Visit Loudoun Tours Leesburg's "Potomac Frontier" 2011

Visit Loudoun tours Leesburg's "Potomac Frontier"

Gary Dickens September 2011 (an iPad2 friendly page)

The grand portico at Morven Park, shot through the rain drenched window of our tour bus.

Visit Loudoun, (visitloudoun.org) is Loudoun County's premier promoter of all things Loudoun. Not only do they maintain a visitor's center in Leesburg's Market Station, but they have created a website that is simply fabulous, full of Emmy Award winning videos that tell Loudoun's stories to residents and tourists alike.

There are thousands of people working in Loudoun's hospitality industry and Visit Loudoun understands that each of them is an ambassador for Loudoun County. To that end they conduct themed teaching tours for hospitality professionals. The theme Visit Loudoun planned for September 8, 2011 was Leesburg's involvement in the Civil War. The unplanned theme for the day was the sporadically torrential rain, compliments of Tropical Storm Lee (how appropriate).

Janet Tamassia, our host from Visit Loudoun, had put together a full tour of Civil War sites in and north of Leesburg, a region historian Rich Gillespie calls the "Potomac Frontier". In the spring of 1861 Virginia had succeeded from the Union and Leesburg found itself on the northern protective flank of Richmond, just a few miles from the thousands of troops McClellan was amassing across the Potomac. Leesburg (and Loudoun County) was literally a freeway for troop movement, both Union and Confederate, due to the number of Potomac River fords available to the armies and our proximity to Washington.

Hence the term, "Potomac Frontier".

Please join us vicariously in the tour through the photos and captions, I promise that you'll stay a lot drier than we did!

Oh yes, kudos to Janet Tamassia and the Visit Loudoun staff. Not only did they put together a very informative/interesting tour, but called several successful audibles to keep TS Lee from flanking us.


Jeremy Harvey (Visit Loudoun) introduces local historian Rich Gillespie to the tour group. We were at Holiday Inn's Caradoc Hall for the tour's kick-off and were to leave to meet Mr. Gillespie at the Court House. Instead, TS Lee brought him to us.	Shown here at the Court House (with a different group on a much drier day) Mr. Gillespie gave us a thorough introduction to the Civil War on the "Potomac Frontier". A fabulous storyteller, among numerous facts, he told us that the Court House grounds with its iconic iron fence, had contained some 500 Union POWs after the Battle of Ball's Bluff.

Mr. Gillespie told us the story of Harrison Hall on North King Street (also shown on a drier day). Here in early September, 1862, General Robert E Lee would meet with his generals to plan the invasion of Maryland. Key to an understanding of American history, Mr. Gillespie told us that the failure of that invasion would result in President Lincoln issuing the "Emancipation Proclamation", the beginning of the end to slavery in the South.	We then toured Union Cemetery (North King Street next to Ida Lee Park). Leesburg has several historic cemeteries but Union, established in 1851 is by far the largest. Union Cemetery is the final resting place for notables such as Arthur Godfrey (Loudoun Hospital and Leesburg Airport benefactor) and Elijah Viers White (Leesburg's Confederate calvary hero and highly successful businessman, for whom White's Ferry is named).

Cemetery Superintendent Tony Amick was one of our Union Cemetery guides. His 16 years there and his own interest in history local have created a deep well of knowledge which he shared with us. Our group, split into two, was also guided by Assistant Superintendent Sammy Smith.	Union Cemetery is the final resting place for some 525 Confederate soldier and 10 Union. Many of the Confederate soldiers are unknown and are buried in this section identified by this obelisk (archive photo). Another section, near the chapel, contains the remains of unknown Mississippi soldiers, most who died of disease while encamped at Camp Caroline (Morven Park).

The cemetery chapel, infrequently opened, afforded us a few minutes to dry out. Superintendent Amick shared more stories there, including how the chapel served as a morgue for victims of a 1947 airplane crash.	TS Lee served up another portion as we departed the cemetery for Morven Park.

Morven Park, known as Swann's Castle during the Civil War, served as officer's quarters and encampment for both sides. Owned then by Baltimore Mayor Thomas Swann, it may have escaped distruction because of his Union sympathies. Morven Park is on relatively high ground and from her portico, across several miles, you can see REHAU's campus, home to Fort Evans.	The hillside to the north of the mansion was the 1861 fall/winter encampment for troops from the 17th Mississippi. Here they would build some 50 log huts, housing 4-6 men each, offering some protection from the cold, wet Virginia winter. The huts can be visited year round and on certain weekends are staffed with Civil War re-enactors.

Morven Park staffer Kevin Bowman (blue shirt/tie) tells us the stories of the huts and the Mississipians who built them. Fifty or so were built on the hillsides and much detail about them has been learned from the diary of Private Robert A. Moore, who would live there for 172 days, before his regiment would be pulled south in March, 1862.	After the huts we made our way to the much drier carriage house. Here Morven Park maintains their collection of carriages and other horse drawn vehicles. The carriage house is also open to the public.

A fine luncheon was catered by the Vintage Restaurant Group, owners of Leesburg's Vintage 50 and other restaurants in Loudoun.	Ample time to relax and dry out in the meeting section of the carriage house. This section (and other rooms throughout the estate) can be rented for events.

The mansion as we departed, but this time through a dry window. TS Lee had let up during lunch.	We arrive at Tarara Winery, to the northeast of Lucketts and near Noland's Ferry (C&O Canal Mile Marker 44.6). Noland's Ferry was used by both armies during the Civil War and also by the Continental Arny during the Revolutionary War.

Tarara hosted a tasting for us, beautifully appointed. Our Visit Loudoun host Janet Tamassia saw this shot first, I hope she'll forgive me for copying her.	We were grateful for the chance to sample some well crafted vintages, as well as continue to dry out.

We arrive Temple Hall Farm, donated to the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority by its last private owner Mrs. A.V. Syminton. Unfortunately TS Lee was fully unleashed when we arrived, our tour was canceled, but Park Manager George Tabb would bring his stories to us. Here, the main barn, through soaked bus window. Temple Hall Farm hosts an annual Corn Maze in October. A signature fall event, this year the maze is cut in the form of two Civil War soldiers, in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Ball's Bluff.	Mr. Tabb told us that Temple Hall's owners at the time of the Civil War, the Balls, clearly sympathized with the Confederates. Not far from E.V. White's farm further down the road, Mr. Tabb told us of how Mrs. White and the Ball sisters would smuggle supplies for Confederate troops across Union lines in Maryland. No doubt, many Confederate troops passed the farm on their way to White's Ford in September, 1862, initiating the ill-fated Maryland invasion.

Noted historian and author Jim Morgan met us at Ball's Bluff, site of the battle on October 21, 1861 in which sitting Senator (and close friend of Lincoln), Edward Baker was killed. Mr. Morgan, author of the authoritative treatise on the battle "A Little Short of Boats" shared its history (and a few stories) with us, once again contrained to the bus because of the rain.	Here is Ball's Bluff National Cemetery (again photographed on a much drier day). The Battle of Ball's Bluff, while considered minor against the scope of the entire war, greatly affected the psyche of Washingtonians as Union dead arrived on DC shores via the Potomac. The 150th Anniversary of the battle will be commemorated on October 22, with one of the few re-enactments to be conducted on the actual battlefield.

Our final stop was Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets. May Canete, Assistant General Manager (black coat, center) treated us with a bag of coupons, samples and a delectable piece of chocolate.	TS Lee challenges us one final time as we board the bus for our return to Caradoc Hall. Janet Tamassia had seen to it that the bus was well provisioned with snacks for the day and kept us entertained with her wit and knowledge as we journied from site to site. Visit Loudoun is to be commended for this great training program and their outreach to the hospitality community.


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