Nelson County Historical Society News
December - 2014
WE ARE ONE –
The Oakland Museum and the Society Merged
On November 9th, 2014 the Society membership voted to adapt new NCHS Bylaws
to include the mission of the Oakland Museum and creating a merger of the two
organizations into one – The Nelson County Historical Society. The Oakland Museum Board and the Society
Board had unanimously voted for the merger prior to the membership meeting on November 9th.
The museum will continue with the name – Oakland Museum and the goals and mission of the Society and
Oakland Museum will be directed by a larger Nelson County Historical Society Board elected in March 2015.
Your involvement with the Society is needed more than ever, so please consider joining a committee, getting
involved with special projects and supporting the reorganized Nelson County Historical Society in 2015.
Grand Opening - Kathleen Kilpatrick, speaker (2008)
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(Oakland Property - Note Burning (2009)
A Brief History of the Oakland Museum
By Woody Greenberg
Oakland, Nelson County’s Museum of Rural History, began in 2004 with a vision of celebrating the county’s
history and placing it in the context of state and national historical trends and events. A joint venture of the
Nelson County Historical Society and Oakland’s board of trustees, the museum opened its doors in 2008
following years of soliciting ideas from the public and planning. The two initial exhibits, The Impact of Hurricane
Camille, and Cuttin’ on the Lights on the electrification of the county, were joined in 2013 by an exhibit on the
history of the county’s public school system. Oakland also developed one ground floor room to replicate the
building’s history as a 19th century tavern.
Since its founding the museum has organized annual programs on Hurricane Camille. In 2009, the 40th
anniversary of Camille, the program drew more than 650 people. In 2012, the museum celebrated the musical
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heritage of the county with a tribute to Curtis Matthews, long time banjo picker, an event that sold out the high
school auditorium. Other programs on the county’s educational history, lost communities, and other topics
have drawn hundreds of people. On Nelson Community Day in 2013, several hundred people visited the
museum on a single day.
With the merger of Oakland and the Historical Society into a single organization, we expect the museum’s
future to be at least as bright as it’s past.
People and Events at Oakland Museum
Left to Right: Josephine Campbell – previous owner of Oakland property; Erin Hughey-Comers – intern;
Claudia Slaughter – Oakland Board charter member; Abby Haymes and Courtney Proffitt -UVA interns; Author
Lynn Coffey, signing books with Jean Brent and Anke Goetz
The Oakland Museum Board and the Nelson County Historical Society have worked closely to sponsor, almost
annually a Christmas Open House, summer ice cream socials; book signings; programs of historical interest
and tours for school classes and special interest groups. Oakland Museum has been open on the weekends
(March – December).
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Beth Goodwin –Docent Chairperson
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Dodd Family – Civil War Campsite
Ice Cream Social
Ted Hughes with his restored buggy
Hurricane Camille Commemoration Program
Receiving an addition to the Oakland Collections
Robert Carter, Joan Habel and Samantha Embrey
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William C. Doyle – WW II Veteran turns 100
Mr. Doyle, a member of the Society, celebrated his 100th
birthday on October 31st. His mother, Sallie Willis Powell
was born and grew up in Elma, VA [Nelson County] and
married Harry Doyle from Baltimore, MD. He remembers
visiting Elma when he was a boy. “There were Powell
relatives on both sides of the railroad tracks” says Mr.
Doyle. The photographs and autobiography were
provided by his daughter, Kathy Doyle Brumberger.
Autobiography of William C. Doyle
My name is William Doyle. I was born in Baltimore City, Maryland, on the 31st day of October 1914 and lived in
the city until 1927 when my parents moved to Halethorpe in Baltimore County. I was 12 years old at this time.
I graduated from Halethorpe Public School in June of 1929 and in the fall of 1929; I started at Mt. St. Joseph
High School in Irvington. After leaving St. Joe on 1933, I attended The Maryland Institute where I studied
mechanical drawing. In the summer of 1935, I was employed by the Maryland Distilling Company, which
sometime later became Calvert Distilling Company and then Seagram. I worked in the chemistry lab at Calvert
until I was inducted into the service on April 24, 1941. After spending two weeks in the reception center at Ft.
Meade, I was sent to “C” Company 175th Infantry. I completed my Basic Training with “C” Company and in
October of 1941 I was promoted to corporal. About the same time the regiment had moved to North Carolina
for the first Carolina maneuver. In early December the Carolina maneuvers were over and the regiment
returned to Ft. Meade. On the way back to Meade, on Sunday December 7, we were in bivouac on a small
airfield in South Boston, Virginia. Captain Gill, our Company captain, called us together and said, “Boys, you
won’t be going home in a year now, because the Japs have just bombed Pearl Harbor and we are at war.”
Soon after returning to Meade, I was promoted to Sergeant. In January of 1942 I applied for a furlough and
was given 10 days. I was married on January 6 to a young lady that I had known all of my life. We started
school together in the first grade and continued through 5th grade. Her parents moved to Halethorpe in 1926
and mine in 1927 and again, she became the girl next door. We were married for fifty-six years when I lost
her. After our honeymoon in New York City, I returned to Ft. Meade and the regiment was gone, doing guard
duty at different places along the Atlantic Coast. I was sent to #10 Company Recruit Training Detachment and
gave basic training to new recruits there in the winter of 1942. In April of 1942 the training companies packed
up and marched to AP Hill, a distance of about 90 miles. It took ten days to complete the
march. We only marched 9 or 10 miles a day.
We remained at AP Hill until July of 1942 when the regiment left AP Hill for the last time.
We were trucked from AP Hill to Camp Blanding, Florida. We remained at Blanding until
September then moved to Camp Kilmer in New Jersey. At Kilmer, we received new
clothing. Our shirts and trousers were impregnated with some chemical that was
supposed to protect us from a gas attack. The clothes sure did stink. Well, we left Kilmer
on the 3rd of October, went to New York City and boarded the Queen Elizabeth. As soon
as “C” Company got on the boat, we were all made MPs. Don’t ask me why, because I
don’t know. There was already an MP Company or battalion on board. Well, with the MP
brassard on my arm, I could go anyplace on the ship that I wanted to, and I did. On October 5, 1942, Elizabeth
left New York, and we were on our way to England. On the 11th of October we were in the Clyde River in
Scotland and we disembarked at the city of Greenock, Scotland. We immediately boarded trains for Tidworth,
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England. We had our first baptism of fire on the way. The Germans were bombing the city of Reading as we
were passing through. At Tidworth, we worked 7 days a week. On Sunday, church call was after we came in
from the field. We remained at Tidworth for about 6 months then moved to South Brent, a small town near
Plymouth. Here we started our amphibious training in the Moors. There were no boats, so each morning we
would form up as if we were in an assault boat. The platoon leader would say, “Ramp down,” and we would
run out as if we were leaving an LCA. While at South Brent we did train on some British landing craft, but most
of the time we spent on the beach. The landing craft would pull up to the beach, we would lean the boat, the
tide is going out and the boat is stranded and we too, until the tide came back in. We remained at South Brent
and trained on Dart Moore for four or five months, then we moved to St. Ives in Cornwall.
St. Ives was a good town to be billeted in. The people were good to us. While at St. Ives, we received some
good news. “C” was going home. We were ordered to go to Liverpool to get some German prisoners of war
from Africa and take them to a POW Camp near a city named Hayton that wasn’t too far from Liverpool. This
we did. We stayed with these prisoners for about a month then the Colonel that brought the prisoners from
Africa to England said, “If anyone is going to take these prisoners to the States it is going to be me,” and it was
he. “C” Company went back to St. Ives, and I am glad. I don’t know what would have been our fate had we
gone back home.
We stayed in St. Ives until May of 1944. We then went to a marshalling area near Falmouth where we were
prepared for our trip to Normandy.
My company boarded LST 25 on June 5 and took off for Normandy. We landed on Omaha Beach June 7
around noon on Dog Green Beach near the Viereville draw and started inland looking for the rest of the “C”
Company. Couldn’t find them. Stayed with 115 Infantry that night. Next day we hooked up with the rest of the
Company and started our march to Isigny, our objective. Took Isigny on June 9.
I fought through Normandy until the 16th of July when I was wounded and sent back to England to a hospital. I
returned to duty on September 28 and started back to France. I was sent to a replacement depot in Le Havre
and there I was attached to Ground Forces Reinforcement Command and was given a train crew. The crew
consisted of myself as crew chief, two mess sergeants and cooks. We had two complete field kitchens, and
rations for a thousand men for five days. We hauled troops from Le Havre to forward depots all over France,
Belgium, Holland to Germany and Luxemburg. My commanding officer was Lieutenant Colonel Harry Blakely,
a fine officer and gentleman. We worked together until August 1945 when orders came for me to go home. I
was sent to Camp Top Hat near Antwerp in Belgium. There I boarded a Liberty Ship “The Moses Austin” and
eleven days later I disembarked in Hoboken New Jersey and to Kilmer over night. Then to Fort Meade to 4 ½
St and Chisholm the same barracks that I lived in for 14 months while stationed at Meade. I was discharged
from “C” Company 175 Infantry on September 12, 1945.
After one week as a civilian, I started back to work at the Calvert Distilling Company. I worked for Calvert and
Seagram’s for a total of 42 years and retired from there in December 1977. I have two children, Kathleen and
Michael. Kathy graduated from the University of Maryland with a BA in 1971 and then returned for an MA in
1984. Kathy is retired from the Department of the Navy as an education specialist at the Naval Postgraduate
Dental School in Bethesda, Maryland after working there for 25 years. After graduating from Mt. St. Joseph
High School, Michael joined the Navy and retired as Master Chief after 29 years. While Mike was in the Navy
he earned a BS in professional aeronautics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
I have been retired at this time, November 2013, for 37 years. After retiring my main interest was genealogy. I
played golf until I was 93. I am 100 years of age and enjoy playing pinochle and attending 29 th Division Assn.
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and Vet Corps meetings. Remaining “C” Company members in the area get together for lunch once a month. I
live in a retirement community in an apartment and have survived cancer and a stroke.
I belong to the American Legion, Veterans for Foreign Wars, the Disabled American Veterans, an English
service organization, The Normandy Veterans Association, and last but not least, the Twenty-ninth Division
Association and the Veterans Corps Maryland 5th Regiment. I received the Maryland Distinguished Service
Medal and the French Legion of Honor Medal.
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The following document was added to the Society files by Lillian Wray. The notes were transcribed
from a handwritten diary of Clinton Boyce, ca. 1900s in the Stage Bridge area, about 5 miles north of
Lovingston and to the east of present day Rt. 29.
Stage Bridge by Clinton Boyce
1855 A man named Williams residing in Amherst
County eloped with a Miss Morris of Buckingham
Co. Her brothers over took them in Charlottesville
and returned by stage to Lovingston and all put up
at Maj. Orville Lovings Tavern. All went well till
supper, then cups and saucers were used and
finally pistols and Williams killed Morris.
There is no spot in the entire section more
intimately associated with ante-bellum history than
Stage Bridge, nor is there on or near which so
many bloody deeds have been enacted. Stage
Bridge spans Rockfish River at the intersection of
what is known as the Stage Road and the
Howardsville Turnpike. Both of these highways
were important thoroughfares long prior to the Civil
War and before the day of Steam railroads. The
Stage Road was the only direct overland route
between Richmond and Lynchburg. When Andrew
Jackson, the Senator from Tenn., passed over this
route, night over took the coach here and the hero
of the Hermitage accepted an invitation from a Maj.
Robert to spend the night. After supper Mrs.
Jackson and Mrs. Roberts repaired to the kitchen
where they enjoyed a quiet smoke, leaving Old
Hickory and Maj. Roberts to discuss politics.
1862 Henry Harris shot Dr. Horton at the Twin
Poplar’s and his escape amid the confusion of the
war and was never captured.
1907 Judge W.H. Loving empted the contents of
both barrels of a shot gun into the body of Theo.
Estes and was acquitted.
Lorenzo Dow Airstrop was shot by John McCallam
W. Schoot Roberts was killed by an unknown party
Dr. Petit was shot by Benjamin Hubbard
1803 Dr. James Hopkins was shot by Lewis
McWare and son-in-law Capt. Richard Pollard while
saying his prayers.
Tom Allen was killed by his uncle, Broch Allen
1850 Coleman and Henry Harris undertook to
waylay Wyatt Hair, but he got wind of it and went by
another route to Lovingston. When the Harris
brothers rode up to Mr. Orville Loving’s Tavern Hair
was standing on the porch, soon as they spied one
another both sides opened fire, all the first shots
were ineffective and the Harris brothers rushed in a
building and shut the door. Later Coleman Harris
opened the door and looked out and Hair shot him.
Henry Harris escaped.
Freshets - [ Freshet - a flood resulting from heavy
rain or a spring thaw]
1870 -1878- 1912- 1936
Nelson County, VA
October 16th 1942 – Rockfish River and Hickory
Creek higher than was known. Washed bridge
away at Woods Mill Route 29. Old Stage Bridge,
Farrar’s Bridge, Rockfish Bridge, Schuyler Bridge,
dam, and power house 5 or 6 ft higher than in 1870
and 1878.
Sept 18th, 1944-Hickory and Cove Creeks were
higher than ever known. “Faber House” that is over
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150 years old was flooded. Two ft over the 2nd
floor, crops all destroyed, southern RR had no
trains for weeks.
Rufus Bradshaw drown at Faber
New Members to the Society
Elva Anderson ---------------------Washington, DC
Estelle Anderson ----------------------Arrington, VA
Stephanie Bryant -------------------Montebello, VA
Rev. Mark Furlow--------------------Lynchburg, VA
Rev. Marion Kanour------------------------Afton, VA
Irene Lawhorne ----------------------------Faber, VA
Penny Sipple -------------------------Lovingston, VA
Tree fell on Rock Springs Church 7-20-1946
S.A. Lambert Store struck by lightning and burned
1-26-1947 at Faber
Snows
Jan. 17-20 1857 Deepest on record -not official
March 11 1888 Blizzard
Feb 11-13 1899 17.7 inches
Dec. 22-23 1908 17.2 inches
Dec 12 1917 9.4 inches on ground until Feb. 10 –
1918
Jan 27-29 1922 19.1 inches
Jan. 23-24 1940 16 inches
Recently Deceased Members
Roberta Dunn --------------------------Roseland, VA
Lee Morris -------------------------------Shipman, VA
Donation to the Society Files
Country Store
“From Anzio to the Girl in Rye Cove” –memoirs
written and given by Irene Lawhorne, Faber, VA
“History of St. Hebron Baptist Church Oldest
Afro-American Church in Nelson County”-=
given by Rev. Morse
Thank you for your generosity to the
Society
“Boy on porch of general store – Roseland, VA”
Photographed April 1938
Yale University Collection
Nelson County Historical Society Board
President – Robert (Bob) Carter
Vice- President – Samantha Embrey
Secretary – Becky Howard
Treasurer – Jean Brent
Robert Goad
Dick Whitehead
Andy Wright
Can you identify the store and the person? No
other information was given concerning the photo
above.
From the August newsletter -no pictures of
Henderson’s Store in Roseland requested by Joe
Gray and Taylor’s Store in Norwood by Margaret
Haney were found.
Newsletter Editor – Becky Howard
[email protected]
If you have a Nelson County country store picture
from the past contact -: [email protected].
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Nelson Co. Historical Society
P.O. Box 474
Lovingston, VA 22949
RETURN ADDRESS REQUESTED
Membership Information
Oakland Museum
(Closed January – March)
Single Membership - $15.00
Dec. 9
www.nelsonhistorical.org
[email protected]
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Family Membership - $20.00
Mail to:
Nelson County Historical Society
P.O. Box 474
Lovingston, VA 22949