Fredericksburg, VA is a fascinating place. George Washington’s family moved to the area in 1738 (Ferry Farm), when George was a six-year-old child. He spent most of his childhood there (until his early twenties) and his mother moved into the town itself in her later years. One of Washington’s closest friends, Hugh Mercer, owned an apothecary in Fredericksburg. We were able to see the apothecary, Washington’s brother’s tavern (The Rising Sun), Washington’s sister Betty’s plantation (Kenmore), his mother’s home and his mother’s grave. Both John Paul Jones and James Monroe also lived in Fredericksburg at some point in their lives.
Ferry Farm was the setting for the “cherry tree incident” — when little George was asked about what happened to a cherry tree on the property and answered with all honesty that he had chopped it down with his hatchet. Not sure if this really happened or if it is simply a legend. But the point of the story was to illustrate Washington’s character.
At the time of the Civil War, four battles were fought in and around the town — Fredericksburg, Chancelorsville, Spotsylvania Court House, and Wilderness. The battle that we concentrated on for this visit was the Battle of Fredericksburg, which took place in December of 1862. The Union, led by General Ambrose Burnside, crossed the Rappahannock River using pontoons, and raced across a field from the river to an area called Marye’s Heights, where the Confederates, led by General Robert E. Lee, were waiting for them behind a stone wall on the Sunken Road and up above on Marye’s Heights. The Union forces were essentially slaughtered with over 12,000 casualties.
We were able to walk along the Sunken Road and climb up to the Marye’s Heights area above. I managed to get a bullet from the Civil War era that had apparently hit something (or someone) as it was somewhat smushed from impact. There were so many bullets flying during the battles in the area that people still find them in the dirt of the battlefields from time to time. The bullet I got was one of those. It sits next to an intact bullet acquired in Charleston on the mantel of the fireplace in my family room — two small pieces of US history. The historic part of town is very well preserved (both Colonial and Civil War sites), so it feels like you are stepping back in time. I would definitely like to return and spend more time there.
Our next stop was Colonial Williamsburg, which was founded under the name of Middle Plantation in 1632. After Jamestown burned down, Williamsburg served as capital of the Colony of Virginia from 1699 to 1780. In the 1930s, John D. Rockefeller and Reverend Goodwin of Williamsburg, began buying and restoring or rebuilding the homes and other buildings that had been part of Colonial Williamsburg. The Capitol Building included the House of Burgesses, which was the first assembly of elected representatives in the colonies. Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and several members of the Lee and Randolph families served in the House of Burgesses. We spent a fair amount of the limited time we had on this trip in this building before having lunch at the King’s Arms Tavern, watching some Revolutionary War soldiers drill, checking out an Army camp, and making a brief visit to the Governor’s Palace. Fortunately that later trip that took me back to Philadelphia and Washington, DC also brought me back to Williamsburg with much more time to explore. This trip just scratched the surface.
It was fun watching and listening to the interpreters and actors. I have sometimes thought that relocating to one of those historic places like Williamsburg or Plimoth Plantation after retirement and getting a job as an interpreter or acting the part of someone historic might be fun.
After all the history of NYC, Philadelphia, DC, Fredericksburg and Williamsburg, we headed for Myrtle Beach. No history there. Just tropical weather, beaches, shopping and the Dixie Stampede.
It used to be that the tour directors of every tour I ever went on were convinced that all women on their tour wanted to spend their time on the tour shopping. They would even crack jokes about the women spending their man’s money. I have to say that Mom and I always found that a bit disgusting. We were on the trip to experience the history, art, architecture, culture, etc. of the place, not to shop. We could do that at home. Besides, long gone were the days when the “little woman” stayed home while the man was the sole bread winner. We were spending our own money, thank you very much.
Most of the time, when the tour coach dropped everyone off for some shopping, there were other things in the vicinity — something historic or picturesque or an old church or someplace to have some ice cream and people watch or someplace interesting to take a walk. But in Myrtle Beach, we were taken to a shopping complex called Barefoot Landing. This was in the middle of nowhere with nothing else around it. All of the shopping was pretty standard fare that we could get back home — nothing historic. So we wandered around from shop to shop, quite bored, until we finally gave up and went outside to hang out in the fresh air before getting back on the coach. This expedition was followed by a boat ride on the intra-coastal waterway. Much better. We both always liked taking boats rides on the water. I still do.
The hotel was right on the ocean with an ocean view from our room (see photo below). We were on the 14th floor and had a balcony. We opted for a nice walk along the beach, looking for interesting sea shells before dinner.
Dinner was at the Dixie Stampede. The food was American country picnic kind of food — fried chicken, ribs, corn on the cob, cornbread, and coleslaw. While eating, we were entertained by some trick horseback riding and patriotic displays. There weren’t many Americans in our tour group other than us. Most of the group was British or Australian. The patriotic bits were quite over-the-top. Then there was a big competition between the North and the South where the audience was divided depending upon where you were sitting. This was followed by an ostrich race.
From Myrtle Beach, we dove deeper into the South — visiting plantations, Charleston, Beaufort and Savannah. More about them next time.
