The Washington times., 1933-07-08
HISTORIC SPOTS
ON WEEKEND
AUTO TOUR
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separately incorporated town Of
about 800 inhabitants.
Halltown stands by the side of
The road few miles from Har.
pers Ferry. It contains q paper
mill and is a shipping point for
o number Of orchards and farms
in the vicinity.
The eight miles are quickly
run off through orchards and
sAwheat fields. Charles Town is
entered through it's principal
street, pretty thoroughfare
lined with comfortable homes and
well shaded.
Charles Town is distinctive for
several reasons. One of them
being that a branch Of the Wash
ington family settled there and
another reason was the hanging
there of John Brown.
Three Treason Trials
There have been but three
treason trials in the United
States and all of them were held
dn Virginia or what was once
Virginia. Two of them were held
in the jefferson county court
house. The third trial, that of
Aaron Burr, was held in Rich
mond and ended in freedom for
him.
John Brown was tried in the
old courthouse in 1859 and on
December 2, 1859, he was
marched from cell and hanged
from a scaffold erected in large
field opposite the courthouse.
What Is said to be the exact site
of the scaffold is now the nice
yard of a nice residence. The
spot is marked.
william BuZzard and several
Others were tried there in 1921
for an armed march on nonunion
coal fields in West Virginia.
Residents of Charles Town get
q great deal of amusement out
of tourists who ask to be shown
the sour apple tree from which
MIR. Brown took his lethal plunge.
MIR. Brown swung from an espe-
cially constructed gallowS. The
sour apple tree was to have been
the gallows for Jefferson Davis,
according to the song, but that
Idea was never carried out.
Established In 1885
The town was established in
A786 on lands belonging to
Charles Washington. brother OF
George, and for miles around the
washington's indelibly stamped
themselves on the country.
The town was the home OF
William Wilson, author of the
Wilson Tariff law and Postmas-
ter General under President
Cleveland. The first route estab-
lished under the Rural Free De-
livery System, which was inaug-
urated by Wilson, was out OF
Charles Town.
Charles Broadway Rouse, a IA
snous New York merchant, was a
native of the community and a
building there has been named IN
his honor.
There are a number of WASH
lngton graves in the cemetery
adjoining the Episcopal Church,
many of which bear the inscrlp-
ton: Born at Mount Vernon"
Taking the road to MiddleWay.
the motorist passes the ruins OF
st. Georges Chapel, said to have
been the first church built west
of the Blue Ridge. It was cou-
Structed about 1760.
Log Cabin Foundations
Middleway-it also has been
known as Smithfield and Wizard
Clips interesting because of
the houses there. A log cabin
: will be found under the clap
board of most any house in the
village. The name Smithfield is
taken from family of Smiths
who lived there.
The name Wizard Clip comes
from the legend that a ghost
haunted a man named Living
stone because the latter had re-
fused to call a clergyman to the
bedside of a dying man. The
ghost did all manner of things
in the community and the name
of Wizard Clip was stuck on the
town. It Is now the name of a
tearoom in the village.
Tourists homes are plentiful
along these roads and Charles
Town and Martinsburg offer good
hotel and restaurant accommoda-
tions.
From Middleway, so called be-
cause 1t is the same distance