5-29-10 Shenandoah Trip - The Valley

We decided to see a bit of Staunton and wound up spending half the day there. What a great little town! We started at the Farmer's Market. Then we walked the downtown - a large part of Staunton was spared during the Civil War and lots of old buildings and homes remain. The name of the store that Sue is window-shopping in is "Grandma's Bait" - appropriate! We walked into the historic home district and eventually went to the Visitor's Center. There we found there was going to be a walking tour so we headed out to the Woodrow Wilson home where it started. Great history lesson. Found that Staunton did not secede from the Union during the Civil War. That fact, and its reputation as a whiskey producer, led to it being left alone mostly. We visited the Episcopal Church that has 12 Tiffany stained glass windows - just gorgeous, one signed by Tiffany.

After Staunton we headed south to Lexington since we had heard and read so much about Stonewall Jackson. We went first to the VMI campus and toured the Museum there. Attached here are pictures of Stonewall's India rubber raincoat worn on the night he was shot by his own pickets and the stuffed remains of his horse. We walked around the campus - it was pretty hot but not too humid. Very fort-like, but very open.

Next we visited the campus of Washington and Lee which is right next to VMI. This is a gorgeous campus and is what I expected when thinking of a Southern University. Broad lawns, columned buildings, very stately and peaceful - and it was hot! During the Civil War, when VMI was burned to the ground by the Feds, W&L was merely looted, mainly out of deference to Washington's name. Lee's name was added after the Civil War when he was president of the Univ. for 6 years or so. He died while in that job. His tomb and that of his family are on campus, as well as the burial site of Traveler, Lee's horse. Traveler outlasted Lee and his former stable, a garage now, always has the door open so his spirit can roam. I love the South!

We then went into town for a short visit, stopped at Jackson's house and saw his garden, drove by Jackson's grave and then headed to Lynchburg on the other side of the mountains. We spent the night there.