McDowell, Cross Keys, Port Republic

Stop 7 is in the middle of the Field of Lost Shoes. Video will start looking back to the farm, rotating to the west as the ground rises to the river, around to the power lines which mark the direction of the Union lines. This stop made me just stand here for a while. It is one of "those" spots on a battlefield.

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These last photos are the 'spot' for me. I frequented the Valley for numerous years, from the age of 3 up to 30 camping at Sherando Lake vicinity and Massanetta Springs. When I was 20 my parents built a chalet in Bryce Mountain Ski Resort and I spent 10 years every other weekend driving there. I have hiked out to Mt. Jackson from there, and these photos really bring back memories. Thank you.
Lubliner.
 
Now onto Kernstown and Winchester, if you have the chance, I believe that is what the valley erstwhile call “down the valley”.

Great pictures and descriptions keep touring, please!
 
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The lower valley battlefields, specifcally the major ones of the 1864 campaign are next on my list. Probably in the spring.
You may have hoped or wished for clear, beautiful weather during your visit, as I had for mine in April, 2015; however it's as well to remember that the battle was fought in a heavy rainstorm, the reason the famous Field of Lost Shoes was a bog at the time. Indeed, it's too bad you didn't make time to see the museum exhibits:

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The one @Virginia Dave posted is the one i was looking for. Appears the vandals have won that battle for a while
This is how it looked in April, 2015 but was about the same the last time I saw it three years later; there's also an older wooden sign from around the time of the Centennial at the location that would be easier to damage and more likely to fall victim to vandalism:

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Isn’t the Ashby monument in the campus of JMU? Or very close. Wondering if that was the issue

Looks like you had great weather! Great photos. Maybe it was my iPad but what camera did you use? Some of the shots from Cross Keys seemed to be with a particular lens
 
Isn’t the Ashby monument in the campus of JMU? Or very close. Wondering if that was the issue

Looks like you had great weather! Great photos. Maybe it was my iPad but what camera did you use? Some of the shots from Cross Keys seemed to be with a particular lens

The stoplight you turn at there is a bunch of JMU athletic buildings.
 
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You may have hoped or wished for clear, beautiful weather during your visit, as I had for mine in April, 2015; however it's as well to remember that the battle was fought in a heavy rainstorm, the reason the famous Field of Lost Shoes was a bog at the time. Indeed, it's too bad you didn't make time to see the museum exhibits:

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Thanks for that. I am typically in the Valley 2 or 3 times a year so I will go back at some point and see it.
 
Ok so last set of pictures. As someone else noted, there is another part of the battlefield you can tour. You walk through a pedestrain tunnel under I 81, and emerge to this view, which is the original lane that ran from the Valley pike to the Bushong farm. The trees line the lane. The 2nd picture view is the walking trail to the 54th PA monument. As you see, this is an up down up down up down walking trail. At this point in the day my lower back and left knee were NOT going to permit me to make it to the monument and back all the way to my car at the museum. You can drive to the monument as it is right off of Rt 11.


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Ok so last set of pictures. As someone else noted, there is another part of the battlefield you can tour. You walk through a pedestrain tunnel under I 81, and emerge to this view, which is the original lane that ran from the Valley pike to the Bushong farm. The trees line the lane. The 2nd picture view is the walking trail to the 54th PA monument. As you see, this is an up down up down up down walking trail. At this point in the day my lower back and left knee were NOT going to permit me to make it to the monument and back all the way to my car at the museum. You can drive to the monument as it is right off of Rt 11.


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These are great, thank you! Also, if you have the time traveling by Rte 11 in lieu of 81 will garner some great sights and stops.
 
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Ok so last set of pictures. As someone else noted, there is another part of the battlefield you can tour. You walk through a pedestrain tunnel under I 81, and emerge to this view, which is the original lane that ran from the Valley pike to the Bushong farm. The trees line the lane. The 2nd picture view is the walking trail to the 54th PA monument. As you see, this is an up down up down up down walking trail. At this point in the day my lower back and left knee were NOT going to permit me to make it to the monument and back all the way to my car at the museum. You can drive to the monument as it is right off of Rt 11.
Above is the small and easily-overlooked and rather homemade monument to Woodson's Missouri Cavalry, a unit of Westerners that had been recently paroled and were homeward bound when they were appropriated to serve here. the inscription reads:

This mystic pile
The simple tale will tell
It marks the spot
Where Woodson's Heroes Fell


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During our visit we managed to brave the heat of a very warm afternoon and made it all the way to the monument to the 54th Penn. above and the Centennial-era signage nearby:

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