Connecticut to Virginia – October 2 – 13

We dropped Debby off at Bradley airport and we continued south. We stopped to visit the Weir Farm NHS in southern Connecticut. Weir was an early American artist. We enjoyed the stop and seeing many artists here painting.













We crossed the Hudson River on the Tappan zee bridge, drove through the corner of New York and into New Jersey and stopped for the night in Parsippany.
Monday we went to Morristown to George Washington Headquarters NHS. We toured the house he used




and then drove 15 miles or so south to Jockey Hollow where the troops lived.


We stopped in Willingsboro, NJ to spend the night at Sandy and Frank’s and had a wonderful visit.


Leaving there we drove to Bel Air, Maryland for the night.
Wednesday we visited 3 national parks. First we went to Hampton National Historic Site. It was the home of 6 generations of Ridgely’s and is a large mansion with 33 rooms. It is on the north side of Baltimore and once was over 26,000 acres with 350 slaves. The furnishings were lovely.













This is a Cedar of Lebanon.


We drove into downtown Baltimore to Fort McHenry where the British were held off in 1814 and Francis Scott Key was being held on a British ship in the harbor and was inspired to write the Star Spangled Banner after seeing the flag in the early morning. His brother-in-law is the one who actually got it printed. The video presentation was awesome and ended with a choir singing the national anthem and the screen being raised so that we could then see out a large window to the flag flying over the fort. Very humbling.





We drove west on I-70 to Frederick, MD and stopped at Monocacy National Battlefield. This is where Jubal Early and the confederates were delayed just long enough for the Union to get to Washington DC to reinforce it so that it was never taken by the Confederates. They had a very detailed and informative display. We spent the night in Gaithersburg.
Thursday we went to the C & O National Park Canal. We saw this fawn in the parking lot.



We rode on the boat pulled by mules which walked on the tow path along the canal. They took us through one lock. It was a little anti-climatic because of our canal boat experience in England.




We even had entertainment.


We toured Clara Barton House and Glen Echo Park, both of which are national park sites. Clara Barton ran the Red Cross from here.






We saw the carousel and the many buildings of the amusement park at Glen Echo.



Then we crossed the Potomac and drove on the George Washington Parkway stopping at Turkey Run Park Headquarters. We went to Great Falls which was actually right across the river from the C & O NP.



Then it was back to the hotel in Gaithersburg, MD.
Friday we did 4 National Parks. We drove down the George Washington Parkway in Virginia to Alexandria and actually found Jones Point Lighthouse. It was a half mile walk out to it and it is almost under the I-95 bridge. We had searched for it when we stayed in DC in 2004 but didn’t find it.


We drove across the I-95 bridge and back into Maryland and found Fort Washington National Park. There was a lighthouse here too and a large fort.





The next stop was at Piscataway National Park. This was much larger in land and had trails. Piscataway is directly across the Potomac from Mr. Vernon.

We started to explore the colonial farm area but the chickens thought we were coming to feed them and were chasing us so I made a quick getaway.
The last stop was Thomas Stone NHS. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. We toured the house here.

Then we drove back into Virginia and stayed in Fredericksburg for the night.

Saturday we went to the Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park in Fredericksburg. Fredericksburg was the scene of 3 battles in the Civil War. We watched the film and then went to see the Chatham House house up on a hill across the river. It was used as headquarters and a hospital.


We went to the birthplace of George Washington and had an excellent park ranger who gave the history of the site. A historical society built a home on the site but it is not at all typical of the period. The NP Service has done some excavating and found what they believe is the foundation of the original house.

Thus ends our national park tour for a while. We went to Williamsburg and checked in at Greensprings Vacation Resort where we relaxed for a few days.
On Thursday, October 13 we drove to Rockville, VA and checked in at the International Learning Center for our volunteer time.