nother weekend has passed and another huge reason to thank God for our new home town has come to our attention—the Front Royal’s Festival of Leaves.
Soon after we moved here (about two months ago) we made plans to attend the 39th Annual Festival of Leaves in downtown Front Royal. It sounded like a fun day with many events, lots of crafts, and a ton of history. We were not disappointed.
protecting us from the Yankee marauders
Front Royal is a thoroughly southern town. We have noticed this a good bit since we moved here, but the Confederate spirit of this town was on full resplendent display this past weekend for the Festival of Leaves.
As we walked into the central part of the town we saw Confederate soldiers, ladies dressed in mid-19th century dresses, and Confederate National and Virginia flags waving in the breeze. Of course, we were armed with our cameras and ready to capture what we saw.
After visiting many of the vendor stalls along Main Street, we headed to the parade route and were treated to a fantastic parade that featured bands, gymnasts, and representatives from the the locals schools and other community groups. The Front Royal regiment of Confederate soldiers kicked off the parade and got a rousing response from the crowd as they passed in front of us. The folks on the floats threw candy to the kids in the crowd. It was fun to watch the interaction between the people in the parade and the people in the crowd. In a town as small as Front Royal, many of these folks know each other and interacted with each other as the parade progressed.
We enjoyed seeing the marching band from David’s high school along with many other Skyline High School representatives. These kids are very impressive and it was great to watch them in action. The representatives from Warren County High School were also impressive. There is obviously a tremendous amount of talent here in Front Royal. We hope that David will find some clubs at the high school to get involved in to help him focus his interests. There are many that he has already expressed interest in.
When the parade was over, we headed back to the central area of town to see some of the other features of the Festival of Leaves. And we were treated to a wealth of history about this town.
The town of Front Royal was overtaken by Yankee troops and was under Yankee control during part of the War Between the States. On May 23, 1862, General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson captured the town back for the Confederacy and the state of Virginia. While the town was under occupation by the Yankees, one of the women of the town became a Confederate spy. Belle Boyd’s house was open to the public and we were able to see the room where Belle locked a Yankee journalist while she went to inform Confederate leaders of some important Yankee plans she had managed to pry from the man now locked in one of the rooms in her house.
We got to tour the Warren Rifles Confederate Memorial Museum, where we saw an amazing assortment of artifacts from the War. Included among these artifacts were letters from Confederate soldiers to their families, bibles carried by the soldiers, cannon balls, mortars, swords, rifles, pistols, dresses and uniforms, and a portion of the actual rope used to hang John Brown in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. They also have some wonderful artifacts from Mosby’s Rangers, including wood from the tree a few of the rangers were hanged on under orders of Yankee Col. Custer. It is an outstanding museum.
A man and woman dressed in period garb sat outside the museum. David noticed that the man had the exact same sword that I have hanging on the wall of my library at home. This reproduction Confederate battle sword is a beautiful piece of work. But when I bought it I was surprised to find a small stamp on the back of the sword that says, Made in India. So I asked this man if he had noticed the same thing on his sword. He said, “Not much of anything is made in America anymore. That’s what happens when the Yankees take over.” Yep, I love this town!
We also got to tour another of the old houses there in town. In this house there was a woman spinning wool into thread. She explained the processes for wool, flax, and cotton to us and explained some of the economic impact of these processes as they contributed to the dynamics related to the War Between the States. It was fascinating and David ate it up. This living history really awakens David’s desire to learn.
At the end of the day, David kept saying, “this was really fun,” and “this has been such a great day!”
Kim and I have always loved the south. Kim was born and raised here in eastern Tennessee and Virginia. But I was born in Maine. God, in his grace, saw fit to move my family to Virginia when I was only three years old. But it wasn’t until now that we have lived in a truly southern town and we really love it here. We’re praising God for his goodness and mercy.
Check out more pictures at my Festival of Leaves Facebook album.
I love Front Royal, and the Shenandoah Valley. Winchester is also a wonderful southern town. Have you been to Patsy Cline's home site yet in Winchester? I grew up in Loudoun County, and sadly, that place is just really torn up by greed and developers. I love meeting people from all over the United States, but I miss things southern than used to be in Northern Virginia. God Bless.
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