Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1905-03-31
DOWN IN OLD VIRGINNY
ITS CENTRE A HlllY, RED.
solLED FARMING REGION.
A Half Buried City - Manassas
Beautiful Country Village - Some
Familiar Names - Distinctively a
Poultry Country.
Especial to The Reformer.l

Familiar Names - DistnetiveIy a
Poultry Country.
Especial to The Reformer)
Danville, Va, March 23, '05.-What's
in name? A mighty lot II seems to
me. When Mrs. II. and myself de-
tached ourselves from the dusty
Pullman at 6 p. IN. to-day the name
of the place seemed strangely famil-
lar, but the name was all there was
to remind me of that breezy old town
call home away up in Caledonia
county, Vermont From II a. IN. till
p. m. we have been riding through
the Old Dominion, and haven't got
quite through yet From the long
bridges over the Potomac at Wash
ington to this hallowed spot is about
225 miles. SOU by sou'west, through
the dead centre of "Ole Virginny,'
and much of ii looks pretty dead, too.
But ii is mostly in appearance, and
no agricultural section looks particu-
larry lively at this season of the year,
| was astonished to find central Vir-
ginia such a hilly or even mountain
Gus country, supposing it to be mild
ly rolling. The fact is that 1t Is ex-
tremely hilly, with such grades on the
railroad as remind me of that famous
st. Johnsbury and Lake Champlaif
line, which buzzes around my ances-
trail halls. First up, then down. In
and out. sharp curves and cuts and
| fills which indicate high order of
engineering in the builders. First out
/ of Washington we came to that pre-
historic half-buried lin mud city,
Alexandria, probably the most vivid
/ picture of a dead and bad smelling
town on this continent. Why they
don't put a gang to work with shovels
and finish burying it, instead of leav-
ing its feet to stick out, is away be-
yond me. The country from here for
fifty miles south is level or nearly so,
country The fields appear well
farmed, and the buildings indicate
neatness and enterprise. The strik-
ing popularity visible on every hand
is the eternal glazing red soil. which.
wherever the grass Is off, Is as con-
spicuous as a red headed girl in a
torchlight parade. But / suppose 1t is
all right for most kinds of farming
otherwise the agricultural statistics
of which Virginia is proud lie awfully. |
Several unmportant way stations |
We're passed out of Alexandria before |
we reached one which once advertised |
itself TO some extent and won con-
spicuous and permanent place in the |
history of this country Its name is
Manassas, otherwise Bull Run. If you
can't recall the name ask some old
soldier. OF this place | want to say
this. 1t is one of the fairest and most
beautiful country villages | ever saw
staked out anywhere. Should Judge
Manassas had now a population of
possibly 1900, splendidly located, fine,
restfui and homelike looking resi-
dences. a few lively little manufactur-
ing enterprises and a general air of
neatness and lack of the occasional
signs of "shiftlessness" too often con-
spicuous around southern village. II
looks to be mighty prosperous farm
ing section, and to-day no one would
guess that forty odd years ago the
boys in blue and in gray We're making
history there at the rate of about I
fifteen miles an hour and the devil h
take the hindermost. I
Along down the line we came to
Brandy Station and Rapi- ,
dan. Ever hear of those hamlets? If +
not ask the veterans of the sixties If !
they have a familiar sound Culpep-
per is a rather large village, rambling
over the muddy red earth fields, and !
with a large and dilapdated colored !
population leaning against anything |,
not too rickety to hold them up. 1
There is considerable manufacturing Z
here, largely from lumber, but there
g no water power of consequence, and |;
agriculture must remain the chief in T
iustry. if there is any industry In I
hat section. Brandy Station and Rap h
dan are only flag stations, chiefly in t.
ested by colored people, black pigs
md poultry. The latter reminds me
hat the south is essentially and dis
inctively a poultry country. Here 9
poultry of all sizes and breeds is {
red in profusion, and forms very n
arge part of the living and income of =.
he poorer classes. No colored or poor n
White family so poor that they can't ~
wn a large colony of chickens, tur- "
eys or ducks. Chickens swarm ev-
rywhere and the hen and her prod y
ct are on the table in many forms a
hree times a day and seven days in d,
he week. Tonight at SUPPER am OF
ow back in a country where dinner y
ONES at noon and supper at o'clock eH
eggs We're on the bill served in -
light different styles, including four r
arieties of omelettes-every way ex i
apt on the half she'll Many farmers
the state have large focks
turkeys, on which they must make
good profit. Good turkeys are
lightly scarce in the markets, and
citing more so every year in the
orth. Large droves of pigs usually III
ack, are seen in many fields, and Sc
dictate a sarge hog industry as COM Sc
ired with our section of the country. q
The general aspect and lay of the -
nd throughout central Virginia re- sa
mbles the average New England Re
ndscape exceedingly, and many a pa
ew among the hills and valleys to-
~ reminded me very strongly of sa
vers localities among the Green WI
curtains and in the Connecticut M,
LEY. When, however, you reduce th,
ur gaze from generaities to partic- vac
airs, you at once realize that New gel
lgland is a good way off. The ins
arnal red earth, for one thing, and Va,
+ another and the next most con-
icuous, the stone chimney on the see
tside of one end of the house. The are
ig house" on the old plantation and ers
lcle Toms cabin all are marked this no,
~. A big stone chimney is erected ~
t in the lot somewhere, and then 4
use is built up against it. AS adj
nets to the finer houses they are -
de of brick and overplastered and
As attachments to the a
gro cabins, they are thrown to- EsF
her, of cobblestones, plastered with kE
I'd, adobe fashion. and frequently V%
'pped by log. / judge that much VI
the cooking-all by the coored Y
,ple-is done over a fireplace, and
It these are usually the only means 4
warmth when artificial heat in e
,rs is needed. / never saw nor
lrd of a heating stove in the south
infer that whatever stoves there