Tag: national-park-service

Bracketts Farm, Louisa, Virginia

by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

The U.S. state of Virginia is a state that is so rich in history as well as natural areas.  It has famous cities like Richmond, Williamsburg, Norfolk, Alexandria, and Charlottesville.  It is the state that gave birth of more U.S. Presidents that any other state.  This includes George Washington, the first President of the United States of America and is called the Father of the Country and Thomas Jefferson, the man that wrote the Declaration of Independence.  The city of Charlottesville, famous for being the home of the University of Virginia, is also the home of Monticello, the famous home of Thomas Jefferson and the only home of a U.S. President that is a UNESCO Heritage Site, and Highland, the home of James Monroe.  With all of these historic sites, there are historic sites that are overlooked.  One of those places is east-northeast of Charlottesville.

Welcome to Bracketts Farm.  What is Bracketts Farm?  Well, it is a farm.  It is a historic farm that is also a working farm that covers 500 acres featuring a farmhouse and slave quarters as well as barns.  (The farmhouse and slave quarters are private residences.  Please do not trespass.)  There is also a pond where you can go fishing.  There are hiking trails as well.  It is located in the Green Springs Historic District protecting the area from being condos and single family homes.  Even though the structures are not open to the public, the farm is.  As you walk around, you can see a peaceful place that is still working today.

Some of you are saying, “Wow!  This is nice.  It is great that this historic place has been preserved.  There is a problem.  What is the problem?  There is no railroad here.  Therefore, there will not be any history of me visiting this place.”

So why visit Bracketts Farm?  The farm has no railroad history, nor does it have any history with the railroad, and, as far as it is known, no railroads have ever run through the farm or through the Green Springs Historic District.  The nearest railroad is in the town of Trevilians which is east of here.  Why visit Bracketts Farm?

Let us begin with the farm itself.

Bracketts Farm was established in 1790.  Elisabeth Aiken Nolting was the last owner of the farm before it was sold to the Bracketts Farm Foundation, an all-volunteer foundation, who now owns the farm.  As mentioned, it is a working farm that has farm animals (not owned by the foundation) that are grass fed.  The public is invited to fish in the pond as well as walk a nature trail and see some of the farmland.

Some of you are saying, “That is very nice, but the farm has no railroad history.”

That is true.  Why visit this farm?  The answer begins in a nearby town.

Have you ever heard of the small town of Cobham, Virginia?  So, you have never heard of this town.  You are in the majority as most people have never heard of this town.  What was special about the town of Cobham?  As you drive through this town, you say to yourself, “There is not much here.”

You cross a small bridge which crosses a railroad track, but it is just a simple railroad track.  There is really nothing here… but that was not always the case.

The town gets its name from an estate called Cobham Park which is located in the town that gets its name of a village in England, United Kingdom of the same.  (The village is called Hanson today.  The Cobham Park Estate is not open to the public.)  This town, which looks as if it has no history, had one of the earliest train stations on the railroad line when the Louisa Railroad reached the town.  The line was later taken over by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.  The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway built a train station.  Why?  The town had a siding track.  There was also the Piedmont Female Academy which made much use of the station.  The train station was replaced by another train station in 1905.  Today, the post office is now a private residence.  Only the main railroad line remains and is owned by Chessie Seaboard Transportation.  (We simply call it CSX.)

Some of you are saying, “It looks like Cobham had the fate of many small towns in the United States of America.  The train station is gone forever.  However, this has nothing to do with Bracketts Farm.”

Ladies and gentlemen, this is where Bracketts Farm comes to play.

When train stations are replaced, the old train station gets demolished.  As for Cobham, Virginia, the train station was spared.  It was taken apart.  It was then taken to Bracketts Farm and reassembled.

Some of you are saying, “It was reassembled, and it continues to rot and rot and rot.”

Ladies and gentlemen, if you desire to see rotting train stations, then you will want to see the old Cobham Train Station at Bracketts Farm.  The Old Cobham Train Station has been fully restored.  The ticket office, the living room, and the upstairs family bedrooms are fully restored.   An addition was built on the rear of the station opposite of where the tracks were located to include an extra room, a second bathroom, a full kitchen and eating area.  The station can be rented out for events, or you can spend a night here.  The one thing that is missing is the railroad line.  Sadly, you cannot see passing trains during your stay.

Now you have a reason to visit Bracketts Farm.  Think of Bracketts Farm as a working farm that continues to feed the people in the United States of America and preserve a piece of railroad history.

Bracketts Farm is part of the Green Springs Historic District in Louisa, Virginia which is owned by the National Park Service.  Bracketts Farm, although on National Park Service property, is run by volunteers from the Bracketts Farm Foundation who also preserves the old train station.  The farm is located off of Virginia Route 22 east of U.S. Route 15 and is part of the Hallowed Ground Driving Tour.  (Hallowed Ground is a region the begins in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and ends in Charlottesville, Virginia that has more historic sites that anywhere else in the United States of America, mainly along U.S. Routes 15 and 29).  You can learn more about Bracketts Farm, the Bracketts Farm Foundation, read more into the history of the farm, and see how you can visit at https://www.bracketts.org/.

When you hear about Bracketts Farm, do not think about another farm.  Think about a farm that is preserving agricultural history and railroad history.

Hot Springs, Arkansas

by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

The U.S. state of Arkansas is nicknamed the ‘Natural State’.  If you have driven through the state, you can see why it gets that name.  There are no major cities in the state although the metropolis of Memphis in the U.S. state of Tennessee has suburbs in the eastern part of the state.  Speaking of Memphis, Tennessee, the mighty Mississippi River runs on the eastern border of the state.  As the ‘Natural State’, it is interesting that the state capital is Little Rock.  It is also the state’s largest city.  The state is also known for its hot springs.  One of the places where you will find some of the state’s hot springs is in the city of Hot Springs.

Some of you are saying, “Well, duh!  It is called Hot Springs because there are hot springs there.”

Yes.  That is why it is called Hot Springs.  The city was a city of spas.  That is hot spring spas.  Many of the spa structures remain in a section of the downtown area known as Bathhouse Row, but not all of them have working hot springs.  Yes.  Hot Springs, Arkansas was a place of hot springs, and Hot Springs National Park was established here.  Before they went to the U.S. states of Florida and Arizona, baseball teams did their spring training here.  Yes.  Hot Springs is the birthplace of baseball spring training.  Many famous baseball players to include Herman ‘Babe’ Ruth, Cy Young, Hank Aaron, Jackie Robinson, and Stan Musial, just to name a few.  Many United States Presidents visited here.  Arkansas’ own William Clinton lived here and graduated from high school here.  This was a resort for celebrities, but it was also a haven for gangsters.  One of the most famous gangsters, Al Capone, had a personal room at the Arlington Hotel.  There is so much to Hot Springs, Arkansas.  If you are ever in the central region of Arkansas, it is worth your time to visit.

Some of you are saying, “This is nice.  I have heard of Hot Springs, Arkansas.  I knew about the springs, but I never knew that it was the birthplace of Spring Training Baseball or a gangster haven.  There is one very big problem.  This city has no railroad history nor does it have anything to do with the railroad.  Therefore, I will not be feeling the hot springs of this place.”

The city of Hot Springs, Arkansas has never been a railroad city.  As you walk and drive around, you see no signs of a railroad ever being here.  Then you come to the Greyhound and Transit Bus Station at the intersection of Broadway Street, Market Street, and Broadway Terrace.  It appears to look like an old train station.  Well, that is because it was an old train station.  This train station was a major contributor to the growth of Hot Springs, Arkansas.  It was built by the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1917.  It was a spur line that connected to the main railroad line in the town of Malvern, Arkansas.

The railroad line began as the Hot Spring Railroad in 1876.  It was a narrow gauge railroad that was built by Joseph Reynolds who built the railroad line so that he could ride the train from his home in Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois to the spas to help cure an illness he has.  The railroad line was converted into a standard gauge railroad and was eventually taken over by the Missouri Pacific Railroad.  Passenger service was discontinued to the town with the last train leaving in 1964, and the original railroad line is now a rail trail.  Some of the old rails remain.  The main railroad line in Malvern remains in service and is the closest Amtrak stop.  The current train station in on the National Register of Historic Places.

The next time you think about Hot Springs, Arkansas, you can think about the hot springs, but it was once a place where the railroad once came to town.