Lynchburg, VA

Place Visited: Lynchburg, Virginia, USA
Date: November 2017

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for old cemeteries, but the Old City Cemetery was a special treat. The station house, pest house, and other buildings were closed so early in the morning, but had recorded narration at the push of a button. November is not the best time to visit gardens, but I certainly enjoyed myself. The children's guide was an extra touch of entertainment.

Farmville, VA

Place Visited: Farmville, Virginia, USA

Date: November 2017

Farmville took me by surprise.  There's a whole lot going on down here.  These pages are somewhat general but also about the stirring exhibit I saw at the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts by V.L. Cox.  I only went there to visit their Art-o-Mat machine but I am so glad I stayed to explore the rest of the museum.

Pamplin, VA

Place Visited: Pamplin, Virginia, USA
Date: November 2017

I drove a little bit out of my way to visit Pamplin, mostly because it had two Little Free Libraries. But what I found there was a striking example of urban decay, with an entire row of houses completely abandoned and crumbling. It was beautiful.  The pipe factory was pretty cool too but unfortunately there wasn't anywhere to pull off so I could get a good look at it.  Someday I'd like to visit again to photograph and draw the whole place.

Appomattox, VA

Place Visited: Appomattox, Virginia, USA

Date: November 2017

I agree that this is where the best part of the Civil War occurred, but to be honest it's not all that interesting to visit.  I've seen more than my fair share of Civil War-era stuff, so while the McLean house is quite pretty and the jail has some interesting voiceovers, by and large it's just old buildings in a quiet field.  Which is fine, as far as that goes - just not worth going out of my way for, honestly.

Havre de Grace, MD

Place Visited: Havre de Grace, Maryland, USA
Date: September 2017

Concord Point Lighthouse is located in a very pleasant park.  I wish I had more to say about it.  The keeper's house had a lot of cool stuff.

Visited as part of the 2017 Maryland Lighthouse Challenge.

St. Michaels, MD

Place Visited: St. Michaels, Maryland, USA
Date: September 2017

Hooper Strait Light is located at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, and boy do they love their lighthouse.  You can get that lighthouse on just about any piece of merchandise you can think of.

Visited as part of the 2017 Maryland Lighthouse Challenge.

Cambridge and Scotland, MD

Place Visited: Cambridge and Scotland, Maryland, USA
Date: September 2017

These were two lighthouses I actually did not visit on the same day.  In fact, Choptank River Replica Lighthouse was my very last stop of the challenge.  It was there that I discovered jellyfish in the Chesapeake!  (Well, technically the Choptank River, duh.)  I was surprised to see so many so close to the surface.  When I visited this lighthouse the first time, it was snowing.  So it was nice to actually be able to go up inside.

Point Lookout has seen better days.  The inside is crumbling, and in fact you can walk right through several of the walls.  It's usually fenced off, though, so it was neat to look inside.

Visited as part of the 2017 Maryland Lighthouse Challenge.

Baltimore, MD

Place Visited: Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Date: September 2017

I arrived too early to go aboard the Chesapeake Lightship (some Girl Scouts had spent the night there and hadn't left yet), but the man at the gate was charming and knowledgable. He also had the only lighthouse stamp with the challenge dates on it.

Seven Foot Knoll was very neat.  I'd kind of forgotten it existed, to be honest, despite all my trips to Baltimore over the years.

A note on the "rip off!" comment - I got inside a garage that was going to charge me $20 for two hours, so I left.  And got charged $5 for the seven minutes I was in there.  I wish this was atypical for Baltimore parking garages, but it is not, so I take the blame for that.  Ah well.

Visited as part of the 2017 Maryland Lighthouse Challenge.

Solomons, MD

Place Visited: Solomons, Maryland, USA
Date: September 2017

Cove Point and Drum Point lighthouses are both owned by the Calvert Marine Museum.  Drum Point is on the premises (and is really neat to go inside), and we took a bus to nearby Cove Point (which was less interesting, to be honest).

Visited as part of the 2017 Maryland Lighthouse Challenge.

Piney Point and Fort Washington, MD

Place Visited: Piney Point and Fort Washington, Maryland, USA
Date: September 2017

Piney Point lighthouse and museum is a charming place with an enthusiastic staff, and Fort Washington is my 10-year-old self's dream playground.  It was a great way to kick off the weekend.

Visited as part of the 2017 Maryland Lighthouse Challenge.

Maryland Lighthouses

Date: September 2017

I completed the 2017 Maryland Lighthouse Challenge, visiting nine lighthouses and one lightship over the course of two days.  To be honest, I haven't the foggiest idea why I did it.  I just decided it was something I wanted to do.  The silly part is that I'd actually visited all of these lighthouses before, though I hadn't been inside all of them.  (And still haven't - not all of them were open for tours even for the challenge.)  This year's challenge souvenirs were coasters and I collected them all, including the bonus one for finishing.  It was fun, but wow was that ever a lot of driving.

The next few posts are of the lighthouses I visited during that weekend. I also purchased the 2015 souvenir stickers, so those pages will also have some 2015 dates.  Don't be fooled!  It was all 2017! ;)

The Library of Congress

Place Visited: Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA
Date: September 2017

One fun thing about the Library of Congress is that every single one of their exhibits has its own brochure.  Echoes of the Great War: American Experiences of World War I was chock full of information, so much that I didn't have time to see it all.  So I picked out the images that spoke to me the most, like the haunting "Enlist" poster at the bottom right corner of the second page, a Fred Spear poster depicting a woman and infant drowning after the sinking of the Lusitania.  And the bizarre "War Gardens Over The Top" poster that appears to have a pumpkin trying to eat a potato.  Look, I don't know.  It was war.  Times were crazy.

Midlothian, VA

Place Visited: Midlothian, Virginia, USA
Date: September 2017

Mid-Lothian Mines Park is very cool and I wish we'd had more time (and less rain) to explore it.  I have an inexplicable fascination with mining.  Plus, the trees were very nice and the paths well maintained.  Too bad it's so far away from home.

Chesterfield, VA

Place Visited: Chesterfield, Virginia, USA
Date: September 2017

The girls and I took a road trip down to the Midlothian area to see what we could see. (These are the kinds of things we do.)  We started our day at the very cool Chesterfield County Museum and Magnolia Grange, where we received a personal guided tour from a delightful and knowledgable guide.  We also managed to see the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum, tucked away inside Pocahontas State Park.  I admit I didn't know anything about the CCC, but it's an interesting idea I simply cannot fathom happening today.

Leesburg, VA

Place Visited: Leesburg, Virginia, USA
Date: July 2017

Oatlands is one of those places that I'd like to visit in better weather.  It was rainy and hot when I went, so while the gardens were beautiful, I really didn't want to spend much time in them.  The upstairs of the un-air-conditioned house was nigh unbearable.  But it's a neat house full of interesting history (featuring the ubiquitous Carters of Virginia, among others), so I'm glad I went.

Youngstown, OH

Place Visited: Youngstown, Ohio, USA
Date: April 2017

My father-in-law worked in the steel mills for almost two decades, so the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor was quite the trip down memory lane for him.  From the statue out front to the locker room replicas to the whole rooms transplanted from the mills to the museum, it covered every aspect of the steel making process. Quite the hidden gem.

Winchester, VA

Place Visited: Winchester, Virginia, USA
Date: March 2017

The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley has a great collection of local history but my favorites were the temporary exhibits.  The Alex Ross stuff was neat - I'm not a comic book expert but I can appreciate the artistry.  The landscapes were especially cool, presented almost like old school Urban Sketching, with photographs next to the paintings.

Manassas, VA

Place Visited: Manassas, Virginia, USA
Date: October 2017

The Freedom Museum is an unassuming collection of military memorabilia at the Manassas Regional Airport.  It's not huge, but neither is the airport, but it covers every conflict of the 20th century in some detail.  And it's free!

Alexandria, VA

Place Visited: Green Spring Gardens, Alexandria, Virginia, USA
Date: August 2017

I went here as part of a sketch outing.  It was hot and muggy and buggy but the gardens are very pretty.  I just want to go back sometime in better weather.

The Library of Congress

Place Visited: Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA
Date: September 2017

Drawing Justice: The Art of Courtroom Illustration is an amazing exhibit.  The speed and talent of these sketch artists is amazing.  Too bad it's dying out.