View this News on our Website | Calendar of Events | Membership & Donation Mosby Heritage Area Association Newsletter - May 2010 From the President We invite you to join us for our next “Cavaliers, Courage and Coffee” lantern light presentation at Rector House on Saturday evening, May 22. These popular programs are always informing and entertaining and are family-friendly events. More details are below. We’re also happy to announce that we will have our headquarters, the historic Rector House in Atoka (four miles west of Middleburg), open to visitors on Saturdays in June, July and August. Please stop by and get a tour of the house and find out more about MHAA and our namesake, John S. Mosby from our volunteer hosts and hostesses. You’ll also find more details below in this newsletter. And please consider joining us for our next special event, a battlefield tour of the Monocacy National Battlefield near Frederick, Maryland. It will take place on Saturday, July 10. The proceeds will benefit MHAA’s educational programs. Scroll down for more details. We greatly appreciate the support we have received from preservation-minded people from all across the nation. If you’d like to learn more about joining us, go to our website, www.mosbyheritagearea.org Marc Leepson Still Time to Join MHAA’s Civil War Ride and Picnic! History comes alive in 2010 with the fourth Mosby Ride on Sunday, May 23. Participants will travel on horseback or by car to three sites associated with Col. John S. Mosby and his Rangers. The ride begins at 10:00 am at fhe Kansteiner’s Gum Tree Farm, 21908 Quaker Lane, Middleburg. The adventure starts with a brief introduction before riders mount and those traveling by car receive instructions. Riders will go over land and cars by road to the first site at the corner of Willisville and Greengarden Roads where an interpreter will give a brief presentation. The next stop will be Ayrshire Farm, followed by Green Garden Farm. Riders and drivers will then return to Gum Tree Farm for a picnic lunch. Horseback riders need safety head gear, a release form, and a current coggins test. The cost for the horseback ride and luncheon is $150 per person and $100 for those traveling by car. Make your reservation by calling 540-687-6681 or online to register through PayPal on the Calendar of Events page of the MHAA website, www.mosbyheritagearea.org If you are unable to attend, but would like to support this type of event, tax deductible donations can be made to MHAA.
Click here to register online for the Mosby Ride. Busy Season for MHAA Education Programming MHAA’s programs are intense, in depth, and get to the spirit of the listeners, whether they are elementary students just getting introduced to the excitement of history that happened here, middle-schoolers seeing how the concepts they’ve studied in class pertain to their home county, or adults coming to hear a talk or tour that massages their love of history. In April, Rich spent nine full days in schools, speaking in small groups to 1,108 students. All the students took with them a mission—to explore the Mosby Heritage Area using their county’s heritage scavenger hunt. Working with Executive Director Judy Reynolds and MHAA volunteers, 220 students and 33 adults were reached in the annual Aldie Triangle Program on April 13-14. Students, teachers, and parents visited James Monroe’s Oak Hill, the Aldie Mill, and historic Mount Zion Church to learn about different aspects of life before and during the Civil War. Stories, living history, and demonstrations brought each site alive. That’s a total of 1,403 people reached through our school programming in one month. Adults were reached as well. Rich spoke to 85 civil servants working for the County of Loudoun about the region’s history and the need for preservation on April 2, provided an in-depth exploration of stories from the Purcellville area at Sunset Hills Winery on April 10, and served as keynote speaker to a packed house at the Waterford Foundation’s annual meeting on April 20. Sometimes the listeners were new to the area; other times, MHAA was preaching to the choir. But in each case, MHAA materials with the message of preservation and explorationwere put out there. We must all remember that it is hard to love what you do not care about, and harder still to care about what you do not know of. Exploring our historic resources in the Mosby Heritage Area seems to be the key to getting folks to care about preservation. All in all, a great month for preservation education! Click here if you would like to know more about our educational programs.
New MHAA Members Heritage Sentinel Heritage Ranger Donor Are you ready to invest on the MHAA mission? For more information or a membership application, visit our website, www.mosbyheritagearea.org or call 540-687-6681. CLICK HERE to visit the Membership Page on our website. Summer Saturdays - and Mosby The historic Caleb Rector House in the village of Atoka, Virginia, will be open from 10 am to 3 pm each Saturday in June, July and August as part of the 15th anniversary activities of the Mosby Heritage Area Association. Col. John Mosby (AKA interpreter Gary Carroll of Warrenton) will kick off the openings on Saturday, June 5, and other interpreters and volunteers will be on site throughout the summer to greet visitors. The Caleb Rector House, MHAA headquarters, is located just off Route 50 four miles west of Middleburg. Built at the turn of the 18th century, the original structure was a modest, four-room, two-story house built by the Hatcher Family of Hatcher’s Mill. In 1830, Caleb Rector purchased the house. The village of Atoka and the house have since become a crossroads where history was written and heroes were born. It was in the parlor of the house that on June 10, 1863, Lieutenant John Singleton Mosby officially created the legendary Company A, 43rd Battalion Partisan Rangers of the Virginia Cavalry – later known as Mosby’s Ranger’s. Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart established his headquarters around the Rector House on June 23, 1863, and received word from General Lee to follow the Union army into Pennsylvania and, according to reports, harass them as he saw fit. We invite you to visit the house, owned now by the Atoka Preservation Society, any Saturday over the summer to make history come alive in 2010. If you’d like to help by volunteering, go to www.mosbyheritagearea.org or call 540-687-6681. CLICK HERE to visit the Volunteer Page on our website. Volunteer Highlight - George Tiedeman In the spring of 2009, George was asked to volunteer at Oak Hill for MHAA’s Aldie Triangle Program. He told us after the event that if history had been presented to him as it had been by Rich Gillespie at Oak Hill, he would have loved history. Up until that point, he had not been interested at all in history. George is the ultimate recycler. He picks up the recyclable materials from our office and comes up with ways to use materials that most of us would throw away. George saved aluminum cans from the MHAA recycle bin and sold them for a $3.78 donation back to MHAA. George’s smile and engaging personality make working with him a joy. He has a great sense of humor and is never lost for a story. MHAA is very proud to highlight this special volunteer.
UPCOMING MHAA EVENTS: We Knew Mosby The Gray Ghost Interpretive Group will be offering its final program under the direction of Director of Education Rich Gillespie on Saturday evening May 22nd. The all-volunteer group was established by Gillespie for the Mosby Heritage Area Association in October of 2004 to bring alive the stories of the Mosby Heritage Area. Their lantern-lit “Fireside Mosby” and “Cavaliers, Courage, and Coffee” programs at Atoka and other local historic sites have attracted hundreds over the past five-and-a-half years. The May 22nd program begins at historic Caleb Rector House in Atoka and uses other village backdrops to tell a series of stories about the renowned rebel raider John Singleton Mosby. Entitled “We Knew Mosby,” this program will view the Gray Ghost from a variety of personal perspectives. Rangers, belles from local farms, sisters who have lost all in the guerilla war, local Unionists, and Union soldiers will share their experiences with the Colonel and his Rangers. A piece of the program will be held inside the historic Rector House in the parlor where Mosby’s 43rd Virginia Cavalry was formed in June 1863. Choosing the final topic for “Cavaliers, Courage, and Coffee” was not difficult. “Our volunteers have been examining Mosby and coming to terms with his controversial story for years,” Rich said. “A retrospective look at this pint-size larger-than-life American was a must for our group.” No reservations are required for the 7:30 p.m. program. Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for students. Free materials on Mosby, the Mosby Heritage Area, and the Mosby Heritage Area Association will be available after the program. Residents new to the area are especially invited to be a part of this program and get introduced to the gripping history of their new home. For more information, call the Mosby Heritage Area Association offices at 540-687-5578 or go to our website, www.mosbyheritagearea.org - - - - - - - Treasures of the Turnpike Join the residents of Aldie, Virginia, on Saturday, May 22nd as they kick off the celebration of Aldie’s Bicentennial with a village-wide Flea Market Yard Sale! The entire village will participate with rummage sales at the churches and school, and a Flea Market with exhibitors featuring antiques, crafts, jewelry, railroadiana, sterling, and collectibles. Visitors can tour the Mill or stroll thru the village from one end to the other enjoying classic rock and blues, all the while sampling southern home cooking, pizza, subs, and tasty treats available from the various bake sales. Historic organizations will be set up at the Aldie Mill. Participating merchants will also offer special events to commemorate the celebration, such as the wine tasting at The Aldie Peddler which will be paired with Pride of the Plains' all-natural grass fed beef. Rain date is Sunday, May 23rd. Find out more about the event Saturday, other events, and about the village of Aldie at http://www.villageofaldie.com/bicentennial/ - - - - - - - Monocacy Battlefield Tour
Marc Leepson, author of Desperate Engagement: How a Little-Known Civil War Battle Saved Washington, D.C., and Changed American History, will lead a tour of the Battle of Monocacy at the Monocacy National Battlefield Park, four miles south of Frederick, Maryland, on Saturday, July 10. Participants will board a bus at the Rector House, MHAA’s headquarters in Atoka, and travel to the battlefield with Mr. Leepson narrating the build up to this little-known but crucial Civil War engagement. If you would prefer to receive a written invitation, please call or email info@mosbyheritagearea.org and we’ll send one out right away. Click here to register for this exciting tour.
- - - - - - - Save This Date! The event will include a wine and light hors d’oeuvres reception beginning at 6:00 p.m. at the Hill School’s Sheila Johnson Performing Arts Center in Middleburg, lively talks by Leslie Bowman and Susan Stein, and a post-talk reception where attendees will meet and greet the speakers, and receive an autographed copy of Marc Leepson’s book, Saving Monticello. On Friday, September 3, Marc Leepson will be the host for a special tour of Monticello. The bus will leave from Rector House in the morning. Mr. Leepson will relate the history of the house on the way to Charlottesville and attendees will then get a private, behind-the-scenes “Upstairs, Downstairs” tour of Jefferson’s “Essay in Architecture.” That tour includes a stop inside the famed upstairs dome room, which is not open to the public. Invitations will go out later this summer. Look for yours in the mail or email us to make sure you’re on the list: info@mosbyheritagearea.org - - - - - - - Civil War Conference This year marks the 13th year for MHAA’s acclaimed Conference on the Art of Command in the Civil War. This year’s topic is The Battle of Fredericksburg, December 11-15, 1862. Nine talks will be presented by nationally acclaimed authors and historians from Friday afternoon to Saturday evening. The conference also includes a day-long tour of the Battle of Fredericksburg on Sunday. Among this year’s speakers is military historian Frank A. O’Reilly, who works with many of the Civil War battlefields in the Fredericksburg area. He is the author of the award-winning book, The Fredericksburg Campaign; Winter War on the Rappahannock. His current research is on the Battle of Malvern Hill and the Seven Days battles. Mr. O’Reilly will be the guide for the Sunday tour of the battlefield and will present talks on Friday and Saturday. Other speakers include Joseph Bilby, Clark Hall, Kim Holien, Robert K. Krick, Greg Mertz, Jeffry Wert, and George Rable. Speaker biographies are available at www.mosbyheritagearea.org. A detailed schedule and registration form can be found on the “Calendar of Events” page. Click here to download a registration form and brochure. - - - - - - - Treasures of the Turnpike Join the residents of Aldie, Virginia, on Saturday, May 22nd as they kick off the celebration of Aldie’s Bicentennial with a village-wide Flea Market Yard Sale! The entire village will participate with rummage sales at the churches and school, and a Flea Market with exhibitors featuring antiques, crafts, jewelry, railroadiana, sterling, and collectibles. Visitors can tour the Mill or stroll thru the village from one end to the other enjoying classic rock and blues, all the while sampling southern home cooking, pizza, subs, and tasty treats available from the various bake sales. Historic organizations will be set up at the Aldie Mill. Participating merchants will also offer special events to commemorate the celebration, such as the wine tasting at The Aldie Peddler which will be paired with Pride of the Plains' all-natural grass fed beef. Rain date is Sunday, May 23rd. Find out more about the event Saturday, other events, and about the village of Aldie at http://www.villageofaldie.com/bicentennial/ - - - - - - - A Tour of Ball's Bluff Battlefield From the heights, our happily comfortable bus dropped us off on a gravel path behind a suburban development for a short walk to what is known as the Jackson House. This well-cared-for, pre-1861 structure is located some three-quarters of a mile inland from the bluffs and near where the early skirmishes of the battle took place. Again Morgan talked us through a spellbinding series of events that led to these first clashes. Our next move was to the entrance of the 223-acre Northern Virginia Regional Park that takes in much of the battlefield. Our group quickly moved toward the bluffs themselves overlooking the Potomac River, Ball’s Bluff National Cemetery and the battlefield. Morgan gave us a beautifully developed rendition of the battle and was able to fully convey how the Washington leadership “were thunderstruck by this second consecutive route of their … army … [just] three months to the day after Bull Run.” It was a fascinating few hours that brought us back to the early days of that cataclysmic event in our nation’s history known as the Civil War. Our highly professional and neatly uniformed bus driver, Michael Murray, said the tour was “the most interesting I’ve ever listened to.”
Site of the Month The Caleb Rector house is noted for two events in local Civil War history. Col. John Singleton Mosby came to the house on June 10, 1863, to sign official papers forming Company A, 43rd Virginia Battalion, known as Mosby’s Rangers. Mosby had operated in the area since January 1863, but was officially formed in June. He brought four men with him: James William Foster, Tom Turner, William Hunter, George Whitescarver, who became the first officers. After signing the papers, the men went to a nearby woods and signed up 60 rangers for Company A. Later that same June, following the Cavalry Battles of Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville, General J.E.B. Stuart camped around the house before traveling on to Gettysburg. The village was called Rectors Crossroads at the time of the Civil War and it was one of Mosby’s rendezvous places. The name was changed to Atoka at the request of the U.S. Postal Service. Two neighboring communities shared a similar name: Rectors Crossroads and Rectortown. Atoka was on a list of names provided by the Postal Service. Atoka is now on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register. The Rector House is owned by the Atoka Preservation Society, which works to preserve the village of Atoka. The APS has graciously allowed the Mosby Heritage Area Association to use the house for its offices since 2000. We will be welcoming visitors to visit the Rector House on Saturdays in June, July and August from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm.
Did You Know Store With Father’s Day on the horizon, you can choose among an assortment of unique gifts at the MHAA on-line store. How about a cool “Got Mosby” t-shirt for Dad? Want something more sedate? An MHAA polo shirt, billed hat or lapel pin might be perfect. There’s also a selection of fascinating books, several signed by the authors. Or a map or an audio tour CD. We have Mosby Part 1, Mosby Part 2 and In the Wake of Antietam CDs. Summer close-outs: Prelude to Gettysburg audio cassette tapes - $2.00 The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Guide by David Edwin Lillard - $20.00 Please add $5.00 shipping and handling for each item purchased. |
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