By Sally Voth -- Daily Staff Writer

STEPHENS CITY — As the town marked its 250th birthday with music, a book signing, tours and food, descendants of its founding namesake made the journey from Ohio to help celebrate Founder's Day.

It was just last year that Francis Eugene Stephens discovered that his fifth great uncle was Lewis Stephens, who obtained a charter for Stephensburgh in 1758, according to the Newtown History Center's Web site. Lewis Stephens' father, Peter, built a homestead in what is now Stephens City in the early 1730s, the site says.

"When we got the information last year, I said, 'Well, shoot, we're retired, we're going to go to Stephens City, make a vacation,'" said Francis Stephens' wife, Margaret "Christina" Stephens, Saturday as she sat outside an old home housing artifacts from the site of Peter Stephens' dwelling.

Mrs. Stephens, who lives with her husband in Wilmington, Ohio, was several months into researching her husband's family tree when her nephew Googled her father-in-law's name. Nearly 140 pages of information, tracing the family history back to Germany, came up, she said. This, after thinking the trail would end at his grandfather.

After visiting Stephens City with some of her husband's siblings, they learned about the Founder's Day events, and planned a return trip.

Town Manager Mike Kehoe displayed an archeological treasure trove inside an old home owned by Town Councilman Linden "Butch" Fravel. Two rooms were full of shattered pottery, buttons, coins dating as far back as the early 1700s, pipe stems, arrow heads, broken tools, marbles and more.

The artifacts came from Peter Stephens' cabin site, said Kehoe, who is a member of the Archeological Society of Virginia.

Kehoe asked treasure hunters going out with metal detectors to put what they didn't want to keep into a bucket. The result was on display this weekend.

"It's rusty old junk to a lot of people, but it tells a story," Kehoe said. "It's 250 years of the town's history right here. Actually, more than that, 280 years."

Fravel and Byron C. Smith, who is director and curator of the Newtown History Center on Main Street, authored the recently-published "Images of America: Stephens City." They were scheduled to do a book signing Sunday afternoon.

Smith, dressed in period costume, said he was pleased with Saturday's attendance at the history center's exhibit buildings. Events like Founder's Day are important, he said.

"The heritage preservation world is the kind of community that functions on attention and publicity," Smith said.

Such events bring like-minded people together, he said.

"It builds the community, helps the community, the people who live here, gain a sense of identity," Smith said. "And, also, we're obviously interested in people giving donations [of collection items or money] to us."

Town resident Glenn Boireau went on a walking tour led by Fravel, visiting the dig site and learning about how the town used to look.

"I would do it again tomorrow if it they would do it again," he said.

Farther north, at Newtown Commons, Fran and Phil Yeary were enjoying the music by Flashback, a Richmond band. The couple moved to the area less than five years ago.

"We're just trying to get into the local town and understand the people around the area," Mrs. Yeary said. "I think this is a nice community. People do things together. These events are how people can meet."

Stephens City's past sometimes gets overshadowed by Winchester's, she said.

"There's a lot of history right here," Mrs. Yeary said. "It gets pushed in the corner."

Kehoe figured the weekend's activities were a once-in-his-lifetime opportunity.

"It's a grand weekend," he said. "It will be another 50 years before anything like this is duplicated for the 300, and I probably won't be here."

* Contact Sally Voth at svoth@nvdaily.com