venturing4th: Cliffs & Falls

Thank you, Starbucks! At 5:30, on our way home, we stopped at a Starbucks right off I-95 and downloaded the pictures from yesterday and today. It makes for a much calmer evening!

Today's main objective was to show Mr. Spock the Calvert Cliffs in Calvert County, the geo-site for the state of Maryland; we are about 90 miles to the west with Washington, D.C., right in the middle. Our GPS took us right around Washington and for that, we breathed a sigh of relief.

The directions to a lot of these geo-sites are geo-coordinates, you know, longitude and latitude. This is not always helpful when you are trying to find a road or, in the case this morning, a private beach. The beaches along the Chesapeake are not like the beaches in RI, wide open and visible for miles. As you can see below, the woods go right up to the sandy beach. But, we found the parking lot for 20 cars tucked back in the woods and made our way to the beach and the Calvert Cliffs. The reason these Cliffs are in the geo-site book is because they demonstrate two concepts of geologic time - the principle of superposition and the principle of faunal succession. (If you want to know more about these principles, email me.)

Heading down the path from the parking lot to the beach.

There it is!

Just like the picture in the book.

Panorama picture of Chesapeake Bay and the Cliffs.

Since we had gotten a really early start, it was before noon when we finished with the Cliffs so we decided to take in another geo-site for Virginia - in addition to The Natural Bridge. Great Falls, Virginia is locater at Great Falls Park along the Potomac River, 15 miles upstream from Washington, D.C. Trusting our GPS, we put in the coordinates and headed west - straight through the center of Washington. To be fair to Mary Beth, our GPS voice, she did try to get us onto a freeway around the capitol, but this particular on-ramp was closed for construction and, not knowing any better, we continued right on to Pennsylvania Avenue and then on to Independence Avenue along the south side of the Mall. We drove right past all the various Smithsonian Museums, the Washington Monument, and the various War Memorials. We crossed over the Potomac on the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge and then onto the George Washington Memorial Parkway, a beautiful road. I had never been west and north of Washington and it was beautiful. The following pictures were taken by Frederick out the window of the car as we drove past.

The Capitol Building.

Washington Monument.

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This is a picture at an overlook on the Washington Parkway. That's the Potomac River, the muddy brown spot.

Mitchell, a volunteer at the Great Fall Park. He was telling us about the high water levels at the Park due to storm surges during hurricanes.

Marie, a Ranger, pointing to the igneous and metamorphic terranes that underlie the Piedmont Province. Where this meets the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the fall line, is where the falls are created. (Actually, she was telling us how to get to the Manassas National Battlefield Park.

A pole with a number of high water points during previous hurricanes.

Spock is very pleased to see the foaming, sensational rapids at Great Falls Park. They are considered the steepest and most sensational of any seen along the fall line rivers draining the eastern United States.

Still early afternoon so we decide to visit the site of First and Second Bull Run Battles, or as they are called in the South Manassas I and II. It was about thirty miles west of Great Falls Park.

Park Visitor Center.

Statue of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. At this battle, another General urged his men forward by saying, "Look at Jackson, standing there like a stone wall!"

Today turned out to be a day in which we drove 240 miles, much longer than we really like to do, but when you are in the area you might as well take in the sights!

What follows are yesterday's pictures and visits. In Fredericksburg yesterday, we visited Chatham Manor, built in 1768 by William Fitzhugh a great friend of both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom visited the house. During the Civil War it was used as Union headquarters before and during the Battle of Fredericksburg and Abraham Lincoln visited the Union Generals here. His visit gives Chatham the distinction of being the only building visited by both Lincoln and Washington plus Jefferson. The Battle of Fredericksburg was a disaster for the Union and many of the wounded were brought back to Chatham for care. Clara Barton assisted the doctors here while poet Walt Whitman conversed with the wounded and wrote letters home for them. Whitman had come to Fredericksburg to visit a brother who had been wounded in the battle.

Front entrance to Chatham.

Beautiful gardens at Chatham. It smelled wonderful.

Andrea, a Ranger at Chatham, tells us about the historic house and the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Artist painting the gardens at Chatham.

After Chatham, we drove out to Chancellorsville Battlefield. Chancellorsville was not a village but a house at a strategic crossroads. Frances Chancellorsville and her six children, five daughters and one son, stayed in the house until, at the height of the battle, flames engulfed the home and drove the Chancellorsvilles away. May 3, 1863, at Chancellorsville, was the bloodiest five hours of the Civil War. 18,000 men fell, one man killed or wounded every second.

This is Becky Oakes leading a tour at Chancellorsville Battle site. It was Lee's greatest victory but he lost his legendary General, Stonewall Jackson, who was accidentally shot by his own troops.

Lunch and research at the Chancellorsville Battle Visitor Center.

Spotsylavnia Court House Battle site. This is the location of the Muleshoe Salient, one of the most hallowed sites on any Civil War battlefield. In 22 hours, on May 12 -13, 1864, 17,000 men were killed, wounded or captured.

If taken together, the Wilderness Battle (May 5-6, 1864, and Spotsylvania Court House (Mary 8-21, 1864) it was the bloodiest single battle in American history - 36,000 Union soldiers and 24,000 Confederates were killed, wounded or captured - 30% of those engaged.