Sunday Musings

I thought that a little tour of the area in which we live might interest others and perk someone's interest to visit the area in the future. The photo above, of Zion Episcopal Church, was taken on a much brighter and warmer day. We are in the grip of another cool and dreary stretch of weather, even though spring began weeks ago. Zion has long been a landmark on the horizon of this historic town, Charles Town, West Virginia. The main body of the church was built in 1815 and its graveyard is reputed to having the largest number of graves of the Washington family (George's family) in the United States. George Washington surveyed this area for Lord Fairfax and later his brother Charles founded the town. Jefferson County was home to not only his brothers, but nephews, nieces and so on down through the years. Can you tell I am a former history teacher???

Charles Town is in the extreme eastern panhandle of West Virginia, only about 6-8 miles from both the Maryland and Virginia borders, and therefore has become a bedroom community for D.C. and northern Virginia. We are not natives to the area, but transplants from the metropolitan Baltimore-Washington area over 25 years ago. Ironically, after moving here, one of my other obsessions, genealogy, led me to discover that some of my Tidewater Virginia ancestors were some of the earliest settlers in the area.

Jefferson County includes Harper's Ferry, infamous for John Brown's raid, Charles Town Courthouse where John Brown was tried and the spot where he was hung is several blocks from our home, the banks of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, many historic Washington homes, Shepherd University, orchards, mountains and a growing population from all parts of the nation.

We bought an old home in town, affectionately referred to as either the Manor or the Money Pit, take your choice. The oldest portion of the house dates to about 1790-1800 and the larger, Victorian portion to 1889. As I have said earlier we are finishing an addition to the house at this time to provide more "modern" conveniences.

Just recently I joined the Etsy community and have begun an attempt to "de-stash" as well as market my own creations. We have operated an Ebay store for quite a few years and also maintain a new website, but I found Etsy to be a pleasant addition to my business. I hope to add a link to my Etsy shop to this blog as soon as I can figure out how to do it! The last week or so I feel like I have had an endless course in "computereez" (is that a word?).

My daughter just called to let me know that she is safely back at her college from a weekend at Myrtle Beach. She said the weather was great and I am quite envious. She chose a Southern school and is loving it. Although born in Maryland, I grew up partially in North Carolina and love the South and most all things Southern. In the future, we hope to retire in the Carolinas or perhaps Georgia.

My long list of "To Dos" is calling me. Hope to post a little closer together as time goes on.