Historic Perspectives News About the Preservation of Prince William County’s Historic Resources Published by the Prince William County SPRING 2018 Department of Public Works, Historic Preservation Division Discovering Nature at Neabsco Creek Wetlands Nature admirers are fortunate when they come to Prince William County. Our area provides some of the best environmentally diverse resources to explore. From National Park Service sites, like Leesylvania and Forest Park, to nature trails at Brenstville Courthouse Historic Centre and Rippon Lodge Historic Site, there are plenty of lush, Neabsco Creek Wetlands beautiful landscapes to enjoy! Photo by Jim Klakowicz One of the County’s great locations is the Julie J. Metz Neabsco Creek Wetlands Preserve. Just off Route One, and north of Leesylvania State Park, the 120 acre Neabsco Creek Wetlands Preserve was created in 1995 with the help of the US Army Corps of Engineers. The wetlands holds numerous species of animals, plants, insects, and marine life. During the course of the year, visitors may potentially see beavers damning up part of the water for their homes, hundreds of different bird species living in or using the wetlands as a stop on their migration, birthing of new animals and bugs each spring, and gorgeous flowers blooming alongside all of the nature trails and boardwalks. Why create a wetlands in Prince William County? Historically, Neabsco Creek was at one time deep enough to sail a tall ship through to present day Freedom High School. The shoreline was dotted with grist and saw mills and the Tayloe Iron Works. Over time, the waterway changed dramatically with natural settlement, storms, hurricanes, and development. Sediment and pollution, from run-off drainage and trash, among other factors, became a consistent problem affecting the ecosystem around the waterway. Something needed to be done. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, “As the population has expanded across the Nation during the past few centuries, wetlands have been drained and altered to accommodate human needs. These changes to wetlands have directly, or indirectly, brought about changes in the migratory patterns of birds, local climate, and the makeup of plant and animal populations. In the past, people used wetland plants and animals for shelter and food. Recently, people have become more aware of the other benefits that wetlands provide: water-quality improvement, flood attenuation, esthetics, and recreational opportunities. …Restoration and creation [of a wetland] can help maintain the benefits of wetlands and their surrounding ecosystems, and at the same time accommodate the human need for development.” Additionally, with the creation of the wetlands near the Potomac River, it aids in the hydrology of the area. “Wetlands are complex ecosystems in which ground water and surface water interact, but because ground water cannot be directly observed, its role in the hydrology of wetlands is sometimes more difficult to understand than that of surface water. Many wetlands owe their existence not only to poor drainage at the site but also to the discharge of ground water at the site.” Continued on next page... 1 Discovering Nature at Neabsco Creek Wetlands Continued... Not only do the wetlands support the local ecosystem, they Stephanie Schmidt, are a fantastic place to interact with nature peacefully. Walking George Mason University along the paths and boardwalks is great exercise, many visitors doctoral candidate, take pictures of the ever-changing landscape, or go bird conducts field research watching. Bald eagles and osprey are just a couple of the birds in the wetlands! found inside the wetlands! Very soon, visitors will enjoy the wetlands even more with the construction of the Potomac Heritage Trail Boardwalk. This new boardwalk is part of a larger trail, consisting of many notably historic and natural sites over an 800 square mile area. The new boardwalk is currently being installed, with painstaking care, to not disturb or disrupt the ecosystem of the wetlands. Once complete, visitors may walk across the wetlands, seeing nature inside the wetlands and creek, up close for the first time. This valuable, educational, and recreational addition to the HPD Photo community, will include informational panels interpreting the history of Neabsco Creek and the thriving natural environment. A small but important part of the county’s management of Neabsco Creek is to allow the area to be used as an outdoor laboratory. One of the first created wetlands in the nation, it has proven fertile ground for pioneering research projects and continues to serve as an important region for local university scientific research. At the moment, researchers from George Mason University’s wetlands ecology lab are studying the color of hydric, water saturated, soils, as well as experimental research in water table measurement. Hopefully, this work will provide valuable scientific data to help us better understand the conditions in the wetlands. Each year, in the spring and fall, the Historic Preservation Division offers guided tours of the Neabsco Creek Wetlands Preserve for free! Guests will experience all of the beauty and fauna the wetlands offer, with the benefit of an expert guide. On Saturday, April 28, staring at 8 a.m., join division staff and our expert guide on the Spring Migration Bird and Nature Walk. Visitors are encouraged to bring binoculars, bottled water, guide books, and to wear walking shoes or hiking boots, dress for muddy conditions, and wet or cold weather is recommended. Image in Public Domain No pets please, as they may scare the animals away. To reserve your spot on this free tour, please call: 703-499-9812. Jessica Maria Alicea & J. Nathan McDonald Site Manager Historic Interpreter Rippon Lodge Historic Site Rippon Lodge Historic Site Julie J Metz Neabsco Creek Wetlands Preserve Julie J Metz Neabsco Creek Wetlands Preserve King’s Highway Heritage Park King’s Highway Heritage Park 2 Military History Corner Encampments at Bristoe Station Prior to the Civil War, Bristoe Station emerged as an important stop along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. In the aftermath of the First Battle of Manassas, the first of many encampments sprung up around the railroad. Several Confederate units established encampments in the woods and fields around the station, nominally called Camp Jones after Colonel Egbert Jones of the 4th Alabama Infantry who died of his Manassas wounds on Sept 4th. The camp quickly became dirty and unsan- itary, resulting in an extremely high death count from diseases such as meningitis, small pox, yellow fever, typhoid, measles and pneumonia. Several burial grounds for the dead soon appeared around Camp Jones, though today park historians have only been able to identify the spot of the 10th Alabama cemetery, where approximately 82 Alabamians are buried. On Sept 4th, 1861 Confederate officer William Dorsey Pender wrote to his wife of the conditions at the camp: “I find it hard to keep up my spirits with so much sickness and so many deaths. We have had six in the last week & several more will die.” After the Confederates evacuated Northern Virginia the month before, in April 1862 General Rufus King’s Union troops marched through Bristoe Station, where they found themselves snowed in by a massive blizzard that lasted for four days. The soldiers of the division set up camp around the home of Thomas K. Davis, a union sympathizer, and tore down all of the fences around his property boundary as well as many of the pine trees on his land for firewood and shelter. A soldier serving in the 7th Wisconsin Infantry complained: For the past three days we have been favored by a specimen of the spring weather they have in this portion of the Sunny south in the way of a continued storm of snow, sleet, rain, mud and freezing. I have had some little experience in camping out on the Western plains and mountains, - have slept amid snow, rain and storms on the Rocky Mountains - but can safely swear that there was never at any place or time on this continent as mean, disagreeable and uncomfortable a storm as the one experienced by us on the 8th and 9th of this month in this God forsaken portion of his footstool. The final encampment at Bristoe Station appeared in the winter of 1863-1864. General Samuel Crawford’s Pennsylvania Reserve Division was ordered to guard the Orange and Alexandria rail line, covering the area between Centerville and Rappa- hannock Station. Several units set up winter camps on the Gaines and Limscomb farms at Bristoe station where they completed the destruction of the now abandoned Davis Farmstead, along with the rest of outbuildings at Bristoe Station and many buildings at nearby Brentsville. A soldier in the 33rd Massachusetts described Bristoe as: ...the place where the rebels surrounded Gen. Pope's train of cars one year ago, and burned them. Both sides of the railroad for quite a distance are scattered with debris and fragments of boilers and pieces of cars; a hard -looking sight. It is a nice tract of country, but since it has been occupied by troops it is but one vast waste and desolation. On the right of our camp can be seen the ruins of a once splendid mansion, and at our left is another mansion, nearly all torn to pieces, and all that you can see for miles around is cellars and standing chimneys, with now and then a lone hut, occupied by negroes, whose masters are, to-day, in rebel ranks fighting against us. Not as famous or well known as the two battles that occurred here, the encampments at Bristoe Station were just was important. Just like the battles, the Civil War encampments forever changed Bristoe Station. Bill Backus Site Manager Bristoe Station Battlefield Heritage Park Historic Perspectives 3 Collections Corner Sailing with Admiral Black We have thousands of artifacts.