A DRIVE ALONG THE SNICKERSVILLE TURNPIKE, VIRGINIA - FRIDAY, MAY 5TH, 2023 - PART 4

 I am taking a couple of days off.  I have left my comments on but will be very slow answering them.  However, I will answer all eventually.  Luckily I had a few posts already done and scheduled, which included this coming Saturday and Monday posts.  Hopefully I will be feeling better by next Tuesday, but if you don't see anything then, you'll know I am just resting up.  Gregg and I have Covid but we are being well taken care of.

We are looking across land that once belonged to the Phillips Family, dating back to about 1798.  It is part of The Waterford Foundation and a self-guided tour can be found here.

According to what I read on one of the signs, it said those line of trees are the Osage orange (also called hedgeapple) which were planted by farmers to create a natural hedge.  The signs I have included below may be difficult to read even when enlarged, so I will repeat the info as I go along, as well as adding other information I found, plus links if interested.  This is what an Osage orange looks like (all photos showing the fruits, including the bow, were found online).

When I read about them, I found that Native American tribes in the Plains quickly discovered that its strong yet flexible wood made superior-quality bows.  According to legend, a bow made from the Osage orange was worth as much as a horse and blanket for Native American traders.  Shown in the photo is obviously a modern-day one but made with that particular wood.

The fruits are 4 to 5 inches in diameter.  The surface is deeply grooved and rough, covered in wiry hairs.  Underneath the ridged surface, the flesh is dense, cream-colored to pale green, and contains 200 to 300 oblong, light brown, edible seeds. When the flesh is sliced, it releases a sticky, white liquid that can be irritating to the skin and may cause a rash. 

As read: "Osage oranges have a green, bitter flavor with a hint of cucumber and a fruity, citrus-like aroma. The flavor is generally unpleasant, unpalatable, and some may feel ill after ingesting the bitter fruit, causing many to deem it inedible." There is more here.

One last bit of information, its wood withstands rot and decay, making them ideal for fence posts. After the widespread introduction of barbed wire fencing, Osage orange remained the go-to tree for fencing use, but this time it was for the rot-resistant wood that could be fashioned into fence posts to hold the newly invented barbed wire. And my snowball rolling down hill is taking effect because I also found this interesting page on the history of barbed wire.  There is none used for fence posts showing the barbed wire below.  Well, enough of the Osage orange!

The Phillips family had an annual yield of 500 bushels of wheat, 400 lbs. of butter, 65 lbs. of wool and 60 lbs. of honey and beeswax.

Thomas and Rachel Phillips were Quakers and were against slavery and secession, which in this case meant the withdrawal of eleven southern states from the Union in 1860, leading to the Civil War.  More history on that subject can be found at this website.  The following photo is cropped from the one above.  It shows some of the artifacts found.

One of the facts I found very interesting was that the Phillips Farm is "a registered Monarch waystation.  Monarchs on their annual migration to and from Mexico, find nectar and host plants here.  Bees also thrive and produce honey just as they did centuries ago" and "Today, more than 200 years after Thomas Phillips began farming here, his practices of haymaking and beekeeping, continue on the farm."

Unfortunately, I didn't see the Belted Kingfisher.  There was no path or gateway that we could see. The Kingfishers and other birds can no doubt be seen along the creek amongst the trees.  (I found out later there is a trail that can be taken.)

I found the above photo at pixabay.com

Others mentioned were the Eastern Bluebird, the Great Blue Heron, Red-winged Blackbird and the Red-Tailed Hawk.

That's all for today.  I have another post after this, of Waterford Village.  It will be my last from our trip along the turnpike, and will be posted next week.