Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505090036
SECTION: DISCOVER NRV PAGE: DNRV-78 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: B. LYNN WILLIAMS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
In fact, many who made their mark in Virginia or U.S. history either once called the New River Valley home or visited.
The presence of the Wilderness Road, an offshoot of the Great Wagon Road, probably accounts for the historic figures who passed through the valley. Another factor was the popular appeal of the area's 19th century resorts.
George Washington visited Montgomery County (then Augusta) on his inspection tour of Virginia frontier forts in October 1756. It was the height of the French and Indian War; and Washington, on orders from Governor Dinwiddie, inspected Fort Vause, near present-day Shawsville.
Built around 1755 by Ephraim Vause, the fort ws an important outpost on the frontier. Washington recognized this, writing that ``Voss place is a pass of very great importance ... and would secure if it was strongly garrisoned, all Bedford and the greatest part of this county.''
Frontier legends Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett resided in Christiansburg for a short time.
Among the court records of August 1775 is an arrest warrant for Boone, issued for his failure to pay for supplies needed by the people in Boonsborough. The sheriff of Fincastle County tried to serve the document, but Boone had fled to Kentucky, beyond the reach of the law.
Davy Crockett, the man immortalized in song as having ``killed him a b'ar when he was only 3,'' worked in Christiansburg as a hatter. Imagine this frontier macho man making hats!
After working in the Shenandoah Valley, Crockett stopped at Christiansburg on his way back to Tennessee. While there, he gained employment at John Snider's Hattery Shop on Main Street. When he moved on to Tennessee, he was elected to Congress. His restless nature drove him to Texas, where he died defending the Alamo.
Another luminary whose name appears in local records is Patrick Henry of ``give me liberty or give me death'' fame. Henry's sister was the wife of William Christian, whose name Christiansburg bears. So it is logical that Henry would visit his beloved sister while she lived in the valley.
We know his son, John, visited often, because his name appears in accounts kept by McCorkle's Store in Pulaski County. Like some children of today, John charged his purchases in his father's name, knowing that his credit was good.
Another son, Nathaniel, resided in Floyd County for a time. The seventh son of the great orator taught school, which brought him to Floyd, probably during the late 1840s. Nathaniel Henry died Sept. 6, 1851, and was buried in a unmarked grave in the Old Jacksonville Burial Ground.
Dr. John Stuart, Nathaniel Henry's physician, was a brother of the famous cavalry leader, J.E.B. Stuart.
Near the end of the 18th century, royalty came calling on the region.
Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orleans, made a pilgrimage to America in 1796-97. Because he kept a diary of his comments and travels, we know Louis-Philippe visited Southwest Virginia in April 1797.
Less than impressed by the few local inns where travelers could get lodging, he focused on the countryside, which received equally poor reviews. ``The soil is sandy and dry, the land is flatter, and the springs rarer,'' he commented.
On April 21, he wrote, ``We halted at a tiny village of about ten houses called Christiansburg, the seat of Montgomery County.'' The physical size of people he encountered also received mention in his diary. He appeared awestruck by the height of men and women ``on this side of the Shenando Valley.''
With a complaint of no inn at ``English's ferry,'' he and his party dined ``two miles on the other side with some Irishmen who have given the name New Dublin to a shanty they've been living in for six years.'' He slept in an inn operated by an old man named Carter.
From 1830 to 1848, Louis-Philippe ruled France with a liberal view of monarchy. Some historians theorize that his American tour affected his rule, making him more egalitarian than previous monarchs.
After the Revolutionary War, a grateful Virginia rewarded General ``Light-Horse Harry'' Lee with more than 19,000 acres in what is now Floyd, Carroll and Patrick counties. When Lee died in 1818, his three sons (including Gen. Robert E. Lee) inherited the tract.
One of the general's brothers, Charles Carter Lee, spent so much time at Spring Camp, near Willis in Floyd County, that he wrote a book of poems there, "The Maid of the Doe."
In the spring of 1832, President Andrew Jackson stayed at the Red Horse Tavern, located alongside the Wilderness Road in what is now Pulaski County. En route from Nashville, Tenn., to Washington, D.C., the seventh president is supposed to have stood on the tavern's veranda and spoken to a crowd of local well-wishers.
In 1830, Dr. John Floyd became the first Virginia governor elected from the New River Valley. Although not a native, he spent most of his life at his Thorn Spring home in Pulaski County. Initially a congressman, he served 12 years before declining to run for re-election and quietly returning to his beloved home. The General Assembly called, however, and he listened, which led to him serving two terms. Floyd County was named in his honor.
One of Floyd's sons, John Buchanan Floyd, also became governor of the commonwealth, as well as secretary of war during the Buchanan administration and a Confederate general. Although elected while living in Abingdon, his formative years were spent at Thorn Spring.
Another Floyd relative, William Ballard Preston of Montgomery, served as secretary of war for President Zachary Taylor. One of Preston's brothers, James Patton Preston, became governor of Virginia.
The profusion of resorts in the valley attracted notable visitors. The grand hotel at Montgomery White Sulphur Springs drew many wishing to ``partake of the healing waters.''
German artist Edward Beyer spent time as a guest while he worked on the paintings included in his "Album of Virginia." Jefferson Davis reportedly visited during the early years of the Civil War.
Following that conflict, the resort boomed, becoming a popular watering hole for many members of Southern high society. The "History of Montgomery White Sulphur Springs," by Dorothy Bodell, says that ``as many as 20 former Civil War generals'' gathered there once.
Former Gens. PGT Beauregard and William Hardee booked rooms for the 1873 season. During July 1887, Mrs. John Tyler, wife of the president, patronized the famed resort.
Former Confederate Gen. Jubal Early liked Montgomery White Sulphur Springs, but he preferred Yellow Sulphur Springs, which he made his summer residence after the war.
The thriving resort of Alleghany Springs, another Montgomery vacation spot, drew former Confederate Gens. John B. Hood, Joseph Johnston, and John Mosby.
Mountain Lake in Giles County also attracted visitors of note. Novelists Edna Lee Turpin and James Branch Cabell spent a great deal of time at the mountain retreat.
Eleanor Roosevelt sneaked in for a quiet rest from the Washington fishbowl during the 1930s and '40s.
Before the turn of the 20th century, another New River Valley resident became governor of Virginia. Although James Hoge Tyler had been born in Caroline County, he came to the valley only two weeks after his birth, carried in a champagne basket. Raised by his Hoge grandparents, the future governor grew up in Pulaski County, but spent much of his adult life in Radford.
The most recent Virginia chief executive from the New River Valley was John Dalton of Radford. He served from 1977-81.
by CNB