Walking through Paris

I went back to the village of Paris, Virginia to take some pictures. When I was there on a field trip in May, a steady rain made photography difficult.

Paris is mostly hidden from the highways (17 and 50) that intersect nearby. Travelers may glimpse the historical marker for Jackson's Bivouac as they speed past. A few may come into town to visit the Ashby Inn or the nearby antique shop. They find a quaint little settlement that seems to have been ignored by time for a hundred years.

Above: The Ashby Inn.
Right: A sign on a farm fence says Jackson's Bivouac, duplicating the text of the marker on Route 50, which states:

"After a day’s march from Winchester on 19-20 July 1861, Brig. Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson halted his lead brigade of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Valley army near here. At 2:00 A.M. his 2,500 men sank down to rest.

When told that no sentries had been posted, Jackson stated “Let the poor boys sleep. I will guard the camp myself.” Relieved of his duty an hour before daybreak, Jackson slept briefly, rising at dawn to march to Piedmont Station (now Delaplane), where railcars waited to transport the 11,000-man army to Manassas Junction. There, nearly 30,000 Confederates faced 35,000 Federals at the First Battle of Manassas."