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Mt. Zion Historical Park offers "Fourth Sunday" Programs |
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Gary Dickens May 2011 |
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Mt. Zion Primitive Baptist Church near Aldie, which served its parishioners well for nearly 130 years from 1851 to 1980, now serves the area as a historical park owned and operated by the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority. During the Civil War this solid brick building, strategically located at the intersection of the Old Carolina Road (read Rt. 15) and the Little River Turnpike (read Rt. 50), and on high ground, would serve as a meeting place for Colonel Mosby's Rangers as well as a field hospital for Union troops. To help tell its many stories, starting May 22nd and continuing every fourth Sunday through October 23rd, special guided tours will be conducted from 12:00 - 5:00pm. These are free and open to the public. Local historian Wynne Saffer (who has done significant research into antebellum slave holdings in southern Loudoun and author of "Loudoun Votes 1867-1966 A Civil War Legacy") will conduct the May 22nd tours which will include both church and cemetery. Civil War reenactors will portray the lives of Union army doctors. Visitors will be able to see the signatures of wounded soldiers treated there in 1863. Tracy J. Gillespie, NVRPA manager of the Mt. Zion and Aldie Mill Historical Parks, can be reached at 703.327.9777 for those desiring more information. |
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The Mt. Zion Primitive Baptist Church was built with a design typical for the early 19th century. A simple brick rectangle, white congregants would enter through the front door and worship on the main level. Slaves and freedmen entered through the side door you see here and went upstairs to the balcony. (photo courtesy NVRPA) |
Through these front doors passed many a Civil War soldier as war ebbed and flowed along the Little River Turnpike. Used not only as a meeting place for Mosby's Rangers this study spacious stucture made for an excellent hospital. I'm anxious to see the signatures of soldiers scrawled on the wall when Wynne Saffer gives the tours on May 22nd. |
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How many times did Union Calvary ride in trying to catch Mosby's men? It is said that a lit candle would be placed in a church window as a signal for the Rangers to meet there. It is said that to this day a lit candle can be seen occasionally. |
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Friend and foe alike call the Mt. Zion cemetery their final resting place. According to the Mt. Zion Preservation Association 12 Union Calvarymen were buried there during the war and 13 Confederates veterans who died after the war. To the south side is a wooded area where African-Americans were buried. The Mt. Zion Preservation Association says that 63 graves have been identified there using ground penetrating radar. ( http://politicalmapping.com/mtzion/history.htm) |
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Come visit the Mt. Zion Historical Park this year. What better way to learn about the Civil War in your own back yard? . |
