Author Description

How many Americans today would dream of claiming as their hometown a wild and beautiful little Virginia country village like The Plains! Shaped by this country's rough and tumble early frontier history and forged by the raw will of a few people who lead it out of Indian times, The Plains has weathered the storms of the Civil War and reconstruction, the Great Depression, fire and the crash of its economy, emerging from every turn as a hometown to declare with pride. Early settlers in the 18th century took up land grants on the trail between the Bull Run and Blue Ridge mountains to begin building the town and farming the land. The tavern (ordinary) at the nearby crossroads did brisk business with travelers as well as local people and the Manassas Gap Railroad provided the town's farm economy vital access to outside markets. The railroad became a lifeline, transporting soldiers and materiel to one of the great battlefields of the Civil War at Bull Run