Stephens City star. (Stephens City, Va.) 1881-1883, 1883-05-19
Recollections of the Old Valley
Wagon Route.

The following Is very Interesting
"Reminiscences of the Valley wagon
route in old times, gathered by Major
j. M. MoCue, in trip to Winchester,
and written to that sterling paper,
The Industrial South. The writer
says:
Such history as l here attempt to
set forth, imperfect az I kf.ow y i,
may be said to be milestones indicat-
ing the progress of our country. Few
there are now surviving who can re-
call what cannot but believe will be
an interesting narrative Of the wagon
trade from Baltimore, first, to the town
of Knoxville, Tennessee, and then
from Winchester to Knoxville. i am
sure it must have been very near the
first of the present century when this
trade began. 1t cannot now be ex
planned why it was that the villages
of Newtown (now Stephens City, and
Front Royal became more prominent
than any other points in Virginia or
Maryland as identified with it. This
WAS particularly SO with Newtown,
which for more than half century
retained the supremacy in building
and fitting out the immense wagons,
capable of sustaining 1880 to 5000
pounds of freight. The wood work
of the best material was made some
times by the same man who had them
ironed. The pitch in front and rear
of the bodies, surmounted by bows
and sheet, was such that four or FIVE
men could shelter under the projec-
ton. The harness was very heavy.
and the traces. breast and tongue
chains of twisted links, and tire, and
all the iron used, was of the best bar,
made by Miller, Arthur, Newman,
Blackford, Pennybaker and others
They cost from $3.50 to 5000. The
horses, six to wagon, were of the
heaviest and best quality at that day,
and could be bought at from $75 to
1925. The average time taken from
BALTIMORE TO KNOXVILLE
was thirty-6ve to forty-fve days, de.
pendent on the softness or dryness of
the roads.
1t was my good fortune to encoun-
ter venerable man in Winchester
who is the last survivor that I have
any knowledge of, capable of giving
such narrative, as l trust your read
ers will regard this. have long con-
templated such a sketch as furnishing
an interesting link in the history of
the past. Frederick G. Rosenberger,
now in the venty-ffth year of his
age, is my authority for the facts set
forth. He was born on the edge of
Frederick and Berkeley near. Bunker
Hill-was brought up in mill. At
seventeen he took charge of a team,
and in 1881 set out as wagner be-
tween Baltimore and Knoxville. He
gave me the name of Frederick Sbultz
as the most prominent builder Of these
wagons, in his boyhood, in Winches-
ter, where he carried on the business
extensively. On the close of the Win
chester and Knoxville trade, he reno
we'd, or his descendants did, to James
vile, Ohio, where their skill soon ct
tracted notice. A company was form
ed, Of which they are the head, and it
is this company that are now sending
out the Brown" wagon from Dan to
Bersheba, at SIS up to 1925. Philip
Shearer was another in Winchester.
AT NEwTowN,
John Grove, Thornton Mcleod, Jacob
Cline. John Long, John Order, Moses
Barker, Peter Keeding, William Frai-
ley, Jacob Lemley, John Stevens and
Abraham Piper. At that day the
prosperity of the town was in marked
contrast to its present condilion-its
population 800 to 1.000-now perhaps
500. The names on the hind end gate
advertises the makers extensively. 1t
is important to. bear in mind that
there was not mile of macadamized
road then between Baltimore and
Knoxville, and the only short bit of
graded road was on the Allegheny
mountains, near Christiansburg, only
few miles, where toll gate, the only
one on the road, was found. From
six to eight wagons travelled in COM
pany, and the long trains presented
very picturesqe spectacle. l cannot
recall the stands between