Lynchburg, VA

10/14 We left Front Royal today and drove south on Highway 15 (James Madison Highway) almost all the way to Lynchburg. Very nice drive. Unfortunately, the weather got worse the farther we went. Started sprinkling and rain by the time we got there. Temp started dropping as well into the low 40’s. The worst part about the day was that, as I was trying to back into a site, I could not see what was on the left side. The corner of the trailer found a tree.

I haven’t looked at it too closely yet due to the rain, but it doesn’t look too bad. Probably have to replace a portion of the bumper (hope that is all!!).

10/16 We drove down to Brookneal, VA. and found the home and acreage of Patrick Henry where he lived for the last six years of his life (Red Hill plantation).

The whole area is beautiful.

We saw his house,

his office,

the slaves’ house,

the kitchen house,

his burial grounds,

a blacksmith shop,

a view of the countryside behind his land,

and a garden that had cotton and tobacco growing in it.

Mom, of course, got some of the cotton.

From there we made our way over to Appomattox to see the historic sites. However, we were to late so we will have to go back at a later date.

10/17 Drove over to the Gladys, VA post office to get our mail. Unfortunately, it has not arrived yet.
Drove into Lynchburg to see some sights. Saw a farmers' market and had to walk thru it.

You might know that, for all of the vegetables, etc. that were for sale, we ended up buying some good stuff:

(School was having a fund-raiser).  Now that we had donuts, we needed coffee!!  Found the visitor’s center and told the guys in the Center that if they had coffee, we had donuts!!  And, guess what?  They had coffee!  So we had donuts and coffee while we watched a short movie there.  Got some brochures and some great information about what to see.
We walked up 172 steps to get to the Lynchburg Museum (and it was well worth it).

This is the view looking down at the James River:

Each level commemorated the soldiers of Viriginia that were killed in the wars from the Civil War thru the Vietnam War.

After spending a couple of hours there, we walked back down the steps and drove out to the Old City Cemetery where they have sections for the confederate army, the coloreds, and the townspeople.

This is a picture of what was commonly found at a colored's grave site.  Empty bottles were hung to keep the spirits out and the bed post was there for them to gain easy access to heaven.

Union soldiers were originally buried there as well, but after the war, they moved them further north.
From there we drove over to Natural Caverns where we saw one of the seven wonders of the world.

Very impressive. Just up from the Cavern was a replica of a small Indian village.

There were people dressed in costume (one lady was actually a descendent of the tribe) and they talked about life during those times.

It was quite a drive over and back – we drove up and down to sets of mountains to get there.

In one stretch trucks over 65 feet were forbidden due to the sharp curves. And, we saw two trucks get turned around by the state patrol!! Apparently, it is a good shortcut for them if they don’t get caught!
We got back to the CG late but the long day was well worth it!!