Chapman's Mill

I was really inspired by my aunt's post on the mill, and so a few weeks ago I kidnapped Pat and we brought the kids out to see it. Did you know that the Confederates stored two MILLION pounds of meat in the mill during the Civil War? That is a lot of meat to store before there was even refrigeration. How did they even do that? You would need a butt load of ice . . . or an entire city of smokehouses to cure it . . . All to no avail because they ended up burning it anyway to avoid letting it get into the hands of the Union soldiers. It must have smelled AMAZING!!!

I have driven by this place on I66 so. many. times. and never realized all the history that surrounded it. You can read more about it here.

Thoroughfare Gap has been in use for hundreds years, from American Indians driving herds of buffalo (yes- buffalo! can you imagine seeing one of those around here!?) to hundreds of Northern Virginians driving out West on 66 to see the Fall color on Skyline Drive.

As we went down to explore the mill, Pat made a very exciting discovery.

Growing right out of the stone wall, nothing other then two of Pat's beloved Weed-Trees (aka Empress Tree)!

So we felt like we had found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! I found it really fascinating to see how the builders had constructed the stone walls. All the funny shaped rocks, of all different sizes, and yet they fit together perfectly. It amazes me that someone could put those rocks in the above picture together with enough skill to build a five+ story building.

I really hope they can return it to working order~ at least as a museum!

I also saw this caterpillar which was HUGE. Not sure what kind it is, but it definitely looks poisonous!

We had to climb over this rock to see the water source.

And here it is:

We couldn't figure out what this was built for. . .

The hiking trails were a ton of fun, despite the rain which forced us to turn around because of the littles.

All in all, I cannot wait to go back, and I am so excited to know about hiking trails that are so close! Thank you again, Aunt Betty, for the recommendation!