The Tears and Ashes Annual CrossRoads tour was held on July 16, 2005 -
The Valley Brethren-Mennonite Heritage Center hosted an all-day bus tour in the Dayton (Va.) Here, Tour members descend from the bus at the CrossRoads site, the first stop of the tour.
Norman Wenger and David Rodes, researchers and compilers of Unionists and the Civil War Experience in the Shenandoah Valley, led the tour.
The tour group enters the Whitmer School - Cove Mennonite Church building at the CrossRoads site.
The group listens to a presentation at the Henry H. and Margaret Rhodes home site, 2216 Hemlock St., Belmont Estates, Harrisonburg
This site near Dayton is where Lt. John Rogers Meigs was shot.
The Benjamin Wenger Home is near where Lt. John Rogers Meigs was killed.
The group visited Silver Lake Mill, known as Bomans Mill in times past.
Cheryl Lyon shares the story of Bowman's Mill with the tour group,
The Doc Gabe and Margaret Heatwole House hid young men fleeing the Confederate draft,
This view overlooking the Dayton, Bridgewater, Mt Crawford valley was a prime location to spot smoke during Sheridan's Burning.
A Mennonite-German meal is served by Bank Mennonite Church folks.
Confederate soldiers act out the scene when the worship service was interrupted by the soldiers telling all the young men that had to register for the Confederate Army.
The meal is enjoyed at the Bank Mennonite Church.
Ruth Stoltzfus Jost tells stories of her ancestors, including her Wenger and Brunk relatives, some of whom are buried in the Bank Church cemetery behind her.
Abraham and Magdalena Rodes Home near Mt. Crawford, Va., seen here behind Norman and Dave, was where young men were also hidden in a "safe shelter".
A skit by Linda Waggy, about Magdalena Rodes, was presented.
It related how Magdalena used a butcher knife impulsively to scare off three union soldiers who came to steal food and bread.
In the skit, the three soldiers demand food from Magdalena; she had hidden the food in the cradle under the baby, where it was undetected.