Virginia's Route 3 - Historyland Highway Quiz

Answer: Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson

Division commander Brigadier-General Charles S. Winder was killed at Cedar Mountain. Brigadier-General Jubal A. Early died in 1894 at the age of 77. You may visit the Stonewall Jackson Shrine at Guinea Station, located 15 miles south of Fredericksburg on Route 606 in Caroline County.

The preserved building which was the scene of Jackson's death was the office on Thomas C. Chandler's 740-acre plantation named "Fairfield." The house itself is no longer there, having burned sometime after the war. In their conversation about Jackson's condition, Robert E. Lee told Jackson's chaplain, Beverly Tucker Lacy, "He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right arm."

Answer: healthful

Salubria was built by the Reverend John Thompson, whose first wife was Lady Spotswood, the widow of Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood. After changing hands several times, Admiral Cary T. Grayson, Presidential Physician to Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson, as well as Wilson's personal physician, was born at Salubria in 1878.

He later headed the American Red Cross. In 1950 noted architect Washington Reed of Warrenton began extensive restoration to the house, returning it to its original 1742 design. Reed was stabilizing the White House for President Truman at the same time.

Answer: The Battle of Salem Church

Union General Joseph Hooker planned to cross the Rappahannock upriver from Fredericksburg and get behind Lee, either pinning him between Sedgwick's force, or causing him to retreat south. After capturing the Sunken Road and Marye's Heights, Sedgwick advanced west to join Hooker, moving along what is now Route 3.

He met the determined Confederates at Salem Church and was driven back across the river the next day. Unfortunately, today almost all of this battlefield has been destroyed by development.

The church, the 15th New Jersey Monument, the 23rd New Jersey Monument, and one acre of ground are all that remain.

Answer: Ferry Farm

Washington inherited Ferry Farm at age 11. Today the farm is an active archaeological site. The riverfront property has been reduced to 84 acres, and while there are no buildings on the land now that were there during Washington's time, there are guides available to show the public where the buildings once stood. Mount Vernon was Washington's home later in life, overlooking the Potomac River.

Answer: James Madison

The fourth man to become President of the United States, James Madison, was born in Port Conway, the first of twelve children of Colonel James Madison, Sr. and Eleanor Rose "Nellie" Conway who married in 1749. Madison is described as having been a "sickly child" and holds the distinction of being the smallest President at 5'4" and 100 pounds.

The wealthy Madison family home was Montpelier in Virginia's Orange County. Port Conway was Nellie's hometown, but information about the house is difficult to find. Today there is a birth site marker on the south side of the river.

Answer: James Monroe

His father, Spence Monroe, was a carpenter and moderate tobacco planter and although he and his wife, Elizabeth Jones, had significant land holdings, they were not wealthy. James spent his entire youth living and working on the farm until he left for The College of William and Mary. Plans to restore and reconstruct the Monroe family farm using period materials are now underway, with completion of the house scheduled for April 2007. Monroe was the third United States president to die on July 4th. He succumbed to heart failure and tuberculosis in 1831, 55 years after the Declaration of Independence, and exactly five years after the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

Answer: Wakefield

The original home burned on Christmas day, 1779, and even though the land was passed down through the family, the house was not rebuilt on the same site, and eventually its exact location was forgotten. An 1936 excavation revealed that a memorial house erected in 1930 was built over the wrong foundation. Once the correct location of the birthplace was determined, the foundation was searched for artifacts and then reburied for protection. Today, that location has only an oyster shell outline marking the dimensions, which can be seen in this picture at the National Park Service site: http://www.nps.gov/gewa/

Answer: George Washington's mother

Mary Ball, called "The Belle of Epping Forest" after her father's estate, was the only child of Joseph Ball and Mary Johnson, his second wife. Mary married a widower with three children, Augustine Washington of Westmoreland County, in 1731. George was the oldest of their five children, born February 22, 1732.

The family settled at the 600 acre Ferry Farm in 1738, but Augustine died in 1743 leaving Mary a widow at age 35. Possessed of an independent spirit, she managed the farm and raised her children with a firm hand, as indicated by her refusal to allow George to join the British Navy. How that might have changed history!

Answer: Robert Edward Lee

Henry Lee was Robert E. Lee's father, Francis Lightfoot Lee was his uncle. A staunch admirer of George Washington, Henry Lee was asked by Congress to deliver a tribute to the President upon his death. Lee's words are remembered to this day, "First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen ... second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life."

In case you can't place him and it's driving you crazy, General Beauregard Lee is a weather forecasting groundhog in Georgia, sort of a cousin to Punxsutawney Phil.

Answer: Christ Church

Robert Carter is the ancestor of eight Governors of Virginia, two US Presidents, three signers of the Declaration of Independence, and a Chief Justice.

"Completed in 1735, Christ Church remains one of the most important examples of Georgian architecture in America. Though the identity of the architect and builders is unknown, the magnificent brick, stone, and woodwork attest to craftsmanship unparalleled in colonial Virginia. Its massive, three-feet thick brick walls, vaulted ceilings, large compass-headed windows, and classical symmetry and balance made Christ Church an imposing structure in Virginia's colonial landscape." http://www.christchurch1735.org/