Bus Tour Puts Colonial Loudoun on Display

By Scott Den Herder

Monday, April 7, 2008

Just a few miles beyond Loudoun's highways, past the modern housing developments and recently built homes, the remains of many colonial-era landmarks can be seen -- if you know where to find them.

More than 20 people got an opportunity to do just that Sunday as part of the Exploring Olde Loudoun Bus Tour. The event was the first in a four-part series and focused on the grassroots, colonial history of Loudoun County.

The tour stopped at several well-known locations, including Waterford and Taylorstown. But organizers also wanted to show that history is not always found in the most obvious places.

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Exploring Olde Loudoun Bus Tour

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Visitors walk down a colonial-era road in an area known as Tankerville that connected settlements in Taylorstown and Lovettsville, during the Exploring Olde Loudoun Bus Tour on April 6, 2008. (Scott Den Herder)

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Visitors walk outside a barn near the Skye House, a home owned by Richard Gillespie that was built before 1797. The visit was part of the Exploring Olde Loudoun Bus Tour on April 6, 2008. (Scott Den Herder)

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A view from outside the Skye House, a home owned by Richard Gillespie that was built before 1797. The house has vinyl siding that conceals the logs used to construct it. The visit was part of the Exploring Olde Loudoun Bus Tour on April 6, 2008. (Scott Den Herder)

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A view from inside the Skye House, a home owned by Richard Gillespie that was built before 1797. The house is constructed of logs. The visit was part of the Exploring Olde Loudoun Bus Tour on April 6, 2008. (Scott Den Herder)

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Richard Gillespie explains the historical significance of Point of Rocks, visible in the upper left, during the Exploring Olde Loudoun Bus Tour on April 6, 2008. Native Americans once used the rocks as a meeting point for trading. (Scott Den Herder)

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Hunting Hill, one of the oldest known buildings in Loudoun County, was built around 1737 in Taylorstown. (Scott Den Herder)

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For historian and tour guide Richard Gillespie, the trips are not only about education, but also an opportunity to instill a sense of identity -- something he hopes will ultimately encourage more people to preserve the numerous historical sites that surround them.

"When you have a sense of what happened and where it happened, and you're out with friends on the way to dinner, you point it out. It becomes pride in community," he said. "Instead of just being a person going through Loudoun, you become a Loudouner."

As the bus drove down Route 15, Gillespie pointed to a historical site known as Big Spring. It's a place where the first European settlers in Loudoun County lived. But now it looks more like a big, muddy pond.

It's also the type of historical site that Gillespie seems to enjoy most, a seemingly ordinary place of great, local significance in a location most people would probably never think to look.

"It's not just the most famous places, but the places that we tend to forget about. The stores and shops; the small farms and houses," he said. "People need to be aware that those are historic, too."

Even Route 15 runs along a historical path, an old Native American trail known as the Carolina Road, used for hundreds of years to travel between what became New York, and North and South Carolina, he said.

The second stop brought visitors just outside the Maryland state line, near the small Point of Rocks village. The area got its name from a cluster of jagged rocks that can be seen from the Virginia side of the Potomac River. But Native Americans had used the rocks as a marker that identified a popular trading area, Gillespie said.

Judy and George McDonnell have studied the colonial era in Loudoun but found many surprises on the tour, including the Point of Rocks.

"I will always think about that now, every time I cross that bridge I will be thinking this is where the early American Indians met. And we never knew that," Judy McDonnell said. "It's fascinating,"

The land surrounding the spot is filled with Native American history. It's not uncommon for farmers in nearby Lovettsville and Taylorstown to find artifacts while tilling their land, Gillespie said.

"Almost any place-name that you see in Loudoun County has a significance. If you're going to Taylorstown, it's because there was a fellow named Taylor who ran the mill. If you go to Lovettsville; Lovett ran a store; Purcellville ran a store," he said. "And sometimes when you do that little bit of background, of figuring out where a place-name comes from, it begins to put the place into its historical significance."

The tour stopped at several other sites, focusing on colonial Loudoun from 1722 to 1744. The next tour, on April 13, will start with the 1790s and end just before the Civil War in 1860. The third tour, on April 20, will focus on Civil War sites, and the final tour, on April 27, will look at Loudoun following the Civil War, between 1865 and 1925.

Gillespie, who also is director of education for the Mosby Heritage Area Association, previously taught history at Loudoun Valley High School. He's been giving history tours since 1976.

Trips begin and end in Leesburg at Loudoun County High School at Dry Mill Road and Catoctin Circle. Reservations are required. Trips are $25 per person.

To reserve a seat, call the Mosby Heritage Area Association at 540-687-6681.

Tagged: history, tourism, western Loudoun

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