Civil War Kids Camp

The Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation’s Civil War Kids Camp is perfect for veteran campers or youngsters trying it for the first time.

Come see the daily life of a Civil War soldier, watch a live cannon demonstration, learn about Civil War spies, play Civil War era games, and much more!

Check-In and Drop off: 9 – 9:30 am

Camp: 9:30 – 11:30 am

Pick up: 11:30 am – 12 pm

Open to children ages 6 to 14. Space is limited so register early! Pre-registration is required. The cost is $20. To register, or for more information, call 540-740-4545 or click the link below.

https://www.shenandoahatwar.org/civil-war-kids-camp-2023

Gardening in the Valley Symposium

Join us for the 2023 Gardening in the Valley Educational Symposium.

The Gardening in the Valley Educational Symposium offers a full day of continuing education both for Extension Master Gardeners and members of the public. Proceeds from the symposium benefit the NSVMGA Memorial Scholarship Fund.

2023 Topics and Speakers:

9:00–10:00 a.m.

Ecology in the Garden, Dr. Karin Burghardt, Assistant Professor, University of Maryland, Department of Entomology and Research Associate, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

10:15–11:15 a.m.

Our Journey from the Vineyard to the Tasting Room, Loretta and Paul Briedé, Briedé Vineyards

11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

The Best Flowers for a Better Life, Jessica Hall, Harmony Harvest Farm

1:30–2:30 p.m.

Fungi of Appalachia and Home-Grown Mushrooms, Sharon Briggs, Peasant’s Parcel

2:45–3:45 p.m.

Intentional Garden Design, Ginger Anderson, Education and Outreach Specialist, Oak Springs Garden Foundation

More information and registration: https://nsvmga.org/events/symposium/

Bugs and Suds Science Cafe

Learn about conservation of native bees, butterflies, and lightning bugs with Blandy bug scientists! This free and informal event is open to the public, but registration is requested. Drinks and snacks are available for purchase from Winchester Brew Works.

What to expect: Short, lively, informal talks about bugs.

Where to meet: Winchester Brew Works (320 North Cameron Street, Winchester, VA, 22601)

This program is free, but advanced registration is requested.

More information and registration

Growing Your Agribusiness

The Virginia Cooperative Extension Office, Clarke County Economic Development and Tourism, and the Winchester-Frederick County Tourism Office will be hosting an informational and input session to assist and gather feedback from those looking to start or grow their agribusiness. We will discuss tools
and formulate priorities to help regional agritourism and agribusiness thrive.

This free, two-part event will discuss starting or growing your agribusiness, and feature speakers and experts both at the local and state level to offer information and strategies on best practices, business planning, grants, marketing and more.

Our lunch break at noon is open to all attendees and is sponsored by the Frederick County Economic Development Authority.

At 1pm, we’ll reconvene with just the existing agribusinesses in Winchester/Frederick/Clarke to discuss tools and formulate priorities to help regional agritourism and agribusiness thrive, and gain your feedback and input on regional marketing initiatives and how we can best support you as your grow and adapt.

Please RSVP: www.eventbrite.com/e/growing-your-agribusiness-tickets-255488181027

 

Battle of Cedar Creek Special Programs

Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park, Belle Grove Plantation, and the Town of Middletown will host the 155th Anniversary of the Battle of Cedar Creek programs from Friday, October 18 – Sunday, October 20.

Friday, October 18

Battle of Cedar Creek in a Box
Friday, October 18, 11:30 a.m.
Location – Front Lawn of Belle Grove – 336 Belle Grove Road, Middletown, VA 22645

Battle of Cedar Creek Tour
Friday, October 18, 1:00
Starting Location – Visitor Contact Station, 7712 Main Street, Middletown, VA 22645

History at Sunset – Tommy, Charlie, and the Kidd: General Wesley Merritt’s Cavalry at Cedar Creek
Friday, October 18, 4:00 p.m.
By 1864, the Union cavalry was superior to the Confederate cavalry for several reasons: better horses, more firepower, and aggressive, enthusiastic leadership. Cavalry division commander Gen. Wesley Merritt and his three brigade commanders were well-trained, experienced leaders who expected to win every combat action. Join Ranger Rick Ashbacker to follow Merritt’s division from the Union right flank all the way to its counterattack position on the Union left flank during the battle of Cedar Creek.
Starting Location – NPS Visitor Contact Station – 7712 Main Street, Middletown, VA 22645

Saturday, October 19

In Depth Cedar Creek Car Caravan Driving Tour
Saturday, October 19, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Starting Location – NPS Visitor Contact Station – 7712 Main Street, Middletown, VA 22645

Signal Knob Interpretive Hike
Saturday, October 19, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Hike at your own pace and join a National Park Service Ranger at the top of Signal Knob to see the expansive Shenandoah Valley landscape and learn about the significance of the mountain during the Civil War and its role in the Battle of Cedar Creek.
Click here for directions to Signal Knob.

Battle of Cedar Creek in a Box
Saturday, October 19, offered at 10:30, 12:30, 2:00
Location – Front Lawn of Belle Grove – 336 Belle Grove Road, Middletown, VA 22645

10th Virginia Living History
Saturday, October 19, offered at 10:00, 11:00, and 4:00
Location – Front Lawn of Belle Grove – 336 Belle Grove Road, Middletown, VA 22645

“Battling in the Streets” Middletown and the Battle of Cedar Creek
Saturday, October 19, 5:00 p.m.
Middletown constantly found itself in the middle of war. At no time was this truer than on October 19, 1864 during the Battle of Cedar Creek when fighting raged through the town’s streets both during the morning Confederate assault and the afternoon Union counterattack.The evening will conclude with, first in helping with the lighting of the town’s luminaries, followed by making the short walk to the St. Thomas Episcopal Church, a facility used as a hospital after the battle. Join Ranger Jeff Driscoll as he explores this critical, but often overlooked action.
Starting location – Visitor Contact Station, 7712 Main Street, Middletown, VA 22645

Sunday, October 20

Battle of Cedar Creek in a Box
Sunday, October 20, offered at 10:30 and 12:30
Location – Front Lawn of Belle Grove – 336 Belle Grove Road, Middletown, VA 22645

From Battlefield and Beyond: War Comes to the Shenandoah Valley
Sunday, October 20, offered at 9:30 and 1:30
Location: Hupp’s Hill Civil War Park, 8437 Valley Pike, Strasburg, VA 22641

“A storm of bullets swept the ground…”: The Stand of the 30th Massachusetts and 114th New York Regiments
Sunday, October 20, 11:00
It was still the early morning of October 19, 1864, at Cedar Creek when Union Generals Emory and Wright made their decision: the Confederate attack had already routed the 8th and much of the 19th Corps, and in order to gain time so they could form a defensive line in front of Belle Grove, they had to hold up the Confederate assault. As Emory said later, “…It was one of those painful cases when it was necessary to sacrifice a smaller force for the greater.” That smaller force would be the 30th Massachusetts and 114th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiments. Join Park Ranger Jeff Driscoll as he walks in the footsteps of these two regiments, and takes you to the ground where they sacrificed so much.
Starting Location – Belle Grove’s Special Event parking area, 336 Belle Grove Road, Middletown, VA 22645

10th Virginia Living History
Sunday, October 20, times to be determined
Location – Front Lawn of Belle Grove – 336 Belle Grove Road, Middletown, VA 22645

“Kneading in Silence, a Glimpse into the life Judah the Enslaved Cook”
Sunday, October 20, offered at 2:30
Location – Historic Kitchen at Belle Grove – 336 Belle Grove Road, Middletown, VA 22645

Crossroads of History Conference

Atlanta, the Valley, and the Crossroads of History:
The Battles and Leaders That Influenced Lincoln’s Reelection in 1864

In August 1864, the outcome of the Civil War hung in the balance, and Abraham Lincoln’s chances for reelection looked doubtful – until a series of pivotal battles around Atlanta and in the Shenandoah Valley helped propel Lincoln to victory. Led by historians Gary Ecelbarger and Scott Patchan, this conference will examine those events – and the fights and personalities that changed the course of history.

SCHEDULE:
8am: Check-In Desk Opens
9am: Lincoln’s Jeopardized Election Status in Summer 1864 – Gary Ecelbarger
10am: The Battle of Atlanta – Unheralded Turning Point – Gary Ecelbarger
11am: The Battle of Jonesboro and Sherman’s Capture of Atlanta – Scott Patchan
Noon: Lunch (On your own)
1:15 pm: Black Jack Logan’s 6 Months of Unprecedented Political Generalship – Gary Ecelbarger
2:15 pm: Phil Sheridan’s Leadership at the Battle of Cedar Creek: From Union Disaster to Icing on the Cake – Scott Patchan
3:15 pm: Final Actions of the Third Battle of Winchester – Tour in Old Town Winchester – Scott Patchan

The cost will be $27 for SVBF members; $30 for non-members. Lunch will be on your own. Space will be limited, and pre-registration is required.

Register Online

For more information, call the SVBF at 540-740-4545.

 

Juneteenth Presentation

The opening session of the 2019 Willa Cather Seminar at Shenandoah University will feature a panel of scholars examining Cather’s depiction of African American life in Virginia as seen through Cather’s final novel, Sapphira and the Slave Girl (1940).

Panelists include Ann Romines, professor emerita, The George Washington University; Matthew Clark Greer, PhD candidate in anthropology, Syracuse University; and Jonathan Noyalas, director, The McCormick Civil War Institute, Shenandoah University.

Free; registration not required. Presented in part by the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, this program takes place in Stimpson Auditorium, Halpin-Harrison Hall at Shenandoah University.

International Willa Cather Seminar

Please join us in Willa’s first home, in Frederick County, Virginia, for the 17th International Willa Cather Seminar. In addition to the many scholarly panels and featured speakers (see below), we’ll be visiting many of the sites young Willa knew well and remembered all her life: the Baptist church she attended in the hamlet of Back Creek Valley (now Gore), her Grandmother Boak’s house where she was born, the Mill House (built by her great-great-grandfather in the 1740s), where her Seibert grandparents ran the mill from 1830s-1870s, and the Confederate cemetery where her Confederate uncle, fatally wounded in a Civil War battle, is buried, as well as other family cemeteries.

We’ll be entertained by the present owners of Willow Shade, the home where Willa lived with her family for her first nine years. And we’ll enjoy a picnic supper at Capon Springs, a resort that Willa’s young parents enjoyed. Local relatives of the Cather and Boak families will join us at Shenandoah University (where the Seminar will be based) for dinner and conversation. Wednesday is a day off campus with seminarians visiting Washington, D.C. and spending a day on the Washington Mall, with the opportunity to visit the National Museum of African American Heritage and Culture, for which we’ve obtained passes.

Then, on Thursday, we’ll go to the beautiful Museum of the Shenandoah Valley for a program celebrating a recent gift, an album quilt adorned with names of Cather relatives and friends from the mid-nineteenth century, and to explore local history and art. Friday’s program will end with a festive banquet and program by singer Barbara Davis, followed by local Virginia bluegrass music. And on Saturday morning, there will be a wonderful optional event: a special service led by Reverend Charles Peek for Cather Seminarians at the beautiful Christ Episcopal Church, attended by some Cather relatives and featured in Sapphira and the Slave Girl.

Co-Directors:
Marilee Lindemann, University of Maryland
Ann Romines, George Washington University, emerita

Site Director:
John Jacobs, Shenandoah University, emeritus

Sponsored by the Willa Cather Foundation, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Shenandoah University, and the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley

More information and schedule of events

Second Battle of Kernstown Tour

The Kernstown Battlefield will host a walking and driving tour for the 158th Anniversary of the Second Battle of Kernstown, the last Confederate victory in the Valley. The tour will take you to key battle locations on and around the battlefield property.

Accomplished Civil War author Scott Patchan, known for his excellent books, Shenandoah Summer and Last Battle of Winchester, will lead this tour. Come and learn more about this battle that saw 1,200 Union soldiers become casualties while the Confederates under General Jubal A. Early lost only 200 men in what Virginia Sergeant John Worsham would call the “most easily won victory” of the war.

The tour will take place from 10:00 am – 2:00pm on Saturday, July 23, 2022, starting at the battlefield’s Artillery Building where Scott will provide an overview of the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. Bring a bag lunch, water, and dress for the weather. There is no fee for the tour, but we do recommend that you pre-register and donations are greatly appreciated.

The tour will focus on the strategies of Generals Early and George Crook for control of the Valley. Scott will explore how General Crook completely misread the situation and brought on a devastating defeat for the Union Army. You will also walk in the footsteps of a former U. S. Vice President, two future U. S. Presidents, and a Colonel who was the grandfather of a WWII hero.

The Kernstown Battlefield is located at 610 Battle Park Drive, Winchester, Virginia 22602, located behind the Subaru dealership and next to Creekside Station on Valley Avenue. There is no entry fee for the Battlefield. As we are a 501(c)(3) all volunteer corporation, donations are graciously accepted.

Sign up for the tour here