In response to The News-Gazette’s request for memories from the Bicentennial celebrations of 1976, Gertrude Shull of Fairfield shared these photos taken by her family of the Bicentennial wagon train that came through Rockbridge County that June.
Shull, who worked at Lee’s Carpets at the time, remembers the excitement when the wagon train came to town and camped in a field just outside of Glasgow.
She and her family also visited the wagon train when it camped in Buena Vista, as it rolled along South River and as it camped in Steeles Tavern, the locations in these photos. Shull can be seen in photo at top right with her daughter Amelia (whose last name is now Hiner) along with Kenmar Campbell (now Alexander) and Joyce Ann Price (now Robinson).
Besides the photos in one of her albums, Shull also has a “Southern Wagon Train 1976” booklet that describes the wagon train and contains photos of the participating wagons. The Southern Wagon Train was one of five Bicentennial wagon trains that crossed the country eastward - reversing the routes that pioneers once took - all meeting at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania for the Fourth of July.
Shull also has a commemorative T-shirt and Bicentennial wagon train ring.
