James Buchanan       The Early Years

“It is a rugged but romantic spot, and the mountain and mountain stream under the scenery captivating. I have warm attachments for it . . . ”James Buchanan on Stony Batter

The Buchanans enjoyed living on the edge of the ...

Unity Academy

Near this site in 1823 Reverend Aaron Williams established the Unity Academy. The first public school in what would later become the town of Hickory Grove. Williams conducted this school on a grade and high school level. Teaching Mathematics, Grammar, ...

Captain George W. Stump

"Stump's Battery"

This is Hickory Grove, the home of Adam and Mary Stump and their son Capt. George W. Stump, who led a company of the 18th Virginia Cavalry during the war. Capt. Stump was always heavily armed with a carbine ...

The Guns Of Jacob Sheetz

Hunting of a Different Sort

The shop of Jacob Sheetz, a Hampshire County gunsmith, once stood ahead of you in the yard to the right of the house. In 1861, Sheetz found himself unusually busy converting ancient flintlock rifles to the ...

Birthplace of James Buchanan

This monument marks the birthplace of James Buchanan, fifteenth President of the United States

Born 23 April 1791 Died 1 June 1868

Marker is on Stony Batter Road / State Forest Road, on the left when traveling north.

Courtesy hmdb.org

Engagement at Great Cacapon

Struggle in the Snow

(Preface): On January 1, 1862, Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson led four brigades west from Winchester, Va., to secure Romney in the fertile South Branch Valley on the North Western Turnpike. He attacked and occupied Bath ...

Campaign in the Snow

Jackson Captures Bath and Romney

The summer of 1861 had been disastrous for Confederate arms in western Virginia (present day West Virginia) and by the New Year the Virginia counties west of the Alleghenies were on the road to statehood. On ...

Camp Mud

Unger's Crossroads Bivouacs

(Preface): On January 1, 1862, Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson led four brigades west from Winchester, Va., to secure Romney in the fertile South Branch Valley on the North Western Turnpike. He attacked and occupied Bath on ...

Civil War Martinsburg

Focus of Contention

Martinsburg, strategically located on the Valley Turnpike, (present day U.S. Route 11) and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, was a major transportation center and the northern gateway to the Shenandoah Valley. Both sides contested for it frequently during ...

Camp Hopkins

Memorial to a Friend

In December 1862, Union Gen. Benjamin F. Kelley stationed detachments of the 54th Pennsylvania and 1st West Virginia Infantry regiments here to guard and repair the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, a main supply route between the Ohio ...