Living History with Captain Mercer’s Company

 French and Indian War Weekend

These pictures are from an event in Winchester on Sunday. It seemed a little odd to see “our side” dressed as British soldiers, but they are dressed for a war that ended in 1763, thirteen years before our Declaration of Independence.

Historians consider the French and Indian war to be related to the Seven Years War that took place in Europe. In North America, the French and British were in competition for territory and trading rights. Although Britain won the war, they decided to keep a standing army in North America and tax the colonies to pay for it. Your may remember how that turned out.

You may have seen my recent post about Fort Loudoun in Winchester. The town is proud of its association with young George Washington, who had an office in Winchester and supervised the building of the fort.

I always enjoy seeing the costumes at living history events. This pretty lass was kind enough to pose for me.

Restoring the Fort Loudoun Well

 Winchester, VA

Ten days ago I saw an announcement that the old well that’s associated with George Washington was open and could be seen for a brief time. I happened to be in Front Royal and decided to drive to Winchester to take a look. 

I have been to the location before. The fort itself is gone but the well remains. It was built during the French and Indian War to supply the fort with water. 

George Washington supervised the building of the fort between 1756 and 1758. This was long before he was president, and even before he became nationally famous during the American Revolution. We were still under British rule in 1756, and Washington served as an officer in the war against the French. 

By the way, there are other forts named Fort Loudoun, so that can be confusing. This one was disassembled after the war ended, and the huge logs from the walls were reused in other buildings in Winchester. The well remained in use for over 200 years. Here we see a Union soldier at the well as sketched by James E. Taylor, Civil War artist.

Now the well is being restored. Workers have built a scaffold so they can stabilize the rock walls on the upper portion of the well. The lower portion is solid rock. When the well was built, black powder was used to blast through the rock.

Fort Loudoun was a large structure with four bastions, based on European designs. It did not see battle, but it was used at a supply point and staging area.

A Wooden Mill and a Log Home

The town of Mount Jackson began as a settlement where the Great Wagon Road crossed Mill Creek. The original gristmill existed before 1746, and the current building replaced it in 1872. Until recently, this mill had fallen into disrepair, but it has been fixed up and painted.

The road eventually became the Valley Pike and is now US 11. In Mount Jackson, it is known as Main Street.

Across the road from Mount Jackson Mill is a log home built in 1751. Additions have been built on to the back, but the front of the home still displays the original logs.

I took these pictures on a rainy day and the house is reflected on the street. The picture looks lopsided because the street runs downhill to Mill Creek, but the foundation was built up so the house would be level. You can see where the roof to the front porch was, but the porch was removed when the road was widened in the 1930s.

Local lore says that George Washington visited this house. A better documented story tells us that it was used as a Civil War hospital, which was true of many buildings in the Shenandoah Valley since multiple battles were fought in the region.

Old Chimney, Jeffersonton, VA

Spilman Park

Site of 1730’s Little Fork Colony

Sign was soiled and hard to read.

• Earlier Post: Little Fork Church
• Little Fork Colony on Rootsweb
• Linkup: Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday

Little Fork Church

Culpeper County, VA

 The first church on this site was built of wood and burned in 1773. It was rebuilt of brick in 1776. This is one of the few colonial era churches that still stands in Virginia’s northern piedmont.

Window with Reflections

The nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places describes the exterior as follows:

"Little Fork Church is a one-story brick structure which measures approximately 83\' x 33\'. Its walls are laid in Flemish bond with random glazed headers above and below the water table. Unfortunately most of the brick below the water table as well as the brick gutter have been covered by cement. Rubbed brick marks the four corners of the building as well as the window jambs, principal window arches, and original door jambs. The long south wall of the church is divided into seven-bays containing six semi-circular arched windows and a central door. This door, as well as the west door, has been altered but probably both originally featured brick pediments. The west facade has two small rectangular windows placed high on the wall as if to be gallery windows although it is not certain that the church ever had a gallery. The whole of the building is surrounded by a modillion cornice (probably the original) and is crowned by a hipped roof."

A tall monument in the churchyard was erected in 1904 in memory of the Little Fork Rangers, a local Confederate Cavalry Company that drilled here early in the Civil War.

Mosaic Monday

A Civil War trails marker tells how the “peaceful parish became an entrenched camp.”

"In the spring of 1861, the Little Fork Rangers (Co. D, 4th Virginia Cavalry), mustered in the yard of Little Fork Episcopal Church. On July 4, the Rangers were presented with a battle flag as they left Rixeyville for the First Battle of Manassas. Capt. Robert E. Utterback called on them to follow the flag "into the face of the enemy, defending it with the last drop of your blood!" Utterback's call proved all too prophetic as the Rangers served under Gen. J.E.B. Stuart and other commanders from Manassas, to Gettysburg, to Appomattox Court House."

Read the rest of this marker on HMDB. 

A Glimpse of Sherando Park

Stephens City, VA

Sunday Best / H2O

This park is in Frederick County. It would be easy to confuse the name with Sherando Lake Recreation Area, but that’s a couple of hours south in George Washington National Forest. Both are based on an old word that is synonymous with Shenandoah, a name of native American origin. 

The original Native American word is lost to history because it was written down by white explorers who used whatever spelling made sense to them. Other spellings include Senedo (pronounced Shenado), and Gerando. The name probably referred to the river, but there are also stories that it was the name of an Iroquois chief.

Young George Washington Tames a Monster

Winchester, VA

I saw this mural online so I sought it out. The monster is either a man-eating vine or a strange dragon, The hero is young George Washington, who had an office in Winchester before he became nationally famous.  He is feeding pizza to the creature because this is a pizza parlor.

Mosaic Monday / Murals

Oh, before someone asks me how is the pizza, let me say I don’t know. My food allergies make it impossible to eat anything resembling a real pizza. 

The Indian Attack of 1766

Since today's CDP theme is "Local history," I drove over to Narrow Passage Creek to expand upon the story that is told on this sign.

A series of conflicts between settlers and Native Americans, including the French and Indian War, the Cherokee War, and Pontiac’s War, occurred along the western frontier of the colonies. The last documented clash in the Shenandoah Valley took place nearby in 1766. A small band of Indians attacked the Sheetz and Taylor families as they fled for safety to the fort of Woodstock. Mathias Sheetz and Taylor were both killed, but their wives used axes to fight off the Indians and escape with the children. 

This historical marker stands beside US 11, the Valley Pike, which followed a major Indian trail. In the early 1700’s, "Colonial governors wanted a buffer between the French and their Indian allies in the Ohio River Valley, and the primarily English settlers in eastern Virginia." [Source: NPS] German and Scotch-Irish Immigrants were encouraged to settle in the Shenandoah Valley to farm and build communities in this buffer zone. 

The attack described on the sign occurred after the French and Indian war ended. The French had left the Ohio Valley, but the native peoples were not ready to give up their ancestral territory.

The Sheetz family had settled here next to Narrow Passage Creek where it joins the Shenandoah River. Mathias Sheetz and his wife were both born in Germany and came to Pennsylvania as children. They met and married in Philadelphia, and eventually settled here in Virginia. Mathias built a mill on Narrow Passage Creek. After he was killed, his wife ran the mill. You can read more of the dramatic story on the FindaGrave website. (There’s an interesting old article in the illustrations.)

Reflection, Black and White 

This afternoon I drove down to the boat landing where the creek joins the river. The rain had just stopped so the light was not very bright. But I wanted to show you Narrow Passage Creek. The mill is long gone now, although it operated until the 1920s.

The creek (left) joins the North Fork of the Shenandoah 

I actually posted a picture  of this historical marker before, but it was in 2009. And that post, I chose to give a little background of the marker and how it happened to get changed.

Note about CDP: City Daily Photo is a group for photo bloggers. Participation has been declining, so if you post photos daily, or several times a week, please consider joining. I have really enjoyed seeing the excellent photos there. Theme Day is just once a month, so you are free to post on a variety of topics.

I Found Where the Potomac Begins

Fairfax Stone State Park
Thomas, WV

Tuesday Treasures / Wordless 

The Fairfax Stone, marking the Potomac's headwaters, was a corner of Lord Fairfax's vast estate. The line of 1736 was checked in 1746 by a survey on which Peter Jefferson, father of Thomas Jefferson, was engaged. 

Hopewell Friends Meeting House

Clear Brook, VA

Hopewell was the first Quaker meeting established in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Early Quaker settlers came from Maryland and built a log meeting in 1734. After it was destroyed by fire in 1757, the limestone building was constructed.

I found this building by checking the HMDB website for nearby historic sites when I was visiting Clear Brook Park. When I arrived here, I felt like I had been here before with Professor Poland's class. If it was not this Quaker Meeting, it was one that looked very much like it. But that was maybe 30 years ago. 

The grounds feel very peaceful. The surroundings are rural. 

For these final two pictures, I used an app give them a painterly look.

Stump Cabin

Hardy County, WV

This log home is said to be oldest in West Virginia that is still lived in. It has been expanded and modernized but the original logs are still intact. The cabin dates to 1785, built by Leonard Stump. An earlier shelter was built by his father Michael Stumpf, in the 1740’s. In 1746 it was visited by a survey crew that included Peter Jefferson, father of Thomas Jefferson. Two years later, another survey crew visited on behalf of Lord Fairfax, and a member of that crew was the young George Washington, age 16.

In 1749, a land grant was issued to Michael Stump from Lord Fairfax, who administered a huge tract of land, much of which was wilderness. The property remained in the hands of the Stump family until 1973, when John Buhl purchased it.

You cannot view the cabin from South Fork Road, but it was open for Heritage Weekend. There is also a museum on the property that is open by appointment.

South Fork of South Branch of the Potomac