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Mosby Association Hosts Field Tripsby KRISTEN ARMSTRONG, Staff Writer
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| The Mosby Heritage Area Association's
motto is: “Preservation through education.” And what better way could
they accomplish this than by offering field trips to all the hot
historic sites in Loudoun County? As part of Loudoun's 250th anniversary, the organization is offering a four-week series of field trips, entitled “Exploring Olde Loudoun,” that take participants on a chronological journey through the county's past. “We're trying to get as many people history-literate to Loudoun's history as possible,” said the association's director of education Richard Gillespie. “A new cadre of people have to become stewards of our history.” Gillespie leads the tours and covers a different period of history for each trip. So far, he has taken participants on explorations of colonial and antebellum Loudoun. Coming up are trips through the county's Civil War and Reconstruction history. The first two trips took place in March, and staff members say the response has been very positive. There already are waiting lists for the two trips in April. “What I'm attempting, more than anything else, is to use a few accessible landmarks and planting them in people's heads as historic symbols,” Gillespie said. “I love watching people take these symbols and start a conversation about them.” Because the trips have been so popular, the Mosby Heritage staff is planning on offering them again in the future, and reaching even more people. “The more people know about the history [of where they live], the more they'll want to preserve it,” said the association's executive director, Judy Reynolds. For more information on the Mosby Heritage Area Association and the programs it offers, including historic scavenger hunts and dramatic Civil War interpretations, see the Web site at www.mosbyheritagearea.org or call (540) 687-6681. |