Along the LHHC to Gettysburg

From Lancaster, PA, I followed what is called the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor.  This is a 200-mile stretch which has an organization that works VERY hard to promote the Highway and its attractions.  Near Hallum, where a HUGE city-wide yard sale was going on, I saw the Haines Shoe House.  This architectural oddity was built by a fellow trying to advertise his shoe store.



My next stop was the Gettysburg National Battlefield Park, where a critical battle of the Civil War took place.  The town is literally surrounded by the battlefield, which just goes on and on almost as far as you can see in any direction.  There are monuments everywhere, but there are also many interpretive markers to help you understand what you're seeing.  I started at the visitor center, where I saw a great film and a beautiful Cyclorama painting of Pickett's Charge.  I then began the auto tour with its 16 official stops.  For a history lover like me, it was awesome!

General Lee mounted on Traveller

North Carolina soldiers monument

After leaving Gettysburg, I continued on the Lincoln Highway westward into the Allegheny Mountains.  All along the way, the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor has exhibits such as painted gas pumps, historical markers, signs, giant sculptures, and murals to help make the drive more entertaining and to remind you of the Highway's history.

Philadelphia and Westward

I started yesterday morning in Princeton, NJ (the university is there).  One of its most famous citizens was Grover Cleveland, who eventually served as both governor of New York and (twice) President of the United States.  Cleveland, his wife Frances (who he married in the White House; she was MUCH younger), and their daughter Ruth (the Baby Ruth was named for her) are all buried in the Princeton Cemetery.  It is owned by a Presbyterian Church, and it is also the burial place of Aaron Burr.

Ooooo!  Bright sun!

Room where the documents were
signed.  Georgia sat WAY over
on the right (only corner of table visible)

I then said goodbye to New Jersey and drove down into Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  While following the old Lincoln Highway in Trenton, NJ, I had to cross into Pennsylvania on a cool old steel bridge that was so incredibly narrow that two lanes of traffic would barely fit onto it.  You make a hard left onto the bridge, then feel like you could easily touch the oncoming traffic (speed limit 15 mph) or the pedestrians to your right on the other side of a handrail.  Quite an experience!  In Philadelphia, I visited Independence Park, which includes the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed.  The guide showed me the table where the Georgia delegation sat during the adoption of the Declaration.  I also saw Benjamin Franklin's grave and a Thomas Jefferson exhibit that included one of his drafts of the Declaration and the cool desk where he wrote it.

Amish farmer using horses/mules to
pull farm equipment

Wheatland

In the hills west of Phlly is Lancaster County.  This is where the Pennsylvania Dutch live.  They are a collection of Amish and Mennonite people who live very simple, rural lives.  I stopped at Dutch Haven bakery for some Shoo-Fly Pie (a guy with whom I worked in Savannah introduced me to this).  Following my snack, I located Wheatland, the estate of President James Buchanan.  Buchanan was Secretary of State under John Quincy Adams, then served as President just before the Civil War.  He is not considered to have been a very successful Chief Executive, but he was faced with some pretty big problems.  After finding a room for the night, I drove into Lancaster for supper.  On the roads, I saw several Amish teenagers riding bicycles in that direction, and I also saw 5 or 6 of the black horse buggies for which they are known (It was Friday night, and most of these were being driven by high school or college-aged kids).  When I turned onto some of the side roads, where I drove across a covered bridge, I also noticed that these roads smelled like the streets of downtown Savannah (with all the horse carriages).  The wheels on the carriages also scratched the surface of the road in a unique way.  Somebody was flying hot-air balloons over the countryside; I guess to take tourists up to look at the Amish country.

NYC -- The Starting LIne for the Lincoln Highway

After a few hours of rain yesterday morning, I started out for New York City.  New York was the Eastern Terminus of the Lincoln Highway, and trips across the transcontinental road began at Times Square in the city.  I took some wonderful pictures of the Manhattan skyline from Liberty State Park across the Hudson River in New Jersey.  This park also has views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and it also has a 9/11 memorial called the "Empty Sky."  It has a beam from the Twin Towers, and its two large walls contain the names of those who died.

Once a driver drove the first mile of the LH from Times Square, they came to the river.  In the early 1900s, they had to take the ferry, but now drivers pass through the Lincoln Tunnel.  When they emerge, they were/are at Weehauken, New Jersey, where I took some more pics.  This place is Hamilton Park, near the spot where Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr fought their famous duel.

The Lincoln Highway has many different types of monuments to President Lincoln.  Many are statues, and there are all types of signs, both old and modern.

Mystic Lincoln, Jersey City

Downtown Newark

I ate supper at a Mexican restaurant in Rahway, New Jersey, called Beana's.  It was featured in the documentary about the Lincoln Highway that I saw on PBS years ago which inspired me to make this journey.  I think the girl who took my payment was one of the ones interviewed for that show.





On my way to Princeton to spend the night, I stopped for a few minutes at the Thomas Edison Tower and Museum in the town that bears his name.  This is where Edison's Menlo Park laboratory was located; he did much of his work on the light bulb here.  The tower is undergoing a MAJOR renovation; it's hard to tell that the top is actually a huge light bulb sculpture.  The museum was closed for the evening.