Review of August Fort Bus Tour
Report by Jim Moyer and Fay Dutton
My wife and I really enjoyed the trip on August 8, 2009 Saturday from 9am to 5pm. I am guessing that tour was probably more than 20 years of weekends in the making where Norman Baker, our tour guide, had walked all those places, documented all those spots, poured over satellite and aerial maps and topo maps, and photographed parts of the Braddock Road.
Some highlights:
This bus tour held 22 of us. We drove out west on what was called the Old Wagon Road and drove back to Winchester's Fort Loudoun on the Braddock Road. This tour encompassed what was mostly the old large Frederick County that emerged from an older Orange County.
Grey cloudy day soon became bright and sunny for most of morning and early afternoon.
The docent at Edward's Fort was happy to see us, and we enjoyed our visit there and enjoyed his friendly and informative presentation. They have a great selection of books to buy as well. The docent did remark that everyone around these parts thinks their road is part of Braddock's Road but Norman Baker might be the only researcher who used some logic combined with the map studies to make what is the real Braddock Road.
TO READ MORE OF THE TOUR'S REVIEW CLICK HERE
The Winchester Star: Monday, August, 2009
By Stephanie Mangino, The Winchester Star
The Winchester Star: Monday, May 18, 2009
Raising the Flag Over Fort Loudoun By Laura Oleniacz, The Winchester Star
Winchester — Lt. Col. Mark Sullivan of the British Army stood in salute under the afternoon sun Saturday, as a British flag was hoisted above the historic Fort Loudoun site.
Sullivan, who is stationed in the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., as a technical officer, was sent to Winchester for the flag-raising ceremony for the city’s “Fort Loudoun Day.”
The day marks the start of Fort Loudoun’s construction under George Washington’s direction in 1756, said French and Indian War Foundation President Patrick Farris.
The fort was the headquarters of the Virginia Regiment that Washington commanded during the French and Indian War, and was the anchor of a string of defenses stretching from Maryland to North Carolina designed to protect the frontier.
The foundation owns the Baker-Hardy House at 419 N. Loudoun St., which sits at the northwest bastion of the fort, Farris said.
At the flag-raising ceremony, Sullivan called out orders for the raising of the “King’s Colors,” which was the nation’s banner during the English colonization of the United States.
To read the remainder of the article click the following link:
http://www.winchesterstar.com/showarticle_new.php?sID=6&foldername=20090518&file=flag_article.html
TV3 Winchester: Sunday, May 17, 2009
Fort Loudoun Day Raises Foreign Flag By Ryan O'Connor, TV3 Winchester
If you drove down North Loudoun Street, Saturday, you may have noticed an unusual flag flying.
Many in your community gathered to commemorate the French-Indian war at the site of the former Fort Loudoun. The military base built and overseen by then-Colonel George Washington.
The commemoration was capped off by the raising of the flag of England, lead by a representative of the British Embassy.
"This year's Fort Loudoun Day is very special because we decided this year to raise a British flag over the fort," Patrick Farris, the President of the French-Indian War Foundation, said. "The same type of British flag that was flown over the fort during the French-Indian War of the 1750s."
The history of Fort Loudoun is preserved by the French-Indian War Foundation of Winchester.
Fort Loudoun Day is held every May in line with the opening of tourist season and the start of the original construction of the fort in the 1750s.