The origins of this country - Historic Jamestowne. November 7th, 2010

After a long day in Philly, a long drive 'home' to DC and a good long sleep, we woke up to our final morning in the nation's capital.  After 11 days here, we were finally going to be saying goodbye. Yes, we could have spent another entire week in DC and still not seen it all, but enough was enough.  It was time to move on.

As we crossed the bridge into Virginia we waved one last time at the National Mall.  That's the Capitol way over on the right and the Washington Monument on the left.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful sight!



Our next destination would be 'James Towne', the first permanent English settlement in America and the original site of Jamestown colony.  I know, some of you might be thinking, hey, I though Plymouth was the first settlement?!  Plymouth certainly does get most of the modern attention but James Towne was settled in 1607, The Mayflower arrived in what is now Massachusetts in 1620.  The Jamestown folks also claim the first Thanksgiving btw.  Notice I also said it was the first permanent ENGLISH settlement.  St. Augustine in FL can rightfully claim it's the *earliest* permanent settlement in America, but it wasn't English, it was Spanish.  All these folks, Jamestown, Plymouth and St. Augustine, take these facts, and often misrepresentations, very seriously indeed......

Anyway, back to James Towne.  It was indeed the very first permanent English settlement in America.  It is therefore viewed as the birthplace of Virginia AND The United States of America (since the US was founded by descendants of the British, not the Spanish. We could also argue the whole 'descendent' thing, but we won't).

Unlike Plymouth, James Towne was settled by those seeking fortune not religious freedom.  The settlement was funded by the Virginia Company of London as means to increase their profits.  They saw America as a land of opportunity for exploitation.



They arrived by boat on this shore.  The land was swampy, the air moist and the resources they hoped to exploit were not readily available.   The Natives were not too welcoming either.  Life was hard to near impossible.  Most of the settlers died during the first 5 years.



Based on very recent archeological findings, this is what the original settlement looked like.  It wasn't until 1994 (!!) that the lost earliest fort was actually excavated and unearthed!  Until then, the theory was that river erosion had washed it all away.  Excavations are still in progress at the fort.



This is what the general area looked like.

The only large structure that currently stands is the remains of the church.  Way off to the right is a statue of Captain John Smith, the very first governor of Virginia.  Despite his rough and tumble characteristics, he was a solid leader who apparently managed to do a good job understanding the needs of both the Natives and the settlers, eventually.  The settlers initially failed to find their fortune.  Combined with the inability to grow anything worth eating or trading AND the 'food siege' imposed by the Natives, this time period is referred to as 'The Starving Time'.  Cannibalism had almost taken hold....



Outside of the fort is the original well dug by the early settlers.  Once dried up, wells were often used as garbage dumps, hence today they become a great source of artifacts and information.


Then there's Pocahontas of course, apparently depicted here looking absolutely nothing like she really did.  This is just what the artist thought she should look like.  Kind of like Disney.

So who was she really?  Having never seen the Disney movie (honest!), I can't compare reality to fiction, but here's what we learned.  She was the favorite daughter of the local Powhatan chief.  A year after the settlers arrived she had begun to make frequent trips between Jamestown and her village, often bringing gifts of food.  Captain John Smith, the governor, believed she saved his life twice during the first few years of the colony.  In 1613 someone decided it would be a good idea to kidnap her and keep her as a hostage in Jamestown.  While there she was given lessons in Christianity, was converted and baptized.  All in a day's work.....




The next year she married John Rolfe, the man credited with the idea of growing tobacco and practically single handedly saving the colony, literally and figuratively.  Thanks to him prosperity settled in and the future United States of America's existence was secured.  In hindsight anyway.  That's quite a bit of credit I'm giving him, but without the successful tobacco industry taking hold, the settlement would have likely died off.....

Thanks to said prosperity, Jamestown expanded to well beyond the fort walls.  More people came and grew tobacco that was then sold in England.  Below is an example of an upper class neighborhood, or what's left of it.  By 1660 row houses were actually built to accommodate more people.



Poor Pocahontas btw died a couple years later in England, leaving John alone with their son.  Not worry, he soon married a young British lady, the daughter of a one of those successful Jamestown businessmen.

A cool little feature here at Historic Jamestowne National Park is this little thing -



It's like a point and shoot guide to the area.  Point the big camera at a ruin and a short reenactment of what happened in that building shows on the screen above.  Puts a face, or many, on all that happened here.

Back in the visitor center we explored some more of the displays.   Plenty of artifacts to be examined and investigated!



Once we had our Jr. Ranger badges in hand we headed to an interesting living display in the park.  On our way there though we wandered into a huge bamboo forest in which we obviously had to play for a while.



Glass blowing was one of the ideas the Virginia Company had come up with to earn their fortunes out here.  It didn't go so well for them (at first anyway), but this guy sure does a great job.  The area abounds with what is needed to make glass: wood and sand!



Other than the history behind it, it was just plain cool to watch.  No pun intended ;-).

You might be thinking how could we not have stopped and visited some Civil War battlefields given the areas we were driving through are so rich in Civil War history.  Well, this decision was partially dictated by the kids and partially dictated by our time constraints.  As I mentioned earlier, we were due in FL by a specific date. But really, the deciding factor was the kid's statement, complaint really, that they were tired of hearing about wars and death.  The DC memorials and monuments had burned them out in that sense.  Given those kinds of feelings we decided to save the hard core Civil War stuff for a later time in their lives.  Why torment young souls, especially when they specifically ask not to be?

Don't get me wrong, they do know about the Civil War and we did talk about it here as well (since there were various Confederate earthworks we came across while walking around).  But actually visiting battle grounds and discussing strategy and such, not to mention the nitty gritty gory details?  No, that we just passed on.

For now.

Where history was made - Nov. 5th, 2010

Yes, ambitious we were.  Too ambitious.  We did leave the 'house' bright and early since we were driving to Philly and that was going to take at least 2.5 hours, if not more with traffic.  But, alas, there were not going to be enough hours in the day to get to Philly, see the sights, drive to Valley Forge, see the sights, and drive back to DC.  We quickly realized this once we got started in Philly.  You might be asking yourself at this point why didn't we just head up to Philly with the RV and spend a few days.  The short answer is we just didn't have the days to spare.  We were due in FL by a certain date and were working backwards at this point making sure we at least hit the high points everywhere.  We had one day in PA and that was that.  Not to mention we were going backwards as well, north instead of south.

Anyway, what we did accomplish in PA was plenty, even it if was 'only' Philadelphia.  We definitely hit all the high points.

We began of course at the very large visitor center in the heart of historical Philadelphia.  That is where we picked up our Jr. Ranger projects and got straight to work.  We had until closing at 4PM to hand them in.  We also had to pick up our free timed passes to enter the main event in town, Independence Hall.



The visitor center had several large displays about important figures, structures and events.  We watched one of two movies about said events and had a chance to chat with 'the locals' who were dressed in period costumes, playing period instruments and doing period chores, such as sewing.

Here the kids were having a hands on demonstration about what clothes of the period were made of.



First stop out of the visitor center was this -



The Liberty Bell.  It is a symbol of course of the American Revolution, but it is also a symbol of freedoms and liberties gained and lost, in modern America and all over the world.  Many world wide causes have taken up the Liberty Bell as their symbol, including the fight against slavery in this country.

While waiting in line to get past security and be allowed in, we snapped this picture of State House/Independence Hall, sans the bell tower.  I didn't even notice the tower, or lack thereof, since it's currently encased in metal due to preservation efforts!  But that's really it, the building it all happened in. We also observed the excavation and reconstruction efforts of the original President's House site.  This is relatively new so there's not much to see, but it was cool to see the site where Washington and Adams lived and worked before the President's House, with the President of course, moved to DC.



Once inside we, front and center, listened to a ranger make a brief presentation about the bell and its significance.  There was plenty to accomplish in the Jr. Ranger packets about it as well of course.  The kids utilized the ranger and asked plenty of questions.



Before the American revolution the bell was already an important symbol for the residents of Philadelphia. The State House bell, the most prominent building in British North America, reminded everyone of the significance of Philadelphia as the capital of the Pennsylvania colony.  Inscribed with the words "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all inhabitants thereof." (Leviticus 25:10, in case you're wondering), it was a source of pride.  Pride in the political and religious freedom afforded to them by the founder of this city,



William Penn.

William Penn was the founder of what is now Philadelphia.  Being himself a persecuted Quaker, he was determined to found a city based on religious liberty, "traditional Englishmen rights" for all, with an ethical open society deriving its power from the people, not its leaders.  He also openly declared that he would not exploit the natives or future immigrants.  Overall quite progressive for the time.

The famous crack, or gap really, was caused by an attempt to fix a thin crack in the bell that occurred sometime after the revolution.  Once repaired, the bell was rung in honor of Washington's birthday and the thin crack reappeared, this time lengthening and zigzagging upward, silencing the bell forever.  At least physically, as the display notes.

Meandering a few blocks down the street we arrived at the location of Ben Franklin's home. Unfortunately, his house no longer stands but its location is noted quite creatively.  In 1812 his grandchildren decided they didn't want to maintain the house, so they tore it down in favor of building rental houses!  Oh my goodness, what a loss.....

Below you see the outline of his house,





Inside these concrete viewing areas one can see the physical remains of the actual house.  Some brick flooring, part of the plumbing system, etc.  'Modern' archeology.



The area is also covered with Ben Franklin quotes, some famous and some from private correspondences to his wife.



Beneath all this, quite literally, is a wonderful museum commemorating the man himself.



His numerous and varied inventions, his axioms, writings and political accomplishments are all highlighted. Here, you can pick up the phone, dial a number and hear what people from around the world at the time, and later, had to say about him.



Of course there was the working printing press to check out.  The original one btw is in DC.



Onward to our prescheduled appointment with Independence Hall!

Old City Hall, the Pennsylvania State House/Independence Hall and Congress Hall/Court House are lined up one next to the other on Chestnut street and Independence Square.

Old CIty Hall, here, housed the Supreme Court for 9 years before it moved permanently to what is now Independence Hall.



On the right side of the Pennsylvania State House/Independence Hall is where the Supreme Court convened.



Turning around to the left we finally laid our eyes on THE room.  The room in which the Declaration of Independence was argued about and signed, the Articles of Confederation were drafted and ratified (the document uniting all 13 colonies) and where the Constitution was drafted.



Below you see the location of Ben Franklin's table, with a replica of his glasses :-).  The items in the room are mostly period pieces, though not the originals.  The exceptions are a few artifacts including the silver ink stand used to sign the documents and the president's chair at the head table in the picture above.  The first to use it was John Hancock, President of the 2nd Continental Congress.  The second to use it was George Washington, as President of the United States of America.  You can't really tell in the photo, but that semicircle on the top is half a sun.  The guide told us that Ben Franklin used to half joke and wonder if it represented the rising or the setting of this new nation.....guess we know now!



We have to remember that this whole revolution and government by the people for the people thing was really one huge experiment.  Those who sat in this room had *no* idea if they could A. Even win a revolution against the British Empire and B. Successfully run an entirely new country with a system and ideas that have really never been used in this manner before.  The whole notion of inalienable rights was completely foreign to the world as it was.  Of course they left out two key groups of people whose lives these rights didn't touch, but still, it was pretty progressive at the time.

From Independence Hall we moved on to Congress Hall, also used as a court house.  Photography was not allowed inside so no pics.  The room was set up with long benches in a semi circle with an elongated 'podium' in the front.  This is the room, obviously, where the new Congress sat.  They now were state representatives instead of colonial representatives.  This is also the room where the first peaceful transition of power took place, from George Washington to John Adams.

Leaving these most important buildings here in Philly we headed over to the portrait gallery. In addition to the Jr. Ranger program, the Independence National Historical Park had yet another clever idea to successfully reel in the kids, trading cards!  Basically that's what they are, but instead of baseball or Pokemon figures they're historical ones.  One card is given out at each location one can visit in historical Philadelphia. In order to collect all of them though you have to explore the portrait gallery with its 185 portraits, and do it well.  In other words, a scavenger hunt was on to find and identify various figures of the American Revolution, and not the obvious ones.  Though this one of course was pretty obvious.



Wrapping up the Portrait Gallery with all 15 of our 'trading cards' in hand, we headed over to visit the final resting spot of Ben Franklin and his family.  His grave is located right by the cemetery fence so one can get a good close look at it from the outside, without paying the small fee to actually go in.  On our way to the cemetery we stopped in to see the Free Quaker meeting house.



Philadelphia was the only city in the colonies to not only tolerate diverse religions but welcomed them from the very start. Quakers, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, and free blacks (mostly from the Caribbean) all made up this heterogenous city. The Free Quakers, as opposed to the Quakers, were disowned by the original group due to their desire to participate in the fight against the British.  Today, they are basically a philanthropic organization.

A very old building this meeting house was indeed, as evidenced by this humorous sign:



Our day in Philly had come to an end.  Of course there is lots more to see and do here, but once again, we just couldn't do it all.  I guess you never can really do it *all*.

We did however have one more stop to make it official:



Badges in hand, we had one last chance to race across the field and get a good last view of the main reason we came....

History is awesome.

Back from the blogging dead....and Wrapping up DC, November (!!) 2nd, 2010

Instead of going into a lengthy explanation here as to where the heck I've been these past few months, blog wise, I'll just jump right in and pick up where I left off back when things were rolling along quite nicely....DC.



In case you missed it or are wondering though, I did explain here the general reason for our 'stagnation' in TX. We have now officially been back on the road for almost 2 weeks and as you can tell, have a whole lot of catching up to do.  So let's get right to it.

On one of our last days in DC we hit the Capitol again.  This time with a real camera in hand.  The last time we were there we had also done the official White House tour.  One cannot bring a single thing into the White House, let alone a camera.  As I was desperate to get some decent photos of the Capitol, back we went.  We also popped into the Senate and House galleries this time around.  One needs a special pass from your congressperson to do so and now we had one.  However, since you cannot bring any food into the building and we were loaded down with snacks for the day, only the kids and I went in while S waited outside with the food....Oh, and of course one cannot take pictures inside, so nothing to show here for the visit either.   So many restrictions......We did have a very educational time in the galleries though, despite them being completely empty.  Everyone was back home since it was election day!




From the Capital we crossed the street to the Supreme Court!



The court was in session that day but one doesn't get to see them in action.  We did get to peek inside the courtroom once they were done for the day but of course, you guessed it, no pictures allowed......

The hallway displays were photographable so we had to get this one in.  The first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor!



At this point I'm probably mixing up my days here but in the effort to wrap up this town I'll boil it all down to the basics and combine two days in one.  Since our last two days were basically spent rushing around from one end of the Mall to the other trying to get 'it all' in, it seems appropriate anyway.

Though we did not get around to visiting the Library of Congress, we did visit the National Archives.  No, no pictures there either.  Despite the measly two hours we got to spend in there, we did get to see the most important stuff.  Oh, like, the Declaration of Independence!!  The Bill of Rights!!  The Constitution!!  Oh My!!  After we hit those highlights, we roamed around as time permitted and by chance came across Charles Ingalls' homestead file from 1886!  That was super cool.  We could have spent many more hours in there as there's a heck of a lot more to see and investigate, but the hour was late and the doors were closing.

At one point during those last two days we raced around getting all our Jr. Ranger needs taken care of.  We quite literally ran from one of the museums over to the two ranger stations we needed to go to.  We had to get there before they closed and we were cutting it very close.  I think I mentioned this before, but there are two different badges one can earn in DC: The Presidential Park badge and the the National Mall badge.  The older two did them both, it really was a bit too much for Whirlwind, but he was given an honorary badge anyway :-).





On our way from one station to the next (no, they are not right next to each other) we got a chance to glance at the White House from the back one last time.  Lucky for us we got there when we did since 5 minutes after our gawking session began the police came to clear everyone out.  Soon after that we saw President Obama's motorcade zoom by and we understood why.  That was a treat.



Though we absolutely loved our time in DC, we were thoroughly exhausted and glad to be packing up the car to head back to our campsite for the last time.



Our adventures in DC had come to an end but our stay had not.  Our next grand plan was to head up to the City of Brotherly Love for the day (yes, it is a 2.5 hour drive each way) AND maybe even pop over to Valley Forge.  A pretty lofty goal which we unfortunately did not fully achieve as you'll see.  The weather though had other plans, so the next day we spent hanging out a local library and playing board games in the RV while watching the rain come pouring down.  The universe was smarter than us.  We really did need that down time to rest up a little before heading out on a long sightseeing filled day in Philadelphia.