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The Mosby Heritage Area was formed in 1995 to highlight, educate about, and protect the historic landscape, old villages, handsome towns, distinctive architecture, back roads, and scenic viewscapes of this historic section of northwestern Virginia.  The region is often known as “Mosby’s Confederacy” by historians due to the unique form of guerilla warfare practiced against invading Union forces here during the Civil War by the “Gray Ghost,” Colonel John Singleton Mosby, and his Rangers (who were also oft-times fine horsemen and foxhunters!). During the Civil War, tiny Atoka was known as Rector’s Crossroads, and was the most common rendezvous point for Mosby’s Rangers prior to a raid. In the 1803 Caleb Rector House where the Heritage Area’s offices are, Mosby formed his Ranger Unit as the 43rd Virginia Battalion of Cavalry in the front parlor on Wednesday, June 10, 1863. The Mosby Heritage Area works with local school systems to highlight local history in this region. It is not an exclusively Civil War focus.

Website address:  www.mosbyheritagearea.org

Location/Address: The Mosby Heritage area includes all, or parts of, five counties in northwestern Virginia.
Mailing: P.O. Box 1497 Middleburg, VA 20118
Offices: 1461 Atoka Road, Atoka , VA

Directions: The Area's offices are located four miles west of Middleburg in the stone Rector House which sits across from the Atoka Store, first house on the left on Route 713.

Education Contact at Site: Richard T. Gillespie

Phone: (540) 687-5578 Email Address: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Theme Addressed at Site: Land of Conflict, Reunification and Rebuilding, Place of National Beauty and Rural Character, Land of Leadership

Education Programs and Corresponding SOL 

Programs We Can Bring to your School

Mosby, Heritage, and You—A Classroom Program
Grade 4. Virginia Studies, SOL: VS.7

Our interactive classroom program comes right to your public or private school at no charge if you are in Loudoun, Fauquier, Clarke, Warren, or Prince William counties. It is designed to review and enrich 4th Grade Virginia Studies SOLs, while promoting student and teacher interest in local history and the value of heritage and its preservation. Each program is customized to the school by introducing “the Gray Ghost” in a local context. We use Mosby events that occurred near your school to spark interest in the stories, photographs, and artifacts that we share. Pre-visit and post-visit materials extend the lesson as well as review it.
Max # = 50 at a time. 90Minutes

Mosby, Heritage, and You—A Classroom Program
Grade 11. U.S. History, SOLs: VUS.6c, VUS7a, and VUS.7c.
This is a high school version of the above program with appropriate materials and questions for provocative discussion. Teachers willreceive primary source documents on Mosby and the experience of citizens in “Mosby’s Confederacy” during the War that can be photocopied for students. Based on the needs of your classes, the program can be tailored accordingly.

Programs We Can Do at our Site:

Impact of War in the Aldie Triangle—4th grade tri-site visit coordinated with the Mosby Heritage Area Association
Grade 4
This April program allows students to visit Mt. Zion Church, Aldie Mill, and President James Monroe’s Oak Hill to view how the Civil War played out at a church, commercial site, and private home. Over two days in April, living history and other special interpretation is provided at each of the three historical sites that coordinate for this annual program. Space is limited, and should be reserved by calling the coordinator of the program Mosby Heritage Area Director of Education Richard Gillespie at (540) 687-5578.
Special consideration is given to schools along the historic Route 50 corridor.

Life in Mosby’s Confederacy

If you are particularly interested in a Mosby field trip, please call our Director of Education to explore the possibilities. Our “Life in Mosby’s Confederacy” is a 2/3-day program in the field that can be offered on a limited basis for up to 35 students. It employs Rector’s Crossroads (Atoka) where Mosby’s Rangers often “rendezvoused”, the Rector House where Mosby’s Rangers were formalized as a unit in the Confederate Army, a Mosby “safe house”, a visit to the Quaker village of Lincoln (often the target of Mosby “corn raids” for horse fodder and later of federal troops on their infamous burning raid), and to “Katie’s Hollow”, the last site of a Mosby skirmish in Loudoun County.  This field trip is ideal for high school history clubs as an extracurricular trip, for elective courses on local history or the Civil War, for special “Journey” class trips, or for individual classes by independent-minded teachers.

Other Site Features of Interest to Students and Teachers

As a wealthy border area with large farms, some with slaves, and some (Quaker and German farms) vociferously without, the key themes of the coming of the Civil War played out here, from the panic ensuing from the John Brown Raid to division over secession. Many of the farms and plantations are still in place, as is the road network of 1861 in the rural areas. Many of the villages and towns allow the student to see what communities looked like in the 1860s. This region saw a particularly bitter form of guerilla warfare, and the famed “Gray Ghost”, Confederate Colonel John Singleton Mosby, operated here, allowing students to see the nature of the Civil War beyond famous battles.

Pre-Visit Materials Available 

Program Materials Sent or Given to Teachers using our program

• The Night Belonged to Mosby: Accounts from the War Years in the Mosby Heritage Area
• Biographical sketch of Mosby
• “Top 10” feats of John Singleton Mosby
• “Top 10” issues for students raised by Mosby’s Rangers
• Suggestions for activities before and after our visit to your school
• Mosby book suggestion with ordering information for avid readers among your students
• Cooperative learning worksheet to follow classroom presentation
• Suggested websites on Mosby and his Rangers

Program Materials Given to their Students 

• *Flyer: Being a Student Heritage Steward
• *Three heritage area scavenger hunts keyed to the counties of Loudoun, Fauquier, and Clarke. Students who participate with their families get a Mosby Heritage Area t-shirt!
• “Top 10” feats of John Singleton Mosby
• *Relevant web sites for understanding Mosby, Mosby’s Rangers, and the Mosby Heritage Area

      * - Available on the website

Program fees and miscellaneous  

Maximum Number of Students: At school: 55 per session; on site 35 per session.   Minimum:  12.

Admission/Program Fee:  Due to donations by civic-minded citizens wanting schools to incorporate local history into the curriculum, plus the annual dues and fundraising efforts of members of the non-profit Mosby Heritage Area Association, we are currently able to bring our outreach programs to your school for no charge.  Each program costs the Mosby Heritage Area Association $250.

Handicap Accessibility:

Bus/Vehicle Accessibility: Students visiting the Rector House at Atoka will need to be discharged and the bus parked nearby along the road.  There are several pull-offs.

Season of Operation: November through August.

Hours of Operation:  As needed.

Picnic facilities/Nearest restaurant options: There is a large lawn but no formal picnic facilities nearby. Some groups picnic at Goose Creek Bridge, one mile away. The closest restaurants for school groups are at Purcellville (15 miles north) or Leesburg (22 miles north); however, for smaller groups there is a store at Atoka that makes sandwiches and has take-out.

Restroom accessibility: One restroom at the Rector House.

Chaperone Requirements ( No. chaperones/no. of students): 1:10

Is there anything else we should know about your site? This heritage area works to be flexible with visiting groups. It is a wonderful resource for students.