August 18, 2007 05:43 pm
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Hocking Railway train events set
NELSONVILLE, Ohio - The Hocking Valley Scenic Railway is ready to finish the 35th summer season and head into fall with events and special trains.
• The first-ever pizza train will depart from the Nelsonville depot at 6 p.m. Aug. 24. Pizza will be served along with soft drinks.
• On Aug. 25 at 9:30 a.m. watch as a team of men and women grasp the rope and try to move more than 270 tons of locomotives. This event will benefit the Athens county Autism foundation.
• On Sept. 1 - the 10th annual caboose special will depart from the Nelsonville depot. This colorful train is for the rail fan and people who want to relive the days when the caboose was the rear of the train.
• On Sept. 22 the robbery train will once again depart from the Nelsonville depot at 6 p.m. Be ready to hand over the loot as the bandits bring the train to a stop and board the train.
These rugged and ornery critters like take the loot and sometimes women from the train. Sometimes they bring out the cannons and always their trusty side arm. They are sure to come in on horseback with guns blazing.
The year will end with the Santa Specials. Info: www.hvsry.org or 800-967-7834
Virginia plantation along James River to close
BURROWSVILLE, Va.— A 1,400-acre plantation on the James River where Gen. Ulysses S. Grant made his crossing in 1864 will close its doors to visitors in October.
Flowerdew Hundred, in Prince George County southeast of Richmond, operates as a museum and historic site. Visitors can view life from Colonial and Civil War times.
Employees said the plantation will close to the public Oct. 12. Its future is unclear.
The plantation is run by the nonprofit Flowerdew Hundred Foundation, which had relied on the largesse of the family of David A. Harrison III, who died in 2002.
Harrison, a lawyer, investment banker and philanthropist, purchased Flowerdew Hundred in 1967 and began converting it into a museum and historic tourist attraction.
Flowerdew Hundred was established in 1617 by Sir George Yeardley, an early Virginia colony governor.
He named the plantation for his wife, Temperance Flowerdew.
Before it was a plantation, the land was occupied by Virginia Indians.
Details at Flowerdew Plantation, www.flowerdew.org/.
Acres of trees to be cut at Gettysburg battlefield
GETTYSBURG — Acres of trees will be cut down at Gettysburg National Military Park as part of an effort to restore the battlefield to how it looked during the Civil War, according to The Evening Sun newspaper.
The National Park Service will cut about 10 acres of trees by the McMillian House and Devil’s Den, near where the Union army placed cannons that today seem to face the woods below.
The hewing is a continuation of the park’s $2.3 million plan to cut 576 acres of newer trees and restore as many 1863 views as possible.
The Park Service has cut 165 acres of trees so far but has left in place “witness trees” — those that stood during the battle, said Jim Johnson, chief of resource planning.
A biotechnician marks trees old enough to have stood in 1863 so they are not cut, Johnson said.
The Park Service will treat cut areas for two years to prevent weeds from growing in and trees from repopulating the area, Johnson said.
He expects large-scale cutting to last another four years.
Trees that now crowd portions of the battlefield give visitors the mistaken impression that Union and Confederate troops engaged in “jungle fighting,” park historian Kathy Harrison said.
Local and wire reports
Local and wire reports
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