Near Constitution Highway (Virginia Route 20) 0.6 miles south of Germanna Highway (Virginia Route 3).
You are now standing in what was commonly referred to as "the yard," that part of the plantation where enslaved workers not working the fields performed their daily chores. Depending on the time of year, you might have seen them washing soiled . . . — — Map (db m179561) HM
Near Constitution Highway (Virginia Route 20) 0.7 miles west of Brigadiers Way (Virginia Route 720), on the left when traveling west.
The veneer of elegance at Ellwood (and most plantations) obscured the harsh world beyond the main house. Before the Civil War, dozens of enslaved people spent their energy every day to provide comfort (and profit) to the owners and elegant . . . — — Map (db m179578) HM
Near Constitution Highway (Virginia Route 20), on the left when traveling west.
Ellwood stood in the midst of the Wilderness, a dark, forbidding forest characterized by stunted trees and densely tangled undergrowth. When the Confederates challenged General Ulysses S. Grants advance through the Wilderness on May 5, 1864, the . . . — — Map (db m155694) HM
Near Constitution Highway (Virginia Route 20) 0.6 miles west of Plank Road, on the left when traveling west.
Ellwood stood in the midst of the Wilderness, a dark, forbidding forest characterized by stunted trees and densely tangled undergrowth. When the Confederates challenged General Ulysses S. Grants advance through the Wilderness on May 5, 1864, the . . . — — Map (db m179978) HM
Near Constitution Highway (Virginia Route 20) at Montpelier Road (County Route 693), on the right when traveling west.
Roundtrip: One mile of level woodland trails
An easy walk through a Confederate winter camp to the Gilmore Farm, home of freed Montpelier slave, George Gilmore and his wife, Polly.
Montpelier During the War
After Dolley Madison sold . . . — — Map (db m103579) HM
Near Constitution Highway (State Highway 20) at Montpelier Road (County Route 693), on the right when traveling west.
Guided by the discoveries of local relic collectors, archaeologists have found an extensive Confederate Army encampment within these woods. Excavations have uncovered the remains of huts built by the soldiers during the winter of 1863 and 1864. The . . . — — Map (db m190833) HM
On Constitution Highway (State Highway 20) at County Route 693, on the right when traveling west on Constitution Highway.
After Dolley Madison sold Montpelier in 1844, the estate witnessed many important historic events, few more significant than those of the 1860s. Throughout the winter of 1863 and 1864, as many as 4,500 Confederate troops camped here, part of a . . . — — Map (db m31715) HM
Near Constitution Highway (Virginia Route 20) at South Montpelier Road, on the right when traveling west.
Modern re-enactors from the 3rd Regiment of the Army of Northern Virginia constructed these huts. Like the South Carolina Brigade before them, the re-enactors cut these logs from the surrounding woods. The trees around you are about the same age as . . . — — Map (db m103406) HM
Born to Quaker parents in North Carolina, Dolley Payne lived with her family in Hanover County, Virginia until 1783. Following the death of her first husband, John Todd, she married Congressman James Madison in 1794. As First Lady of the United . . . — — Map (db m63669) HM
Near Constitution Highway (Virginia Route 20) at South Montpelier Road, on the right when traveling west.
George and Polly Gilmore's Graves
This area contains several graves of the Gilmore family. Most prominent among these are the graves of George and Polly Gilmore who are buried beneath the depressions in front of this sign. These depressions . . . — — Map (db m103407) HM
On Constitution Highway (State Highway 20), on the right when traveling west. Reported missing.
George Gilmore, born a slave on the Montpelier plantation about 1810, was freed with the Federal occupation of Orange County in 1865. With his wife Poly and three children, he established a small farmstead near the plantation where he had been . . . — — Map (db m103408) HM
On Constitution Highway (State Highway 20), on the right when traveling west.
George Gilmore was born into slavery at Montpelier about 1810. Like millions of African Americans throughout the South, Gilmore made the transition to freedom after the Civil War. Many emancipated slaves worked on the same plantation where they once . . . — — Map (db m23986) HM
Near Montpelier Road, on the right when traveling south.
Slaves who worked in the Madison's household lived in this nearby area known as the "south yard." The yards of these homes, where most of the household activities took place, were in direct sight of the mansion. As a result, the Madisons would have . . . — — Map (db m23968) HM
On Coney Island Road, on the right when traveling south.
In the fields in front of you, archaeologists have found the extremely well-preserved remains of James Madison's plantation farm complex, which served as the hub of the working farm and the home for several generations of field slaves. This complex, . . . — — Map (db m190832) HM
On Constitution Highway (Virginia Route 20) at Montpelier Road (County Route 693), on the right when traveling east on Constitution Highway.
The Madison-Barbour Rural Historic District, encompassing 32,520 acres of the Piedmont, has been inhabited for more than 12,000 years and contains almost 200 identified prehistoric archaeological sites. Nearby was the likely location of Stegara, a . . . — — Map (db m117219) HM
On Constitution Highway (State Highway 20) at County Route 693, on the right when traveling east on Constitution Highway.
Train service first came to Montpelier in 1880 when the rail line from Orange to Charlottesville was completed. After 1910, a Southern Railway station agent managed the freight, passenger, and telegraph operations, and beginning in 1912, served as . . . — — Map (db m31752) HM
On Constitution Highway (State Highway 20) at County Route 693, on the right when traveling east on Constitution Highway.
"We tend to shy away from our past...we should face up to it, live with it, otherwise it will live with you, and haunt you, and distort you, for all your days." John Hope Franklin, historian, Speaking at the Montpelier slave descendants . . . — — Map (db m31723) HM
On West Gate Road, on the right when traveling west.
James Madison's grandfather, Ambrose Madison, had his slaves construct Mount Pleasant sometime after 1723. Ambrose moved his family here in 1732 from Virginia's Tidewater and unexpectedly died within a few months. Court records show that three . . . — — Map (db m24115) HM
Near Constitution Highway (State Highway 20), on the right when traveling west.
With emancipation, African-Americans found themselves in a complex situation. By law, slavery was abolished, promising freedom and citizenship, but few owned land or had resources to support themselves, and prejudice against them was widespread. . . . — — Map (db m24159) HM
On Race Barn Road, on the right when traveling north.
The burial ground where you are standing is the final resting lace for many members of Montpelier's enslaved community. Slaves' belief in a spiritual world - originating in African religions - was reinforced by Christianity. This drawing shows . . . — — Map (db m24120) HM
On Race Barn Road, on the right when traveling north.
"I walk in the graveyard, I walk through the graveyard To lay this body down. I lay in the grave and stretch out my arms; I lay this body down." -African American spiritual from the era of slavery, as recorded in James Weldon Johnson, the . . . — — Map (db m24118) HM
Near Montpelier Road, on the right when traveling south.
"...the sumptuous board spread under the forest oaks .... everything that a luxurious country could produce, wines, and the well filled punch bowl, to say nothing of the invigorating mountain air ..." - Mary Cutts, Memoir, c. 1840. The . . . — — Map (db m23969) HM
On Montpelier Road, on the left when traveling south.
"And I desire my black Smith Moses, may belong to such of my children as he shall chose if they are willing to take him at a reasonable price." - Will of James Madison, Sr., 1787 The Blacksmith shop, constructed by Madison's father in the . . . — — Map (db m23966) HM
Near Montpelier Road, on the right when traveling south.
"It was a paradise of roses and other flowers, to say nothing of the strawberries, and vegetables; every rare plant and fruit was sent to him by his admiring friends, who knew his taste, and they were carefully studied and reared by the gardener . . . — — Map (db m23985) HM
On West Gate Road, on the right when traveling west.
"The advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is that the Union of the States be cherished an perpetuated." -James Madison, Advice to My Country, 1834 The Madison Family Cemetery is the understated resting place for two of . . . — — Map (db m24117) HM
On Montpelier Road, on the right when traveling south.
"The Negro habitations are separate from the dwelling house both here and all over Virginia, and they form a kind of village." - Journal of Sir Augustus John Foster, 1807 The Quarters, a cluster of wooden buildings segregated from the main . . . — — Map (db m24047) HM
On Montpelier Road, on the right when traveling south.
"Having lost ourselves in the mountain road which leads thro' a wild woody tract of ground, and wandering for some time in Mr. Madison's domain, which seemed interminable, we at last reached his hospitable mansion." - Margret Bayard Smith, . . . — — Map (db m23903) HM
On Constitution Highway (State Highway 20) at Bloomsbury Road, on the right when traveling west on Constitution Highway.
A mile north is Bloomsbury, estate of the pioneer, James Taylor, ancestor of Presidents James Madison and Zachary Taylor. He was a member of Spotswood's expedition over the mountains in 1716. — — Map (db m4699) HM
On South Madison Road (U.S. 15) at West Church Street, on the right when traveling south on South Madison Road.
Andrew Maples grew up in Orange and completed the Civilian Pilot Training Program at Hampton Institute in 1941. He graduated from the Advanced Flying School at the Tuskegee Army Air Field on 14 Jan. 1943, was commissioned a second lieutenant in the . . . — — Map (db m104683) HM
On Constitution Highway (State Highway 20) at Clifton Road (County Route 628), on the right when traveling west on Constitution Highway.
Courageous leader of the Baptist Doctrine Ardent advocate of the principles of democracy Vindicator of separation of church and state. Near this spot in 1788, elder John Leland and James Madison, the father of the American Constitution, held a . . . — — Map (db m4697) HM
On West Main Street (State Highway 20) at Madison Road (U.S. 15), on the right when traveling west on West Main Street.
A valiant soldier General Zachary Taylor 1784-1850 Twelfth President of the United States Born in Orange County Virginia Erected by Orange County Post No. 156 The American Legion 1934 — — Map (db m83144) HM
On Short Street just south of East Main Street, on the left when traveling north.
In 1998, The Orange Commercial Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register in recognition of the distinctive characteristics of its architecture and its association with events . . . — — Map (db m170873) HM
On James Madison Highway (U.S. 15) at Little Skyline Drive (County Route 674), on the right when traveling south on James Madison Highway.
A mile south is the grave of James Lawson Kemper, who led his brigade of Virginia troops in Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863, and fell desperately wounded. He became a Major-General in 1864. Kemper was governor of Virginia, 1874-1878. — — Map (db m170878) HM
On West Main Street just west of North Madison Road (U.S. 15), on the right when traveling west.
In honor of the men and women of Orange County, Virginia, who served in the Korean War, 1950-1953 and in memory of the seven who gave their lives
Arnold, Wallace M.
Brown, William F.
Clatterbuck, Roland W.
Collier, John A. . . . — — Map (db m170678) WM
On Constitution Highway (State Highway 20), on the right when traveling west.
Half a mile west, at the Rogers farm called Middle Hill, Gen. Robert E. Lee kept his headquarters from Dec. 1863 to May 1864. His Army of Northern Virginia, in winter camp, guarded the south side of the Rapidan River from the vicinity of Liberty . . . — — Map (db m4700) HM
On Tomahawk Creek Road (Virginia Route 637) 0.1 miles east of Old Gordonsville Road (Route 647), on the right when traveling east.
At the end of the Civil War, African Americans constituted a majority of the congregation of the white-led Zion Baptist Church, organized nearby in 1813. Exercising newfound autonomy after emancipation, black members withdrew and established Little . . . — — Map (db m170879) HM
On West Main Street (State Highway 20) at Madison Road (U.S. 15), on the right when traveling west on West Main Street.
Five miles southwest is Montpelier, the home of James Madison, "Father of the American Constitution" and fourth president of the United States, 1809-1817. Near the house is the tomb of Madison, who died at Montpelier on June 28, 1836. — — Map (db m4703) HM
On Constitution Highway (State Highway 20), on the right when traveling west.
Dr. Robert Thomas, a prominent Orange County physician, constructed Oakley in the Greek Revival style in 1843. His daughter Sarah (Sally) Thomas Browning and her husband, G. Judson Browning, later owned it. George W. Bagby (1828-1883), Southern . . . — — Map (db m22226) HM
On Dailey Drive west of Caroline Street (U.S. 15) and Berry Hill Road (Virginia Route 20), on the left when traveling west.
Orange Graded School, built in 1925 to replace
the African American schoolhouse on West Main
Street, stood here. Of the several county schools
for black students, Orange Graded was the only
one built using the Julius Rosenwald Fund, which
was . . . — — Map (db m89880) HM
On East Main Street (State Highway 20) at Short Street, on the right when traveling east on East Main Street.
Beginning in 1749, Orange County's successive courthouses have been located just west of here. In 1854, the Orange & Alexandria Railroad, constructed to link Alexandria with central Virginia, reached Orange and a train station was built near here. . . . — — Map (db m170870) HM
On Piney Woods Road (Virginia Route 677) 0.2 miles north of Monrovia Road (Route 612), on the right when traveling north.
The Orange County School Board acquired five acres here in 1894 and established Shady Grove School for African American students. With contributions from African American patrons, the county erected a new two-room frame building here ca. 1923. . . . — — Map (db m170702) HM
On Caroline Street (Virginia Route 20) just north of Brooking Street, on the right when traveling north.
The bricks let into the floor below were part of the foundation of the old Middle Church built prior to 1740 and located on Church Run at Meadow Farm, Orange, Virginia. — — Map (db m170675) HM
On Short Street just south of East Main Street, on the right when traveling south.
1965
On the snowy evening of February 1, 1965, this railway station was severely damaged when steel girders being carried on three piggybacked trailers of a northbound freight train broke loose and swung to the right as the train rounded . . . — — Map (db m170705) HM
On Short Street, on the right when traveling south.
After Gettysburg and some minor operations during the summer and fall of 1863, Gen. Robert E. Lee and his Confederate army settled into winter quarters on the hills around the town of Orange Court House. Lee relied on the Orange and Alexandria . . . — — Map (db m4701) HM
On West Main Street just west of North Madison Road (U.S. 15), on the right when traveling west.
In honor of the men and women of Orange County, Virginia who served in the Vietnam War 1964-1975 and in memory of the seven who gave their lives
Clarke, William Mosby, Jr.
Estes, Richard Hirum, Jr.
Fincham, William Edward
Hurst, . . . — — Map (db m170682) WM
On Short Street just south of East Main Street, on the right when traveling south.
town history
Orange was born as one of Virginia's Court House villages on November 24, 1749, when the Gentlemen Justices of Orange County voted to hold County Court sessions in Timothy Crosthwait's tavern alongside "Swift Run Gap Road," the . . . — — Map (db m170689) HM
On West Main Street just west of North Madison Road (U.S. 15), on the right when traveling west.
In honor of the men of Orange County, Virginia who served in the Great War and in memory of the eighteen who gave their lives
Daniel Ashby McIntosh
Edward D'Oyley Northrop
Bernard E. Verling
Charles R. . . . — — Map (db m170679) WM
On West Main Street just west of North Madison Road (U.S. 15), on the right when traveling west.
In honor of the men and women of Orange County, Virginia who served in the Second World War and in memory of the 44 who gave their lives
Andrews, Wm. McKendree
Beck, William Edwin
Breeden, General Lee
Bryant, Gordon Otto . . . — — Map (db m170680) WM
On Constitution Highway (State Highway 20), on the right when traveling west.
Here, on 12 July 1888, occurred one of Virginia's largest train disasters, the wreck of the Virginia Midland Railroad's Train 52, the Piedmont Airline. As it crossed the 44-foot-high, 487-foot-long trestle, called the Fat Nancy for a local African . . . — — Map (db m170880) HM
On Constitution Highway (State Highway 20) at Jacksontown Road (County Route 655), on the right when traveling east on Constitution Highway.
Near this spot are buried James Madison "Father of the Constitution" Fourth President of the United States 1809-1817 and Dolley Madison his wife — — Map (db m24226) HM
On Marquis Road (Virginia Route 669) at Independence Road (Virginia Route 650), on the right when traveling north on Marquis Road.
Isabella Miller Lightfoot, born in Pennsylvania and educated at Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, taught African American children in Orange County from the 1880s to the 1930s. With other African American patrons, she donated funds for a . . . — — Map (db m170703) HM
On Constitution Highway (State Highway 20) at Mine Run Road (County Route 621), on the right when traveling east on Constitution Highway.
At dawn on 18 Aug. 1862, Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart was awakened by the clatter of approaching cavalry. Expecting Maj. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee to join him in scouting Maj. Gen. John Pope's Union army, Stuart was surprised by Federal troopers instead. . . . — — Map (db m4696) HM
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