omestead. Many Lincolns, descendants of Jacob
and other sons and daughters of "Virginia John," now live near Melrose
Caverns, in Harrisonburg and elsewhere in Rockingham county.

On February 24th, 1829, when Melrose Caverns were known as "Harrison's
Cave," Franklin Lincoln, grandson of Jacob and a cousin of President
Lincoln, entered the caverns and, by the light of torches or candles,
carved his name and the date. He later fought in the Civil War as a
Confederate soldier.

Also in these caverns is carved the name of John Lincoln, possibly John
Lincoln, Jr., who was one of Jacob's four brothers, or perhaps "Virginia
John" the pioneer, great-grandfather of the President. There is no date
carved by the name of John Lincoln.

In April, 1862, during the Civil War, a Federal soldier drew a rough
portrait of President Lincoln with charcoal upon a wall farther back in
the caverns. These Lincoln signatures and this crude portrait can be
distinctly seen in Melrose Caverns by visitors today.

New Market

A little later in becoming settled than other Valley towns was New
Market, the progressive little place situated at the intersection of the
Valley Pike and Route 211 to Luray. Its charter was granted in 1785 as
the result of efforts made by Peter Palsel, an early settler.

Thomas Jefferson's father, Peter Jefferson, was among the party of
surveyors who ran the land grant boundary for the Proprietor of the
Northern Neck, Lord Fairfax. This was done in 1746. The old line is a
short distance south of New Market.

The town was the scene in 1864 of the battle in which the young and
inexperienced but dauntless cadets from the Virginia Military Institute
at Lexington took such prominent part. The wounded from their ranks were
cared for by devoted women in nearby houses. And what a percentage there
was either wounded or killed! Forty-six of the former and eight of the
latter out of a corps of only two hundred and twenty-one!

New Market is the center today of the caverns in the Valley, for
Shenandoah Caverns are to the north and Endless to the south, while
within a short drive you may reach Luray, Massanutten, Melrose and Grand
Caverns. Accommodations for the tourists are numerous and fair
throughout the vicinity.

Several years ago a re-enactment of the Battle of New Market occurred in
which the corps from the Virginia Military Institute pitted their
strength against the United States Marines. Among the spectators to t