by Carol Cooke Darrow
Almost everyone experiences the lure of going home at one time or another. But we are often limited by time and money and sometimes by not really knowing where “home” is. Genealogy buffs know that the best place to find detailed information about their ancestor is to visit their ancestor’s home turf. I was lucky enough to do just this last month.
I made a trip to Orange County, Virginia, where my ancestor Shem lived in about 1740. His brother John lived just a few miles away. I didn’t expect to see the actual house or barn – too many years have passed. The town of Orange is full of beautiful houses built after the Civil War but too late for my research.
My first stop was the local library. There was a section of local history including a few books about early settlers and some wonderful maps of the area in different time periods. The next stop was the Orange County Historical Society (open 1-5 pm weekday afternoons). There were binders of abstracts of deed records and court records going back to 1726. I copied page after page of these records. They also had wonderful maps of original metes and bounds plats in Orange County that were granted to the first settlers, including mine.
But I wanted to experience the land. The road took me up to the top of Swift Run Gap, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, now part of the Shenandoah National Park. My ancestor operated a water grist mill on Swift Run about halfway up the mountain. It was too rugged to hike but I wanted to get a feel for distance and terrain. The spot is 33 miles from the town of Orange so I realized they didn’t go there often except perhaps to the courthouse. It is quite isolated today so I am sure it was then as well. But I had the opportunity to see what they saw and I breathed the air they breathed.
It was a wonderful homecoming.
Carol Cooke Darrow is a certified genealogist who has specialized in Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia research, learning about the lives of her ancestors.