Tuesday, November 13, 2007

All Quiet on the Western Front

It's one of those rare days when I have a few minutes in the morning to work on my research. No doubt all hell will break loose shortly and interrupt my reverie as clients call with requests and endless repetitive chores (like cooking and bathing) rear their ugly little heads.

Yesterday morning Tom's mom was with us and we drove down to the Low Water Bridge which crosses the Shenandoah right off of Happy Creek Road in Warren County. We were on our way to breakfast in Front Royal, but going down "the back way" to town across the river is always a treat for me since it takes us right by Edward Corder's Turkey Tract, the land Corder leased from Lord Fairfax in 1748. The bulk of the original 200 acres was for sale last year and I feared greatly for it since development is pushing its way north up Highway 522 (shiny new shopping centers cluster around the exit at I-66). Apparently a neighbor bought the piece and has fenced it beautifully. There are now horses grazing in the rolling meadows, and all is well and pleasant-looking. There are another 68 acres for sale on the west side of the railroad track, only part of which, I think, falls within the original boundaries of the Turkey Tract. Only time will tell what will become of it. Land here in this area is frightfully expensive.

I posted quite a bit on the G1 Henderson discussion group yesterday evening, so they're probably tired of hearing from me as I muse about whether or not my nearly twenty-year-old work on the Henderson family could stand up to closer scrutiny now that DNA results (and lots of online resources) are rolling in. I think it may be time for me to conduct a comprehensive audit and review of all of my Henderson material and begin to systematically work through it, posting it to the Artemas H. Henderson Memorial Library, and to the private G1 Discussion group. Maybe I'll catch something I missed before.

Ah, there goes the phone. And so it begins.

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