Upcoming Events
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Interested in hosting an event at Fort Collier? Contact [email protected].
Past Events
Third Winchester Battlefield Park Opens April 5, 2025
The Winchester Battlefields Visitor Center at the Third Winchester Battlefield Park opens for the season this weekend! Stop in and see our Third Battle of Winchester projection map! We also have trail maps, Winchester battlefield unigrids, and information about other battlefield sites to visit in the National Historic District.
Annual Membership Meeting - April 6, 2025
Annual Membership meeting
Sunday, April 6, 2025 @ 4:00 pm
The Stine House at Fort Collier, 922 Martinsburg Pike, Winchester, Virginia
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Please join us for our Annual Meeting followed by some great food and refreshments. We are excited to welcome Carol Bleck as our new president, an heir to the original owners of this wonderful property. We will have presentations by historian Fred Rickard and Teague Wagner, manager of the Fort Collier Group, as we welcome him to our board of directors. Come see the Stine House and C. Robert Solenberger Reception Hall for a fun afternoon. We hope to see you at our Annual Meeting!
* Nominations for additional members will be taken from the floor
Update from Martin Heavner:
Congratulations to Carol Covey Bleck, the new President of the Board of Directors for the Fort Collier Civil War Center in Winchester, VA. During Saturday's annual membership meeting, Carol received "the presiding gavel" from previous President Katherine Solenberger and was voted to her position along with 12 other Board members, including Carol's husband, Rob Bleck.
The Fort Collier Civil War Center is located on the former Stine Farm -- farmed by my 3rd Great Grandparents, Benjamin and Rachel Stine -- and was site of the the largest cavalry charge in U.S. history (4,000 mounted horsemen commanded by George A. Custer) in September 1864. Earlier in the war, the Confederate Army selected the Stine Farm, due to its proximity to the Martinsburg Pike, for one of the first earthwork fortifications constructed to defend Winchester.
As a direct descendant of Benjamin and Rachel Stine, who along with other family members are buried on the grounds of the farm, I was honored to be elected to the 2025-2026 Board of the Fort Collier Civil War Center along with John Stevens (Chairman), Katherine Solenberger (Vice President), Phillip Griffin (Treasurer), Jonathan Noyalas (Secretary), Gary Bohnenkamp (Grounds and Maintenance Coordinator), Rob Bleck, Stephen Butler, Peter Labrecque, Fred Rickard, Patrick Stine, and Teague Wagner.
The Fort Collier Civil War Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the farm and the surrounding battleground, educating the public about the significance of the battle, and honoring the lives of all those fought and died there. Individual memberships are $45, family memberships are $100, and donations are always welcome as work continues to preserve and enhance the site as well as offer educational opportunities to the public.
New Exhibit Installed - April 3, 2025
Earlier this week MCWI's director, Jonathan Noyalas, spent time at Fort Collier Civil War Center installing a permanent exhibition of artifacts collected by members of the Stine family on the property in the decades after the Civil War. This exhibition is the result of a three-way partnership between Shenandoah University's McCormick Civil War Insitute, the Fort Collier Civil War Center, and the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District, which donated the display case. Special shout-out to Jack Owens for getting the case delivered. The artifacts, including an early twentieth-century sign the Stine family hung at the entrance to the property to invite people to visit the scene of the climactic moment of the Third Battle of Winchester, are on display in the case. The sign was tucked away for decades in a barn on the property and was discovered last year.
Special Program: 160th Anniversary of the Third Battle of Winchester, Sept 21, 2024
160th Anniversary Commemoration at Fort Collier
Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024 @ 9:30 a.m.
The Stine House at Fort Collier, 922 Martinsburg Pike, Winchester, Virginia
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Exciting developments: The Stine family grave site identified, artifacts located, civil war art on display, a book give away and more!
On Saturday, Sept. 21, Jonathan Noyalas, Director, Shenandoah University's McCormick Civil War Institute (MCWI) will lead an approximately one-hour walking tour at Fort Collier exploring the site’s role during the Civil War and the Third Battle of Winchester. The tour will begin at 9:30 a.m. Additionally, MCWI’s traveling exhibition of the Civil War art of Paul Salmon will be on display in the Stine House.
The Stine family grave site was recently identified, and markers were put in place. Artifacts were also located in several boxes at the property! There are many interesting items--including a prewar US navy button. There's no way to prove it but one wonders if it didn't come off Lt. Collier's coat--his prewar military service was in the US Navy. A selection of items will be displayed at the 160th anniversary event. We will also have a few copies of Jonathan’s latest book, “The Blood-Tinted Waters of the Shenandoah: The 1864 Valley Campaign’s Battle of Cool Spring, July 17-18, 1864” available to give away.
This event is free and open to the public; no pre-registration is required.
Special Program: 159th Anniversary of the Third Battle of Winchester
Blue Grass Event
Silver Wings featuring Slim Bonniger perform at the Fort Collier Bluegrass Festival Sept. 17, 2006.
Photo: Jim Whitley, Marshall Wilborn, Slim Bonniger and Katherine Whitesell.
The Tuscarora Brass Band of Shenandoah University perform at the Old Fashioned Barn Dance at Fort Collier on Sept.16, 2006.
Kids Camp
