Excitedly the three of us left Sunday morning, October 6, for Virginia

Grayson County, along the VA and NC border is where Linda's HACKLER ancestors lived from about 1780 to 1840. Getting to the area around Elk Creek was not all that easy. We were warned Route 58 was "a bit crooked." Hey, define "bit."

Grayson Highlands State Park, where this vista was seen, adjoins the highway. Route 58 crosses the Appalachian Trail between Abingdon and Independence.

Elk Creek turned out to be an undistingished little stream but at least has water in it. It is listed as a boundary line in almost all of the deeds involving Hacklers.

The hills in the distance are the home of a cemetery where Hacklers are buried. They are steeper than they appear here. The directions to the cemetery as given by a local resident began "You will need a four wheel drive vehicle ..." so we drove on.

Shot Tower Historical Park, which preserves one of only three remaining shot towers used to manufacture musket balls, was one of our favorite side trips.

Smithfield - We next decided to drop in on the Prestons, but they weren't at home. William Preston built this splendid house for his wife around 1770. One can easily imagine it nested among the fields and trees of his expansive frontier plantation, but it neighbors the Virginia Tech campus at Blacksburg. William's aunt, Elizabeth (Preston) Poage, is Jerry's direct ancestor.

Fort Harrod - And since we're speaking of the Poages, we fast forward to Fort Harrod, Kentucky where William Poage (son of Elizabeth [Preston]) and Robert Poage) and his wife arrived in 1775. They first lived at Boonesboro, but moved to Fort Harrod in February because the rising river almost swamped their cabin. Their child was the fourth white child born in Kentucky. William is credited with making all the wooden churns, bowls, buckets, etc. used at the settlement. His wife, Ann, is credited with inventing the pioneers' utilitarian "linsey woolsey" fabric which she wove on a loom like this reconstructed example. Tradition says they carried the loom over the Cumberland Gap.

Ann was married four times. William Poage was her second husband; a man named Lindsey was her third spouse and a McGinty her last. All three served in the Revolutionary War. This grave (very possibly William's) next to Ann's has been marked by the Ann Poage Chapter of the DAR. At the reconstructed fort she is known as Ann McGinty.

Cabins - About seventy years ago Fort Harrod was reconstructed, on the other side of the cemetery from its original site, to serve as a living history museum. Each cabin is named for a known early resident and has artifacts that demonstrate the everyday life of the pioneers. The structure named Ann McGinty's cabin  (which houses that loom mentioned above) is one of the corner block houses. They had overhanging second stories to help defend the fort against Indian attacks. (One must concede that from the native Americans' point of view, they were resisting an invasion.) The small cabin at the left side of this picture has been labeled William Poage's cabin.

Owen Creek - Now we return to Virginia and the land of Jerry's Potter kin who lived in Franklin and Pittsylvania Counties from about the 1760s to 1805. His direct ancestors sold land on waters of Owen Creek just before moving to Kentucky.

Pigg River - Various Potter groups migrated westwardly along the Pigg River and some settled by Owen Creek. Here the smaller stream flows into the Pigg.

Bridge - The road on which we stood while taking this picture is called "Snow Creek Road" at this point. Some of Jerry's ancestors owned land near it. This scene is in Franklin County.

Potter's Creek was named for the person who patented the land at the confluence of Potter's Creek and the Pigg River. This was as close to the mouth of the creek as we could get.

Fuzzy Lake - A short drive away we arrived at Fryingpan Creek. A local resident explained the name derived from the way the stream's course winds around and back, following the outline of a skillet's handle and pan. Here a dam has formed a small pond called Fuzzy Lake for reasons unknown to us.

Pigg River in Pittsylvania County - Here, the river is more impressive.

Toshes Road - Jerry's fears that our paths would lead into a wilderness were for naught. This is a typical county road scene in this area. The countryside is fairly thickly settled.

Lynchburg - The next day we visited Jerry's Quaker roots with a stop at the South River Monthly Meeting House (a restored structure) in Lynchburg. He was pleasantly surprised to learn Lynchburg is named for John Lynch, whose mother was a daughter of his ancestor Christopher Clark.

Quaker Meeting House - Sarah (Clark) Lynch founded the South River Monthly Meeting. The Meeting House is now owned and maintained by the adjacent Quaker Memorial Presbyterian Church. They acquired the Quaker property when the Friends moved (mostly to Ohio) over the slavery issue.

Inside the House - In the Quakers' Silent Meetings men and women worshipped in seperate areas, accessed by seperate entrances. The partition between them has wooden windows that could be opened for assemblies other than worship. The pews were as uncomfortable to us as they appear, but likely as comfortable as the furniture in the Friends' homes!).

Appomatox - Our next stop was Appomatox Court House (the name of both the public building and the small village around it), where Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, including Jerry's great-grandfather W. R. Rankin, surrendered April 10, 1865. It seemed fitting the weather was like what the troops experienced on that day -- overcast skies and drizzle. After the war, the railroad built a new line some distance away, and the villagers moved to a new townsite, leaving the old community something of a ghost town. Now the whole area is a museum and memorial.

McLean House - This is the famous house where Lee and Grant worked out the surrender terms. After the war it was torn down with plans to move it to Washington for display. Those plans fell through, so the house was put back together! The old picture, taken in the fall of 1865, shows the McLean family. Missing is the wellhouse seen in the modern view--perhaps the hole in the ground was moved from another location. Incidentally, back in Scotland, the Rankins were a "sept" of the Clan Maclean (of Duart Castle which has its own website and was featured in the Sean Connery film "Entrapment"). A picture of the Clan McLean crest hangs in the entry hall of the house.

The Path to Surrender - The morning of the surrender, Confederate troops formed into units. They marched down from the ridge in the distance, crossed the meadow, waded through the Appomatox (just a minor stream here) and followed the Lynchburg-Appomatox stage road off to the left into town. Muskets were stacked all along the road. Confederates remained around the village until paroles were printed and distributed. Paroles allowed them to travel unhindered and were good for free  passage on Union trains on their way home.

Skyline Drive - The next two days were rainy or foggy, and plans were changed accordingly. However, there were serendiptious stops along the way. This was taken along the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, when the sun made a brief appearance.