Ford Model T Club explores history on a tour of the Chesapeake Civil War – The Virginian-Pilot

Less than 50 years after the end of the American Civil War, Henry Ford’s Model T transported tourists across the battlefield of Gettysburg. The introduction of the automobile, particularly the Model T, made American society more mobile. It helped broaden public horizons and accelerated the pace of American culture.

Rob Sallada of the Albemarle Area Chapter of the Ford Model T Club International has teamed up with Robert Hitchings of the Norfolk County Historical Society of Chesapeake to organize a 55-mile Civil War tour of Chesapeake, taking back roads to historic sites including Beechwood, Superintendent’s House, Happer House and the Jackson Grays Memorial.

Along Shillelagh Road, Lake Drummond Causeway, Belle Haven Street and Ballahack Road, residents waved from their front yards and driveways as the antique caravan of eight vehicles, consisting of seven Model Ts and one Model A van, drove past their rural homes.

While the city of Chesapeake (formerly the old Norfolk County) is crisscrossed by highways, the back roads in the southern part of the community near the North Carolina-Virginia border, although paved, are still typical of the dirt roads and wagon trails of yesteryear.

“The Model T Civil War Tour was really a combination of two things,” said Sallada, a Deep Creek resident. “Model T tours are a lot of fun, no matter where you go and what the highlight is. The Civil War part just came from talking to Mr. Hitchings. It was recommended to me by a Model A club member who had been on one of Mr. Hitchings’ tours 10 or 15 years ago — long before I joined the program.”

The Model T is powered by a 177 cubic-inch inline four-cylinder engine that produces 20 horsepower and has a top speed of 45 miles per hour. It is most comfortable to drive at lower speeds that would tend to hold up traffic on busy main roads.

“I once drove a Model T about 42 miles per hour, and it was like Busch Gardens,” Sallada said. “That was a little fast. Your sweet spot is 25 to 35 miles per hour. That’s about right.” During the Civil War, many public buildings and churches in the area were used as hospitals, barracks and stables. The toll house on the highway, now Route 17, which ran parallel to the Dismal Swamp Canal, served as a checkpoint to check the IDs and identities of local citizens.

For Robert Hitchings, president of the Norfolk County Historical Society of Chesapeake and archivist in the Wallace History Room of the Chesapeake Central Library, commenting on local history is nothing new.

But driving a Ford Model T was a new experience for the historian.

“All in all, it was an eventful day in my life,” said Hitchings. “To be honest, the drive was not what I expected. There was a lot of noise, you had to pull the choke and change gears. Learning to drive a car was quite an achievement in those days. We have come a long way in the automotive industry. I appreciate my modern Subaru with automatic transmission.”