Washington DC for the day

This morning we were going to do the National Mall Monuments, but the closer I looked at that book, the more I realized that we would have to do this over a few days and it involved a lot of walking!

Instead we went to the Frederick Douglass home.
We got there early since the first tour was at 9, the exact time they open and reservations were strongly suggested but you have to make them a day in advance. Well, we did not.
While we were waiting we met another couple  trying to get tickets too.   They were very impressed with Lon.
When we got to the ticket desk,  the very nice ranger said she could only take two more on the tour. I looked at the guys and said, we can do something else you were here first. They said, oh no!  You guys are going! I could not live with the guilt of denying your son another badge!  They were very nice guys.  Thank you whomever you are!

Cedar Hill.

History Bit about the house:

Construction of the House
• The house was built between 1855 and 1859 for John Welsh Van Hook, an architect from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The house consisted of between 6 to 14 rooms.
• In 1854, Van Hook partnered with John Fox and John Dobler and formed the Union Land Association, whose offices were in the Van Hook home. These developers purchased 100 acres of farmland to form a new subdivision called Uniontown (today Anacostia).
Frederick Douglass at Cedar Hill
• On September 1, 1877, Douglass paid $6,700 to the Freedmen’s Savings and Trust company for the home and 9 and ¾ acres of land.
• Douglass purchased an additional 5 and ¾ acres of land from Ella R. Talburtt in 1878.
• Douglass moved into the home with his first wife, Anna Murray Douglass, during the fall of 1878.
• Following the death of Anna in 1882, Douglass married Helen Pitts in 1884 and resided with her at Cedar Hill until his death on February 20, 1895.
• Douglass made a series of additions to the house, dating from 1877 to 1893. By the time of his death, the home was converted into a 21-room mansion.
• The improvements most likely made between 1877 and 1878 included the construction of a two-story, wood-framed addition at the rear of the house. The original kitchen was converted into a dining room and a new kitchen was added to the south wing. Upstairs a partition which divided two rooms on the west side of the house was removed and replaced by two walls to create three smaller bedrooms. Finally, during this period, the attic was finished to create five additional rooms.
• Other additions were made to the home throughout the years and included the building of a new library around 1886 and the addition of a second-story bedroom between 1892 and 1893.

You can see the Washington Monument from the front grounds.  Frederick Douglass was able to watch the construction of it and enjoy the view during the last years of his life.

History Bit On Mr. Douglass:

Frederick Douglass was born on a plantation on the Eastern Shore of Maryland around 1818. He died 77 years later in his home at Cedar Hill, high above Washington, DC. In his journey from captive slave to internationally renowned activist, Douglass changed how Americans thought about race, slavery, and American democracy. Since the early 1800s Douglass' life has been a source of inspiration and hope for millions. He has also been an ever present challenge, demanding that American citizens live up to their highest ideals and make the United States a land of liberty and equality for all.

Slavery and Escape

Douglass began his life on a plantation belonging to Edward Lloyd in February, 1818. He was named Frederick Bailey after his mother (Harriett Bailey), though he only met her three or four times in his life. Around the age of eight he was sent to live with one of his owner's relatives in Baltimore, Maryland. It was while living in Baltimore that he was mistakenly taught the first several letters of the alphabet. Those few letters opened a new world to him and began his lifelong love of language.

At fifteen, the now literate Douglass was returned to the Eastern shore to work as a field hand. Here the increasingly independent teenager educated other slaves, resisted efforts to beat him, and planned a failed escape attempt.

Three years later, on September 3, 1838, Douglass disguised himself as a sailor, and carrying a friend's passport, boarded a northbound train from Baltimore.He arrived in New York City and declared himself a free man.

Abolition Work

After escaping from slavery Douglass changed his name to avoid being recaptured and turned his efforts to helping those still held in bondage. Douglass travelled around Massachusetts speaking about his experiences with slavery and the need to destroy it.One of the most prominent abolitionists in America, William Lloyd Garrison heard Douglass and invited him to join the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. Douglass was soon touring across the North speaking against slavery and becoming one of the country's finest orators.

Douglass was such an impressive speaker and he broke so many of his audiences' preconceptions that some people began to doubt he was truly a fugitive slave.To prove them wrong Douglass wrote his first autobiography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845), in which he revealed his original name, his owner's names, and where he was born. The book was wildly popular, but with his identity known Douglass was in danger of being returned to slavery. Once again he had to flee, this time to England, Scotland, and Ireland.

While in the British Isles Douglass continued speaking against slavery. British supporters were so impressed with Douglass that they purchased his freedom. After more than two years abroad Douglass was able to return to the United States a legally free man. He settled in Rochester New York, a hotbed of the abolitionist and women's rights movements. Using additional money raised in Britain, Douglass bought a printing press and began publishing The North Star newspaper. He now proudly referred to himself as "Mr. Editor."

Civil War

In 1861 tensions over slavery erupted into civil war. Douglass welcomed the conflict as the cataclysmic event needed to wipe slavery from America. As always, he acted as the nation's conscience, arguing that the war was about more than union and state's rights. It was, he said, about a new birth of freedom, a great step towards the nation promised in the Declaration of Independence.

Douglass knew that this new freedom had to be won both on and off the battlefield. Though he was too old to serve in battle, himself he recruited other African Americans to fight in the Union Army, including two of his sons, who served with the famous 54th Massachusetts. Away from the fighting Douglass continued to write and speak against slavery, arguing for a higher purpose to the war. He met with Abraham Lincoln to advocate for African American troops and to encourage Lincoln to see the war as a chance to transform the country into a more perfect nation. Douglass' influence was crucial to Lincoln's evolution as a thinker over the course of the war. This influence can be seen in the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln's second inaugural speech.

Post Civil War

Following the end of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery new possibilities opened up for Douglass. He moved from Rochester to Washington, D.C., eventually buying the home at Cedar Hill. During this time he served as the U.S. Marshall for the District of Columbia, the District's Registrar of Deeds, and the U.S. Minister to Haiti and Charge d'Affairs to the Dominican Republic. Despite his victories and successes, Douglass still had many battles to fight. African Americans hold on their newly won civil rights remained tenuous and women were still not allowed to vote. He continued to work to expand civil rights in the country until his death in 1895.

taking a peak into the formal parlor.
The air conditioning was out in the house.  By the afternoon, it was going to be very hot inside that house. The windows no longer open.

The second Mrs. Douglass's bedroom.  The ladies and gentlemen did not sleep in the same rooms.  It was explained that wealthier couples did not sleep in the same rooms.

The house is beautiful. The porch ceiling is haint blue. Just as it should be.

working on the Jr Ranger badge on one of the 85 stairs leading to the house.

The Ranger was wonderful. She gave Lon his badge.  Then she also gave him another booklet that he could fill out and turn in at Harper's Ferry for the Underground Railroad badge!

Frederick Douglass's death mask.
They made a casting of his hand also, the hand that wrote those words

Drive by DC

lunch with the cuz!

Lon calls this the evil picture. If you look closely you can see the Washington Monument coming out of the top of his head like a horn.  hehehehee

We sort of got lost on our way to Arlington House, and ended up at the Air Force Memorial.  It was worth it for that picture.

Inside Arlington House. The dishes are inherited from the Washingtons, Yes, those Washingtons, George and Martha. Martha Custiss Washington was Mrs. Lee's great grandmother.
The gown was not hers, but something she would have worn.  I liked the colors

History Bit  about the House Construction:

The mansion was built on the orders of George Washington Parke Custis, the step-grandson and adopted son of George Washington and only grandson of Martha Custis Washington. Custis was a prominent resident of what was then known as Alexandria County, at the time a part of the District of Columbia
Arlington House was built at a high point on an 1,100 acre (445 ha) estate that Custis' father, John Parke Custis, had purchased in 1778. ("Jacky" Custis died in 1781 at Yorktown after the British surrender.) George Washington Parke Custis decided to build his home on the property in 1802, following the death of Martha Washington and three years after the death of George Washington. Custis originally wanted to name the property "Mount Washington", but was persuaded by family members to name it "Arlington House" after the Custis family's homestead on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
George Hadfield, an English architect who also worked on the design of the United States Capitol, designed the mansion. Construction began eleven years after L'Enfant's Plan for the future "Federal City" (later called "Washington City", then Washington D.C.) had designated an area directly across the Potomac River to be the site of the "President's House" (later called the "Executive Mansion", now the White House) and the "Congress House" (now the United States Capitol).
The north and south wings were completed in 1804. The large center section and the portico, presenting an imposing front 140 ft (43 m) long, were finished 13 years later. The house has two kitchens, a summer and a winter. The most prominent features of the house are the 8 massive columns of the portico, each 5 feet (1.5 m) in diameter.
Custis was a prominent resident of the jurisdiction that was then named Alexandria County and is now named Arlington County. Guests at the house included such notable people as Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, who visited in 1824 (see: Visit of the Marquis de Lafayette to the United States). At Arlington, Custis experimented with new methods of animal husbandry and other agriculture. The property also included Arlington Spring, a picnic ground on the banks of the Potomac that Custis originally built for private use but later opened to the public, eventually operating it as a commercial enterprise.
Custis married Mary Lee Fitzhugh. Their only child to survive to adulthood was Mary Anna Randolph Custis. Robert E. Lee, whose mother was a cousin of Mrs. Custis, frequently visited Arlington and knew Mary Anna as they grew up. Two years after graduating from West Point, Lieutenant Lee married Mary Anna Custis at Arlington on June 30, 1831. For 30 years Arlington House was home to the Lees. They spent much of their married life traveling between U.S. Army duty stations and Arlington, where six of their seven children were born. They shared this home with Mary's parents. After their deaths, Mary's parents were buried not far from the house on land that is now part of Arlington National Cemetery.
The Custises extensively developed the Arlington estate. Much of the steep slope to the east of the house became a cultivated English landscape park, while a large flower garden with an arbor was constructed and planted south of the house. To the west of Arlington House, tall grass and low native plants led down a slope into a natural area of close-growing trees the Custises called "the Grove” About 60 feet (18 m) to the west of the flower garden, "the Grove" contained tall elm and oak trees which formed a canopy. An informal flower garden was planted beneath the trees and maintained by the Custis daughters. It is not clear when "the Grove" began to be developed, but it was under way by at least 1853.
Upon George Washington Parke Custis' death in 1857, he left the Arlington estate to Mary Custis Lee for her lifetime and thence to the Lees' eldest son, George Washington Custis Lee. The estate needed much repair and reorganization, and Robert E. Lee, as executor of Custis' will, took a three-year leave of absence from the Army to begin the necessary agricultural and financial improvements. The will also required the executor to free the slaves on the estate within five years of Custis' death. Robert E. Lee fulfilled this requirement by manumitting the slaves in December 1862.

Lon is checking out his book.  I am not going to go up the stairs at the house.
The people at Arlington Cemetery were not very helpful in getting to Arlington House.  A few were downright rude about it.  It is a very long way up a steep hill. We barely made it in time for Lon to explore the house. Sadly, they were out of Jr. Ranger Badges, but the ranger promised that we would be mailed one as soon as they came in, and she would send the trading cards too since they were out of them too.

I think this is one of the children's rooms

The house has not been retrofitted with air conditioning, so the fans were relief for Lon. It was 96 degrees.

The rooms are beautiful upstairs!

The view from the front porch of Arlington House.
History Bit about the house during the Civil War:

In April 1861, Virginia seceded from the United States. Robert E. Lee resigned his commission in the United States Army on April 20, 1861, and joined the military forces of the Confederate States of America. With Arlington House on high ground overlooking the capital, the government of the United States knew it must occupy the mansion or be left in an untenable military position.  Although unwilling to leave Arlington House, Mary Lee believed her estate would soon be infested with federal soldiers and left to stay with relatives on May 14.  Union troops occupied Arlington without opposition on May 24.
In June 1862, the U.S. Congress enacted legislation which imposed a property tax on all land in "insurrectionary" areas of the United States The 1863 amendments to the statute required these taxes to be paid in person.[15][18] But Mary Lee, afflicted with severe rheumatoid arthritis and behind Confederate lines, could not pay the tax in person.  The Arlington estate was seized for nonpayment of taxes. It was auctioned off on January 11, 1864, and the U.S. government won the property for $26,800 ($412,895 in 2015 dollars.
During the war, Union troops cut down many of the trees on the Arlington estate, especially those to the north and east of Arlington House in and near Fort Whipple (north of the house) and Arlington Springs (near the Potomac River). However, a number of large trees remained, particularly those in a forested area (now known as Arlington Woods) west of the house.
By early 1864, the military cemeteries of Washington, D.C., and Alexandria, Virginia, were rapidly filling with war dead. Quartermaster General of the United States Army Montgomery C. Meigs proposed using 200 acres (81 ha) of the Arlington estate as a cemetery. United States Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton approved the establishment of a military cemetery on June 15, 1864, creating Arlington National Cemetery.  Meigs believed Lee committed treason in deciding to fight against the Union,  and denying Lee use of the mansion after the war was politically advantageous.  Meigs decided that a large number of burials should occur close to Arlington House to render it unlivable. Officers were to be buried next to the main flower garden south of the house, and the first burial occurred here on May 17. Meigs ordered that additional burials commence immediately on the grounds of Arlington House in mid-June. When Union officers bivouacked in the mansion complained and had the burials temporarily stopped, Meigs countermanded their orders and had another 44 dead officers buried along the southern and eastern sides of the main flower garden within a month.

In September 1866, a memorial and a burial vault containing the remains of 2,111 Union and Confederate soldiers who died at the First Battle of Bull Run, Second Battle of Bull Run, and along the Rappahannock River were buried on the former site of "the Grove" southeast of the mansion beneath the Civil War Unknowns Monument.

Squirrel. The squirrel was the symbol of Henry Lighthorse Lee. Robert E. Lee's father.

squirrel taking off

The front porch of Arlington House

History Bit about the house after the Civil War:

Robert E. Lee made no attempt to visit or restore his title to Arlington before his death in 1870. Mary Lee died in 1873, having visited to the house only once, a few months before her death. (Too upset at its condition, she refused to enter and left after just a few moments)
In April 1874, Robert E. Lee's eldest son, George Washington Custis Lee, filed suit against the United States government in a Virginia circuit court to regain his property. A jury found in favor of Lee, leading to extensive appeals by both parties. In 1882, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of Lee in United States v. Lee, 106 U. S. 196. The court, by a 5-4 majority, found that the estate had been "illegally confiscated" in 1864 and ordered it returne. But Lee was less interested in obtaining the estate than he was in just compensation for it. After several months of difficult negotiations, Lee and the federal government settled on a sale price of $150,000 ($3,796,607 in 2015 dollars.] Congress enacted legislation funding the purchase on March 3, 1883; Lee signed over the title on March 31; and the title transfer was recorded on May 14, 1883.
In 1920, the Virginia General Assembly changed the name of Alexandria County to Arlington County to end ongoing confusion between Alexandria County and the independent city of Alexandria. The name, Arlington, was chosen to reflect the presence of the Arlington estate.
In 1925, the War Department began to restore Arlington House, and the Department of the Army continues to manage over half of the original plantation's 1,100 acres, as Arlington National Cemetery. On March 4, 1925, Congress passed legislation (Public Resolution – NO. 74) that authorized the restoration of the Lee Mansion in the Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia. However, for several years after the 1925 legislation was passed, when the War Department was responsible for managing the house and grounds, the enabling legislation was largely ignored. In direct violation of the enabling legislation, the War Department, largely at the insistence of Commission of Fine Arts director Charles Moore, decided to furnish and interpret to “the first half of the republic.” This decision was based, in part, on the popularity of the Colonial Revival movement which was still popular in 1925. The Mansion was restored to the period of George Washington Custis, and no furniture manufactured after 1830 was accepted. This approach utterly negated Lee’s role and presence at Arlington.

In 1955, Congress passed Public Law 107 officially designating Arlington House as a permanent Memorial to Robert E. Lee and ensuring that the correct interpretation of its history would be applied. Gradually the house was furnished and interpreted to the period of Robert E. Lee as specified in the original legislation.
The National Park Service received jurisdiction over the building and some 28 acres of adjacent gardens (distinguished from the cemetery) beginning in 1933

The view is so amazing

Robert E Lee was a very dashing man.
This was at the little museum behind the house. It was air conditioned. They also had a kitchen garden there.

We did not see this sign as we went straight up the hill and not up the stair case when we came into the house grounds.

One of the gates of Arlington National Cemetery. I did not take photos of the graves, it seemed a little morbid to me. I did not buy Lon any souvenirs from the Cemetery for that reason.

We did see John F Kennedy's gave.

See the house, way way up there? THAT is where we walked up to.  I bought my self a walking stick badge. I earned that one!

We were not even to the visitor's center! Our car was still about a quarter mile away.

At the Visitor's Center for Arlington National Cemetery.

After dinner we treated ourselves with Carl's ice cream!   Lon was so happy to have Carl's ice cream across the Rappahanock!

As we pulled into Grandma's neighborhood, this little guy was there to greet us!

It was a good day. Tomorrow, we are off on another adventure!

Three Wars

Today was the first day of summer vacation. We are going to make the best of it !

Pulling out of the driveway. We are on out way!

We missed our exit in Walterboro, and we had to turn around. It was worth it to see these gate guards!
 We were soon on our way north on I-95!

Rest stop !

The Santee Cooper area

The weather got better. This is either just into North Carolina, or very close.

We turned off 95 in Florence and took some small roads that were much slower than I planned.

North Carolina purple median flowers

Followed by North Carolina red median flowers

It was nice to see that even if it was only a short time

Guilford Courthouse!  This is a revolutionary war site. It was not super well marked, so we missed the turn, but we got there!

History Bit:

On March 15, 1781. the largest, most hotly-contested battle of the Revolutionary War's Southern Campaign was fought at the small North Carolina backcounty hamlet of Guilford Courthouse.

Major General Nathanael Greene, defending the ground at Guilford Courthouse with an army of almost 4,500 American militia and Continentals, was tactically defeated by a smaller British army of about 1,900 veteran regulars and German allies commanded by Lord Charles Cornwallis. After 2 1/2 hours of intense and often brutal fighting, Cornwallis forced his opponent to withdraw from the field. Greene's retreat preserved the strength of his army, but Cornwallis's frail victory was won at the cost of over 25% of his army.

Guilford Courthouse proved to be the highwater mark of British military operations in the Revolutionary War. Weakened in his campaign against Greene, Cornwallis abandoned the Carolinas hoping for success in Virginia. At Yorktown, seven months after his victory at Guilford Courthouse, Lord Cornwallis would surrender to the combined American and French forces under General George Washington

Working hard on his Jr. Ranger Badge # 54

The museum is really cool

The shadows in the woods

Getting sworn in for Badge # 54

Back on Highway 220. This will lead us to our next stop!

Booker T. Washington National Historic Site.
This is where he was born and freed.  After he was freed, at age 9, he never returned.

He worked very hard for his education. Then, at the Tuskeegee Institute in Alabama, he taught others,and helped build the school from the ground up.

One of Booker T Washington's jobs as a young enslaved person was to fan the family at their meals to keep the flies away.

The house is no longer there. Some of the other buildings are.

I will be adding history bits later on, I just want to get this in before I forget all we did today!

Lon walked over to the fence and said hi. The pony's head popped up so fast!

He liked Lon talking to him

Inside the replica slave cabin.  For the three children and their mother it was so small!

Getting his Jr. Ranger Badge!

Number 55!

Now for a History Bit: It's LONG!

"Freedom cannot be given; it must be purchased."
Booker T. Washington was born in April 1856, during a time when the United States of America was trying to work towards a solution dealing with slavery. Since the beginning, the colonies and most of the territories that became the United States had developed by agrarian economics utilizing slave labor. By the early 1800's, factories had become the major economic system of the Northern States while the Southern States remained agrarian. As slavery ceased to exist in the most Northern States, abolitionists began to demonstrate and influence state governments pushing toward the emancipation and sometimes the relocation of former slaves and descendents. There are many events that helped to shape people's opinions of the institution of slavery.
Mid-19th Century Slavery in Piedmont Virginia
James and Elizabeth Burroughs moved to Franklin County, Virginia in 1850. They brought slaves with them to work on the farm and one of those slaves was Jane. Jane gave birth to Booker in April 1856. He was one of three children that Jane had while living on the Burroughs plantation and he would later be known as Dr. Booker T. Washington. It is unknown if Jane had given birth to more children that may have been sold.
Booker T. Washington wrote in his autobiography, Up From Slavery, about his birth and nine years living as an enslaved person on the Burroughs plantation, a tobacco plantation in piedmont Virginia. "I was born in a typical log cabin, about fourteen by sixteen feet square. In this cabin I lived with my mother and a brother and sister till after the Civil War, when we were all declared free. Of my ancestry, I know almost nothing....the cabin was not only our living-place, but was used as the kitchen for the plantation. My mother was the plantation cook. The cabin was without glass windows; it had only openings in the side which let in the light, and also the cold, chilly air of winter…there was no wooden floor in our cabin, the naked earth being used as a floor." He described never sleeping in a bed but just on "a bundle of rags."
Washington described the early years of his life as being "not very different from those of thousands of other slaves." He had the desire to get an education but was not allowed to go to school, although he was expected to carry the books to school for Laura Burroughs, one of the owner's daughters who was a teacher. He remembered wearing a flax shirt that was very painful to wear when it was new because it felt like "a dozen or more chestnut burrs or a hundred small pin-points coming into contact with his flesh."
Burroughs Family Involvement in The Civil War
Following the election of Abraham Lincoln in November of 1860, South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union, passing an ordinance of secession on December 20, 1860. By April 12, 1861, the Civil War began when shots were fired at Fort Sumter. During April and May, four more states seceded including Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia.
Five of the Burroughs sons fought in the American Civil War.
Joseph Nicholas "Jess" Burroughs (1825-1899) enlisted April 24, 1861 with Company B14th Virginia Infantry, Fancy Grove, Bedford County, VA. His residence in Virginia in 1860 and 1865 was listed as Bedford County, Virginia.
James Benjamin "Ben" Burroughs (1825-1894) was listed as having occupation of a tanner. He enlisted with the Franklin Rangers on March 15, 1862 and was wounded during Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He was captured then paroled. His residence in 1860 was listed as Nicholas County, Virginia (now West Virginia). His residence in 1865 was listed as Franklin County, Virginia.
Edwin Newton "Newt" Burroughs (1844-1922) enlisted August 1, 1862 with the Franklin Rangers (Company D, 2nd Virginia Calvary) commanded by Giles William Bruce Hale. Newt served with the Halesford slave patrol on the south side of Rocky Mount turnpike for all of 1861 and remained at home until his enlistment. Newt was wounded in the thigh at the Battle of St. Mary's Church (called Nance's Shop in the south) on June 24, 1864. The family recalled that "Uncle Newt got shot in the rump, and he was teased a lot for it. People said he must have been running away and he said 'well, if you have bullets whizzing all around you, you'd run too." At the end of the war in 1865, Newt was living at his parent's home. By 1870, Newt was working as a farm laborer in Bedford County.
Thomas Robertson Burroughs (1827-1902) enlisted March 15, 1862 in the Franklin Rangers. His residence in 1860 was listed as living in Bedford County, Virginia. His occupation was listed as a (slave) trader living in Canton, Madison County, Mississippi with his wife Julia D. Burroughs and younger brother Billy in the household of wealthy planter John Briscoe. His residence in 1865 was Bedford County, Virginia.
James William "Billy" Burroughs (1835-1863) enlisted in the Franklin Rangers on May 20, 1861. He died in the Battle of Kelly's Ford, Culpeper, Virginia on March 7, 1863. His residence in 1860 was in Canton, Madison County, Mississippi with is older brother Tom and sister-in-law Julia D. Burroughs in the household of wealthy planter John Briscoe. His occupation was (slave) agent with $4000 in his personal estate.
Christopher "C.F." Frank Burroughs (1838-1865) joined with Billy at the first muster of Franklin Rangers on May 20, 1861. After discharge in October 1861, Frank reenlisted in the Franklin Rangers. He was captured at Gettysburg and died of dysentery in captivity at Hilton Head, South Carolina on November 11, 1864.
(Five of the Burroughs sons fought in Gettysburg and Ben and Frank were wounded and captured there.)
On the home front, life was tough for all. Mrs. Burroughs found herself managing a plantation with approximately 10 slaves during the war and no husband to help manage the farm. As the war went on, blockades affected the Burroughs family from getting foods they were used to such as coffee. Booker T. Washington wrote that the Burroughs were using parched corn to make coffee out of. Washington wrote that it was easier on the slaves during the war because they weren't used to the luxury items that the owners had become accustomed to purchasing from the northern states.
Emancipation
Booker T. Washington described in Up From Slavery the moment when he and his family found out they were free at the end of the Civil War. "Finally the war closed, and the day of freedom came. It was a momentous and eventful day to all upon our plantation." Washington remembered a stranger who came to the plantation and read a speech that he said he thought was the Emancipation Proclamation. "After the reading we were all free, and could go when and where we pleased. My mother, who was standing by my side leaned over and kissed her children, while tears of joy ran down her cheeks." She explained what it all meant to them. This was the "moment she had been praying for."
Washington wrote "For some minutes there was great rejoicing, and thanksgiving and wild scenes of ecstasy." This feeling lasted for only a brief period and then there was some change in feelings upon return to their cabins. "The great responsibility of being free, of having charge of themselves, of having to think and plan for themselves and their children, seemed to take possession of them…These are the questions of a home, a living the rearing of children, education, citizenship, and the establishment and support of churches."
Conclusion
The Civil War affected millions of people, both free and enslaved. The end of the war created an opportunity for those who had previously been in bondage to do things they had always wanted to do. For Booker T. Washington, his desire was to get an education. Dr. Booker T. Washington would have never have had the opportunity to become a noted educator, orator, author or advisor to U.S. presidents if the Civil War had not freed four million slaves. He could have still been the property of someone else and might never have been allowed to gain an education. Washington's philosophy was to provide opportunities for African Americans who had been enslaved to now gain an education. He was described as a man who "lifted the veil of ignorance" from his people by being a guiding force behind Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, today Tuskegee University, and becoming the first principal there. Approximately, 620,000 human lives came at the cost of that freedom.
Booker T. Washington National Monument is a place where people visit and come to remember and reflect on this time in American history. The park's interpretive goals are described in the Park's interpretive plans and include the following: To preserve and protect the birthsite of Booker T. Washington, its cultural landscape and viewshed; To memorialize and interpret Booker T. Washington's life, historical contributions, accomplishments, and significant role in American history;To provide a focal point for continuing discussions about the legacy of Booker T. Washington and the evolving context of race in American society; and to provide a resource to educate the public on the life and achievements of Booker T. Washington.
Booker T. Washington wrote that "No race or people ever got upon its feet without severe and constant struggle, often in the face of the greatest discouragement." This national park continues to provide programs and special events that focus on Booker T. Washington's life and legacy.

We passed a sign that said National D Day Memorial. It was 4:30 and we knew it would probably going to close at 5, but we just thought it would be cool to take a quick look.

It is located in Bedford, Virginia, which proportionally lost more service members than any other place in America.  Wow.

The large center circle

Looking down. The water would randomly explode to simulate shots being fired.

The arch.  Lon did not know why it said Overlord so I told him about it. That was the name of the secret plan to storm the beaches of France.

We learned about the different countries that participated in D-Day.

History Bit:

The National D-Day Memorial is located in Bedford, Virginia — the community suffering the highest per capita D-Day losses in the nation. The Memorial honors the Allied forces that participated in the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944 during World War II. With its stylized English Garden, haunting invasion tableau, and striking Victory Plaza, the Memorial stands as a powerful permanent tribute to the valor, fidelity, and sacrifice of D-Day participants.  The Memorial is encompassed by the names of the 4,413 Allied soldiers who died in the invasion, the most complete list of its kind anywhere in the world.

Visitors can expect both an educational experience as well as an emotional one, as they walk the grounds at the Memorial and leave with a clear understanding of the scale and sacrifices made during the largest amphibious landing the world has ever seen. On June 6, 1944, 150,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 ships and 11,000 aircraft supported the invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in France. The D-Day cost was high with more than 9,000 Allied soldiers killed or wounded as the march across Europe to defeat Hitler began.

Back on the road to Richmond.

Lon is a great navigator! He can really read a map well. I had planned on taking 460 to Petersburg then 95 my mom's house.
Lon said, Mom, we can take 307 to 360 and it is shorter, it goes straight into Richmond. This cut significant time off the last leg of our drive!  I am very proud of him.
Another Big Day tomorrow, but not as long as today!