09.00.2023 Ben Lomond Historic Site

 

09.10.2023

Okay, so at this point I don't think that I will ever be writing a full comprehensive post about my trip this summer... Looking back I think that I would have to write posts as I am traveling- things to keep in mind for the future. Anyway, this post is going to be a museum recap and review. 

I spent the day (Saturday, Sept. 09) driving my grandmother to go see a friend of hers in Virginia and wandering around a historic site in Manassas, VA. After two hours and some change I made it to Ben Lomond Historic Site. This is specifically interpreted as a civil war site, though it does have colonial history. 

Initially given as part of a land grand to William "King" Carter I, the property would come to be known as Cancer Plantation under the ownership of William Carter III. It was one of thirteen properties that Carter owned, each of which was named after the twelve Zodiacs; two properties were named for Leo as there were thirteen properties and only twelve Zodiacs. 

The properties would eventually divided among children and would come into the hands of Benjamin and Edmonia Chinn (who were first cousins). As their family began to grow and they hand more children they moved into another home owned by their extended family. The house at Ben Lemond was leased out to act as a form of income. 

The house was leased out to a family of three (a father and two brothers), called Pringle, no relation to the chip (yes, I did ask). The Pringles were a Scottish family who made their money in wool. When they came to Manassas they brought 500 heads of sheep, which was more than all of the other livestock put together. The demand for luxury wool goods made the Pringles's business so lucrative that they were able to justify the cost of sending their freshly sheared wool to the best factories back in Scotland. 

It was the Pringles who gave the property the name "Ben Lomond," which roughly translates to mountain of light. They named it after the region in Scotland that they came from. This region is made up of Loch Lomond and the surrounding mountain range. Coincidentally, Loch Lomond is the loch that I (and a bunch of other people) jumped into on this summer trip that you'll never get to know about. 

In 1861, following the First Battle of Manassas the house was taken into custody by the confederate army. Ben Lomond sat at a very important cross roads. It sat along what is called the "rock road," which was a main road leading in and out of Manassas and crossed paths with a railway. Using this railway, a person would have been able to get to Richmond, Charlottesville, and Lynchburg with ease. 

The Pringles, rather than leave the house and their means of income (sheep), take their most valuable possessions and sequester themselves in one of the upstairs rooms.  After the civil war ended, the Pringles were financially ruined; they had approached the US government to ask for compensation for the loss/ruin of property but the US government denied this. Due to the Pringles cooperating with the confederate army and participating in the perpetuation of slavery (which they benefited from) the government did not see fit to compensate them. However, seeing as they were technically also UK/British citizens, the British government compensated them for less than half of what was originally requested. 

The house itself, as it is today, is very well interpreted a Civil War site. It is listed on the National Civil War Trails, a nationally registry that keeps track of sites of interest to the Civil War. There is signage regarding the earlier colonial history at different exhibits on the property. The docent who was there, David, was incredibly knowledgable and gave me me a wide swath of information in each room. He was able to answer all of my questions with ease and seemed to genuinely enjoy his job there. 

One of my favorite parts of the house was the union graffiti that had been preserved on some of the walls. The graffiti that was able to be preserved now sits behind UV protective glass, to keep it safe from further damage by the sun. 

The picture here isn't the best, but you can see the black lines from whatever writing utensil was used. This signature was added to the wall in the Spring of 1862, when federal troops were occupying the house. It reads "J.E. Mooney, Co.A, 1st Regt. PRC." (Jame E. Mooney, Company A, 1st Regiment Pennsylvania Reserve Corps. James would survive the Civil War and move to Kansas with his wife, he would pass in 1914.

Another notable signature is that of William Wallace Cranston. He would achieve the rank of captain before the end of the Civil War, and then would go on to serve in the Kansas house of Representatives. Cranston would be awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery in the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863. Cranston would die in Kansas in 1907. 

There is so much to see in every room of the house, you'd honestly need a few hours if you were going to examine each and every item. The attention to detail is quite amazing, there is even audio in most of the rooms so the scene is really set. Of course as with any historic site, there are limits to what can be done (funding, staffing, etc.), I don't know what it looks like behind the scenes at this site but whatever they're doing well with whatever they have. 

I would like to also make note that the docent pointed out a handful mistakes that were on a few of the sign posts- he told me that he (as well as others) had pointed out these mistake but that they still ended up in the final products. While this didn't end up being much of an issue for me while walking around with a tour guide, this could lead to confusion for plenty of people. 

The gift shop had a good selection of books, postcards, and teas for it being as small as it was. I was a bit bothered by the amount of confederate memorabilia that was available. I don't want to make excuses for it, dismiss it, or make generalizations but I will say that I was expecting that to some degree given the kind of area that this was in.

All things considered I would say that I had a good experience at Ben Lomond Historic Site. If you are someone who is interested in Civil War history or Virginia history then this would be a good place for you to visit.