correction- it was Dr. Robinson, and Colonel Robertson... On Jan 27, 2007, at 9:07 PM, Sunshine49 wrote: > I finally made it to the history center at Germanna today. I went > in and told the person there [not a lot of tourist traffic on a > January day...] what I was looking for and he said oh, that should > be no problem. Till he started looking. And later 4 people he knew > stopped by, had the same response, oh, that should be easy to > find-- everyone was as surprised as I was, to find that it's not > readily available. So what I did find out: > > He suggested looking through John Fontaine's account of the > journey. You can buy it for $25, or get a copy through an inter- > library loan. It should be interesting reading anyway, for anyone > wanting to learn more about the expedition. > > The Germanna group has a website at germanna.org that has > information [after leaving my name at the place, the president > later called me and suggested looking there]; there are also > germanna.com and germanna.net The germanna.com might be worth > contacting, I was told the guy who runs it knows pretty much > everything there is to know about the era, and is happy to help > researchers. > > I also came across a site on their computer, West Virginia Archives > and History [look up "Alexander Spotswood's Transmontane > Expedition", extracted from a book written in 1860 which uses a > book from 1722], it names a few more of the members of the > expedition- Spotswood, Fontaine, Beverly [it was at Beverly's house > at Middlesex, where after being "hospitably entertained" by > Beverly, the governor the next day "left his chaise and mounted a > horse for the rest of the expedition"], Colonel Robertson, Austin > Smith ["who returned home owing to a fever"], Todd, Dr. Robertson, > Taylor, Mason, Brooke, and Captains Clouder and Smith. "The whole > number in the party, including gentlemen, rangers, pioneers, > Indians and servants, was probably about fifty. They had with them > a large number of riding and pack horses, an abundant supply of > provisions, and an extraordinary variety of liquors." The first leg > of the trip was three miles, and when they camped they named each > camp after a member of the expedition; the first camp was Camp > Beverly. The fellow at Germanna said they used every stop at every > camp, church, house or inn as an excuse for another round of > drinks. This was not a "Lewis and Clark" type expedition, more an > adventure for gentlemen. The exact route is still not known, many > think it was over the mountains at what is now Rt. 33, where a > commemorative stone pyramid now stands. But others think it was a > road back through the towns of Syria and Graves Mountain, which > once crossed the mountains and was called something like "Mountain > Crossing Road", but it was closed in the 1930s when the federal > government bought and built Skyline Drive. The road now ends in a > fire road with a gate across it. When they crested the mountains > and saw a river below them, Spotswood named it Euphrates. Luckily > saner heads later prevailed and it now bears the beautiful Indian > name of Shenandoah. > > There are also the Spotswood family papers, in possession of the > Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. If you can track them down, they > might have something. So this is as much as I could gather about > the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. > > Nancy > > ------- > I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days. > > --Daniel Boone > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the > instructions > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html