Mosby Heritage Area Association’s 2013-14 Middle School Programs
Katy’s Hollow, the Civil War, and You”—Designed for Loudoun 6th graders taking U.S. History I. This
program takes one event—a bushwhacking Confederate guerilla attack on Union cavalry three weeks before
the end of the Civil War--and uses it to humanize the Civil War and its participants, provide a local overview of
the Civil War in the region and its devastating impact, and introduce 6th graders to the nature and importance
of the historic landscape around them. The program has an overview of the Civil War in our region, ties it to
the experience of other Americans and Virginians and features a myriad of human interest stories. The
program is done over two days to accommodate all students in a middle school’s sixth grade. It is illustrated with
gripping stories from local historic sites, excellent photography, and moral dilemma. Katy’s Hollow today,
preserved until 2001, is now the home of an out-of-state corporation’s subdivision.
At the end, we give
students a scavenger hunt booklet of your county we’ve designed to get them to go explore some of the best
local historic places with their family! It provides you with an excellent extra-credit opportunity to get students
to take history further. All stories are based on local historic sites.
“1862: Civil War Leesburg.”—Designed for Loudoun 6th graders taking U.S. History I. The year 1862
encapsulated Leesburg’s Civil War experience—the ever-present military, dog money, invasion, slaves running
away, and romance, the town saw what it had never seen before. Using local historic sites and their accounts
and stories, this heavily illustrated program is an easy way to give your sixth graders a sense of the Civil War as
it played out here. We also incorporate what was going on near your school so that students can see the tie-in
with the county seat’s experience. At the end, we give students a scavenger hunt booklet of your county we’ve
designed to get them to go explore some of the best local historic places with their family! It provides you with
an excellent extra-credit opportunity to get students to take history beyond the classroom. All stories are
based on local historic sites.
“The Big Change: Virginia after the Civil War.”—Designed for 7th graders in Loudoun, Clarke, or Fauquier
Counties taking U.S History II. With the end to the Civil War, Northern Virginia found itself undergoing
massive change. With the end of slavery, the massive destruction of farms, the devastation of mills, the ruin of
transportation infrastructure, and the rapid advent of soldiers with new life experiences, freedmen, new people,
new ideas, and new inventions, the region could re-invent itself. To what degree did it do that? Using local
historic sites and their gripping stories, photos and primary accounts, the local experiences of 1865-1888 will
be examined. This program is particularly recommended for a near-the-beginning-of school 7th grade program.