Hawksbill and Hupps Hill Random-osity

Good, Random, Fun.

 The Good: I spotted these signs near Luray and I pulled into a parking lot to get a picture. I wanted to show the electronic "STAY SAFE" sign plus the historical marker but the electronic sign did not photograph well. I took images with both my Sony and my iPhone and figured one of them would come out correctly but I was mistaken. I suppose I should have tried a longer exposure.

But I was glad I pulled over because when I drove around the parking lot to turn around, I spotted a mural on an overpass. I walked down the paved trail and took pictures. There was a second mural farther on which I'll show another day. I hope you can view this panoramic shot I took with my cell phone. It is embedded using code from Facebook. 

A small sign says the artwork is "Vermilion Sunset" by Gwynnavier Jones. The regular shot doesn't show the size as it is foreshortened by the angle. 

Monday Murals.

The Random: Some other images from along the path along Hawksbill Creek.

Mosaic Monday.

The Fun: We had our first social distancing picnic at Hupps Hill yesterday. We met Allison and David at a parking lot near Strasburg and they followed us to the park. They brought their food and we brought ours. We ate at opposite ends of a picnic table and chatted.

There is a visitors center at Hupps Hill but it has been closed due to the pandemic. The park has remained open. It has historical markers and a karst geology trail.

See my Hupp's Hill posts. 

Redbud Grove, Hupps Hill.

Strasburg, Virginia
 

Visitors Center and Museum, Hupp's Hill.

Strasburg's Elusive Skyline

It's Theme Day for City Daily Photo and this month's theme is "My City's Skyline." 

This was a tough theme for me. I live close to two large towns and neither of them have a skyline that is easy to view because of trees and hills. Here I'm looking at Strasburg, Virginia, since that's where my mailing address is, although I actually reside in a different county.

The twilight view of Strasburg's water tower is one that I've shown three times on this blog, but the only thing it tells you about the town is that we have a water tower and we're near the mountains. You can see this view from the Food Lion parking lot on Hupp's Hill.

If you look back at the town from one of the hills across Cedar Creek, you see the outskirts of town that stretch out toward the interstate highway. 

The best views I've found that are reachable by car are on the hill at Stoney Pointe.  However, you can't see the historic center of town because it is obscured by trees. 

A factory is on the left. Near the center is the water tower.

Looking north from Daniel Court at Stoney Pointe you see houses.

I also drove up by the water tower and looked back toward Stoney Pointe. The historic district is below us but it's behind the trees. The hill that I'm standing on here was the location of General Banks' fort during the Civil War. To the right we see the end of the Massanutten Range.

When you drive through Strasburg, it appears to be a quaint little town, but from the hills you see it is spread out and there are many houses. The 2010 population was around 6,400. 

Memorial Day Random-osity

The Good, the Random, and the Fun

The Good: Memorial Day reminds us to appreciate those who lost their lives while defending our country. This grand display of flags and crosses was made by the Long family of Strasburg. They started doing this 9 years ago for Memorial Day weekend and every year they add more flags.

The Random: After I took the above pictures at Red Bud Road, I stopped at Hupp's Hill and walked around with Flash. Here we see the park entrance, which is across Route 11 from City Bank. Note the motorcycle passing by. I've seen (and heard) many cycles this weekend because of the Rolling Thunder Run to Washington, DC. It's become a huge Memorial Day event. 

The Fun: This bright van decorated like a flag made me smile. I'm not sure it's proper as far as flag etiquette, but it is colorful and fun to view.

Also sharing with Seasons and Through My Lens

Hupp Cave

Across from the Civil War Museum/Tourist Information Center in Strasburg is a trail that interprets both the Karst topography of the area and the Civil War history on Hupp's Hill. The trail dips into a sinkhole that has a cave entrance! 

Sharing with Good Fences and Signs, Signs

Caves in Virginia are protected by state law. This sign is muddy from all the rain we've had but it stresses that it is illegal to destroy or deface cave formations.

The upper sign is one of a series of interpretive signs along the trail. This one has diagrams of the geology and a map of the cave. The limestone and shale here are part of the "Edinburg formation."

Near the museum in this park was Crystal Caverns, a commercial cave that closed in 2010. 

The trail is not long but it does have steps. Flash was able to navigate it with me.

Civil War Mural at Hupp's Hill

Strasburg, Virginia

Inside the museum at Hupp's Hill Civil War Park there's a long mural that tells the story of the American Civil War. The mural was originally commissioned by banker and preservationist Leo Bernstein when the museum was called the Stonewall Jackson Museum. It was completed in a short period of time by artists Chris Wilson and France Coates in 1991.

Several years after Mr. Bernstein's death in 2008, this property become a combination tourist information center and a museum run by the Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation.

Sharing with Monday Murals

Skywatch from Strasburg

Here were looking south from Hupp's Hill in Strasburg, Virginia. In the distance we see the Massanutten Range.

Linking to: Skywatch Friday

In the Distance: Thoburn's Position

In November, I posted pictures of views from Thoburn's Redoubt, a hill on Cedar Creek Battlefield. One was a view from the trenches looking toward Strasburg. Here we have the opposing view, looking out from Hupp's Hill near Strasburg toward Thoburn's Redoubt, which is on the hill across the valley cut by Cedar Creek. 

I took these picture from a restaurant parking lot near the interstate.

Winter Encampment

Reenactors, Hupp's Hill

Several Civil War sites here in Virginia featured "Civil War Christmas" events such as this one on Hupp's Hill near Strasburg. It was modest as reenactments go but the site has only existed for a short time in it's current form as part of Cedar Creek Battlefield.

The inclusion of women in camp life is realistic because wives often visited when an army stayed in one place for a while.

Link: Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation

Keyhole Cave near Strasburg

On Hupp's Hill

Across from the museum and visitors center at Hupp's Hill you'll find a trail that deals with both the Civil War history of the site and the karst geology that underlies it. Limestone is porous and so this area, like much of the Shenandoah Valley, has water-formed caves underneath.

Keyhole Cave is a "wild" cave as opposed to nearby Crystal Caverns (currently closed) and Shenandoah Caverns. Keyhole Cave is marked "No Trespassing." A sign shows the network of caves and sinkholes on the hill and also tells us that bats are not currently living here.

Earlier Post: Along the Trail at Hupp's Hill

In the Hupp's Hill Cedar Creek Museum

The recreation of a Civil War camp scene includes a full-size mannequin in uniform. I thought the fall foliage was a nice touch.

The museum is off U.S. 11 on the outskirts of Strasburg, VA.

• See a post showing the museum when it was still the Stonewall Jackson Museum.
• See all my Hupp's Hill posts.

View from Hupp's Hill

Signal Knob Seen from Strasburg, VA

Here we're looking east toward the Massanutten Range, which divides the Shenandoah Valley from  Strasburg to Harrisonburg.

For a view of Signal Knob from a different direction, see Ducks at Dusk.

Along the Trail at Hupp's Hill

Strasburg, VA

Across from the museum at Hupp's Hill you'll find a pair of short trails. They deal with two topics that overlap in this location: Civil War fortifications and karst topography.

Soldiers actually took advantage of the karst landscape, utilizing the sinkholes as well as the high ground of the hill.

If you follow the lower trail, you'll see the entrance to a cave. Signs warn "No trespassing" and tell that wild caves can serve as snake dens.

The Shenandoah Valley is known for it's karst topography and caves. Crystal Caverns on Hupp's Hill is a commercial cave but is temporarily closed.

Karst: A terrain, generally underlain by limestone or dolomite, in which the topography is chiefly formed by the dissolving of rock and which may be characterized by sinkholes, sinking streams, closed depressions, subterranean drainage, and caves.

More on Karst 

In Front of Hupp's Hill Museum

Artillery at Hupp's Hill

Strasburg, Virginia
May 7, 2011

I visited this museum a year of two ago when it was the Stonewall Jackson Museum. Now it's part of Cedar Creek Battlefield and I visited the museum again at the reopening ceremony. I observed that the collection has been streamlined and interpretive signage expanded.

If you have not been to this museum, I recommend that you check it out.

Cannon, Noise, Smoke

Artillery Demonstration at Hupp's Hill Museum and Visitor's Center
Strasburg, VA
May 7, 2011

Formerly the Stonewall Jackson Museum, the museum is now part of Cedar Creek Battlefield.

For the final artillery demonstration on opening day, a local veteran of the Korean War was given the honor of firing the cannon.

Details of 2009 NVCC Civil War Tour

I received details on our upcoming field trip from Prof. Poland, starting with:

• Bring lunch for May 15th and snacks and water for the 16th and 17th. For all three days bring rain gear, clothing and footwear for extensive walking.
• Rendezvous; May 15 - 8:45 a.m at Stonewall Jackson Museum on Hupp's Hill across from the Virginia Saving Bank on Rt. 11 on the right side of Rt 11 as you enter Strasburg.
• May 16th - 10:30 a.m. at Fort Harrison. Take exit 22B off Rt. 295 to Rt. 5 and proceed west. Take a left of Battlefield Park Road and drive to the parking lot of Fort Harrison.
• Reservations: We will spent Saturday night at the Holiday Inn Express, 5679 Boyton Plank Road, Petersburg, VA.

If you are a fellow student, you can find more by signing in to your NVCC email. We are covering a huge territory in one weekend - Shenandoah Valley on Friday and Richmond to Appomattox on Saturday-Sunday.

Park Service Description of Fort Harrison

Visit my Civil War Field Trips site.

A Stop at Hupp's Hill

We had doctor appointments in Winchester early this morning and Frank made a dental appointment for 3:10 PM in Mt. Jackson. We ate lunch and did a little shopping but still had an hour to kill before the dentist so we stopped in Strasburg to visit the Stonewall Jackson Museum at Hupps Hill.

The picture on the right shows earthworks across from the museum.

The museum interprets Jackson's Valley Campaign plus it has exhibits on Black and Native American participants in the Civil War. It also has children's exhibits, a research library, and a trail.



P.S. I wrote additional text on my Romney to Delaplane page. I struggled with this because I didn't take many notes on the tour because the rain could ruin my notebook.