Evening star., 1932-07-10
In the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia

the Potomac struggling for mastery there: the
Shepherdstown gateway leading through the
Battlefield of Antietam; the Harpers Ferry
gateway leading from Gettysburg and Balti-
more and running through one OF the worlds
most perfect water gaps and the scenes Of John
Browns raid; the Bluement gateway with its
Smokers Gap of Washington's time, and its
breath-taking views; the Upperville- -Boyce gate
way running from Washington through the
unexcelled fox-hunting country of Middleburg
and Upperyille and through the fine horse
breeding area of Millwood and Boyce; the
Front Royal gateway coming through Warren
ton and by the great Army Remount Station,
and the Lee Highway gateway running through
Warrenton and Luray-all rarely beautiful
that am glad. thousand times, that it has
been my privilege to see all of them, and like
wise that I do not have to choose between
them for my readers.
Charles Town with its nearby George Wash
lngton plantation on the BullSkin, close at hand
Harewood, where Samuel Washington lived and
where James Madison married the charming
Dolly Todd its fine old home where Charles
washington spent his later years and its MEM
ories of the hanging of John Brown is both
scenically and historically a delightful field for
the tourist.
In Martinsburg and its environs Il always
find thrill The road from Martinsburg to
Berkeley Springs out across Sleepy Creek and
its mountains often was travelled both in war
times and in peace times by George Washing
ton The countryside around Martinsburg and
ali through Winchester abounds in magnificent
orchards, and I have long debated whether
they are more joyously beautiful when they are
white and pink with the hopes Of the SPRING
time or red and gold with the harvest Of the
Autumn.
\A/NcHEsTER. where Washington learned
w his art as a soldier where he given
his first elective office and where his headquar-
ters still stand; Winchester. that changed
hands ~ times during the Civil War; Winches-
ter whence halls Admiral Byrd, the conqueror
of both poles by air; Winchester, that has
crowned nine queens-history and romance and
beauty weave here a spell unsurpassed In the
experience of any traveller.
Front Royal at the lower entrance Of the
Page Valley with its splendid fishing streams;
Berryville with its Audley, home Of Nellie
Custis and breeding place Of some Of the
greatest race horses of all time; Greenway
Court with its memories Of Washington and
Lord Fairfax and Middletown and Cedar Greek
with their stirring stories Of Sheridan's ride
and Jackson's foot cavalry marches, fire the
imagination of every motoriSt.
One of the things that particularly delights
me in the Shenandoah Valley Is seeing how
that great old race course of armies" Is being
transferred into a three-track boulevard en-
bodying the very latest experience in highway
construction. Every curve is being made SO
wide that one does not even have to think OF
slowing down: every hilltop is being so thor
oughIy hattened that no one can come head-on
unawares upon a motorist travelling in the
opposite direction. Furthermore. it is high
way under construction without detourS. Al
most all of it is being built on new location
and when the traveller is not on the completed
sections he is on the old roadway as good as
it ever has been.
AS we roll on we come to Strasburg and then
Fishers Hill, another historic battlefield of the
Shenandoah Valley. After that come to the
cavern country-the Crystal Caverns. the
Shenandoah Caverns, Endless Caverns, Luray
Caverns MasSanutten Caverns and Grand
Caverns
wonderlands beneath the ground they are
alike only in being beneath the ground. Each
has its own beauties. its own wonders as diff
ferent as London and Paris as different
Toxic and Buenos Aires different as Mel
bourne and New York. Give as much time
as you can spare to seeing many of them as
you can.
For age upon age patient Nature, with crops
of water hod carriers. has brought out Of
the rock and soil above, thousandths of grain
by thouSandths Of a grain. the mineral out OF
which has reared these stately mansions of the
subterranean world these matchless cities and
gardens of alabaster and onyx.
little further on we come to the battle
field Of New Market, where the v. M. l.
Cadets and Gen. Breckenridge's troops met the
veterans of Franz Sigel and won battle that
caused Gen. Grant to say the South had rob-
bed the cradle and the grave to fill its
shrinking ranks.
This now fair, rich land of fine farms was
so devastated during the Civil War that wheel
Gen. Sheridan in his telegram to Washington
said that he had laid the valley SO bare that
q crow traversing it would have to carry his
own rations, it was no mere boast but an un-
vanished truth.
Such recuperation as this in a single life
time will tell the man with money to invest
today, what he can expect Of the Great Valley
Of Virginia decade or two hence, better than
all the words in the dictionary.
Near Tenth Legion side trip Of few miles
win take one to the Virginia house of the Lin