Trip out of town

I almost forgot that we did go out of town a couple of weeks ago. We went to Richmond Va. and visited the Hollywood Cemetery. I have been there a couple of times and really enjoy going and rambling around the old grave stones. This trip we went with a purpose in mind. To find the graves of the Confederate Dead who were killed in the Battle Of Gettysburg.
The first thing you see when arriving in that area is This...

It is a 90 ft pyramid, completed in 1869, it serves as a monument to 18,000 confederate soldiers buried nearby.

As I mentioned I was anxious to see the graves of the men from Gettysburg, so we went in search of those.


One of the most famous of those being General George Pickett

Seeing all these men really stuck a place in my heart. All of you know how much I love Gettysburg and knowing that these men have a resting place was very rewarding.
(The Confederates killed at Gettysburg were left there for months and sometimes years in mostly unmarked graves, until they were finally removed and put in cemeteries down south such as this one)
Most of the graves in this area of Hollywood Cemetery are marked unknown



And looking out over all the Confederate graves was a bit overwhelming

This is just a few of those graves. I have lots more photos but won't bore you with all of them.




















Also the same day we went to the cemetery we visited Berkley Plantation and I will tell you about it in my next post.

The World Around Me..Rosewell Ruins

Today I returned to Rosewell Ruins in Gloucester VA. I had visited this location last spring and had been wanting to return. All was quiet today but I can certainly see why this place is suppose to be haunted.

Stories have been told at Rosewell. Everything from slaves buried in the Cellar walls, to a mysterious lady who walks the front steps every night.





From Wikipedia,

Rosewell Plantation in Gloucester County, Virginia, USA for more than 100 years was the home of members of the Page family, one of the First Families of Virginia. Begun in 1725, the huge brick Rosewell mansion overlooking the York River was one of the finest in Virginia. Through much of the 18th century and 19th centuries, and during the American Civil War, Rosewell Mansion hosted the area's most elaborate formal balls and celebrations.



Rosewell Mansion and part of its history were described by author James Joseph McDonald in "Life In Old Virginia" (The Old Virginia Publishing Co., Norfolk, Va., 1907) thus:

"The mansion is substantially built of brick, three story and basement. The foundation walls are three and one-half feet thick. The reception hall is large, the ceilings lofty, and the whole mansion is indicative of refined taste and wealth. From the upper windows, a magnificent view is had of the surrounding level lands and the waters of the creeks and the York River.
"During the life of Governor Page, Thomas Jefferson was a frequent and welcome visitor there. While on one of his visits he wrote the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence in what is now known as the 'Blue Room,' situated on the northwest corner of the second story of this house."
The elaborate Flemish bond brickwork, the towering three stories, and the siting of the mansion were all meant to recall elaborate London homes of the era. In that sense, Rosewell was among the most sophisticated early buildings built in America.

The Rosewell Mansion was destroyed by fire in 1916. Today, a largely undisturbed historic ruin, the site has been the subject of archaeological work which has revealed many artifacts and shed light on some aspects of colonial life and architecture previously unclear.



Page family of Virginia
Governor of Virginia John Page (1744-1808) was the grandson of Rosewell's first owner, Mann Page (I). He grew up there, and was a classmate of Thomas Jefferson at the College of William and Mary in nearby Williamsburg where he graduated in 1763. John Page fought during the American Revolutionary War, attaining the rank of colonel. He also served multiple terms in the U.S. Congress and the Virginia General Assembly.

Other notable members of Virginia's Page family also include Governor Page's brother Mann Page III, his great grandfather, Colonel John Page of Jamestown and Middle Plantation, author and U.S. Ambassador to Italy Thomas Nelson Page, and Virginian Railway builder William Nelson Page; Confederate General Richard Lucian Page.




A family legend says that the courtship of John and Margaret Lowther Page began with an exchange of poems.


In 1790, John Page was a 47-year-old widower serving in the First Congress of the United States. Congress was meeting in New York, and it was there that he met Margaret Lowther, who was about 30 at the time. According to the legend, John escorted Margaret to a party and later realized that she had left a glove in his carriage. He sent the glove back to her with a note reading


"Taking 'G' from 'Glove' leaves 'Love'

Tis that I offer thee."


Margaret replied with another note:

"Taking 'P' from 'Page' leaves 'Age,'

And you are too old for me."


Perhaps Margaret was only teasing, or perhaps she soon had a change of heart, for the couple was married a few months later. They continued to write and exchange poems during their marriage.

The World Around Me...

This week for my photo journal on "The world around me" I want to show you two of the still standing Grist Mills in our area The first one is


Young's Mill -
A mill existed here since the 17th Century, when one was constructed on Denbigh Plantation. The structure is an early 20th Century frame construction built over a 19th Century brick foundation and first floor. Mills were of great importance in the economy of Warwick County for grinding corn and wheat. Thomas Wright, Sr., a free Black man was the mill’s owner. In 1860, he was one of 59 free African-American men and women living in Warwick County, when it had a population of 1,500. Wright appears to have gained his freedom around 1810 at the age of 20. He owned 60 acres and his household contained 12 members and three slaves. His son, Thomas Wright, Jr., was the first African-American Warwick County resident to be ordained. Confederate fortifications extending from Young's Mill (Deep Creek) to Harwood's Mill (Poquoson River) were built in 1862 as the first line of Magruder's trans-Peninsula defense. Skirmishing occurred here during the Peninsula Campaign. This site has been developed as a passive park and includes well preserved earthworks.




This mill is about 2 miles from my house and everyday when I pass it on my way to work I find it amazing how much the area around it has grown up. In the mid 1800's Civil War soldiers occupited the land.



The second mill is about 6 miles away on the same road and is a bit more off the beaten path. Both mills are on the National Registry of historic places
Causey's Mill -

is one of the two last surviving grist mills on the Peninsula. The mill is a small wood frame two-story building supported by a brick and concrete foundation that was constructed in 1866. Causey’s Mill is one of many mills that have occupied this site since the mid-17th century.
In the 1930s the creation of Lake Maury drastically altered the function of the mill and erased all remnants of the old mill dam and pond.Today the mill is owned by the City of Newport News which has obtained a 55 year lease of the property.

Detailed Description:
Causey's Mill is a small wood frame two-story building supported by brick and concrete.
The exterior is covered with 5/8-inch thick untapered wood siding boards, which are nailed down by single nails at the studs. The wood siding is painted with a lead-based white paint that has worn off over the years. On the west side of the building, there is a sign on the upper left hand corner reading "Causey's Mill, 1866." The mill has three doors: two are located on the first and second floor of the north elevation, and the third is on the east side. The building also has eight windows. Four windows are found on the west side. Two windows are on each floor of the west side. They have six panes per sash. On the south elevation, there are two windows for providing light into the hurst frame. These windows also have six panes per sash. The last two windows are located in the attic,one on each gable end. The gable windows have six panes per sash. The roof is covered by asphalt shingles installed on top of solid wood sheathing boards. There are eave cornices on the east and west sides, and they have one-inch wood fascias and soffits, with a plain, diagonal, flat fascia moulding. There are no gutters or downspouts. Inside the mill there are two floors. The interior also contains a hurst frame which is made completely of wood. In addition, there are bridge trees and bray posts for two runs of the stones; however, only one run was ever installed. The cast iron spindle, which lifted the runner stone above the stationary bed stone, is still in place. The hurst frame is supported by ten-inch x eighteen-inch beams that run the whole of the east and west sides of the mill. The building has the tongs for raising the runner stone and the bed stone. On the floor, there is a twenty-inch Leffel or Sampson turbine. The scroll case and gate controls are missing, and perhaps are still in the turbine pit, now submerged in water. The steel turbine shaft, composite drive gear, turbine shaft bearing, and turbine gate shaft bearing remain intact in the hurst frame. The cast iron spur gear used to drive the stone spindle is also still intact. The crank and levers, however, for engaging and disengaging the spur gear are no longer present.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

My daughter who is the queen of thrift stores and I spent the day together yesterday. I wanted to go to Colonial Williamsburg. This weekend is the kick off their for the holiday season. She of course wanted to go the every thrift store along the way. So we compromised and did what anyone would do. We did both!
Our first stop was the best, and we found a lot of Christmas things including this cute little treat jar.

We also found this little tree and the cloth under it. It fit perfect on my little table which was an earlier thrift store find.

We also found another tree which stands about 4 ft high and has the fiber optic needles. I picked it out and she actually picked the one I have but in the end she liked the bigger tree the best and since she has more room to display one we traded.
It turned out to be a good day of thrift shopping because she also found some games and puzzles for my grandson which had never been opened. She is putting them under the tree.
We finally made it to the Colonial area in the early afternoon. I always enjoy walking around the streets there.
Yesterday was a bit crowded as you can see from the photos

Around Town

Most of you know that next to ghost hunting one of my favorite things to do is visit sites of the American Civil War..Living in Virginia our entire area is rich in history. I wanted to show a few photos from my neighborhood. The first ones of the mill are about 1/4 of a mile from me. Across from where this mill is now is strip shops but during the Civil War the area was an encampment area. I am really surprised that we do not have any haunting where I am at but as far as I know there have never been any reports.








The earthworks located adjacent to this 1820 tide mill were the western anchor of Confederate Major General John B. Magruder’s first line of defense during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign.

This next set of photos are from a local cemetery. Buried here are the remains of men who died at the
Newport News POW Camp – Monument honors Confederate prisoners who died in the nearby Union POW camp at Camp Butler, April–August 1865.

This final set is of the
Warwick Court House, Newport News – Built in 1810, this building served as headquarters for Union Brig. Gen. Erasmus Keyes during the Warwick River/Yorktown siege. The gas balloon Constitution was deployed at this site.

The court house is not in use today, but they are doing some renovations, I am always excited when a part of our history is preserved.

On The Prowl

The next few days should prove to be exciting. Coming up on Saturday night I am going on a ghost hunt with a local paranormal group to a cemetery. Then next Tuesday I will be meeting with the group I told you about a few weeks ago that is interested in spending some time with my grandson. We will be meeting at the farm where he first "saw" the ghost lady I have in my photo. The group wants to spend some time with him. I am guessing that they will set up some equipment in the area and see if anything happens. Both trips should provide some interesting post, so check back for them. In the mean time here is a slide show from The Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond VA. (This is NOT the same cemetery that I will be going on with the group this weekend). I know I showed a few photos from there in a previous post, but with approx. 75,000 people buried there I thought you might like to see more.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com