Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Historic Leesburg, Virginia

Here We Are!
(Leesburg, Virginia)



This is the main street through the historic city of Leesburg. The Town of Leesburg, founded in 1758 is one of Virginia's most picturesque and best-preserved communities by the National Trust for Historic Preservation standards. I loved the brick sidewalks and narrow streets. We're going to park here so we can go across the street to the county courthouse.
Let's walk through the ornate revolving gate toward the courthouse that was built in 1895 and is part of the Leesburg Historic District recognized by the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission.
As we walk through the gate we can see the front of the courthouse. It rises on four columns, has double doors, and is capped by a clock and bell housed in a belfry.

In front of the courthouse stands a statue of a Confederate soldier. It was designed by F.S. Sievers, and dedicated to the courthouse in 1908. It serves as a memorial to the many Rebel soldiers who died fighting for the cause in which they believed. They actually rededicated this statue the weekend we were there. It poured the rain down on Saturday so we didn't stay to watch.
A Closeup of the Belfry Tower
A closeup of the front of the statue. Notice the ornate tops of the columns on the courthouse.

I love statues and particularly liked the detail on this one. The folds in his uniform are amazing.

Tomorrow we'll go back across the street and take a look at the building with the bars on the window that you get a peek at in today's Jeep photo.


Till then I'll leave you with some photos I took yesterday. We had rain and storms all day and after dinner were treated to a storm that dropped marble sized hail as you can see in the photo below.
It didn't last long and in a short while we were treated to a lovely sunset. This photo was taken from my front porch looking out past my gazebo. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

25 comments:

Raven said...

Wow... my daily vacation. Leesburg looks lovely. I agree about the statue. Wonderful detail. I like the architecture of the courthouse too.

As for the hail photo. I think it's incredible and the sunset is gorgeous. What a nice break from my day of gloom. I'm enjoying your trip.

Robert said...

Had I known you were taking us on vacation with you I would have packed better. I feel like I'm right there in Leesburg! Thanks for sharing all this. These are great.

judi/Gmj said...

"folds in his uniform" my fat fannie's foot! Carletta you took a picture of his cute bum! :) This is so much fun traveling with you. I love you got the revolving gate.

Gattina said...

That's quite an unusual sight such an old town in the USA, lol ! (on a European point of view)
The other pictures are beautiful too !

Small City Scenes said...

Great vacation. Thanks for taking us along. I am enjoying it immensely. Great photos. MB

MaR said...

Lovely pictures from your vacation!
The courthouse is beautiful. The statue is amazing!!

Anonymous said...

Leesburg? Here I thought you were in West Virginia. Don't matter, I like Virginia too and these special pictures and the tour are really very nice. Thanks, Carletta, for the tour. I wonder about the guy who was the model for the statue and who the statue depicts? Maybe just a "typical" Rebel and nobody in particular. It is a nice statue.

Pappy said...

I love those historic old Southern cities. Thanks for the photo tour.

Kerri Farley said...

Thanks for taking us on vacation with you! Leesburg looks beautiful!

That sunset is gorgeous!!

dot said...

Great photos and very appropriate music to go with them. When I open Picture This I'm always wowing at the photos and I was really wowing at the gate picture!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Crletta: What a set of great photos from your trip.

Snippet said...

That's absolutely awesome Carletta! I particularly like the old buildings, but the statue's pretty striking as well!

Melli said...

Oh! I've never been to Leesburg! What a quaint little town! Beautiful! I love that revolving gate -- I bet that was state-of-the-art back then! And the sunset is just plain gorgeous! Thank you!

Debbie said...

Had to check and see how far I am from Leesburg since I felt like I was right there! 5 hours. Yep.

I would have never noticed the folds in the statue unless you pointed them out. I'll never look at one again the same.

This is one of the wonders of blogging. Seeing the world through others eyes. I love all the photos Carletta!

JunieRose2005 said...

Carletta,

Oh! I am enjoying your travels very much! You are getting some great pics!


I like the dark one of the sky at the end a lot- also the hail stones!

Have fun!



Junie

Rue said...

Hi Carletta :)

Thank you for your sweet words about my brother. He's doing okay now and is out of danger :)

This was a wonderful tour! Thank you for taking us with you :)

rue

juliana said...

what a pretty old town!
the details in the statue are truly fascinating.
the hail stones look frightening but the sunset is lovely!

Janice Thomson said...

What a wonderful tour Carletta. And a superb ending with that glorious sunset! The Corinthian columns are spectacular.

Shelly said...

Wow...like everyone else, I feel like you took me on a summer vacation - Thanks! Ohhh...that gate, I love it. The hail..uh oh..what did that do to your garden? And that last photo ....absolutely stunning.

Anonymous said...

Wow I feel like I've been on a mini-vacation! I loved the photos in the previous post of the giant wind turbins-very neat.

Tom said...

Excellent post.. delightful pictures and a trip out with my friend.. ha! What a great post Carletta.. the town really dose look nice.

Rose said...

Enjoyed the post and that last photo is fabulous.

maryt/theteach said...

Some more of beautiful Leesburg! What a great town! Smaller than Williamsburg but just as pretty! I saw that gate on "Picture This" Marvelous gate! :)

Firefly Nights said...

Know Leesburg well. It's about an hour from us. You have some great photos in your two Leesburg posts but I liked your hail and the storm light best. The hail photo is very artistic.

abueloscrisytoño said...

Hermosa foto.