West Virginia and Virginia 10/12/1998

The center of the four lane was planted with purple, pink, white, and yellow wildflowers which were most enjoyable. I passed a sign for Harper's Ferry and Charles Town. How could I? Then at 9:20 I was in Virginia where the speed limit dropped from 70 to 65. I passed apple orchards and farms as I rolled along on the gently rolling hills.

The Alleghenies loomed dark purple in front of me and as I got closer it changed to dark green. Even closer showed various shades of green with the evergreens now being predominantly cedar. At Woodstock I got off the interstate and traveled down 11. This was driving the Shenandoah Valley as it was meant to be seen in my opinion.

At Edinburgh I was slowed by the farmer transporting his hay bales. Between Mount Jackson and New Market I turned right on 720 to go look at the covered bridge for the day. The Meem's Bottom Bridge was destroyed by Halloween arsonists in 1976 and was reconstructed. It is a 204 foot single span Burr arch truss that crosses the Shenandoah River. It was originally built in 1894 from materials cut and quarried nearby for the massive arch supports and stone abutments which extended 10 feet below the riverbed. There was a previous bridge burned in 1862 and another washed away in the 1870 flood.


At New Market I got back on 81 to avoid heavy traffic at Harrisonburg, a certified business district. I wondered how a town gets certified.The Shenandoah Valley lies between two mountain ranges and is covered with green, lush rolling hills and large farms. The hills look like giant boulders covered in green. At Verona I pulled off and got directions to Ft. Defiance trying to remember who was killed there.

Ft. Defiance is a very small but obviously very old town. I passed the general store, 1826 and the town hall, 1871, now privately owned. The post office was closed for lunch but I inquired of a man entering to get his mail. "The old Stone Church is where you need to go. There is a cemetery just before it and another across the road. We have access rights to the old one but be sure to close the gate. There are cows in there. I can't remember which war the battle was in." The plaque on the front of the Augusta Stone Church informed me that it had been a fort. It was a quite handsome stone church that was the first Presbyterian church in Virginia, erected in 1740. It "served as a fort during the Indian raids which followed Braddock's defeat." Then across through the cow pasture I went to investigate the old cemetery.

On to Staunton, a larger, very old town established in 1747. I stopped at the visitor's center which was a misnomer. It should have read Visitor's Center for the Woodrow Wilson birthplace. Then I went to the genealogy room of the Staunton Library. After a little research on the Christian family I realized I could spend a week there looking and went off to find 64 east.

I rolled along through Richmond and near Emporia I stopped for gas and got myself a payday, some cappuccino, and an ice cream cone. What a sugar snack.At 5:05 I arrived in North Carolina. I just couldn't imagine that I had zipped through New York, Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia so quickly. But some days are just travel days.