GETTYSBURG, PA

The National Park Service again does a wonderful job explaining a variety aspects of the battle which lasted 3 days.  They not only describe the superiority of the Northern cannons but help you find soldiers with their expansive data base and ancestry room.  The films, museum and tours help visitors imagine how the vast battle field appeared for the duration of the fighting.

Things I never knew before about Gettysburg:

The South was actually successfully executing battles prior to Gettysburg.

Location of one's home did not dictate their politics, hence families were sifted out and fought on opposite sides...not every southerner was pro slavery or wanted to leave the union.

Logistics of putting thousands of men and materials in place must have been an exhausting accomplishment.

The Gettysburg Address by Lincoln was given on November 1863, only a few months after the battle in July to commemorate a National Cemetery there.  

Enormous efforts were made to identify the dead, mark burial spots, or send remains home for months afterward...even when it meant searching pockets and packs for a name or letter from a loved one.  One veteran returned several years later only to find that he was mistakenly proclaimed dead and buried there!!

Robert E. Lee's wife was the great grand daughter to George Washington and one of Presidents Nixon's ancestors died at the battle of Gettysburg. (Small American flags are often found at this grave placed by anonymous visitors.)

President Eisenhower retired at Gettysburg, but it is now part of the National Park Service.

I never heard the term Witness Tree.  These are trees that were present during an important historic event and every effort is made to preserve them.

On to CHARLOTTE, NC and surrounding area

Our touring days were at a slower rate for the next few weeks in November.  One of the fun perks of traveling is dropping in on  friends from the past,.... sometimes 40 years in the past!

From Dr. Ken in Massachusetts ...

to Kurt and Cathy in Georgia...

to rallying with Airstream communities all over the country!

Cleveland, SC

Rally potlucks

Hendersonville, NC (just outside of Asheville, NC)

CARL SANDBURG HOME

Sandburg and his wife lived in southern Michigan and he was a newspaper reporter in Chicago. But  Lilian wanted a better environment for her flurishing hobby.....GOATS.

This is the second visit for us to the home and in the past was furnished the way Lilian left it the day she walked away.  However, due to renovations to the home, the rooms were temporarily cleared.  The interior is simple but famous people flocked from all over the world to visit and were given a bed  while spending time with Carl.

After you absorb the historical significance of the home, it is time to visit the motivation for the relocation ...Lilian's prize goats and their decedents.

Volunteers handle the goats and monitor their behavior.
Even small children can visit with the goats.

Yes, I understand,...too many pictures of goats.  This, however, is still a working farm and because of her meticulous recording keeping and breeding practices, it is the living history of the farm.  All the goats here are decedents of the original animals.


Charlotte, NC for November

But we also spent s few days at Kings Mountain, a location for a Revolutionary War battle.  We did have plans to go to Asheville and Dollywood, but the smoke from the fires was too strong.  We would have missed the tragic fires by a week.

Thanksgiving with the entire family for the 1st time in years.

Historic farm at Kings Mountain National Park.

Our beautiful campsite at Kings Mt. especially after doing urban camping in Charlotte.

Myrtle Beach, NC

In early December, we headed to Myrtle Beach, SC for a week staying at Huntington Beach State Park, one of our favorite places for camping on the North Carolina Shore.  It was the former estate of Archer Huntington and Anna Hyatt Huntington.  He was a railroad magnate who was also interested in the arts and his wife was a famous sculptor.  For health reasons, they settled in the area and built Atalaya Castle as a studio and kennel for her dogs.

To call it a castle is a little misleading,  It is a single story square with many room along the perimator for studiosand kennels for her dogs.  It looks in disrepair but it was never elegant in keeping with their simple lifestyle.

A nature area attracts a variety of wildlife.

The continuation of the Huntington property across the road is now Brookgreen Gardens and Sculpture Park which highlights many of Anna's pieces, formal gardens, water features and a rehabilitation zoo with native animals.  We spent an entire day walking, and taking 2 tours given by knowledgable volunteers.

The red carpet is actually floating cranberries.

The gardens are composed of 3 plantations.  The daughter of Aaron Burr, Theodosia Alston, lived here but lost at sea sailing back to New York at age 29.

Strings of lights and 1000 candles aluminate the gardens at Christmas.   Dedicated volunteers start at 4:30 lighting candles for the start of the 5:00 display.

This is one of the most diverse gardens I have ever seen and most of it was designed by Archer Huntington.  Notice the floating lights and also along the back.

Foxy lives here with a few of his friends.






                                 A couple of zoo inmates.

On our way to Savannah, GA for another rally before spending a week on Hilton Head Island

This only looks like a Savannah PUB CRAWL but it is actually a HISTORY CRAWL with  Professor Denny and some of our Airstream friends.

Hilton Head is full of debris piles like this 9 weeks after hurricane Matthew but all the bike paths were clear.  A person can actually bike anywhere on the Island.

Sea Pines lighthouse is the backdrop for the 18th hole of the Heritage Classic. I don't play golf but I guess this is pretty special.

A huge tree in Harbour Town, on the Island that survived the hurricane.

Nothing like a little winter sun on the beach before Christmas!

We loved, loved, loved Hilton Head Island and look forward to a return visit, but never in the summer.  Winter is a perfect time of year with few people and beautiful weather.



TO BE CONTINUED IN SUNNY FLORIDA

The Last of the Loonies (Canadian 1 dollar coins) and back to paper money of the US

On the upper left in green are the towns of Port Royal, Annapolis Royal, Digby and Brier Island,  our top destinations.

PORT ROYAL HABITATION SITE

Exterior of the small fort.

Courtyard view

Port Royal was settled by the French in 1605 and is across the bay from the first capital of Nova Scotia, Annapolis Royal.  Port Royal Habitation is a National Historic Site in Canada but also is recreated to exact specifications.  The history of this part of Canada run parallel to parts of Michigan history especially in the Mackinaw area as the land bounced between England and France with settlers caught in the middle.

Our Port Royal guide and teacher!

This man's decedents escaped deportation perhaps by hiding out deep in a wooded area. He is the 10th generation of his Acadian family still living in the area. We believed him to be the face of everything historical in the area, since his picture is nearly everywhere on promotional publications.  That is until we realized his twin brother (below) is also active in Annapolis Royal history promotions, giving very popular cemetery tours every night.   

Most of the proceeds from his tour support the Historical Society.  His devotion to Annapolis Royal history is so strong, he has only cancelled twice in 25 years of nightly tours due to bad weather, from May to mid October.

The twin brother offers a cemetery tour in Annapolis Royal
recounting stories of famous people and events.  Notice
how bundled I am for the 9:30 pm tour and he just has
a shirt on!  
We noticed the locals do not consider 50 degrees 
and a breeze chilly!

Who is an Acadian?  Acadians are decedents of French families who settled in this area.  Several generations were born here and considered this their homeland.  But in 1755, the English started to expel the Acadians when they did not swear loyalty to the English.  It is a very dark period in Nova Scotia's history as families were loaded onto boats and their farms burned to deter returning.  Some eventually ended up in New Orleans as Cajuns, a distorted version of the word Acadian.

Wooden shoes are not just for the Dutch!  Low landers in France also wore them and brought them to North America also.

           Their shoes are ordered from TheWooden Shoe Factory in Holland, Michigan!!

ANNAPOLIS ROYAL is still a small but thriving village because of its importance in Canadian. history.  But it also is home to a Tidal Power station, using the power of the tides to displace water to make electricity.

This is one of 3 blocks which make up the once capital of Nova Scotia.  It does have a full time population, but there are always those who leave the winter behind.  We met a man who flees to the warmth of Italy.

The view from Ft. Anne is also the place of the Acadian deportation.

DIGBY AND WHALE WATCHING

Digby is a medium sized fishing village at the start of the Digby Neck.  The Neck is a series of small islands into the Bay of Fundy and is proud to be the scallop capital of Nova Scotia.

When traveling to Nova Scotia, a whale adventure has to be on the list.

It was a beautiful calm day and we really didn't need these survival suits with the temp around 60.

We were hoping one of the humpbacks would come straight out of the water and crash down!  I guess they were feeling a bit lazy today.

Their is an unusual odor around a blowing whale.  I thought it might have been the whale itself, but it is whale breath.



BRIER ISLAND, part of Annapolis Valley

As the end of a chain of islands, a trip to Brier requires 2 ferries to reach this remote land.  Kids take the ferry everyday to school.

This is actually a  beautiful lodge on Brier Island.  The mowing crew working this afternoon might be part of your evening meal!  Actually everyone eats fish around here.

In the background is the Bay of Fundy.  You can often scan the water and see what appears to be verticle line of smoke.  It is actually a whale blowing air out of his blow hole.

Last stop in Nova Scotia, Wolfville and the wine country

Woodville is home to Acadia University, several vineyards, a museum devoted to the Acadian experience, and marvelous hiking trails.

We have found wineries in the most unexpected places...
Texas, Arizona and now Nova Scotia!

Dry wines seem to be popular here, but we prefer the sweeter varieties of Michigan.

At the top of the blog page is my go to map of Nova Scotia.  On the far right (in green) is a small hook shaped area of land called Cape Split.  On this beautiful fall day, many college students and families made the 9 mile round trip just to stare at the amazing site.  

Bring your lunch and hiking poles.

The church was important to the Catholic Acadians and is part of the museum and the beautiful grounds.

BACK TO THE UNITED STATES HEADING SOUTH

We belong to an organization call Harvest Host.  Wineries and farms allow RVs to park over night.  Some of our stops are pictured below from Maine to Virginia.

 Some places are rather remote.  I awoke at 3:00am to wild animal noises!

This one was closed when we arrived and we had the place
to ourselves.

A man roaming amongst the grapes.

This farm in Maine is famous for the Oreo cookie cows!

Next stop    GETTYSBURG