Cooperative Living July 2016 - 33

The little
town that
persevered.
Images in and around The Plains include (clockwise, from upper left) the highly regarded Wakefield School, historic Grace Episcopal
Church, Main Street's Artful Life Gallery, and a horse stable at Beverly Equestrian Center in The Plains.
Street, Route 55, travel along scenic rolling
hills to see farms and one of Northern
Virginia's most popular attractions -
Great Meadow.
THE PLAINS' HISTORY
" The Plains has an inspiring story, "
says John " Jay " Adams Jr., whose family
has lived and farmed there since 1890.
The lawyer, former U.S. Army officer, and
business owner has watched the town
dive and thrive. " You need to know its
history and how it became the town we
all love today. "
The village grew from just a post office
in a store and one house in 1831. Once the
Manassas Gap Railroad made a stop there
in 1852, farmers could transport their
produce to nearby markets, including
Washington, D.C., 52 miles away. When
the new Grace Episcopal Church's bell
started beaconing families to Sunday
worship in 1855, The Plains became more
than a dot on the map.
THE CIVIL WAR
With streets named Jackson, Pickett,
and Mosby, a visitor has to know The
Plains played a part in the Civil War. It
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did, starting when someone wrote on
the smokehouse wall, " May 1860 ... war
and rumors of war. " That writer could
not imagine the horrors the War Between
the States would start casting down on
the region.
In the First Battle of Manassas in
July 1861 and the second in 1862,
Confederate troops traveled through
the town on their way to confront
Union soldiers. Confederate Gen. Robert
E. Lee's troops were so hungry before
the second battle that they begged
townsfolk for food. After a good meal,
the nourished soldiers marched on to
defeat the North again.
In February 1863, Col. John Mosby's
raiders caused two Union trains to crash
near The Plains. People in and around
town hid the saboteurs. The crash, and
the raiders' other " bullying ragging "
throughout the region, brought Yankee
retribution. Union troops burned the
town's storehouses, smokehouses,
barns, cornfields and stables. Food
became scarce.
The Plains slowly recovered after Lee
surrendered to U.S. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
in 1865.
THE 20TH CENTURY
As the century turned, the little village
in Virginia's Piedmont region began
prospering, especially from wealthy fox
hunters who traveled from New York in
private railroad cars to spend the hunting
season there. They loved it so much they
built their own Orange County Hunt Club
and helped finance the new Grace
Episcopal Church. The growing village
incorporated in 1910.
When the U.S. entered World War I in
1917, The Plains' chapter of the Piedmont
Red Cross exceeded its quota of $1,000 by
more than any other chapter in the United
States. It collected over $15,000 and
provided medical supplies, knitted socks
and gloves for soldiers.
America and its allies won the war in
1918. The village enjoyed tranquility -
until the stock market crashed in
1929. The Great Depression and World
War II, 1941-1945, took its toll when the
railroad curtailed services. Fewer hunters
came to hunt and fewer farm products
went to market.
After the war, Northern Virginia began
to rebound and grow. More trucks and
travelers tooled through town at high
July 2016 | Cooperative Living | 31

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Cooperative Living July 2016

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