In Berryville, Virginia
The historical marker shown here was installed by Virginia's Department of Historic Resources in 2014. It replaced a less-accurate marker that was installed in 1999 which read:
To improve the lives of former slaves, Ellen McCormick, widow of Edward McCormick of Clermont, established this African American community of 31 one-acre lots early in the 1870s. The lots, laid out on either side of the 16-foot-wide street that originated near the tollgate on the Berryville Turnpike, sold for $100 each. The community probably was named for Josephine Williams, who owned two lots. By 1900 Josephine City had become an oasis for Clarke County’s African American residents and included a school, grocery store, gas station, boarding house, restaurant, cemetery, and two churches.
Researchers discovered that Mrs. McCormick tried to sell off part of her farm to ease financial burdens after her husband's death. She was approached by African-American citizens with a proposal that she subdivide a section of the farm and sell lots to members of their community, some of whom had been enslaved until the Civil War and who now wanted to own their own homes. She agreed to this proposal and held loans on the lots until they were paid off. Since this was clearly a business decision and not a charitable gift as the 1999 marker implied, the sign was changed and now reads:
Early in the 1870's African Americans established Josephine City, a community originally composed of 31 one-acre lots lining a 16-foot-wide street. Twenty-four former slaves and free blacks purchased the lots at $100 an acre from Ellen McCormick, owner of Clermont Farm. The street and the community were probably named after a former slave at Clermont, Josephine Williams, purchaser of two lots. By 1900, Josephine City had become an oasis for the county’s African Americans and was a self-sufficient community with a school, grocery store, gas station, boarding house, restaurant, cemetery, churches, and numerous residents.
We learned of this history at a lecture on Friday at
Cedar Creek Battlefield. Today we visited the Josephine School, now a museum that is open on Sunday afternoons. I have pictures of the school to post later, but want to share photos of the community's churches for the
Inspired Sunday blog hop. I like church architecture and this one has the grace and charm that we see in so many churches here in the Shenandoah Valley.
This building was erected in 1908 with the brick front added later.
Across the street from the brick church is the Franklin Annex, built in 1882. It served as the main church until the newer one was built in 1908. An online
history of Zion Baptist Church explains that the congregation originally met outdoors with "green foliage for decorations, rough boards for pews, the canopy of heaven for their lamps."
Does this mill look familiar? It is no doubt the most-photographed mill in West Virginia, and it has also been painted, drawn, and even stitched in needlepoint. I've seen it on calendars and in books, even on the cover of a book about a family in Virginia. But it was never in Virginia, since it was constructed around 1890, well after West Virginia separated from Virginia in 1861. 
The overshot water wheel actually came from a different mill. The Glade Creek Mill still functions. You can buy corn meal ground here in the gift shop across the creek. 
It's been a wet summer here and the grass is still spring-green. The geese look content.
Photoblogger Mersad Donko has challenged us to post Colors of the Sunset and link up to My Town Shoot Out. Well, okay then! I had spare sunset pictures taken over the last few months so here are some that I like, all taken from my backyard.
Since Frank and I have both read The Good Earth
, we stopped at the author's birthplace when we were in that part of West Virginia. The house was very nice and the tour guides were friendly. 
Next door to the house is a rustic building that was the birthplace of her father, but which was not originally in Hillsboro. It was moved here from Greenbrier County so that it could be preserved.
The museum in the old 2-room school is open Sunday afternoons from 1 PM to 3 PM. A docent gave us an informative tour that included a look at a model of the small town of Josephine as it was some years back. A sign posted on the end of the building tells us the following:
A similar historical marker stands in the parking lot. Behind it you can see the brick Johnson-Williams High School that now serves as apartments.
We learned of this history at a lecture on Friday at Cedar Creek Battlefield. Today we visited the Josephine School, now a museum that is open on Sunday afternoons. I have pictures of the school to post later, but want to share photos of the community's churches for the Inspired Sunday blog hop. I like church architecture and this one has the grace and charm that we see in so many churches here in the Shenandoah Valley. 
