VIRGINIA

VIRGINIA

Route through the state.

The first battle at this site was to be the final battle of the Civil War.

  Union leaders thought that one battle

 would be enough to bring the South back into the Union.

There was another battle at this site a

 years later that lead up to Gettysburg.

Battlefield sites.

This is where Jackson got the nick name of Stonewall, 

because he remained still in the face of fire "like a stone wall".

Judy breaking the rules!

(He made me do it!)

This park is near D.C. and where the C.I.A. trained.

The Visitor's Center.

A short hike.

The cooling of feet.

At Chesapeake Bay Thousand Trails.  

My pickleball tournament partner, Pete.

Our best game was against young opponents.

Go figure!  But we did not make the finals.

Virginia wine country.

Virginia Air and Space Center (NASA's beginnings).

I guess we will need to visit Johnson Space Center in Houston

since we have toured AL, FL and VA's centers.

Fort Monroe National Monument (#328).

A young engineer named Robert E. Lee finished building this fort

 and married Martha Washington's grand-daughter here. 

This is also where Jefferson Davis was imprisoned after the Civil War.

AND, just off shore, the battle of the iron-clad ships took place.

Also, at Fort Monroe, where Lincoln stayed during a Civil War visit.

Light house on the Fort's grounds.

Between our National Parks visits, 

we found a great spot for lunch.

A swing on the upper deck.

And a view.

Judy displaying her catch.

Our 329th National Park Site.

We had to go on an active military base and were subjected

 to questioning, a vehicle search, proof of ownership,

 and auto insurance before entering.  As it should be.

The lighthouse on the right is active, the one on the left 

(Old Point Comfort Lighthouse)

can be climbed if there is no thunder heard within and hour.

  It rumbled just before our arrival, no climb but we stayed dry.

It was the first lighthouse built by the United States (1791).

The Battle of the Capes took place just off shore in 1781.

  It was between the French and the English Naval forces. 

 Admiral deGrasse (statue) sent support to the American cause. 

 This trapped Lord Cornwallis in Yorktown and cut him off from reinforcements.

   This sea battle was critical in securing our independence. 

At the Memorial.

Evening stroll on one of the beaches near the Memorial.

Ferry Farm, near Fredericksburg, is where George Washington

 grew up, chopped down his father's cherry tree (I cannot tell a lie),

 and threw a "silver dollar across the Potomac."

George threw a silver dollar size ROCK across this river,

 the Rappahannock, not the Potomac.

We could not get very close to the river, but tried anyway to 

throw a rock across. 

 They hit the water about a third of the way across.

Mary Washington's home.

Lots of history in Fredericksburg, Washington's hometown.

The next ten pictures show a small fraction.

Monument to George Rogers Clark.

Plantation Manor house--George likely visited.

Thomas Jefferson's Peace monument.

Mary Washington's grave.

Law offices of James Madison.  Now a museum and library.

Revolutionary War patriot and George Washington's pharmacist. 

Tavern frequented by George Washington.

Farm centipede and Judy!  I think George Washington slept there too!

Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.

  Chatham Plantation Manor House .

Ferry Farm is just up river.  This plantation was used as headquarters

 and hospital during the Civil War.

Catalpa trees that were around during the Civil War battles.

There were statues on pedestals everywhere, except here.

Judy fixed that!

I told her that one day I would put her on a pedestal.

Beckley Plantation on the James River.

William Henry Harrison was born here.  

His vice president, Tyler, was born within a few miles.

The first 10 presidents had visited and dined while overlooking the James River.

Lincoln visited and reviewed troops before the push to take Richmond.

Wow, we scored 11 presidential sites in one visit!

During the staging for the battles to come, the end of the day

tune "Taps" was composed here.  Unofficially, it was taken up by

military units by word of mouth and adopted by both the North and South.

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated here too.

It was ordered by the chartering company that the 

first thing to be done upon arrival was to have a

Thanksgiving and to celebrate it each following year.

1619

OOPS!

We pulled out of our site, hooked up the car,

 and drove about 100 ft.

before the alarm went off indicating that the

 transmission pump was failing.

We pulled back to our site, and with the help of 

several neighbors and 4.5 hours, 

I was able to find and correct a short in the wiring.

We left the next day.

On the Blue Ridge Parkway, but only for a short distance.

The Northern end of the Parkway farming exhibition.

We came off the Blue Ridge near Buena Vista to visit Virginia's Natural Bridge.  

Thomas Jefferson owned it and George Washington

 surveyed it and carved his initials in the arch.

An impressive bridge.  Highway 11 runs over it and

 it is expected to last 100 times longer than a steel structure. 

Nice little hike to the lost river and a water fall.

Our tickets included a wax museum.

Meeting wax presidents.

More? presidents?

Natural Bridge Hotel.