Trinity Church

City of Staunton, VA
Marker No. QC-1

Marker Text: Known originally as Augusta Parish Church, it was founded in 1746 as the County Parish. The Virginia General Assembly met here in June 1781 to avoid capture by British Raiders. The present church was erected in 1855 and was used by the Virginia Theological Seminary during the War Between the States. The first Bishop of Virginia, James Madison, was a member of this church.

Location: On 214 West Beverley Street in the City of Staunton in front of the church. Erected by the Virginia State Library in 1962.

  After the legislators quick escape from Charlottesville after the timely warning by Jack Jouett, they traveled over the Blue Ridge Mountains to the city of Staunton about 40 miles further west.  The Virginia legislature reconvened a few days later and met here between June 7-23, 1781 at Trinity Church in Staunton, making the first Augusta Parish Church (which was its name then) serve as the Virginia state capitol for sixteen days. A Windsor chair, used in that meeting is on display in the corner of St. Columba's Chapel within the current church building.

  The General Assembly of Virginia was deeply appreciative of the debt they owed as a legislature and personally to Jack Jouett, so on June 15, while meeting here at Trinity Church it adopted the following resolution:

  Resolved: That the executive be desired to present to Captain John Jouett an elegant sword and pair of pistols as a memorial of the high sense which the General Assembly entertain of his activity and enterprise in watching the motions of the enemy’s cavalry on their late incursion to Charlottesville and conveying to the assembly timely information of their approach, whereby the designs of the enemy were frustrated and many valuable stores preserved.

  Jouett was given the pistols in 1783, but it was twenty years before he received the “elegant sword.” By that time he had made quite a name for himself beyond the Alleghenies, in present-day Kentucky.

  Trinity Church, the oldest church in Staunton and known for its first eighty years as “Augusta Parish,” was founded in 1746, one year after Augusta County became an independent entity, and one year before the City of Staunton was established.

John Marshall's Birthplace

Marker No. CL-3
Fauquier County, VA

Marker Text: About one half mile southeast, just across the railroad, a stone marks the site of the birthplace, September 24, 1755. He died at Philadelphia, July 6, 1835. Revolutionary officer, congressman, Secretary of State, he is immortal as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. During his long term of office his wise interpretation of the U.S. Constitution gave it enduring life.

Location: On VA Route 28 (Catlett Road), 0.1 miles south of Smith Midland Lane, on the west side of the road near Midland, VA. Erected by the Virginia Conservation Commission in 1950.

“The events of my life are too unimportant, and have too little interest for any person not of my immediate family, to render them worth communicating or preserving” John Marshall

  The above quote were made by John Marshall as he composed a short autobiographical sketch for his old friend and colleague Joseph Story. The year was 1827, when Marshall was seventy-two years old.

  John Marshall, known as The Great Chief Justice was instrumental in assuring America's acceptance of the judiciary as the third branch of government and establishing its power to overturn legislation whose language was in conflict with the Constitution. As Chief Justice, John Marshall embodied the majesty of the Judicial Branch as fully as the President of the United States represents the power of the Executive Branch.

Population Center

Hardy & Upshur County, WV
Two separate markers with same text.

Marker Text: The population center of the United States was in present West Virginia four times as it moved westward across the nation: near Wardensville in 1820; at Smoke Hole in 1830; west of Buckhannon in 1840; near Burning Springs in 1850.

Location of the Hardy County marker: On WV Route 55 in Wardensville next to the Wardensville Visitors Center. Grouped with marker titled Wardensville. Erected by the West Virginia Archives and History in 1999.

Location of the Upshur County marker: On U.S. Route 33/119, at junction with County Route 5/1 (Sauls Run Road), Lorentz. Erected by the West Virginia Historic Commission in 1965.

  The results of the 2011 census are beginning to come to light as we see how the population of our specific areas of the country have changed in the past ten years. I recently heard that the population of the county where I live increased 18% in the last ten years. Sometime in April, the U.S. Census will announce the population center of the United States from the results of the 2010 census totals. Each decade, after it tabulates the decennial census, the Census Bureau calculates the center of population. The center is determined as the place where an imaginary, flat, weightless and rigid map of the United States would balance perfectly, if each resident were of identical weight represented as points of equal mass.