All Forums  OFF THE BEATEN TRAIL  Historical Sites!  Colonial Winchester, Virginia

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Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Videos: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Message Icon:                             Message: Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by James N.[/i] [br][b]Image Insert:[/b][br][img]http://www.mohicanpress.com/messageboard/../uploads/James N/20131027191441_Winchester 007A.JPG[/img][br][size=1] 87.42 KB[/size=1] An example of a typical early log home now preserved in a city park. Winchester was the largest and one of the oldest communities in the Lower Shenandoah Valley, dating back to early Colonial settlement when it was part of the vast land grant awarded by the British Crown to Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Unlike most holders of them who remained in England and merely sent their representatives to administer the lands, encourage and supervise settlement, and most important, collect rents, rugged individualist Lord Fairfax himself emigrated to escape his homeland for life on Virginia's frontier. To gain a more accurate idea of his holdings he employed surveyors, the most famous of which was a friend and neighbor of his nephew George William Fairfax, the young George Washington. [b]Image Insert:[/b][br][img]http://www.mohicanpress.com/messageboard/../uploads/James N/20131027191655_Winchester 008a.JPG[/img][br][size=1] 71.81 KB[/size=1] Abram's Delight, ca. 1754 ( above and below ), is claimed to be Winchester's oldest surviving home, and now serves as the city visitor center. [b]Image Insert:[/b][br][img]http://www.mohicanpress.com/messageboard/../uploads/James N/20131027192315_Winchester 009a.JPG[/img][br][size=1] 55.1 KB[/size=1] [b]Image Insert:[/b][br][img]http://www.mohicanpress.com/messageboard/../uploads/James N/20131027192544_Winchester 005A.JPG[/img][br][size=1] 65.28 KB[/size=1] During the French and Indian War from 1756 to 1758, the now Col. George Washington commanded this district west of the Blue Ridge Mountains using Winchester as his base. His companies of the Virginia Regiment were scattered in small outposts throughout the Shenandoah Valley to protect it from Indian depredations which plagued the frontier following the defeat of Gen. Braddock at the Battle of the Monongahela July 9, 1755. The hostile tribes using French-held Fort Duquesne ( modern Pittsburg, Pa. ) as a base continued their raids until that place was finally captured in Forbes' Expedition of 1759 which saw Washington serve as the commander of a small brigade consisting of his own and another Virginia regiment. The building is touted as George Washington's Office, but the relationship seems pretty tenuous; presumably it dates from one of Washington's periods of residency, but as surveyor or Virginia commander isn't made clear! [b]Image Insert:[/b][br][img]http://www.mohicanpress.com/messageboard/../uploads/James N/20131027192817_Winchester 006A.JPG[/img][br][size=1] 80.68 KB[/size=1] Following the French and Indian War there was a great influx of settlers into the Shenandoah Valley, largely of Germanic and Scots-Irish stock passing south from central Pennsylvania. Many were the ancestors of members of the Stonewall Brigade in the next major war in the region. The Revolution touched the Valley only lightly; soon aftrwards, Lord Fairfax, now an American citizen, died and is buried in a churchyard in downtown Winchester, below. [b]Image Insert:[/b][br][img]http://www.mohicanpress.com/messageboard/../uploads/James N/20131027193019_Winchester 010A.JPG[/img][br][size=1] 55.07 KB[/size=1] [b]Image Insert:[/b][br][img]http://www.mohicanpress.com/messageboard/../uploads/James N/20131027193335_Winchester 011A.JPG[/img][br][size=1] 82.97 KB[/size=1] One of the area's most notable residents was General Daniel Morgan, hero of Quebec, Saratoga, and Cowpens, whose large stone estate outside town is said to have been built by Hessian prisoners who were quartered for a time in the Shenandoah. Morgan is buried in the city's Mount Hebron Cemetery,below. [b]Image Insert:[/b][br][img]http://www.mohicanpress.com/messageboard/../uploads/James N/20131027193733_Winchester 003A.JPG[/img][br][size=1] 75.04 KB[/size=1] Above is Morgan's original stabilized gravestone; below is a modern Twentieth Century memorial near it. [b]Image Insert:[/b][br][img]http://www.mohicanpress.com/messageboard/../uploads/James N/20131027194056_Winchester 002A.JPG[/img][br][size=1] 77.3 KB[/size=1] [/quote]    Upload an Image File From Your PC For Insertion in Your Post    -  HTML is OFF | Forum Code is ON   Check here to include your profile signature. Check here to subscribe to this topic.