The J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust announces that the 25th annual Civil War Encampment and Living History Weekend will be held Oct. 1-2 at Laurel Hill, Stuart’s birthplace and boyhood home, in Ararat. This year commemorates the wounding and death of Gen. Stuart, 152 years ago.
Civil War reenactors will join Gen. Stuart in conducting a Council of War, including the generals, Gen. Robert E. Lee, Gen. Stonewall Jackson, Gen. James Longstreet, Gen. A.P. Hill, Gen. Jubal Early, Gen. William Smith, Gen. Lewis Armistead, and possibly others.
Civil War battles will be reenacted on Saturday and Sunday. The event will begin on Saturday with a grand review, flag raising and special presentations.
Other special events will include the Black Rose Memorial after the battle, a ladies’ tea directed by Joan Williams, a Saturday night dance, candlelight tour, and a Sunday morning church service conducted by Rev. Allen Farley, Civil War chaplain.
Guests will include Henry Kidd, a Civil War artist and lecturer from Colonial Heights. He grew up playing on the battlefields surrounding Petersburg, and has studied the war and its people extensively. He has a great passion for this period of American history.
Another special guest this year is Sharon Stuart McRae of Glendale, Calif., great-great-granddaughter of J.E.B. Stuart. Sharon has extensively researched Stuart family history in America and abroad.
She notes that her ancestor’s family has been closely involved in many of the critical developments leading to modern western civilization, and looks forward to writing a series of biographies and books about Stuart genealogy, or, as she puts it, “the good, the bad and the ugly.”
Musical guests will include the Fisher Peak Timber Rattlers, Zephyr Lightning Bolts, Laurel Hill String Band, and Herbert, Tina and Cathrine Conner.
Raffle tickets will be sold for $1 each with the top prize a “Bear Paw” quilt handmade by Della Deatherage; second place is a J.E.B. Stuart bust created by Allen Weidhaas, and third place is a print of Gen. Stuart made by Minnie Martin.
The Birthplace Trust will sell gift items such as books, prints, mugs, t-shirts and more, including a 25th anniversary commemorative t-shirt and artwork from Pat Gwyn Woltz of Mount Airy, N.C., depicting a scene of how the Laurel Hill home may have looked in Stuart’s boyhood.
Authentic Civil War sutlers will be on hand with food and merchandise including Ole Doc Bell’s period drinks, Southern traditions fried pies, Windy Hill Orchards’ apple cider, old-time blacksmith demonstrations, North State Haberdashery military goods, Mad Hatter children’s toys, the Parris Emporium, Blackmon Pottery, Pennington Treasures, and Possum Hollow clothing and quilts.
Also on hand will be the JEB Stuart Camp 1598 Sons of Confederate Veterans, Stuart Wharton camp, Weavers’ Guild, Ararat Rescue Squad concessions and authentic Southern barbecue by Two Brothers. The gates open at 9 a.m. Saturday and activities will continue until 4:30 p.m. Admission is $8 per person with children 12 and under admitted fee. Parking is free.
The event is sponsored by the Patrick County Tourism Office. “Guests from out of town are encouraged to visit Patrick County and ‘experience the simple life,’” according to the news release from the birthplace trust and tourism office.
All proceeds from the event go toward preserving the birthplace.
Laurel Hill is an official Civil War trails site, located on Ararat Highway (Rt. 773) in Virginia but near Mount Airy.
