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Chantilly → Alexandria 66.6 mi (107.2 km) |
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I feel like a zombeaver, everyone!
Last night, I had a heck of a time getting into my AirBNB room in Chantilly, Virginia. The owner wasn’t there, and the key wasn’t where she said it would be! After calling and searching with no luck, I tried the door. It was unlocked!
So I had a short night, and now I am up again bright and early because I have an ambitious day ahead: four national parks before my flight home at 3:00! Let’s go!
My priority this morning was to see the morning mist at Manassas National Battlefield Park, site of the Battle of Bull Run, where locals brought picnic lunches to watch what they thought was going to be the quick defeat of the Southern rebels. It turned into one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War!
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I arrived just after sunrise. Dew covered the grass and the spiderwebs, and I could almost see the ghosts of the armed troops marching through the mist. Actually, one of those soldiers was real, at least more concrete than a ghost: the statue of General Stonewall Jackson on his horse, silhouetted in the morning light!
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There were still cannons mounted on the hill. Many of them had to be dragged into place by horses, so it was common practice to shoot the poor horses before they could drag the cannons into place!
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There was a farm house here too, where the Henry family suddenly found themselves in the middle of a war. Poor Grandma Henry got shot through the wall while she lay in bed!
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I kept walking over the wet grass, imagining the soldiers with their wet legs, some bloody. I could picture the Confederate forces marching toward me over the distant hill, and though the mist was rising, it left a chill in my bones to think about it!
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My last stop on this all-too brief visit to the battlefield was the Stone House! Originally a stop on the Warrenton Turnpike, after the railroad came through, owners Henry and Jane Matthews turned to farming. They, like many of their neighbors, had to watch helplessly as advancing armies destroyed their crops and commandeered their home as a refuge for the wounded, some of whose initials are still carved into the floor upstairs!
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As the sun rose higher over the battlefield, I was on the move, up through the winding backroads and country estates of Virginia to the Maryland border, where the waters of the Potomac roared through Great Falls Park!
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I started with a tranquil walk through the woods along the top of the falls. The path ran parallel to the old Potowmack Canal, brainchild of George Washington who wanted to make the Potomac River completely navigable as far as the Ohio River Valley! That meant installing a series of locks to raise boats up the eight feet from the bottom of the falls to the top!
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Unfortunately for our first president, unpredictable river conditions made passage here unreliable, and the Potowmack Company went bankrupt, to be replaced by the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal on the other side of the river!
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After taking a moment to absorb the stillness on top, I shuffled over to witness the roaring water below! There are three viewpoints of the Falls, each with its own unique perspective, and I was far from prepared for what I was about to see!
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The Falls were huge! I had such low expectations after visiting Yosemite that I gasped out loud when I stepped out and saw the roaring blue water blasting around the light gray rocks! For perspective, the two kayakers at the base of the Falls were nothing more than teeny, tiny specks against the monstrous rapids!
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I found a steep trail down to the water, and since I can’t resist a trail that advises me to exercise caution, I headed right down!
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From river level, the falls didn’t look quite so tall, but the water was still such a beautiful blue! I had to dip my toes in one of the pools, wonderful on such a hot day! From here, I was able to spot an observation deck on the other side, and I realized that was my next destination!
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When the Potowmack Company failed on the Virginia side of the river, the Chesapeake & Ohio Company took over on the Maryland side. Led by Charles Fenton Mercer, from 1828 until 1833, this Canal had a very similar goal: to open up the nation’s interior to sea trade.
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184.5 miles later, the canal stretched all the way to Cumberland, Maryland! Coal, lumber, and produce passed to the coast by boat for a hundred years until the railroad came through and made the canal obsolete!
The canal’s many historic locks are still working today! These locks would open and close, fill and drain of water so that boats changing elevation could move up and downstream more easily. At each lock lived a lock keeper, who facilitated this process!
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One such lock keeper, W.W. Fenlon, realized he was in a great location and talked the members of the Canal Company board into turning his lockhouse into an inn! In 1831, the Great Falls Tavern opened for business, giving travelers the option to stay a while, out of the bustle of city life, to dance, fish, or just enjoy the might of the falls a short walk away!
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Today, visitors can still travel a way down the canal by boat, pulled by mules! Why mules? Well, before the Fulton wheel became widespread, the best way to drag a boat upriver was to have it pulled by mules on the shore! They were hardy and sure-footed, and they could live on the boat as it drifted downriver! I didn’t get to meet any mules this time, but if I ever come back, it would be neat to take a ride!
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My flight time was drawing ever so slightly nearer, so I had to keep moving, making a brief pit stop at Glen Echo Park, part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
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Glen Echo Park started as a European-style subdivision just far enough from the capital to be quiet. It was later used as a Chautauqua venue, where folks could learn from traveling scholars for an entire summer, though that got closed down after a malaria scare. Now, it is America’s only national amusement park!
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In 1960, this was also the site of a carousel-in by local civil rights activists! 24 students rushed the carousel and refused to leave until the park was de-segregated, and after months of what would in another situation be described as “having fun,” they succeeded! The park de-segregated after Robert Kennedy gave the park the ultimatum to either do so or lose funding for the electric trolley that brought people to the park!
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By now, I really had to hustle, but I did want to make one quick stop for 20 minutes: the White House!
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I’m going to come back here some day for a more in-depth visit, but I wanted to see it while President Obama was inside. I wasn’t able to get too close, because someone had jumped the fence last Friday and police were keeping visitors from getting within 400 feet of the fence! Well, that gave me just enough time to wave and hurry back to the airport for the close of yet another whirlwind adventure!
See you in the west!
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Total Ground Covered: 244.8 mi (394.0 km) |
More 2014 Adventures |