Bedford, Virginia

"Worlds Best Little Town"

Page Nine

• HERE COMES THE STAGE!

The arrival of the stage coaches in Liberty Town was a momentous event one hundred and fifty years ago. Stages loaded with passengers and carrying mail would swoop into town from Shenandoah and Lynchburg. 

Well ahead of time, carriages and saddle horses would be fastened to posts along Courthouse Square, awaiting the arrival of the stage.

Ladies arrayed in their best, perhaps with parasols raised to shade them from the noonday sun, would promenade along the flagstone walk in front of the courthouse, awaiting the thunderous approach of the coach, drawn by four to six white horses. Upon its arrival it was said that business men would rush from their shops and work­men would stop to stare.

The main thoroughfare through the  town was  the  Old Lynchburg-Salem Turnpike, constructed under The General Turnpike Act of 1818 and completed in the early 1830's. At one time there were toll gates at intervals along this road, and coaches and passengers had to pay to go over it. 

A pocket map of the state of Virginia, published in 1846, with stage routes given on the margin, showed Lynchburg as quite a Stage Center. One route was from the Hill City via Liberty, Fluke, Fincastle, Sweet Springs, on to Lewisburg, 112 miles, three times a week. Another was from Lynchburg by way of Liberty to Salem, 86 miles, three times a week.