[2] MORE CIVIL WAR AND BRO THOMAS
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2011
1
5
29
Trip End
Aug 29, 2011
South Hill, Virginia
Friday, August 5, 2011
On the way south from Washington, we stopped briefly in Richmond - burnt in the Civil War- and loved all the southern-style houses there. Then we were speeding south again on the giant motorway to Appomattox Court House. Funny name for a place, but there IS a Court House there.
The countryside in Virginia is glorious - at Appomattox too. The site of the Civil War Events and houses is beautifully set out. It was here that the Civil War ended, and Gen. Robert E Lee capitulated to Ulysses S Grant. We visited the house where the surrender was signed, and had a brief look in the Court House, but we were very short on time, and had to speed off to our next appointment. Towards South Hill and Brother Thomas...........
It was nearly 4 o'clock when we reached our destination - the old residence of the Boswell family in South Virginia, inhabited at the moment by John and Becky Laben [ nee Boswell]. The Boswell Christadelphian family goes back over a hundred years and John is restoring the old early 1800s house. Parts of it are thought to date back to the 1700s. Becky wasn't there when we arrived but John and friends, Eileen and Bob Harris were having afternoon tea under the spreading trees on the front lawn. John was to be our guide, as he is a great repository of knowledge of Bro Thomas.
After introductions, we settled back in the balmy, slightly humid air and had iced tea and zucchini muffins, while being greeted over-enthusiastically by the dog, Pumpkin !
Soon we set out to view the first chapel connected with Bro Thomas [ first for us]. It was Mt Olivet Christian Chapel built in 1836. This was followed by the Berean Christadelphian Chapel, 1891. John and Becky were married here in 1979. There was a graveyard next to this chapel and all the inmates were Christadelphians. On our drive around the district we had other significant sites pointed out to us.
Next on the menu was to check in at the Hampton Inn in South Hill, and get changed to have dinner with our new friends and a few more recruits. Namely, they were John and Becky, Bob and Eileen, plus Suzanne and Ed Harris [ Bob's brother], and Dennis and Carol Love, all Christadelphians. Following a rather large dinner at Brian's Restaurant, we adjourned to Dennis and Carol's lovely home for supper, and some uproarious stories from a previously rather quiet Bob !
