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Bryce Resort’s newly renovated lodge and restaurant were dedicated December 9, 2000 at a gala event. The celebrants enjoyed cocktails, dinner and dancing until midnight. They were also treated to a magical man-made snowfall on the ski slopes outside the lodge’s big wall of windows.But what of the ghosts of the valley families that once lived, worked and died in this very place? Do you suppose they were looking on at the festivities through the twinkling of icicle lights? Or that they, too, danced to the notes of music floating from the bank?
Fifty years ago the land along Stoney Creek where the Resort now sits was home to a number of farmsteads with houses, barns, large vegetable gardens, fields of corn, what and barley. According to Sudie Whitacre, whose family lived on the 156 acres located where the main lodge and ski slopes are now, the families all had chickens. Some of the families had cattle and everybody raised a few hogs. Mrs. Whitacre’s father, Harry Barb, did butchering for almost all the farmers who lived along Stoney Creek.
l Mrs. Whitacre recalls walking across a bridge from her father’s farm to the road that led to Basye, where she and her three brothers and five sisters caught the school bus. Her mother and father sold their farm in 1964 to Pete Brice, who developed Bryce Resort. They continued to live in their farmhouse until 1969, then moved to property where Hamm Lake is now, on the west side of Resort Drive.
“All the Barbs in the Basye area,” explains Mrs. Whitacre, “are related to a common ancestor, Johann Jacob Barben (1725-1819).” He came to Pennsylvania from Germany and shortened his name. His two sons, Abraham and Adam, bought property in Shenandoah County in 1779 at the foot of Great North Mountain. Adam’s Cave near that property may be named for Adam Barb. “There are lots of Barbs around,” Mrs. Whitacre explains. “I have a genealogy book that is about three inches thick.”
One of the Barb descendents is Wilmer, an octogenarian who lives in a snug trailer on Route 717 just off Route 263 in Basye. He speaks fondly of his maternal grandfather, Solon Funkhouser. Solon owned two acres along what is now Resort Drive. Mr. Barb remembers that the next house along the creek was called the old Biller place, and was rarely occupied. He also recalls a cemetery on that property which can be seen today from the 14th and 15th holes of the Resort golf course. “All those folks in that cemetery were there long before my time,” he says. Most of the headstones have the name Funkhouser on them. Those that are readable date to the 1850’s and 1860’s, and Funkhouser is spelled different ways. Bob Funkhouser, who owns the two stores in Basye, said his ancestors came from Austria and that the original spelling of the name may have been Frankhouser.
According to Willard Fansler, who owns Blue Ridge Truss west of Basye, Henry Biller owned the so-called Biller place and had a store in Orkney Springs. After his death, it was not possible to secure a clear deed so the place stayed empty for several years. The house and barn practically fell down before it was bought at auction by Ashby Fansler, father of local residents John and Nelson Fansler. Neither Willard Fansler or Bob Funkhouser know the history of the Funkhousers buried in the old cemetery. One headstone is inscribed “Obrien Kelly”, leaving one to wonder how he came to be buried with all those Funkhousers.
Only one house of the original group is still standing. Now owned by Bob and Nancy McCord, it is on Resort Drive near the 15th hole of the golf course. It was once owned by George Barb, and when his daughter Eileen married Nathan Miller, they lived there for a time. Later it was rented to several families, and when Pete Brice bought the land, it was a temporary real estate office. Wilmer Barb remembers that, as a young man, he helped George Barb with the farming chores, and helped clear the area where the ski slopes are now.
Grover Barb had about 65 acres where the front nine holes of the golf course are now. His widow Mary still lives on property that has been in her husband’s family since the 1700’s. It is adjacent to Bryce property and accessible from Route 717.
The next farm down belonged to Nathaniel Beedle. His daughter Stella Barb, who lives in Basye and works at the Community Store, said that her father owned the property before he was married, and brought her mother there as a bride in 1919. The Beedle farm was 435 acres of farm and woodland. Stella had four brothers and three sisters, and remembers walking up Route 720 to Greenview and then cutting through the woods on a path that led to Route 611 to catch the school bus. They sold the property in 1961 to Wallace Whitmore, Gordon Bowman and Warren Goode. It was later sold to Pete Brice.
In 1909, William Brice came to the Basye area from Philadelphia to “take the waters”, hoping to relieve his arthritis. It took four hours on a train and in a coach to travel the 15 miles to Basye from Mt. Jackson. William decided to retire in the area, and in 1922 started building a resort on land south of Route 263. He also married Martha Basye, whose family gave its name to the community. According to Pete Brice, the original farm consisted of 1,000 acres, some of which Lake Laura now covers. The Resort was called Bryce’s Mountain Resort. It eventually had lodges that accommodated about 150 people and included three meals a day. There was a general store, bowling alley, recreation hall, horses for riding, swimming pool and tennis courts. In 1945, a week’s stay at Bryce’s Cottages cost $25 to $35.
Martha Basye Bryce died in 1938, and was buried in a small cemetery off of Route 717 just outside Basye. After the death of William Brice, the Basye property went to his son Paul, and eventually to Pete Brice. In 1960 Pete began negotiations to purchase the area farms that today form the core of Bryce Resort. Starting as a simple ski resort, it offered the first ski slopes in Virginia, and the first snowmaking. It was such a novelty when it opened in 1965 that the road became impassable with people coming to see snow being made.
Though the Resort has grown, Basye has remained the serene home for many generations of local families. Two fully stocked general stores, The Community Store and the Stop-and-Look Store, also serve as community gas stations, hunter check-in points, and an invaluable source of information to new visitors. The many new residents and visitors to the area own a debt of gratitude to these early families. It is their land that has allowed the creation of the pristine, scenic and peaceful place now enjoyed as Bryce Resort. And they continue to be a vital part of this community.
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