On June 17-21, 1863, several cavalry battles erupted along the narrow roads, steep-banked streams, and stone-walled fields of the Loudoun Valley from Aldie west to the Blue Ridge. Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's infantry was on a stealthy march west to the Shenandoah Valley. Lee ordered Gen. J.E.B. Stuart and his cavalry corps to screen the infantry from Union forces. Stuart established his headquarters in Middleburg and dispatched Col. Thomas T. Munford's 2,000-man cavalry brigade east to Aldie. There, two macadamized turnpikes led west to Ashby's Gap and northwest to Snickers Gap, while the Carolina Road, a strategic north-south transportation route, was located just to the east.
If you drive out Route 50 through Aldie, Virginia, stop at the old mill and walk around. The historic mill and related buildings are impressive and the creek is charming. There are signs to help you understand the history and the mill operations.
The village of Aldie has a charming old mill complex that's now operated by the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority. When I took my parents there almost 20 years ago we toured the inside. My mom was very interested in mills and bridges and their technology. I think she would have made a good engineer!
I've been to the churchyard of Mt. Zion Church a number of times, mostly of Civil War field trips. The interior is rarely open but now that it is part of Northern Virginia Regional Parks, it is open on the 4th Sunday of each month from April to October. 
This "Historic Site in Journalism" is now identified by a marker just outside the cemetery at Mount Zion Church in Loudoun County, Virginia. It tells a sad story which begins:In this graveyard adjoining the church, on June 23, 1863, Harpers Illustrated Weekly's Alfred R. Waud, one of the Civil War's most renowned artists, dug the grave for the burial of his friend, Lynde Walter Buckingham, the chief cavalry correspondent for the New York Herald. Buckingham had spent the day of June 21 covering what would become one of the largest cavalry battles in U.S. history, in and around the villages of Aldie, Middleburg and Upperville. At the front with Union General Judson Kilpatrick throughout the June 21 fight, Buckingham was on his way to Washington with his account of the fighting when Confederate Partisan fighters under Major John Singleton Mosby's command overtook him and caused his horse to dash down a steep hill and throw its rider powerfully to the ground. Buckingham later died of injuries to his skull in a makeshift Union Army hospital within this church.(Click on the picture to see a larger version.)
Shenandoah County hosts an annual "Yard Crawl." People are encouraged to set up yard sales and flea markets along U.S. Route 11 (the historic Valley Pike) for the length of the county. This year it extended north of the county line to Stephens City. 
This house next to the Edinburg Mill was built in 1850 by George Grandstaff. It was the home to a series of millers. 
This structure represents the original fortress stockade, erected nearby in late 1755 in early Cacapehon Valley by settler Joseph Edwards. On his homestead, the fortress encompassed Edward's house, barn, outbuildings and a spring. The original site of the stockade, known as Edwards's Fort, is just to the northeast a few hundred yards. The original site, the subject of continuing and future archeological digs, is protected. This site was chosen as representative of the land configuration of the original; and this stockade exhibits the shape — determined by limited archeological findings — of the original fort, though not entirely complete.You can click on the picture of the sign to enlarge it to read the rest.
Pardon my Latin! Asteraceae refers to the daisy family, and both black-eyed susans and coneflowers belong to that family. You may know them by different names. I might have called them rudbeckia and echinacea, for instance.
The tour at the historic Heater farm was part of the Park Service's History at Sunset series. We met at 7 P.M. and the tour ended at sunset.
The Heater family has three sons and the two older ones joined the Confederate Army against their mother's wishes. Sadly, they both died during the war.
Their farm's location on the Valley Pike brought armies past it many times during the Civil War. In October of 1864, Jubal Early's army surprised Federal troops camped throughout this area and the Battle of Cedar Creek ensued.
Yesterday we went on a tour of the Heater Farm on Cedar Creek Battlefield. Ranger Kyle explained the history of the farm and it's role in the American Civil War. |
| Ranger Kyle gave an animated presentation at the Heater House. |
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| Attentive Audience |
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| Remains of old spring house |
