Fredericksburg, VA



Mary Washington's home

We’re headed down from Baltimore to Williamsburg, Virginia. On the way, we stop in Fredericksburg’s Historic Section. Our first stop was Mary Washington’s home. It was bought by her son, George and expanded to house his mother in style at age 64. She ended up living there for 17 more years. The house while simple also was quite large, especially for a single woman. She had a large formal parlor on one side of the house, only opened up when she was entertaining. On the other side was her bedroom/living room and upstairs were three small bedrooms for guests. The house had a few of her possessions, but was mostly filled with period pieces.

Rising Sun Tavern

The best spot of the day was the Rising Sun Tavern. This tavern was run by one George Washington’s brothers for five years or so. The tour explained how mostly men would stay at the inn. The gentleman (staying with a meal cost about 2 days wages) would share a bed, while the commoners would have a hay comforter with no blankets. Women had a separate room where they would read or do their handy work. Generally, the women had to get up about 2 AM to be ready for the carriage that would leave at 4 AM to make the next tavern about 15 miles away by nightfall. The best part of the tour, however, was learning the why’s behind many common expressions: You could play cards with a deck of 52 cards, 51 cards were free, but there was a tax on the ace of spades. So many played with just 51 cards: “he’s not playing with a full deck”. The ale was poured in a pewter mug with a glass bottom: “Here’s looking at you” as you drank and could see through the bottom. When the British would impress new seaman, they often would put shillings in the bottom of the cup, and when you drank from it, they could impress you, since you had accepted the king’s money: “bottoms up” was the call to make sure there were no coins in the bottom. At night, your boots would be shined, at the time, both boots were identical and by wearing them on one foot or the other the boot would be shaped. “Putting your right foot forward” implied that the right boot was hung upright.  

James Monroe Museum

Our final stop was James Monroe’s Museum, the fifth president of the United States. It did the usual job of pointing out his role as a young captain in the Revolutionary War, how we served as a politician in Virginia after the war, both in the legislature and as governor, serving as ambassador to France, and finally as President. His eight years as President were relatively peaceful, a time of prosperity for the Republic. He is best known for the Monroe doctrine – a policy that no Western Hemisphere country once free, should be further interfered with by outside powers. This doctrine was used at the time, to stop Spain from recolonizing South America. But it is still evoked today: Kennedy to stop the USSR from arming Cuba, Regan invading Grenada, and Bush, Nicaragua. I was quite impressed at how many Monroe artifacts were in the museum: swords, his rifle, various writings, and the desk he used to sign the Monroe doctrine. The museum was established by his descendants in the early 1900’s, it was obvious that they had preserved quite a few of his possessions.

Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay Lighthouse

Today, we took the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to the eastern side of Chesapeake Bay and the Maritime Museum in St. Michaels. At first, we were somewhat disappointed in the museum, they were reconstructing a few typical Chesapeake boats, and there were a few light houses and a display about playing on the water (the rise of the Yacht set in the 1920’s). The lighthouse we saw was different than the typical tall circular building, this was actually a hexagon shape, and apparently there over 20 of these style light houses in the Bay. Then we noticed that the museum went along the shoreline and there were large displays explaining about crabbing in the bay. Did you know that a soft shell crab, is actually a crab that just molted its old shell and hasn’t hardened his new shell? There was also an oyster factory and an oyster boat with all their equipment. Actually, the museum did a good job of understanding how important the Bay was to the economy of Maryland. But, of course, the current problem is the decline in crabs and oysters over the years. Yet even today, there enough oysters to completely filter the bay twice a week. The temporary exhibit was on the war of 1812, the forgotten war. The three items the majority of people remember about the war are: the White House was burned, the Star Spangled Banner was written from the moment when the American flag was still flying over Fort McHenry after the British bombardment, and that Jackson won the battle of New Orleans after the war was over. The exhibit filled in some of the details especially the battles up and down Chesapeake Bay. It also pointed out that the treaty pretty much left things as they were before the war, except that the British agreed not to impress Americans into the King’s Navy. We had lunch at a Bistro in the town and then continued down the peninsula until we had water on all three sides of us.



Crabbing Boats

Winterthur



Winterthur Parlor with Chinese wallpaper

We headed up to Delaware to visit Winterthur, one of the DuPont mansions. Henry Francis DuPont was the primary benefactor of this estate. In the early 1900’s he inherited a 30 room mansion along with 2500 acres of land. His major contribution to the world was the Holstein-Friesian dairy cow. He won several awards for the most productive dairy farm. Today, over 90% of dairy cows are Holstein cows. While most of the rich were collecting European art and décor, Henry decided to collect American decorative arts. He expanded his mansion from 30 rooms to 175 rooms, primarily with the intention of eventually turning it into a museum. He presented a real challenge to his architects. He would buy a historic home to take it apart and recreate some of the rooms in his home. For example, one room was paneled with the room panels from a 17^th century home. Another has the original staircase from a Southern Mansion that was going to be demolished, but he stretched it to cover two floors instead of one. The Parlor of the house was designed to fit the Chinese wallpaper, he had found on a visit to France (still in its original rolls).When the room was found to be too short, he curved the walls into the ceiling so that he didn’t have to cut the wallpaper. Each room is filled with furnishings from a particular period as well as American art. Some of the more interesting parts of the collection, included a China set used originally by Washington, and eventually bought by General Lee, a Washington portrait by Stewart, and an incomplete painting of the signing of the Treaty of Paris (ending the Revolutionary War, the British refused to sit for the painting). We only visited about 20 of the 175 rooms, on three of the nine floors.

Spiral Staircase

Around the mansion were gardens filled with trees, ground cover, and perennials. Most of these gardens were planted under the supervision of Henry. The flowers bloom at different times of the year, so the gardens change naturally throughout the year. A recent addition was the Enchanted Woods, designed as a playground for children. There we found a giant bird’s nest, a witch’s house, as well as a stone cottage. While visiting we heard a siren, warning of lightning storm approaching. A tram comes by and quickly takes us to our car before the downpour.

House in Enchanted Woods

Gettysburg



Cyclorama: Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1^st through 3^rd, 150 years ago in 1863. That was where we spent most of afternoon. The visitor center has been upgraded significantly since the last time we were here over twenty years ago. We started with the film which illustrated the whys and wherefores of the battle. After the film, we visited the Cyclorama, a 360 degree painting of the third day of the battle, painted by a French painter in the late 1800’s. The painting has spent 5 years in restoration and the presentation has been made much more dramatic with added scenery making a 3D effect to the painting and dramatic lighting to make the battle seem to occur before your eyes. This was followed by the museum, which provided a lot of the war background and with many artifacts. Finally, we took the bus tour of the battlefield. This really helped us visualize the battle as we could view the terrain. Much of the battlefield has been restored to what it looked like in 1863. 

General Lee was hoping to dishearten the Union by striking in Pennsylvania rather than continuing to fight inconclusive battles in Virginia. He was hoping to spend most of the summer here, resupplying his army with food (remember most of the farms in Virginia had witnessed two years of war).  He had remained hidden from the Union Army until he was seen by a Union cavalry regiment just west of Gettysburg. General Buford wanted to hold them west of Gettysburg until reinforcements arrived, since Gettysburg had 12 roads coming into it, making it ideal for moving troops. They started by trying to hold Seminary Hill, but even with reinforcements they had to fall back to Cemetery Hill, south of town by the end of the day. From the bus tour, you could see that troops were fighting with as little as 20 yards between the two armies. 17000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing that first day. During the night, more reinforcements arrived for both armies. The Union army formed a hook formation, primarily on the high ground, while the Confederate army was hidden in the forest opposite the hook.

On day 2, General Lee tried to attack both flanks. The problem was that he couldn’t tell where the end of the Union army was on the South end. We could see how the rolling landscape hid the Southernmost portion of the Union army from Lee’s vantage point, and he had no cavalry regiments to scout where it was. He attacked but it turned out not to be the flank of the formation. One of the Union generals had advanced his army out into a peach orchard creating a bulge in the line and stretching them fairly thin.  He ended up retreating, and losing 40% of his men in the process. One of the more interesting stops on our bus tour was Little Round Top, a rocky formation at the end of the Union line. At the start of the battle, no one was up here, yet it had a commanding view of the entire battlefield. The Union army managed to get troops up here, 10 minutes before the confederate army attacked. They managed to hold the hill, ending the second day of the battle.

View from Little Round Top

On Day 3, General Lee having failed to flank the Union army, decided that the middle of the line must be weak, and thus that was the place to attack. This was the site of the famed Pickett’s charge, twelve thousand men strong. Before the charge, the confederates bombarded the union lines with 120 cannon. But the smoke was so thick, they actually fired past the union lines. General Meade ordered the 100 Union cannon to slowly drop out, as if they had been destroyed. Once Pickett began his charge all the cannon started cutting down his men. Only about 200 men reached the Union lines, where hand to hand fighting began. Once again, the Union lines held. General Lee had suffered his first major defeat, and he ended up retreating back to Virginia.

Site of Pickett's Charge

We found Patapsco Valley State Park/Hollofield about 20 minutes away from the Baltimore airport. We’re just outside a city, but deep in the woods. We picked up Laura at the airport that night.

Fort Necessity and the National Road

Fort Necessity

The day opened with 300 miles of traveling into Pennsylvania. Our one stop for the day was Fort Necessity. The Ohio territory was just being settled when a small force of Virginia soldiers, led by George Washington was sent in 1753 to build a road to a Fort established near the present site of Pittsburgh, where the Ohio River begins. But the French had taken over the Fort. They decided to build a small fort, Fort Necessity within 2 days ride of the French. They encountered a French patrol, and ten Frenchmen were killed. But the French came back in force and Washington was defeated here, the first battle of what Americans call the French and Indian war or the European’s call the Seven Year War between the French and the British. One of their many wars, but the first one that didn’t end in a stalemate. Britain won, giving them their American colony, India, several Caribbean islands; filling out the British Empire. But they almost went bankrupt and needed new revenues. Those taxes were part of the cause of the American Revolution.  Washington later purchased land nearby and became convinced that a National Road was needed to connect the wilds of the Midwest to the Eastern states (otherwise they might ship their goods down the Mississippi to French Louisiana. This road was constructed beginning in 1811, the first road financed by the Federal government. Here we visited the Washington Inn, built in 1827 as a way station on the road. (The road eventually was replaced by railroads, only to be rebuilt as US 40 in the 1920s.)

The Washington Inn

Lincoln Museum, Springfield, Il.

Lincoln as a boy

We arrived in Springfield, Illinois last night about 4 PM. Besides being the capital of Illinois, it has all things Lincoln. Here Lincoln had his law practice and served as a state legislator. Rather than visit a few of the historic sites, we decided to visit the Lincoln Museum and Library. This is a relatively new facility designed to provide an entertaining summary of Lincoln’s life and legacy. It almost felt like a Disney creation, designed to keep children interested in the subject. There were many scenes of his life set up with life-size figures as well as three multimedia presentations. The first section started with his growing up in a log cabin, learning to read, becoming a lawyer, falling in love with Mary Todd, having 4 sons (3 of whom died before he did), running for office numerous times, eventually becoming a congressman, but failing at his senate bid against Steven Douglas. The first movie was on the ‘eyes of Lincoln’ what he saw, what emotions he went through in his life, especially around the issue of slavery. One of the more interesting aspects was how quickly his face aged in his 4+ years as president. The second section focused on the White House years. A fun fake TV program with Tim Russert covered the platforms of the 4 candidates for President in 1860. (Lincoln won in the electoral college with about 40% of the popular vote.)  One of the most interesting aspects was two full walls of political cartoons of his time – most of them pretty wicked on various topics including how his election caused the split-up of the Union, and the dangers of the emancipation act. It was interesting to find out that more people saw Lincoln’s casket after his assassination on the train ride back to Springfield than had seen him as a Presidential candidate.

The Lincoln Family

We traveled on to just outside Dayton, Ohio for our camp spot for the night.

Winston Churchill Museum

Winston Churchill Musem

We continued our World War II theme today, visiting the Winston Churchill museum at Westminster College in Fulton, MO. Winston was raised in a noble, but poor family. His father had been in politics rising to Chancellor of the Excelsior. Winston barely made it through military school. His grades weren’t high enough for the infantry, but he did join the cavalry. Winston served in India as well as participating in the last charge of the British Calvary in Sudan. During his military career, he also served as a war correspondent. This would start him on a writing career, which ended up being his livelihood. He wrote numerous articles and books throughout his life. Winston began his political career at an early age. He would serve on and off for fifty years, handling many minister posts including being Chancellor of the Excelsior. He was out of office in the 1930’s and spent much of that time warning about the rise of Germany. He became prime minister just months before the beginning of World War II. This was his finest hour – he was known for keeping up the courage of the British people. His first speech talked of: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat".  Another during the Battle of Britain declared, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few". And after the allied victory in North Africa: "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." 
Why is this museum at Westminster College? This is where he gave his “iron curtain” speech about the control of Eastern Europe by the USSR. The museum is actually in the basement of Church of St. Mary, Aldermanbury, designed by Christopher Wren, but destroyed during World War II blitz. It has been reconstructed here, stone by stone.

Church of St. Mary Aldermanbury

Eisenhower Library

Dwight D Eisenhower

If you want less detail and more pictures, watch the video of this trip on youtube.

We spent all of yesterday traveling through Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas, stopping for the night at Salina, Kansas. The wind was howling for most of the afternoon, which made staying on the road a struggle all the way. This morning, we stopped at the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. The movie was an excellent introduction to the life of Dwight David Eisenhower, showing how is up bringing prepared him for his two decades as the Supreme Allied Commander in World War II and then as President from 1953 to 1960. On the grounds is the site of his boyhood home. He was raised here with his 5 brothers (one of whom died in childhood). The home is quite modest, and has all of its original furnishings, since it was made a museum after his mother died.  Ike learned how to be a diplomat and work with others through the course of his army career, which led to his promotion over many senior officers in World War II. The temporary exhibit (if 3 years is temporary) was the story of World War II in Europe. It pointed out that the first major victories were in North Africa, since it was going to take years of preparation to assault the core of Europe. Eisenhower did a lot of the planning for this operation, showing his expertise for planning D-Day. After the War, both parties tried to draft him to be their presidential candidate in 1952. The exhibit on his presidential years, left two key impressions: everyone seemed to like Ike and he faced the challenge of slowing the spread of communism without starting a war. Korea, the death of Stalin, the Hungarian revolt, Fidel’s revolution in Cuba, the first sputnik launch – all these happened on his watch. But probably his greatest legacy was the Interstate system. He had a passion for this because of the difficulty he found traveling the country before World War II and admiration for Germany’s autobahn. The huge program was justified for the nation’s defense.  

The next morning we traveled across the first 18 miles of Interstate just west of Topeka.

Eisenhower's boyhood home