History everywhere I look

Sometimes I enjoy being a passenger rather than always driving. Unencumbered by the responsibilities of piloting the vehicle, I’m free to contemplate the scenery unrolling before me like a scroll. Over the years, I’ve seen things that made me scratch my head as well as beautiful things that led to introspection.

If you’ve been around the Shenandoah Valley for long, you’ve noticed the old barns, houses and outbuildings that pepper the Valley. I’m always intrigued by these structures. I think my favorite is a silo in the middle of a pasture — the barn it was once attached to is long gone.

If these barns and houses have been standing long enough to fall into disrepair, I wonder when they were originally erected?

Were these structures silent witnesses to the strife and destruction in the Shenandoah Valley during the Civil War?

What were the hopes and dreams of the people who lived in the old houses I see along I-81?

Did the owners of the now-weather-beaten barns expect to use them for decades, or were these people in the Valley temporarily?

Every now and then I’ll see an old, abandoned house that was surely once a beautiful domicile. I’ll indulge in a bit of day-dreaming about the history of the house. I’ve created entire families in my mind, along with particulars of the lives they might’ve led in that old house.

I’ll have to start bringing my camera along with me to capture these beautiful pieces of Valley history.

–Colleen