It’s a cliche, but still true, that you can discern much about a town by its cemetery; Mount Hebron Cemetery reveals Winchester’s secrets. Mount Hebron Cemetery, in Winchester, VA started modestly, in 1844, adjacent to two much older cemeteries: the German Reformed Church Cemetery, chartered more than a hundred years earlier, and the Lutheran Church […]
Virginia
Stonewall Jackson Winchester Headquarters
Beginning with this post, I’m starting a series of posts about Frederick County and Winchester, VA. This is the first installment of this series. To see others in this series, click on the label “Winchester and Frederick County” below this post. Between November 1861 and March 1862, Confederate Major General Thomas J. Jackson — more famously […]
Exploring the W&OD Rail Trail
The Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Railroad Regional Park stretches almost 45 miles between the Potomac River in Alexandria and Purcellville. The park is approximately 100 feet wide, and of course, its primary feature is the rail trail, a paved path about 10 feet wide, that closely follows the original rail bed of, and derives […]
Shinrin-yoku at Scott’s Run Nature Preserve
Forest bathing — essentially just being in the presence of trees — is the practice of taking a short, leisurely visit to a forest for health benefits. The practice originated in Japan where it is called shinrin-yoku (森林浴) in Japanese. The Japanese practice of forest bathing is proven to lower heart rate and blood pressure, […]
Baltimore – Washington Area’s Best Urban Oases
When the urban jungle becomes too much for us, we naturally seek an oasis of peace and calm amidst the asphalt and pandemonium. I’ve found eight surprising urban oases offering us the promise of lovely vistas, green relief, or a pleasant walk. These are all near or in Washington DC and Baltimore. Check them out […]
Patriotic Bike Ride Along the Mount Vernon Trail
The Mount Vernon Trail is a paved multi-use trail that stretches from George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate to Theodore Roosevelt Island, paralleling the George Washington (GW) Parkway for its 18 miles. It connects with regional trails, including the Potomac Heritage, Custis, Rock Creek, Four Mile Run, and Woodrow Wilson Bridge Trails. Its paved surface was […]
Cooking Like the Masons at Gunston Hall
For my birthday, my sister gave me a day’s hard labor! She purchased two spots in an Open Hearth Cooking Class at Gunston Hall. The class promised participants that they would experience “one of the most fun, rewarding, and exhausting tasks of the 18th century” and they were right! It was a fine October day. […]
Gunston Hall, George Mason’s Retreat
One of the most famous men of his time is now one of the least known: George Mason. His Virginia Declaration of Rights anticipated and most certainly influenced what became the Bill of Rights. In fact, he is often referred to as the “father” of the Bill of Rights. Mason was a colonial Virginia planter, politician, […]
Gotta Catch Them All: 11 Best Places to Play Pokemon Go
With multiple Pokéstops and Pokégyms, 1. Columbia’s four lakes in Howard County, MD, offer Pokémon Go players great game play in a pleasant, shaded setting that belies its urban location. Proximity to water also ensures you’ll catch plenty of magikarp as you collect what you need to evolve a gyarados. 2. Downtown Pittsburgh has hundreds […]
A Few More Sailor’s Creeks…
“….a few more Sailor’s Creeks and it will all be over.” — Confederate General Lee to President Jefferson Davis, April 6, 1865 The Sailors Creek Battles occurred after the fall of Richmond and Petersburg, on April 6 1865. Following the fall of Richmond and Petersburg, Gen. Robert E. Lee’s primary objective was to get his army […]
High Bridge Rail Trail
High Bridge Trail State Park in Southside Virginia is a rail trail converted from a railway line, last belonging to Norfolk Southern and having originated as a portion of the South Side Rail Road. Norfolk Southern’s last train crossed High Bridge on October 26, 2004. Just two years later, in December 2006, the company wonderfully […]
Out Door Adventure in Farmville, VA
Prince Edward County, VA is about an hour southwest of Richmond and about four hours from Washington, DC. In country referred to as “Southside” in Virginia (traditionally, the term Southside refers to the portion of Virginia east of the Blue Ridge Mountains and south of the James River), this rolling countryside is an ideal destination […]
Virginia Renaissance Faire
Looking for something a little different to do for Mother’s Day, we found ourselves headed to the Virginia Renaissance Faire, at the Lake Anna Winery in Spotsylvania. It’s cozier, more intimate than at least two of its cousins to the north: the Maryland Renaissance Festival, in Crownsville, and the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire at the Mount […]
Reaching for the Moon: the Story of Barbara Johns and Prince Edward County Public Schools
Photo of a photo displayed in the museum shows Farmvile in the 1950s. Each winter, school children celebrate snow days. But despite missing many days in a row, when the snow again begins to fall, school children again celebrate. But what if the schools simply closed and didn’t reopen? What if the “snow day” was […]
Six Mid-Atlantic Lighthouses You Need to See!
These are six of my favorite lighthouses in the Mid-Atlantic region — from a variety of locations, including the Atlantic Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, and Delaware Bay. During the summer months you can find boat tours of both the Chesapeake and Delaware bays that will take you to the various lighthouses; many lighthouses you can drive […]