Hi: I spent four glorious days in Northern Virginia and the highlight of my visit there, was a visit to Berkeley County. My friend who lives in Northern Virginia drove me and another friend across from Williamsport into Berkeley County. The first thing we saw was the marker on my 6th great grandfather, Evan Watkins. It made me very proud. Then we turned around and went back across the Potomac into Williamsport and found a narrow wooden bridge and drove out along the bank of the Potomac. Later I discovered that the wooden bridge was exactly where Watkins' Ferry was located. We spoke to the ranger at the C&O Canal Historical Park in Williamsport and she had a book that showed where the ferry was located. That was a wonderful feeling for me. Then back across into Berkeley County and we drove into Martinsburg. I have never seen so many beautiful homes and buildings in my life. The Courthouse was stunning! We found the Historical Society and spoke to Don Wood, who was most helpful. >From there, we drove down to the oldest Presbyterian Church in the area and my friend spoke to the minister regarding the tombstone inscriptions and was told that no one had ever done them! Does anyone know if they have been done as my friend was most interested since she thinks that some of her family are buried there. I was very proud to be related to Evan Watkins. I would have loved to have found his house. I took a photo of a house that was situated near the marker but I'm not sure it was his. There were several houses or buildings across the road but after seeing a five foot snake the day before, I decided to skip it. Does anyone know which house was his? Everyone I spoke to was so nice. I was very impressed by Don Wood and the nice library at the historical society. I hope to someday get back there to do more research. I'm related to Evan Watkins' daughter, Eleanor, who married a Henry Frakes (Freakes, Frake) who died in Greene Co., PA in the 1790's. Their son, my ancestor, another Henry went on to Hardin County, KY where he died about 1801. I have been looking for the Frakes family for years and had decided that he either had a name change or he was an immigrant. Now I find that the name might have been spelled FRANKS, so I'm off on another search. You never know with names. I was sorry when we had to leave as I would have loved to driven some of those little roads in the County. I also saw Harpers Ferry which was most interesting and had a lovely drive down the Shenandoah River Valley. We were on a side road and had just come back from wading in the South Fork of the Shenandoah, when we came upon the five foot snake which was about 4 to 6 inches in diameter. I presume that it was probably a gopher snake but who knows. I wouldn't want to tangle with one that big. We kept seeing these animals on the road, looked like a beaver but a ranger at Great Falls of the Potomac told us there were marmots. In all, I had a great time. Northern Virginia is very beautiful and very idfferent from where I live. I have ancestry in Loudoun Co., VA, Hardy and Hampshire Counties, WV (when they were located in VA), so I felt kinda at home. The names are WYCKOFF and HERRIOT. Annie