Cooperative Living March/April 2014 - 14

STORIES FROM THE ROAD
THIS YEAR COOPERATIVE LIVING IS TAKING A
ROAD TRIP ALONG THE LENGTH OF ROUTE 11 AS
IT CROSSES VIRGINIA FROM NORTH TO SOUTH.
EACH ISSUE, CORRESPONDENT DEBORAH HUSO
WILL RELATE HER EXPERIENCES ALONG THE WAY.
Story and photos by
Deborah Huso,
Contributing Writer
Hallowed Ground and
the Town Antiques Built
From the well-preserved trenches of the Shenandoah Valley's last major
Civil War battle to the " Antiques Capital of Virginia, " you'll find plenty
worth exploring along Route 11 in Middletown and Strasburg.
O
ne of the things I like most about
these road trips is the way
serendipity so often intervenes. It
suits me - this traveling, often with no
particular aim in mind, other than to ride a
certain stretch of road and stop whenever
something strikes my fancy. Such was the
case on a crisp fall morning when I pulled
into the Cedar Creek Battlefield Headquarters
just outside Middletown on the
third leg of my trip south on Route 11.
On the west side of the road stretched
a long expanse of field below the outline of
the Allegheny Mountains, the mansion of
Belle Grove standing stark and white in the distance. On the east
side of the road, where I had stopped to check out some battlefield
signage, I found myself joined by an easygoing gentleman in a gray
plaid sports coat, salt-and-pepper hair brushed back away from his
forehead, casually smoking a cigar, legs crossed as he leaned into a
picnic table outside the battlefield headquarters museum. " So where
are you from? " he asks between puffs.
After I tell him my haphazard agenda as a travel columnist, he
is intrigued, holds out his right hand to me and says, " I'm Tom
Lomax. " It turns out he's the executive director of the Cedar Creek
Battlefield Foundation, as well as being a former U.S. Secret Service
agent (he pulls out his wallet and shows me his badge). More
12
intrigued now by his former career than I
am by the Civil War, I ask for stories about
his service. He shakes his head, telling me
he is professionally and ethically bound to
tell no secrets. He began his career in service
to President Jimmy Carter. Barack
Obama was the last president he served
before retiring in 2010.
His real love, however, is the Civil
Middletown's Belle Grove manor house dates to 1797.
War, and he has been a reenactor since
1961. He participated in his first battle
reenactment at the age of 11. Today he
is a member of the 5th U.S. Artillery,
Battery D. " It may be the only Union reenactment
group in the state of Virginia, " he remarks.
It is appropriate that I've landed here on the Cedar Creek battlefield
this year. 2014 marks the Oct. 19 battle's 150th anniversary.
Last year, Lomax tells me, the reenactment drew over 2,700 participants,
and he expects even more this fall.
" We're the only battlefield left in the U.S. where you can
actually do a Civil War reenactment on hallowed ground, " he says.
The Cedar Creek Battlefield Foundation owns 19 core trenches from
the battle that effectively ended the 1864 Valley Campaign of
Confederate Gen. Jubal Early. One can also see original trenches and
lunettes overlooking the town of Strasburg 3½ miles south of here
on Route 11 at Hupp's Hill Civil War Park.
Cooperative Living/March-April 2014
Cooperative Living March/April 2014

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