Catching Up

Back online after several days of cybersilence.  Here’s what has happened in the meantime:

Got a new tire, expertly installed, and went on my merry way to Appomattox Courthouse.  Of course this is not a courthouse at all, it is the name of the town, and it is where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant to effectively end the civil war.  They met at the house of Wilmer McLean and Lee used the parlor of their home when he surrendered to Grant.

There are several buildings in the National Park that have been preserved and restored to reflect the look and feel of the settlement in 1865.  In one of these buildings a park ranger gave a history program on Civil War medicine, complete with examples of implements and tools used by physicians of the day.

Down the road from the National Park is the Museum of Confederate History, a collection of artifacts and documents detailing stories of the Confederate government, the military, civilians, and enslaved and free African Americans.  These exhibits show events leading up to, during and following the war.  Old gentleman in confederate uniform –who looked for all the world as if he had been there - showed and described the supplies each soldier carried, including the “housewife”, a sewing kit.

Back to the less-than-desirable campsite.  Took a shower in the bathhouse, but not sure I was cleaner when I left than when I entered.  I had never used a pull-chain shower before!  Could not wait to get out of here.  It was my birthday, and a couple who was traveling in the same brand of motorhome as mine invited me to a birthday dessert:  Pete and Liddy provided a HoHo with half a Klondike bar topped with blueberries for the celebration and it was delicious!

The next morning I made my escape from the campground early and drove to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. 

 Monticello is a World Heritage Site, and Jefferson designed every aspect of the home over the course of 40 years.  In addition to his public life he contributed to horticulture, paleontology, archaeology and astronomy.  A man of diverse talents, he also founded and designed the University of Virginia.  Leaving Monticello, I found a place to camp for the night in Front Royal, Virginia.  They claimed they had internet, but it did not extend to my campsite.

Monday morning, July 1.  Time to head for Gettysburg which is one of the main reasons for this trek.  On the way I came across Harper’s Ferry so I stopped and took a shuttle to what they called the Lower Town. 

Abolitionist John Brown led an armed group in the capture of the armory in 1859. Brown had hoped he would be able to arm the slaves and lead them against U.S. forces in a rebellion to overthrow slavery. After his capture in the armory by a group of Marines (led by U.S. Army Colonel Robert E. Lee), Brown was hanged, predicting in his last words that civil war was looming on the horizon, a prediction that came true less than two years later. The most important building remaining from John Brown's raid is the firehouse, now called John Brown's Fort where he resisted the Marines.

To Gettysburg at last, where the campsite has real, honest-to-goodness internet.  Today will be spent exploring the town of Gettysburg, not going to the actual battle site.