Presented by Jim Rada

Sunday, March 12 at 2:00 p.m.
In person or Live-streamed via Zoom
St. James United Church of Christ,
10 East Broad Way, Lovettsville

   

The C&O Canal's history is as long as the canal itself, and is filled with mishaps, crimes, secrets, and drama.

On Sunday, March 12, join author James Rada Jr. and and the Lovettsville Historical Society to learn some of the secrets of the C&O Canal.

Where was it originally planned to go? How did it help create the U.S. Constitution? How did the Johnstown flood help kill the canal? Does the federal government really own the canal? Who was the lockkeeper murdered on the canal, and was he really murdered? And that's just the beginning.

James Rada, Jr. writes non-fiction history and historical fiction. His books include the historical novels Canawlers, October Mourning, Between Rail and River, and The Rain Man. His non-fiction books are Battlefield Angels: The Daughters of Charity Work as Civil War Nurses and Looking Back: True Stories of Mountain Maryland. Many of his books have been bestsellers in their categories on Amazon.com.

Jim lives in Gettysburg, Pa., where he works as a freelance writer. Jim has received numerous awards from the Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association, Associated Press, Maryland State Teachers Association and Community Newspapers Holdings, Inc. for his newspaper writing.

The presentation will be held at St. James United Church of Christ, at 10 East Broad Way, in Lovettsville. The program will be followed, as is customary, by questions and discussion.

The Zoom link will be sent out before the lecture. To request the Zoom link, please RSVP to events@LovettsvilleHistoricalSociety.org

    Admission is free, but donations and are welcome to defray expenses of the program and to support the activities of the Lovettsville Historical Society.

    For more information, visit www.LovettsvilleHistoricalSociety.org or email events@lovettsvillehistoricalsociety.org.

By Edward Spannaus

Nearby events of interest:

Thurs., March 2 at 10 a.m. -- “Digital History.”  Former Senior Library Associate at Thomas Balch Library, Stephanie Seal Walters will introduce the digital side of historical research and explore different digital humanities’ methodologies that are accessible and friendly to all users. Dr. Walters has taught digital humanities courses at both George Mason University and the University of Southern Mississippi. Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov, or register online

Fri., March 3, at 7:00 p.m. – The Black Badge of Courage (Virtual program).  By the Civil War, most Americans had forgotten the Black soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Yet by the 1880s Black soldiers became so prominent that African American writers sought to unmoor racial uplift strategies from military service. Veneration of the soldiers continued into the twenty-first century. So, how did Black wartime heroes go from laying in the unmarked graves of American memory to a time-tested means of civil rights activism only a couple of decades later?  As Jonathan Lande shows, Americans recalled Black Civil War soldiers and saw their service as a crucial moment in the freedom struggle. Within five years of the war’s end, William Wells Brown and Frances Rollin identified the significance of the war to the nation’s survival and dedicated themselves to the value of history as a political tool. Building on the example of abolitionist William Cooper Nell, who had reshaped Black historical writing to stress military service in the 1850s, Brown and Rollin continued their prewar struggle against racism writing histories of Black Civil War soldiers’ gallantry. In doing so, Brown and Rollin crafted an enduring symbol—a veritable Black badge of courage—that helped secure African Americans a new place in the polity and cemented Black soldiers as extraordinary if not unrivaled liberators in American history. Register here for Zoom link. Presented by the Civil War Round Table Congress.

Sat., March 4, at 11:00 a.m. – “Artifact Documentation. ‘  Archeologist Kelly Arford-Horne will be at the Thomas Balch Library on Saturday, March 4 where she’ll discuss documenting artifacts from archaeological excavations. In July 2021, Thomas Balch Library received a collection of between 350 to 500 ceramic fragments collected at the Sycolin Pottery site located just outside of Leesburg. Discovered in 2004, the site once hosted two kilns used in the production of redware and stoneware ceramic vessels by potters from the Garner and Duncan families of Loudoun County. Currently, Thomas Balch Library is working through a Loudoun County Library Foundation grant awarded to support cataloging the collection. Participants will have the opportunity to catalog a unique piece of Loudoun County’s history during the event. Pre-registration is required. Please call 703-737-7395, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov, or register online.  

Mon., March 6, at 7:00 p.m. -- "Secrets of Washington County." The Spring 2023 edition of the McCauley Lecture Series will kick off with an exploration of Washington County's less-known history, legend and lore. Author James Rada, Jr., will share tales of the mythical Snallygaster, the county's last hanging, the "Second Battle of Antietam," and the world's only albino frog colony - which just happens to make its home right here in Hagerstown.  James Rada, Jr., is an Amazon-bestselling author of historical fiction and history, including Secrets of Washington County, Battlefield Angels, and Canawlers. He also writes fantasy, horror, and middle-grade novels as J. R. Rada. He has received more than two dozen awards for article writing and advertising copywriting. His newest book, Secrets of Franklin County, will be out in April. Location:  Room 334 at the Alice Virginia and David W. Fletcher Branch Library, 100 S. Potomac St., Hagerstown MD.

Thurs., March 9, at 7:00 p.m.—“The Empire’s Last Stand: Little-Known Events that Helped End World War II.” You may believe that the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended World War II, but there is more to the story. Historian Jim Lewis shares interesting facts about the final days of the war. Rust Library, Large Meeting Room – Leesburg.

Sat., March 11, at 1:00 p.m. – Commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Virginia Committee of Correspondence. A Virginia Semiquincentennial Event, sponsored by the Sgt Maj John Champe Chapter, Virginia Society Sons of the American Revolution.  Location:  Loudoun Museum, 16 Loudoun Street NW, Leesburg VA.  Parking garage next door to museum. Please RSVP to Barry Schwoerer at bschwoerer@comcast.net.

 Sat., March 18 at 2:00 p.m. -- Louisa May Alcott--Nurse and Author. Join us for a special Women’s History Month presentation as historian Jennifer Ochman presents her first-person interpretation of famous author and nurse, Louisa May Alcott. While most people know Alcott as the author of Little Women, she was also an active abolitionist and feminist. In 1862, she volunteered as a nurse in a Washington, D.C. hospital, later writing of her experiences there in her work Hospital Sketches.  National Museum of Civil War Medicine, 48 East Patrick Street, Frederick, MD.  The presentation is included with admission to the museum and FREE for NMCWM members.

Sun., March 19, at 11:00 a.m. – Harpers Ferry Civil War Roundtable: Walking Tour of Culp’s Hill, Gettysburg Battlefield.  Military historian David Collins will lead us on a 3 1/2-hour tour of this center of some of Gettysburg’s most intense action. We will park and meet at the loop at the end of Benner’s Hill Road (off Hanover Rd, PA 116), in the Battlefield. During the tour, we will drive to some other parking spots. There will be significant walking, including some moderate hills, throughout the tour.  During the Battle of Gettysburg, Culp’s Hill anchored the right flank of the Union battle line. On July 2-3, 1863, it was the target of attacks by the Confederate 2^nd Corps. At one point, most of the 12^th Corps of the Union Army, which had been holding Culp’s Hill, was shifted to the threatened Union left flank around Little Round Top, and Brigadier General George S. Greene’s 1500-man brigade was left almost alone to hold the hill. There is no charge for this tour, but we ask you to reserve your space and enable us to contact you for last-minute communication or weather postponement. Reserve via email to Chris Craig at ccraig@laurellodge.com. While participants must arrange their own transportation, you may be able to find carpool opportunities on our Facebook page (facebook.com/HFCWRT).

Sunday, March 19, at 2:00 p.m. -- The History of Quilting in Loudoun County. Professional quilter and certified quilt judge Priscilla Godfrey details the history of this art in Loudoun County from its Quaker roots in the 1730s to the work being done today by artists who ship their creations around the world and by groups who donate quilts to local charities. Rust Library, Large Meeting Room – Leesburg.

Thurs., March 23, at 7:30 p.m. -- Last Days of USS Monitor. The Hagerstown Civil War Round Table will feature a talk by John Quarstein, Director emeritus of the USS Monitor Center in Newport News, Virginia. USS Monitor was an ironclad warship built for the Union Navy during the American Civil War and completed in early 1862, the first such ship commissioned by the Navy. Monitor played a central role in the Battle of Hampton Roads on 9 March under the command of Lieutenant John L. Worden, where she fought the casemate ironclad CSS Virginia (built on the hull of the scuttled steam frigate USS Merrimack) to a stalemate. The design of the ship was distinguished by its revolving turret, which was designed by American inventor Theodore Timmy. The remainder of the ship was designed by Swedish-born engineer and inventor John Ericsson, and built in only 101 days in Brooklyn, New York on the East River beginning in late 1861. Monitor presented a new concept in ship design and employed a variety of new inventions and innovations in s hip building that caught the attention of the world. The event is at Homewood Suites, 1650 Pullman Lane Hagerstown, MD. Dinner at 6:30 pm, open to non-members as well as members, is $30 (reservations required by March 16) and the talk at 7:30 pm is $5 for non-members, both payable at the meeting. For more information visit https://sites.google.com/view/hagerstowncwrt/home, search for: Hagerstown Civil War Round Table, email hagerstowncwrt1956@gmail.com, or call Dennis Graham at 240 625 4216.

 Sat., March 25, at 10:00 a.m. -- Civil War Walking Tour of Leesburg, with Richard Treat Gillespie. With its key geographic location just two miles from the Potomac Frontier that divided the Confederate and United States, Leesburg was bound to see a good deal of the Civil War. A Walking Tour of Civil War Leesburg with Rich Gillespie will examine the surviving Civil War townscape and watch the War develop and engulf the county seat of Loudoun. In a circuit of the historic district, the emphasis will be on what the 1,500 residents of the town would have seen at various places and what they would have experienced during 1861-65. The two-hour chronological tour will provide ample spots to sit for the weary and will paint vibrant historic portraits to keep people enthralled. Included in the tour will be three skirmish sites, outside stops at two churches, the courthouse lawn, “the best street in town,” Harrison Hall where General Lee stayed, and the Episcopal cemetery. The tour leaves from Thomas Balch Library parking lot at 10AM. Note: This tour requires good walking shoes. Pre-registration is required for this event. Please call 703-737-7195, email balchlib@leesburgva.gov or register online https://tinyurl.com/TBLEvents

Sun., March 26, at 2:00 p.m.  -- "Hamilton Versus Wall Street: The Core Principles of the American System of Economics," presented by Nancy Bradeen Spannaus, who will be discussing the relevance of Alexander Hamilton’s ideas for today.  “It’s time to go beyond the musical, and find out what Hamilton was really all about,” Spannaus says, pointing out that Hamilton’s core ideas were presented in his masterwork, the Report on Manufactures. “Those ideas were the ones needed to create a prosperous, truly independent nation,” she says, “and they have been applied over and over again when our nation has been in economic crisis. It’s urgent that more Americans understand them today.” Brunswick Library, 915 North Maple Avenue, Brunswick MD.