Places visited near Washington DC: Mt. Vernon & Alexandria, VA; Fredericksburg, VA; Baltimore, MD; Frederick, MD

May 27 - June 11, 2022

By Marty

During our time in College Park, MD we ventured out from Washington DC proper to explore a few nearby areas.

Fredericksburg, VA is an hour south of Washington, DC and an hour north of Richmond, VA, the Confederate capital. As a result of it's location on the banks of the Rappahannock River, Fredericksburg was highly prized by both sides and the site of a resounding Confederate victory in early December, 1862.

A diorama in the Visitor's Center

Sergeant Richard Kirkland, the "Angel of Marye's Heights"

The Confederates held the high ground above Fredericksburg from which they repulsed repeated Union charges. The resulting Confederate victory left the fields around Fredericksburg blanketed with Union dead and wounded. 

From the NPS:

"For two days following the battle, wounded Union soldiers, caught between the lines, cried out for water. Though exposure to enemy fire even for a moment meant almost certain death, Sergeant Richard Kirkland of the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers tried to help.

Filling several canteens with water, the young Confederate stepped over the stone wall to care for his wounded enemies. When Union soldiers understood Kirkland's purpose, they ceased firing at him. For nearly two hours he continued his ministrations. Kirkland died in battle at Chickamauga, Georgia, in September, 1863." 

 

Fredericksburg National Cemetery

My visit to the battlefield was on Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend. While visiting I observed dozens of Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and adult volunteers placing a luminaria at each of the grave sites. A total of 15,300 candles were to be lit that evening to honor those who have given their lives for their country. This is the 27th annual Memorial Luminaria. What an honorable feat it is to place all of those candles, come back in the evening to light them, and then remove them the next day. We weren't able to make it back in the evening to observe the lighting, but I have no doubt it was an amazing sight to behold.

The Chatham House sits on the north side of the Rappahannock River overlooking Fredericksburg. The home served as the Union headquarters and a hospital during and after the engagement.

Fredericksburg from Chatham House

11 miles west of Fredericksburg is the Chancellorsville Battlefield National Historic Park. The Chancellorsville battle occurred between April 27 - May, 6, 1863, almost six months after Fredericksburg. It was the first major engagement between the two armies after the winter hiatus.

From NPS:

 

"At Chancellorsville Robert E. Lee won his greatest victory, but lost his legendary subordinate General Stonewall Jackson.

On May 2nd Jackson marched 12 miles around the superior forces of the Union army and destroyed General Hooker's right wing in a celebrated surprise attack. In the confusion after dark, Jackson was accidentally shot by his own troops. Stonewall Jackson died on May 10th of pneumonia as a result of his wounds. 

The Union army eventually retreated across the river to safety. Faced with another battlefield disaster, President Lincoln moaned, "My god! What will the country say?""

Frederick, MD is an hour north of our RV Park. It is 30 miles east of Antietam National Battlefield. 

 From NPS:

"Antietam is recognized as the bloodiest day in American history. 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing after twelve hours of savage combat on September 17, 1862. The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's first invasion into the North and led Abraham Lincoln to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation" 

We did not make it to the Antietam battlefield but we did visit the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and took a walking tour of the Frederick historic district. Frederick's proximity to the Antietam and South Mountain Battle sites made it a logical place to treat the wounded from those battles. Frederick, with a population of just 5,000, became "one vast hospital" where over 10,000 wounded soldiers were treated over a period of several months in 27 different sites (churches, public buildings, and private residences.)

And Frederick has a brewery...

Oh say can you see?

On September 14, 1814 Francis Scott Key roughed out the lyrics of The Star Spangled Banner from the deck of a U.S. truce ship amidst the British fleet in Chesapeake Bay. Key, along with Col. John S. Skinner, had sailed to the British fleet to negotiate the release of Dr. William Beanes. The negotiation was successful but Key, Skinner, and Beanes were detained until after the British assault on Baltimore for fear they would alert the city's defenders. 

 

...that our flag was still there!

 

In 1948 President Harry S. Truman issued a proclamation that the U.S. Flag shall fly over Fort McHenry at all times during the day and night, except when the weather is inclement. We observed the 10:00 a.m. flag ceremony where the smaller 50 star American flag is replaced by a larger replica of the Star-Spangled Banner with fifteen stars and stripes. 

 

As in Washington DC, Fort McHenry was overrun with school groups. The students were asked to participate in the changing of the colors.

 

You can see the larger replica flag going up as the overnight flag comes down simultaneously.

The flag raised on this day was not the full size 30 x 42 foot version that flew over the Fort the morning after the British bombardment. The one you see is 17 x 25 feet. The NPS decides which flag to raise each day based on weather conditions.  Rain was forecast for later in the day so the largest flag was not raised (I gathered that the flag pole might not withstand a wet and wind whipped flag of that size?)

Baltimore's Inner Harbor

Maryland has one of the more unique state flags that we have seen (and we have seen a lot of state flags!)

The design comes from the coat of arms of George Calvert, also known as the first Lord Baltimore. In the early 1630s Calvert dreamed up the idea for a Maryland colony, and successfully petitioned the King for a charter. But Calvert died five weeks before the charter was finalized, and left the task of starting the colony to his son, Cecil.

Cecil's coat of arms, as the second Lord Baltimore, incorporated both his father's black and gold striped pattern with the red and white checkered cross pattern from the coat of arms of his mother's family, the Crosslands. Voila!

Still the Inner Harbor. One of the best drama series we have seen is set in Baltimore: "The Wire". The critically acclaimed program was rated by the BBC as the greatest TV series of the 21st century. Feel free to check it out!

We drove a few blocks to Baltimore's Little Italy to walk around. Our visit did not go unnoticed.

Janell and her unquenchable thirst!

The Washington Monument in Baltimore, completed in 1829 and 178' tall, is the first in the U.S. dedicated to President George Washington. The designer was American architect Robert Mills who would later go on to design D.C.'s Washington Monument.

The Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum sits just 1/4 mile from Oriole Park at Camden Yards (home of the MLB Baltimore Orioles.)

George Herman Ruth, The Sultan of Swat, was a remarkable man and baseball player.

Established in 1775 "The Horse" is reputedly America's oldest continually operated saloon, the only bar in Maryland to exist before, during, and after prohibition.

Local lore has it that The Horse was the last destination of the great American writer Edgar Allen Poe before his mysterious death in 1849.

We drove to Mt. Vernon by way of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. We were driving the CRV but signs like the one above are definitely attention grabbers for us, given the 13' clearance that we need for the Beast. This particular sign was quite effective.

This is the overpass that we were warned about. Even though we weren't driving the Beast it's hard for me to not cringe when driving under something this low.

From the Mt. Vernon parking lot we hopped on our bikes and pedaled north about 10 miles on the Mt. Vernon Trail to Alexandria, VA.

The trail generally follows the Potomac River

 

The Torpedo Factory Art Center in Historic Alexandria was founded in 1974 in an old munitions plant and is home to the nation's largest collection of working artists' open studios under one roof. The staircase alone was worth the price of (free) admission!

We pedaled back to Mt. Vernon to visit George Washington's estate. I was a little disappointed to see the scaffolding on the roof around the chimneys, as it would diminish my photos.  Little did I know...

That the pretty side of the house, facing the Potomac River, was all but unrecognizable...

Honestly, the whole experience was kind of a shoot show...

They sell timed entry tickets, 35 people every five minutes, at $28 per person. The line you see here snakes through the outbuilding to the left and then into the parlor of the main house. Behind us there are at least 50 people in a line that never shrinks.  Once in the the house you trudge from one room to the next with dozens of other people. Most rooms have a docent in them that may or may not tell you something about the history of the house or that particular room. 

I feel like we checked the Mt. Vernon box, but I can't really recommend the experience to others.

 

I have it on good authority that George Washington actually DID sleep here!

George's office. Check out the the fan blade suspended over his chair that he operated by the foot pedals below his chair. It had to help on those sultry Virginia summer days when the A/C was on the fritz.