The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1899-11-11
FREDERICKsBURG Va. SATUR
CULPEPER.
Interesting account OF a Tnp Ia virginia
Valley

Correspondence ruo Ffrr Lance
Colp-per Noy 1852
; me- weeks sgo myself, wife and
daughter. t.ok drive through the
Page end lover Shenandoah valleys
oe went tarough K ppthanuock un'y
and crossed the Bur Ridge near
Sp~tryvi'e. At Th.ruton's G'p and
{ l.owci the pike 70 Luray Near the
tiNl We pissed near the Whlsorv-r
Fam r.tiblI-hed bg the Rev Ii VI
Nnat winch. 10y tne way, is IA
lovely .p LurAy has " udeiflllF
uu.rly.d sirca our Last visit IN 1872!
n u.N has the larRe-t tlurery 30 tpt
Iuifei States. and works several hun.
Irei hands The iowa - situated on
m" Nrfulk and Western Railroad and
has nruly doubled in population Slice
my Ast visit II has tut one tfret
,id j. about nur and 4 half miles 'ng
a the upper end Il the town there Is
fhr fresr scpnery my eyes ever hrhrld,
hm1ug which IT. the celebrated Hawk f
Bill. and Stony Mann VI uutEIn. and
WITHIN a few hundred yards. where
We pissed is the celebrated Luray
Caycrns when we did not visit. nav
lug seen them before We passed tho
villlge n Hamburg, the south fork
( fhe Shenandoah. and or sse1 the
"Masssnutten az the Nav Market
q - Near the lower end " Gap ~
the Mas.auutteu Spring where health
and pleasure seekers cJngregate daring
tne summer months
A. Nrw Market we struck the valley
turnpike. which is said - ~ The finest
rok1 IN NirRiniA. running from Staun-
ton 30 Winchester. about 100 miles +,
here we took the Winchester road We
found the farms IN the best state u
cultivation; the trees loaded with ap.
pies tue emery lovely. with the great
MAnis.n'eu Mountain on the East and
N,rtn Mountain on the West Some
I'VE miles below New Market We ob.
served small monument. near the
road side. which we found vas 10 mark
the sp1t where OApt j Summers
and Lieut. Newton K1ontz. u the ith
Va Cavalry. were shot on 25th
4 June. 1866. by order Of Col HuZzy
Of the 2Sth Penn Volunteers This
wAs several months after the close Of
the war They we're charged with
horse stealing. but our citizens say they
won In bet on wrestling match.
Soon after this we came 10 "Rudez
II II. a,placs well-known In the HIS
try Of the Civil War This is the
place known as the old Steinbergen
farm, which was sold 10 Nr John q
81 ba
war, divided II between his three SOD,
Gen Meem. Gilbert Meem. and John @.
Meem Jr Ii has now passed out OF
the Messrs Meem 8 hands and is now
owned by Eli Long OF Page. Il II
Delaney, Of Fauqnier. and Mr.. Hess
Ter. OF Winchester There are about
: 600 acres, 1000 acres Of river low
grounds. which 20 years ago would
have produced 10 barrels of corn 10 the
acre. but IL will not do 80 now as II
has not been kept up 10 its original
fertility Here we crossed the North
Fork of the Shenandoah, on one OF the
finest bridges | ever saw.
On reaching Mt Jackson We found
little village, during the war
with about a dozen houses with some
hundred or more good and many Of
them fine ones.
Edinburg. the home Of Senator Rid
dleburger has much improved. though
they had fire there recently. which
dif6gured Is very much. Woodst ok
and Maurertown have also shown won
derful improvements
Soon after passing the latter place
we approached q town | had not heard
Of. It was not there during the war
asked what place il was and was told
Tom g Brook " II had a population
Of four or five hundred people. with
several manufactures, etc, and was
told every house had been erected since
the war. The next place OF note was
Fishers Hill, where several fights oo.
cured, and it was here Gen. Farley
conceived the plan OF surprising Sher-
idan army on the 10th Of Oct. 1864,
which ended so disastrously TO our
army l we'll remember the march we
made the night before around the foot OF
NJ Assanutten Mountain, as | belonged
20 the squad that brought on the fight
aud that Gen. Payne had told US TO
try TO capture Gen. Sheridan at the
Belle Haven House.
Strasburg has been very much i'm
proved, and so has MiddletowD, where
the biggest part Of the fight took place
that day. IL was here that Lieut..
Browning OF our company and private
John Hit were killed Middletown has
one OF the finest churches in Virginia,
certainly outside Of any oity. IL was
built by the Southern Methodist at q
cost Of $40 000
There are quite number OF foe
boildinRs erected around the town and
a few miles distant is the place called
Reliance, where there is an extensive
school
After examining the "Cedsr Greek"
blttlefelds. we started for home and
came via Riverton and Front Roy
al At the latter place we found many
unoccupied buildings and many OF them
fine ones. built during the boom OF
1892 We crossed the Blue Ridge at
Chester's Gap and down by Flint
Hill, which is lovely place and ia
surrounded by the finest grazing lands
in the State There are some OF the
finest lands and the wealthiest people.
Mr. Bszsl Gordon pays into the Rap.
pah treasury about Sll, 900 an
nual tax. There are several cattle
kings In the cams neighborhood viz
Willis bearing, James Yates, Thorn
Browning, Joseph Walters aud others.
Mr. Franklin Grayson, Of Bland
county. died at Mr. Thomas Tates, his
son.in-law. near Brandy Station, on
Friday last aged So years.
Felix.