North Carolina, Virginia, Washington D.C. - July 2007

There’s so much history in this part of the country that it just blows your mind! Driving down the road, the historical markers go by in a blur. At some point, something significant happened at every bend in the road. You’d like to stop and read every one, but it’s just not possible.

In Fayetteville, we saw our first Confederate cemetery. In addition to the small, identical white headstones that marked most of the graves, we saw a monument to commemorate seven brothers who were all killed or wounded during the Civil War. Beaufort, North Carolina is a historic city with lots of houses (like this one) dating to before the Civil War. The tour we took included one house that dated back to the 1700’s and another that was the home of a Confederate spy. It was interesting to compare the building techniques, decoration and the lifestyles of the people from those different eras.

Another fascinating feature of the North Carolina countryside is the small family cemeteries we saw along the roadsides. They might contain anywhere from five to 30 monuments, many of them obviously very old. Here’s one we spotted in the middle of a cornfield on the road to our RV park near Elizabeth City. Outside the chain link fence were three or four other graves that were untended and overgrown with brambles and weeds. Slaves? The black sheep of the family? We could only guess.

I’d looked forward to seeing the Outer Banks along the North Carolina coast, so we headed off one Saturday on a day trip. Instead of lonely, windswept dunes, we saw miles of the wall-to-wall beach houses and condos that have sprung up along so much of the coast. I checked out a real estate magazine and noted that the listings included how many rows back the property was from the water. First row = good (and expensive!); fifth row = not so good (but you still can’t afford it!). This house was remarkable only because it looks like it won’t survive the next big storm – first row, but not a good investment!

Our next stop – Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia – was one of the highlights of our trip. For less than we paid for a one-day visit to Epcot (what a waste!) we had three days to explore Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown – three great historical sites. Williamsburg is a large area of the city with both original and restored structures. You can wander down streets that look much as they did in colonial times, stopping to visit an apothecary shop, a wigmaker, the blacksmith shop, and others. At each location you’ll find a craftsman in vintage attire ready to demonstrate and explain how illnesses were treated, what’s involved in making a wig, or how clothing was made by hand. At the courthouse, we acted as justices in a demonstration of a colonial trial. When we visited one of the taverns, an actor recounted the news of the day and explained which town leaders were active in pressing for independence. No crowds (even in high season), very few lines, and the kids we saw really enjoyed it! Colonial costumes were available for rent, so we saw lots of children in tri-corn hats and long dresses.

At Yorktown we drove around the battleground where General Cornwallis finally surrendered. In the town we saw colonial era homes with cannonballs embedded in their walls. (Look closely between the windows to see the cannonball!) Very impressive, but we learned later that some of them were placed there after the Revolutionary War – it was kind of a fad at the time to show that your house had survived the battle!

The Jamestown site includes replicas of the fort, the Indian settlement as it looked at that time, and the three sailing ships that brought the settlers to the first permanent English settlement in America. Again, costumed guides were available to explain the layout of the ships, how the Indians lived, or how to shoot a muzzle loader rifle. If you ever have the opportunity to treat your kids or grandkids to this experience, do it!

Our next stop was the nation’s capital. There’s so much to see in Washington, D.C., it’s pretty overwhelming. We took a bus tour of the city and saw all of the requisite sights – the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, Arlington Cemetery, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, U S Capitol Building, and more. This gave us “the lay of the land” so we felt more confident taking the Metro to town the next day to see a couple of the Smithsonian Museums and Ford’s Theatre.

My favorite part of our DC visit however was Mt Vernon, home of George Washington. In pictures, the Father of Our Country always looks pretty dour and stiff. Not so! He was a real man’s man! A veteran of hand-to-hand combat in the French and Indian War, an accomplished horseman, a successful farmer and entrepreneur, and quite the good dancer. The home is lovely too, and Mt. Vernon provides a realistic (and fascinating) picture of life on a working farm from that era.

We sometimes joke and say that visiting all of these fabulous places around the country is our job. Well, some days it does start to feel like work. It’s all been a little overwhelming, and while we’re looking forward to our next stop in Gettysburg, we’re starting to think about what happens after this. We find ourselves spending time in the appliance department at Home Depot, looking at house plans on the internet, and buying design magazines in the grocery store. I think the nesting instinct is starting to kick in. I guess we’ll be doing more of that when we get back to Phoenix in the fall. Stay tuned though for the rest of our trip to New York City and New England.