A Guide to Historical Salem

A Guide to Historic Salem -- Volume 5, Number 3 -- Winter 1999

Local Buffs Will Enjoy 'Averell's Salem Raid'
Ghost of Andrew Lewis Still Lives in Salem
Is Your Home on Andrew Lewis' 1767 Land-Grant?
People in Salem History
Hawthorne & Red Lane Homes on Tour In 'Monteiro Heights'
Hanging Rock Was Surprising Confederate Victory

Local Buffs Will Enjoy 'Averell's Salem Raid'

By John Long

In the last issue of Guide to Historic Salem, I lamented the fact that the Civil War in our area had received so little attention from authors and researchers. Granted, the Roanoke Valley's Civil War history pales in comparison to Gettysburg's or Vicksburg's, but there is a history here, which is not being told.

Soon afterwards, to our surprise, a new book was published which helped fill in some of the gaps: General William Averell's Salem Raid: Breaking the Knoxville Supply Line by Darrell L. Collins of Ann Arbor Michigan (Burd Street Press, ISBN 1-57249-111-6).

Most local history buffs are at least somewhat aware of the sole battle in Roanoke County: Hanging Rock in June of 1864. Less well remembered is this earlier cavalry raid on Salem's railroad lines in December 1863. William Averell was a Union general given the task of cutting the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, a chief supply route to the Confederate army fighting around Knoxville. Collins tells the story of Averell's raid admirably, fitting this bit of regional history into the greater context of the war as a whole.

Averell's assignment was a difficult one: it involved sneaking several hundred Union cavalrymen more than 200 miles into enemy territory, crossing swollen, unbridged creeks in sub-freezing weather, living off of whatever they could scavenge from the wintry land. One soldier would later summarize the raid in verse:

By marching and riding,
By swimming and sliding,
By thawing and freezing,
By dodging and squeezing,
By fasting and waking,
By hoping and quaking,
We went down to Salem
And tore up the railin'.

Collins tracks the daily progress to and from Salem, relying on official reports and various memoirs. Several fascinating stories are recorded, including the heart-wrenching account of a Confederate soldier captured by Averell's men at his own wedding. At the same time, Collins tracks the confused and unsuccessful attempts by Confederate forces to intercept the raiders.

Arriving in Salem via modern Route 311, Averell's exhausted, hungry and freezing men accomplish their objective, destroying about fifteen miles of track, cutting telegraph lines, and burning various supplies seized from the panic-stricken residents. One local soldier, Thomas Chapman, was killed in an altercation, but overall the town escaped without other serious damage.

Averell's task then was to escape, a seemingly impossible task since the Confederates now knew where he was. But luck and the misapprehensions of the Southern commanders allowed the Union soldiers to slip back to West Virginia relatively unscathed. The fate of one group of Averell's men, cut off and abandoned by the main forces, comprises one of the more dramatic parts of Collins' narrative.

Collins closes with an assessment of the raid's success, which in the end disabled the Virginia and Tennessee traffic for only about two weeks, at heavy cost to Averell's forces (in dead horses and frostbitten men, if not soldiers killed in action). However, those two weeks made an impact on the southern war effort, and contributed at least a bit to the ultimate Union victory, as did the psychological affects of Averell's raid.

Averell's Salem Raid is a book that belongs on the shelf of any local history buff, and would make an excellent Christmas gift for any Civil War enthusiast. It is available from the Salem Museum gift shop as well as local bookstores.

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Ghost of Andrew Lewis Still Lives in Salem
Lewis Was Surveyor, Explorer, Fighter
Worn stone today marks where Lewis was buried originally

By Donna Garrett

"Go my children," Mrs. Lewis told all her boys. "I spare not the youngest, my fair haired boy ... I devote you all to my country. Keep back the invader's foot from the soil of Augusta, or see my face no more."

So wrote Andrew Lewis' mother in her diary after their family had migrated from Ireland in the early 1730's to Augusta County, Virginia. Doing what his mother said, Lewis became one of America's founding fathers and the person Salem claims as its most famous son. Although he settled in this area late in life and died before Salem came into being, he lived active in the Salem area for some fifteen years, he is buried here; his name is carried on numerous sites and places of the area, and his spirit -- or is it his ghost? -- is part of Salem forever..

Andrew Lewis was a boy when his family came to their American frontier home near what is now Staunton in Augusta County, a county that then stretched to the Mississippi River. He grew up there and as a young man explored and surveyed the vast wilderness of the Appalachians, He also learned about, and fought, the Indians who inhabited it..

In the late 1740s, he married Elizabeth Anne Givens of the Staunton area, and they had seven children. Despite being such a family man, he was forced to be away from his family much of his married life. At first it was surveying that kept him away, and later it was war. He volunteered to fight with George Washington in the French and Indian War and again in the Revolution.

The Battle of Point Pleasant, 225 years ago this fall, was one of many skirmishes with the Indians, whose land it was, but the battle turned out to be the beginning of the American Revolution. Congress so designated it, and, as the Daughters of the American Revolution put it on the monument marking Lewis' grave in Salem's East Hill Cemetery, the battle "was the opening act in the drama whereof the closing scene was played at Yorktown."

Well before the Revolution, Lewis joined Washington in 1754 at Alexandria and fought with him, off and on, through the next twenty years. He returned home between engagements, sometimes for extended periods, but never for very long. Fights against the Indians and the French were intermittent; at one point he was a prisoner of war in French Canada, and he fought the English throughout the Revolution. But it was the Battle of Point Pleasant that was among his crowning achievements.

Lewis led 1,000 men to Point Pleasant at the confluence of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers in what is now West Virginia, to try to stop the Indian attacks. There, before sunrise on that fateful day, October 10, 1774, two of his men had gone two miles upstream to hunt. There they came upon a large band of Indians. One of the two was killed, but the other got back and was able to sound the alarm.

"There were five acres covered with Indians, as thick as they could stand, one beside the other," the survivor reported, according to the story of the battle in Patricia Givens Johnson's book General Andrew Lewis of Roanoke and Greenbrier. The Indians were of the united tribes of the Shawnee, Delaware, Mingoes, and Taways, a thousand strong, called the confederacy of Indian Nations, led by Chief Cornstalk. The Shawnees had crossed the Ohio River during the night and posted warriors on both sides of the river to prevent the white man from escape. They even had brought their squaws and young children along the banks, "to knock the whites in the head as they tried to flee." The battle would begin at sunrise, and last all day.

One account described the Shawnee as, "tall, manly, of copper color, black hair, quick piercing eyes ... a girdle wrapped around him and between his legs. All their eyebrows had been shaved, and their eye lashes pulled out and their faces were painted. A ring of silver was in the nose, with bobs that hung over their upper lip. Hair was shaved off their heads -- except for one long lock on top."

During the battle, Cornstalk "could be heard and seen, striding among his warriors, shouting, 'Be strong, be brave.'" Even Lewis' men praised their enemy; William Christian of Lewis' staff reported, "The enemy in the battle exceeded every man's expectations. Never did Indians stick closer to it -- nor behave bolder."

Lewis organized his men and sent them forward in two columns, one commanded by his brother Charles, who was shot down and killed early in the fighting. As the fighting raged, Lewis dispatched reinforcements and directed a fortification built around the main camp, in case Cornstalk pushed into camp. He "behaved with the greatest conduct and prudenceÉ." a witness reported, "supporting the liens secured under God both the victory and prevented the enemy's attempt to break into camp."

The Indians retreated a short distance and, during a lull in the afternoon, "could be seen throwing their dead in the Ohio river, and scalping the others, so the whites could not," according to Patricia Johnson's account.

The night was horrible. Their most experienced surgeon, Dr. William Fleming, had been wounded "with a lung protruding from his body. He was in great pain and no one could relieve him. Finally, he managed to push the lung back in place himself!"

Lewis won the battle but lost more than forty-five officers and men, including his brother Charles.

Andrew Lewis never sat for a portrait, so it is not known exactly what he looked like. It has been noted that he strongly resembled his son, Andrew, Jr., and there are portraits of the son. Andrew Sr. was said to be a tall man, slightly over six feet, light brown hair, brown eyes and heavy brown eyebrows. He was stern and his officers sometimes complained -- "but they never doubted his sincerity and leadership." Captain John Stuart described him, "of uncommon strength and agility, and his form of the most exact symmetry. A stern and invincible countenance, reserved, distant deportment which rendered his presence more awful than engaging." "The earth seemed to tremble under him as he walked," one acquaintance said.

Lewis barely missed being chosen Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Forces in the Revolution, the honor bestowed on George Washington. In fact, Washington is said to have considered him "the ablest general officer in the colonies." Washington selected him, in preference to Patrick Henry, for appointment as a Brigadier General and Commander in Chief of Virginia Troops.

It was in that capacity that he led 2,000 ground forces in the battle of Gwynn Island near Williamsburg. His expert use of artillery was a key to the defeat ex-Governor Dunmore's flotilla of 100 ships, 150 Royal Marines, and a detachment of Royal Ethiopian troops. The battle occurred July 8-10, 1776, only four to six days after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Lewis' attack so surprised and overwhelmed the British that Dunmore cut anchor and limped out of Virginia for the last time &endash; the last British soul to rule over this new country. Lewis lost only one man.

Whether lieutenant, captain, major, colonel -- or finally, brigadier general, Lewis was always phenomenal in his skills.

Well before the war, Lewis had begun to buy land on the Roanoke River. He continued doing so until he eventually owned about 2,000 acres on both sides of the river &endash; in and near where Salem is today. He moved his home and family here about 1767.

Country folks know the value of 'bottom land,' near a stream, where all the nutrients wash down; therefore the name "Richfield" was very appropriate for his home, one of the finest farms in the valley.

Historians recorded that there was no doubt that Lewis had a very "prestigious home on his plantation as he was a man of considerable means, as shown by his inventory. His inventory, used as a measurement of wealth back then, was "twenty slaves, nineteen horses, a large herd of cattle, many pieces of fine furniture, such as, mahogany, desk, silverware, books, etc."

McCauley's "History of Roanoke" describes the house as "a large and commodious one for those times, having an ample portico fronting the river, and another porch on the north. The parlor was large with four windows, hung with handsome damask curtains which were bought at Lord Dunmore's sale."

Most research pinpoints the big home to be south of what was at one time 11th Street, between Indiana and Florida Streets, almost between, and slightly east of, the current sites of Yokohama Tire Co. and Valleydale Foods. This is based on word of mouth, the remains of a brick foundation, and a deep well, found nearby.

Lewis lived at Richfield from about 1767, a towering influence in the affairs of Botetourt County from its creation in 1770 until his death in 1781. He was one of the justices appointed to preside over the county in 1770 and was elected to the House of Burgesses a year later. Salem was not founded until 1802.

Lewis was in Richmond with the War Council and Governor in 1781 when Cornwallis moved his army north toward Yorktown in the closing days of the Revolution. Forced by the British invasion to flee from Richmond, Lewis headed for home in Salem on horseback. He reached Montvale in Bedford County when he was "strickened with the fever" according to one account &endash; "bilious fever," according to another. He died at Montvale, at a friend's house. He was sixty years old.

That was September 25, 1781. Three weeks later, the American Revolution ended with Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown..

Lewis' body was taken home and buried on a hill beside that of his youngest son, Charles. The grave was his favorite meditating spot overlooking his beloved Richfield estate.

With the passing of time and generations, the gravesite deteriorated and grew over with weeds. The estate was sold off, the family dispersed, and the house burned. Eventually, Salem citizens realized they no longer knew where their famous resident was buried.

Citizens began a search, and they wouldn't give up until they located it. Although the estate's stone fence enclosure had long since crumbled, they found the grave. A Mr. Frederick Johnson recalled he had been shown the grave some 50 years earlier and had marked a stone on it with the letters "A.:L." The painted stone was found, and in 1897 Salem undertaker John Oakey, in the presence of historian William McCauley, opened the grave. Sure enough, military buttons were found with the initials "A.L." on them and on a piece of decayed wood! The bones were in perfect state, lying beside the bones of his youngest son, Charles.

In April, the remains were moved to East Hill Cemetery on a plot donated by the cemetery's trustees. The cemetery was part of General Lewis' farm at the time of his death.

The Margaret Lynn Lewis Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution decided to mark his grave with a lasting monument that weather and time couldn't destroy. A beautiful granite shaft, in 1902, was designed to stand guard over one of America's pioneer heroes.

"There is no character or name identified with the history of Roanoke County, of which it can be more justly proud, than that of General Lewis," wrote W. W. Coxie in the Salem Times-Register of March 31, 1990. "Hero of the Battle of Point Pleasant, friend of Washington, and one of the most prominent and picturesque figures in the Indian Wars of America."

In Capitol Square in Richmond, a statue of Andrew Lewis in his frontier attire is stands alongside statues of John Mason, Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Nelson, all beneath the equestrian statue of George Washington, under whom he served so faithfully in real life.

Today, the town of Lewisburg in West Virginia, Richfield Retirement Community, Andrew Lewis Middle School, Fort Lewis Mountain and the former Fort Lewis Hotel all were named for Andrew Lewis, and there are others. General Lewis accomplished enough in his sixty years for two men. His ghost and spirit still live in Salem -- and will forever.

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Is Your Home on Andrew Lewis' 1767 Land-Grant?
892 Salem Structures May Display Lewis Plaques

There are 892 Salem structures today situated on the 625-acre land grant made to General Lewis in 1767 by Lieutenant Governor Francis Fauquier and King George III of England. It was on or near this site that Lewis built his famous home "Richfield," where he lived the last years of his life, and where he was buried &endash; twice.

The Salem Educational Foundation, headed by Dr. Richard H. Fisher, recently developed the map to delineate where Lewis' original estate was located in relation to modern-day Salem. Dr. Fisher and his associates did it with an old map, published years ago in Kegley's Virginia Frontier, showing a number of original land grants in the Salem area. They adapted the old map to the scale of a modern street map of Salem, then positioned it over the modern city map and drew the resulting map of Lewis' land grant you see here. It is the first time a map of the Lewis estate has been shown as it relates to modern Salem.

The land grant site, entirely within the Salem city limits, includes the Elizabeth College Campus of Roanoke College, much of the Salem Civic Center area, East Hill Cemetery, much of the Pennsylvania Avenue-Boulevard area, Longwood Park, a segment of Sherwood Memorial Park, and two short segments of Main Street. One segment stretches eastward on Main from Lewis Avenue to just west of the Salem Presbyterian Church; the other extends from just west of Thompson Memorial Boulevard eastward past Longwood Park and the Salem Museum to Brand Avenue.

The owners of all structures within these boundaries -- and there are 892 according to research done so far -- are eligible to display a 3x7-inch aluminum plaque indicating the buildings are, indeed, on land that was part of the historic land grant. Members of the SEE Board, Dr. Walter Hunt and Robert Craighead, are now going house to house offering the plaques and maps for $25.00 per package to those who live in the selected houses and other buildings. Proceeds of the sale will go for the support of the foundation and its efforts to memorialize General Andrew Lewis.

This was by no means Lewis' entire land holdings in this area. He eventually owned about 2,000 contiguous acres in the immediate Salem area and a total of some 30,000 acres at different locations in Appalachian region.

The land-grant map project is just one of dozens of programs and activities the foundation is planning to honor General Lewis in the years immediately ahead. One of the first will be a Millennium Gala dinner and dance on Friday night, December 31, 1999, at the Salem Civic Center honoring Andrew Lewis.

The Foundation also is planning a program at the Salem Civic Center on Saturday, July 8, 2000, on the "Life and Times of General Andrew Lewis" featuring speakers and historians who will discuss topics pertaining to General Lewis' life.

On that day they also will dedicate a bronze life-size statue of General Lewis with an English 18-pounder cannon, which he fired at Governor Dunmore's ships near Williamsburg, to be located in front of the Salem Civic Center. Professional sculptress Anne Bell of Winter Springs, Fla, is currently making the statue, which is nearly ready to go to the foundry for casting.

In addition, the Salem High School Drama Department under the direction of Mrs. Rachel Sailer is planning a drama about General Lewis. .

The Foundation also plans to memorialize the gravesite where Lewis and his son Charles were originally buried, near his home "Richfield," which long since has been destroyed. A 450-pound stone marks the original grave. The Foundation is planing to place a concrete slab for the stone and an engraved marker at the spot, with an appropriate epitaph. Lewis' body is now buried in East Hill Cemetery. (See related article about Andrew Lewis, Pages 4-5.)

To help raise funds for these projects, the Foundation plans to establish the "General Andrew Lewis' Last Volunteer Regiment" plaque listing donors funding the statue, cannon, and General Andrew Lewis Endowment. Major donors to the General Andrew Lewis Last Volunteer Regiment will be presented with limited editions of General Lewis sculptured heads, according to the plans..

Even that is only the beginning of this major series of projects to honor Salem's famous son. Here are other plans under way or under consideration:

General Andrew Lewis Headquarters will be located in the Old Post Office at Market and Main Streets in Salem, to serve as a repository of books, deeds, wills, land grants, and other papers pertaining to General Lewis.
The Foundation hopes to have an appropriate highway in the area named the "General Andrew Lewis Highway."
The Foundation will encourage Gwynn Island Historical supporters to develop a statue of General Lewis with guns, entrenched troops and ships at "Cricket Hill" near Williamsburg (so named by Governor Dunmore who, upon seeing General Andrew Lewis and his troops, declared, "I will run those crickets off that hill").
The Foundation will develop The General Andrew Lewis Endowment to provide scholarships to students majoring in history, government or military science.
The Foundation will identify the parade ground at Waller's Grove "near the end of the town near the theatre at the edge of Williamsburg" where Lewis paraded troops when Edmund Pendleton's paper declaring Virginia's independence was read.
The Williamsburg Historical Foundation will be encouraged to recognize Lewis' achievements in defeating Governor Dunmore by marking Waller's Grove and developing an impersonator of General Andrew Lewis for skits to be presented.
The Foundation will have a local impersonator of General Lewis (6'4" and 220 pounds) available to appear in both pioneer attire and in a Revolutionary War General's uniform.
TV or film representatives will be encouraged to develop and film the story of General Lewis for historical interest.
An animated computer expert will be sought to develop a series of pictures and/or booklet showing General Lewis in various scenes emphasizing highlights of his career as a surveyor, road builder, with Colonel Washington at Fort Necessity, Williamsburg and Gwynn Island, with Patrick Henry reading the Freedom of Virginia proclamation to troops in Waller's Grove, as a member of the House of Burgesses; meeting in Richmond with the War Council and Governor in 1781, and riding his horse back to Salem from the War Council meeting in Richmond in 1781 when he became ill and died in Bedford County.

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People in Salem History
Charles E. 'Ted' Webber Was 'Mr. Salem'

From the viewpoint of history, Charles Edward "Ted" Webber has not been gone that long. He died only in 1990 and is, therefore, remembered well by thousands of Salemites, both old and relatively young. Yet it's a safe bet that that local historians a century from now also will be remembering this man who made such a mark on his hometown.

Ted Webber was Mr. Everything in Salem. A writer described him in 1989 as "the man who, probably more than anyone, deserved to be called 'Mr. Salem.'"

He was known professionally as owner and operator, with his wife, of Webber's Pharmacy (now Brooks-Byrd) at the corner of Broad and Main Street for 34 years. He also served as president of the Farmers National Bank (later First Virginia Bank of Salem) from 1954 until 1965 and was chairman of its board.

But that was just the beginning. He directed, served, sponsored or chaired more than 20 organizations in and beyond Salem -- including the Kiwanis, the Chamber of Commerce, the Masons and First United Methodist Church. He was called the "father" of Route 419; he played a major role in Salem's becoming a city; he was one of the founders of the West Central 4-H Center in Franklin County, was Lieutenant Grand Commander of the Masons. During his lifetime he was presented the keys to three cities: Salem, Charlotte and Savannah.

The Scottish Rite Temple in Roanoke and a park in South Salem are named in his honor, and he has been recognized as Father of the Year and Outstanding Citizen of the Year for various organizations. A member of the Roanoke College Class of 1922, he was awarded the Roanoke College Medal in 1987 in recognition of his achievement.

He married a high school classmate, Pauline (Polly) Graham Webber, also a Salem native. She studied pharmacy under him, passed the pharmacy board, helped run their drug store for years, and died 18 months after him. Their two children, Jean Webber Payne of Greensboro and Charles E. Webber Jr. of Richmond, survive, as do grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The Webbers lived in one of Salem's most historic houses, the Victorian mansion that is still called the "Evans-Webber House" at 213 North Broad Street and is on the National and State Registries of Historic Places.

Their drug store, too, was a Salem institution, serving the community for some 30 years. Young married women of the town gathered there daily with their babies to gossip and chat, the story goes. "I do not know how Ted and Polly lived through the deluge of baby carriages which blocked their store beyond relief," Celeste Logan, a columnist, reminisced years later.

In 1959, Webber sold the pharmacy to Ray Byrd and Irvin Brooks, two of his employees.

Ted Webber was born January 17, 1900, in Salem, son of Frank and Emma Webber. His father had started a weekly newspaper in Salem in 1866 called The Roanoke Times, (long before the daily newspaper of that name or, for that matter, before the city named Roanoke had come into being), a name that has come down today in the Salem Times-Register.

Ted was the only member of a Salem High School basketball team that in 1917-19 captured the state championships for three years in a row. He also captained the state championship high school football team in 1917. He played tennis regularly until a year before his death.

After serving in the army in World War I, he studied at Roanoke College but had to drop out when his father became ill. While working in a pharmacy, he studied pharmacy under a tutor and passed the pharmacy board the year that he would have graduated with his class at Roanoke College.

His influence on Salem's development can hardly be over-stated. As chairman of a Roanoke County Commission appointed in the late 1960s to study possible consolidation with Roanoke City, he made a minority report recommending that, instead of consolidating, Salem should become a city. Salem became a city.

As chairman of the roads committee for the Chamber of Commerce, he recommended to the highway commission that the old McVitty Road be rerouted. It was, and Route 419 is the result.

He also was instrumental in Lewis-Gale Hospital's finding the land needed to open in Salem.

Few in Salem's history have had a more lasting impact on the city we know today.

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Hawthorne & Red Lane Homes on Tour In 'Monteiro Heights'
Homes Date from 1890s to World War II
Tour Neighborhood Has A Lot of History

There are no signs welcoming residents to Monteiro Heights. No Monteiro Heights newsletter.. no Monteiro Heights block party... not even Monteiro Street or Road or alleyway.

Where then, you may wonder, is Monteiro Heights? And how does the Salem Museum propose to host its annual Holiday Homes Tour there this year?

You would not be alone in such wonderings.

Very few residents have ever heard of Monteiro Heights. Lifetime Salem resident Dr. Warren Moorman, who ironically resides at the center of the development, says he has only heard the term from the lips of lawyers.

"It's on my deed," he asserts, "but I don't think many folks actually know this area by that name."

The spot where Hawthorn Road, Red Lane, and Market Street meet may not commonly be recognized by its proper name, but it is decidedly acknowledged as one of the loveliest neighborhoods in Salem. Five homes in the neighborhood, including the home of the President of Roanoke College, will be on display from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Sunday, December 5, in this year's Salem Historical Society Homes Tour .

"A range of building styles --from the stately Victorians of the past century to the charming family homes of the 1940s--create a architecturally rich neighborhood," says Salem Museum director Mary Hill. "This year's tour of Monteiro Heights showcases some of the best our city has to offer."

"Since the featured homes span the decades, the tour gives you a sense of the growth of Salem between the 1890s and World War II," adds curator John Long.

When researching the tour area, Long recalled a rare 1891 map of Salem which depicts both real and projected developments in Salem. The section in question was designated as the "Monterio [sic] Land and Residence Company"--thus, Monteiro Heights.

"Although the area was definitely the same, the street names were somewhat different on the map," says Hill. "For example, Hawthorn Road was originally Clarence Street, Market was Alabama, and Red Lane was Monteiro Street."

Hill later found that according to neighborhood lore a woman who lived in the area didn't feel that the name "Clarence" quite reflected the beauty of the neighborhood and lobbied to have the street renamed for the rare English hawthorn trees that grew in her yard. Meanwhile, Monteiro Street was renamed Red Lane because its unpaved surface would wash over with red clay whenever it rained.

One of the many development groups that sprung up in Salem during the late 19th century boom era, Monteiro Land & Residence Company was headed by prominent Salem citizens Charles R. Towson, John M. Evans, F. H. Chalmers, Clarence B. Strouse (the probably origin of "Clarence Street"), and J. R. Thomas.

"This year's homes tour is quite unusual because it reflects the growth of Salem during half a century-- all in a single neighborhood," says Hill.

The five featured homes are the residences of Dr. David & Mrs. Susan Gring (535 North Market), Victor & Kristin Bell (801 Red Lane), Larry & Jan Lynch (49 Hawthorn), Bob & Carolyn May (718 Red Lane), and Tootie Brown & the Reverend William Leach (Address).

The Roanoke College President's Home (535 North Market)

The Colonial Revival mansion at the corner of Market and Hawthorn is one of the most impressive homes in Salem. The home was built in the late 1930s by Dr. LeRoy Gresham, longtime pastor of Salem Presbyterian Church. Dr. Gresham was well-known and well-loved for his generous community spirit -- teaching neighborhood children to swim, entertaining groups of youngsters at the Hotel Roanoke so they could be exposed to "social graces," and acting as a surrogate father for those who were without.

John P. Fishwick, chief legal counsel and later president of Norfolk and Western Railway, acquired the property after the death of Dr. Gresham in the mid 1950s. A realtor's postcard advertising the sale boasts of thirteen spacious rooms, four full baths, two half baths, a full basement, a full floored attic, and steps to a roof deck with magnificent views. The gracious proportions of the three-story home encouraged some local children to believe for years the local myth that there was a pool on the roof of the building!

Since 1968, it has been the home of the Roanoke College presidents Kendig, Fintel, and current residents David and Susan Gring. When the College purchased the house, it became a showplace for entertaining and receiving guests to the school. In fact, according to College tradition, incoming freshman and graduating seniors were allowed for a time to carve their initials in the woodwork of the basement study.

The President's Home will be decorated in an elegant, traditional style. Appropriately, the hosts for this house will be representatives of the College community as organized by the Fortnightly Club: professors, administrators, and students will welcome their Salem neighbors into the home.

The Moffett-Bell Home (801 Red Lane)

This splendid Queen Anne structure has been witness to a great deal of local history. The property was purchased by Judge William W. Moffett from the Monteiro Land and Residence Company in 1891, and the house constructed soon afterwards. The home is therefore among the oldest of the neighborhood, built at a time when there was nothing but cornfields for blocks around.

It was in this house that an interesting national controversy began in 1910. Judge Moffett, home sick from work, began reading one of his daughter's Roanoke College history books. The text, Elson's History of the United States, so offended the judge's southern sensibilities with its alleged northern bias in its treatment of the Civil War that he complained to the college president. The resulting debate led to Judge Moffett's resignation from the college board of trustees--and to widespread, if not altogether favorable, attention from the press.

The home later passed into the hands of the Baptist Children's Home and served as the private residence for the organization's custodian and wife. As the century wore on, however, the house was abandoned for a number of years and by 1970 was in a seriously dilapidated condition.

It was then that local architect William Poulton bought the Moffett Home and began extensive renovations. Living in a small area of the house, the Poulton family took a dwelling that some might have seen as ripe for demolition and turned it back into the elegant home of its former days. In addition to renovating the basic structure, the Poultons added a garage and Red Lane front entrance. Thanks to their efforts, 801 Red Lane stands today as a gracious homeplace and an important link to Salem's history.

"With its spacious rooms, high ceilings and winding staircase, the home is beautiful in its own right," says Mary Hill, "but most importantly it offers a testimonial to the power of preservation. One of the Museum's primary goals in sponsoring the annual tour is to encourage the community to see older homes in need of care as preservation opportunities, not eyesores."

Victor and Kristin Bell have continued renovating and redecorating. In addition to putting in a new kitchen and bathrooms, they have added unusual decorative touches, such as the stenciled wooden floor in the master bedroom and a trompe l'oeil mural in the dining room -- both in the Victorian tradition of bringing nature indoors through painted representations of vines, ferns, and flowers.

The Bell family has furnished each room with antiques from Mr. Bell's family home in Louisville, Kentucky. "The floor plan of this house is very traditional, and very similar to Victor's childhood house" says Bell. "So from the moment we first walked in, he felt that he'd come home."

A member of Lake Spring Garden Club, Kristin will deck her home in royal holiday colors and an assortment of fresh greens, herbs, and dried flowers.

The Robertson-Lynch Home (49 Hawthorn)

A stately Georgian structure dating to the 1920s, the Robertson-Lynch Home shows the next phase in the development of the Monteiro Heights neighborhood.

Baptist preacher Frank P. Robertson moved to Salem with his family in 1905 from Rocky Mount. Frank's grandson William Robertson tells the story that on a previous move, the family had put their cow in the same box car with all the family furniture: "They realized that wasn't a very smart move [since] the cow... broke down the partition and explored a little bit... So when they moved from Rocky Mount to Salem, they got the cow over the mountain behind a wagon... and the furniture went in the box car by itself."

It was on that wagon that William's father, Harold G. Robertson, arrived as a 9-year-old boy. The Robertson family settled in a Victorian house down the street from the Moffetts--and when Harold grew up, he and several other brothers built their own houses in Monteiro Heights, within a block of their Salem homeplace.

Harold, the founding president of Colonial American National Bank, and his wife Amelia Harveycutter Robertson, raised their family at 49 Hawthorn Road and stayed there throughout their lives. During the difficult years of the Depression and War, this house was a gathering place for neighborhood children to play "kick the can" and "capture the flag." In fact, over 50 years ago Amelia Robertson was a den mother for Salem's first Cub Scout pack. Likewise, Christmas in the house, recalls son William Roberston, involved "a whole lot of family."

The house sits on four spacious lots beautifully landscaped with more than fifty boxwoods on the property. Mrs. Robertson completed a western addition and kitchen renovation in the 1980s. However, since the home has changed hands only once, when Roanoke College professors Larry and Jan Lynch purchased it from the estate of Amelia Robertson, it is very similar to its initial structure-- from the impressive open three story central stairway to the original slate roof.

Avid collectors of antiques and painted glass, the Lynches have decorated their home in a wonderfully eclectic style. For instance, by design none of the chairs around the large, claw-footed oak dining room table are identical. The mixture of antiques and contemporary pieces have combined to create a warm, comfortable home.

The May Home (718 Red Lane)

Built in the early 1940s, Bob and Carolyn May's elegant Cape Cod residence exudes charm and grace. It is something of a melding of old and new, with iron gates, light fixtures, and plaques brought to the house from a castle in Spain. In addition, the restored mantelpiece and wainscoting in the living room were originally in an antebellum plantation house near Fincastle.

Mr. Collins, a previous owner, made major additions to the home in the early 1970s, adding a garage, breezeway, rear porch, brick patio, and completed second story. He also had a false ceiling built into the dining room to accommodate a special antique chandelier. Mr. Collins was an employee of Howard Hughes, serving as head of Pam American Airways. Shortly after his retirement, Hughes visited Salem and reportedly spent a night in the home.

Mr. and Mrs. May have lived in the house since 1981. The owners of Countryside Classics on Main Street, the Mays are well known for their impressive Christmas decorations. The Mays will have three trees this year -- a formal tree dressed in crystal, peach, and white in the living room; an upstairs tree; and, the May children's favorite, a tree strung with popcorn and decked with meaningful family antiques.

The Marshall-Brown Home (721 Red Lane)

This quaint home is an excellent example of a small Colonial Revival with Tudor Revival details. Built in the early 1940s for "Cotton" Marshall, an employee of the Coca-Cola Company, the home exhibits many unusual features that were considered ahead of their time -- including a multi-level first floor and a full finished basement. Simultaneously, the home's hard wood floors, floor-to-ceiling windows, and unusual nooks and crannies harken back to earlier days.

Homeowner Tootie Brown recalls that when she and her late husband Max were courting in the 1940s, they used to drive by the Marshall Home and remark how lovely it would be to live there. Twenty-five years later, their dream was realized. While playing bridge, a friend's offhanded remark that there was a contract on the house spurred Tootie to action.

"I got up from the bridge table and called the realtor right away," Brown declares.

With a little luck and a lot of persistence, the Brown family's bid went through and they moved in a week before Christmas, 1977. That Christmas eve--and every one since then-- family and friends gathered at 721 Red Lane for a buffet dinner and a carol sing-a-long.

Christmas is a special time for Brown, who decorates with traditional greens and what might be called a "sentiment" tree. "Everything on the tree has meaning and a story behind it," says Brown.

The home, where Tootie lives with her current husband, the Reverend William Leach, is decorated with special family antiques, including two tables made by Tootie's great-grandfather Austin Ames. They also include a lovely ladderback chair that her grandfather Edward Ames bought for 50¢ at an auction when he and her grandmother were first married. Calendars and wooden account boxes from the old Brown Hardware store on Main Street also decorate the home.

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Hanging Rock Was Surprising Confederate Victory

By John Long

The recent dedication of Salem's new Hanging Rock Battlefield Trail, running along the old railroad bed on Kesler's Mill Road, is a reminder that the Roanoke Valley, while not Gettysburg or Antietam, has a neglected Civil War Heritage to preserve.

The trail commemorates the Battle of Hanging Rock in June of 1864. As Civil War battles go, it was a minor affair, which certainly did not turn the tide of the war. Nonetheless, it is a notable piece of local history, being a surprising Confederate victory late in the war and the only actual engagement in Roanoke County during the War between the States.

The story of the battle begins actually in Lynchburg some days before, where Union General David Hunter had made a two day attempt to break through southern defenses and cut the vital railroad link in that town. The outnumbered Confederate forces had repulsed Hunter's Lynchburg attack, forcing him to reconsider his strategy and begin a retreat back to friendly territory in West Virginia, doing as much damage as possible on the way (Hunter was infamous for his brutal scorched earth tactics). His path took him through Liberty (Bedford), Big Lick (Roanoke), and finally Salem, where his men burned the depot, raided homes for food, and tore up several miles of railroad track which had only recently been replaced after Averell's raid six months before (see adjoining book review).

An interesting coincidence saved Roanoke College from plunder: one of the Union officers had heard David Bittle, president of the college, speak at a Lutheran church in Pennsylvania some years before; he protected the college and the Bittle home from hungry soldiers.

Hunter was aware that his retreat (the Great Skedaddle, as Confederate forces called it) was being doggedly pursued by rebel generals Jubal Early and John McCausland. He therefore hastened out of Salem, along modern day Craig Avenue to the gap at Hanging Rock, where Va. 311 begins today. He found the road to New Castle blocked by fallen trees, which severely retarded his progress (to this day it is unclear who blocked the road; probably local militia units or possibly miners from the Catawba area). While the infantry were sent ahead to clear the road, the slower moving supply wagons and artillery limbers were forced to lag behind at Hanging Rock, virtually undefended. It was there that McCausland's Confederate cavalry caught up with the retreating enemy.

McCausland, a former colleague of Stonewall Jackson at VMI, had the potential to inflict significant damage on Hunter's forces, but a delay in getting his orders from Early, and a failure by other officers to reinforce his attack, meant that he could only hit the rearguard of Hunter's troops, and could only hold the gap for a short while. Even so, the Confederates managed to kill, capture, or wound about 100 Union men (numbers vary greatly), and capture or destroy several artillery pieces, as well as valuable supply wagons. Mason's Creek, according to contemporary accounts, ran red with the blood of horses killed in the engagement. McCausland soon was forced to retreat, however, when Union cavalry (led by none other than the same William Averell who had raided Salem the previous December), hastened back to reinforce the beleaguered rear guard. The vast majority of Hunter's forces made it safely to West Virginia, and the south had achieved only a small victory, letting a larger triumph slip through their fingers. Their achievement was certainly not great enough to reverse, or even significantly slow, the impending defeat of the south.

The Battle of Hanging Rock is notable for another bit of trivia: two of the Union soldiers would go on to assume the presidency after the war: Rutherford B. Hayes and William McKinley. Some sources also put James Garfield in Salem during the action, but this has not been substantiated, and is more doubtful. While Roanoke County's only battle pales in comparison to Gettysburg or Vicksburg, the efforts of the Hanging Rock Battlefield and Railway Preservation Foundation in opening the new walking trail will assure that this battle will not be forgotten.

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