There are a number of lovely, accessible greenspaces in and around Abingdon. The Urban Pathway, which begins near the Muster Grounds, passes through town by way of Depot Square, the Market Pavilion, and the grounds behind the Martha Washington Inn. It then proceeds alongside the railroad bed to the east side of town as far …
Category Archives: Culture/Attractions
What Did People Do…? Conclusion
“Tannery Owner Adam Hickman built this Carpenter Gothic House as a wedding present for his daughter. The house has three steeply pitched front gables of varying sizes have bargeboards dripping with wooden icicles. Along with a large leaded bay window and a wraparound porch with sawn balustrades and custom columns, the house sports enough ornate …
What Did People Do in Old Abingdon; a closer look
Lewis Thomson Cosby’s entry about The Washington House and the venerable Tavern next door is succinct: “…known far and near as ‘The Washington House’, kept by John C. Cummings, Esq…. [t]his ‘Tavern,’ as they were then called, was liberally patronized by the public. “Next is a small frame house still standing used as a shop …
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Happy Trails
“Today the Great Wagon Road, or Valley Turnpike, is known as Highway 11, a two lane that runs between soft and misty mountains, with pretty byways. Long stretches of U.S. 11 look much like the Valley Turnpike did in the 1830s–rolling fields, horses and cattle on hills.” (“Retracing Slavery’s Trail of Tears”) This is how …
The Human Face of White Top
For a century, from 1833 through 1933, White Top attracted an array of unique visitors, beginning with the reclusive Wilburn Waters and culminating in the appearance of the anything but reclusive First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. In between there were Naturalists like Asa Gray and Anna Murray Vail, entrepreneurs like Luther Hassinger and Douglas Robinson, picnickers …
Where, oh where, was Black’s Fort?
Right in the middle of the Historical Marker Trail of Abingdon’s Historic District, at the corner of Main and Pecan Streets, Marker K-48 designates the Site of Black’s Fort. “The fort, built in 1776, stood a short distance to the South.” But where exactly? For a town so thoroughly steeped in its history, one would …
Intro
A Walk Through History “…and here begins the history of the West.” L P. Summers Walking the streets of Abingdon is a little like a visit to the Wild West. That is because at one time Abingdon was the West. “Before the coming of the white man, the Indian trails from the north and south …