Pendleton Traditional Cache

Another neat little town near mineral. There is a winery close by and if you are in the area on a Saturday you can have a picnic and listen to some live music. My caching partner grew up in this area. He recalls a lumber mill, which I believe is Walton Lumber Company as well as a store near by, still researching that one.

There is only room for a log and small trade items, so BYOP. There is a FTF prize.

Cukoo is a small unincorporated community in Louisa County, Virginia. The Cuckoo Tavern stood nearby, which in 1781 was the beginning of Jack Jouett's ride to warn the Colonists of the arrival of Banastre Tarleton's British cavalry (similar to Paul Revere's Ride). 

There was also a large house named Cuckoo built in 1819 for Henry Pendleton on the former property of William Overton Callis.

Cuckoo is a Federal style house in the small community of Cuckoo, Virginia near Mineral, Virginia, built in 1819 for Henry Pendleton. Cuckoo was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 19, 1994. The house is prominently sited on U.S. Route 33, which curves around the house. Cuckoo's interior retains Federal detailing alongside Colonial Revival elements from the early 20th century. The house is notable for its design, prominence and its association with the Pendleton family of doctors. The house was named for the Cuckoo Tavern, which stood nearby from 1788. It has been in the Pendleton family since its construction.

The small doctor's office is believed to have been built in the early-to-mid 19th century for Dr. Robert Barret a short distance to the north of Cuckoo, and was moved to Cuckoo by Dr. Philip Barbour Pendleton prior to the Civil War for use as Pendleton's medical office. The large doctor's office was built circa 1888 for Dr. Eugene Pendleton on the grounds of his house, named Linwood, in the village of Cuckoo. It was expanded to accommodate his son's practice about 1908, and was moved to Cuckoo in 1910 when Eugene moved there. The office was moved again in 1972 when the highway was widened, and was used as a medical office by Dr. Eugene Barbour Pendleton until 1979. A smokehouse was built in the late 19th century, and a barn in the early 20th century. An octagonal wood wellhouse, built in the late 19th or early 20th century, stands close to the main house. A garage was built in the 1930s.

Henry, like many younger sons in Hanover, moved further west into Louisa County where he was living when his oldest son, Edmund, was born in 1786. In Louisa County, Henry Pendleton was a militia officer, overseer of the poor, and served in the General Assembly from 1804 to 1806. At his death in 1822, he left a comfortable estate including 226 acres in the Cuckoo tract, three other parcels of land in Louisa, and eighteen slaves.'

  Eleven physicians, most of whom practiced in Louisa County, VA and four here at Cuckoo can trace their roots to Henry Pendleton. Early doctors were not specialists but cared for the medical needs of both young and old in the community. They performed minor surgery, set broken bones, and delivered babies, in addition to treating a wide range of illnesses. Treatment was limited, however, as there were few effective cures. Diseases such as pneumonia, typhoid, and whooping cough were common killers.'

Dr. E. Barbour Pendleton, who practiced medicine at Cuckoo from 1908 to 1979, in an interview given at about the time of his retirement in his 90's, spoke of the dangers of pneumonia and typhoid fever and his frustration at the lack of effective treatments until penicillin and antibiotics became available. He also noted that typhoid was greatly dreaded, "because you were supposed to see your patient maybe every day or every other day and you were on horseback."

  Until improvements in transportation and the arrival of the automobile made travel to the see a doctor more widely available, most physicians went to their patients homes while also having a small office. Doctors traveled on foot, horseback, and by buggy to visit their patients. It was not until the mid and late nineteenth century that separate buildings were constructed for rural doctor's offices. Like lawyers' offices, they usually stood in a corner of the doctor's home, but few survive today. At Cuckoo there are two.