Washington & Lee University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1749 in Lexington. It is the ninth oldest college in America. The school was originally named Augusta Academy and later renamed Liberty Hall Academy, the struggling school was given a large gift of stock in 1796 by George Washington and was renamed after him. In 1865, shortly after his April 9 surrender to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Union Armies, former Confederate States Army General-in-Chief Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) served as president of the college for five years until his death in 1870, when the college was thereafter renamed the “Washington and Lee University”. In 2014, a large Confederate battle flag and a number of related state flags were removed from Lee Chapel, after a group of black students protested that the school was unwelcoming to minorities. Some students, faculty, and alumni have advocated that the university disassociate itself from Lee, including advocating a change of name.
The George Washington Birthplace National Monument is a national monument in Westmoreland County, Virginia. This site was developed in the mid-17th century as a colonial tobacco plantation by Englishman John Washington. A member of the assembly, he was a great-grandfather of George Washington, general and the first United States president. George Washington was born in a house on this site on February 22, 1732. He lived here until age three, returning later to live here as a teenager. Before the 20th century, the original house was lost, archeological digs established the site of the original house and the foundations are marked. A reconstructed colonial era planters house has been built near the original location. There is a working farm on the site.
Thirty-two graves of Washington family members have been found at the Bridges Creek cemetery plot, including George’s half-brother, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.
During forays from the fledgling Jamestown colony between 1607 and 1609, Captain John Smith explored much of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in a small boat with a handful of men. He was the first European to set foot in what is now Fredericksburg. The town was established in 1727.
The famous Kirkland Monument is for a Confederate soldier Richard Rowland Kirkland who braved the battlefield to give wounded soldiers water at the risk of his own life.
Chancellorsville was a bold gamble by Robert E. Lee, dividing his forces and sending Stonewall Jackson on a flanking attack, which took the enemy totally by surprise, causing the Union commander General Joseph Hooker to lose his nerve and call retreat.
The wilderness was Robert E. Lee’s first battle against Grant, whose advantage in artillery could not be used in the dense forest. Casualties were high on both sides, and the battle is classed as a draw. Grant withdrew, but only in order to force another battle in more open country.
Spotsylvania was a key crossroads which Grant hoped to occupy, to keep his army between Lee and the Confederate capital Richmond. Lee was able to take this position just ahead of Grant. Heavy rain had dampened the gunpowder, leading to intense hand-to-hand fighting.
Sometimes when bad things happen you can turn them into experiences of a lifetime. I was relatively young when the plant I was working at as Quality Supervisor shut its doors after over 100 years of operation. I took my severance package and seeing that I was not tied down to returning at a given time I packed up the van and headed to Alaska from my home in New England. I took my elderly parents with me since they had both recently retired paying them back for all of the family trips they took us kids on when we were young. We headed north up through Vermont passing over the border to Montreal. You can click the links for more in depth posts on each attraction. In Quebec we picked up the Trans Canada Highway and headed west averaging 600 miles per day.
Into Alaska and the end of the Alaska Highway at Delta Junction and then on our way to Tok where a meal of caribou sausage and salmon chowder in a bread bowl was our welcome to the state.
Instead of repeating the route south along the Alaska Highway we took the Cassiar Highway south. We passed by Bear Glacier and made our way to the charming communities of Stewart, British Columbia and Hyder Alaska.
Badlands National Park was next on the agenda. This again was one of my mother’s favorite parks as it was a setting of many of her historical fiction novels she liked to read.
A visit to my aunt and uncle in Cohoes, New York and then home. It was good to see New England and home after many months on the road but the memories of the trip will last a life time. My parents would both pass in a few years and I was glad I could give them this trip in their final years.
