Revolutionary War on LoCoHistory

Celebrate C-ville's 250th Anniversary

Wed, 23 May 2012 13:05:33 +0000

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of Charlottesville (1762). There will be activities all year, but the focus of the celebrations is a one-week tour-de-force of Charlottesville’s rich and diverse history. The festivities begin on May 26th (see below) and continue through June 3. The following list highlights the theme for each day:

May 26 - Remembering Those Who Died in the Civil War
May 27 - Remembering the 200th Anniversary in 1962
May 28 - 250 Years of Sacrifice in Our Nation’s Wars
May 29 - 250 Years of African-American Community Life
May 30 - 250 Years of Growing Neighborhoods
May 31 - 250 Years of Religion, Education and Culture
June 1 - 250 Years of Architecture, Development and Design
June 2 - Living History Festival of Our First 200 Years
June 3 - Reenactment of the British invasion of 1781

Below is a summary of the events for the first week (click on the image for a larger picture). But please visit the official Celebrate 250 website for complete information and the location of each event.

Lions, Tigers, Hessians, Oh My!

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 03:17:31 +0000

During the Revolutionary War, the Barracks (located west of the shopping center; today a horse stable) was a prison for British and German troops captured at The Battle of Saratoga in October 1777. They were originally imprisoned by Revolutionary forces in Massachusetts, but within the year they marched 628 miles to the more hospitable climate of Charlottesville, Virginia. The term “hessian” is a reference to the German mercenaries who fought for the British. Hence, the nearby housing development on Georgetown Road called “Hessian Hills.” Although no prisoner list survives, estimates suggest over 4,000 prisoners lived at the Barracks. By the spring of 1779, locals described the camp as a small town with a commissary store, a coffeehouse, and a theater. Despite these amenities, over 1,000 prisoners escaped between 1779 and 1780. Many of the German soldiers settled in the Shenandoah Valley and became American citizens.

Barracks Road Shopping Center

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 20:29:28 +0000

The Barracks Road Shopping Center is one of the oldest in the country, dating to 1959. To view the rest of this great old photograph of Barracks Road, see Cville Dave’s Posting on the Barracks Road Shopping Center in the 1960s.

In the photo you can see the newly built shopping center, mostly surrounded by woods, with large expanses of asphalt for the “acres of free parking” that was touted in the original advertisement. Built by an area developer, Rinehart, it displaced a famous tavern called Carroll’s Tea Room. Moore’s history of Charlottesville reports that although it often possessed neither tea nor room, it was “an oasis for thousands of thirsty university students.”

If you look closely at the Barracks Road logo, found on signs along the edges of the retail center, you will notice a rider on a horse. This logo references the cavalry soldiers who manned the “Barracks.” The military barracks were constructed west of town near Ivy Farms during the Revolutionary War to house British and German prisoners-of-war.