns in the Valley. +One was near where Winchester stands today, one on the North River in +Shenandoah County, and one on the South Branch, near where Moorefield is +situated. They did allow other tribes to visit them in the Valley on +condition they pay them tribute in skins or loot. + +The next tribe was the Tuscaroras, and they spent most of their time in +what is now West Virginia. + +Another tribe was an offshoot from the Sherandos and were called +Senedos. They were completely wiped out by the fierce tribe of Cherokees +from the South, in 1732. + +The Catawbas were from South Carolina and had their towns along the +river which still bears that name. + +The Delawares came from Pennsylvania and their villages were along the +Susquehanna River. The Susquenoughs were a large and friendly tribe on +the Chesapeake Bay and they were good to the white settlers until their +enemies, the Cenela tribes, drove them away from Tidewater Virginia. +Then they went to the upper Potomac River. The Cenelas soon followed +them to the same region. Another tribe, the Piscataway, lived along the +headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay. + +The Cherokees had their villages on the Tennessee River down in the +Carolinas and Georgia and Alabama. This tribe was made up of the nations +of the South, the Muscogluges, the Seminoles, Chickasaws, Choctaws and +Creeks. At certain times, all these Indians made forages into the +Valley. Besides these there were those from New York--the Senecas, +Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas and Cayugas. These were called the Five +Nations and they too claimed the right to hunt in the Valley. These +Indians believed, we are told, that the Great Spirit had given this +Valley to all Indians and it is not surprising that they resented the +coming of the white men who soon began to build homes, barns and fences +and who claimed the right to shoot the Indians if they came on their +property. + +Then the French about this time began to build forts along the St. +Lawrence River, the Great Lakes and on down the Mississippi River to the +Gulf of Mexico. The French made every effort to make friends with the +Indians and told them the British had no right to take their lands. The +French said they would protect their rights if the Indians would let +them. Consequently, they became allies of the French and they began to +move their villages and towns toward the French lines. They continued to +keep a part of their homes and to send back bands of hunters to look +after the hunting grounds beyond the mountains. + +If the Indians had not been friendly to those pioneers who dared to +build homes in the Valley, there would not have been any civilization +there until a much later date. But as we have seen, many of them came +from Pennsylvania where William Penn and his colonists had dealt so +fairly with the Indians. Naturally then, the Indians thought all the +settlers would be like those. Besides, there were so few of them, they +did not at first realize that their hunting grounds were being taken +from them. Consequently, the Delawares and Catawbas in hunting did no +harm, though they were bitter enemies and the settlers often saw them +with prisoners from the other tribes. + +There were Indian villages on the Potomac and on both branches of the +Shenandoah. Numerous Indian mounds and graves are still to be seen in +certain sections of the Valley. Many of these have been opened and +skeletons found to be in a wonderful state of preservation; utensils, +pipes, axes, tomahawks, pots and hominy pestles have been found. Their +pots and utensils were made of a mixture of clay and hard shells, very +crude as to workmanship but very strong. + +After twenty or more years of comparative peace, the Indians suddenly +left the Valley. In 1753 messengers came from the Western Indians into +the Valley and invited them to cross the Alleghany mountains. Historians +claim this was done through the influence of the French and later +consequences seem to establish the point. + + + + +Indian Tales + + +In the year 1774 the Indians began to give serious trouble to the +settlers on New River. One day several children, those of the Lybrooks' +and the Snydow's, were playing down by the river. They heard a dog +barking and upon looking up, saw some Indians approaching. One of the +boys ran along the edge of the stream trying to make his escape and warn +the family. But one of the Indians ran ahead and cut off that means of +escape. He also fired at two boys who were farther out in the stream, +but fortunately missed them. + +While the Indian was aiming at the boys, one of them ran up a rough path +which had been made by the animals as they went back and forth to drink. +The boy scrambled up this path and darted by the Indian who tried his +best to catch him. The Indian gave pursuit and the boy ran until he came +to a wide gulley about ten feet wide. This the boy easily jumped, but +the Indian hesitated and threw a buffalo tug which struck his head and +hurt his back. But he never stopped running until he reached his +father's home and slipped into the fort where he told the parents of the +attack. + +In the meantime, five of the children who were playing in the river +climbed into the canoe. The Indians waded out, then swimming to the side +of it, pulled out the children, killed them, and took their scalps. + +An older girl, about thirteen years old, turned over the canoe and swam +downstream, then jumped to the opposite bank. One of the Indians pursued +her and she screamed loudly for help. A faithful guard dog came to her +rescue and as the Indian reached out to grab her, the dog jumped at the +Indian, tearing the flesh in his thigh, and threw him down. This gave +the girl time to make her escape. + +The Indian struck the dog a blow with his club which finally made him +let up on the man. The faithful dog went to the canoe and stood guard +over the five scalped children until their people came to take them away +for burial. Then the dog refused to leave the spot and began to howl in +a most pitiful way. He ran into the woods and back again, keeping up his +cries until one of the men followed him to see what was troubling him. +There near a tree, he found a little boy of six years, bleeding to death +from a scalp wound. + +In 1760 two Indians were seen hiding around Mill Creek. Mr. Painter, his +brother John and William Moore went in search of them. After some time +they came to a newly fallen pine tree which had a very bushy top. + +"We had better be careful," Mathias Painter said as they neared the +fallen tree. "There may be Indians hidden in it." As he spoke, an Indian +fired from the tree. His bullet grazed John's temple not injuring him. +Then the other two white men fired at the Indians, striking one of them +who fell to the ground. They supposed him to be dead, so they pursued +the one who had fled, leaving his gun and loot behind him. + +But the Indian was strong and he outran the two men. Imagine their +surprise when they returned, and found the Indian gone whom they had +supposed dead, taking the guns and pack of skins with him. The white men +picked up his trail and followed him. He hid himself in a sink-hole and +when the men came near he opened fire on them. He poured out his powder +on the dry grass in front of him so he could reload his gun more +quickly. He fired at least thirty times before the two men finally were +able to kill him. + +The Indian who had gotten away met a young woman of the neighborhood who +was riding horseback. He tore her from the horse and forced her to go +with him. This happened near where New Market stands today. They +travelled about twenty miles or more. The Indian became impatient +because she complained of being so tired. People near Keesleton heard +cries in the night. The next day when they went to see who had made +them, they found a pine knot on which blood was still fresh. Nearby, +they found the poor girl, already dead from the cruel blows and from +loss of blood. + + + + +The Moore Massacre + + +One of the most beautiful sections in Southwestern Virginia is called +Ab's Valley, in Tazewell County. It was first settled by Captain James +Moore, one of the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, who had moved from +Rockingham County in 1775. There was no river running through the ten +miles of fertile grounds, but several springs watered the tall grass +which afforded fine grazing for stock and game. Captain Moore's +brother-in-law, Mr. Robert Poage, came to live nearby, but they were the +only settlers in that neighborhood. Their nearest neighbors and a fort +were over twelve miles away. + +In the Spring of 1782 the Indians came to Mr. Poage's house and burst +through the heavy door without any warning. They did not expect to find +any men there and when they saw there were three they did not attempt to +enter the house. The next morning, a man named Richardson, who worked on +the place, went out to look at some deer skins which he had soaking in a +nearby pond. The Indians crept up and shot him, taking his scalp. + +Two years passed before the Indians attacked the Moore family. James, a +young boy of fourteen, was sent by Captain Moore to get some horses from +a field about two miles from his home. He wanted James to go to the mill +and for this he needed an extra horse. + +James had gone only a short distance when three Indians sprang from +behind a log and caught hold of the boy. He screamed and the Indian laid +his hand over his mouth and in the Indian language told him to keep +still. + +Black Wolf was the name of the middle-aged Indian. His son was about +eighteen years old. The other Indian seemed to be one of Black Wolf's +men. James said he was not so very much frightened after he was told he +belonged to Black Wolf, though he was one of the sternest looking men he +had ever seen. Black Wolf gave James some salt and told him to catch +some of his father's horses for him. James said he would, meaning he +would catch two, and try to make his escape on one of them. But every +time he caught a horse the Indians ran up and frightened it so it would +get away. At last the Indians gathered up their blankets and pots where +they were hidden in the grass and motioned for James to fall in line. +The young Indian went first, then the Indian man, then James, followed +by Black Wolf. + +James tried to break off pieces of bushes so his father could tell which +way he had gone. Black Wolf tapped his shoulder and shook his head. Then +he tried to leave signs by digging his toes down into the soft earth. +Again Black Wolf shook his head. + +After they had gone a long way, about sundown Black Wolf gave a long +war-whoop. He did the same the next morning at sunrise. The Indians did +this to show they had a prisoner. They gave one cry for each prisoner +taken. If they had taken scalps, the cry would have been a different +kind. + +Before they lay down in the thicket that night, Black Wolf searched +James to see if he carried a knife. Then he took out a halter and tied +it fast to James' neck and wrapped the other end around his hand. + +The next morning Black Wolf left James with the other two Indians and +went off to get a Dutch oven which he had taken on one of his other +expeditions. He gave this to James to carry. He fastened it to James' +back, but after it rubbed a sore place, James threw it down and refused +to carry it further. Black Wolf then took off the huge bundle which he +carried and told James to take it. But he could not even lift it from +the ground. The Indian then pointed to the Dutch oven, and he found it +was not so bad to carry after he padded it with leaves. + +He found out how long the Indians could go without much food. For three +whole days they had only water in which poplar bark had been steeped. On +the fourth day they shot a buffalo. They took a small bit of the meat +and made a clear broth which they drank but Black Wolf did not let them +eat any of the meat until the next day, this being their custom after +fasting. + +James said he travelled the whole way barefooted. Of course his feet +became sore from bruises. He saw many rattlesnakes, but he was not +allowed to kill them as the Indians considered them to be their friends. + +James knew that the Shawnees, of whom Black Wolf was a member, lived far +to the West. He believed they must be nearing their town after he had +travelled for twenty days. He told of how they made a raft of logs on +which they crossed the Ohio and other streams. He learned how to twine +the long grapevines around the logs to make the raft. He saw how the +Indians made crude pictures in the banks of the streams to let other +Indians know they had a prisoner. Black Wolf stopped and drew three +Indians and a boy. + +When the Indians came near their town they painted themselves black. +They left him white as an omen of safety. Black Wolf traded James to his +half-sister for a horse. James later found out why he was not taken into +the town. It was a time of peace and if they had seen the new prisoner, +they might have made him run the gauntlet. The old squaw was kind to him +and sometimes left him alone in the wigwam for days at a time. He said +he prayed to God to keep him safe. We cannot give all his experiences +with the Indians, but he was finally sold to a French trader from +Detroit. His name was Baptist Ariome and he liked James, for he looked +like his own son. He gave the old squaw fifty dollars' worth of silver +brooches, beads, and other trinkets in Indian money. + +James met a man who was a trader from Kentucky, a Mr. Sherlock. This man +promised to write to James' father and tell him of his capture, of his +being sold and of his being taken to Detroit. After some time, as we +shall see, he did get back to Virginia. + +But in the meantime, many other things were happening to the Moore +family. In July 1786, several of the hundred head of horses which +belonged to Captain Moore came in to the salt block to get salt. Captain +Moore went out to see them, about two hundred yards from the house. +Nearby were two of his children, William and Rebecca, who were coming +from the spring; not far away was another child, Alexander. All at once +a stream of bullets began to fly. Thirty Indians had hidden themselves +in the tall grass which almost surrounded the Moore home. William and +Rebecca were killed instantly. Captain Moore ran to the fence which +separated the lot from the house and as he climbed over, he was struck +by several bullets. The Indians then ran up and scalped him. + +Two men who lived with the Moores were not far away in a field, reaping +wheat. When they heard the shooting they ran toward the house but when +they saw it was surrounded by Indians they made their escape and went +off to give the alarm to other settlers who were six miles away. + +Mrs. Moore and Martha Evans, the girl in the house with her, quickly +barred the door when they saw the tragedy. They took down the rifles +which had been fired the night before and gave them to an old +Englishman, John Simpson, who was ill, to load for them. But the old man +could not help them, for he had been struck by a bullet as he lay sick. + +Martha Evans soon decided to hide under a loose board in the floor of +the cabin. Polly Moore, a little girl of eight, was holding her baby +sister who was screaming with fear. Martha told Polly to get under the +board too, but she decided to stay with the baby. + +Then the Indians burst down the door and lunged in. They took Mrs. Moore +prisoner and four children, John, Polly, Jane, and Peggy. They took +everything they fancied, then set the house on fire. + +Poor Mrs. Moore saw the Indians kill her son because he was sick and +could not keep up with them. They killed the baby because it cried so +pitiously. They had to have their hands tied, as had James, and they, +too, fasted. + +When at last they reached the Indian town, Mrs. Moore and Jane were +killed by torture and death at the stake. Polly was treated more kindly +and was finally sold to a man near Lake Erie, for a half gallon of rum! + +Now fate seems to have taken a hand in bringing Polly and her brother +James together in that far-away country. While on a hunting expedition +James heard about the destruction of his family. He was told that his +sister Polly had been bought by a Mr. Stogwell, a man of bad character. +It was in the Winter, so James waited until Spring when Mr. Stogwell +moved into the same section of the country where he was living. + +When James went to see them he found Polly very miserable. Her clothing +was only rags and she had almost lost hope of ever seeing any of her +people again. James found that Mr. Stogwell was unkind, too, so he went +with Simon Girty to Colonel McKee, Superintendent of Indians, to get her +release. He had Mr. Stogwell brought to trial, but they did not have +enough evidence and Polly could not leave him. However, after much +trouble, James was able to get passage for Polly and himself on a +trading boat and came down the Great Lakes. They landed in a Moravian +town where they met some friends owning horses. They journeyed to +Pittsburgh and stayed until Spring. Then they set off for Virginia, sad, +of course, knowing how few there would be to welcome them. Yet they were +delighted to find their brother Joseph was still safe. He had been +visiting his grandfather in Rockbridge County at the time of the +massacre. + +Polly met and married the Reverend Samuel Brown, a Presbyterian +preacher. They had seven sons, and five of them were ministers. + + + + +Washington's Boyhood Friend--Lord Fairfax + + +"The Proprietor of the Northern Neck," Lord Fairfax, lived at "Greenway +Court" after first having a country seat at Belvoir near the Potomac +River in what is now Fairfax County. + +An interesting character this Fairfax must have been. Born with a title +in England, he moved in intellectual circles there, was acquainted with +men of letters such as Addison and actually contributed some articles to +the _Spectator_. Either through boredom or a disappointment in not +winning the lady of his choice he decided to leave his country and come +to Virginia. + +It may be of passing interest to learn that Lord Fairfax, although +proprietor of thousands upon thousands of acres, lived in a +comparatively simple way. His home was an unpretentious story and a half +frame building, situated in a large grove of trees, and surrounded by +smaller homes for servants and tenants. "Greenway Court," the name given +the home, very probably lacked more indications of elegance and grace +because of Fairfax's bachelor state. + +A mile from the house he had erected a white-oak post which served as +guide for those in search of his dwelling. At White Post, the village +which derived its name from the signpost, one may see a replica of the +original, located on the site of the first one placed there in 1760 by +the proprietor. + +His domain, called the "Northern Neck of Virginia," comprised the +present counties of Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, Westmoreland, +Stafford, King George, Prince William, Fairfax, Loudon, Fauquier, +Culpeper, Clarke, Madison and Page in Virginia and numerous counties in +West Virginia. + +Lord Fairfax was exceptionally interested in fox hunting and reserved +great tracts for this sport. Sometimes he spent weeks at a time hunting. +He made a rule that whoever caught the fox should cut off its tail and +hold it aloft and should have no part of the expense of the subsequent +frolic. As soon as a fox was started all the young men would gallop off +at a great rate, while Fairfax waited behind with a servant familiar +with the hills and streams and who had a good ear; following the +servant's directions he frequently stuck the fox's tail in his hat and +rejoined the hunters! + +Familiar to everyone is the fact that Lord Fairfax engaged Washington, a +boy of about sixteen, to survey his vast lands beyond the Blue Ridge. +Through this undertaking the latter gained a thorough knowledge of +frontier life and a reputation for dependability and self-confidence. +These attributes were to be needed later for participation in the French +and Indian War. A warm and lasting friendship grew up between the +proprietor and Washington. + +Being British by birth and sympathy the course of the Revolution was +watched with mingled hopes and anxieties by Fairfax. When news of the +final capitulation at Yorktown arrived late in October 1781 the feeble, +disappointed and tired old man called his servant and asked to be put to +bed since he felt the time had come for him to die. In December of that +same year the great proprietor of the Northern Neck of Virginia died. + + + + +Winchester--The Frontier Town of the Valley + + +The first inhabitants of Winchester were a large tribe of Shawnee +Indians. Two houses occupied by white men are supposed to have been +standing as early as 1738. + +Known as Old Town and Fredericktown it was named Winchester in 1752 in +honor of the English home of its founder, Colonel James Wood. The +settlement grew so rapidly it was necessary several times to enlarge its +boundaries. Colonel Wood and Lord Fairfax both donated additional lots +in order to extend the corporate limits of the town. + +During the French and Indian War Colonel George Washington was asked to +go to Winchester to defend the Valley. He found refugees overrunning the +place and determined to build a fort on the outskirts of the town which +would afford protection in case of raids. He imported his own blacksmith +to do the foundry work, so anxious was he to speed the construction of +the fortifications. Fort Loudon was the name given, after Lord Loudon +the commander of the colonial forces, and a successful defense was made +against the French there. It may be of interest to learn that the fort's +bastion still remains and the well which supplied water during the +French and Indian War is still in use today. + +No account of Winchester would be complete if the story of General +Daniel Morgan were omitted. Of Scotch-Irish extraction he came with his +parents from New Jersey to the new settlement. As a youngster he was +considered something of a bully. The story goes that around +"Battletown," an intersection in the roads where toughs used to fight +for the joy of combat, young Morgan was in the habit of placing large +stones at strategic points. In case he had to retreat he was able to +draw on this supply of ammunition! + +Tradition has it that on one occasion young Dan Morgan had just arrived +in Winchester from the Western settlements on the South Branch--as a +driver of a pack for the fur traders. George Washington was ready with +his small party to go to the Ohio Country with a message to the French +officials not to continue their fort building on English property. + +[Illustration:-_Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce_ + +GEORGE WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, WINCHESTER, VA.] + +Washington's journal gives the following notes: "On Ye 17th day of Ye +month of Novemo,--the party consists of one guide and packer, one Indian +interpreter, one French interpreter and four gentlemen." We know now +that the celebrated Gist was his guide and Vanbraam his interpreter. It +is said that Morgan offered his services too as a guide, and was +accepted. It was on this perilous trip, perhaps, that each of these +young men realized the fine traits of the other. + +It was Daniel Morgan who, at the outbreak of the Revolution, marched a +hundred men with one wagon of supplies to Boston to report to General +Washington. He fought at Quebec and Saratoga and defeated Tarleton at +Cowpens. He had charge of Hessian prisoners captured at Saratoga and +there are evidences yet of his supervision of construction of stone +walls and homes and the mill at Millwood built with prisoner labor. + +"Saratoga" is the name he gave his home near Boyce; it was built mainly +by the Hessian artisans. On his way to Gettysburg in 1863 General Lee +used the fine old house as headquarters. This estate is on the road +between Winchester and Boyce and is in full view of the highway. + +There is a wealth of amusing tales told about the old city, some dating +as far back as its conception; others have to do with the activities of +later times. + +The story is still heard in Winchester of the time when guests and +village loafers were congregated in one of the taverns at the close of a +day to discuss weighty topics over their glasses of ale. From a window +they saw an old man get out of his gig, taking with him luggage for +overnight accommodation. The gig was comparable to the famed One Horse +Shay in its state of near collapse. Comments were passed among the group +inside as to the man's shabby appearance, his business and ultimate +destination. He was soon forgot in the midst of the ensuing conversation +between several young lawyers, one of whom remarked that he had heard a +sermon delivered which equalled the eloquence and fluency usually +reserved to lawyers pleading their cases. This brought forth eventually +a heated discussion of the merits of the Christian religion, argued pro +and con by those present lasting from six in the evening till eleven. + +Finally one young fellow turned to the quiet old traveller. The latter +had sat with apparent interest and meekness throughout the five-hour +debate and had not joined in. The question was asked, "Well, old +gentleman, what's your opinion?" + +The reply lasted almost an hour; he answered argument for argument in +the exact order in which each had occurred and with the greatest +simplicity and dignity. At the conclusion no one spoke for some time. At +last inquiry was ventured as to his identity. He was Chief Justice John +Marshall. + +In his _Virginia: A History of the People_ John Esten Cooke relates this +story. An Irish laborer and his wife came in 1767 to the lower valley +country and stopped at the home of a Mr. and Mrs. Strode, German +landowner. For several years they lived with the German family and +during the time a son was born. When they decided to push on farther +south the Strode children followed, begging that they leave the little +boy behind with them. They had become very much attached to the baby and +were reluctant to see him go away. The parents naturally refused the +request. While stopping for a short rest they placed the baby on the +ground and the children would have run off with him if they could. + +The family kept its southward course and at last reached the Waxhaws in +North Carolina. Here the boy grew up and later his name was familiar to +every one--Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States. + +The legend may or may not be true, according to Mr. Cooke. But at least +there was a clear, cool spring on the Strode farm called "Jackson's +Spring." + +A pamphlet compiled at Winchester on "What To See and How To See It" +tells us that the town changed hands seventy-six times during the War +Between the States. Other sources give a fraction of a smaller figure. +The exact number of times the town was under first Federal then +Confederate forces does not matter, but it is well to know that so much +of the fighting took place around the neighborhood. More will be said +about the Valley warfare later on. + +Beginning in November 1861 and continuing until March of the following +year General Jackson had his headquarters in Winchester. After finding +suitable quarters he sent for his wife who had remained at their home in +Lexington, Virginia. Colonel Henderson in his well-known book, +_Stonewall Jackson,_ quotes Mrs. Jackson as saying of her stay that +Winter: + + "The Winchester ladies were amongst the most famous of Virginia + housekeepers, and lived in a good deal of old-fashioned + elegance and profusion. The old border town had not then + changed hands with the conflicting armies, as it was destined + to do so many times during the war. Under the rose-colored + light in which I viewed everything that winter, it seemed to me + that no people could have been more cultivated, attractive, and + noble-hearted. Winchester was rich in happy homes and pleasant + people; and the extreme kindness and appreciation shown General + Jackson by all bound us to them so closely and warmly that ever + after that winter he called the place our 'war home'." + +Winchester rightly claims that it is in the "heart of the apple +industry," for thousands of acres are devoted to the growing of fine +apples. Over a million barrels are harvested annually and at Winchester, +we believe, is the largest cold storage apple plant in the world. + +Celebrating its crop each year, the city stages an apple blossom +festival during the latter part of April or the first of May when the +orchards for miles around are filled with the delicately tinted pink +blooms. This is a lavish sort of entertainment. A queen is selected to +reign over the festivities, her maids are invited from surrounding +sections of the country to participate in the parades and balls which +are given during the days' programs. If you haven't been already, plan +to attend an Apple Blossom Festival and see Virginia in one of her +prettiest moods--with gay young ladies and bloom-filled orchards. + +You know of the "Tom, Dick and Harry" trio of Winchester and its +neighborhood, don't you? They are the world famous Byrd brothers, +descendants of the founder of Richmond, Colonel William Byrd of Westover +on the James. Tom Byrd is a successful planter and orchardist. Richard +Byrd is noted for his polar expeditions; now he is devoting all his +energies towards the perpetuation of peace for our country. Harry Byrd +was at one time a progressive young Governor of the State and now serves +as a Senator in the United States Congress. + + + + +The Valley Pike + + +"Route Eleven" as the road is called from Winchester to Bristol is one +of the most historic as well as the most beautiful in all Virginia. It +stretches, like a broad silver ribbon, for over three hundred and fifty +miles. It begins at the northern end of the Valley, near the Potomac +River, and leads one through the fertile Valley, southward and winding +ever westward through the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany mountains. + +Let us review this famous driveway. Long before the coming of the white +men, the Indians followed almost a natural trail, as they journeyed back +and forth into the richest hunting grounds known anywhere in all their +world. Along it they found the big elk, bear, buffalo, wolves, foxes, +wild turkeys and smaller game. + +The first pioneers followed this Indian Trail, as they called it. Then, +as they developed the country more and more, they brought in horses and +oxen. This made a wider road and soon they were rolling their hogsheads +of tobacco and grain over it. They carried their products to market in +heavy wagons, swapping their wild bees' honey, venison, grain, and +hand-woven linen for the precious salt, sugar, iron and lead. Over this +road came an ever increasing number of other pioneers to settle near +those already living in the rich Valley. They brought their furniture, +guns, and families and a most fervent respect for the priceless liberty +to be found there. Liberty where one could worship God as one pleased. +Liberty where one's children could share in the development and in a new +country, full of opportunities. + +Historians claim that the young George Washington surveyed this road +through the Valley. Engineers today say that he did a wonderful work and +that they would make a few changes in it. Let us look at some of the +famous names of those who lived near or travelled over it. Some of them +lived within sight of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains while others +visited from one end of it to the other. As one travels near Winchester, +he reads the names of John Marshall, George Washington, and General +Morgan. From Charlottesville one reads of Patrick Henry visiting Thomas +Jefferson at Monticello. There, too, were Lewis and Clarke, men famous +in the development of our West, the McCormicks, the Houstons, the +Austins and other noted Virginians who went West and settled there. + +By now the Road was being called by many names, such as "The Old Indian +Trail", "The Great Road", the "Settlers's Road", while still others +called it the "Wilderness Road". + +Then came peace and prosperity after the French and Indian War and that +of the Revolution. Finer horses and carriages were being brought into +the Valley and so a better road had to be built. Some thrifty soul +suggested having a splendid road which should be maintained by +tollgates. And so was built the famous "Valley Pike". This was the +pride, not only of the Valley, but of all Virginia and the South. + +Interesting stories are told every day, as one travels over this +beautiful road, such as that of Charlotte Hillman who kept a tollgate +along the Pike. While Sheridan was making his famous raid through the +Valley (when he remarked that a crow travelling through the countryside +would have to carry a knapsack with provisions for his flight), he came +to the tollgate. Charlotte let down the gate and demanded toll from the +army before allowing it to pass. The General and his staff paid the toll +but he refused to pay for the entire corps. She lifted the gate but cut +a notch on a tree for every ten soldiers who passed. At the close of the +War she presented the United States Government with a bill--which is +said to have been paid in full. + +Today Route Eleven is known as the Lee-Jackson Highway, so called in +honor of Generals Robert Edward Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson. As you +travel through the Great Valley of Virginia may you know more intimately +the great men and women who have built not only the Great Valley of +Virginia, but who have helped in the making of America. We hope this +little book may make you know them and love Virginia more ... and we +hope you will come again and again to enjoy the Great Valley of +Virginia. Berryville + +Long before the County of Clarke was ordered to be carved from +Frederick, a town was established called Battletown. This was so called, +says tradition, because of the rough and-tumble fights of the gang who +met there to drink their ale. + +Daniel Morgan, a picturesque character of the Valley, thought he had the +right to stop such fights and so he frequently got into the fray. Old +records show that Morgan sometimes had to pay a fine "for misbehavior." +But no doubt it was here that he won his strength and learned to +out-match the toughs of the neighborhood. Certainly he won a reputation +for his prowess, and as a general he won distinction. + +The town changed its name in 1798 when it was granted a charter and +became Berryville. It was named for its founder Benjamin Berry, who +donated the land and when Clark County was formed in 1836, Berryville +was chosen as the county seat. + +Tradition tells us that George Washington boarded with Captain Charles +Smith when he was in the Valley surveying for Lord Fairfax. This home +was about a half mile from the present Berryville. His office while in +the Valley was a small log building which was used as a spring house for +"Soldier's Rest." A cold spring of water flows under the floor of the +first room, which is about twelve feet square. George used the room +upstairs for his sleeping quarters. It was there he kept his instruments +and carefully recorded in his diary his experiences. It was there he +made out his reports for Lord Fairfax. Howe, an early historian, tells +us about that youth of sixteen. Quoting Bancroft, he writes: "The woods +of Virginia sheltered the youthful George Washington, the son of a +widow. Born by the side of the Potomac, beneath the roof of a +Westmoreland farmer, almost from infancy his lot had been the lot of an +orphan. No academy had welcomed him to its shade, no college crowned him +with its honors, to read, to write, to cipher--these had been his +degrees of knowledge. And now at sixteen years, in quest of an honest +maintainance, encountering intolerable toil, cheered onward by being +able to write to a boyhood friend, 'Dear Richard, a doubloon is my +constant gain every day, and sometimes six pistoles.' He was his own +cook, having no spit but a forked stick, no plate but a large chip; +roaming over the spurs of the Alleghanies and along the banks of the +Shenandoah, alive to nature, among skin-clad savages, with their scalps +and rattles, or uncouth emigrants that would never speak English, rarely +sleeping in a bed, holding a bear skin a splendid couch, glad of a +resting place for a night upon a little hay, straw or fodder ... this +stripling surveyor in the woods, with no companion but his unlettered +associates, and no implements of science but his compass and chain, +contrasted strangely with his fellows. And yet God had not selected a +Newcastle, nor a monarch of the Hapsburg, nor of Hanover, but the +Virginia Stripling to give to human affairs and as far as events can +depend upon individuals, had placed the rights and destinies of +countless millions in the keeping of the widow's son." + +While in the Valley of Virginia the young George Washington learned how +to tell the age of various trees by the thickness of their bark. The +older a tree is, the thicker the bark and it is much rougher and thicker +on the north side of the tree. He learned to know the course of the +winds and to get to the leeward of his game when out hunting for food or +skins. This was done by putting his finger in his mouth and holding it +there until it became warm, then holding it high above his head; the +side which became cold showed him which way the wind was blowing. He +learned that the deer always seeks the sheltered places and the leeward +side of the hills. In rainy weather, they keep in the open woods and on +the highest grounds. He found that the fur or skins of animals are good +in all those months in which an "R" is found in the spelling. + +He learned how to track animals, to know the various birds' songs and +cries. He watched the hunters build their camp fires and learned how to +cook his own game. + + + + +Front Royal + + +As most of us know, Charles II lived in such extravagant style and had +such a luxurious court he had difficulty in keeping his bills paid. He +was accustomed to resorting to one scheme after another in order to +raise revenue. At one time he dreamt of great wealth from the Virginia +colony through its tobacco crop--and it did supply him generously with +taxes. + +Realizing a lucrative business might be established by trading in furs +with the Indians, Charles ordered Governor Berkeley to send explorers +beyond the mountains. The governor chose a man of whom history records +very little. John Lederer was at one time a Franciscan monk. He +obviously had leanings towards an adventuresome life. In 1761 he set out +for the West, under the compulsion of Governor Berkeley. The party was +composed of five Indian guides and a Colonel Catlett. They went through +Manassas Gap in the neighborhood of Front Royal. + +The expedition proved a failure because of the unfriendly attitude of +the Indians and the roughness of the country. Charles was destined for +another disappointment. + +White settlers came to Front Royal as early as 1734 and built their +little houses in sheltered coves near the Shenandoah. Soon, news of the +desirable home sites in the Valley attracted other settlers. Lehewtown +was the early name given the settlement. + +Rough characters began to find their way here and shootings, brawls and +hard drinking were the order of the day--so much so that the place later +became known as "Helltown." However, it acquired more dignity and order +with the years and about 1788 it was incorporated under the name of +Front Royal. And why did the town get its double name? There are several +existing legends as to the derivation of the town's present name. + +The trails from Page and Shenandoah valleys crossed at this point. One +account states that the settlers going from one place to another met at +a tavern at the crossroads where the Royalist troops were stationed. +Hence ground around the town was a military post. When the sentry on +guard called out "Front" and the settlers were not able to give the +password "Royal." The name Camp Front Royal was given the post and later +it was known by the last two words. + + * * * * * + +A particularly tragic battle occurred at Front Royal in May, 1862, when +the First Maryland Regiment of the Union forces met the First Maryland +Regiment of the Confederate Army. It happened when Stonewall Jackson +came out suddenly from the Page valley and attacked General Banks' left +wing stationed at this town. The Federals were defeated and were driven +on through Rivertown where they tried hard to burn the bridges and cut +off the Confederate advance. The cavalry of the latter under Ewell saved +the bridges which spanned the two branches of the Shenandoah River. +About two weeks later the Confederates themselves burned the bridges, +but this was after Jackson had flanked Banks away from the position at +Strasburg, followed him to Winchester and won a victory there. + + + + +Flint Hill + + +In 1861 young Albert Willis was a theological student. Like many others, +he left his studies to enter the services of the Confederate Army. While +he was not a chaplain in Mosby's Rangers in which he had enlisted, he +did carry on his pastoral work with the men by giving them Bibles, +holding some services, and writing home for those who could not write; +no day passed during which he did not find an opportunity to be of +service to the men. + +One day in October, 1864 he was granted a furlough and was riding +southward to Culpeper, hoping to reach his home in that county. Not far +away from Flint Hill his horse lost a shoe, so he stopped at Gaines +Mill. There was a rickety old blacksmith shop at the crossroads. It had +been raining and he was very wet. While the horse was being shod, he +stood near the fire to dry his boots. The beat of the hammer on the iron +drowned out the sounds of approaching horses on which rode Federal +soldiers. + +Willis was taken captive and joined another prisoner outside. The two +Confederates were told that one of them must die in reprisal for the +death of a Federal soldier who had been killed the day before. + +The prisoners were carried before General William H. Powell, Union +Cavalry leader. Someone told General Powell that Mr. Willis was a +chaplain. + +"If you are a chaplain," General Powell told him, "your life will be +spared." + +"I am not a chaplain," the young Confederate replied, "I am a soldier, +fighting in the ranks." + +General Powell then told the Confederates that one of them would be +hanged within an hour. They would be given straws to draw lots. In this +way would one be spared. + +Willis replied that he was a Christian and was not afraid to die. He +insisted that the other Confederate who was a married man, be set free. +The doomed man was led out to a spot on the road near Flint Hill. A rope +was placed around his neck while the other end was tied to a young +sapling which had been bent down by the weight of several Federal +soldiers. + +While the preparations were being made, young Willis knelt down and +prayed. A witness said he never heard such a beautiful prayer, lacking +all bitterness. When he was through, the men released the tree and it +sprang into its natural position, swinging Willis high into the air, +where the body was left. + +When the Federals had gone, Mr. John Ricketts came by with a companion +and they cut down the rope, took the body of the brave Confederate and +buried it in the cemetery at Flint Hill. Today there is a stone which +marks his resting place and every Spring women go and place flowers on +his grave. Nearby is a small chapel named in honor of him--"Willis +Chapel." + +General Powell knew that young Willis was not accused as a spy, but he +was carrying out an order, issued in August 1864 by General U. S. Grant, +which read: "When any of Mosby's men are caught hang them without +trial." + + + + +The Skyline Drive + + +This world famous drive is not very old in point of years, but its lure +has and is attracting thousands of visitors every week to see the +beauties along its borders. Beginning at the northern entrance at Front +Royal, one winds around curving grades of finely built roads which pass +through great forests of oak, walnut, maple and wonderful specimens of +evergreens. + +West of the Drive one sees the eastern section of the Shenandoah Valley +and Massanutten Mountain which divides the Shenandoah River into two +forks for fifty miles or more. The river winds in and out and at one +place the guide will point out eleven bits of blue river spots as it +makes as many turns through the Valley. One thinks of old patchwork +quilts as he looks into the Valley below, for there are patches of +green fields, oblong bits of blue water, red roofs of barns and homes, +besides the various shades of greenwood lots. + +[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce_ + +VIEW ALONG THE SKYLINE DRIVE IN THE SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK] + +And no matter when or how often one goes, the views are never the same. +Sometimes the blue haze from the Blue Ridge Mountains makes the sunlight +turn to a golden mist. Clouds often cast huge moving shadows over the +fields and forests below--and sometimes they shut out the patchwork +entirely, leaving the visitor in a gray world, with only himself and the +clouds below and above. But this is unusual. + +Tall stark gray chestnut trees make a striking contrast against the +greens and flowers, especially in the Fall when the leaves are so +brilliantly colored. These once-producing nut trees were killed by +blight years ago. + +Occasionally one's attention is caught by a moving object high above on +some peak. This will prove, upon investigation, to be a hiker, or maybe +two or more. Every year more and more of these nature lovers are using +the Appalachian Trail, which, as you know, is the foot-trail from Maine +to Georgia. It was through the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club that this +link in the trail was included in the Skyline Drive and they maintain +locked shelters for hikers along the way within the park. + +Other trails invite one to lofty peaks through wild canyons and into +groves of giant hemlocks. Another takes one through White Oak Canyon +where a stream of pure water tumbles over huge rocks and makes a +snow-white misty spray. Here one sees rare wild flowers, ferns, moss and +herbs. There are trout lilies, Solomon's-seal, Hepaticae and many other +varieties of flowers. + +There is a trail to Big and Little Devil's Staircases where two hundred +foot cliffs protect narrow canyons filled with maidenhair fern, +spleenwort, cinnamon, wild parsley, ginseng and ginger. Tall maple and +tulip trees are lovingly intertwined by such clinging vines as trumpet +vines and honeysuckle while at their feet grow rare ferns and carpets of +moss. One hears the songs of the birds and sees the flashing of their +brilliant colored wings. + +Not far from Mary's Rock is Skyland. Here the tourist finds +accommodations for overnight or longer. Big roaring fires at evening +make visitors linger to listen to the stories of the Valley. + +Horseback riding is great sport for the Skyline guests who explore the +various trails nearby. + +The visitor may leave the drive at Panorama and go west down the +mountain to Luray. Or he may go east from Panorama down a lovely road to +Sperryville. Then on Route 211 he may motor north to Washington or, if +he would like to go by way of Culpeper, Madison, Orange and +Fredericksburg, he would find a rolling country and inviting roads to +the west, south and east. + +If the visitor would continue the drive to Swift Run Gap, he could go +over the Spotswood Trail to Elkton and to the Valley beyond. If he would +go east, he would also use the Spotswood Trail to Stanardsville and +Gordonsville, then to Orange or to Charlottesville. + +Who dreamed the dream or had the first vision of the Skyline Drive? What +farsighted men started the movement which resulted in our national +government's making a great scenic park in Virginia? + +A bulletin from the _Commonwealth_ gives the following summary: + + "The movement which has made this area a national park was + begun in 1924 when the director of the National Park Service + and the Secretary of the Interior conferred on the + establishment of a park in the southern Appalachian Mountains. + The Secretary appointed a committee to choose the most + attractive and suitable area; in December, 1924, his committee + voted unanimously for the area of the Blue Ridge mountains + between Front Royal and Waynesboro to be the first large + national park in the East.... + + "Acquisition of the area was a very difficult task. In 1926 the + newly created Virginia State Commission on Conservation and + Development started field work, and the Shenandoah National + Park Association began a campaign to raise funds for the + purchase of the land. The required area was made up of 3,870 + separate tracts. Most of the owners did not wish to sell; land + titles were not clear nor boundaries well defined; sufficient + money to make the purchase was not available. Congress reduced + the minimum area required for administration, protection, and + development of the park by the National Park Service. Certain + individuals made large donations. The Virginia legislature + appropriated $1,000,000 for acquisition and passed a special + law providing for wholesale condemnation of the land. Finally, + in 1935, at a total cost of approximately $2,000,000, 275 + square miles were acquired, and the deed to the park area was + presented to the United States government by the State of + Virginia. + + "The completion of this tremendous task of acquiring and + establishing the Shenandoah National Park has made available to + the people of the United States, for recreational and + educational purposes, an unusually attractive region of + mountains, hollows, dashing streams, forests and flowers. + + "The mountains rise to a maximum height of slightly more than + 4,000 feet above sea level, or approximately 3,200 feet above + the surrounding country." + + + + +Strasburg + + +We can hardly mention a Valley town which has retained its original name +throughout the years. What is now known as Strasburg was in the +beginning called Staufferstadt, which indicates its German background. +Peter Stover was the founder from whom the settlement took its name but +when he had the town incorporated in 1761 he changed it to Strasburg in +honor of his home city in Germany. + +There are evidences of the pioneer life of the Valley to be seen near +here. A house built about 1755 and occupied by the Hupps was so +constructed as to serve efficiently as a fort during the Indian raids; +this may still be seen. The home of George Bowman, a son-in-law of Joist +Hite, is also close by Strasburg. + +Joist Hite had four famous grandsons born at this Bowman home. John was +a governor of Kentucky. Abraham was a Colonel in the Revolutionary War +and Isaac also served in that war. Joseph served under General George +Rogers Clark in the expedition to the Northwest Territory. + +The story is told that a party of eight Indians with a white man named +Abraham Mitchell killed George Miller and his wife and two children just +two miles from Strasburg. They also killed John Dellinger and took his +wife and baby prisoners. + +A group of white men set out to find them and overtook the Indians in +the South Branch Mountains. They fired upon the Indians and killed one +of them, allowing the others to make their escape. Mrs. Dellinger was +forgotten in their flight so she came home with her neighbors. She told +them the Indians had killed her baby by dashing out its brains on a +tree--a favorite means of execution with them. + +Samuel Kercheval, who so frequently is quoted by us and of whom we have +written elsewhere is buried near Strasburg at "Harmony Hall." + +The town saw Union and Confederate troops march by during the length of +the war and several battles took place not far distant. A few trench +lines may still be seen around the countryside. "Banks' Folly" was +erected by General Banks when he expected Jackson to invade the +territory from the south and later found to his dismay that the +Confederates had entered the Valley from the opposite direction. Signal +Knob on top of Massanutten Mountain was used by the latter general as a +means of communication with the main division of the army on the +Rappahannock River. + + + + +Orkney Springs + + +Orkney Springs, earlier known as the Yellow Springs, was named for the +Earl of Orkney and was surveyed by George Washington, according to some +accounts. The Springs may be reached by travelling west of Mount +Jackson. + + "The Orkney Springs are composed of several lively springs and + are strongly chalybeate. Everything the water touches or passes + through, or over, is beautifully lined with a bright yellow + fringe or moss. The use of this water is found beneficial for + the cure of several complaints. A free use of this water acts + as a most powerful cathartic, as does also a small quantity of + the fringe or moss, mixed with common water." + +So stated the historian Howe concerning the Springs. Around the waters +there grew up a tiny village which accommodates the visitors to the +section. An excellent hotel caters to the guests who seek either quiet +and rest or zestful games. + +Near Orkney Springs there is a beautiful outdoor shrine where the +Episcopal Church holds regular and impressive services during the Summer +months--Shrinemont. + + + + +Stephens City + + +An act of the General Assembly in 1758 made Stephens City, or +Stephensburg as it was then known, the second town in the Valley. The +first was Winchester. Lewis Stephens the founder of this town came to +Virginia with Joist Hite in 1732. + +Later on this was a thriving town manufacturing the Newtown-Stephensburg +wagon that was the pride of teamsters who travelled all roads leading +south and west. They took merchandise into the wilderness and returned +with furs, skins and other products sent back by those settlers who had +pushed on farther into the wilds of Virginia. Many a covered wagon which +saw the plains of the Middle West had its birth in Stephensburg. + +When the Forty-Niners created companies which sent supplies to the gold +fields of California they found that few wagons lasted more than six +months. At last they began to order those being made in Stephensburg. +These were found to be sturdier in build and could stand the strain of +the rough roads and paths longer than other wagons on the market. + +The stores in the town were good ones, and often covered wagons came in +drawn by splendid horses. The drivers of these teams put up overnight at +the old taverns and many of the citizens gathered after supper to hear +the news of what was going on in Alexandria or in Tennessee. The drivers +would be called personal shoppers today, for they brought lists of +articles to be carried back into the far-off country for the convenience +of the homesteaders there. The lists probably included sugar, tea and +coffee, cloth by the bolt and household articles. You can imagine the +joy with which the covered wagons would be sighted days later! + +During Jackson's Valley Campaign the village was known as Newtown and +mention is made in this book of fighting in the neighborhood. + +Today the main industry centers around lime which is found in large +quantities close by. + + + + +Middletown + + +As an early village this was known as Senseny Town, in honor of the +doctor by that name who owned the land. In 1795 it was called +Middletown. Long ago it was a manufacturing town and was noted for the +fine clocks and watches which were splendid time-keepers for the +punctual and thrifty Valley folk. In fact, the demands for them came +from far and near. The old wooden wheels were first used, then brass was +introduced and the watch-makers learned to make the eight-day +clocks--the last word in time-keepers until the advent of the modern +electric clocks. The manufacturers of the watches and clocks soon made +instruments for surveyors as well as the much needed compasses. + +The first successful effort to produce a machine to take the place of +the flail and threshing floor for threshing wheat from the straw had its +start in this same town. The machines were a marvel in their day and the +villagers talked for months at the time when the machine beat out one +hundred bushels of grain in one day! + + + + +The Story Teller of the Valley--Samuel Kercheval + +PIONEER LIFE + + +Samuel Kercheval as a boy saw many of the pioneer men and women who had +cut their homes out of the wilderness. He never tired hearing of how +they had left Germany, and later had come down from Pennsylvania into +the Valley. He himself could remember many of the "Newcomers" who were +themselves pioneers. He loved the stories of the forts, the Indian raids +and the customs of the Germans and Scotch-Irish. He later began to write +down many of these stories and after he was older he rode up and down +the Valley gathering more and more stories and reading wills and old +records. Nothing was of too little value for him to record, even +accounts of the freaks of nature, like a six-legged calf, snakes and +other animals. + +When Kercheval's friends insisted that he write a book about the Valley, +he objected until they told him how much the children of the country +would enjoy stories of their grandparents. His own children (there had +been fourteen of them in all), like all children, loved stories. Now he +began to get his notes in shape and about one hundred years after the +first settlers came into the Valley, Samuel Kercheval's _History of the +Valley of Virginia_ was ready for the publishers. + +This was so popular that all the first edition was soon exhausted. How +pleased he was with the demands for more of them! However, he died +before the second edition came out. He lived at the time of his death in +1845 at "Harmony Hall" near Strasburg. This had at one time been a fort. +During an Indian raid, we are told, sixteen families sought shelter +within its old stone walls. They lived together so peaceably that they +gave it the name of "Harmony Hall." + +It is from Kercheval that we get the first pictures of the Valley. He +writes that it was long beautiful prairie, with tall rich grasses, five +and six feet tall, with fringes of sturdy timbers following its swiftly +running streams. He describes the kinds of soils and tells which is rich +and which is poor. For instance he says where one finds slate he may +rest assured the soil will not produce very good crops. On the other +hand, where one finds limestone the soil will produce fine products, +grains and fruits. + +Metal was found in some of the hillsides and mountains. An Englishman +named Powell found silver ore on the mountain which bears his name. He +smeltered the silver and from it made coins. This was breaking the laws, +of course, and soon officers were attempting to arrest him. Powell fled +to his mountain where he had a small fort hidden, and for years eluded +them. After many years men found his little shop where he smeltered the +ore and Kercheval himself saw the crude crucible in which the ore was +refined and the iron utensils also. + +Kercheval tells that many of the farmers found it difficult to plough +their lands and to make crops because of the innumerable small and large +stones which they found everywhere. At last they decided to get rid of +them and built many of the stone walls which one sees up and down the +mountain sides, along winding roads and enclosing picturesque homes. He +says the soil is so rich that seeds do not need to be planted very deep, +as they will germinate if there is only enough soil to cover them. + +There were great sugar-maple trees too and he tells of those "sugar +hills" in which there are four or five hundred acres of trees. They even +look like sugar loaves from a distance and today on Paddy's Mountain you +may still see some of them. You may already have guessed that the name +Paddy was in honor of the owner Patrick Blake, an Irishman who built in +the gap which is named for him. + +Kercheval lists carefully all the various healing springs and gives the +properties of each. He even gives the names of many persons who were +benefitted by drinking from or bathing in them. + +Let us pause here and read about these pioneers, how they built their +houses, how they dressed, and something of their superstitions, manners +and customs. + +The first settlers built plain sturdy houses made mostly from rough hewn +logs. Some of these were covered with split clapboards, having weight +poles to keep them in place. Many of them had no floors except the earth +itself. If made of wood, they used rough logs, split in two and roughly +smoothed with a broad ax. However, as they improved the lands and their +families grew, some larger houses were built of stone, which the men and +boys brought in from the fields. + +The married men generally shaved their heads and they wore wigs or linen +caps. When the Revolutionary War broke out this custom was stopped for +they could no longer buy wigs from Europe and none were made in this +country. There was little linen, so they could not get enough for other +needs and they could do without caps. + +The men's coats were mostly made with broad backs and straight short +skirts. These had huge pockets with flaps. The waistcoats had skirts +nearly down to the knees and pockets also. Their breeches were so short +they hardly reached to their knees, and they were fastened with a tight +band. Their stockings were drawn up under the knee-hand and tied with a +red or blue garter below the knee so it could be seen. Their shoes were +made of coarse leather, with straps and they were fastened with buckles +of brass for every day--maybe with silver for Sundays and holidays. The +men's hats were either of wool or fur with a round crown three or four +inches in height and with a very broad brim. The shirt collar was only a +narrow band and over it was worn a white linen stock drawn together at +the ends and fastened with a broad metal buckle. + +The women wore a short gown and petticoat of plain materials and a +calico cap. Their hair was combed back from the forehead and made into a +plain knot at the nape of the neck. + +The women and girls worked in the fields and wore no shoes except in the +winter. They worked from dawn 'til dark, for they milked, churned, made +cheese, washed and ironed for the family, cooked, spun and wove, knitted +stockings and quilted in their leisure moments. Kercheval tells us how +they made apple butter and sourkrout. Of the latter he wrote: + + "Sourkrout is made of the best of cabbage. A box about three + feet in length and six or seven inches wide, with a sharp blade + fixed across the bottom, something on the principle of the + jack plane, is used for cutting the cabbage. The head being + separated from the stalk and stripped of its outer leaves is + placed in this box and run back and forth. The cabbage thus cut + up is placed in a barrel, a little salt is sprinkled on from + time to time, then pressed down very closely and covered at the + open head. In the course of three or four weeks it acquires a + sourish taste and to persons accustomed to the use of it is a + very agreeable food. It is said the use of it within the last + few years on boards of ship has proved it to be the best + preventive known for scurvy. The use of it is becoming pretty + general among all classes in the Valley." + +Kercheval even tells us what the pioneers did for medicine. When he was +a boy he saw a man brought into the fort on horseback, who had been +bitten by a rattlesnake. One of the men dragged the snake, fastened to a +forked stick, behind the victim. The body of the snake was cut into +small pieces, split and laid on the wounded flesh. This, they claimed, +would draw out the poison of the bite. When this was done, the snake was +burned to ashes. During this process, others gathered chestnut leaves +and boiled them in a pot. Wide pieces of chestnut bark were applied to +the man's wound and the chestnut-leaf mixture poured over some of the +boiled leaves which had been made into a poultice. This was kept up +during the first day and if not improved, the treatment was continued +the next. + +Others suggested using boiled plantain, cooked in milk, which was given +to the patient. Walnut fern was another remedy for snakebite. The braver +patient submitted to cupping, sucking the wound or having someone cut +out the flesh around the bite. + +Gunshot wounds were treated with slippery-elm bark, flax seed poultices +or by scraping the wound itself and cauterizing it. + +The people suffering from rheumatism were rubbed with oil made from +rattlesnakes, bears, geese, wolves or any wild animal. This was put on a +flannel rag and bound to the parts affected. + +There were all kinds of syrups made from herbs such as spike nard and +elecampane for coughs and tuberculosis. The Germans used songs or +incantations for the cure of burns, nose-bleed and toothache. For one +afflicted with erysipelas the blood of a black cat was given. Hence +there were few cats which had not lost parts of their ears or tails. + +The sports of the boys in those early days were mostly those which +developed their physical bodies. The boys were given a gun almost as +soon as they were strong enough to carry one. They learned to make their +own bows and to sharpen their own arrows and many of them could shoot as +straight as the Indians who still roamed the hills. + +Throwing the tomahawk was another favorite sport. This axe-like weapon +with its handle will make so many turns in a given distance. With a +little practice a boy soon learned to throw his tomahawk and strike a +tree as he walked through the forest. + +When a boy was twelve, he had his own small rifle and pouch and was made +a member of the fort. He was given a certain port hole through which he +took careful aim. He was often allowed to go with older men on hunting +trips if he had proved himself worthy to be "among men." + +Dancing as we know it was unknown, but few ever enjoyed anything more +than those boys and girls did dancing their jigs and reels. Their music +was simple and singing was something both old and young enjoyed to the +fullest. Story-telling was an art then, and year by year, old, old tales +grew longer and longer and Jack the hero, always conquered all the +giants. + +There was witchcraft in the Valley too, and when a crow or calf died or +was sick, the owner often thought a witch had shot it with a hair ball +or with some kind of curse. When a man lost his cunning in his once good +aim, he was sure some one had put a "spell" on him. Some actually +believed men were changed into horses and after being bridled, they were +ridden all over the countryside. Many men thought this was why their +bones ached and they felt too tired to work their farms. + +The men who did strange things were spoken of as wizards. Some called +them witch-masters, and these claimed they could stop the mischievous +work of the witches and cure baffling diseases. + +When a child was born with a frail body, or developed rickets, it was +often thought to be caused by the spells of someone unfriendly to the +family. + +If one would get rid of the witch in his neighborhood a picture of the +supposed witch was drawn on a board or on a stump and shot at with a +bullet which contained a bit of silver. This bullet, if it struck the +picture, was thought to put a spell on the witch. + +We may smile at the thought of those superstitions, but few of us, if we +are honest, will not admit that we have one pet superstition just as +foolish as those referred to above. + +Kercheval tells us how difficult it often was for the farmer to retain +all of his crops. There were so many animals, like the squirrels and +raccoons, which liked their grains. Storms would come and huge trees +would fall on their fences, letting their horses and cattle get into the +fields. + +He makes us realize how difficult it was to procure the necessities of +life. Where, for instance did they get the mills with which to grind +their grains, where the instruments with which to make their farming +implements and their household cooking utensils? Who were their weavers, +their shoemakers, tailors, tanners and wagon makers? Of course there +were none, for each farmer and his family had to rely on what they could +do with their own hands or what they could trade to some neighbor in +return for something done for him. + +The first mills or hominy blocks were made of wood. A block of wood +about three feet long was burned at one end, wide at the mouth and +narrow at the bottom, so that when the pestle hit the corn it was thrown +up and as it fell down to the bottom it was mashed. Gradually, each +grain of corn was ground to a like size. When the corn was soft, as it +was in the Fall, this grinding made a fine meal for mush or "journey +cake" as they called this form of bread. However, this was slow work +later on when corn got hard. + +The farmer also used a different kind of mill. He used a sweep made of +springy wood, thirty feet or more long. This pole was supported by two +forks, placed about a third of its length from its butt end where it was +securely fastened to some firm object. To this was attached a large +mortise, a piece of sapling five or six inches in diameter and eight or +more long. The lower end was shaped like a pestle and a pin of wood was +put through it at a proper height so two people could work the sweep at +once. + +Kercheval says he remembers the one which he helped work in his own +home. It was made of a sugar-tree sapling and was kept almost in +constant use either by his own family or by the neighbors who came to +use it. He says these sweeps were used to make gunpowder from the +saltpetre caves which the settlers soon found. + +The women often used a grater for the corn when it was very soft. This +was made of a piece of tin, a few holes punched in on one side and then +nailed to a block of wood and the corn scraped against it. This produced +a form of corn-meal but was a very tedious method. Another kind was a +mill made of two circular stones. The one on the bottom was called the +bed stone and the upper one the runner. These were placed in a hoop with +a spout for discharging the meal. A staff was let into the hole in the +upper surface of the runner near the outer edge and its upper end +through a hole in a board fastened to a joist above. The grain was put +into the runner by hand. This type of mill, is one of the earliest ever +known by man. + +Then every man tanned his own leather. The tan-vat was a huge tub which +was sunk into the ground. A quantity of bark was quickly gotten each +spring when the farmer cleared his land. This was first dried then +brought in and on rainy days, the bark was stripped, shaved and pounded +on a block of wood with an ax or mallet. Ashes were used in place of +lime for taking off the hair from the skins of animals. They did not +have fish-oil, so the settlers substituted bear's grease, or lard made +from boiling the fat of these animals. This oil was used to make the +leather soft and pliable. The leather was often very coarse, but it was +tough and wore well. They made their blacking or polish for their shoes +by mixing soot with lard. Not every man could make shoes, but everyone +could make shoepacks, an article similar to the moccasin. + +Kercheval's father was a master weaver as well as a fine shoe maker. He +made all the shoes worn by his family and would not let anyone else make +his thread, as he thought no woman could spin it as well as he could. He +made all the woodenware called set work. He hand-carved some of them, +making grooves in which he fitted hoops to hold the staves in place. +During the days when every man had to serve in some military service, +the elder Kercheval was not strong enough to fight. The men brought all +their firearms to him and he repaired them. He could straighten a +crooked gun barrel with ease and file off any broken edges. + +Kercheval's father had been to school for only six weeks, yet he read, +worked hard problems in mathematics and wrote letters, not only for +himself, but for many of his friends. He drew up bonds, deeds of +conveyance and wrote other articles for them. He taught his boy to use +his hands, for Samuel tells that as a boy, he wove garters, belts and +shot pouches. He, too, could make looms. He traded well, for he says he +would swap a belt for a man's labor for a day, or give one to a man for +making a hundred fence rails. + +An amusing custom developed among the German settlers regarding their +weddings. Young men and women, termed "waiters," were selected to help +officiate at a wedding. The groomsmen were proud to wear highly +embroidered white aprons on such an occasion, for it was symbolic of +protection to the bride. Each waiter tried to keep the bride from having +her slippers stolen from her feet during the festivities. If she did +sustain the loss the young man had to pay for it with a bottle of wine, +since the bride's dancing depended upon its recovery. + +Characterized by their strong religious beliefs it was only natural for +the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians to build their churches as they built +their little homes. Opequon Church south of Winchester is thought by +many to be the oldest church in the Valley. Not so with the Germans. +They did not attempt to build separate houses of worship for a +generation or more after coming to the new section but they did hold +regular services in the homes of the settlers and waited until a better +time to erect churches. + +There was an interesting custom among the Scotch-Irish at their +weddings, too. It was called "running for the bottle." Usually the bride +and groom went to the parson's home for the marriage ceremony, attended +by their friends on horseback. At the conclusion of the ritual the young +men took to their horses and dashed for the bride's father's house. The +man on the fleetest horse was given a bottle of wine from which the +returning bride and groom first drank and then it was passed on to +others. In most instances the mad rush to the home was made in spite of +numerous trees and small brush which were cut down to serve as obstacles +in their paths. + +At Winchester these two distinct nationalities got along fairly well +together. An example of their friendly relations is to be seen in their +"War of the Guelphs and Ghibellines." The Dutch on St. Patrick's Day +would parade through the village streets with effigies of St. Patrick +wearing a necklace of Irish potatoes and his wife carrying an apron full +of them. + +And then on the day of St. Michael, the patron of the Dutch, the Irish +retaliated by holding aloft an effigy of the saint decorated with a +necklace of sourkrout. + +As was to be expected these frolics occasionally went to the extreme and +ended before the judge in the log cabin courthouse. + +It was hard for those early settlers to get such articles as salt, iron, +steel and casting. There were no stores where they could purchase sugar, +tea and hundreds of other necessities of today. Pelts, furs or skins +were their only money before they had time to raise horses and cattle. +In the Fall of the year, after all crops were harvested, every settler's +family formed an association with some of their neighbors for starting a +caravan. + +This consisted of two packhorses. A bell and collar was put on each +horse, as were a pair of hobbles made from hickory withes. Bags were +packed on the back of the saddles in which to bring back two bushels of +alum salt, each bushel weighing eighty-four pounds. Each horse carried +two bags on the return journey. This was not such a heavy load for a +horse but one must remember the animal also had to carry its own food. +Somewhere along the narrow trail, some of this grain was hidden until +the return journey. Large pouches or bags were also carried in which +were loaves of home-baked bread or "Journey Cake," a mixture of Indian +meal and water baked on an iron skillet and boiled ham and cheese. + +The men traded first in Baltimore, Hagerstown and Cumberland. They also +took along a cow and a calf, which was what they paid for one bushel of +the much needed salt. While the salt was being weighed, no one was +allowed to walk on the floor. + + + + +Woodstock + + +First called Muellerstadt after its founder Jacob Miller, Woodstock was +granted its charter in 1761 by the General Assembly of Virginia. Miller +was farsighted in his plans for the community and provided adequate +building sites for homes and businesses. + +The historian Kercheval tells an interesting account of the appearance +of Indians around Woodstock: + + "In 1766, the Indians made a visit to the neighborhood of + Woodstock. Two men by the name of Sheetz and Taylor had taken + their wives and children into a wagon, and were on their way to + the fort. At the narrow passage, three miles south of + Woodstock, five Indians attacked them. The two men were killed + at the first onset, and the Indians rushed to seize the women + and children. The women, instead of swooning at the sight of + their bleeding, expiring husbands, seized their axes, and with + Amazonian firmness, and strength almost superhuman, defended + themselves and children. One of the Indians had succeeded in + getting hold of one of Mrs. Sheetz's children, and attempting + to drag it out of the wagon; but with the quickness of + lightning she caught her child in one hand, and with the other + made a blow at the head of the fellow which caused him to quit + his hold to save his life. Several of the Indians received + pretty sore wounds in this desperate conflict, and all at last + ran off, leaving the two women with their children to pursue + their way to the fort." + +When Lord Dunmore came to govern the colony of Virginia in 1772 the +citizens passed a resolution endorsing his administration. They +requested that a new county be formed from Frederick which would be +called Dunmore County. Five years later, when he began to have trouble +with the colonists the people of Woodstock instructed their burgess to +get the name of their county changed to Shenandoah. This name is +retained to the present time. + +About six miles from Woodstock a Mr. Wolfe erected a fort on Stony Creek +years and years ago. He had a fine hunting dog and at the time of our +story Indians were lurking in the neighborhood. This was during the +period when the savages were endeavoring to rid the Valley of the white +men. + +Mr. Wolfe went out hunting one morning and had not gone far before his +dog began to run around and around him, blocking his path. Then he +jumped up in front of his master, put his feet on his shoulders and +seemed to try to stop Wolfe's progress. When the dog found he could not +stop his master he ran back towards the fort, then back to his master, +all the time whining a warning. + +The hunter suspected some danger, so he kept his hand on his gun and +watched out for Indians. He soon saw two of them behind a tree. +Evidently they were waiting for their man to come close enough for them +to get a good shot at him. Mr. Wolfe began to walk backward, making a +rapid retreat to the fort. Long afterwards someone asked Mr. Wolfe why +he did not kill the old dog since his years of usefulness were over and +he was apparently uncomfortable. He told the inquirer the story of how +the animal had saved his life and added, "I would sooner be killed +myself than suffer that dog to be killed." + +"There is a time to every purpose under the heaven--a time of war and a +time of peace." So spoke one of Woodstock's most famous sons, the +Reverend John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, in the Lutheran Church one +Sunday morning after the Declaration of Independence had been issued. +After delivering an inspired sermon taken from this text in which he +reviewed his stand on liberty, he dramatically cast off his black pulpit +robes and revealed to his astonished congregation his colonel's uniform +of the Revolutionary army. He was about thirty years old then and had +served the Woodstock flock for four years. + +Dr. Wayland in his book _The German Element in the Shenandoah Valley of +Virginia_, suggests that the Rev. Mr. Muhlenberg was associated with the +Episcopal as well as the Lutheran church and that "he seems beyond +question to have received Episcopal ordination.... His connection with +the Church of England was probably sought in order that his work as a +clergyman might receive the readier and fuller sanction." + +Almost immediately after preaching his patriotic sermon he raised a +regiment among the Valley folk. Known as the Eighth Virginia, or German +Regiment, they saw hard service at Germantown, Brandywine and Monmouth +as well as in some of the southern battlefields. + +Before the close of the war Muhlenberg was made a brigadier-general and +after his retirement he lived in Pennsylvania, his original home before +coming to the Valley of Virginia. + +A movement is under way at the present time to restore the little church +of the Lutheran faith where the colonel made his firey sermon. Let us +hope this may be accomplished so that we may catch the inspiration of +his remarks. + +Woodstock saw the march of many feet during the War Between the States; +almost constantly were the troops passing by, causing fields to be laid +waste, crops to be confiscated and stock to be carried off. But the +little town conceals her war scars well and today is a progressive +community. + +Massanutten Academy is located here and draws boys from all over +Virginia and a number of other States. + + +THE LINCOLN FAMILY + +Contrary to popular belief, President Lincoln's forebears were not poor +and shiftless, but were influential and prosperous Virginians who lived +in the handsome old brick Colonial home which, in a fine state of +preservation, is still standing, with the Lincoln family cemetery and +slave burying-ground nearby. + +The Lincoln homestead is near the little village of Edom, not far from +the Caverns of Melrose, and can be reached by turning west from U. S. +Highway 11 at these caverns, six miles north of Harrisonburg. Visitors +are welcome at this homestead. Exact directions as to how to reach it +can be obtained in the Melrose Cavern's Lodge. + +Thomas Lincoln, father of President Lincoln, was born in this house. +John Lincoln, great-grandfather of the President, moved with his family +into Virginia in 1768 where, as an influential pioneer, he built the +first brick unit of the beautiful Colonial home. + +John Lincoln was known as "Virginia John." Abraham Lincoln, his eldest +son and grandfather of the President, lived in this homestead and was +captain of a Virginia company during the Revolution. + +Captain Abraham Lincoln, with his son Thomas (father of the President) +moved to Kentucky in 1782, leaving Jacob Lincoln, a brother of Captain +Lincoln, in the Virginia homestead. Many Lincolns, descendants of Jacob +and other sons and daughters of "Virginia John," now live near Melrose +Caverns, in Harrisonburg and elsewhere in Rockingham county. + +On February 24th, 1829, when Melrose Caverns were known as "Harrison's +Cave," Franklin Lincoln, grandson of Jacob and a cousin of President +Lincoln, entered the caverns and, by the light of torches or candles, +carved his name and the date. He later fought in the Civil War as a +Confederate soldier. + +Also in these caverns is carved the name of John Lincoln, possibly John +Lincoln, Jr., who was one of Jacob's four brothers, or perhaps "Virginia +John" the pioneer, great-grandfather of the President. There is no date +carved by the name of John Lincoln. + +In April, 1862, during the Civil War, a Federal soldier drew a rough +portrait of President Lincoln with charcoal upon a wall farther back in +the caverns. These Lincoln signatures and this crude portrait can be +distinctly seen in Melrose Caverns by visitors today. + + + + +New Market + + +A little later in becoming settled than other Valley towns was New +Market, the progressive little place situated at the intersection of the +Valley Pike and Route 211 to Luray. Its charter was granted in 1785 as +the result of efforts made by Peter Palsel, an early settler. + +Thomas Jefferson's father, Peter Jefferson, was among the party of +surveyors who ran the land grant boundary for the Proprietor of the +Northern Neck, Lord Fairfax. This was done in 1746. The old line is a +short distance south of New Market. + +The town was the scene in 1864 of the battle in which the young and +inexperienced but dauntless cadets from the Virginia Military Institute +at Lexington took such prominent part. The wounded from their ranks were +cared for by devoted women in nearby houses. And what a percentage there +was either wounded or killed! Forty-six of the former and eight of the +latter out of a corps of only two hundred and twenty-one! + +New Market is the center today of the caverns in the Valley, for +Shenandoah Caverns are to the north and Endless to the south, while +within a short drive you may reach Luray, Massanutten, Melrose and Grand +Caverns. Accommodations for the tourists are numerous and fair +throughout the vicinity. + +Several years ago a re-enactment of the Battle of New Market occurred in +which the corps from the Virginia Military Institute pitted their +strength against the United States Marines. Among the spectators to this +stirring War Between the States encounter was the Secretary of the Navy. + +He was impressed with the majesty of the Shenandoah Valley and the +legend of the name. Later he determined to name the new navy dirigible +Shenandoah--"The Daughter of the Stars." For her christening a bottle of +water from the meandering Shenandoah River was used. And on her maiden +flight from her berth at Lakehurst the graceful ship flew over the +lovely, peaceful Valley from whence came her name. + + +ENDLESS CAVERNS + +On the first of October, 1879 two boys went hunting. Their dog chased a +rabbit up the long slope of Mr. Reuben Zirkle's pasture. The rabbit ran +for his life and disappeared over a huge rock. + +[Illustration: "THE CYPRESS GARDENS", A SCENE IN ENDLESS CAVERNS] + +The boys gave chase and boy-like, when they reached the rock and found +no rabbit, they pushed aside the heavy stone. Imagine how their eyes +bulged when they looked down into a great hole in the hill. Here was a +find! Here was adventure, for who can resist exploring a cave? The boys +thought no longer of the rabbit. They went in search of candles and a +rope. Soon they were seeing for the first time the lovely and strange +kingdom underground. + +The boys, no doubt like visitors, wondered how Nature had carved these +miracles. Today science has answered the question for us and for the +sake of those inquiring minds we will give in part the story of how +Mother Nature builds her caves. + +"Thousands and thousands of years of surface waters, seeping down +through the earth, have dissolved and carried away the limestone rock +through various tiny cracks and crevices. As each drop worked its way +downward it carried coloring matter--iron, maybe copper, which tints the +beautiful columns. Tiny bits of limestone formed and gradually built +them up from the bottom; these are called stalagmites. Others slowly +forming from the tops of the cave hung there and are termed stalactites. +Then through the years these grew until they met and formed the arches +and columns." + +Though explorations were carried on for several years no end to the +rooms was seen. One channel after another was found, and one room after +another came into view, hence the name Endless Caverns. + +People from far and near came to see the wonders, and dances were held +in Alexander's Ballroom. The musicians had a high rock on which they +played their fiddles. Huge iron circles were fastened to the ceiling and +candles placed in them for lights. One night one of the bold boys took a +candle and pushed farther into the cave. By the weird light he saw a +glistening lake, sparkling like diamonds. Upon investigation it turned +out to be a pool of clearest water and it reflected the white glittering +crystal roof which sheltered it. The name "Diamond Lake" was given it +and it has been admired by thousands of visitors. + +Then for thirty years the beautiful caverns were closed to the public. A +party of visitors came to the Valley. Colonel Edward Brown who stopped +in New Market was fascinated with the stories of the old caverns. He +bought the property and the next year the caverns were opened--in 1920. +Today his son, Major E. M. Brown, is the progressive owner. + +"The old entrance house has been replaced by a unique cave house built +of limestone boulders from the mountain side. Great gates of +hand-wrought iron bar the head of the stone steps which lead downward. A +lone lantern hangs from the arch of the stone roof and accurately +placed, at the exact center of the top of the entrance, is a huge +boulder in the shape of a keystone, set there by the Architect of all +the earth many thousands of years ago." + +No one can describe the beautiful shapes and designs to be found in the +caverns. They must be seen to be appreciated fully and no matter how +many caves one has seen, he will not regret the magic time spent here. + + + + +Luray + + +The question is often asked as to the origin of the unusual name of the +town of Luray. Legend disagrees as to its derivation. There are some who +claim it came from the name of an early settler, Lewis Ramey. He was +familiarly known as Lew Ramey and the contraction Lew Ray might have +followed naturally. The site of Ramey's little log cabin is at the +corner of Main and Court streets. + +Some citizens of the town insist that the Huguenots who escaped from +France and finally migrated to the Valley named the new settlement +Lorraine after their province in France and that Luray is a corruption +of the former name. + +There are reminders near this town of former years of struggle. During +the French and Indian War the settlers decided upon building "cellar +forts" for protection against Indian raids. These cellars dug under the +log homes were large enough for living quarters and were generally +supplied with a spring of water. They were so constructed with rocks +serving as a ceiling that even in case of fire in the house proper, the +occupants of the cellar would be unhurt. Several of these ingenious +little fortifications remain in Page County, Rhodes Fort and the Egypt +House being good examples of them. + +In the Hawksbill neighborhood, not far from Luray, there lived a long +time ago John Stone and his family. In 1758 the Indians came to his home +while he was away. They had little difficulty in carrying off Mrs. +Stone and her baby, a son about eight years old and another boy, George +Grandstaff, who was sixteen. + +The marauders sacked other residences in the neighborhood and killed a +number of persons. It is possible that when they set out for their own +settlements some distance off they found Mrs. Stone's progress impeded +because of carrying the baby. At any rate, they murdered those two and +continued on their way with the boys. + +Three years later Grandstaff escaped as their prisoner and returned to +Mr. Stone. Young Stone remained with the savages for a number of years +and when he did come home he sold his father's property and with the +money in his pockets he went back to the Indian village. No one ever +heard of him afterwards. + +Luray was laid out in 1812 by William Staige Marye, son of Peter Marye, +who built the first turnpike--a toll-road--to cross the Blue Ridge from +Culpeper into the Shenandoah Valley. Near Luray is the Saltpetre Cave. +During the War Between the States the Confederates established a nitrate +plant there and used the products in their manufacture of ammunition. + +One of the most beautiful drives in Virginia is that leaving Luray, +crossing the mountain and entering the Valley Pike at New Market. + +Of particular importance to this section are the Luray Caverns. An +entertaining history is attached to them. As far back as 1793 there was +knowledge of the existence of the caves, for Joseph Ruffner's son had +explored several passages just about this time. Ruffner's property took +on the name of Cave Hill. + +The Ruffners were among the largest landowners in the Valley, their +property extending twelve miles on both sides of Hawksbill Creek. They +received a part of the land through inheritance and bought other tracts. +Dr. Henry Ruffner, a member of this distinguished family, was at one +time President of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University +at Lexington. + +Fighting during the War Between the States occurred near the town of +Luray and about two miles south on the Lee Highway there is an old oak +tree which marks the place where Sheridan's famous Valley ride was +halted for a time. + +There are interesting landmarks remaining in the town today which have +witnessed the pageant of history, among the most pretentious being +"Aventine." This home originally occupied the present site of the +Mymslyn Hotel. + + + + +Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign + + +Too much space must not be consumed in this book in presenting the facts +regarding Jackson's Valley Campaign. We feel justified in devoting more +than a comment to this notable feat of war, however, for some of the +heaviest fighting of the four years' conflict took place on the land you +may see in driving over the Valley Pike and along the Skyline Drive. + +At the outbreak of hostilities in the War Between the States Thomas +Jackson left the chair of higher mathematics at the Virginia Military +Institute and volunteered his services in the Virginia army. Educated at +West Point and trained during the Mexican War he was a welcome addition +to the Confederate forces, although no one anticipated the conspicuous +role he would play in the subsequent events. At the early battle of +First Manassas he earned the name of "Stonewall" because of his quiet, +dignified and unafraid manner in the face of danger. + +Lt. Col. C. F. R. Henderson's invaluable two volumes, _Stonewall Jackson +and the American Civil War_, were consulted and are the source quoted +hereafter in giving the account of the Valley warfare. The First Brigade +of the Virginia army was recruited from the Valley and participated +under Jackson in the first battle of Manassas and for a long period of +time thereafter. + + "No better material for soldiers ever existed," said Henderson, + "than the men of the Valley. Most of them were of Scotch-Irish + descent, but from the more northern counties came many of + English blood, and from those in the center of Swiss and + German. But whatever their origin, they were thoroughly well + qualified for their new trade. All classes mingled in the + ranks, and all ages; the heirs of the oldest families, and the + humblest of the sons of toil; boys whom it was impossible to + keep in school, and men whose white beards hung below their + cross belts; youths who had been reared in luxury, and rough + hunters from their lonely cabins. They were a mountain people, + nurtured in a wholesome climate bred to manly sports, and + hardened by the free life of the field and forest. To social + distinctions they gave little heed. They were united for a + common purpose; they had taken arms to defend Virginia and to + maintain her rights; and their patriotism was proved by the + sacrifice of all personal consideration and individual + interest." + +After the first battle of Manassas the First Brigade was known as the +"Stonewall Brigade." + +From July to November, 1861, Jackson spent the greater part of every day +drilling the men under him and in trying to convert them into +well-disciplined, obedient troops. During the first week in November he +was sent from Manassas to command the Shenandoah Valley district and +this meant parting from the soldiers whom he had reason to admire and +who in turn held him in highest esteem. A short time later they were +destined to reunite under circumstances which would try the courage of +the brigade and commander. To the delight of all, the Stonewall Brigade +was assigned to Winchester soon after Jackson established his +headquarters there and for the next few months rigid training was given +them again. + +About the middle of March 1862, Jackson abandoned Winchester. This was +after some of the Union concentration near Manassas and Centreville was +broken up and General Banks made no move to offer battle, so the +Confederates withdrew without a fight and occupied Strasburg eighteen or +twenty miles southward. The evacuation of Winchester was made +reluctantly, for good roads in each direction connected the city with +outlying districts, fertile farms nearby could furnish the invading army +with rations and Banks could receive from or send troops to West +Virginia or the army south of Washington. Feeling that Jackson's small +force was not of any special danger, Shields' corps was sent in pursuit +of the Confederates and most of Banks' troops were ordered to another +field. Jackson continued up the Valley and stopped at Mount Jackson, +hoping the Federals would follow. + +The Confederate general learned from Ashby, his cavalry commander, that +the enemy was retreating. It was Lee's intention that the Union corps in +the Valley be retained there so that assistance could not be offered +McClellan, the Northern general who was maneuvering in the eastern part +of Virginia with the ultimate aim of striking Richmond. McClellan hoped +to attack the capital of the Confederacy by combining his army with +that of McDowell, whom he could call to the area of war when necessary. +So it was to be Jackson's duty to keep them in the Valley and perhaps to +withdraw some of the Northern troops from near Richmond. + +On March 22nd Ashby with his troopers and a few guns engaged Shields in +a skirmish just south of Winchester. He believed there was only a small +force of Federals present, so well had Shields hidden his men, and he +reported to Jackson that the troops were small in number. The next day +Jackson sent reinforcements to Ashby and then followed later with his +whole force in the direction of Kernstown which is south of Winchester +and but a short distance off. There the battle of Kernstown began and +continued until dark. Jackson's troops were defeated and retreated +southward. As a result of this encounter Shields was reinforced and the +strong Union force remained in the Valley. + +The Federal generals were apparently satisfied with the victory and in +spite of urgings from the Secretary of War, Stanton, to pursue Jackson +they remained inactive for nearly a month. + +Banks assumed the offensive on April 17th, and surprised Ashby, taking +one of his companies prisoner. The Virginians burned the railroad +station at Mount Jackson and fell back while the Union cavalry +established themselves at New Market. + +The Confederate General Ewell had a force of 8,000 men on the Upper +Rappahannock which is some distance east of the mountains. This corps +was left at its location in order to rush to the defense of +Fredericksburg or Richmond or across the mountains to the Valley. +Jackson knew that he must not allow Banks to control the mountain pass, +thus severing communication between the two Confederate forces. He +determined upon a forced march for his men and on the eighteenth they +reached Harrisonburg. He continued over to Swift Run Gap and encamped +near there. + +Banks followed his cavalry to New Market, crossed over to Luray and +seized the bridges, driving back a detachment of Jackson's men sent +there to defend them. Later he sent two of his five brigades to +Harrisonburg and the rest stayed at New Market. + +Jackson's next move was to McDowell, a town about twenty-seven miles +northwest of Harrisonburg. The march was made in the most circuitous +manner: from Swift Run Gap to Port Republic, to Brown's Gap which is +about twelve miles southeast of their camp at Elk Run Valley, to +Staunton and then west to McDowell. This strategy was used so that he +might deceive Banks, Fremont and Milroy, the Federal commanders in and +near the Valley, into thinking for a while that he was leaving the +Valley to join forces at Richmond. Jackson proposed to strike each Union +force located in this section of Virginia but he believed an encounter +with Milroy commanding the weakest corps should be made before attacking +Banks. The Battle of McDowell occurred on May 8th, and was a victory for +Jackson. He followed the enemy in their retreat as far as Franklin. A +squadron of Ashby's cavalry spent much time in blocking any of the +passes which Fremont might use in crossing the mountains to reinforce +Banks. Bridges were burned and rocks and trees were placed across the +roadways. Jackson's object was thus thoroughly achieved: + + "All combination between the Federal columns, except by long + and devious routes, had now been rendered impracticable; and + there was little fear that in any operations down the Valley + his own communications would be endangered. The McDowell + expedition had neutralized, for the time being, Fremont's + 20,000 men; and Banks was now isolated, exposed to the combined + attack of Jackson, Ewell and Edward Johnson." + +Ewell in the meantime had left his post near Gordonsville and had moved +into Swift Run Gap in order to go to Jackson if necessary. After the +Battle of McDowell, Jackson returned to the Valley. Lee ordered him to +make a movement against Banks as speedily as possible, to drive him +towards Washington and appear ready to attack the Union capital. Thus he +hoped to see some of the Northerners leave the vicinity of Richmond and +return to defend their capital. + +Jackson entered the Valley at Mount Solon and pushed northward at once. +Banks erected earthworks at Strasburg and considered himself well +entrenched against the enemy. Ewell, with his Confederates, left Swift +Run Gap and moved to Luray. Jackson moved north to New Market. The +Confederates now organized into two divisions, Jackson's and Ewell's, +numbering about 17,000 men. The troops under Jackson instead of +continuing northward in their march turned east and crossed the +Massanutten Mountain and headed north. On May 22nd the advanced guard +camped within ten miles of Front Royal. This town was "held by a strong +detachment of Banks' small army." + + "Since they had left Mount Solon and Elk Run Valley on May 19th + the troops in four days had made just sixty miles. Such + celerity of movement was unfamiliar to both Banks and Stanton, + and on the night of the 22nd neither the Secretary nor the + General had the faintest suspicion that the enemy had as yet + passed Harrisonburg.... There was serenity at Washington.... + The Secretary, ... saw no reason for alarm. His strategical + combinations were apparently working without a hitch.... + Milroy's defeat was considered no more than an incident of 'la + petite guerre'. Washington seemed so perfectly secure that the + recruiting offices had been closed, and the President and + Secretary, anticipating the immediate fall of Richmond, left + for Fredericksburg the next day. McDowell was to march on the + 26th, and the departure of his fine army was to be preceded by + a grand review.... + + "So on this night of May 22nd the President and his people were + without fear of what the morrow might bring forth. The end of + the rebellion seemed near at hand. Washington was full of the + anticipated triumph. The crowds passed to and fro exchanging + congratulations on the success of the Northern arms and the + approaching downfall of the slaveholders.... Little dreamt the + light-hearted multitude that, in the silent woods of the Luray + Valley, a Confederate army lay asleep beneath the stars. Little + dreamt Lincoln, or Banks, or Stanton, that not more than + seventy miles from Washington, and less than thirty from + Strasburg, the most daring of the enemies, waiting for the dawn + to rise above the mountains was pouring out his soul in + prayer." + +Banks' 10,000 men were distributed in this manner: at Strasburg the +largest contingent, at Winchester a small group of infantry and cavalry, +with two companies of infantry at Newtown, midway between Strasburg and +Front Royal. At Rectortown, nineteen miles east of Front Royal was +General Geary with 2,000 infantry and cavalry independent of Banks. +Front Royal was held by Colonel Kenly of the First Maryland Regiment, U. +S. A. On the morning of May 23rd the Confederates struck Kenly's small +force. Every line of communication and reinforcement had been severed +during the previous night and "within an hour after his pickets were +surprised Kenly was completely isolated." + +Banks moved north from Strasburg towards Winchester before Jackson could +scatter his troops along the route and cut off his retreat. Encounters +took place at Newtown and Middletown and Kernstown during the early +morning of May 24th. The battle of Winchester occurred the following +day. Particularly hard fighting was done by both sides, but the surprise +movements of Jackson during the past few days, the partial +demoralization of the Union forces and the keen fighting of the +Confederate divisions drove Banks' army from Winchester and on to +Martinsburg. + +Lee sent instructions to Jackson to threaten an invasion of Maryland and +an attack upon Washington at this excellent time. So on the 28th the +Stonewall Brigade set out towards Harper's Ferry and at Charlestown they +met a Federal force, routing them within twenty minutes. Ewell came up +to support the Brigade and on the 29th the army of the Valley was +encamped near Halltown. The greater part of the Federals crossed the +Potomac River at Harper's Ferry. Jackson, however, learned that the +Union soldiers were advancing to cut off his retreat; Shields' division +was approaching Manassas Gap and Fremont had left Franklin and was about +ten miles from Moorefield. Jackson felt that Lee's orders had been +carried out and decided to retreat along the Valley Pike. The +Southerners turned southward towards Winchester. En route Jackson found +out that the small force left at Front Royal had been driven back and +that Shields occupied the town. The Valley army was ordered to +Strasburg, the First Brigade was called back from Charlestown, the +prisoners and supplies were picked up at Winchester and moved southward. +"From the morning of May 19 to the night of June 1, a period of fourteen +days, the Army of the Valley had marched one hundred and seventy miles, +had routed a force of 12,500 men, had threatened the North with +invasions, had drawn off McDowell from Fredericksburg, had seized the +hospitals and supply depots at Front Royal, Winchester, and Martinsburg, +and finally, although surrounded on three sides by 60,000 men, had +brought off a huge convoy without losing a single wagon." + +When the Federals learned that Jackson had moved south Shields was sent +towards Luray from Front Royal. Fremont moved towards Woodstock. The +Federal cavalry reached Luray on June 2nd and found that the enemy had +already been there and burned the bridges, thus cutting off their +approach to New Market. A part of the Confederates were repulsed on June +2nd between Strasburg and Woodstock and the skirmishing continued the +next day with the Confederates retreating to Mount Jackson and burning +the bridges over the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. The Union +troops tried to construct their pontoons across the stream but a driving +rain and high waters prevented their doing so. This failure gave the +rebels a day's respite. + +Jackson with his force passed from Harrisonburg over to Cross Keys and +there bivouacked. The Northern generals looked upon this move as a +retreat. + +On June 8th and 9th the battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic took +place, victories for the Southerners. The Confederates moved on to +Brown's Gap, a point a bit nearer Richmond. "The success which the +Confederates had achieved was undoubtedly important. The Valley army, +posted at Brown's Gap, was now in direct communication with Richmond. +Not only had its pursuers been roughly checked, but the sudden and +unexpected counter-stroke, delivered by an enemy whom they believed to +be in full flight, had surprised Lincoln and Stanton as effectively as +Shields and Fremont." + +Thus the plan of McClellan to fall upon Richmond had been postponed and +a division of the Northern forces was made necessary to protect the +Federal capital and to supply Banks with troops. + +Later in the month Jackson's division moved with great secrecy to join +General Lee near Richmond--but that is a story for another time. + + + + +Belle Boyd, the Spy + + +"In a pretty storied house, the walls completely covered by roses and +honeysuckle in luxuriant bloom" according to Belle Boyd herself, lived +one of the most beautiful women and one of the most famous spies in all +history. + +Martinsburg, her home in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, was only a +village then and she tells us about her neighbors and her childhood--"It +was all golden and I was surrounded by devoted and beloved parents and +brothers and sisters ... our neighbors are some of the best families of +the Old Dominion descended from such ancestors as the Fairfaxes and +Washingtons." + +When Belle was only twelve she was sent to Mount Washington Seminary in +Washington. At sixteen her education was finished and she made her +debut. She wrote how brilliant were the Congressional and Senate balls +where both Northern and Southern belles met and learned to love each +other as sisters. + +Then came the dark days of Secession. Belle's own father was among the +first to enlist in the defense of Virginia. Belle returned home where +with other ladies she helped raise funds with which to equip the +Confederate soldiers. The colors were raised and on them one read these +words, "Our God, Our Country and Our Women." + +Things were dull for Belle after her father and the boys marched away to +Harper's Ferry. Soon she went to visit them where she enjoyed the social +life until messages came saying the Federal troops were approaching. She +was sent home and scarcely had she arrived before the Southern troops +withdrew to Falling Waters, near her home. She heard the distant boom of +cannon and quickly there followed the battle of Martinsburg. After a +skirmish of five hours, Belle saw General Jackson's troops retreat. + +Hard upon them were the Federals entering the village with flags flying +and the fifes playing the now despised "Yankee Doodle." + +Dawned the Fourth of July and Belle woke to see the Yankee flags flying +from many homes. She heard the drunken soldiers as they planned to force +their way into homes whose doors and blinds were shut tight. Blows began +to batter down doors and those of the Boyd home were splintered as well +as those of their neighbors. + +Some one had told the Federals that the walls of Belle's room were +covered with rebel flags. But though they searched none were found. +Belle's Negro maid had taken them down and carefully hidden them. The +soldiers were furious and began to break furniture, glass ornaments, and +abuse the Virginia sympathizers. Then they went out and began to raise +the United States flag over the Boyd home. This was more than Mrs. Boyd +could stand, so she spoke: "Men, every member of my household will die +before that flag shall be raised over us." Let us read Belle's account +of what followed: + + "Upon this, one of the soldiers, thrusting himself forward + addressed my mother in language so offensive as it is + impossible to conceive. I could stand it no longer, my + indignation was aroused beyond control, my blood was literally + boiling in my veins, I drew out my pistol and shot him. He was + carried away mortally wounded and soon after he expired." + +Then the Boyd home was set on fire, but it was hastily put out. The +Northern commander quickly arrived and an investigation followed. After +a long and lengthy trial, during which time the Boyd home was guarded by +sentries, the officer declared Belle had acted as any normal person +would have under similar circumstances. + +From this time on, Belle gave herself to the Confederate Cause. She met +and charmed the Federal officers. She remembered their names and got +them to tell her their plans. These Belle carefully wrote down and sent +to General J. E. B. Stuart. Soon she was under suspicion and one of her +letters was seized by the enemy. She was sent for, arrested and asked if +she had written the letter. She acknowledged it, was rebuked and the +Articles of War regarding such deeds were read to her. Again a +trial--and a dismissal. + +Belle was undaunted. She not only continued to pick up valuable +information, but she picked up small side arms and pistols and these, +along with the information, found their way into the Southern lines. + +While on a visit to Front Royal the first battle of Manassas was fought. +The wounded were rushed into Front Royal and Belle found herself the +matron of the large hospital. Soldiers told how she worked night and +day, tirelessly giving of herself to comfort and help "the boys." After +eight weeks of such a strenuous life, Belle had to go home for a much +needed rest. + +Before her mother thought she was strong enough, Belle left to visit her +father who was stationed at Manassas. Soon she was riding as a courier +back and forth for General Jackson and General Beauregard. + +On one occasion Belle was in Front Royal waiting for an opportunity to +go to Richmond where her family had gone. She had secured passes from +some of her Federal friends and she was staying in the same house in +which General Shields was stopping. Belle's room was over the +living-room where the officers were making plans. A small hole in the +closet floor gave her a good view of the men--and served to let her hear +every word of their next maneuvers. Belle listened until one o'clock, +writing down in cypher each plan. Then she carefully stole down the back +steps, saddled a horse in the backyard and was off, fifteen miles, to +carry the message. + +Twice she was held up by Federal sentinels and twice she showed them +Federal passes. She arrived safely back in Front Royal before day, as +fresh as a "morning flower." + +We cannot give all of her escapades or her narrow escapes. Once she sped +through Front Royal with a message for General Jackson, her white sun +bonnet and white apron against a blue dress making her a target for the +Federals. Several times she felt bullets tear her wide billowing skirt, +but she kept on until she had reached the General--giving him the +position of the enemy: General Banks, at Strasburg with 4,000 troops, +General White marching to Winchester and General Fremont approaching the +Valley--all planning to "bottle up" Jackson's force. + +Quickly the Confederates made plans which resulted in victory and +General Jackson wrote her, "Miss Belle Boyd--I thank you for myself and +for the Army for the immense service that you have rendered your country +this day. Hastily your friend, T. J. Jackson, C. S. A." + +Romance like danger courted her wherever she was. Finally in 1864 she +decided to go to England. President Davis gave her important papers for +Southern sympathizers there. She sailed from Wilmington, North Carolina, +aboard the "Greyhound." Vivid pictures are given of the crew throwing +overboard bales of cotton, but even this did not enable the ship to +outrun the fast Union vessels. Captain Bier also dropped a keg of money, +over thirty thousand dollars in gold, in order to lighten the cargo. +When Belle saw they could not avoid capture she destroyed her dispatch +and managed to put into a belt many gold dollars which belonged to her +and the captain of the boat. Let us read her description of the Federal +officer who said he must take over command of the "Greyhound": + +"I confess my attention was riveted by a gentleman--the first whom I had +met in my hour of distress. His dark brown hair hung down on his +shoulders, his eyes were large and bright. Those who judge beauty by +regularity of feature would not only have pronounced him strictly +handsome, but the fascination of his manner was such that my heart +yielded." He begged Belle to consider herself still a passenger, rather +than a prisoner, which evidently she did. + +There was a moon, a soft breeze "which swept the surface of the ocean +until it was like a vast bed of sparkling diamonds." Lieutenant +Hardinge, the Federal officer, quoted poetry from Shakespeare and Byron +and before the vessel reached Boston, Belle had given her heart and her +promise to marry the lieutenant. + +While their own course of true love seemed to run smoothly enough +various forces concentrated to keep them apart. + +First of all, soon after arriving in Boston Captain Bier escaped. And +while Belle took the credit for that, Lieutenant Hardinge was under +suspicion. Besides, while Belle was being treated courteously in Boston +her betrothed had gone to Washington in her behalf. The newspapers of +the day flaunted the stories of the beautiful Rebel Spy and everywhere +she went great crowds pushed themselves upon her. + +When Hardinge reached Washington he begged Gideon Welles, Secretary of +the Navy, permission for Miss Boyd to visit Canada. This was granted and +a telegram ordered an escort for her and her maid. However, notice was +given her that if she were caught again in the United States she would +be shot. + +Her lover was captured next and arrested for aiding Captain Bier in +escaping. Finally, he went to Paris in search of the beautiful woman who +had promised to marry him. After some time Belle, who was in Liverpool, +learned where he was. She wrote to him and they met in London; they were +married in St. James' Church. There was a large and brilliant breakfast +at which a huge wedding cake was cut. Lieutenant Hardinge promised to +run the blockade and carry pieces of wedding cake to his wife's friends. +This he did when he arrived in Wilmington. Later he was arrested in +Baltimore, charged with being a deserter and was sent to prison. + +Belle interested herself in his behalf and we are told that her charms +and the termination of the war secured his release. And so they lived +happily ever after! + + * * * * * + +In the foregoing account of the fearless work done by Belle Boyd and of +her visit to Front Royal during the Battle of Manassas we are reminded +of an inhabitant of the latter place, a Mr. McLean. Rumor has it that +the gentleman resided so close to the scene of battle--and it was a +bloody encounter--he resolved to quit the place for a quieter section of +Virginia. He had a distinct distaste for battles and bloodshed. So he +moved his family to Appomattox County in Virginia and watched the scene +of war with a feeling of comparative safety. The reader has guessed the +rest of the story. + +A little previous to April 9th, 1865 the Union and Confederate forces +met at a spot not far from the courthouse and negotiations were started +for the surrender of General Lee, in command of the Confederates. And on +the ninth the surrender was made at the McLean house which marked the +cessation of war in Virginia. Poor Mr. McLean was present at the +beginning and conclusion of the fighting! + + + + +Harrisonburg + + +Harrisonburg is called the Friendly City and its people are noted for +their hospitality. It is near famous caverns and historic battlefields. +It was named in honor of Thomas Harrison who had fifty acres of his land +surveyed and laid out into lots and streets. It might also be called the +center of a large German element whose forefathers settled much of the +surrounding country. Harrisonburg is the county-seat of Rockingham +county, which was formed from Augusta in 1778. This is the third largest +county in Virginia. + +These people have always been among the sturdiest and bravest in the +Valley. They gave the best they had to develop their new homes in a new +country and when they were called upon to fight in the French and +Indian War, there were no braver men to be had nor could any endure more +hardships than they. + +During the Revolutionary War they were among the first to respond to the +call for volunteers. They were among the first to resent the closing of +the Boston Harbor by the British in 1774. We read an old account or +notation of Felix Gilbert who kept a shop near the town of Harrisonburg. +He agreed to take food-stuffs from his neighbors and send it to the +relief of the Bostonians. One of those entries, made in 1775, reads: + + "Rece'd for the Bostonians; Of Patrick Frazier 1 bushel of + wheat, of Jos. Dictom 2 bushels of wheat, of James Beard 1 bu. + of wheat, Geo. Clarke 1 bu. wheat, Robt. Scott and Sons, 2 bu. + wheat." + + +MASSANUTTEN CAVERNS + +The owners of the Massanutten Caverns call them the "gem of the cavern +world," for they are a combination of the beautiful and the unusual. +They are located east of Harrisonburg on the Spotswood Trail. + +These caverns are of rather recent discovery. In 1892 during a thriving +limestone industry some workmen blasted rock in the foothills and after +the discharge of dynamite was over they looked into a fairyland of +strange rooms and strange formations. + +The operator of the caverns called the entrance "Discovery Gate" and +planned the route through the underground so that visitors begin their +journey where the discovery was made. + +Vacationists find themselves unloading their luggage and remaining +either overnight or for longer periods of time when they see the +facilities offered there. The accommodations include a golf course and +swimming pool as well as a lodge and cottages. + + +GRAND CAVERNS + +Back in 1804 Bernard Weyer discovered the unusual caves situated on a +bluff belonging to his neighbor Mr. Mohler. Nearly a century before, the +courageous "Sir Knights of the Golden Horseshoe" had passed by this part +of the Blue Ridge--within ten miles of the entrance of the caverns, +perhaps, and because of the layout of the land never suspected the +underground "Buried City." Today these are called Grand Caverns and are +located between Elkton and Mt. Sidney, the latter town being on the +Lee-Jackson Highway. + +Young Weyer was a great hunter who enjoyed roaming the fields and +hillsides in search of game. The historian Kercheval tells the story of +the day when Weyer went to find an elusive ground-hog, having previously +set a trap for it. The animal not only had not been captured but for +some time had made a successful getaway with each trap set for it. Weyer +decided to dig for the ground-hog hide-out. "A few moments' labor +brought him to the antechamber of this stupendous cavern, where he found +his traps safely deposited." Not content with eleven pages of flattering +and minute descriptions of every passageway known then, Kercheval used +another page with "Note A" and "Note B" which described later +explorations. This makes interesting reading for those who have either +visited the Caverns or have not had that privilege and plan to see them. +In these accounts he included Congress Hall, The Infernal Regions, +Washington's Hall, The Church, Jefferson's Hall and numerous others. + +_The Historical Collections of Virginia_ by Henry Howe gives a vivid +picture of Weyer's Cave and the author further states: + + "A foreign traveller who visited the cave at an annual + illumination, has, in a finely written description, the + following notice: + + " ... Weyer's Cave is in my judgment one of the great natural + wonders of this new world; and for its eminence in its own + class, deserves to be ranked with the Natural Bridge and + Niagara, while it is far less known than either.... For myself, + I acknowledge the spectacle to have been most interesting; but, + to be so, it must be illuminated, as on this occasion. I had + thought that this circumstance might give to the whole a toyish + effect; but the influence of 2,000 or 3,000 lights on these + immense caverns is only such as to reveal the objects, without + disturbing the solemn and sublime obscurity which sleeps on + everything. Scarcely any scenes can awaken so many passions at + once, and so deeply. Curiosity, apprehension, terror, surprise, + admiration, and delight, by turns and together, arrest and + possess you. I have had before, from other objects, one simple + impression made with greater power; but I never had so many + impressions made, and with so much power, before. If the + interesting and the awful are the elements of the sublime, here + sublimity reigns, as in her own domain, in darkness, silence, + and deeps profound." + +Bear in mind that this account was given long before 1850 and that Grand +Caverns was first known as Weyer's Cave. + +We learned that the Cave was used as a source of income by its owners +first in 1836, when the large chambers were converted into temporary +dance halls for the countryside youth. Mentioned above is the fact that +the caverns were lighted once a year and admission was charged on this +occasion. About 1925 the passages were lighted properly and tourists +began their trek to this wonder of nature. + +A modern note is to be found in the name "Linbergh Bridge"--one not +mentioned as such by any of the early writers! + + +MASSANETTA SPRINGS + +One of the most delightful places in all the Valley is Massanetta +Springs. It is one of those beauty spots which one finds after going +through Swift Run Gap, famous for being the first gap through which came +the English with Governor Spotswood and his Knights of the Golden +Horseshoe. It was through here, too, that General George Washington +passed on horseback in 1784. + +Long ago these springs were known as Taylor Springs and during the War +Between the States the wounded soldiers were cared for there. Many +famous people lived in and around this lovely spring. We are told that +Daniel Boone's wife lived near here, and that Abraham Lincoln's father, +Thomas Lincoln, was born not more than twelve miles away on Linville +Creek. Not far away is Singer's Glen where some of the first early +American hymns and songs were published. + +Today various religious denominations hold summer conferences at the +Springs. + + + + +Staunton + + +Near Lewis's Fort a settlement grew up and in 1749 a town was chartered. +It was named Staunton in honor of Lady Staunton, wife of Governor Gooch, +the official who had given so many land grants to Lewis and his Scotch +neighbors. At that time, the town was the county-seat of Augusta (formed +from Orange County in 1738), whose boundaries swept far to the west. Old +records show that one time the court adjourned in Staunton and +reconvened at Fort Duquesne, the colonial outpost which has long since +become Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. + +If one would search further, he would find this was done during the +French and Indian troubles. Five Chiefs, or rather several of the Five +Nations, signed this order or treaty and it is to be seen among other +historical documents in the Court House in Staunton. + +After the Legislature fled from Charlottesville to Staunton during +Tarleton's Raid, that body met and held its sessions in old Trinity +Episcopal Church. During this short time, Staunton was called "the +Capital of Virginia." + +The area around Staunton is full of War Between the States history too, +referred to in other places. + +Woodrow Wilson was born here in a lovely old Presbyterian manse which is +now a shrine to one of the greatest Presidents of the United States. +Here, annually, thousands of Americans come to honor him. + +[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce_ + +"THE MANSE" + +WOODROW WILSON'S BIRTHPLACE, STAUNTON, VA.] + +The town is a center of culture, for there are located many splendid +schools; among them, for girls are Mary Baldwin and Stuart Hall. +Staunton Military Academy and nearby Augusta Military Academy are +recognized as outstanding schools for boys. There are two business +schools, Dunsmore and Templeton Business College. The one for the deaf +and blind is a State institution. + +Tarleton entered Charlottesville on the fourth day of June in 1781. +Jefferson's term as governor expired four days later. Ex-Governor +Patrick Henry had been his guest while the Legislature was meeting +there. He now hastened to Staunton where the Legislators had fled from +Charlottesville. Mr. Jefferson, according to one historian, concealed +himself in a cave in Carter's Mountain and Patrick Henry, in his flight +to Staunton, met Colonel Lewis and told him of how the Legislators had +fled Charlottesville upon Tarleton's invasion. + +Colonel Lewis, not knowing who Patrick Henry was, replied "If Patrick +Henry had been in Albemarle, the British Dragoons never would have +passed over the Rivanna River." + +The Legislators were badly demoralized, for they feared Tarleton would +come to Staunton. Many of them left during the night and went to the +hospitable home of Colonel George Moffett. During Mr. Henry's hasty +changes he had the misfortune to lose one of his boots. While eating +breakfast the next morning, Mrs. Moffett remarked, "There was one member +of the Legislative body whom I knew would not run." The question was +asked by one of the party, "Who is he?" Her reply was, "Patrick Henry," +at that moment a gentleman with one boot colored perceptibly. The party +soon left and after their departure a servant rode up and asked for Mr. +Henry, saying he had forgotten his boot. Of course Mrs. Moffett knew +whom the boot fitted. + +A tale made more popular perhaps because of a recent revival of interest +in Salem witchcraft is that of a woman who lived years ago in Augusta +County and who was a great aunt of Governor James McDowell of Rockbridge +County. She was born Mary McDowell and married James Greenlee. + +It is recounted that she was an unusually attractive and intelligent +young woman but was considered highly eccentric in her behavior. +Neighbors thought that an early love affair had contributed something to +her peculiar manner. Be that as it may, she was regarded by her +acquaintances as a witch. They believed she had made a written contract +with the devil--a contract drawn up in duplicate form so that each party +might retain a copy! + +Once at a quilting party in her home she urged one of the quilters to +take a second piece of cake and laughingly remarked that "the mare that +does double work should be best fed." The women misconstrued this to be +an acknowledgment that she was a witch who rode a mare at night on her +excursions to meet the devil. The rumor of her evil activities rapidly +spread throughout the countryside. + +[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce_ + +WOODROW WILSON'S BED, STAUNTON, VA.] + +The neighborhood thought she was capable of placing curses upon them and +attributed such tragedies as fires, loss of family or stock, or poor +crops to the unfortunate woman. + +The fact that she was never brought before the court with the accusation +of being a witch was due in large measure to the standing of the family. +That does not mean, however, that Mrs. Greenlee did not live a wretched +existence or that failure to declare her a witch made the people less +afraid of her powers. + +While he was President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson returned to +Staunton and placed a tablet on the wall of the First Presbyterian +Church in memory of his father, Dr. Joseph Wilson, a former minister. +The church in which Dr. Wilson used to preach and in which the President +was christened serves now as the Chapel of Mary Baldwin College. + +An interesting old home in Staunton is the Stuart House, located on +Lewis Street. It was planned by the great architect and builder Thomas +Jefferson. Mr. A. H. Stuart, the owner, was a member of President +Fillmore's Cabinet. + +The main building of the School for the Deaf and Blind is an unexcelled +example of Doric architecture. During the War Between the States it was +used as a hospital. + + + + +Waynesboro and Afton + + +"Mad Anthony Wayne," the Revolutionary hero, has a town named for him in +Virginia--Waynesboro. This is a beautiful place which has become even +more popular upon completion of the projected Skyline Drive southward +from Swift Run Gap. + +The State Conservation Commission has erected an historical marker which +states briefly: + + "Here on one of the first roads west of the Blue Ridge, a + hamlet stood in colonial times. The Walker exploring expedition + started from this vicinity in 1748. Here, in June 1781, the + Augusta militia assembled to join Lafayette in the East. A town + was founded in 1797. It was established by law in 1801 and + named for General Anthony Wayne." + +In 1854 the countryside was very much excited over the trip made by the +first train travelling west of the Blue Ridge. Crowds gathered to see +the phenomenon and half of them left in fright, we are told, as the iron +horse chugged off. Incidentally, mules hauled the first passenger engine +over the high mountains and set it down for its memorable exodus. + +For the most part the buildings one sees in the town have been erected +since 1861, for in that year a devastating fire wiped out the landmarks +of pioneer days. + +The last battle in Northern Virginia during the War Between the States +occurred here in March 1865, just about a month before the surrender of +General Lee at Appomattox. Hoping to protect Rockfish Gap, General Early +had his Confederate forces quartered in the town. Sheridan, the Union +General, surprised him and captured more than half the rebels. + +Furnishing power for the large manufacturing interests are the numerous +springs of Waynesboro, which have a capacity of millions of gallons of +water a day. If you are unfamiliar with springs such as Virginia has, +you should stop at Brunswick, Baker's, or Basic Lithia Springs for an +unusual sight. + +Swannanoa, one of the finest estates in Virginia, is on top of the +mountain between Waynesboro and Afton. It is said by numbers of people +that two of the loveliest views in America may be had from this point: +Rockfish and Shenandoah valleys. You will probably agree with the +statement when you stand where you may get a commanding view of the +country below you. The large home on the estate is now a country club. +Nearby is the site of "Old Mountain Top Tavern," widely known years ago +for its fine hospitality. A group met at the tavern in 1818 to decide +the location of the proposed University of Virginia. Among them were +Madison, Monroe, Marshall and Jefferson. + +Driving along the roads you see some of the finest peach orchards in +Virginia, for the section is famed for its high quality fruit. Not only +do peaches abound here, but you will also see splendid apple orchards. +If you happen along at the right season you will be able to stop at a +roadside market to buy the renowned Albemarle Pippins--the apples which +are grown for miles around--and some of the luscious peaches. + + + + +Natural Bridge + + +"Who first discovered Natural Bridge?" is a question which nearly every +one asks, and a second one is, "How high is it?" + +The answer to the first is given in an old Indian legend which reads +something like this: Long, long ago, years before the Princess +Pocahontas saved the life of Captain John Smith, there was a terrible +war between some of the tribes. The Shawnees were noted for their +cruelty and they joined forces with the Powhatans. They roamed through +Virginia and fell upon the Monocans, a more friendly tribe. + +[Illustration: NATURAL BRIDGE] + +There had been a famine that year and the Monocans were weakened by +hunger and many of their braves fell in battle. After a long conflict, +the Monocans decided to retreat and they gave way before the enemy. But +they were pursued relentlessly. The Monocans sought refuge in a strange +forest and suddenly they came upon a high chasm, whose steep walls were +of rock. The braves peered over and were made dizzy when they saw the +great distance to the bottom below, where a swiftly running river looked +like a small silver ribbon. + +Even the strongest could not have jumped across the wide chasm, for it +was over a hundred feet wide. Their swiftest scouts ran hither and yon, +but each brought back word that there was no way around. + +The Monocans were in despair and in their distress threw themselves upon +the ground and cried aloud to the Great Spirit to spare their lives from +the approaching enemy. + +One of the braves arose and went again to the edge of the cliff. He +stared down at his feet, then turned and shouted, "Our prayers have been +granted us--The Great Spirit has built for us a bridge across the great +abyss." + +"Be careful," cried one of the men. "Send the squaws and children first +to test it. If they cross in safety, then we will know it will be heavy +enough to carry our weight also." + +And so the women and children passed over into the shelter of the forest +beyond. Even as they went they could hear the war whoops of the +advancing enemy. + +But the Monocans were refreshed in spirit. Their courage had returned, +for was not the Great Spirit on their side? The braves quickly took +positions on the bridge, each feeling he stood on sacred ground, and +like the Greeks of old at Thermopylae they turned and faced their enemy +and fought victoriously. From that day, we are told, they called it "The +Bridge of God" and worshipped it. + +The first white man to own Natural Bridge was Thomas Jefferson, and one +may see the original land grant still hanging on the walls of Monticello +which reads, in part: + + "Know ye that for divers good causes and considerations, but + more Especially for and in Consideration of the sum of Twenty + Shillings of good and lawful money for our use paid to our + Receiver General of our Revenues, in this our Colony and + Dominion of Virginia, We have Given, Granted and Confirmed, and + by these presents for us, our heirs and successors, Do give, + Grant and confirm unto Thomas Jefferson, one certain Tract or + parcel of land, containing 157 acres, lying and being in the + County of Botetourt, including the Natural Bridge on Cedar + Creek, a branch of James River ..." + +We are told that George Washington surveyed the land in 1750, and while +there he climbed up 23 feet and carved his initials "G. W." on the +southeast walls; the guide today will try to point them out to the +visitor. A story is also told that George Washington threw a stone from +the bottom of Cedar Creek over the Bridge. Evidently he liked to test +his strength by such sports, for it is said that he threw a Spanish +dollar across the Rappahannock River opposite the town of +Fredericksburg. + +When this story was told to the late President Cleveland, he replied, "I +do not know about that, but I am well assured he threw a sovereign +across the Atlantic." + +In 1927 another stone was found which scientists think proved George +Washington surveyed that territory. This stone is a large one and also +bears his initials which are engraved in a surveyor's cross. Evidently +he measured the height of the Bridge by dropping a line from the edge of +the bridge to the cross below. + +Thomas Jefferson called his purchase the "most Sublime of Nature's +works." He visited it many times and during his presidency, in 1802, he +surveyed the place with his own hands. He later built a log cabin which +contained two rooms and one of them was always kept ready for a visitor. +Many famous people visited there and the list includes such men as John +Marshall, James Monroe, Henry Clay, Sam Houston and Martin Van Buren. +While in France, Jefferson collected many plants and shrubs which he +sent to America; many of these were planted at the Bridge, and some are +still in existence. + +Cedar Creek, the parent of the Bridge, has been busy for thousands of +years cutting a bit deeper each year. + +The answer to the second question, "How high is it?," is found on a +Government bench which carries a brass plate, "1,150 feet above the +sea." It is 245 feet high and is 90 feet wide. + +Boys and men are especially interested in the exciting story of how Dr. +Chester Reeds actually measured the wonderful Bridge. He had a special +basket built which was strong enough to hold him. Two hundred and fifty +feet of rope was fastened to it and run through a pulley and one end of +it was tied to a fence post. He was very dizzy at first and could not +take pictures of the side walls of the bridge. Gradually he became +accustomed to turning around and was able to get many fine ones at +various angles and of the massive supporting walls, the huge slabs of +limestone and some of the foliage. + +Natural Bridge is a monument to the patience of Old Mother Nature and +her skill as an artist. Today, one wonders at the deep gorge--by night, +with modern electrification, one is spellbound by its beauty--and when +sweet music fills the glen with its symphonies one's soul is lifted to +the Greatest Artist of all--to God in reverence and gratitude. + + + + +Rockbridge + + +Rockbridge County takes its name from the celebrated Natural Bridge and +was formed from Augusta and Botetourt counties. A branch of the James +River is called North River and this stream waters the county, flowing +diagonally across it. Some of the richest soil in all the Valley is +found in Rockbridge. Lexington, which is the county-seat, takes its name +from the town of Lexington in Massachusetts and was founded in 1778. The +first buildings of the old town were mostly destroyed by fire in 1794 +and were replaced with substantial brick buildings. An Englishman who +was visiting America long ago described the little town in these words: + + "The town as a settlement, has many attractions. It is + surrounded by beauty, and stands at the head of a valley + flowing with milk and honey. House rent is low, provisions are + cheap, abundant and of the best quality." + +The settlers were mostly the Scotch-Irish and of the Presbyterian faith. +As soon as they had cleared the lands and built their homes they planted +orchards, built their barns and settled down. These were thoughtful men +and women who kept their emotions under constant guard. Yet when +occasion arose, they spoke simply and clearly and were unafraid. They +detested civil tyranny and as they were far away from the seat of +government, to a certain extent they made their own laws and rigidly +adhered to them. + +They were among the first in the Valley of Virginia to rally to the +defense of their country during the War of the Revolution. + +In their moral life, they were almost Puritanical. This was founded on +religious principle and often they were considered austere and stern. +Yet those who knew them, felt the kindness and devotion to which they +did not give expressions in words. To them, deeds meant more than +promises. Though they reproved one without a smile, their eyes often +expressed understanding and sympathy and the offending one felt the deep +love which had moved the other to speak--always for the good of the +offender. And while some other fault would rear its head, not often was +the offense repeated which had called forth the reproach. + +The men and women were deeply religious and family prayers were the +first order of the day. As soon as homes were established provisions +were made for religious services to be held. Tiny churches dotted the +Valley wherever the Scotch-Irish settled. If the church was far away, as +it was from some, on meeting day young and old mounted their horses and +rode the intervening miles for the long services. + +Many of these old Presbyterian churches are still standing today and +they serve as monuments to that hardy race of men and women who braved +all for religious freedom and for civic liberty. The building of these +churches meant such labor as we of the present generation cannot know. +There were no roads and no sawmills. An old historian tells us how one +church was built: + + "The people of Providence Congregation packed all the sand used + in building their church from a place six miles distant, sack + and sack, on the backs of horses! And what is almost + incredible, the fair wives and daughters of the congregation + are said to have undertaken this part of the work, while the + men labored at the stone and timber. Let not the + great-granddaughters of these women blush for them however + deeply they would blush themselves to be found in such + employment. For ourselves, we admire the conduct of these + females; it was not only excusable, but praiseworthy--it was + almost heroic! It takes Spartan mothers to rear Spartan men. + These were among the women whose sons and grandsons sustained + Washington in the most disastrous period of the Revolution." + +There was little social life in those early days such as their eastern +cousins knew along the James River. Except for their church festivals, +they did little entertaining. Twice a year they held the Lord's Supper +and this lasted for four days, with religious services each day. During +these times families living nearest the church invited those who lived +at great distances to stay with them. Often some young couple would be +married, either just before or immediately after these services. Then +there would be a little merriment, extra cakes and a few playful pranks. + + +THE FIRST ACADEMY IN THE VALLEY + +Dr. Ruffner has left us a description of Timber Ridge, which was built +near Fairfield in Rockbridge County in 1776. The school took its name +from the fine oak trees which grew along its ridge. He writes: + + "The schoolhouse was a log cabin. The fine oak forest, which + had given Timber Ridge its name, cast its shade over it in + summer and afforded convenient fuel in winter. A spring of pure + water gushed from the rocks near the house. From amidst the + trees the student had a fine view of the country below and the + neighboring Blue Ridge. In short all the features of the place + made it a fit habitation of the woodland muse and the hill + deserved the name of Mount Pleasant. Hither about thirty youths + of the mountains repaired to 'taste of the Pierian spring.' Of + reading, writing and ciphering, the boys of the country had + before acquired such knowledge as primary schools could afford; + but with a few late exceptions, Latin, Greek, algebra, geometry + and such like scholastic mysteries were things of which they + had heard--which they knew perhaps to lie covered up in the + learned heads of their pastors--but of the nature and uses they + had no conception whatever. + + "It was a log hut of one room. The students carried their + dinner with them from the boarding-schools in the neighborhood. + They conned their lesson either in the schoolroom where the + recitations were heard, or under the shade of the trees where + breezes whispered and birds sang without disturbing their + studies. A horn--perhaps a cow's horn--summoned the school from + play and scattered classes to recitations. + + "Instead of broadcloth coats, the students generally wore a far + more graceful garment, the hunting shirt, home-spun, + home-woven, and home-made, by the industry of wives and + daughters. + + "Their amusements were not less remote from the modern taste of + students--cards, backgammon, flutes, fiddles, and even marbles + were scarcely known among these mountain boys. Firing pistols + and ranging the field with shotguns to kill little birds for + sport, they would have considered a waste of time and + ammunition. As to frequenting tippling shops of any + denomination, that was impossible because no such catchpenny + lures for students existed in the country, or would have been + tolerated. Had any huckster of liquors, knicknacks, and + explosive crackers, hung out signs in those days, the old + Puritan morality of the land was yet vigorous enough to abate + the nuisance. The sports of the students were mostly gymnastic, + both manly and healthful--such as leaping, running, wrestling, + pitching quoits and playing ball. In this rustic seminary a + considerable number of young men began their education, who + afterwards bore a distinguished part in the civil and + ecclesiastical affairs of the country." + + + + +Valley Inventions + + +The Valley of Virginia has often been termed "the granary of the South." +It is no wonder that farmers from time to time have tried to shorten +their labor in the wheat fields by inventing machines to do their work. + +The name Robert McCormick means little or nothing to most of us, yet on +his farm, Walnut Grove, near Lexington he made repeated attempts to +invent a workable reaper. His son, Cyrus, had watched with growing +interest each of his father's undertakings. His regrets must have been +as keen as the elder McCormick's when they realized one May morning in +1831 that the clumsy machine could not replace the hand scythe and +cradle. + +Cyrus knew something of machinery and determined to improve his father's +poor invention in time for the next harvesting. During the intervening +six weeks he stayed in the workshop as much as the busy growing season +would allow and secured the ready help of a slave boy, Joe Anderson. + +In July when the wheat was ready to harvest Cyrus and his father moved +the machine out to the field. There a crowd of neighbors gathered and +watched with fascination as the reaper cut six acres of wheat during the +day. + +McCormick continued to improve his invention and other farmers risked +their money in purchasing the first six he offered on the market. +Eventually the news spread to the grain fields of the Middle West and he +opened factories to supply the farmers there. + +For years the inventor strove to improve the reaper; he discovered that +other labor saving devices were needed equally as badly, and he offered +other types of farm machinery to the rich farm lands. + +Inventive genius lay near Lexington along other lines, too. It was near +here that James Gibbs invented his common sense stitch sewing-machine +which was a forerunner of our more modern models. And what a +labor-saving machine that was to all the housewives! + + +WASHINGTON COLLEGE + +The Scotch-Irish were determined to have the best schools and colleges +for their children. The Hanover Presbytery, which in 1776 embraced all +the Presbyterian churches in Virginia, established a school which they +called Liberty Hall Academy. This was built in Lexington, Virginia, with +the Reverend William Graham, a native of Pennsylvania, as its first +president. George Washington, in 1796, gave the school a regular +endowment, the first of its kind. This is how it was made: + +The Legislature of Virginia "as a testimony of their gratitude for his +services," and as "a mark of their respect," presented to George +Washington a certain number of shares in the Old James River Company, an +industry then in progress. Unwilling to accept anything for his own +benefit, he gave it to the Liberty Hall Academy. + +In 1812, the Trustees of the school voted to ask the Virginia +Legislature to change the name to Washington College. Many others +decided to follow George Washington's fine example. A Mr. John Robinson +left his whole estate to the college; the next to aid it, we are told, +was the newly organized Society of the Cincinnati of Virginia. + +Old records of the school throw an interesting light regarding the +expenses of a student in those far-off days. The treasurer's bill for +tuition, room rent, deposits and matriculation was $45 per year. Board +was $7.50 a month. Laundry, fuel, candles and bed amounted to about +three dollars per month. The cost of everything averaged about $140 a +year. + + + + +Lexington + + +When he was beset and overwhelmed, and without supplies, Robert Edward +Lee reached Appomattox in April, 1865, and surrendered to General Grant +on April 9th. He realized that the people of the South needed courage +and strength, and though he was offered many places of honor with +splendid salaries, he decided to help rebuild Virginia. When the call +came to become president of Washington College in Lexington he accepted +and took up his duties there in October, 1865. + +As he spoke to the students assembled in the new chapel he saw familiar +faces. Many of them had followed him during the years of the War Between +the States; they, too, had courage and hope. These boys and men loved +the noble man and they were willing to follow him in rebuilding their +homes and the Southland. + + "All good citizens must unite in honest efforts to obliterate + the effects of war, and to restore the blessings of peace. They + must not abandon their country, but go to work and build up its + prosperity. + + "The young men especially must stay at home, bearing themselves + in such a manner as to gain the esteem of every one, at the + same time that they maintain their own respect. + + "It should be the object of all to avoid controversy, to allay + passion, and to give scope to every kindly feeling." + +In every respect he was prepared to be the president of a great school, +for he himself had been a model student at West Point. He had already +served as Superintendent there for three years. + +He was very happy during the short years he lived in Lexington. He had +the grounds improved, planted many trees, and repaired the much worn +buildings. He studied and worked over the courses of study and enlarged +the faculty. + +A young girl who was visiting in the home of General Lee in Lexington, +tells the following story. It was soon after the Surrender at Appomattox +and his acceptance of the Presidency of Washington College. + +General Lee, with his family, was living in one of the comfortable and +large houses near the college. Their home at Arlington had been +confiscated during the War Between the States, and they had no furniture +except some which neighbors had lent them. + +[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce_ + +WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY, LEXINGTON, VA.] + +One day a letter came to General Lee, telling him good news. A lady who +lived in New York wrote him that her husband had died, and having no +children she had decided to give up housekeeping. She had been very +happy and had loved her home. Now she wanted the furnishings to belong +to someone who would appreciate and would care for them. She wrote she +sympathized with them in not having their own furniture and that there +was no one to whom she had rather give hers. + +General Lee hated the thought of accepting, until he read on, that if he +could not use the furniture himself, perhaps he could use it in his +college. After some time he wrote the lady he would be very grateful and +would appreciate it very much. + +In the meantime Mrs. Lee was looking forward to its coming, for her +large rooms were indeed very bare. At last the great boxes came. General +Lee was busy, so Mrs. Lee waited until he could be present to have them +opened. + +After lunch one day, General Lee had men come to open them. Mrs. Lee's +eyes shone as the first box revealed two huge red velvet carpets. + +She looked at the General. His eyes were shining too. + +"Look, my dear," he said, "The very thing we need! If we cut them +carefully, we will have enough to carpet the platform and the aisles of +the new chapel!" + +"Of course," she smiled, never saying one word about how warm and lovely +they would make the double parlors in their own home. + +The next box was opened with intense interest. The men lifted out the +upper part of a handsome bookcase. The next brought the lower half, a +lovely desk, with many drawers. + +"Oh," thought Mrs. Lee. "That will fill up that terrible space between +the windows." + +"This is the very thing we want," General Lee said, as the men took them +to the walk. "We will put that in the basement of the new chapel. We +will use it for our records and put our best books in the bookcase, and +this will be the beginning of our college library." + +And so it went. He used the best of everything for his college, and Mrs. +Lee took only the odds and ends which did not fit anywhere else. +Someone told her she should have taken a stand and insisted upon taking +some of the best. + +"Oh, no," she laughed, "it was worth giving all of it up to see the joy +the General had in putting it to use in his college. The boys come +first--both of us are so interested in them." + +General Lee died in October, 1870, loved by men and women, boys and +girls in both the North and South. His body rests under a beautiful +white marble figure, which was sculptured by his friend, Edward +Valentine. It is called the Recumbent Statue of General Lee and lies in +the Chapel of Washington and Lee. This is now a shrine to which hundreds +come daily from all over the world to pay their homage, love and respect +to this great man. + + +[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce_ + +VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE] + +THE VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE + +Virginia Military Institute was first an academy and was established in +connection with Washington College by an act of the Legislature during +the years 1838-9. A guard of soldiers had been maintained at the expense +of the State for the purpose of affording protection to the arms +deposited in the Lexington arsenal for the use of the militia in western +Virginia. It was through the influence of Governor McDowell, who came +from Rockbridge County, that this militia was made into an educational +unit of Washington College. + +One seldom thinks of the Virginia Military Institute without associating +with it the noted Colonel Claudius Crozet--soldier, educator and +engineer. He was the first president of the V.M.I. Board of Visitors. An +imposing hall at the Institute is named in his honor. + +In the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hall hangs the painting which depicts +the charge of the corps of cadets at the Battle of New Market. "This +great painting, not a mural, is one of the largest canvas paintings in +the country"--according to authorities there. + +Among other memorial buildings is the one erected in honor of +Brigadier-General Scott Shipp, a former cadet, instructor and +superintendent; Maury-Brooke Hall, dedicated to Matthew Fontaine Maury, +the Pathfinder of the Seas and honoring Commander John Mercer Brooke, +inventor of the deep-sea sounding apparatus and builder of the first +successful iron-clad vessel, the "Merrimac." + +During the War Between the States the greater part of the buildings were +destroyed by Federal authority. When General Lee heard of this tragedy +he wrote to General F. H. Smith, the superintendent there. We quote his +letter because of its prophetic message: + + "CAMP PETERSBURG, (VA.) _July 4, 1864_. + + "I have grieved over the destruction of the Military Institute. + But the good that has been done to the country cannot be + destroyed, nor can its name or fame perish. It will rise + stronger than before, and continue to diffuse its benefits to a + grateful people. Under wise administration, there will be no + suspension of its usefulness. The difficulties by which it is + surrounded will call forth greater energies from its officers + and increased diligence from its pupils. Its prosperity I + consider certain. + + "With great regards, yours very truly, + + "R. E. LEE." + + +There is a glamor attached to this Virginia school unique in the +country. It comes not alone from the bright cadet uniforms, the parade +grounds, the gray stone barracks and the _esprit de corps_ evidenced +there; part is kept alive by the hundreds of loyal alumni and friends +whose devotion is unlimited. This "West Point of the South" maintains +the traditions of the time of Stonewall Jackson and graduates young +officers for the army and young men for every field of business. A +current Broadway show of popular appeal and a cinema of note is that of +"Brother Rat" which depicts the life at V.M.I. + + + + +Culpeper Minute Men + + +Who can resist a story about the Revolutionary War? There is a +fascination surrounding the heroes and heroines of that era and most of +us listen attentively to any legend depicting the action of our +forefathers. + +From a point along the Skyline Drive one may look toward Culpeper +County. (In fact, in all probability you passed through a part of this +old county if you took an east to west route to reach the drive.) Among +other things Culpeper is justly famous for its Minute Men of the +Revolutionary War. + +The town was formed from Orange in 1748 and was named in honor of Lord +Culpeper, Governor of Virginia from 1680 to 1683. This land was a part +of the original land grant to Lord Fairfax. It was here in the old +Courthouse that young George Washington produced his commission as +surveyor. The record reads: + + "20th July, 1749--George Washington Gent. produced a commission + from the President and Master of William and Mary College, + appointing him to be surveyor of this county, which was read, + and thereupon he took the usual oaths to his majesty's person + and government, and took and subscribed the abjuration oath and + test, and then took the oath of surveyor, according to law." + +Speaking years later in the Senate, John Randolph of Roanoke remarked +that the Minute Men "were raised in a minute, armed in a minute, marched +in a minute, fought in a minute, and vanquished in a minute." These +soldiers chose as part of their uniform green hunting shirts with +"Liberty or Death" stamped in large letters across the front. Buck tails +hung from their old hats and from their belts swung tomahawks and +scalping knives. Their wild appearance on reaching Williamsburg, the +capital of the colony, set the inhabitants in as much fear as did the +thought of invasion by the enemy! Lieutenant John Marshall who was later +to become Chief Justice was among the number--as was his father. + +The slogan of the Minute Men "Liberty or Death" brought forth humor from +one wag who said the phrasing was too strong for him; he would enlist if +it were changed to "Liberty or Be Crippled." + +Almost upon their immediate arrival at Williamsburg they were marched to +Norfolk County and were participants in the Battle of Great Bridge. + + + + +Blind Preacher + + +Not so far from Gordonsville there is a simple marker near the site of +"Belle Grove," a little church made famous by a blind preacher. And back +of the monument itself is a story well worth repeating. It is a tale +told by William Wirt in his _British Spy_. + +In that account Wirt said: + + "It was one Sunday as I travelled through the county of Orange, + that my eye was caught by a cluster of horses tied near a + ruinous old wooden house in the forest, not far from the + roadside. Having frequently seen such objects before, in + travelling through these States, I had no difficulty in + understanding that this was a place of religion." + +He stated further that he was filled with curiosity as to the type of +minister who would preach in such a wilderness as he was passing through +and so he stopped and joined the worshippers. He described the preacher, +a Presbyterian in faith, as having one of the most striking appearances +he had ever seen and a most remarkable delivery. + + "I have never seen, in any other orator, such a union of + simplicity and majesty. He has not a gesture, an attitude, or + an accent, to which he does not seem forced by the sentiment + which he is expressing. His mind is too serious, too earnest, + too solicitous, and, at the same time, too dignified, to stoop + to artifice. Although as far removed from ostentation as a man + can be, yet it is clear from the train, the style, and + substance of his thoughts, that he is not only a very polite + scholar, but a man of extensive and profound erudition." + +James Waddel was the name of this remarkable old man of God. He was born +in Ireland in 1739 and was brought to America as an infant. + +Another interesting tale was told in the neighborhood. Waddel's fame as +a preacher had spread through the vicinity. On one occasion a committee +from a different faith prepared to wait on him and urge him to occupy +their pulpit as well as his own. Upon nearing his dwelling they were +shocked to hear sweet plaintive notes coming from a violin and resolved +to learn who in his household would dare to play the devil's instrument. +They crept softly to the window. Such amazement was theirs when they saw +their potential minister himself drawing the bow--and with apparent +enjoyment and satisfaction. More quickly than they had approached did +they leave the yard and felt righteously thankful that they had seen the +true nature of the man before it was too late! + +Not only did the Blind Preacher serve as minister, but like others of +his profession he conducted a school. + +And what happened to the old church itself? Long abandoned as a meeting +house for the Presbyterians, about 1850 it was sold and taken down by +the "Sons of Temperance" and converted into a temperance hall at +Gordonsville. Later it housed a school. Finally it was sold to a colored +preacher as a church for his flock. + + + + +Hebron Church + + +Outstanding among the old churches in this part of Virginia is Hebron +Church in Madison County. + +The little colony of Germans at Germanna, to whom we have already +referred, and a few immigrants from Holland were responsible for its +early establishment. First it was known as "Old Dutch Church." Located +on its original site its existence has been in three different counties: +Orange, Culpeper and now Madison! + +Hebron is the oldest Lutheran church not only in Virginia but in the +South. About 1733 the nucleus of the congregation met and sent a +representative to England for a pastor. It seems a bit surprising that +no English parson felt the call to tend the flock in an outpost of +Virginia, but it is true that no one was possessed of the missionary +spirit to that extent. + +In 1735 a Hessian who had come to America eight years before, the Rev. +Casper Stoever, left his home in Pennsylvania and became the first +pastor. His annual salary, by the way, was four thousand pounds of +tobacco or just about forty dollars in currency. This was paid by the +congregation in addition to the taxes which were required of the +Non-Conformist churches towards the upkeep of the established English +church. + +Everyone in Madison is vastly proud of the old pipe organ at Hebron. It +was built in 1800 at Philadelphia and brought to its present place on +wagon--a journey which took a long time and infinite pains. Jacob and +Michael Rouse were entrusted with the task of hauling. The organ cost +two hundred pounds sterling. Interesting, too, is the complete old +communion service which dates back to the church's early beginnings. + +In recent years visiting concert organists have played on the fine old +instrument at the request of the congregation. + + + + +Hoover's Camp on the Rapidan River + + +During the administration of former President Hoover a fine camp was +built on the banks of the Rapidan River in Madison County where the +Chief Executive, his family and friends enjoyed the trout fishing and +rustic life that the camp afforded. A main lodge was erected for the +President. Guest lodges for the Cabinet members and others were located +nearby. This retreat is within easy driving distance of the White House +and was in constant use for week-ends during the summer months. From +Washington the Presidential parties took route 211 to Warrenton and from +there two routes were offered: either a continuation of route 211 to +Sperryville, then south to Criglersville on route 16, or from Warrenton +to Culpeper to Criglersville. + +Both Mr. and Mrs. Hoover became very much interested in the life of the +mountaineers who grew to be their friendly neighbors. You have heard +the story, no doubt, of the small unlettered boy who brought a gift to +the President and who aroused in him and Mrs. Hoover the desire to see a +school built in the neighborhood which would serve a large mountain +area. An excellent little frame building nestles among the sloping hills +which attracts the children of all ages within a radius of many miles. +One part of the building is used for class instruction and the rest for +living quarters for the teacher. This school was made possible largely +through the efforts of Mr. and Mrs. Hoover. + +One may see the school and the entrance to the Rapidan Camp by following +the road which leads from Big Meadow, a plateau on the Skyline Drive, to +Criglersville. + +The camp is still in use at times. Cabinet members and other government +officials enjoy its stream and mountain beauties, but not to the extent +of former times. + + + + +Charlottesville and Albemarle County + +THE FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA + + +Every school child knows the outstanding facts about Thomas Jefferson. +He will rattle off quickly that he was born near Charlottesville in +Albemarle County, in 1743, that he was at William and Mary College when +only seventeen and played his fiddle which he had carried as he rode the +long miles between Charlottesville and Williamsburg. He graduated there +and was admitted to the bar. Thomas Jefferson drafted, at the request of +the Committee, the Declaration of Independence. He was Governor of +Virginia during the trying years of the Revolutionary War. We shall not +give all the offices which he held, except to mention that he spent some +years abroad in France as United States Minister. For almost forty years +he served his country, having been President of it from 1801 to 1809. + +It is from the quaint letters of his granddaughter, Ellenora Randolph, +that one may read of the tenderness, the lovable disposition and the +human side of this great American. + +She was said to be his favorite grandchild and she writes of how she sat +on his knee and played with his huge watch chain. He never went to +Philadelphia without bringing her little luxuries which it was +impossible to buy in Virginia. He brought her a Bible, a lady's side +saddle, a Leghorn hat, and a set of Shakespeare. + +[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia Conservation Commission_ + +"MONTICELLO", NEAR CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.] + +She tells how Jefferson's wife had died when his daughters were quite +young and that he had been so kind and sympathetic in "shaping their +lives." + +There is an interesting love story here, too, for Ellenora met and fell +in love with Joseph Coolidge of Boston. He came a-wooing the Virginia +beauty, and according to the custom of that day, he wrote Mr. Jefferson +of his intentions to marry his granddaughter before he proposed to her. + +The following is Jefferson's reply to Joseph Coolidge: + + "MONTICELLO, _October 24, 1824_. + + "I avail myself of the first moment of my ability to take up a + pen to assure you that nothing would be more welcome to me than + the visit proposed and its object.... I assure you no union + could give me more satisfaction if your wishes are mutual. Your + visit to Monticello and at the time of your convenience will be + truly welcome, and your stay, whatever may suit yourself. My + gratification will be measured by the time of its + continuance.... + + "I expect in the course of the first or the second week of the + approaching month to receive here the visit of my ancient + friend, General LaFayette. The delirium which his visit has + excited in the North envelopes him in the South also ... and + the county of Albemarle will exhibit its great affection and + unending means in a dinner given the General in the building of + the University, to which they have given accepted invitations + to Mr. and Mrs. James Madison and myself as guests; and at + which your presence as my guest would give high pleasure to us + all, and to name, I assure you more cordially than sincerely + your friend; + + (Signed) "THOMAS JEFFERSON." + +The wedding accounts give the names of fifty distinguished Americans who +came to pay their respects to Ellenora and her husband. Every +distinguished foreigner came in person; besides these, there came many +of the men who had known and loved Jefferson during all his years of +service. Imagine all the horses that had to be fed, all the gigs and +coaches and all the Negro servants who had to be quartered. No one is +surprised that what the man had accumulated was fast disappearing with +so much hospitality. + +But Ellenora had her troubles upon arriving in Boston. Her presents and +other possessions had been sent by boat and it had sunk! Her letter +tells of her great distress at losing the trinkets associated with her +happy girlhood. But most of all, she expressed her grief upon losing a +writing desk which Grandfather Jefferson had had made for her by his +master carpenter, a Negro servant. This was a very talented carver who +had faithfully carried out each detailed design which his master had +given him. Now he was old and had grown blind and he could no longer +make one. This is Jefferson's letter to his granddaughter--and explains +how a most historic desk went a-travelling: + + "It has occurred to me that perhaps I can replace it (desk) not + indeed to you, but to Mr. Coolidge, by a substitute, not + claiming the same value from its decorations but the part it + has bourne in our history, and the event with which it has been + associated.... Now I happen to possess the writing box on which + the Declaration of Independence was written. It was made from a + drawing of my own, by Ben Randall, a cabinetmaker in whose + house I took lodging on my first arrival in Philadelphia, in + May, 1776, and I have had it ever since. It claims no merit of + particular beauty. It is plain, neat and convenient and taking + no more room on a writing table than a modern quarto volume it + displays itself sufficient for any writing. Mr. Coolidge must + do me the favor of accepting this. Its imaginary value will + increase with the years. If he lives till my age, he may see it + carried in the procession of our nation's birthday." + +So this is how the famous desk went to New England and was finally sent +to the State Department in Washington by the Coolidges in 1876. + +When Thomas Jefferson was an old man, he began to carry out his dream, +one which he had had for a long time, to build a university. All his +life he had loved to draw plans and he carefully made his own +blueprints. He drew plans for lovely Monticello when he was twenty-eight +years old. His friends came from far and near to get him to draw plans +for their homes. Ashlawn, Montpelier and others are monuments to this +master builder. He had his own ideas about educating the young men of +Virginia. He wanted to see them fitted to be fine citizens by having a +good education, for he knew it was through good citizens that a good +government would be realized. But first he had to educate his friends +along this line. Many of them still thought a tutor in the family was +the best way. Many did not believe in "mass education." For ten long +years he worked to get a bill through the Legislature which called for +the establishment of the University of Virginia. At last, in 1825 the +school was opened. But many years passed before Jefferson could get the +buildings he had dreamed of and had planned. Then when he was +eighty-two, his dream came true. + +[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce_ + +ROTUNDA OF UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA] + +Today one may see his university, set on a sloping hill. The buildings +are models of architecture and Jefferson himself superintended the +construction of them. It is told that he often watched the carpenters +from Monticello through a telescope. Jefferson also planned those early +courses of study and helped in the selection of the faculty. The spirit +of Jefferson is still felt there today and each generation of students +has been enriched by it and the noble traditions of the school. + +Many famous students have gone there. Edgar Allan Poe wrote "The Raven" +and "Anabel Lee" there. An Arctic explorer from the University was +Elisha Kane. Walter Reed studied medicine and, as we know, won the fight +against yellow fever by his heroic experiments. Each year, men go out +from this great old school who help to build a greater country--just as +Jefferson dreamed they would. + +After his death on July 4, 1826, someone found a paper on which he had +written these words: + + "Here was buried + Thomas Jefferson + Author of the Declaration of American Independence + of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom + and Father of the University of Virginia." + +And today, one finds his tomb halfway up the hill to Monticello and the +words above are cut upon the simple shaft which marks his grave. + +Monticello is open to the public and may be reached by a hard surface +road leading out of Charlottesville. Through careful research and +diligence the Monticello Memorial Association has brought back to the +home much of the fine furnishings which Jefferson himself had collected. +At the present time the second and third floors of the mansion are being +faithfully restored. + + JACK JOUETT'S RIDE + + "Here goes to thee, Jack Jouett! + Lord keep thy memr'y green; + You made the greatest ride, sir, + That ever yet was seen." + +So reads the last stanza of an inscription on a tablet erected in his +memory. But who was Jack Jouett and what of his "greatest ride?" + +During the stirring days of the American Revolution Thomas Jefferson was +Governor of Virginia. Hearing that the British were expected to reach +Richmond he recommended that the capital of the colony be moved to +Charlottesville until after danger from the enemy should pass. This was +done and Jefferson stayed at his home, Monticello. + +At Cuckoo Tavern in Louisa County, fifty miles from Charlottesville, +young Jouett was sitting around one night getting the latest news of the +rebellion, when Tarleton, who commanded a British force, came into the +place. Jouett hid from sight and overheard Tarleton talking with several +other English officers. They said they were impatient to be on their way +to Monticello to capture Jefferson, Patrick Henry and other Virginia +leaders. Jack stayed to hear the route they would take to +Charlottesville and then slipped away on his horse. + +The famous ride occurred on back roads in order to beat the British to +their destination. He crossed to the main road long enough to tell a +family of Walkers that the British were coming for the Governor. Later +Tarleton drew in at the same home and demanded breakfast from Mrs. +Walker. Knowing that time meant a great deal to the rider going ahead +with the news, she delayed the meal as long as possible. + +As Jouett climbed the last hill to Monticello he heard the horses of +Tarleton's party in the distance, so he spurred his animal on and in a +last-minute sprint he reached the home. The plans were revealed and +Jefferson hurriedly assembled his family. As their carriage left by a +back road the English came up another and searched in vain for the +Governor. + +Jouett went from there to Charlottesville to warn the members of the +legislature of the impending danger and they fled to Staunton--all but +seven of the legislators who were overtaken and captured. The story is +told of how he saved General Stevens, a member of the Assembly. As they +rode along, some British soldiers saw them and set their horses at a +great pace. Jack had on a plumed hat which might appear important to the +soldiers; he told the general to ride slowly across an open field as if +he were the owner out on an inspection tour of his lands. He himself +would dash off in the hope of getting the troopers to follow him. The +plan worked. Jouett finally left the pursuers far behind and later on he +returned to his home in Charlottesville. + +Much later the Virginia legislature passed a resolution commending the +valor of Jack Jouett and presented him with a pair of pistols and a +sword as a mark of appreciation of his service to the State. Swan +Tavern, left him by his father, occupied his time after the war. He died +in Kentucky where he had moved as an old man. + + +LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION + +Thomas Jefferson knew the two young men whom he wanted to explore the +great Northwest, for they had been born almost at the foot of +Monticello. They were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Each of them, +almost as boys, had been a soldier and each loved adventure. + +Meriwether Lewis had inherited a fortune from his father and he could +have settled down to a life of ease. But after eighteen he would not go +to school any longer. He had fought in the Whiskey Rebellion in +Pennsylvania and then entered the army. He was commissioned captain in +1800 and served for three years. Then Thomas Jefferson asked him to be +his secretary and it was in this office that Jefferson found his +admirable qualities. + +William Clark was four years older than his friend Lewis. He was born in +1770 and was a brother of George Rogers Clark. When he was fourteen +years old he went with his family to the Ohio River where his brother +George had built a fort. There he learned the ways of the Indians and +often he was in the thick of their raids. He, too, joined the regular +army and received his commission when he was only eighteen years old. +He went to St. Louis and was commissioned as second lieutenant of the +artillery and ordered to join the great expedition. + +Captain Lewis was first in command and he selected his men carefully. +There were fourteen soldiers in the little party and two Canadian +boatmen, an interpreter, a hunter and a Negro servant. + +Thomas Jefferson did not give them a lot of orders. The following +instructions show his wisdom: + + "Treat them (Indians) in the most friendly and concilliating + manner which their own conduct will admit; allay all jealousies + as to the object of your journey; satisfy them of its + innocence; make them acquainted with the position, extent, + character, peaceable, and commercial intercourse with them; + confer with them on the points most convenient as mutual + emporiums and the articles of most desirable interchange for + them and us. If a few of their influential chiefs, within + practicable distance wish to visit us, arrange such a visit + with them, and furnish them with authority to call on our + officers on their entering the United States, to have them + conveyed to this place at the public expense. If any of them + should wish to have some of their people brought up with us and + use such arts as may be useful to them, we will receive, + instruct, and take care of them." + +The fact that so little trouble was had by the party is due to the skill +which Clark used in handling the Indians. We will not go into the +details of the expedition, for everyone knows what a wonderful, rich +territory was gained for the United States by that expedition. + + + + +Fredericksburg + + +Fredericksburg, fifty-five miles south of Washington and about the same +distance north of Richmond, Virginia, on Route 1, rightly claims to be +one of the most historic cities in the United States. Visitors who make +a tour of the Valley of Virginia and the Skyline Drive may want to begin +their trip here, for it serves as a hub for long or short visits to +neighboring places of interest. From Fredericksburg one may drive to +Culpeper, Sperryville and Panorama and enter the Skyline Drive at that +point, or he may wish to go from Fredericksburg to Warrenton and thence +to the Skyline Drive. Another excellent route is by way of Orange and +Stanardsville and on to Swift Run Gap, the Southern entrance to the +Drive at the present time. + +[Illustration: "KENMORE", THE HOME OF FIELDING LEWIS AND BETTY +WASHINGTON LEWIS, FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA] + +A splendid trip from this old city is to "Wakefield," the birthplace of +George Washington, in Westmoreland County, and from there to "Stratford +Hall," the ancestral home of the Lee family and the birthplace of +General Lee, both in Westmoreland County. About two miles from +Fredericksburg on this route is "Ferry Farm" where George Washington +spent a part of his boyhood. + +In the city itself there are shrines to famous folks of an earlier +period. The home of Mary Washington, mother of the first President, is +open to the public. "Kenmore," former home of Betty Washington Lewis and +Colonel Fielding Lewis is well cared for by an association. Both these +homes have good examples of eighteenth century furnishings. The Rising +Sun Tavern was the scene years ago of the Victory Ball after the +surrender at Yorktown; it was host to most of the famous men of Virginia +and neighboring States for years. In the Masonic Lodge are a number of +relics of Washington's time and an original Gilbert Stuart portrait of +the General. General Hugh Mercer, a noted physician of the Revolution +had his apothecary shop in Fredericksburg and the visitor may see it +upon request. Mary Washington's will is on record at the courthouse +here. + +On Charles Street in Fredericksburg, Virginia, stands a shrine to the +memory of James Monroe, who served his country in more public offices +than any other American in the history of the United States. This quaint +story-and-a-half brick building, which he occupied from 1786 to 1788, +was the only private law office in which Monroe practiced his +profession. It was built in 1758 and stands in its original state, even +to the woodwork and mantles of the interior. Only the old brick floor +and plastering had to be restored. This was accomplished in 1928, when +the building was opened to the public as the first shrine to the memory +of the fifth President. At that time there was placed in it the largest +number of Monroe possessions in existence, handed down for five +generations in straight line to his descendants, who made the shrine +possible. + +[Illustration: JAMES MONROE'S LAW OFFICE] + +James Monroe brought his bride, the former Elizabeth Kortright of New +York, to Fredericksburg, and in the little shrine are hallowed +intimate possessions of hers as well as those of her distinguished +husband; a wedding slipper, a dainty French fan; two handsome court +gowns, one of silver brocaded on white satin, the other of cream colored +taffeta, richly embroidered with dahlias in natural colors; her bonnet +and veil in which she welcomed Lafayette on his return to the States in +1824; her lorgnette, which must have added to the reputation she had for +dignity; her Astor piano and her silver service marked "J. M." + +Of Monroe's personal possessions there are many. Here too is his court +dress with its rare old lace, cut-steel buttons and knee breeches, worn +at Napoleon's court; the quaint huge umbrella presented him by the City +of Boston on the occasion of Lafayette's return, with its original +covering, whale-bone ribs and ivory handle, all contributing to its +weight of seven and one-half pounds; his mahogany brass-bound dispatch +box in which his Louisiana Purchase papers were carried; his +silver-mounted duelling pistols, recalling that Monroe came near +fighting a duel with Alexander Hamilton; and other articles too numerous +to mention, including interesting historical letters by and to James +Monroe from the outstanding men of his day. + +Perhaps the outstanding exhibit in the Law Office shrine, however, is +the desk on which Monroe signed the message to Congress which formed the +basis for the famous Monroe Doctrine. Mahogany, high, brass-bound, this +handsome desk forms a part of the furniture bought by the Monroes in +France, brought by them to this country in 1798, and now finally shown +in the little museum dedicated to their memory. The Monroes, being the +first to move into the rebuilt White House after the original one had +been burned by the British in the War of 1812, and being confronted with +empty rooms, took with them this lovely furniture. Still later, on +leaving the White House, the beloved possessions again went with them, +and it is to this fact that the happy privilege of the public to see +these things today can be attributed. + +More than a hundred years later, a successor of Mrs. Monroe was to +express her patriotism and interest in historical accuracy through +cataloguing and making inventories of the furnishings of the White +House. This lady, Mrs. Herbert Hoover, in searching the records, learned +of the Monroe furniture and of its ultimate resting place in the Monroe +shrine, and asked permission to copy it at Government expense, the +copies to be placed in the White House. Permission was gladly given and +today there is a "Monroe Room" in the White House, furnished with the +reproductions of this historic furniture. The originals, however, remain +in the little museum in Fredericksburg, relics of active, public years +spent by a great statesman on two continents. + +The Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park was +established in 1927. Quoting from a booklet which may be secured from +the park headquarters we find: + + "This park was established ... to commemorate six major battles + fought during the great sectional conflict between 1861 and + 1865--the two Battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, + Salem Church, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House--and to + preserve for historical purposes the remains of earthworks, + roads, and other sites of importance on these battlefields...." + +At the Battle of Chancellorsville General Stonewall Jackson, famous +Confederate commander, was mortally wounded. A simple shaft marks the +place and a wild flower preserve is located near it. + + "While the fundamental purpose of the park is historical + education, its program is by no means confined to this + limitation. It offers important recreational and educational + features aside from critical military history. The Jackson + Memorial Wild Flower Preserve ... affords excellent instruction + in botany.... The deep woodlands of the area threaded with foot + trails leading along the old trenches are a delight to lovers + of the outdoors...." + + + + +Kenmore--1752 + + +Kenmore, the home of Fielding Lewis and Betty Washington Lewis (George +Washington's only sister), is an outstanding example of the architecture +of Colonial Virginia. It is also intimately connected with the stirring +history of Colonial times and with the life of George Washington. + +Augustine Washington, about 1739, moved from Hunting Creek to Ferry +Farm, across the river from Fredericksburg, with his second wife, Mary +Ball, and their five children--George, Betty, Samuel, John Augustine, +and Charles--for the sake of community life and the religious and +educational advantages it offered. Here the children grew up and +received their education--Betty at a "Dame School," George under the +tutelage of Parson Marye. Betty and George were especially intimate +companions because of their nearness of age and their similarity in +personality and character. + +When Betty was sixteen, and a "mannerly young maid," her cousin Fielding +Lewis came seeking her hand in marriage. Lewis had come up from +Gloucester three years previously with his wife and son. Mrs. Lewis died +in 1749. Shortly thereafter, Fielding started courting young Betty. They +were married in 1750, the bride being given away by her brother George, +and for a time they lived on a plantation adjoining Ferry Farm. In 1752 +Lewis bought 861 acres of land, adjacent to Fredericksburg, the survey +being made by George Washington, who had been appointed government +surveyor in 1748. On this land, with its fine view of the countryside, +Lewis built Kenmore (called Millbrook at the time) in accordance with a +promise he had made to his bride. + +As time went on, Fielding Lewis became closely associated with the +political life of Virginia. He was a member of the House of Burgesses +for many years. He also served in the French and Indian War and was +Colonel of the Spotsylvania County Militia. It is said that the +resolution endorsing Patrick Henry in his resistance to the tyranny of +Governor Dunmore, passed by the Committee of 600 in the Rising Sun +Tavern in Fredericksburg, was written by him in the Great Room of his +home, Kenmore, a paper which for all intents and purposes was a +declaration of independence. + +Colonel Lewis was best known for the part he played in the War of +Independence. In 1776 he became Chairman of the Virginia Committee of +Safety. Previously, in 1775, the Virginia Assembly had passed an +ordinance providing for a "Manufactory of Small Arms in Fredericksburg, +Virginia." Five commissioners were appointed to undertake this project, +but Colonel Lewis and Charles Dick were the only two who took an active +part in the work. They were allotted L2,500 with which to secure land, +buildings and equipment. Soon thereafter they were at work +manufacturing arms. The first L2,500 were quickly spent, and Lewis and +Dick were obliged to draw from their own funds to carry on. Lewis +advanced an additional L7,000 and borrowed L30,000 to L40,000 more. +Lewis also built a ship for the Virginia Navy, _The Dragon_, and +equipped three regiments. Kenmore was heavily mortgaged to meet the +costs of all these patriotic enterprises. When Lewis died in 1781, +little of the estate was left. + +Thereafter, Betty Lewis tried conducting a small boarding school at +Kenmore, but again money had to be raised and piece after piece of the +land was sold to obtain it. Finally, in 1796, the mansion and its +contents were sold and Betty Lewis went to live with her daughter. She +died the next year. + +After many vicissitudes in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, +Kenmore was saved for posterity, in 1922, through the great enthusiasm +and hard work of a group of women who later formed the Kenmore +Association. Through the efforts of this association, the exterior and +the interiors of Kenmore were expertly restored to their original +charming appearance and it has been furnished with original pieces of +the period, many of which have an actual connection with the family. + +Who the architect of Kenmore was, is unknown. It is very probable that +Fielding Lewis himself had much to do with the planning of it, making +use of books on English architecture. The mansion is typical of the +formal architecture of Tidewater Virginia in the mid-eighteenth century. +Flanked on each side by smaller service buildings, both of which are +identical in size and appearance, the group is symmetrical around the +central entrance. The exteriors present a picture of fine restraint and +dignity. Four uniformly placed chimneys in the end walls serve eight +fireplaces. The windows are well proportioned in relation to the main +walls. The walls, of brick laid in Flemish bond, or brickwork pattern, +are two feet thick--unusually heavy construction for a house of even +this size. + +The principal rooms, of stately proportions, are remarkable for their +design and ornament. The richly modelled ceilings, cornices, and +overmantels are outstanding examples of ornamental plater-work--quite +unsurpassed by anything of its kind in America. It has always been said +and never contradicted that these ornamental features were planned by +George Washington himself. + +To the right, as one enters the Reception Hall, tinted in pastel +blue-gray, is the well designed main stairway, a noteworthy feature of +which is the delicately carved lotus leaf ornament. In back is the +prized grandfather clock which originally belonged to Mary Washington. + +Passing through the arched doorway at the rear of the Hall, one enters +the Great Room. For the magnificent ceiling of this room, Colonel Lewis +employed the same French decorator whom Washington had employed for the +ornamental ceilings at Mount Vernon. The design motif includes four +horns of plenty. Tradition has it that the overmantel in the Great Room +was done at a later time than the other decorations by two Hessian +soldiers captured at the Battle of Trenton. The design, an adaptation of +AEsop's fable of the fox, the crow, and the piece of cheese, is supposed +to have been suggested by George Washington at the request of his +sister; this particular fable being chosen to teach his nephews to +beware of flattery. The rich red of the brocade draperies contrasts with +the light green of the walls and the white of the ceiling and mantel. A +crystal chandelier of old Waterford glass forms a sparkling accent in +the middle of the room. The floor is covered almost entirely with an +early eighteenth century Oushak rug. The furniture in this room as well +as elsewhere generally is American of Chippendale design. Of particular +note are two portraits of Fielding, and two of Betty Lewis--all four by +Wollaston. + +The ceiling of the Library has the four seasons for its decorative motif +and the overmantel is a design of fruits and flowers. The walls, like +those of the Great Room, are tinted a soft green. + +"The Swan and Crown" of the Washington crest is carved in the woodwork +under the mantel in the Dining Room. The walls are a deep blue-green, +the woodwork a lighter matching shade. Draperies are a soft green +brocade. The service building on the Dining Room side of the House +contains the kitchen. + +On the second floor are the master bedrooms and guest room where General +Lafayette and many another distinguished visitor stayed. These +eighteenth century rooms, so well treated and furnished, serve as +timeless models of good taste in bedrooms. + +Next to Mount Vernon, George Washington was most interested in Kenmore. +He had taken a keen interest from the beginning in the building of the +House and the landscaping of the grounds. After the War he set out +thirteen chestnut trees near the House, one for each of the original +thirteen States. One of these still lives. Mary Washington, mother of +George and Betty, lived in the cottage on the estate, not far from the +Main House; a home her son had provided for her at the beginning of the +War. + +The restoration of the grounds was undertaken by the Garden Club of +Virginia in 1929 with funds obtained from the public participation in +the first "Virginia Garden Week." One feature of this work is the brick +wall around the premises, built in 1930. The sunken turf driveway is the +original driveway that used to surround a grassy circle. Handsome box +bushes, ancient and familiar features of Virginia estates, flank the +approaches to the House now as of old. The gardens, too, contain flowers +that Betty Washington must have enjoyed--bushes of lilac, mock orange, +and bridal wreath and beds of pansies, sweet william, phlox, verbena and +lilies of the valley. + +Kenmore, a background of those lives who helped so importantly to mould +the destinies of our nation, vividly portrays the art and the culture of +its time. + + + + +The Mary Washington House + + +There stands on the corner of Charles and Lewis Streets in +Fredericksburg, Virginia, an unpretentious but charming little house. +There is no spot in America more sacred. It was the home of Mary Ball +Washington, wife of Augustine Washington, and the mother of George +Washington. + +It is recorded that on Dec. 8, 1761 lots 107 and 108 upon which the Mary +Washington House stands were sold by Fielding Lewis and Betty, his wife, +with all houses, trees, woods, under-woods, profits commodities, +hereditaments and appurtenances whatsoever, to Michael Robinson for +L250 and bought by George Washington Sept. 18, 1772 for L275. + +After remodeling and adding to the house, George Washington moved his +mother from the Ferry Farm, which had been her home since 1739, to +Fredericksburg and it was here that she spent her last days. + +[Illustration: "THE MARY WASHINGTON HOUSE", FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA] + +It was here that she received the courier sent by General Washington to +tell her of the victory at Trenton. It was here that Washington came +after the Battle of Yorktown with the French and American officers and +she received him with thanksgiving after an absence of nearly seven +years. It was here he came in December, 1783, when Fredericksburg gave +the Peace Ball in his honor, and it was at that time that he made his +memorable reply to Mayor McWilliams in which he spoke of Fredericksburg +as "the place of my growing infancy." + +It was here that the Marquis de LaFayette came to pay his respects to +her, who was the mother of the greatest American. She received him in +her garden, met all his fine phrases with dignity and gave him her +blessing when he bade her goodbye. + +It was here, March 12, 1789, that Washington came to receive his +mother's blessing before he went on to New York to his inauguration. +This was his last farewell to his mother. She did not not live to see +him again. It was here she died Aug. 25, 1789. Town and country +assembled to do honor at her burial. Her remains lie near the +"Meditation Rock" where she requested to be buried and a stately +monument "erected by her country-women" marks her last resting place. + +Except for a portion of the house at Epping Forest, where she was born, +the Mary Washington House in Fredericksburg is the only house now +standing in which Mary Washington lived. + +It passed into various hands and finally in 1890 it was about to be sold +to the Chicago Exposition but through Mrs. Robert C. Beale and Mrs. +Spotswood W. Carmichael, the Association for the Preservation of +Virginia Antiquities was appealed to. Mrs. Joseph Bryan of blessed +memory was at that time President and from her own means advanced the +money to purchase it, $4,500, and the place was saved. + +In 1929, through the generosity of Mr. George A. Ball of Muncie, Ind., +the first work of restoration on the house was done. Mr. Ball also +purchased for the A. P. V. A. the adjoining house and garden for a home +for the custodian. + +In 1930 the house was redecorated and refurnished by Mr. and Mrs. +Francis P. Garvan. The original colors have been restored and +contemporary fabrics used for all draperies and coverings. + +The furnishings, with the exception of a few pieces that belonged to +Mary Washington, are authentic antiques loaned from the Mabel Brady +Garvan Institute of American Arts and Crafts at Yale University. The +original mantels and paneling are interesting. + +The old English-type garden is especially beautiful. The boxwood she +planted still grows there, as well as the flowers of her time. The +original sun-dial still marks the sunny hours. + + + + +Rising Sun Tavern + + +Was built about 1760 by Charles Washington, a brother of George +Washington. It was first known as the Washington Tavern and later as the +Eagle Tavern. The following advertisement appeared in the _Virginia +Gazette_, published in Williamsburg in 1776: + + "FALMOUTH, _March 25, 1776_. + + "William Smith takes this method to acquaint his friends, and + the publick in general, that he intends to open tavern, on + Monday the 22nd day of April next, in the house lately occupied + by Colonel George Weedon, in the town of Fredericksburg. He has + laid in a good stock of liquors, and will use his utmost + endeavors to give general satisfaction. N.B. 'A good cook wench + wanted, on hire'." + +[Illustration: "RISING SUN TAVERN", FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA] + +It was the favorite meeting place of such patriots as Thomas Jefferson, +Patrick Henry, James Monroe, George Washington, General Hugh Mercer, +George Mason, John Marshall, the Lees, and other noted men, who gathered +here to protest against unjust treatment by the mother country and to +discuss the proper steps to rid the country of tyranny. It was said to +be a hot-bed of sedition and that here much of the head work of the +Revolution was done. + +When the news came to Fredericksburg that the governor, Lord Dunmore, +had secretly removed twenty barrels of gunpowder from the public +magazine in Williamsburg, also the news of the battle of Lexington, +there was great excitement and indignation. Immediately six hundred +armed men from the town and surrounding country, at the call of Patrick +Henry, assembled in Fredericksburg and offered their services to defend +their country. More than one hundred men were dispatched to Richmond and +Williamsburg to ascertain the condition of affairs. They were advised +there by Washington, Peyton Randolph, Edmund Pendleton and other leaders +to disband and delay action at least for a while or until general plans +of resistance could be decided upon. Returning to Fredericksburg they +called a meeting and reluctantly agreed to disperse, but before doing so +adopted resolutions bitterly denouncing Dunmore's action, and without +fear or evasion declared that the troops would preserve their liberty at +the hazard of their lives and fortune. They pledged themselves to +re-assemble at a moment's warning and by force of arms defend the laws +and rights of this or any other sister colony from unjust invasion, and +concluded with the significant words, "God save the liberties of +America." + +This was on April 29, 1775, twenty-one days prior to the celebrated +Mecklenburg declaration and more than one year before the great +Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776. + +It has always been said that this meeting was held at the Rising Sun +Tavern. (Reference: Quinn's _History of Fredericksburg_, Howison's +_History of Virginia_, Forces' _Archives_, quoted in _William and Mary +Quarterly_ in October, 1909.) + +But in addition to giving their attention to the serious questions of +the day, could we but raise the curtain of Time we no doubt would +witness a gay scene typical of colonial days with courtly gentlemen in +powdered wigs, knee breeches, ruffled blouses, and silver-buckled +slippers, or perhaps in the rougher garb of the pioneer traveler playing +cards and partaking of the various drinks served by a venerable old +slave and his young negro assistants. It is recorded that George +Washington played cards here and "lost as usual," and that he was afraid +those Fredericksburg fellows were "too smart for him." + +Here General Weedon kept the post office. This was a distributing point +for mails coming in from the far north and south on horse-back or +stage-coach. Picture the eager crowd awaiting the arrival of the slow +courier. + +LaFayette and his staff of French and American officers visited the +Rising Sun Tavern Nov. 11, 1781, en route from Yorktown to +Philadelphia. In December, 1824, LaFayette again visited Fredericksburg, +and was given a ball at the Rising Sun Tavern. + +In 1907 the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities +bought the property from Judge A. W. Wallace, whose family had owned it +since 1792. It was in a very bad state of dilapidation, and only the +loving interest and hard work of a few patriotic ladies made possible +the necessary repairs and saved to posterity this historic old building +with its wealth of associations with the people and events which shaped +our nation. + +The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities has +recently completed extensive repairs and the visitor will find it one of +the most interesting places in the city to visit. It is attractively +furnished with antique pieces of the Colonial period, many having great +historic value. + +One may see a desk owned and used by Thomas Jefferson, a chair which +belonged to James Monroe, a rare copy of an autographed letter from Mary +Washington to her son George Washington, brass andirons, pewter-hooded +candles, Betty lamp, immense iron key for a wine cellar, brass +candle-sticks, iron candle snuffers, pewter ink-well, antique piano, +high boy, needle-point sampler worked by a nine-year-old child, spinning +wheel and reel, stage coach sign dated 1775, large early American desk, +old iron cooking utensils used by slaves cooking by an open fireplace, +and many other interesting things. + +[Illustration] + + + + +Roanoke + +THE GATEWAY TO THE GREAT SOUTHWESTERN EMPIRE + + +Raw-re-noke is an Indian word for money. The city of Roanoke was +originally a land grant to Thomas Tosh, an old settler who came to "Big +Lick" and settled there after King George II and King George III had +granted him sixteen hundred acres of land along that fertile valley. +"Big Lick" was a favorite spot for the wild game and for the Indians +too, for there they found the salt so necessary to life itself. One of +Tosh's daughters married General Andrew Lewis and became the mother of +Major Andrew Lewis and Thomas Lewis. + +Later on, as more settlers came into the valley, quite a village grew up +around "Big Lick" and in 1874 it was incorporated with John Trout as +Mayor. Then in 1881 the village woke up. Saws and hammers were heard +from dawn 'til dusk. The Roanoke Machine Works were being built. Nearby, +stores and houses were springing up, warehouses and boarding-houses. +Surveyors were laying off lots and laying out streets. Contractors and +engineers, artisans and mechanics were coming in every day. The men who +sold supplies for all of these were indeed busy. The Norfolk and Western +Railroad had come to Roanoke! + +Old folks can still remember when rabbits ran over the grounds where +stands the Hotel Roanoke. Small boys picked up Indian arrow-heads where +now the beautiful grounds sweep down to the Station itself. They still +tell how Salem Avenue was once a marsh and was later filled in for the +fast growing town. Then came the union of the Norfolk and Western and +the Shenandoah Valley Railroads. From that day to this, Roanoke has been +the "Magic City." It was as if some magic wand had been waved over the +one-time little village. But actually it was due to the industry and +vision of the city planners who had built for the future. Commercial, +manufacturing and industrial activities kept a pace ahead of the fast +growing town. Among the first of these were the American Bridge Works +and the rolling mills, iron works, West End Furnaces and the Virginia +Brewing Company. + +Long ago "Big Lick" was known to a few. It was situated in the Blue +Ridge Mountains, surrounded by rolling valleys and watered by springs of +crystal clear waters. Other streams made it an ideal place for the +herds of buffalo and elk which roamed up and down the Valley of the +Great Spirit. Indians came, too, to hunt them and thousands of smaller +fur-bearing animals and birds for their feasts. + +When the sturdy settlers from Ireland and Scotland came to seek a new +home in the wilderness, they chose to follow the Great Road which later +was known as the Wilderness Road. This led them along the beautiful +valleys and across the mountains; soon tiny cabins, churches and crude +taverns were being built. + +Near where Fincastle stands today, there came a man years ago from +Ireland, Thomas King. He had left behind his second wife, Easter, three +children by his first wife, and several younger ones by Easter. He had +come to make a home for them in Fincastle County and ran a tavern near +where Roanoke stands today. + +Then Easter wrote him that his oldest son, William, had arrived in +Philadelphia and was working for a merchant. He was peddling merchandise +and liked the new country. + +Thomas was delighted and eager to see his fourteen-year-old son. He +saddled his own horse and led a pony all the miles down the long Valley +trail. He passed such settlements as Staunton, Lexington, Winchester, +Hagerstown, camping out or, stopping at some settler's house over-night. +It took weeks for him to make the long trip. + +The merchant in the meantime realized he had a smart salesman in William +and he made a bargain with him a few days before his father arrived. He +asked him not to work for anyone else and set a time limit for his +employment with him. + +We can imagine how William felt when his father came, bringing a pony +for him to ride back to Virginia. But he kept his word. He continued to +go out with his peddler's pack on his back and his bright smile and +polite manners helped him to sell his wares long before others sold +theirs. The merchant told him he could go peddling to Virginia and that +he could leave some of his articles in his father's tavern. William did +this, leaving them at other taverns along the Great Road, too. And thus +began the early chain stores. + +When the pioneers began going on farther down the Southwestern part of +Virginia, Thomas King went as far as where Abingdon stands today. He +sent William back to Ireland for his step-mother and his brothers and +sisters. William now had a little money and he inherited some from his +grandmother, so he not only brought his family over, but he paid for +several other Scotch-Irish and charged a little extra as interest until +they could repay him. + +He liked the people and the lovely country around Abingdon and bought +land and built himself a home there. He went to see the salt marsh a few +miles away where Saltville is now. This land was owned by General +Russell. William urged him to develop the marsh, for at one time Indians +had come there to get salt to preserve their game. But General Russell +did not think much of the plan, and agreed to sell it to William. + +The story of how he laughed, along with others, at William King when he +dug and dug and did not find the salt spring is often told. But when +William's men had dug for one hundred and ninety feet the "bottom +dropped out" and the salt water gushed forth. William made thirty +thousand dollars a year out of his salt business and left a fortune to +his many nieces and nephews. + +Roanoke is the gateway through which the visitor continues down the +famous Valley Pike, Route Eleven. From every curve in the road one sees +the beauty of nature. One learns bits of early history from the numerous +historic signs along the route--for every footstep of the brave pioneers +was bitterly contested from here on. + +These first settlers were "a remarkable race of people for intelligence, +enterprise and hardy adventure." They had come partly from Botetourt, +Augusta and Frederick counties and from Maryland and Pennsylvania. They +wanted liberty and freedom to worship God as a man's conscience +dictated. They were a strong, stern people, simple in their habits of +life, God-fearing in their practices, freedom-loving and good neighbors, +yet unmerciful in their dealing with their enemies. Who were the trail +blazers for these Scotch-Irish and Germans? + +Dr. Thomas Walker qualified as a surveyor of Augusta County in 1748. He +later set off with Colonel James Wood, Colonel James Patton, Colonel +John Buchanan, and Major Charles Campbell, some hunters and John Finlay +to explore southwest Virginia. + +They were followed as far as New River by Thomas Ingles (or Engles) and +his three sons, a Mrs. Draper and her son George and her daughter Mary, +Adam Harman, Henry Leonard and James Burke. They were pioneers in search +of new homes in the wilderness. Lands were surveyed for all of them on +Wood's River and they made the first settlement west of the Alleghany +Divide. + + + + +Draper's Meadow + + +In 1748 Thomas Ingles and his three sons, Mrs. Draper, her children and +James Burke moved westward to find a new home for themselves beyond the +Blue Ridge Mountains. They chose a lovely spot on a high level plateau +in what is now Montgomery County. They called their new home, "Draper's +Meadow," and soon their new log cabins were built and their first crops +were planted and such a harvest as they reaped that first year! Other +neighbors and relatives from their old homes came to join them and for +some time all went well in the little settlement. James Burke had been +restless and had pushed on down into the southwest and settled in a +valley enclosed for almost ten miles by the huge Clinch Mountain. This +he called "Burke's Garden" and in telling others about it the old +settler said "I have indeed found the Garden of Eden." + +The Indians were very friendly and passed and repassed the settlement +without molesting them. + +Then came the trouble with the French which has been referred to before. +The Indians swooped down upon Draper's Meadow without warning and killed +or wounded most of the settlers. Those whom they did not murder, they +carried off into captivity. Among the latter were Mrs. William Ingles +(nee Mary Draper) some of her children and another woman. They were +forced to march for days at a time until they finally reached the Indian +towns on the Ohio River. During the trying days, Mrs. Draper did her +best to keep in the good graces of the Indians. She tried to help them, +even after they took her sons from her. When they reached Big Bone Lick +she helped to make salt for the Indians and made shirts for them from +cloth which had been bought from the French traders. + +She often thought of her home over seven hundred miles from the Indian +towns and determined to make her escape. She confided her resolves to +the other woman who at first objected to going. At last she convinced +her the time was at hand, if ever, for them to leave. She left her +infant son one night, and with her friend, stole away from the camp. +They lived for days on berries and nuts. They finally killed small game +and after many adventures reached the home of a settler forty long days +later. + +Mrs. Draper's friend lost her mind, tried to kill her and then left her. +Mrs. Draper reached the homestead of Adam Harmon on New River. There he +heard her crying in his cornfield and went out to see who it was in such +distress. He and his family cared for her and made her rest before she +was taken back to her family. + +The Ingles families moved up higher on New River and built another fort +near the present city of Radford, Virginia. This was at Ingle's Ferry. + +Botetourt County was cut from Albemarle in 1770, and William Preston was +made surveyor of the lands. This was a well-paying position. He had +fallen in love with Miss Susannah Smith who lived in Eastern Virginia in +Hanover County. He built a house for her and called it Smithfield in her +honor. Soon the Pattons, Peytons, Prestons, the Thompsons and many +others were coming to build homes near them. + +When the Prestons moved to Smithfield they took a young orphan boy with +them, Joseph Cloyd. His father had died when he was very little and his +mother had been killed by the Indians. He grew up with the other pioneer +boys and girls and later settled on Back Creek. This home is near where +Pulaski stands today and thus began another settlement. He was the +father of General Gordon Cloyd and they founded a long line of honorable +citizens in our country. + +As one goes on he hears many strange tales of other explorers and +settlers. For instance there is the sad story of Colonel John Chiswell +who found rich lead mines near New River in what is now Wythe County. +For some unknown reason, he had killed a man in a personal encounter and +was put in jail to await trial. + +[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia State Chamber of Commerce_ + +SCENIC HIGHWAY IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA] + +In the meantime, the Virginia Council decided to develop the mines and a +fort was ordered to be built. Before the trial came off and before the +fort was built, Colonel Chiswell died. + +Colonel William Boyd was made supervisor of the building of the fort and +he named it for his friend, Colonel Chiswell. Soon settlers began +building homes around it, for the climate and rich grazing lands made it +an ideal spot for homesteads. + +The settlers pushing southwest from Roanoke built a fort and named it +for a Mr. Vass. The Indians attacked them and several were killed. This +was near where Christiansburg is now located. It was near Vass's Fort +that General Washington, Major Andrew Lewis and Captain William Preston +had a narrow escape from an attack by the Indians. + + + + +Washington County + + +In 1754 only six families were living in the early settlement west of +New River. Two of these were in Pulaski, two on Cripple Creek in Wythe +County, one in Smyth County and the Burke family in what is now Tazewell +County. The Indians gave the settlers so much trouble that any further +attempts to settle was given up until after the French and Indian War. + +A small fort, called Black's Fort, was built when the settlers moved +into the Valley around where Abingdon stands. Like most of its kind, it +was built of logs, and a few log cabins were built within the stockade. +Here to these cabins within the fort came the settlers whenever the +warning reached them that the Indians were coming. + +Near the fort lived Parson Cummings, called the Fighting Parson. He was +an Irishman who had come to the Valley from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He +fought against the Cherokee Indians in 1776 with Colonel Christian. He +first settled in Fincastle, but soon drifted farther south. It was he +who drafted the Fincastle Resolutions on January 20, 1775 and served on +the Committee of Safety for Washington County. + +On one occasion, when the settlers were residing within the fort, food +became very scarce. Someone had to go back into the clearing and bring +in supplies. Parson Cummings and a few other men started off with a +wagon to get them. They had not gone far when they reached Piper's Hill. +A party of Indians surprised the little band and one of them was killed. +Everyone made a dash for the bushes. The Parson was very stout and he +was wearing a large powdered wig which was considered in those days +necessary to the cloth. This made him more conspicuous and of course a +target for the Indians. + +One Indian ran after him, brandishing his tomahawk. The Parson dodged +under a bush and as he left it, his wig was caught by a low hanging +limb. The Indian took for granted that it was the Parson's head and made +a bound to get it. When he took it in his hands, he was surprised to +find no head there! He was disgusted and angry and threw it upon the +ground exclaiming, "D--d lie," and doggedly gave up the chase. And thus +the Parson escaped. The man who was killed was later buried in Abingdon +and one may read his name, "William Creswell, July 4, 1776" on the crude +stone which marks his grave. + +Dragon Canone was the name of the Cherokee Indian who led his warriors +against the white militia. Both white and red men fought with tomahawks +and both hid behind trees. Sometimes this brave militia went forth to +battle without any higher commanding officer than captain. Three such +officers were John Campbell, James Shelby and James Thompson. + +Let us look for a moment at what those settlers were denied. They did +not have flour or salt until an order was made: + + "Jan. 29, 1777. Ordered that William Campbell, William + Edmundson, John Anderson and George Blackburn be appointed + commissioners to hire wagons to bring up the county salt, + allotted by the Governor and council, and to receive and + distribute the same agreeably to said order of the council." + +Later on Colonel Arthur Campbell rode with seven hundred mounted +soldiers against the Cherokees. History gives him the credit of being +the first to experiment in attacking Indians on horseback. He destroyed +fourteen of their towns and burnt fifty thousand bushels of their corn +after giving his men enough for their own horses. + + + + +Hungry Mother State Park + + +The pathetic legend is told of the pioneer woman in Tazewell County who +was carried off by the Indians and was massacred some distance from +home. Her small child was left to die of exposure and starvation in the +mountain wilds and was at last rescued by a hunting party. The child was +pulling at the mother's body, trying to rouse her and was muttering, +"Hungry, mother--hungry, mother" when he was found. + +That is the origin of the name of the mountain which is not far from +Marion, and the peak of the mountain is called "Molly's Knob" in memory +of the pioneer mother. + +The State has created a beautiful park on Hungry Mother Mountain. Cabins +have been erected to house the visitors, a stream has been dammed up to +provide a lake--and most astonishing of all to the mountain folk who +enjoy their park is the sandy beach. The sand was hauled 375 miles from +Virginia Beach to its present location. + +Swimming, sailing and canoeing are popular water sports; saddle horses +are available and hiking is a favorite occupation. Ample picnic grounds +have been provided. Crowds from nearby towns enjoy a day at the Park and +the cabins are in great demand from the vacationists in Virginia and +surrounding States. + + + + +White Top + + +Iron Mountain has lost that name and today is known far and near as +White Top. The visitor looks down five thousand feet below and can see +into Tennessee, West Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky. The top is +bald, rocky and about three hundred of its sloping acres are covered +with a fine white grass. In summer one sees hundreds of wild flowers, +sturdy evergreens, similar to Norway spruce, called Lashhorns, berries +and many small animals. + +[Illustration:--_Courtesy Virginia Conservation Commission_ + +HUNGRY MOTHER STATE PARK] + +Wilbur Waters, the hermit, is one of the most colorful characters in the +great Southwest and many adventures he had with wild animals. Wilbur's +mother was an Indian who died when he was very small. His father, who +lived in North Carolina at the time, apprenticed the boy to a shoemaker +to learn that trade. The little boy, no doubt homesick, could not stand +his new home. He ran away and from that time on made his own living. +When he heard how the wolves were making havoc for the settlers in and +around Abingdon, he came to get the rewards offered for their heads. He +built himself a rude shack on White Top, and if one would read real +adventure tales, let him read _Wilbur Waters_ which relates many +stirring ones. + +Every summer during August a festival is held at White Top where +mountain music is played and folk dances are held. John Powell, the +noted Virginia composer, is especially active in the preservation of +folk music and he has been instrumental in attracting people of +influence to the celebration. + +The major highways lead to within a comparatively short distance of +White Top and the State Highway Department assures the traveler of good +secondary roads which are passable in any kind of weather. + +Another feature of the festival usually is the presentation of at least +one play by the group of Broadway players who summer at Abingdon and +conduct the famous "Barter Theatre." + +Visitors who include White Top and the Barter players in their itinerary +will be delighted with the diversified entertainments found there. + + + + +Transcriber's Note. + + +The following typographical errors have been corrected: + + p. 2 a brace of deer ran familiarly [had 'familarly'] + p. 24 the Reverend Samuel Brown [had 'Reverened'] + p. 31 the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany [had 'Alleghaney'] + p. 47 been made into a poultice [had 'poultrice'] + p. 49 wagon makers? Of course there were none [had 'Af'] + p. 60 Luray is the Saltpetre Cave. [had 'Saltpeper'] + p. 61 no one anticipated the conspicuous role [had 'conspicious'] + p. 80 point: Rockfish and Shenandoah valleys. [Closing . added] + p. 83 Bridge, and some are still in existence [had 'existance'] + p. 103 the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom [had 'Statue'] + p. 106 Captain Lewis was first in command and he [had 'commond'] + p. 108 of the Revolution had his apothecary shop [had 'Reevolution'] + p. 112 Colonel of the Spotsylvania County Militia [had 'Spottsylvania'] + +Inconsistent hyphenation of some words in the original has been +retained. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Legends of the Skyline Drive and the +Great Valley of Virginia, by Carrie Hunter Willis and Etta Belle Walker + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEGENDS OF THE SKYLINE DRIVE *** + +***** This file should be named 33018.txt or 33018.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/0/1/33018/ + +Produced by Mark C. 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