At the time you receive this issue of The Montclairion, we will be moments away from electing the next President of the United States.  Each of us as citizens knows what a tremendous responsibility this is, but there are some very interesting historical facts about our past elections and Presidents I thought I’d share with you.

• Though many Presidents have had prior military service, only one served as an enlisted soldier, never as an officer: James Buchanan (served from 1857 to 1861).

Your history committee is hard at work gathering information about Montclair in preparation for publishing a book next year – in honor of our 40th Anniversary.  We’d love to hear from you too, especially if you lived here in the 1970’s.  I recently spent many hours looking through back editions of The Potomac News and The Washington Post.  You may have heard that 2009 is considered our 40th Anniversary, but what a turbulent start we had!  And while 1969 is indeed the anniversary of our property owners association, the rest of the story is pretty fascinating.

Bill Riski, History Committee Chairperson, bill@riski.biz

You know he was born in February, but do you know where?  Colonial Beach, Westmoreland County, VA - about 30 miles southeast of Montclair, along the Potomac River.

You know his last name was Washington, but do you know his middle name? He had none.

On Saturday, October 27 your History Committee hosted a short ceremony to dedicate a historic marker for the 2nd and 11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment's winter Civil War camp location of 1861-1862.  This section of the Civil War's Camp Fisher was located along Waterway Drive in the general area of today's 10th tee and 18th green near the main entrance to Montclair.  If you've been reading our articles here over the last few years you know about the role Montclair played in the Civil War; but what was Santa Claus like back then?

During the Civil War, one very popular publication was the Harper's Weekly, an American political magazine based in New York City. Published from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays, and humor. In 1863 the German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840-1902) began drawing a new Santa Claus image annually for the Harper's Weekly. His first cartoon appeared in the January 3, 1863 issue.  This Santa was a man dressed up handing out gifts to Union soldiers (left). The Harper's Weekly was best known as a forum for Nast's biting political cartoons, but he paused every year to draw a Santa Claus.  By the 1880s, Nast's Santa had evolved into the popular form we now recognize (right).  The evolution of Santa from 1863 to his 1881 version is easy to see here.  Happy Holidays to all (and to all a good night!)

This Saturday, October 27, the MPOA History Committee led by Chair Bill Riski held a short ceremony to dedicate a historic marker for the 2nd and 11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment's winter camp location of 1861-1862. Guest speakers included MPOA President Jim Cech, History Committee Advisory Robert Alton, and Supervisor Maureen Caddigan. Click here to view some pictures from the ceremony.

On Saturday, October 27th at 2:00 PM you are all invited to a short ceremony to dedicate a historic marker for the 2nd and 11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment's winter camp location of 1861-1862.  This section of the Civil War's Camp Fisher was located along Waterway Drive in the general area of today's 10th tee and 18th green.  Last month we told you a bit about how Mr. Eddie Wilder uncovered a rich history nearly 40 years ago within the wooded, rolling hills of "Country Club Lake"; today's Montclair.  And we are very excited to have Mr. Wilder attend this fall's ceremony!  Now back to his story. 

A unique discovery in 1969 lead Mr. Eddie Wilder (resident of Alexandria, VA) on an investigation that would uncover a rich history within the wooded, rolling hills of what is today Montclair.  Back then the community known as "Country Club Lake" consisted of merely a few houses scattered here and there.

Mr. Wilder, an avid Civil War buff and Relic Hunter had recently unearthed a rare belt buckle on one of his trips to the farm country around Virginia's Wilderness Battlefield.  The buckle was that of the 6^th North Carolina State Infantry Regiment (CSA).   Considered extremely rare by collectors, the 6^th N.C. buckle is unique in that it is the only belt buckle (north or south) to identify a military unit by both state of origin and regimental number.  Further research led Eddie to a book titled "The Bloody Sixth" by Richard Iobst. Of particular interest to Mr. Wilder was an entire chapter in the book, devoted to "Camp Fisher," the early Fall/Winter campsite of the 6^th North Carolina Infantry from September of 1861 to March of 1862 located in today's Montclair.

Everyone has seen the front of the Declaration of Independence, but how many of you have seen the back, the real back? Well here it is, straight from the National Archives web site. It merely says, "Original Declaration of Independence, dated 4^th July 1776". But is that true? Is this the document debated by our Founding Fathers in Philadelphia and adopted on the 4^th of July? No, not quite.

In principal, this historic document does accurately reflect the declaration drafted by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the Continental Congress. But in practice, this particular document did not exist on that date, and what did only had two signatures, not 56. Here are the events as they unfolded that summer.