Virginia’s
largest county, created in
1734, extended to the
Mississippi River in the
west and north to the
Great Lakes. Orange
County not only
encompassed great
distances, it also
witnessed great events and
was home to great men.
Lieutenant Governor
Alexander Spotswood took
charge of the Virginia
colony in 1710. Four
years later he settled
with a group of German
immigrants on the banks of
the Rapidan River, in what
two decades later would be
Orange County. His
palatial home and the
settlement were both
called Germanna. When
William Byrd of Westover
visited the mines and
furnaces, he called
Spotswood’s home “The
Enchanted Castle.” The
remains of Fort Germanna
and Spotswood’s home are
being excavated and
studied.
In 1716, Spotswood led a
group of settlers over the
Blue Ridge Mountains. He
wanted to show his
colonists that the
mountains could be crossed
and that rich land lay
waiting for them.
Spotswood called the
prominent men who traveled
with him the Knights of
the Golden Horseshoe. One
of the Knights was James
Taylor II, who patented
13,500 acres, which
included most of what is
today the town of Orange.
His 1722 house,
Bloomsbury, still stands
(it is not, however, open
to the public). Two of
Taylor’s great-grandsons
became president of the
United States: Zachary
Taylor (born in Orange
County) and James Madison
(see Montpelier
selection).
While the area had only a
peripheral brush with the
American Revolution---a
British raiding party
scoured the area for
several days and Lafayette
marched through the
county---it was the scene
for numerous engagements
during the Civil War. In
1862 a skirmish was fought
in the town streets of
Orange. Two railroad
lines that supplied the
Confederates ran through
the county and the area
had several soldiers’
hospitals. The Army of
Northern Virginia retired
to Orange County for nine
months after Gettysburg.
General Robert E. Lee
repulsed Grant when his
Army of the Potomac
crossed the Rapidan River
into Orange County in the
fall of 1863. Both armies
then spent the winter
camped across from each
other along the river’s
banks. Lee and his staff
officers attended St.
Thomas’ Episcopal Church
in Orange.
With spring, the Union
army under Grant recrossed
the Rapidan into the
eastern region known as
the Wilderness. The
armies met in one of the
bloodiest battles of the
war (see Wilderness
Battlefield selection).
Although that battle was a
costly draw at best for
Grant, he continued his
attacks in Virginia
driving first to Richmond
and then on to Appomattox.
There are many reminders
of Orange County’s rich
past. The James
Madison Museum honors
the country’s fourth
president and the man who
was primarily responsible
for the drafting and
ratification of the U.S.
Constitution and its Bill
of Rights. Exhibits
reveal the many facets of
Madison’s life, including
many personal possessions
from James and Dolley
Madison’s nearby home,
Montpelier.
One of the focal pieces is
Madison’s favorite chair
made from campeachy wood,
a type of mahogany grown
in Mexico. Other exhibited
pieces include a
four-poster bed, chest,
game table and library
table. There are books
from Madison’s own
collection and
correspondence from his
years as president.
Fashions worn by Dolley
Madison are also
exhibited. A short video
is shown on Montpelier,
Madison’s life-long home.
In addition to the
historical exhibits about
Madison, the museum also
has a Hall of Agriculture
with early farm equipment
and machinery and a
restored 1730s “Patent”
house. This is singularly
appropriate as Madison was
described by Jefferson as
the “best farmer in the
world” because of his
innovative farming
methods. Farm equipment
on exhibit includes a
reaper, seed cleaner, corn
sheller, wooden cider
press, fodder cutter,
husker, wagon and several
varieties of plows.
The James Madison Museum,
129 Caroline Street, is
open year round on
weekdays 9:00 A.M. to 4:00
P.M. and on weekends from
March through November
from 1:00 to 4:00 P.M. It
is closed on weekends from
December through February
and on major holidays.
Admission is charged.
Right beside the museum is
St. Thomas Episcopal
Church. This church
was built in 1833-34
according to plans
designed by Thomas
Jefferson for Christ
Church, Charlottesville.
Jefferson’s church was
built in 1824 and torn
down in 1895. St. Thomas
Episcopal Church, the only
surviving example of
Jefferson’s ecclesiastical
design, is based on
Chalgrin’s St. Philippe de
Roule, a church Jefferson
admired in Paris. It is
likely that the church in
Orange was built by one or
more of the master
builders who worked with
Jefferson at Monticello
and the University of
Virginia. These artisans
worked in the Orange area
during the 1820s and 1830s
and were responsible for
the duplication of
Jefferson’s architectural
designs throughout the
region. The church window
on the left side near the
front was done by Tiffany;
it is just one of the
church’s many vibrant
stained-glass windows.
In addition to serving as
a house of worship during
the Civil War, it also was
used as a hospital and
shelter following the
Battles of Cedar Mountain,
Fredericksburg,
Chancellorsville, the
Wilderness and
Spotsylvania Courthouse.
St. Thomas’ Church is
included on the Virginia
Landmarks Register and the
National Register of
Historic Places.
A walking tour route
(copies can be picked up
at the adjacent museum)
begins in front of the
church and encompasses the
historic sights in Orange,
now designated a Historic
Main Street Community.
The route is 1 ½ miles
long and passes 21 points
of interest. While you
explore Main Street, stop
at the Ed Jaffe Gallery
to see the work of this
internationally known
sculptor. Gallery hours
are Thursday, Friday and
Saturday from 11:00 A.M.
to 5:00 P.M.
After exploring the town
of Orange, head south to
nearby Gordonsville (here
too you will find a
self-guided walking tour
handout). Just off Main
Street is the Exchange
Hotel Civil War Museum.
The spacious columned
veranda of the 1860 Greek
Revival hotel beckons
visitors as it once
welcomed passengers
alighting from the
Virginia Central and
Orange & Alexandria
Railway in the pre-war
years. Civil War
skirmishes and battles in
the Orange County area
resulted in this hotel
being transformed into the
Gordonsville Receiving
Hospital. Trainloads of
Confederate wounded were
unloaded at the hotel’s
railroad platform. In
1864 alone, 23,000 men
were treated at the
hospital, including 6,000
in one month. The grounds
became a sea of mud, tents
and crude sheds while the
surrounding fields were
mass burial grounds for
more than 700 soldiers.
The hotel’s once gleaming
floors were blood stained,
the stairways gouged and
the paint faded.
With war’s end, the
railroad resumed passenger
service, the hotel was
renovated and business
again flourished. With
the railroad’s demise in
the 1940s, the hotel went
into a steady decline and
within several decades was
as derelict as it had been
in 1865. It wasn’t until
the 1970s that local
residents recognized the
hotel’s historic
significance and restored
it to its former glory.
Some of the rooms are
decorated to recall the
hotel years while others
serve as exhibit rooms for
Civil War memorabilia
including weapons,
uniforms, battle flags,
medical equipment,
surgeons’ tools and period
photographs. The third
floor rooms reflect the
years that the hotel
served as a hospital with
a four-bed ward room and
an actual operating table.
The museum is open Tuesday
through Saturday 10:00
A.M. to 4:00 P.M. from
mid-March through
December. During the
summer months it is open
Sunday 12:30 to 4:30 P.M.
Closed on major holidays.
Admission is charged.
There was one area ruin
that couldn’t be rebuilt
or restored and that was
the mansion Thomas
Jefferson designed for
James Barbour, who served
as governor of Virginia
from 1812 to 1814. The
house burned on Christmas
Day in 1884 but the
massive brick walls and
columns remained
standing. The
Barboursville Ruins
are just west of
Gordonsville on Route 33
on the grounds of the
Barboursville Winery.
These dramatic ruins
provide an exciting
backdrop for the Four
County Players’ August
weekend productions of
“Shakespeare at the
Ruins.”
The Zonin family, who now
owns the winery, live in the
brick dependence that the
Barbour family renovated
after the fire. Four Zonin
brothers continue the wine
tradition begun by their
family in Italy more than a
century ago. In 1976 they
expanded their operation to
Virginia, where Thomas
Jefferson once dreamed of
developing a flourishing
wine industry. Roughly 100
acres of their 830-acre
property are currently
planted and plans are to
expand. Luca Paschina, the
General Manager and
Winemaker, was trained in
Alba, Italy. Be sure to
stop at the winery and
sample its award-winning
wines. Barboursville
Vineyards is open for
tastings and sales Monday
through Saturday from 10:00
A.M. to 5:00 P.M. and Sunday
11:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
If you are in the
Gordonsville area around
lunch or dinner, be sure to
stop at the Toliver House
Restaurant, renowned for
their fried chicken and
traditional southern
cuisine. The restaurant is
at 209 N. Main Street; for
reservations or additional
information call (540)
832-3485. For information
on Orange County sites and
events call the Visitors
Bureau, (540) 672-1653.
Directions: From I-95
at Fredericksburg, take
Route 3 exit west. Turn
left on Route 20 for Orange;
this will become Main Street
when you enter town. To
reach Gordonsville head
south on Route 15. For
Barboursville head west on
Route 33. Turn left on
Route 777 and you will soon
see the entrance for
Barboursville Vineyards.