What did Giles County look like 160 years ago?

What did Giles County look like 160 years ago?  A new exhibit at the Historical Society Museum portrays a landscape much like today, with picturesque farms and areas of great natural beauty. “On the Eve of War: Artists’ Views of Giles County in the Mid-Nineteenth Century” features the work of Edward Beyer and Lewis Miller, who recorded their impressions of Giles in the 1850’s.

Giles County was already a popular tourist destination at that time.  Among the many visitors drawn to its famous hot springs resort on the New River (near present-day Eggleston), and to Virginia’s highest lake, were these two artists who delighted in depicting the area’s scenic attractions and life at the resorts. 

Edward Beyer, a polished European painter, and Lewis Miller, a self-taught Pennsylvania German folk artist, brought distinctly different artistic visions to their subjects. Their work captures a view of the county in a time of peace and relative prosperity just before the Civil War would devastate the region and plunge Giles County into a period of economic austerity that would last for decades.

Lewis Miller, a carpenter from York, Pennsylvania, visited Southwest Virginia for several decades before finally settling in Christiansburg, where he died in 1882 at the age of 87.  His charming sketches of excursions into Giles County by horse and buggy provide modern historians and art lovers alike with a detailed view of the daily life of farmers, tradesmen and slaves at work, as well as elegant ladies and gentlemen on day-trips to see the sights. 

Edward Beyer came to America from Germany in 1848 for a ten-year sojourn, earning his living as an itinerant artist traveling from New York to southern Virginia.  His most famous work is the Album of Virginia, a collection of 40 colored lithographs depicting bustling towns, stately country estates, scenic mountain landscapes, and Virginia’s famous hot springs resorts which drew wealthy visitors from through the East.  Three of the lithographs, included in the exhibit, depict favorite tourist destinations in Giles County: Salt Pond (Mountain Lake) and Bullard Rock (part of the Palisades.)  The exhibit runs through July 15.

The Giles County Historical Society works to preserve, interpret and exhibit Giles County’s rich historical and cultural heritage.  It provides a repository for Giles County family histories, documents and artifacts, assists genealogical researchers, and supports the preservation of endangered Giles County artifacts, sites and records.  The Giles County Historical Society, Museum and Gift Shop (921-1050) are open Wed-Fri from 12-5 PM and Sat-Sun from 2-5 PM.  Admission is free.  The Research Office is open on Thursday from 12–5 PM.  For more information, visit www.gilescountyhistorical.org.

Trip to Mountain Lake. A new exhibit at the Historical Society features the work of two artists who painted scenes of Giles County before the Civil War. Seen here is a detail of an 1853 painting by Lewis Miller depicting a party of tourists from Christiansburg on an excursion to Mountain Lake.

Moonlight fishing at the Palisades. In this 1857 lithograph by Edward Beyer, guests from nearby Chapman's Springs resort enjoy an evening on the New River.