A DRIVE ALONG THE SNICKERSVILLE TURNPIKE, VIRGINIA - FRIDAY, MAY 5TH, 2023 - PART 3 - BATTLE OF ALDIE

Under the weather as we both have Covid.  I have left the comments on but it could be a while before I return any visits.  We are not feeling that great but it is always a joy to read them and thank you in advance.  It came as a bit of a shock as the cases are very low in our area.  Well, there you go, you can't take anything for granted.  

I scheduled a couple of posts before I got sick, for Wednesday and Thursday.

Now to continue with our trip along the SnickersvilleTurnpike.

This is for those interested in the history of the American Civil War.

As we continued our drive, we came across an interesting memorial.  It is for the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry Monument, the Battle of Aldie.  

As peaceful and as beautiful as this area is, very intense battles during the Civil War were fought along the turnpike.  At this link you will be able to read more information. The memorial is located on the Snickersville Turnpike, Route 734 near Route 650, Aldie, Virginia 20105.  You will find it on the right when traveling north.  The survivors erected a monument to mark the spot where the heaviest fighting took place, on a sharp curve in the road north of Aldie.

The above marker will be easier to read if you enlarge the photo...

and names are engraved on the side.

Whenever we come across these memorials, we find ourselves being very reflective.  

Will mankind ever be free of these conflicts?  I live in hope that the more people study history, perhaps enough seeds will be sown for the future.  It certainly has been a very long road.

The property behind the wall is part of the Furr Farm built in 1798.  It bore witness to the battle on June 17th, 1863.  The farm is privately owned but you can see many photos of the outside and inside if you go here.  It's like stepping back in time.

We continued on with our journey.  There will be two more posts after this.

 The sun is shining and it is quite warm.  I hope you are having the same kind of weather in your part of the world.  Thanks for looking. 

MANASSAS NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD PARK

A few weeks ago we drove to this area but it was crowded, so we didn't take our usual walk.  That was on a weekend.  We decided to return on Monday (October 5th).  

We woke up to blue skies and the temperature was perfect for walking.  It was in the mid 60s. There were a few cars in the parking lot, but what few people we saw were some distance away.  We walked by one young couple walking their dogs while on the trail in the woods.  When we saw them coming we put our masks on.  

Last time, apart from the pathways that had been cut for us to walk without hindrance, the grass was very high.  

On Monday everywhere we looked we could see bales of hay, all neatly placed in all the fields.  

The smell of new mown hay was an added pleasant element to our walk.

But first something else took our interest.  We noticed that several trees bore fruit.  They looked  like apples.  Edible or ornamental?  Not sure!

I tried to find online what they were without success, but we saw this fruit on the ground in various stages of decay.  

At the first fence a butterfly rested on the bottom strip, and it began to feed on the old fruit.  I believe this is a Red-Spotted Purple Admiral (Limenitis arthemis). You can see one at this website.  There is more information here.

There were others enjoying the fruit.  The next photo shows a European Hornet (Vespa crabro), which is the largest eusocial wasp native to Europe.  It is also the only true hornet (genus Vespa) found in North America, having been introduced by European settlers in 1840.  I read that they differ from most wasp species as they are active day and night. The European hornet is less aggressive apparently than say the bald-faced hornet and yellow jacket.  But still, a hornet is a hornet is a hornet.  Best to be wary I would imagine and admire from afar.

The flies are identified as Flesh Fly (Sarcophaga spp.)  I am not going to go into detail on this one, my initial reaction being 'ewwww'.  For those who are interested in more information, I have provided this link from Wikipedia.  I probably won't do any more research on this one.

We walk across a field heading to a trail we remembered that goes through the woods.  If you click here it will take you to a website giving more information.  

This is an easy walk according to the site but we didn't take the whole loop trail today.  We thoroughly enjoyed what we did do.  Here is a map showing the trail.

Turkey Tail or False Turkey Tail?  I didn't want to get on my hands and knees in the dirt, nose to fungi, for a closer inspection. 

"At this very interesting website, it says: Turkey tail (Trametes versicolor) is a species of fungus that closely resembles a turkey's tail.  As a bracket fungus, named because of its shelf-like form, its job is to break down either the lignin or cellulose in rotting wood.

But here's a Thanksgiving - and beyond - conundrum; there's an imposter out there, the false turkey tail (Stereum hirsutum).  And there are several species of bracket fungi anyway.  So how can you tell if you have a 'true' turkey tail?"

And then the article goes on to explain the differences with great photos.

You can read it here.

We didn't notice any birds today, a couple of squirrels and that was about it.  I kept looking up into the trees but saw no movement up there.

But I was happy that this was our fungus/mushroom day.  I look forward to this time of the year in part because of these.

I definitely would not try ID'ing these mushrooms by name.  I used my plant app which said this is one of the poisonous types.  And according to that plant app 'Picture This', the heart shaped leaf in the photo below is from the Common blue violet, botanical name Viola sororia.  The leaves on the right are from the Jack-in-the-pulpit, botanical name Arisaema triphyllum.

As for our mushroom?  I made my mind up just to enjoy looking, and not worry about its name.

I found a very interesting series on YouTube, presented by a young man who is very knowledgeable about mushrooms.  It is called Learn Your Land and he has several about mushrooms.  I watched one titled Mid-Autumn Mushroom Hunting.  You can see it if you click here.  I will slowly be working my way through all of them.

"Mushrooms were the roses in the garden of that unseen world, because the real mushroom plant was underground.  The parts you could see - what most people called a mushroom - was just a brief apparition.  A cloud flower."

~Margaret Atwood~

The Year of the Flood

These pretty daisy-like flowers are a species of Aster called White-panicle aster.  They were blooming everywhere.  

Its botanical name is Symphyotrichum lanceolatum, and it is native to North America.  It is a perennial and blooms in Summer and Fall.  

You can go to a website if you click on this link.  Scrolling down the page you will find close up photographs of this pretty flower.

There were also ones called Smooth blue aster, as those in the photo above.  Its botanical name is Symphyotrichum laeve.  They bloom from early to mid Autumn, and are native to Canada and the United States.

I can't tell you enough what a tonic it was to walk through those woods and it was so nice, for the most part, to have it all to ourselves.  

We met the couple I mentioned at the beginning of my post, very briefly.  Enough time to say hello and to ask them if I could take a photo of their dogs as we passed.  They were happy to oblige and smiled.  I am sure those dogs were smiling too, in my world they were smiling, and of course I was happy to have my doggy fix that day.  They were the only people we met on our walk, apart from seeing a few in the distance.

We turned around shortly afterwards.

We found a bench just beyond the line of trees on the right, and sat for a while enjoying our surroundings.

From the bench there was a reminder (a cannon) of what went on here at the 1st Battle of Manassas and the 2nd Battle of Manassas.  My history source (my sweet other half) tells me that the North used to name their battles after cities, whereas the South named them after geographical locations.  The South called these two battles 1st Battle of Bull Run and the 2nd Battle of Bull Run, named after the stream nearby.  "Run" is another name for stream (or creek) around here.

Always hard to comprehend what occurred in these now peaceful surroundings.

All freshly painted and polished.

Below are all that remains of a two-and-a-half-story home.

Below is a photo I found on the historical marker nearby.

In part the marker reads, "In 1860 Benjamin Chinn and his family lived here in a two-and-a-half story frame farmhouse.  Known as "Hazel Plain", the modest plantation comprised several hundred acres.  The property was typical of those in Prince William County, yielding wheat, corn, oats and potatoes for cash and subsistence.  

War engulfed the Chinn homestead twice in thirteen months.  Prominently located on a high ridge overlooking the Warrenton Turnpike and Young's Branch, Hazel Plain stood as a silent witness to some of the heaviest fighting during both battles of Manassas.  On each occasion the family took refuge with relatives."

And now?  So totally peaceful!

I could stay here for hours but it was time to move on.  

Another place we will be coming back, because at this point in time we like the solitude and the wide open spaces.

Before I finish this post I would like to give a shout-out to a lovely blog hosted by Linda Schaub.  It is called 'Walkin', Writin' Wit and Whimsy'. I found it while looking for information about my butterfly.  I enjoyed reading the host's nature walk in her home state of Michigan, and it is such an interesting and enjoyable blog.  Linda's website is here.

Hopefully I have all my facts correct in this post, but I am by no means an expert.  I enjoy researching and I read and read and read.  If you see anything you think is incorrect please let me know.  

Thanks for looking and I hope your day is a great one.

CHATHAM MANOR - PART 1

This is the house from my last post, straight out of the camera and no art effects today. On Thursday, September 19th, we met up with family in Fredericksburg, and went to Chatham Manor.  We had a wonderful time, enjoyed each other’s company, had a lovely leisurely walk around the house and gardens, and finished up having lunch in town.  

Above is a beautiful statue of the Roman goddess Diana. It was the first sculpture I saw in the garden.  It looked brand new and I read later it had recently been restored.  It was added to the garden between 1921 and 1927 by the owners Daniel and Helen Devore (not the original owners I might add and more on that in a future post).  An article with more information can be found at this link.  
On a more somber note the painting above was printed on one of the information signs. Perhaps a mother, grandmother and two small children, and someone coming out of the shed (which may be a spring house) holding meat or a bag of vegetables perhaps. Chatham Manor has quite a history and you can read all about it at this link. It was a plantation and it gives a detailed description of what it must have been like for the enslaved people here. There were 100 men, women and children.  Since going to several old homes in Virginia over many years, including Mount Vernon which was George Washington's home, I have read a lot of this part of our history, and if you go to this link there is an article about two revolts that happened here. 

There was also the Civil War.  It is only recently that I found out some of my own ancestors fought on both sides of the war, never having learned this growing up in England. I don't even think my parents knew, but a few of our ancestors emigrated to America as far back as colonial times to Virginia, and later also to Maryland.  One relative who was a Methodist in the same area I grew up, converted to Mormonism when he settled in America, and ended up in Utah.  One of his descendants is a current historian in the Mormon Church.  I have my husband to thank for all these interesting facts, as he has been researching both our families for the last four years.  

It is said every time but it really is hard to comprehend that such a beautiful area, a beautiful house has this kind of history, and we always say the same at other places, as there are many plantations in Virginia, and many battle fields where we walk.  Two very famous conflicts took place not far away from our home, the original one being The First Battle of Bull Run in Manassas.  We are both interested in history and have learned a lot from visiting places such as these.We had a chat with a very nice gentleman who was a docent at the manor house.  We also saw the 12 minute movie he recommended, and there were several people mentioned that I had heard of before. We never miss a movie if available.  It gives you a good sense of what went on, and helps all those jigsaw pieces of information to fit together in your head. 

One notable was Walt Whitman who was born in Huntington, Long Island on May 31st, 1891.  He was 42 years of age when the Civil War started.  An American poet, many of his poems can be found here.  He was also an essayist and journalist.  He came to the manor house when it had been turned into a hospital, looking for his wounded brother. He didn't find George, who as it turned out only suffered a small facial wound.  However, what he saw at Chatham affected him deeply.  Help was badly needed and he stayed on as a volunteer nurse to assist the doctors as they dressed wounds, and carried out any menial task he was given.  He recorded his experiences on scraps of paper that he stuck together with pins.  These were eventually published and people were able to read about everything he saw there, about the horror of war, and about the men who fought in that war.
Clara Barton was also a nurse at Chatham. She was born on December 25th, 1821.  There were no trained nurses in her day, no nursing schools, was self-taught and she became known as the American Florence Nightingale.  She was a teacher, a patent clerk, carried out humanitarian work and was a civil rights advocate before women received the right to vote.  She also founded the Red Cross.  That's quite a resume isn't it, especially in a day when women weren't supposed to be so forward thinking and even more so when I learned that as a child she was painfully shy?  How she became a nurse in the Civil War is an amazing read, her life is an amazing read and I highly recommend clicking on her name where you will learn more.


Another amazing lady, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, the first U.S. Army female doctor, a surgeon, was one of those who tended to the wounded. She astounded people because she wore men's pants, sensibly putting aside voluminous skirts of the day, for ease of movement but for hygiene purposes in her surroundings.  Not only a doctor and surgeon, she was an abolitionist, prohibitionist, and prisoner of war.  She was captured by Confederate forces after crossing enemy lines to treat wounded civilians, and arrested as a spy. As a prisoner of war she was sent to Richmond, Virginia, until she was released in a prisoner exchange.  After the war she was given the Medal of Honor for her efforts of treating the wounded during the Civil War.  However, it was later taken from her, along with hundreds more from other people, as it was decided that she/they had not been given their medal for gallantry in action.  I learned from two of the Park Rangers, both young ladies who had just begun their shift as we ended our house tour, that she refused to give it back. We all felt very strongly as we discussed this and was glad she had kept her medal.  I mentioned that it didn't seem right after what she did, and that being a woman may have been a factor.  We found ourselves nodding in agreement.  Unfortunately her name was struck off the list from the Army Medal of Honor Roll in 1917.  Her medal was eventually given back to her posthumously in 1977, by President Jimmy Carter.  After the war she was a writer and lecturer supporting the women's suffrage movement until her death in 1919.  All this information and more can be read if you click on her name in red lettering above.  Such a fascinating and an amazing lady!  Another link on her life can be found at this website.Visiting Chatham Manor House certainly was very interesting, and I have enough photos for at least two more posts. 

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Thank you for looking and have a very enjoyable day.