Upcoming Events:
Antique Appraisal Day
February 2
Cavaliers, Courage & Coffee
April 19
May 17
June 21
July 19
August 16
November 1
Civil War Conference
October 3-4
Exploring Olde Loudoun Bus Trips
April 6, 13, 20, 27
Fireside Mosby Program
January 12
February 9
March 8
Winter Lecture Series
January 20
February 3
February 17
March 2
More info here...

Forward to a Friend
Click Here ...

Become a Member
The Mosby Heritage Area Association is a membership driven 501 (c) 3. organization focusing on education and preservation. Your tax-deductible membership supports our work and entitles you to advance notice of our upcoming programs, services and events, as well as our annual newsletter
Click here to Join (.pdf)

Learn more about
the Mosby Heritage Area
Click here to visit our website

Newsletter Archive:
September 2007

October 2007

Novemeber 2007

The Mosby Heritage Area Association Newsletter - December 2007

Statement From The President
by Gayle DeLashmutt
Season’s Greetings to you all!

December is flying by!  Holiday preparations, end of the year chores, spending extra time with family and friends make the time fly. MHAA is busy also.   We are getting together our annual report that will be sent out to our members in January or early February.

Our executive director, Judy Reynolds, Board member, Joe Dempsey and I spent a morning at Wakefield School in The Plains judging their annual history fair. I certainly learned a lot from subjects that covered history from the Fall of the Roman Empire to the Space Race. The first and second place winners will have the opportunity to go on to the state competition.

I attended a reception in Waterford that was sponsored by The Piedmont Community Foundation.  MHAA is very thankful to have received funding from the Peter Howard Memorial fund for the design and printing of our sampler tour. We are also grateful for grant funding from the Loudoun Restoration & Preservation Society for the same project.

We’re in the process of making final plans for our Antiques Appraisal Day that will be held at Highland School in February.   Final plans for our 13th annual Winter Lecture Series are also underway. These are two great programs which will help get us all through those cold months.  We hope to see you at these events.

Between now and then, the Board’s and my wishes are for you all to have a great holiday season and a happy and healthy 2008.

Gayle DeLashmutt
President MHAA

Antiques-Antiques-Antiques!!!
The date is set for The Mosby Heritage Area Association’s (MHAA) Antiques Appraisal Day.   MHAA will partner with the Potomack Company, Appraisers and Auctioneers, of Alexandria for our third annual Antiques Appraisal Day.

When: February 2, 2008
Where: Highland School in Warrenton
Time: 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM

A team of expert appraisers will be on hand to help you solve the mystery behind that odd piece of silver or curious vase that Uncle George left your mother. Specialists on furniture, silver, decorative arts, clocks, books, Civil War relics, Americana, and more will be on hand to answer your questions.

Need to move the vase from Uncle George along? Empty a closet? Make more room in the attic? The Potomack Company will advise you of the value of your treasure and may be able to include it in one of their future auction sales.

In addition to the appraisals, there will be a Silent Auction featuring event tickets, time at vacation destinations, weekend packages at local Inns, special dining opportunities and much more. We are looking for Silent Auction items. Please see the next story about how you can help.

In the last several years items ranging in value from $100 to a 12 starred silk American Flag valued at $50,000 have been included in the appraisals. It’s a learning experience for all those attending. While you’re there, leave a bid on the exciting items in our Silent Auction!
Admission and parking are free. Proceeds from the Silent Auction and the $25 appraisal fee per item will benefit MHAA’s educational programs. For further information call 540-687-6681.

Fireside Mosby January 12, February 9 and March 8
During the winter months of January, February and March 2008, the Gray Ghost Interpretive Group will be telling stories from the Civil War in the Mosby Heritage Area inside by the fireside at the Rector House in Atoka (4 miles west of Middleburg off Route 50).  These are stories from costumed interpreters portraying citizens and soldiers who lived in this area during the time of the Civil War.  These are great programs for the family!

First person interpretations of citizens of Mosby’s Confederacy will tell the story of Colonel John Singleton Mosby and his Rangers as it effected their lives.  This program is presented by the Mosby Heritage Area Association. The programs, to be held January 12, 2008, February 9 and March 8, begin at 7:30 p.m. and end at 9:30 p.m.  Cost is $5 for adults and $2 for students.

For further information contact the Mosby Heritage Area Association at 540-687-6681 or www.mosbyheritagearea.org.

Winter Lecture Series - The African American Experience
The MHAA 2008 Winter Lecture Series will focus on the African American Experience in the Mosby Heritage Area. Now in its 13th season, the WLS will feature a changed schedule in the New Year. The four lectures will be held every other week, beginning on January 20 and running into March. The old schedule was every week for four weeks. In addition, the starting time is changed to 4 p.m. from the old start time of 3 p.m.

The Schedule:

            1st lecture – January 20th
“History, Black & White; Where 28 Years of Looking Might Lead”
Guest Speaker: David Larsen
Location: the Carver Center, formally the Carver School in Purcellville, VA. 4 p.m.

            2nd lecture – February 3rd
“Recovering African-American History; Building the African-American Museum of Fauquier County”,
Guest Speaker: Karen Hughes White, African-American Museum of Fauquier County, The Plains, VA,
Location: the African American Museum in The Plains, VA. 4 p.m.

            3rd lecture – February 17th
“Building an African-American Community in Warren County in the Twentieth Century”,
 Guest Speaker: Charles Barbour
Location: Ivy Lodge, which is the headquarters of the Warren Heritage Society on Chester Street in Front Royal, VA.  4 p.m.

            4th lecture – March 2nd
"Unsung Heroes of the Civil War Era; African-Americans of the Mosby Heritage Area."
Guest Speaker: Dr. Deborah Lee
Location: Goose Creek Meeting House in Lincoln, VA. 4 p.m.
           
New time on Sunday afternoons – 4pm. Light refreshments will be served. The Lectures are free but donations are welcome.
For further information contact the Mosby Heritage Area Association at 540-687-6681 or www.mosbyheritagearea.org.

Did You Know?
It was 150 years ago that work stopped on a railroad line that would have cut across a piece of the Mosby Heritage Area, stretching from Centreville to Harpers Ferry, thus connecting the Manassas Gap Railroad to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.  Known as the “Loudoun Branch” Railroad, although it was not all in Loudoun, this piece of railroad was to pass under the Catoctin-Bull Run mountain range near Oatlands using a tunnel, cut up through Purcellville, Hillsboro, and on to Harpers Ferry.  Part of the tunnel and much of the railroad grading as far as Purcellville was accomplished.  However, labor problems beset the railroad building effort and an attack on a Quaker girl near Goose Creek (today’s Lincoln) required that part of the Virginia Militia under Fauquier’s Richard Ashby be called out to keep the peace.  Far worse were the financial problems precipitated by the Panic of 1857.   Thus, the railroad was never completed.  Interestingly, Mosby’s Rangers used a piece of the uncompleted railroad to lay in wait to ambush Union cavalry on March 21, 1865.  This was a railroad cut halfway between Hamilton and Lincoln.  While the site was recently developed, the remains of this railroad cut are still visible just above Manassas Gap Court on Route 709, Sands Road, between Hamilton and Lincoln.  Imagine the change this railroad connector would have brought if completed!

Plan A Visit
Our featured destination this month is Warren County. Thanks to the Warren Heritage Society, that maintains several living history museums, historical collections and a headquarters museum and gift shop, we are pleased to highlight the home of Confederate spy Belle Boyd.

Belle Boyd Cottage 1880's
Visitors to Belle Boyd Cottage, the Civil War home of Confederate spy Belle Boyd will learn about Belle and her contemporaries. The Cottage is operated as a historic house museum and is decorated and furnished to the period of the Civil War. Topics discussed on tours include Belle Boyd, the role of women in the Civil War, slavery in Warren County, the Battle of Front Royal, and the role of newspapers and journalists in the Civil War. Belle Boyd Cottage is located behind the Ivy Lodge Museum at 101 Chester Street in Front Royal. Costumed interpreters lead tours May-August. Tickets are $3.00 per person, or $5.00 with tour of Belle Boyd Cottage (students admitted free). Hours of operation are 10:00am-4:00pm Monday – Friday. Visit the web site: http://www.warrenheritagesociety.org or, call 540-636-1446.

The Store - Wear it with distinction!

Mosby Heritage Area Lapel Pin
The Mosby Heritage Area Association has created this attractive lapel pin with the organization’s famous logo. The pin depicts a gold colored horseman in relief riding across a black enameled background. Written around the edge of the pin are MOSBY HERITAGE AREA and VIRGINIA in gold relief on a dark gray enameled background. The pin was designed by W. Bristol Classics of Bristol, Tennessee exclusively for the Mosby Heritage Area Association. $7 each (includes shipping).