Virginia - North Carolina: Wednesday, October 5, 2022 | |
The Shenandoah National Park is a hiker’s paradise, but be prepared for some steep hills. | |
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The morning broke with gale-force winds, fog, and 39º. The sunny 70º forecast looked doubtful. There are several QTs (quaint towns) within a 100-mile circle. We decided to take a road trip.
On our way to the first QT, Sperryville, we drove north along Skyline Drive. The ragged banks of fog rolling in and out added another dimension to the rows of mountain ridges in the distance. The only problem was trying to get out of the van to take photos. The brutal wind would barely let me get the door open. And once outside, hats just took off like jet planes being catapulted off an aircraft carrier. I almost lost my favorite hat over a cliff.
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The views along Skyline Drive are amazing. | |
Sperryville was down in a valley, so the wind subsided and the fog was burning off. With the temperature climbing up to the 50s, this road trip idea was starting to pay off. Sperryville is just a tiny village. Like nearly all of Virginia, it had a Civil War past. Ill-fated Union General Pope was stationed here in the summer of 1862, just before he got shellacked in the Second Battle of Bull Run. | |
According to the sign, by 1911 Sperryville boasted four churches, five general stores, etc. In Wisconsin, a town like this would have boasted one church, six taverns, and three breweries. | |
Along the edge of town, a river trail paralleled this creek. | |
We quickly moved on to Warrenton. Warrenton dates back to 1760 when the first courthouse was built. The actual town was laid out in 1790. Grand old homes lined several streets and the downtown was modest but well-preserved. We were especially impressed with all the outdoor restaurant seating that spilled into the main street. I wonder if this was always like this, or was it in response to COVID. Either way, we liked it. | |
Warrenton dates back to the 1700s. | |
We liked the downtown outdoor seating. | |
The towns in this area of Virginia have their fair share of art galleries. | |
I loved these old photos of Warrenton. | |
The Historic District featured many grand old mansions. | |
John Marshall, born a few miles south of Warrenton in Germantown, was the country’s third Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In the case, Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice Marshall established the Supreme Court’s judicial review power, where the court can declare a law to be unconstitutional and thus, unenforcible. | |
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Culpepper was next up. It reached a balmy 70º when we reached Culpepper. Now that’s why we came down here. Culpepper has a long history. George Washington spent three years here as a surveyor starting in 1749 when he was just 17 years old.
The town is named after John Lord Culpepper, who was given title to Virginia in 1649. We invested an hour at the Culpepper Museum. Culpepper, and western Virginia on the whole, had a kind of split personality when it came to patriotism. Virginia was wildly pro-Revolution. Many of the founding fathers, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, were Virginians. They invested heavily in the Revolution and the writing of the Constitution and consequently, the concept of the United States. Just four score and five years later, Virginia threw that investment away and seceded. It is my belief that the original Virginian forefathers would not have approved.
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Two theaters from two different eras. | |
Born in 1732, George Washington grew up on a farm near Fredericksburg, in the Virginia colony. Later, he iherited the farm and named it Mount Vernon. When he was just 17 years old, George Washington was hired as a surveyor for the county of Culpepper, not far from where he grew up. | |
More of that wonderful Main Street outdoor seating. | |
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This mural celebrates Culpepper’s trailblazing African-Americans. The Civil War soldier represents the 120 African-Americans from Culpepper that fought in the war. There is Dr. Baraber, the area’s 1st Black doctor; Rocsoe Ford, 1st police officer; Ruby Beck, successful female Black restaurant owner; John “Preston” Pete Hill, a Negro League baseball player and manager (inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006); Ella Drumgoole, 1st female member of the Police Department.
I like the caption: ‘Not everything faced can be changed, but nothing can change until it is faced.” Yes, we have to acknowledge the past and learn from it, before things can improve.
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The Amtrak building also holds the town’s museum. | |
A unique dThe snake, which was eventually included in the Don’t Tread On Me banners, was a symbol of the colonies stranglehold on the British army. | |
This old National cash register was in the museum. I took this photo because my nephew-in-law works for NCR (formerly National Cash Register.) | |
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We drove through Gordonsville, the home of President James Madison. We were running late and didn’t veer off the six miles to see his home, Montpelier. It was a pleasant looking small town. We didn’t stop, I wanted to get to Charlottesville.
Charlottesville (known as C’Ville by the locals), a beautiful city of 50,000 and the home of President Thomas Jefferson’s famous Montecello estate, didn’t disappoint. We stopped off at the Walmart to exchange our empty Blue Rhino LP tank for a full tank. The drive from Walmart to downtown took us through many different neighborhoods along green rolling hills, all clean and well-maintained.
Downtown is a pedestrian walkway. We marveled at all the banners advocating brotherhood and standing united. It finally dawned on us. Charlottesville was the site of the 2017 white nationalist “Unite the Right” rally that resulted in the death of Heather Heyer when she and eight others were run over by the neo-nazi, James Alex Field. Charlottesville has a checkered past when it comes to race relations so it was heartwarming to see the city respond in such a positive way to this ugly tragedy.
Besides the brotherhood on display and the pristine neighborhoods, a great thing about C’Ville, especially on a long road trip in a large gas-guzzling van, were the fuel prices - from $3.22 to $3.11. I made sure to top off. Coming in close behind, was the temperature. It reached 77º.
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This is the honorary street named after Heather Heyer, the lady that was killed by the neo-nazi, James Axex Field. | |
Heather Heyer’s mother addressed a gathering at the Paramount Theater, hoping to rally people for unity and allow Heather’s tragedy to count for something substantially good. | |
Another tragic chapter in America’s history. We have seen plaques like this many times before, including in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Duluth, Minnesota, It didn’t just happen in the South, | |
The drive back along another section of Skyline Drive, this time at sunset. It was mesmerizing. We love these national parkways. | |
Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum. | | | | |
