Rediscovering America_ Exploring the Small Towns of Virginia & Maryland - Bill Burnham [20]
Lastly, on the northeast corner, is a gas station. Not so exciting, unless you’ve picked up the Town of New Market walking tour brochure and learned that there was an old house here, moved one lot east in 1928 to make room for a filling station to serve the new mode of transportation in the Shenandoah Valley. The circa-1806 house still stands with an original main section made of logs. It’s been used as a Singer sewing machine shop, a tailor and the post office.
The pace of New Market is laid-back and casual. The parking meters, which still accepted pennies, were apparently not pulling their weight, and were removed a few years back to allow for free two-hour street parking. When the owner of Pack Rat Willy’s Antiques goes out for a bite, he puts up a sign: “National Pack Rat Holiday – had to get some cheese.”
Things speed up in May for the re-enactment of the Battle of New Market, one of the last Confederate victories in the Shenandoah Valley. The event draws 3,000 re-enactors and up to 8,000 spectators on the third weekend in May. It’s New Market’s largest event by far.
The May 15, 1864 battle was actually fought in the streets of New Market, as well as west and north of town on the Bushong Farm, preserved today as New Market Battlefield State Historical Park. The battle is best known for the participation of 257 teenage cadets from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington. Their efforts, with the loss of 10 of their ranks, helped achieve the Confederate goal of delaying the North’s march on Richmond. In 1970, VMI constructed the Hall of Valor Civil War Museum on the battlefield grounds to memorialize their contribution. The original Bushong farmstead portrays 19th-century farm life, one violently disrupted by the war, as the orchards were turned into a battlefield and the house into a hospital. Now quiet paths lead to the “Field of Lost Shoes” and a stunning bluff overlooking the Shenandoah River. It’s open daily, year-round. The Hall of Valor houses a visitor center and museum and shows two short films on the valley campaign and the cadets. A walking tour brochure of a mile-long loop trail is available. (tel. 540-740-3101, www.vmi.edu/museum/nm)
Attractions
A private museum, the New Market Battlefield Military Museum, opened in the 1980s, and is a white-columned replica of Robert E. Lee’s Arlington House. It houses an impressive collection of thousands of items from all American wars. (tel. 540-740-8065)
Of all the commercial caves in the Shenandoah region, Endless Caverns gives the most “natural” experience, with formations and passageways lighted only with white light. Tours last an hour and 15 minutes, and are given year-round. (tel. 540-896-2283, www.endlesscaverns.com)
Dining
There’s plenty of good, Southern, home-style cooking in New Market: Battlefield Family Restaurant, 9403 Congress Street (tel. 540-740-3664), Lottie Kelso’s, 9403 Congress Street (tel. 540-740-3664), New Market Café, 9478 Congress Street (tel. 540-743-8433), and Southern Kitchen, 9579 Congress Street (tel. 540-740-3514).
For historic atmosphere, The Valley Inn serves lunch Wednesday through Saturday in an 1840s Italianate Victorian house decorated with antiques and collectibles. There are three dining rooms and the fare is traditional Southern cooking, known for their homemade chicken salad, soups and Smithfield ham. Open noon to 2:30 pm. (9400 Congress Street, tel. 540-740-8900)
See also Shenvalee Golf Resort, below.
Lodging
The Shenvalee Golf Resort sits on land with a fascinating history. It was once part of the 1749 plantation of Valentine Sevier (father of New Market founder John Sevier), and ground that was part of the Civil War Battle of New Market. The nine-hole golf course opened in 1927, built by hand labor and the first one in the Shenandoah Valley. During WW II the US State Department took over the resort to hold Italian diplomatic