Evening star., 1936-08-08

Original Wroe, George Chick and Will
liam Morris were laid out in half-acre
lots.
IN 1886 Warren County was created
with 226 square miles taken from
Shenandoah and Frederick Counties
and named for Gen. Joseph Warren, a
talented physician of Massachusetts.
who was energetic in the cause of
the Colonies, and by whose order
Paul Revere set out on his celebrated
midnight ride. Thomas Bolen was
appointed first constable and Robert
Turner clerk of the County Court.
The county's population was then
5,627. of which rs per cent were slave.
Kercheval and Howe speak of two
caves near Front Royal. one of which
was visited and explored by the cele-
brated John Randolph.
Surrounded though it is by the
peace of the eternal hills" Warren
has always responded to the call o.
duty that comes with wars. Many
members of George Rogers Clark
Army of 1778-79, which went into Tie
Northwest Territory and conquered an
empire, and of Muhlenberg's famcu
band. were recruited from what is no.
Warren County. During the war Wa
rem was crossed and recrossed by tn
| contending armies, and over its veT-
dant fields much of 'StoneWall jack
sons Way" was measured to fame.
Belle Boyd. the famous Confederate
spy, The Southern Spy of the Shen-
| andoah," who made two continents
her theaters for a life that was dra-
matized in all the flaming hues of
romance. mystery and magnificent ad-
venture" was born in Martinsburg,
grew up among roses and honeysuckle
in the Shenandoah Valley and was pre-
sented to Washington society when Is
years old. One year later she conse-
Grated herself to hazardous spying for
her beloved South. and her home in
Front Royal is still standing. This
courtyard cottage is one of the SHOW
places" Of the centennial celebration.
refurnished with heirlooms from
scores of ancestral estates.
The John Marshall Highway was
built to bring the Shenandoah Ma
tional Park nearer to the Capital of
the Nation, with a direct route
through historic Thoroughfare and
Manassas Gaps, and this week end it
is being used by Washington autoists
attending the Warren County Gen.
tennial celebration, 266 years after the
Franciscan Monk John Lederer passed
into the verdant Valley. The past
with its frontier problems. the grad
ual spread of homes along the banks
of the "Shenando," as that beautiful
river was earlier called, and the stirr-
ing scenes of a great war and War
ren's history are being presented by
pageantry for them.
N D. GASQUE is general chairman
W of the centennial celebration,
with Gov. George c. Peery and other
officials of Nation and State cooper
ating. More than 500 descendants
and natives of the countryside form
the cast for the historical pageants.
The United Daughters of the Confed-
eracy and the Sons of Confederate
Veterans have presented costumes,
documents, relics and personal ef-
fects of men and women who made
history in this section of the world, to
a museum, which is open to centennial
visitors. Headquarters are in the
old Stricken House, in the Square, for
merly a hotel. In the courtyard is
the Belle Boyd cottage. -Four thou
sand National Guardsmen will be re-
viewed by the Governor on the clos
ing day, tomorrow.
Warren has many historic homes,
which have been opened to centennial
visitors-the old Mckay House of solid
walnut logs. built in 1893; Mount
Zion, home of John B. Earle, at Mill
dale. built in 1857 by Col. Thurston,
chaplain under Gen. Washington:
Bel Air, built in 1875; the old Buck
House, which was the first brick
building in the county: Mountain
View. erected in 1850: the old Millar
House, and Sherwood, built in 1886,
which has been the Timberlake homd
for five generations. At Sherwood
are wonderful heirlooms and antique1
including the only pair Of blul
Tam-o' Shanter brandy pitchers u
existence. The entrance to this OIL
home is q perfect Adams arch, ant
every tread of the Jacobean staircasl
Is different.