One long, last day

On Monday, I did some traveling on the east coast of Virginia and North Carolina.  Using U.S. Route 17 most of the way, I traveled through the Hampton Roads/Newport News area of Virginia and into North Carolina.  Near the border of the two states, I passed some of the largest cornfields I had ever seen.  They went on for miles!

I visited several towns along the NC coast with common Civil War histories.  In each of these places, Union and Confederate troops clashed over control of waterways.  Each had waterfront parks which remembered this history and gave locals a place for recreation near the water.




At Elizabeth City, in February of 1862, Union ships destroyed a group of Confederate boats that had been harassing U.S. shipments.  The waterfront park had a boat ramp, a gazebo, and great views.







In Edenton, there was a pretty town square, and an antebellum home had been brought to the waterfront to act as the visitor center.  Like Elizabeth City, this was a departure point for boats that were part of the Underground Railroad.  In 1866, a small lighthouse was built on the Roanoke River;  it had been recently restored and was open for visitors.

Washington, NC, also had a river lighthouse.  After a land-and-naval battle there in 1862 (which for a time looked like a possible Confederate victory until Union reinforcements arrived), Washington was actually burned by the Union army when it finally left town.

After crossing one of the long, modern bridges leading into New Bern, I detoured to Union Point Park to get a panoramic view of all the area bridges and the waterfront.  After being affected by the Union blockade during the war, this was a big commercial port in Reconstruction days. The park had fishing areas, a gazebo, a long walkway that includes an area where you can walk right up to the water, and interpretive exhibits that tell about history, wildlife, and scenery.


When I checked the time in New Bern, I determined I could still make it home if I left right away.  This caused me to save my trip to Charleston for another time, and I drove well into the night to sleep in my own bed.  The trip was GREAT, but it's good to be home!!

Colleges and Monuments

Sunday's travels took me through Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania (again), Maryland, and the District of Columbia.  The main attractions on this day turned out to be college campuses and various impressive monuments.  Toward the end of the day, I stopped at a location that was historic, but had no markings at all.

My first stop was Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.  It is an architecturally-beautiful campus, but my main interest was in seeing the building once named for John C. Calhoun whose name has been changed to the Grace Murray Hopper College.  Since Calhoun's name is actually carved into the façade, I don't know to what lengths they will go to remove it.

The beautiful structure on the left is NOT the Calhoun/Hopper building.  It is north of it.

On the right is the inscription above the door of the Hopper College above the courtyard gate.

I passed through a small portion of New York state, but turned on the outer loop in order to avoid the traffic.  In Westchester County, I stopped at the "Great Hunger Memorial," which pays tribute to Irish immigrants who came to America during the time of the potato famine.  The statue of a family, nearly starving, is lifelike and touching.



This route took me across the Tappan Zee bridge (being replace by a spectacular new one) and through New Jersey.

I visited Princeton, NJ, on my ride down the Lincoln Highway a few years ago.  This time, I their HUGE battle monument (American Revolution, George Washington) and drove by Princeton University.  I read quite a bit about Princeton when I was studying Woodrow Wilson, who was president there.

I also tried to avoid most of the Philadelphia traffic, since I had seen the downtown sights there as well.  I moved south into Maryland and Baltimore.  On an earlier trip, I had seen the sports stadiums and Fort McHenry, but not the downtown area.  I was surprised to see that they had a "Washington Monument," which is in a downtown square next to a statue of the Marquis de Lafayette on horseback.

As a kept moving down U.S. 1 toward Washington, I passed through Laurel, Maryland.  Right on the highway is the Laurel Shopping Center, where Alabama's George Wallace was campaigning for president on May 15, 1972, when he was shot several times here by Arthur Bremer.  Wallace survived, but was paralyzed for life.  The details and the film remnants are sketchy, but historians believe the most accurate assessment of where it happened was in the direction that the old "Giant Food" sign is pointing.  Between that and the actual grocery store is a Bank of America, and the shooting happened somewhere behind where that building is located today, near the shopping cart storage.


Here is the only proof I drove through DC.  It was getting dark, but (driving by) I saw FBI, Justice, some Smithsonian museums, the African-American Museum, the Vietnam wall, the Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson Memorials, Arlington, and the Pentagon.

Spent the night near Fredericksburg, VA.

Two kinds of Patriots

Most of Saturday was spent in Massachusetts.

Just northwest of Boston I visited the Minuteman National Historic Park.  This includes the Revolutionary battle sites at Lexington and Concord and the "battle road" in between.  Armed conflict between Great Britain and her American colonies began at these sites on April 19, 1775.  British soldiers marched from Boston toward Concord, where rebels were purportedly storing arms and ammunition.  On the way, they clashed with colonials at the Lexington Green, then moved on to the Concord area.  The battle at the North Bridge at Concord was immortalized in a poem as the "shot heard round the world."  All the way back to Boston, the British were ambushed by minutemen at places like Barrett's Tavern, where I saw a musket demonstration.

Memorial Statue at

Lexington Green

Old North Bridge at Concord. Minuteman

statue at this end, memorial at the other.  The

Americans forced the British away from the

bridge from this direction.

Barret's Tavern, left.  On the right, park employees give musket demonstration.

Despite the rain, it fired on the 3rd shot!

In the early afternoon, I got a look at the home of another group of "Patriots," the ones who play football in the National Football League.  This is in Foxboro, Massachusetts.  The New England Patriots' home field is called Gillette Stadium, and it is part of a modern complex with a hall of fame, restaurants, and shopping.  There were many people there doing sightseeing, having lunch, and enjoying the shops, despite the fact that there won't be a game there for a couple months.

Soon afterward, I passed through Rhode Island and its capital, Providence, then moved on into Connecticut on I-95, a road which continues all the way back home to Georgia.