The Stickley House and Saturday's Tour

The Stickley House stood along the Valley Pike during the Civil War and witnessed the Battle of Cedar Creek. It was one of the sites I visited on a history tour on Saturday. 

Tuesday Treasures

This house and the farm surrounding it are privately owned. The owner is an educator and often gives permission to history classes to visit the farm that surrounds it, although not the house itself. I have also visited the grounds on a National Park Service tour.

Saturday's tour was part of a seminar on "The Lower Shenandoah Valley's Border Region during the Civil War." It focused on the civilian experience rather than the military actions. After a lecture at Shenandoah University, we visited sites in Stephens City and Middletown as well as this farm on Cedar Creek, 

Here is a brief look at the morning lecture at the University. Professor Noyalas discussed the years leading up to the war and the arguments for and against secession. John Brown's raid in 1859 alarmed many people including the citizens of the Shenandoah Valley. 

Census records show a decline in the population of enslaved persons in the Valley between 1850 and 1860, partly due to fear resulting from Brown's attack on Harpers Ferry. There were 27,402 slaves in 1850 and ten years later there were 24,779. Although some were freed, many were sold to traders who took them to the deep south