Newspaper Article

Old Dominion Oddities - Various Dates

"Well, folks, what do you know about Virginia that is odd? Send in your ideas. Foxo pays $1 each week for the best suggestion. "

(New items are frequently added to this collection.)

Old Gadsby's Tavern in Alexandria - Date Unknown

It was as "A Female Stranger" that she arrived at the bustling little port of Alexandria, Va., that Indian summer day in 1816, and it was as "A Female Stranger" she died in old Gadsby's Tavern, on the corner of Cameron and Royal Streets opposite the public square, when the ravages of typhoid proved more than the physicians and nurses could combat.

An intriguing tale, this, and one that has defied solution for these hundred years and more. Who was the young woman so obviously of gentle birth who was carried from the English vessel by her solicitous husband? Why did he stand in the darkened chamber at Gadsby's Tavern and demand an oath of those attending her that they would not divulge anything that transpired in the room of pain?

The Death of Robert E. Lee - Date Unknown

News of the death of Robert E. Lee, beloved chieftain of the Southern army, whose strategy mainly was responsible for the surprising fight staged by the Confederacy, brought a two-day halt to Richmond's business activities.

That Triple Crossing - Date Unknown

The triple crossing has long intrigued fanciers of railroad lore, and ever since it was built, photographers have cajoled and connived continually for the opportunity to take pictures of three trains at the crossing simultaneously. If three trains ever passed at the crossing by coincidence--and the odds are they haven't--there were no photographers on hand. But three times since 1900 the railroads have undertaken the troublesome project of "posing" three trains at the crossing.

Thomas Jefferson's Capitol Building   (Virginia State Capitol Building) - Date Unknown

That Thomas Jefferson not only founded the University of Virginia but designed its buildings and campus, planning even the minutest details, is familiarly known. He is even called "the Father of the University of Virginia." But that he selected the Maison Carée, an old Roman temple at Nimes, France, as the model for the Capitol of Virginia and made the drawings adapting the old temple to the use of a State capitol while he was minister to France is known chiefly perhaps to student of architecture.