Orange County Review inSIDEr, May 1, 2008 From slavery to Jim Crow-The to his daughter, internationally known horsewoman, Madison family had already been here for Marion. Marion starts the tradition, in 1934, of the Right i two generations. His grandfather, Montpelier Races, opening the estate to the public on n Ambrose, had married Frances Taylor, one the first Saturday of November…a tradition that endures of Colonel James Taylor II's daughters to this day. (remember him from Part I?) Ambrose Following Marion's death in 1983, the National Trust here in built a house named Mt. Pleasant near for Historic Preservation acquired title to Montpelier. S where James and Dolley Madison are Currently, Montpelier is undergoing a massive $23 mil- buried today. Within two months, Ambrose lion project to recover the 22-room 1820s Madison is dead. Pompey, a slave borrowed or rent- home from the 55-room duPont mansion. Right here in Orange ed from another plantation, is tried, con- Orange County. victed and executed for poisoning Time to load up and head for Orange for the final por- I Ambrose to death. Two others, Turk and tion of our tour. D Dido are implicated. Yet Frances Taylor No story of the county is complete without mention of Madison, the widow, puts them back to the wreck at the Fat Nancy Trestle. Fat Nancy is the only County: work because their names show up in future records. In those days, a plantation E Montpelier is being restored to the original 22-room 1820s was divided into sections, part II Madison-era mansion. known as "quarters," and it was Photo by Bernice Walker not uncommon for a slave to be Looking from Rt. 15 towards Woodley and Kenwood Farm. Turn in at the new entrance to Montpelier and park at an overseer of a quarter. Sawney was such a the new Visitor's Center- slave. Tobacco merchants on the docks at Two weeks ago, we took you on the As you drive along Route 15, you will r Stop #6-Montpelier- Fredericksburg would look for Sawney's mark first half of a self-guided journey notice that you are paralleling the There is much significant history here, and it doesn't on the hogsheads of tobacco. They knew through Orange County that is based Southwest Mountains. Formed eons always involve the obvious… that this was the home of those containers contained prime leaf. on a heritage tour given by historian, ago, these mountains are what's left the Fourth President of the United States and the Father Up in a patch of woods between the flat Frank Walker. In this issue of the from erosion. In other words, over mil- of the U.S. Constitution, James Madison. We will try to track and the new visitor's center is the slave Insider, we will pick up from where we lions and millions of years, the soft rock tell you a little bit about some of these stories, but we cemetery. Unmarked graves can be seen left off in the Town of Orange. So, just washed away, leaving the hard rock don't have room for all. By all means, go into the visitors after a snowfall by the slight depressions in gather up your map from two weeks to stand alone. In Part I, we talked about land and center (open daily 9:30-5:30), watch the film presenta- the ground. And household slave quarters The wreck at the Fat Nancy Trestle, July 12, 1888. ago, and let's explore the people and tion and tour the mansion and grounds. And then con- have been discovered south of the mansion. events that made our county the his- how soil type played a role in the for- sider the following: During the winter of 1863-64, toric treasure trove that it is. tunes of the families who settled those James Madison was NOT born here- The reason Confederates camped across Rt. 20 from here. When name we have. She may have been a laundress who lands. A splendid example of that rich for that is, in those days, a woman usually gave birth to the war was over, freed slaves George and Polly lived nearby. Apparently she waved to trains, and she "Orange County, soil we were talking about can be seen her first child in familiar surroundings, namely her home Gilmore rented 16 acres and built a cabin, using an was, uh, quite large. in the carefully cultivated test plots of place. Nellie Conway abandoned chimney from In the wee hours of the morning of July 12, 1888, train Be it Remembered" the Northern Piedmont Agricultural one of those Confederate Number 52 eased out of Orange bound for Somerset, Research facility next to the Regional Madison gave birth to Those are the first words on the first The Orange County Courthouse as it appeared in encampments. At age 90, Barboursville and points beyond. On board was Jail. Further down the road, look to your James Junior at Port page of the first General Order Book the 19th century (from a photo in the Orange George bought the 16 Cornelius Cox, the man in charge of replacing, with right towards Woodley and Kenwood Conway among family, issued in Orange County. The date was County Historical Society) above, and as it appears acres, and today his earth fill, the rickety 487-foot-long wooden trestle. In a behind it; you will see Bernice Walker's friends and familiar ser- January 21, 1734 (Old Style calendar). today, below. vants. Then when she modest cabin survives as scene that evokes head-shaking irony, the trestle col- Created by an Act of Establishment, the photograph (page 1) that is the dust and the infant were well the only restored freed- lapsed, killing Cox and eight others, including a county is named after William, Prince of jacket for Frank Walker's book, enough to travel, she man's home open to the Confederate veteran returning from a Gettysburg the House of Orange-Nassau who married Remembering: A History of Orange County, came here. It's as if you public in the United reunion. A ninth body was found in the wreckage, that of Anne, the Princess Royal and daughter of Virginia. said, "I was born and States. Today, a direct a deceased infant in a coffin in the baggage car...bound England’s George the II. Apparently this lis- There is a reason for this: it is one of the raised in Orange descendant, Rebecca somewhere for burial. The last two cars did not plunge some lass was as wide as she was tall. When most historic and scenic places in the County." Well, actually Gilmore Coleman, born into the abyss. And on one was none other than former asked by her father if she accepted William's county. It is part of the Madison/Chew you weren't. You were and raised right here in Confederate General, James Longstreet, the general proposal of marriage, she replied, "Father I patent that eventually included Montpelier. P probably born in a hospi- Orange County, is presi- who was wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness and shall have him were he a baboon." Lucky fella. James Madison's brother Ambrose lived at tal either in Culpeper, dent of the Orange was carried back to Meadowfarm 24 years earlier…right Anyway, in 1734, Orange County was to Woodley, and "Stonewall" Jackson camped h County African-American here in Orange County. here after defeating John Pope at Cedar Fredericksburg or i include all the land west of here to the M The Montpelier races have been held the first l Charlottesville, and then Historical Society. Mississippi, or at least all the land west of here Mountain in August of 1862. Besides, it fea- Saturday in November since 1934. tures some of the finest farmland in the a raised in Orange County. Now, go back across That concludes our self-guided tour of Orange County. that the crown would like to claim. That means y Route 20 to the old rail- Most of the facts for these two Insiders came from Orange state, and that's why this image is dis- A And so, James that for a few years, Orange County included road station. Reportedly, there in the back, is a sign that played on a Virginia license plate. Right 1 B Madison is born in the "hospital," his mother's ancestral County Historian, Frank Walker and his book, all of West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, u says "Colored." You have just traveled a remarkable one here in Orange County. , home in Prince George County, on March 16, 1751. He Remembering: A History of Orange County Virginia. Illinois and the southern thirds of Michigan y As you go by Madison Run on your left, d spends his entire life here…with some notable excep- mile journey from slavery to freedman to Jim Crow. Available for purchase at the Orange County Historical and Wisconsin! The original courthouse was 2 you will pass where Toddsberth once stood, 0 tions…and dies in this same house on June 28, 1836, The duPonts- It is interesting to note that the Society, it is highly recommended reading for anyone with located just off Rt. 522 near True Blue. By i the ill-fated home of Dolley Madison's alco- b only seven years after his mother died at the age of 97! duPont-Madison connection goes back to the Treaty of an interest in the heritage and history of this remarkable 1749 it had moved to a site across from 0 holic/gambler son Payne Todd whose debts e Besides his more obvious accomplishments, James Friendship and Commerce with France during the county of ours.