Ok, I’m a couple of weeks late on this, but just came across the headline at LeesburgToday:
Loudoun’s Largest Slave Cemetery Slated For Dedication, Preservation
Mosby Heritage Area Association lantern-lit storytelling at Mount Bleak Saturday night
Many of you are folks who have come over the years to the Mosby Heritage Area Association’s Gray Ghost Interpretive Group programs–the lantern-light living history dramatic series we call Cavaliers, Courage, and Coffee. This weekend, on Saturday night November 7th at 7:30 p.m., we’ll be offering our last program of our 11th season, entitled Cavaliers, Courage, and Coffee: An Autumn Night at a Safe House. The program will be held at Mount Bleak, the living history farm that belonged to the Edmonds family during the Civil War. Just south of Paris VA off U.S. Rt. 17 a mile south of Rt. 50, the address is:
Sky Meadows State Park
11012 Edmonds Lane
Delaplane VA 20180
Mount Bleak is the handsome stone house near the main parking lot of the park, which many of you have likely seen as you are off the hike the trails of one of Virginia’s most lovely state parks. Kevin Bowman, the park’s Ranger in charge of interpretation and public programming, is an old friend of mine who like me, once worked at Morven Park near Leesburg.
We’re both very excited about what we’ve cooked up. So we hope you will join us! Rain or shine, mild or more chilly, we’ll be spending an autumn night stepping back in time to 1864 to look at a farm in the midst of the cat-and-mouse guerrilla warfare that typified the Civil War in the this section of Fauquier and Loudoun. The location, with its many outbuildings and even more stories, is perfect for the Gray Ghost Interpretive Group’s style of lantern-lit “in the first person” storytelling. Dress warmly and with appropriate wet weather gear if that is called for, and we will adapt to the weather and keep you provoked, cozy, and enthralled.
No reservations are required, so if you decide to join us at the last moment, come on down.
Parking, per car: $4.00 Admission: adults, $10.00; students k-college, $5.00.
Manassas Battlefield Trust Looking for Volunteers
The Manassas Battlefield Trust, which supports the work of the National Park Service at the Manassas battlefield, is looking to add one hundred new volunteer members. Please check for more information.
Virginia’s Most Endangered Historic Places
If you haven’t done so in a while, it might be a good time to reacquaint yourself with Preservation Virginia’s list of Virginia’s Most Endangered Historic Places. The 2015 list includes the entire town of Port Royal on the Rappahannock River.
Alexandria, Ramsey Homes to Be Demolished
“Built by the federal government in 1941-1942 to house African American defense workers,” the site will be used for new, “affordable” housing. See, Patricia Sullivan, In Alexandria, a choice of historic preservation or affordable housing. Washington Post, 12 September 2015
Surprise, October is Archaeology Month in Virginia too!
Check out the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Division of State Archaeology for more information.
October is Archaeology Month in Pennsylvania
See the list of events in Pennsylvania, and here’s a link to Preservation Pennsylvania.
Charlie Evans
ps. Yes, it is not Northern Virginia, but historical preservation also takes place in the states surrounding Virginia.
Spring Open House, April 30 at 6:30 in LC-209
Please mark your calendar for the NOVA Historic Preservation Program’s
SPRING OPEN HOUSE
Thursday, April 30 at 6:30 pm
NOVA Loudoun Campus, LC 209
Heading up our line-up will be our own Dr. David Clark, talking about the MOCK SKELETAL RECOVERY his students did for his Forensic Archeology course this semester. If you’ve ever wanted to see what really goes into the excavation and interpretation of human remains of the sort portrayed on crime procedural TV dramas, you won’t want to miss this!
In addition, we’ll have our faculty members promoting their exciting line-up of fall courses, which include:
- Prof. David Clark’s HIS 180- Historical Archeology
- Prof. Mike Henry’s HIS 183- Survey of Museum Practice
- Prof. Tara Tetrault’s HIS 186- Collections Management
- Prof. Doug Campbell’s HIS 199- Historic Preservation Internship
We’ll also give a quick preview of our summer course,
- Prof. David Clark’s HIS 188- Archeological Fieldwork
Come by and see what the Historic Preservation Program is all about!
1865 Talks–The Mosby Heritage Area in the Civil War
1865: “Great God! Take Care of Us Now!”
with Rich Gillespie
The Fifth in a Series on the Civil War in the Mosby Heritage Area
SUNDAY, JANUARY 25, 2015 at 3 o’clock P.M.; Goose Creek Friends Meeting, Lincoln, Sponsored by the Lincoln Community League
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2015 at 2 o’clock P.M.; St. James United Church of Christ, Lovettsville, sponsored by the Lovettsville Historical Society
SUNDAY MARCH 22, 2015 at 3 o’clock P.M.; Mt. Zion Church, Mt. Zion Historic Park, Aldie, sponsored by Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority and the Mosby Heritage Area Association.
One hundred fifty years ago during the Civil War, Loudoun, Fauquier, and Clarke were nearing the end of Civil War. If 1864 was about frustration on both sides leading to the use of “total war” tactics that would leave the Loudoun Valley of Fauquier and Loudoun a shambles–burning wagons, burning farms, burning crops, and burning hatred—then 1865 was the year when all of those burning changes came to roost. While the War came to an end in April, the results and impacts of those cataclysmic four years would now take effect with a vengeance. Surprisingly, local fighting lasted until after Appomattox, which we’ll examine.
The Mosby Heritage Area Association in the winter of 2015 will offer the fifth installment in a series of Sesquicentennial glimpses of the local experience during the Civil War featuring MHAA Director of Education Richard Gillespie. The program will use area historic sites and landscapes to weave a tapestry of civilian and soldier experience during the final months of the South’s ill-fated bid for independence, including a glimpse at the first months of Freedom for the enslaved. Richly illustrated with photo and anecdote, this glimpse of 1865 shows a Loudoun sliding into devastation after four years of War. Programs will be held at Goose Creek Friends Meeting in Lincoln on Sunday January 25 at 3:00 p.m. (sponsored by the Lincoln Community League), St. James United Church of Christ in Lovettsville on Sunday February 8 at 2:00 p.m. (sponsored by the Lovettsville Historical Society), and at Mt. Zion Church at Mt. Zion Historical Park in Aldie on Sunday March 22 at 3:00 p.m. (sponsored by the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority and Mosby Heritage Area Association as part of their Conversations lecture series. Admission or donation will be charged.
Spring 2015 Class Offerings
Happy New Year Preservationists! This is just a quick reminder about the Spring semester core and elective courses for NOVA’s Historic Preservation Program. Please remember that now there is no longer any late registration at the College, so once the official beginning of the semester arrives on January 12, you will no longer be able to add classes. Also, registering for classes early helps ensure that classes fill adequately and do not get canceled. So register early, register often, and have fun– it’s going to be a great semester!
HIS. 183 – A Survey of Museum Practice.
It’s time to step over the velvet rope and peek behind the curtain to see displays, exhibits and museums in a whole new light. Join us on Tuesday nights to explore the world of museums from the inside out. See how the many different skills and abilities that are in the modern museum team together to educate and entertain our audiences. From Docent to Curator, Registrar to Fabricator you’ll discover how Museums work and how they don’t. After this class, you’ll never look at an exhibit the same way again!
HIS 193- Forensic Archeology
Forensics today is an exciting, developing discipline/specialty linked to a fast-growing job market with tremendous public interest spurred by World-Wide News, TV programs, the Internet and other media sources. Modern Forensics has three major applications: Criminal Justice, Archaeology and Mass Disaster. This class is designed to teach the basics of analysis and interpretation of human remains, their condition and their associated trace materials. It is an applied field of Biological Anthropology and is an introduction to the subject…it will not make you a forensic specialist. But the course will forever change the way you look at the world and perhaps provide incentives to pursue a career in one of the ever-increasing forensic specialties.
HIS 205- Local History (“Journey Through Hallowed Ground”)
U.S. Route 15 and Virginia State Route 20 from central Virginia to southern Pennsylvania have provided a buffet of historical food for thought. This 180-mile stretch of road has been identified by The National Park Service’s, National Register of Historic Places, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers as “The Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area”. This course examines the region’s historical aura through lecture, discussion, guest speakers, and first-hand “field” experiences. The course will heighten the awareness for historic preservation, utilizing historic sites as a teaching resource, and assist students to become more conscious of the need for historic preservation.