C&O, On the Go

Tim and I spent the afternoon with our fairy godmother.  Who, you might ask, is that?  That would be Cheri, who used to work with Tim at Rocky Mountain National Park.  Cheri was the person who “hired” me as a volunteer at Rocky.  I lived at the McGraw Ranch, which Cheri managed, and prepared a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places under her direction.  It’s because of Cheri that I met Tim, because Tim is in charge of the archives that I needed for my research.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Cheri and her family left Rocky Mountain National Park more than a year ago and moved to Cumberland, Maryland.  Of course, Tim and I promised to visit her on our trip.  We had lunch with Cheri, her husband Adam and their two children Henry and Eva and caught up with what’s been going on in our lives.  Both Tim and I really miss Cheri, both professionally and personally.  One of the best parts of our trip is being able to visit with friends and family that we don’t get to see that often.



Adam, Cheri, Eva, Sarah and Henry

Tim and I made our way into Cumberland to see the town and visit the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.  Cumberland is the terminus for the canal, which was begun in 1828.  The dream was to create a navigable waterway from Georgetown in Washington, D.C. to the Ohio River.  Unfortunately, the canal soon became obsolete.  The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had become the new link to the West.

The C&O Canal is now preserved as a linear park along the Potomac River and is enjoyed by hikers, bicyclists and canoeists.  We walked along the towpath and were able to see some of the original locks.

75 Locks Are Located Along the Canal



One of the Locks With the Canal in the Distance



Kitty Enjoyed Her Walk Along the Canal

The visitor center for the park is housed in the Western Maryland Railroad Station.  We happened to be there when an excursion train pulled by a steam engine arrived at the station.  What a treat!



The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad at the Station



Love That Steam!

Too Bad We Didn't Have Time for a Ride

New Beginnings in a New World

When we arrived at our campground near Washington, D.C., on Thursday night, I could not get an internet connection on my computer.  Networks were available, but I couldn’t get online.  Just when I thought that my computer issues had been resolved, here I’m back where I started.  There was no time to deal with the issue on Friday, so I have not been able to post any blog entries for days.

On Saturday morning we went back to BestBuy, and luckily, there was one very close to the campground.  The Geek Squad took care of us right away and determined that the issue was with our MiFi.  The fix was so simple.  The technician removed the battery, held down the power button for twenty seconds and reseated the battery.  Voila!  The internet connection was working again.  Maybe we’ll learn all of the tricks before the trip is over.

With our technical issues resolved, we hit the road again for Southern Maryland and St. Mary’s City.  St. Mary's City is the fourth oldest permanent settlement in British North America and was the first capital of Maryland.  It is also considered to be the birthplace of religious tolerance in the United States, as well as the birthplace of the modern Roman Catholic Church in the United States.  Today’s Historic St. Mary’s City is an outdoor museum of living history that protects one of the nation’s best colonial archeological sites.  

Seventeenth-century St. Mary’s City all but disappeared from the face of the earth, and the structures on exhibit today are reconstructions or representations based on decades of archeological and historical investigations.

Two of the most significant buildings are the State House, which was re-created in 1934, and the Chapel.  The reconstruction of the exterior of the Chapel was completed in 2009.  I might quibble with some of the decisions that were made, but I can certainly appreciate the scholarship that has gone into the project, especially since the primary focus appears to be interpretation.



State House



Chapel



Farthing's Ordinary



Mackall Barn, the Oldest Standing Wooden Barn in Maryland

We even took the time to listen to a lecture on The Atlantic Turn and Chesapeake History: Charting New Courses in the Study of Early Virginia and Maryland.  Since we didn’t finish seeing what we wanted to see, we came back to St. Mary’s this morning.  The staff was kind enough to give us a pass so we could return.



Sarah Made Me Do It

We were able to see one of the most unique living history experiences at the site – the Maryland Dove, a working representation of the square-rigged ship that brought the original settlers from England.  Here, a costumed interpreter guided us through the ship as it was being down rigged in preparation for winter.


Maryland Dove

Tim was especially interested in the archeological investigations that are ongoing at St. Mary’s City and was able to spend time discussing methods with the staff.  We had a wonderful time there and were both glad that we had finally seen the place that we had been hearing about for decades.

After a seafood lunch at Capt’ Billy’s on the Potomac River, we crossed into Virginia, and made a quick detour to the George Washington Birthplace National Monument.  This is a rather odd unit of the National Park System.  The birthplace, located on the farm where George Washington was born, has evolved as a living memorial to Washington.

The Memorial House on the property was built in 1930, and its design was a best-guess at what the original house might have looked like.  A colonial kitchen was added soon after.  Archeological investigations were ongoing at the property, and the foundation of the original house was discovered in1936.  This later research revealed that the memorial structures bear little resemblance to the ones that stood here in 1732.  



Colonial Kitchen and the Memorial House



Outline of the Foundation of the Original House

The commemorative efforts here led to the designation of the birthplace in 1930 as the first historic site in the National Park System.  The concept of a living memorial has been expanded since the 1930s, and a Colonial Farm was established in 1968.  It was a lovely place to spend a little bit of time.

This Hat Doesn't Fit

Anchors Aweigh

The fog was so thick this morning that you literally could cut it with a knife.  It was time to leave the Eastern Shore of Maryland and head toward Washington, D.C., where we will see my friend Manny tomorrow.

On the way we had time to stop in Annapolis, Maryland, and visit the Naval Academy.  The U.S. Naval Academy was established in Annapolis in 1845 and is a beautiful campus right in the heart of historic Annapolis.  Tim and I decided to maximize the time we had by taking a guided tour of the Yard, as the campus is known.

This turned out to be a wise decision, because the guide was great.  We learned the history of the Academy, visited buildings that we likely would not have entered on our own and got a peek into the life of a midshipman.  Unfortunately, the chapel was closed for a private event, but we did visit the crypt of Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones.

Dahlgren Hall

Bancroft Hall, the Largest Dormitory in the U.S.

Rotunda at Bancroft Hall

Chapel

Porter Road

Bill the Goat, the Mascot of the U.S. Naval Academy

Crypt of John Paul Jones

Can't Get Enough of the Eastern Shore

A call to the Geek Squad this morning revealed that the computer would not be ready until late this afternoon at the earliest.  We had not planned to spend another night on the Eastern Shore, but we don’t have to be in Washington, D.C., until tomorrow afternoon.  With another day to explore, we decided to head to St. Michaels, Maryland, and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.

On the way we stopped for lunch at a diner in Cambridge.  For the last few days I have been eating my way down memory lane – crab cakes, fried oysters, chicken and dumplings, collard greens – some of my favorite foods from growing up in Maryland.  It still amazes me how food is so tied to one’s experience of a particular place, and how food can bring back such wonderful memories.  I’m in heaven.



Fried Oysters, Macaroni and Cheese and Collard Greens

St. Michaels is a charming town that has always been connected to the water.  Originally a noted shipbuilding port, the town is now a popular yachting center on the East Coast.  The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is a wonderful 18-acre museum that celebrates the way people live, work and play on the Chesapeake Bay.  The museum is preserving a vanishing way of life by restoring historic boats that plied the bay.  The skipjack Rosie Parks, built in 1955 and used to dredge oysters from the bay, is the current restoration project.


Hooper Strait Lighthouse and Mister Jim



Restoring the Rosie Parks



The Edna E. Lockwood on the Left, a National Historic Landmark



Wateman's Wharf at the Museum

Exhibits at the museum explore how the Chesapeake Bay has evolved from a working waterway to one where people come to play.  The oyster industry is explored in another building.  One of my favorite exhibits was on waterfowl and how the bay attracts flocks of migrating birds.  The collection of decoys was amazing.



Who Said I Wouldn't Appear in Public in a Bathing Suit?



Who Said I Was Crabby?

Maryland Even Has Natural Resources Police

We backtracked to Salisbury and were rewarded with a virus-free computer.  What a relief! Now we can get back on track.

Delmarva Drive, Horses and a Virus

After a busy weekend in Baltimore with family and friends, Tim and I took it easy on Monday and slowly made our way to the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  We crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and drove through Delaware on our way toward Assateague Island.  Now that it’s getting dark an hour earlier, we had to find a campground before we made it to the island.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge -
This Gives New Meaning to the Phrase "High Altitude Driving"

Somehow, my computer became infected with a virus last night before I could post my entry for the day.  Luckily, there was a BestBuy in nearby Salisbury, so this morning we headed there, entrusted the computer to the Geek Squad and hoped for the best.  Unfortunately, we were told we may have to leave the computer with them for a few days.

So, we decided to take advantage of our time.  We turned east and drove till the road ended at the ocean.  On this part of the Delmarva Peninsula, that means Assateague Island National Seashore.  The National Park Service operates two visitor centers, one on each end of the island.  We visited the Assateague Island Visitor Center on the north end of the island.



Fishing in the Ocean at Assateague

Assateague is a barrier island on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia.  Winds and waves shape these landscapes continuously and create a wide variety of habitats, including costal bays, salt marsh, maritime forest, dunes and beaches and ocean.  These support distinct plant and animal communities that list some 44 species of mammals, countless bird species and marine life.  One of the most ubiquitous is the wild horse.

The wild horses of Assateague Island are descendants of domesticated horses brought to the island 300 years ago.  Local folklore places the horses on the island as the result of a shipwreck off the Virginia coast.  The horses are the subject of a 1947 classic children's tale by Marguerite Henry titled Misty of Chincoteague.  While the story is fiction, the characters, including the horses, are real. 



One of the Wild Horses of Assateague

Misty of Chincoteague was a favorite of mine when I was growing up.  My grandparents lived on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and we visited Chincoteague when the movie version of the book was being filmed.  I still have my copy of Misty of Chincoteague, with Misty’s “hoofograph” and several of the actors’ autographs.

Over the years, the horse population has grown to a point where the horses are having a negative effect on the other natural resources of the island.  So the herds are the focus of an ongoing management effort by the National Park Service to limit the overall numbers of horses.  The goal is to stabilize the population at a sustainable level while limiting ongoing impacts to other resources. 



The Horses Roam Freely, Just Like the Elk at Rocky Mountain National Park

We had a wonderful time walking the dunes, viewing the waves and photographing the horses.  We also got a shot of a more rare Sika deer.


A Sika Deer Beside the Road

Gulls on the Marsh

Along the Dunes

Marks in the Sand

Marsh Habitats

Blowin' in the Wind

All In the Family

Today was all about family, and washing the RV.  Tim and I both have friends and family in the Baltimore area, and we’ve tried to get together with everyone for at least a brief visit while we’re here.

We spent the afternoon with two of Tim’s aunts and several of his cousins.  His cousin Mark and his wife Jennifer hosted a lovely lunch at their home in Severn, Maryland.  Tim’s aunts Marguerite and Joy were his father’s sisters and have lived their entire adult lives in Baltimore and raised their families there.  Thanks to Tim’s cousin Joy for contacting everyone and getting them together on such short notice.  It was good to see his cousin Laurie and her daughter as well.  We showed off the RV and the cat and enjoyed some conversation on the genealogy of the family. 



Jennifer, Mark, Laurie, Aunt Joy, Tim, Andy, Joy and Aunt Marguerite

We finished the day with dinner with old family friends of mine.  Fred and Judy and their daughter Emily are as close to me as family.  My parents knew that I would never give them any grandchildren and “adopted” Fred and Judy’s three children when they were born.  They have been family ever since.  Fred was also the minister who married Tim and me.  We went to dinner at the G & M Restaurant where Judy, Emily and I had their award-winning crab cakes – how divine.  Tim and I had not seen them since our wedding, and it was so good to catch up with their lives.

Emily, Sarah, Judy and Fred

Nice and Clean

Charm City

First, to follow up from last night, I’m happy to report that “camping” at the Wal-Mart in Cockeysville, Maryland, was a great experience.  We had a small parking lot to ourselves, there were security cameras everywhere and there was a great area where we could walk the cat.  The only drawback was the amount of light that entered the RV from the bright parking lot lights (I should have brought an eye mask).  Best of all, we were close to Noreen and Mike’s home, so convenience was a huge plus.  I really have to thank the powers-that-be at Wal-Mart for the corporate decision to allow RVers to park overnight free of charge.  It really is a great service, and we’d do it again.

Tim and I are fortunate that our friends are willing to take their time to drive us around and show us their cities.  Noreen did just that today, and we had a wonderful tour of Baltimore, sometimes known as “Charm City.”  Although I grew up in Baltimore, and my parents continued to live there, the city has changed so much that a large part of the Inner Harbor area is new to me.

We started with a visit to the B&O Railroad Museum, which contains the finest collection of restored steam locomotives and railroad cars in the country.  While I enjoyed viewing the exhibits and exploring the railroad cars, my favorite part was touring the building itself.  The museum is housed in a spectacular roundhouse, which was built in 1884.  It is a 24-sided brick structure that contains a turntable and 22 bays where passenger cars were repaired.  The interior space is just amazing.  In 2003, half of the roof collapsed during a snowstorm, so most of the roof structure is a reconstruction.



B&O Railroad Museum Roundhouse



The Interior of the Roundhouse



Two of the "Newer" Locomotives on Display

Next, we drove through the Inner Harbor area, where we saw lots of new (at least to me) developments.  Tide Point and Harbor East, in particular, are well-executed areas along the harbor that have reclaimed former industrial areas.



Around the Inner Harbor



Looking Across the Harbor Toward Fell's Point

We stopped for an early dinner at Fells Point, one of Baltimore’s oldest neighborhoods and one of the earlier ones to be gentrified.  After indulging in mussels and scallops at Bertha’s Mussels, we walked around the area, admired the restored buildings and shops and watched English folk dancers perform on the dock.  What a great way to end a wonderful day.  Thank you Noreen and Mike.


Fells Point



Restored Houses in Fells Point



Robert Long House, Built in 1765,
The Oldest Surviving Urban Residence in Baltimore



View from Fells Point



Street Entertainers



We Did Eat Bertha's Mussels, and Scallops