Doswell, Virginia! Jefferson Davis Hwy Marker by Lafayette and Cornwallis marker (March 1, 2025)

Описание: This is one of at least 16 commemorative stone markers erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) along the Jefferson Davis Highway in Virginia between 1927 and 1947, as part of a broader effort to memorialize Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America. The highway, officially designated by the Virginia General Assembly in 1922, stretched 235 miles from the Potomac River Bridge in Arlington to the North Carolina border, primarily following U.S. Route 1 and parts of U.S. Route 58. The UDC’s initiative aimed to create a transcontinental route from Arlington to San Diego, marked as a memorial rather than a commercial venture.

The UDC, founded in 1894, sought to honor their ancestor's Confederate heritage. The Jefferson Davis Highway project was one of the UDC’s most significant undertakings, involving markers, signs, maps, and educational materials to promote the route. The markers were often placed near significant "Civil" War sites. The UDC, with nearly 100,000 members by World War I, was a major force in promoting Confederate memorials, including statues, cemeteries, and highways. The Jefferson Davis Highway was partially envisioned as a southern counterpart to the Lincoln Highway.

In Virginia, a 2021 state law mandated renaming all portions of the Jefferson Davis Highway by January 1, 2022. Localities like Fairfax (1970), Alexandria (2019), Arlington (2019), Prince William (2020), and Stafford (2021) had already renamed their sections to Richmond Highway. By 2022, the remaining sections in Fredericksburg, Caroline County, and southern Richmond through Chesterfield County were renamed.

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