A History Lover Is Born?
We had a very busy summer but as the date grew closer to starting Season 3, we had a sense of anticipation and excitement. After a couple of chilly winters, our plan this season is to spend time in Florida and Gulf Shore Region of Alabama and Mississippi. We have learned the south does not equate to warm in the winter. In fact, the winter months of December and January we will be in south Florida for added security.
I think the most exciting thing in this new season is that we will have the opportunity to visit friends and family. It can get a little lonely on this journey. We meet many wonderful people but the familiarity of those we know, and love, gives a sense of comfort. We are also planning to stop by and revisit some new friends we met in our first season. The goal will be to do that as much as possible so that in the future we will have friends all over the country and no longer be lonely.
To add to the excitement this season, we will also have some fellow RVers starting their own journey. In fact, one of those couples is our own “framily”, Sue and Rob. The very couple that gave us the idea of full-time RVing and generously allowed us to stay on their property when we are home, will now be RVing themselves! We plan to meet up with each other a few times over the winter but the most exciting will be our first meet up for Christmas and New Years Eve. But first, we have a few places to stop on our way south.
Once again, Jim’s love of history will guide us this season. We will begin spending some time on the western side of Virginia (Civil War territory). As you will begin to notice in this and future posts, visiting Civil War sites sparked my interest and it is possible I may be becoming a history lover!
Our first stop was a one-night stay at Pine Furnace State Park in Pennsylvania, at the northern tip of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We woke to a beautiful day with the sun greeting us as it peeked through the forest. We had some time before we had to leave the park, so we took the opportunity to walk a portion of the Appalachian Trail for the first time. Pine Furnace SP is the mid-point of the 2,186-mile trail that passes through 14 states. We walked only 4 of those miles!
Later that day we arrived in Winchester, VA in the Shenandoah Valley. We are excited this year to be traveling south during autumn. The last two seasons we missed seeing the leaves change color and couldn’t take it anymore! It is our favorite season and this time we would enjoy it. However, we arrived to a very green region in Winchester. The warmer temperatures have kept the leaves green into early October, even in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We took an afternoon to drive half of the 105-mile Skyline Drive and were surprised that even at 3,000 feet, there wasn’t much color. Even so, the drive was beautiful. The nice thing about this mountain drive (compared to Arizona), was that there were trees, on both sides, the whole way, with occasional openings to pull off and view the beauty. There was only one area that had me leaning slightly towards Jim’s side of the car. Why are the drop offs always on my side?!
We spent the remainder of the week exploring the sweet city of Winchester, but not before we traveled to visit the small historic town of Harpers Ferry. Harpers Ferry’s history was most notable for the John Brown Raid and its strategic connection to the Civil War.
In 1794, the federal government purchased property, at Harpers Ferry, to build an armory. Given its inland location at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers (waterpower), and surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains, President George Washington believed it was well protected from military attack – or so he thought.
Some sixty-five years later, abolitionist, John Brown, was on a campaign to end slavery. Although his motives were honorable, Brown’s methods of trying to end slavery were violent. After several failed attempts at combating those who supported slavery, he, and his self-appointed army of twenty-two, including five black men and three of his sons, raided the federal armory in Harper’s Ferry. The goal? Arm his men and incite a slave insurrection. It didn’t take long for word to spread and the next morning U.S. Marines, led by Colonel Robert E. Lee, barricaded Brown and his remaining army in “John Brown’s Fort”, a fire engine and guard house. After 11 deaths, Brown was captured, tried for treason, the murder of five men, and inciting a slave insurrection. He was later found guilty of all charges and hanged on December 1, 1859. Of those in attendance for his execution was none other than John Wilkes Booth, the man who would assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Brown’s final words, “I John Brown am now quite certain that crimes of the guilty land will never be purged away, but with blood. I had…vainly flattered myself that without much bloodshed, it might be done”.
Less than two years later, the Civil War began.
The armory’s “strategic” location would later be destroyed in the Civil War when Union Soldiers set fire to its buildings. The only building remaining today is “John Brown’s Fort” (although relocated across the street to its current location).
Among the marine troops guarding the arrested John Brown was Thomas Jackson, otherwise known as Stonewall Jackson. Our next visit would be to his Civil War headquarters.
Located in the town of Winchester, in a residential neighborhood, sits the location of Stonewall Jackson’s headquarters. Jackson, a general for the confederate army, was given the name Stonewall after the Battle of Manassas, otherwise known as Bull Run. We were pleasantly surprised to learn when we arrived that we would be treated to a tour.
The home, built by, William McP. Fuller, was later sold to Lewis T. Moore, a Lieutenant Colonel in the 4th Virginia Civil War Infantry. Moore, injured in the war, tried to serve three times but was later discharged because of his health. He would seek medical treatment out of town and invited Jackson to use the house as his headquarters. Mrs. Jackson (Anna) would join him and later described the residence in Winchester as “the happiest three months of her married life” {nvdaily.com}. Four months after moving in, Jackson would be wounded by friendly fire and subsequently die on May 12, 1863.
The house holds the largest collection of Jackson’s artifacts, including his prayer table and initialed prayer book. Also included in the home was a music table, gifted by Robert T. Barton, mayor of Winchester, an original Revolutionary War uniform, a confederate flag “the Stars and Bars” that flew over Romney Courthouse, a bullet riddled flag that flew over Gettysburg, and the original copy of Anna’s memoir – not currently in publication. Even for a history novice like me, it was so cool to see these items. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos, but the area was not sectioned off as so many historical rooms are. We were fortunate to get an upfront view of the detail in these items. It would be hard to say what the most noteworthy items were, but I would have to say standing on Robert E. Lee’s original area rug and seeing the original bedroom wallpaper framed on the wall was pretty cool. Even more cool was learning the original wallpaper was re-commissioned and that very expensive replica wallpaper now hangs on that bedroom wall. Guess who commissioned the paper in the Harpers Ferry Trivia Section below.
Our time in Winchester was too short but great, nonetheless. We will return in the future, but our journey now takes us to Charlottesville, VA where we stayed at an appropriately named RV park, visited our first Wegmans outside of NY, and volunteered for the first time this season. Keep an eye out for those stories, and more history lovin, next!
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