Existing comment:
The Peaks of Otter and the Town of Liberty:
The town of Liberty (now Bedford) was established in 1782. Though it had been the county seat for more than seventy years, Liberty was just beginning to grow into a commercial center when Beyer arrived in 1855. The introduction of modern transportation in the 1850s, represented by the passenger and freight trains in the painting, led not only to the expansion of agricultural production in the county but also the growth of small industry.
As a painter, Beyer was inspired by the surroundings as well as the town of Liberty, and he noted in the Description of the Album of Virginia that the "outlook from the Peaks of Otter surpasses anything I have seen before." |