Thanksgiving Getaway 2024

For Thanksgiving, we decided to have a little getaway. Our destination was Star Tannery, Virginia, home of an AirBnB. 

On the way, we stopped in the Centreville/Manassas area. We briefly visited the Manassas National Battlefield Park. The visitor center is not very big but does have a nice 40-minute movie and a light-up diorama in addition to some typical displays.

Visitors Center

Various cannon shells

How they moved artillery around before mechanization

The museum's memorial to fallen soldiers

The First Battle of Manassas/Bull Run was the first battle of the American Civil War. The soldiers in both armies were amateurs and the conflict was very bloody and not at all the decisive conclusion to the war that was expected. Part of the problem was the over 200 different uniforms present, often using reds, blues, and greys on both sides of the conflict. A display showed the variety and similarity of the uniforms. 

A sampling of uniforms

Outside of the museum, we only looked around briefly. The visitor center is right by Henry Hill, a location of the first battle.

View from Henry Hill

Statue of Stonewall Jackson

We popped over to Lab No.1 Asian Bistro for lunch. My wife order Tornado Omurice, a mountain of eggs and rice that looked impressive. I had Okonomiyaki, a fish pancake. 

Tornado Omurice

Okonomiyaki

Our AirBnB was out in the middle of nowhere, a fun place to be for hiking adventures (more about them in other posts). The house includes a fire pit, which we did not use, and a hot tub, which we got a lot of use out of.

Our AirBnB, seen from the car

Too much rain for the fire pit

Yay!

At our AirBnB, we enjoyed the basement game room. It had one of those 12-in-1 tables that had foosball, pool, air hockey, ping pong, shuffleboard, and a few other games. 

The favorite was foosball

Foosball in a different light

Driving around was fun, though at times spooky. The fog (or is it cloud cover?) covered the hills (or are they mountains?) in the distance.

At least it wasn't smoke

We had a fun though smaller Thanksgiving feast. 

Home-made pasta!

Setting the table

Dinner without diners

On our way in, we bought some pies at Woodbine Farm Market, a store near Star Tannery that sells baked goods along with the typical farm market stuff--produce, jams and jellies, local wines and beers, etc. We bought a lemon meringue pie and a pecan pie for our Thanksgiving dessert--yum! 

I wish this was closer to home!

On our way back from the trip, we stopped in Middletown, Virginia.

Festive display

Town playground

Town creek

The town was part of the Battle of Cedar Creek during the American Civil War. On the outskirts are Belle Grove, a plantation house that survived the war and is visitable (which we visited a while ago). Heater House is another building currently being restored by the National Parks. 

Battlefield

Belle Grove

Heater House

In town, Saint Thomas Chapel was built in the 1830s. During the war it was used as a hospital by the Confederates. When the Union won Cedar Creek, they gutted the building and used it as a stable! It was restored in the 1970s.

St. Thomas Chapel

We also saw the memorial to the 128th New York Regiment, one of the units that fought in the battle.

We could have seen a lot more of these

We went to Winchester, Virginia, to have lunch with my sister at Bonnie Blue Southern Market and Bakery. We arrived early so we spent some time at the extra fancy local library. The Handley Regional Library was funded by Judge John Handley. He left a quarter of a million dollars in his will to Winchester to build a library. He died in the 1895 and the library was not completed until 1913. They did an amazing job.

Library entrance

Library dome

Cool staircase

Cool sign

It was a very fun trip. More about it in subsequent posts!