Beautiful, Historic Virginia

For some time, we had looked forward to our time in Virginia. Penny had lived in Lynchburg until she was eight, and had always had an unrequited love for the area. Many of her ancestors had also come from here, so she was eager to do some genealogy. I had only been in the state on business, and was eager to see the area in greater depth. We weren't disappointed.

One of the first things we noted were these huge, well manicured estates in Northern Virginia. All seemed to have these neat black, not white, painted wood fences around them and beautiful horses in the pastures. The black paint makes them look richer.
During our travels, we spent some time in Coastal Virginia. Here, a ferry carries a school bus between the Northern Neck and the Middle. These are the fingers that extend south from DC and are divided by the Rappahannock and James Rivers. These fingers are almost a world unto themselves with strong regional pride. Penny's maternal grandparents lived all around this area.
Of course, any visit to this part of the country would be incomplete without a trip to the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Here, we're looking south down the James River, the lowest point on the Blue Ridge Parkway at 649 feet.
The experience of the Blue Ridge is a spiritual one. The vistas are breathtaking. Here, we look at some of the foothills from the White's Gap overlook.
This view is from Terrapin Mountain, the highest point on the Virginia portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway at 3980 feet.

We were there just before autumn colors came into their full glory, but some trees were showing their stuff.

In Virginia, beauty and history seem to be so entertwined as to be inseparable. One of the must-sees is Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Jefferson was his own architect. It is a magnificent estate in a beautiful setting, only a couple of miles from the James Monroe estate, and about 30 miles from the Montpelier, home of James and Dolly Madison. These presidents were friends and visited each other frequently. Earlier, we had visited the home of John Adams in Massachusetts. He and Jefferson were bitter political enemies who became friends later in life. Both died on the same day, July 4, 1826, 50 years to the day after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The visit to Jefferson's estate felt like a complement to the visit to the Adams home.

Here is something you wouldn't have seen in Jefferson's time, the front entrance to Monticello with no people gathered there. It was a beehive of activitty until shortly before his death.

As you approach the front door, two things you see are a clock over the door. The clockworks are inside with a shaft going through the wall to this face. In the ceiling is a compass face. If you look back at the previous photo, you'll see a weather vane. It is attached to a pointer on the face of the compass which shows the wind direction. Jefferson was a great gadgeteer, inventor, astronomer, meteorologist, and accomplished horticulturalist. President Jimmy Carter, when hosting a group of Nobel laureates in a small dining room in the White House, once commented that there hadn't been so much brainpower in that room since Jefferson dined there alone. He loved anything that would help him record statistics. Umm, Penny thinks that I would like him, whatever his politics.

This promenade runs between the main house and a small accessory house where Jefferson's son-in-law had an office. The two chimneys were above the smokehouse and a laundry room.

Beneath the promenade, were several other amenities. This is the Monticello beer cellar. There is also a wine cellar and an ice house on this side of the mansion.

This is the fish pond. Freshly caught fish were kept here until it was time to eat them.

As you might have noticed from some of the other photos, there were beautiful flower gardens around the estate. The bees were quite busy putting supplies away until the last minute. Very Jeffersonian.

Not far from one of our campgrounds was Jamestown. While it was a somewhat successful settlement, it was horribly situated. These marshes were, of course, full of mosquitoes. During times of low water flow, the water became brackish and unfit for consumption. While winters were tough for settlers, many sickened and died during late summer due to communicable diseases.

For years, it was thought that much of the original Jamestown was somewhere in the middle of the present day James River. You may have seen the wonderful documentary on TV. Recent archaeological efforts have found that this assumption was incorrect. These palisades have been reconstructed right over the original.

We thought this method of palisade construction was quite clever.

These are the remains of the second church constructed in Jamestown. The first church on the same site was where the first democratic election on the North American Continent was held.

Jamestown is still the site of much archaeological activity. To this fellow's right, covered by a tarp is the original Jamestown well. When it was abandoned, it was used as a trash dump. The resident archaeologist was licking his lips over what he may find there. Penny wanted to jump right in and help. Archeology has always been an unrequieted loved for her.

This is one of two statues at Jamestown. It is John Smith, without whom, it is likely the colony would have failed.

The other, as you might have guessed, is Pocahontas, who married John Rolfe and became a celebrity in England. That is where she is buried.

From Jamestown, we went to Williamsburg. Much has been restored as it originally was, thanks to one of the Rockefellers. It was really a very well done

trip back in time that costs about $70 per couple. We chose to wait until after 6:00 pm when access to most of the town was free. We saw enough re-enactment to satisfy. If you've been here and gotten the whole experience, you may think we were too cheap. The $70.00 bought the better part of a very nice dinner the next evening. There are many re-enactors. Here a carpenter is walking down the sidewalk to join some friends in casual conversation about issues of importance during the late 1700s.

There were several horse carriages. For a fee, you could get a ride around the town in one of them.

I found this ox wagon more interesting. The oxen simply followed their driver with no additional urging.

There were a few breaks in the maintenance of the time period, such as this bicycle in the midst of several men in period dress - almost whimsical.

The re-enactments of events were very well done. Here, in front of the recreated Virginia Capitol building, in what we thought was probably a closing ceremony every night, is a reading of a petition in favor of declaring independence. The declaration was read, and put to a vote of the crowd which was, of course, overwhelmingly in favor. The man in the gray coat was Patrick Henry.

At the close of the reading of the declaration, the Union Jack is brought down, and the first American Flag is run up the Capitol flagpole.

Next on our list was Yorktown. Here is a recreation of George Washington's staff headquarters tent. Next to it is the original tent in which Washington slept - amazing that it has survived.

Artillery was critical to the American victory at Yorktown. Here are some American artillery pieces. Starting at the the front are two mortars, then a howitzer, and four 10-pounder cannons. Many rounds were pumped into the British compound, an average of more than one round per minute, twenty four hours a day.

This is the artillery piece that the British couldn't match, a 24-pounder siege gun. It had twice the range of the British 10-pounder cannons, and far more hitting power. These cannons couldn't have been brought overland, but were delivered by the French ships that facilitated the American victory.

This British cannon, located inside the visitor center is a dramatic example of American firepower here. The round, black spot above the carriage, behind the wheel, is a mark left by an American cannonball. It destroyed the original carriage, putting the cannon out of action. Lafayette returned many years later to this battlefield and identified this weapon by that spot.

Also inside the visitor center is a reconstuction of the British warship Betsy. She was sunk by fire from American shore batteries. These cannons were recovered from the bottom of the James River years later.

The lighting for this shot was not very favorable, but it was an important part of the American Victory. This is Redoubt Number 10. It was taken by the Americans under the command of Colonel Alexander Hamilton. The French took Redoubt Number 9 about a hundred yards away. The taking of those two redoubts allowed the Americans to move their lines much closer to the British, thus forcing Cornwallis into an untenable position. It was in this Redoubt that George Washington signed the Articles of Capitulation.

This is the Moore house where the Articles of Capitulation were worked out.

This is the road down which the British walked to lay down their weapons in the field to the left.

There is a small pavilion at the surrender field at which is displayed some of the ordinance surrendered here. Note the engraving placed there after the surrender. This was the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.

Our expectations for our trip to Virginia were high. What we saw exceeded them. We will have to return to Virginia soon. We barely scratched the surface of that state's rich environment and heritage. There is much left to see and do, including lots more genealogy research for Penny.