WEATHER: COLD & SLEETING & ICY in Milwaukee; 82 in Orlando, Florida
SUNSET: 1808 Orlando, FL
TRAVEL: MKE-DTW-MCO Rental car in Orlando; checked into Holiday Inn Vacation Club – Orange Lake Resort. Located in Kissimmee, this is real close to Disney – in fact the property borders on Disney’s Animal Kingdom property. A 6-8 mile drive - depending on traffic, a 15 – 25 minute drive to a Disney park. .
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| Orange Lake Resort Island View Village |
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| Disney Springs |
DISNEY SPRINGS – drove over to Disney Springs – no charge for parking here, bought a 4 Day Disney Park Hopper with the Military Discount.
Stopped at a nearby PUBLIX for groceries and had dinner at Miller’s Ale House – this is a local chain – just had a burger & beer at the bar – good.
Adventures on the ICE AGE TRAIL will be on separate posts for 2019
Star Tours – The Adventure Continues – experienced this ride first when I was in Vegas some years ago at what was then the Hilton – next to the Convention Center – for a NGAUS Conference. C3PO still hasn't been programmed to be a pilot.
Parking was $25. The goal was to get hear early in order to get in a queue for the Avatar Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey. I had been on the River Journey before but not on Avatar – lines are always extremely long. I got into the park around 8:30 am and walked immediately to Avatar Flight of Passage. .
Avatar Flight of Passage – the line was long - it indicated a 90 minute wait but actually only took about 50 minutes. In my opinion, the BEST RIDE IN ANY DISNEY PARK. From the minute they start priming you though your experience of riding a Banshee it’s another 20 minutes. Well worth the wait. Get a FAST PASS if you can – but they are tough to come by..
Arrived on Main Street around 11:30 am and of course there was a parade – The Move It! Shake It! MousekeDance It! Street Party. Another successful day afternoon – saw 7 attractions, 3 parades, had lunch and did shopping in 5 hours.- all entirely to the west side of the Fantasyland Cinderella Castle .
I did not Fast Pass Mickey’s Magic Philharmonic but got in right away for the 3D show – enjoyable.
The “It’s a Small World ” Fast Pass expired at 1250 – I made it in with just a minute to spare. – catchy tune.
I had a 1305 Fast Pass for the Haunted Mansion and got immediately on after “It’s A Small World”
Lunch of a Tuna Salad sandwich, home-made chips and a Coke at the Columbia Harbor House. I ate at an outside table. I tried to be seated at The Diamond Horseshoe, but without a reservation there was an hour wait.
Teal 74.3/132 7072 yds Black 72.0/129 6665 yds Blue 70.3/124 6263yds
MASS at 4pm St. Faustina, 1714 US 21, Claremont, FL.. A storefront church . . . . . . while funds are being raised for a new church – this church occupies the end of a strip mall. An Irish pastor . . . no surprise there – probably good at raising money from ‘snow birds.’ The 4 pm mass was SRO – probably the only parishioners were the ushers and even they were above 60 – maybe 10 people total in the crowd under 60. Even so a one hour service, readings covered Isaiah, Paul and the gospel where the apostles catch more than a boatload of fish – Peter, Isaiah and Paul all admit their unworthiness are humans in a divine presence..
HOLLAND AMERICA Cruise Lines. A new ship called
the Nieuw Statendam first sailing was mid-season last
year. First blackout was yesterday morning
– the ship lost all electrical power – it still had emergency power but was
without power for awhile.
This is the one of the largest in the Holland America fleet. The room I have is larger than on any cruise I’ve been on yet. Plenty of TV channels, movies on demand, etc. Typical cruise lots of activities, shore excursions, 2 pools, bars, restaurants, sports facilities, exercise and spa.
Officers & Crew: 988
My stateroom is
located on Deck 1 #1050 port side - more spacious than any previous
accommodations, on any ship. There are
no “obstructed view” rooms on this ship.
TRAVEL: Half-Moon
Cay, Bahamas - a private island for Holland
America offering a
white sandy beach and a wide range of water sports, snorkeling, catamaran
sailing, and rental of private cabanas on the beach. I settled for a “Historic Nature Walk.”
Lunch on the island – included
by Holland America.
1230 Lincoln Center Stage Matinee – Bernstein to Buble – piano, viola, cello, 2 violins
– a wonderful 40 minute program of West Side Story, tangos from Argentina, Puerto
Rican rhythms, French songs, and Dave Brubeck jazz
ARRIVAL 0800 travel via tender – some concern about ocean swells that subsided enough fro us to visit. Three ships arriving an hour earlier were diverted to the other side of the island.
0815 George
Town, Grand Cayman Island – “A Taste of
Cayman.” The tour promised a visit to the Cayman
Islands Brewery and Seven Fathoms Rum distillery. However, due to a visit by Prince Charles and
Duchess Camilla, the brewery is closed for the day Instead the tour operator offered a stop at
the rock formation “Hell” and a longer stay at the distillery and a 25%
discount.. The tour was cancelled at
0830.
On Board Activities.
MARCH 29, 2019 Friday
1215 San
Gervasio Mayan Archeological Site & Beach (4.5 his) – An ancient Mayan temple dedicated
to Ixchel, goddess of the moon and fertility. Sand Gervasiso is not the
original name of the temple. After the
Mayan conquest it sat alone and forgotten by the Spanish settlers for over 400
years – not sure about the story but someone with the name of Gervasio owned the land – rediscovered
after a plane crash in WW II – the archeologists excavated the site. Somehow, like San Miguel – the site became
San Gervasio?
Vist to a beach club near Chakanuub National
Park. A small private beach club with
chairs, snorkels, shops, restaurant and bar.
WIFI promised to be available was
not.. A quick connect and it shut down
my phone – go figure.
On Board Activities.
Fort Lauderdale Hilton Beach Resort – located at the north end of
Fort Lauderdale Beach, the drive here along the beach was like a scene from “Burn Notice.”
Valet parking only . . . . cost $45/day plus tips. Checking in around 10:45 am my room was not
ready then presenting my Hilton Honors card – it was ready – then it was not ready – but I got
an UPGRADE to a 4 room
suite with kitchen, living room, bath, bedroom and access to a huge private
patio - large enough to hold a party for 30-50 people.
Miami Marlins 3 – Colorado Rockies 0. A solo Home Run in the bottom of the 7th for the Marlins. It was a 35 mile, 50 minute drive to Marlins Stadium. Parking cost $25 in a structure on the 3rd Base side of the stadium Easy to get to. The stadium was not very filled. A nice baseball stadium. With only 2 more baseball parks to visit this could rate alongside Cleveland – after my favorites Milwaukee and Philadelphia. Good view of downtown Miami over the outfield wall. Lots of food vendors along the concourse– only one Team Store or stand selling Marlins gear – a 2019 Marlins Team Set was not yet available.
A walk along the beach, bars and restaurants proved fruitless. I stopped at the Ritz-Carlton (excellent service) for 2 Corona’s at $7.49 each decided not to eat there. Returned to a restaurant/bar on the corner of the Hilton but not affiliated with it – service was bad – I really don’t think the staff cared and a gin & tonic cost $12, compared to a $9 Tanquerey on the ship, this place was expensive. – went up to the 6th floor of the Hilton and had a delicious Lobster Mac & Cheese for $17 with a glass of Stella Artois $5.
The
iconic and historic lighthouse, built by Mark Honeywell in the 1930s, guides
boats to the beauty and wonders of the park. Boca
Chita
is the most visited island in the park.
During the early 1950s, an era of newfound prosperity, Americans were taking more vacations and moving to Florida. The keys were a popular destination and property values soared. Many people looked at the northernmost keys, the ones bypassed by Henry Flagler's railroad and within the present day boundaries of the park, and saw them languishing in placid waters. They envisioned hotels, roads and other developments. Several years later came a plan to dredge up 8,000 acres of bay bottom to create a jetport. In 1961, 13 area landowners voted unanimously to create the City of Islandia. Plans for Seadade, a major industrial seaport, were announced in 1962. The proposal called for the dredging of a 40-foot deep channel through the Bay's clear, shallow waters. Dade County's "new frontier" was born, but it never grew beyond the toddler stage.
The
Hatfields and McCoys had nothing on the two feuding groups. Words were exchanged,
tempers flared and fights broke out. Lloyd Miller, president of the local Izaak Walton League, said that the
opposition poisoned his dog and tried to get him fired from his job because of
his support for the park idea. Slowly though, support began to build. Juanita
Greene's inspiring newspaper stories in the Miami Herald helped accelerate the pace. Hardy Matheson based his
entire campaign for county commissioner on the issue of establishing the park.
Vacuum cleaner magnate Herbert W. Hoover, Jr., who spent considerable time in
the area as a boy, brought legislators down from Washington for dramatic blimp
rides over the proposed park, convinced that anyone who saw the place would be
just as smitten with it as he was. By early 1968, local and national support
for a Biscayne National Monument was
at an all-time high.
Facing
a ground swell of public support for the park idea, landowners in the city of Islandia brought in bulldozers in an
attempt to spoil the area. Dubbed "spite highway," the swath was six
lanes wide and seven miles long, right down the middle of Elliott Key. Park
proponents were not deterred. Congress, led by longtime Representative Dante Fascell,
created Biscayne National Monument
to protect "a rare combination of terrestrial, marine and amphibious life
in a tropical setting of great natural beauty." President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the bill on
October 18, 1968.
That
was nearly 50 years ago. Since then, a lot has changed. Greater Miami has
become a Latin American capital, with 4 million residents and 10 million annual
visitors from all over the world. The park has undergone several enlargements
and a name change. Spite highway has grown in to an intimate tunnel through a
tropical hardwood forest, and serves as the park's one and only hiking trail.
162 EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Homestead, FL
Everglades National Park houses one of the best preserved relics of the Cold War in
Florida,
a historic Nike Hercules
missile site called "Alpha Battery" or "HM69".
The site remains virtually the same as it was when official use of the site ended in 1979. Construction of the site by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was completed in 1965, just after the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. At the time, the nation's air defenses were positioned to protect against a possible Soviet air attack over the North Pole and thus, this and other anti-aircraft missile sites were established to protect against a possible air attack from the south. The Nike Hercules missile site was listed on the U.S. Department of the Interior Register of Historic Places on July 27, 2004 as a Historic District.
The area includes 3 missile barns, a missile assembly building, a guard dog kennel, barracks, 2 Nike Hercules missiles, and various support elements. HM69 was also significant because of the technology employed. The South Florida Nike Hercules sites were integrated with Hawk missile sites to provide an all altitude defensive capability around South Florida. Approximately 140 soldiers staffed the 3 above-ground missile barns of HM69 to protect against an air attack from Cuba. The personnel of HM69, along with the members of other South Florida unites, received the Army Meritorious Unit Commendation which was one of the few times that it was awarded for deterrence rather than engagement with the enemy.
-
Exempt Duel Status Title 32 Technicians from the Qualitative Retention
Process (QRB) until they would reach for a minimum Technician Retirement. Did Not Pass
Camp Nelson National Monument, formerly Camp Nelson Civil War Heritage
Park is a 525 acre
historical museum located in Jessemine County about 20 miles south of
Lexington, KY. It was given National
Monument status on October
27, 2018 by President Donald Trump.. It became the 418th site that is overseen by the National Park Service.
The Visitor
Center has a short video
and a small museum. When I visited there
was no ranger, as yet, assigned to the site.
There are 4 miles of trails the
cross the Kentucky landscape. They range
from ½ to 1.3 miles in length. Although
only one period building remains, there is little or no development in the area
– a real gem to see how the fort was laid out.
There are remnants of several forts constructed to protect Camp
Nelson’s northern approach.
The site was naturally defensible and was astride a major turnpike and a bridge across the Kentucky River.
Camp Nelson provided the Union Army with over 10,000 African American soldiers, United States Colored Troops (USCT) making it the third largest recruiting and training depot for African Americans in the nation.
187 VICKSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK, Vicksburg, MS
The major
players in this campaign included The Army of the Tennessee under the command of MG Ulysses
S. Grant and his corps
commanders; MG John McClernand (XIII Army Corps), MG William T. Sherman (XV Army Corps), and MG James McPherson (XVII Army Corps). Grants Army of the Tennessee engaged the Army
of Vicksburg under the command of LTG John C.
Pemberton and his division commanders; MG C.L. Stevenson, MG John H. Forney, MG M.L. Smith, and MG John S. Bowen.
STOP 2 Pemberton’s HQ
STOP 3 USS
Cairo – the USS
Cairo was sunk by a torpedo on its expedition up
the Yazoo River 12 Dec 1862.
In the fall of 1862, Grant had originally planned a single-thrust attack following the Mississippi Central RR south from his base between La Grange and Grand Junction, TN. H initiated this operation on November 4. Confronted by stiffening Confederate opposition and upon learning that MG John McClernand had been authorized to recruit and field a force to attach down the Mississippi, Grant changed his plan. He devised a two-pronged attack on Vicksburg designed to seize the city and open the Mississippi River.
STOP 8 Windsor Mansion Ruins a scene from Raintree County starring Montgomery Cliff and Elizabeth Taylor was shot here. The mansion burned after the war.
However, McClernand’s
lead units had ran
into Edward Tracy’s brigade of Bowen’s Confederate
defenders. McClernand ordered BG Osternaus
to advance at first
light on May 1 along a connecting plantation road toward the Bruinsburg
Road. McClernand’s other 3 divisions moved
southeast along the Rodney Road.
STOP 1 Crossroads at Willow Springs
STOP 3 12 MAY 1863 Battle of Raymond – Union Gun Line
Pemberton, expecting no more than a small Union brigade on the right flank of an army marching toward Vicksburg sent BG John Gregg’s brigade of 2,500 Confederates to Raymond and attack Grant’s flank. Gregg planned to attack and roll up the flank forcing the Union army back to their base around Grand Gulf.
As the Union
soldiers tried to reform and consolidate their gains, they were nearly swept
away by a counterattack led by a division of BG John Bowen’s Missourians and Arkansans.
The Battle of Champion Hill was the largest and bloodiest action of Grant's Vicksburg Campaign.
MONUMENT UNVEILING IN HONOR OF EDWIN C. BEARSS
STOP 6 17 MAY 1863 Battle of Big Black River – stop just off of Old US 80 along initial union line of battle – no monuments/markers
MAY 4, 2019 Saturday
69th Annual Tour of the Chicago Civil War Roundtable – VICKSBURG DAY 3
CPT Samuel De Golyer, 8th Michigan Battery (six guns)
STOP 2 Illinois Monument/Shirley House
The Shirley
House is only wartime
structure still existing in the park.
The Shriley House was the start point for Union Operations against the 3rd
Louisiana Redan. Terry Winschel had us walk the route of
Logan’s Approach. It followed the ridge
along which the Jackson Rd runs, and
approached a high, commanding salient .
The Confederates resisted by burning sap-rollers, using mines, and
throwing grenades. This approach was used to dig a mine gallery – the mine was
loaded and fired on July 1, destroying the Confederate parapet and creating a
crater 30 feet in diameter, No attempt
was made to occupy the crater since an attempt on June 25 by the 25th
Illinois failed with severe loss.
STOP 3 DUE TO RAIN USS CAIRO MUSEUM & BACKGROUND OF USS CIARO BY ED BEARSS
STOP 4
Goldies Trail Bar BQ – excellent
MAY 5, 2019 Sunday
69th Annual Tour of the Chicago Civil War
Roundtable – VICKSBURG DAY 4
The main part of
the redan was defended by troops of Cockrell’s brigade – although these troops
had been at Champion Hill and Big Black, the strong
defenses of the redan added more strength to already good fighting mettle of
the troops in BG John Bowen’s
division – the best division in Pemberton’s army. Confederate defenders suffered 157
casualties.
STOP 3 Fort Hill
As Union forces
edged ever closer to the Confederate lines, Grant planned a general assault for
July 6. The assault was being planned to
coordinate with the simultaneous detonation of 13 mines dug by sappers along
the Confederate defensive line.
STOP 5 Railroad Redoubt
The Mississippi home of a slain civil rights leader became
a national monument on March 13, 2019
when President Donald Trump signed a bill establishing the Medgar and Myrlie Evers
Home National Monument in
Jackson.
Myrlie Evers was national
chairwoman of the NAACP from 1995 to 1998. After living in
Mississippi in recent years, she moved back to California, where she raised her
three children after their father’s death.
The St. Croix and Namekegon
Rivers are focal points
for people who live in and visit the area.
The river attracts paddlers, boaters and anglers. Historic river towns, scenery and wildlife
draw hikers, artists and nature enthusiasts.
On April 2, 1792 Congress passed the Coinage Act establishing the first national mint in the United
States. During the Colonial Period, monetary transactions were handled using
foreign or colonial currency, livestock, or produce. After the Revolutionary War, the U.S. was
governed by the Articles of
Confederation, which authorized states to mint their own coins. In 1788,
the Constitution was ratified by a majority of states and discussions soon
began about the need for a national mint.
In 1861 at the beginning of the Civil War, the Confederacy gained
control of these three facilities, sporadically producing Confederate coinage
before converting all of them to assay offices. The U.S. regained possession of
the facilities in 1862. Dahlonega
never reopened, but Charlotte and New Orleans opened several years later
before Charlotte closed in 1919 and
New Orleans in 1942.
NGAUS and the adjutants general of the 54 states, territories
and the District of Columbia are standing against proposed legislation that
attempts to negatively change the National Guard.
The debate over three provisions of the Senate version of the
fiscal 2020 National Defense
Authorization Act came to a head at the 141st General Conference &
Exhibition in Denver.
410 HARRIET
TUBMAN NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, Auburn, NY
Harriet Tubman has long been associated with her
extraordinary work with abolitionist causes and as the Underground Railroad's most famous "conductor." Her heroic efforts in personally leading
approximately 70 people out of slavery to freedom in the North defined her as
the "Moses of her People."
The
Harriet Tubman Visitor Center, the Tubman Home for the Aged, and the Harriet Tubman Residence are also part of the park
and sit on a roughly 32 acre campus on South Street. These three sites are
operated by National Park Service partner, The Harriet Tubman Home, Inc. The residence is viewed from the
exterior only
and access to the Home for the Aged is by guided tour. There is a fee for this
tour and tours begin at the Harriet Tubman Visitor Center.
OCTOBER 12, 2019 Monday
20 EDGAR ALLAN POE National Historic Site
22 THADDEUS KOSCIUSZKO
National Historic Site
OCTOBER 13, 2019 Sunday
Brunch at the
Faire on Fairmount Street and a visit to the Philadelphia Art Museum.
We viewed some Impressionists – cubists modern and contemporary and took
guided tour through that same area and a special architectural tour of the
bulding..
OCTOBER 14, 2019 Monday
411 GREAT EGG HARBOR NATIONAL SCENIC and RECREATIONAL RIVER
There are no Visitor Centers administered by the National Park Service.
The Great Egg Harbor River begins in
suburban towns and meanders for 59 miles,draining 304 square miles of pristine wetlands in the heart of New Jersey's Pinelands Reserve (the famous "Pine Barrens") on its way to the Atlantic Ocean. Known locally as the "Great Egg," the river is close to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Trenton and Camden, New Jersey; and Wilmington, Delaware.
History
17 GETTYSBURG
NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD – Gettysburg, PA
My first visit here was April 30, 2014 it was raining and the Visitor Center was CLOSED.
Following the defeat at Gettysburg, the Confederates began retreating through Washington County on the evening of July 4 in a pouring
rain. A flooded Potomac River prevented
their immediate escape. There were
several skirmishes as Federal cavalry pursued the Confederate retrograde. The Confederates built a very strong
defensive perimeter around Williamsport and Falling Waters as they rebuilt a
bridge and waited for the Potomac’s water to fall. Lee tactically lost the Battle of Gettysburg but he may have won strategically because his
army escaped to fight for almost 2 more years. The campaign ended July 14,
1863.
On
July 18, 1861 McDowell’s Union Army reached Centreville. Five miles ahead a
small meandering stream named Bull Run crossed the
route of the Union advance, and there guarding the fords
from Union Mills to the Stone Bridge waited 22,000
Southern troops under the command of Gen. Pierre G.T.
Beauregard. McDowell
first attempted to move toward the Confederate right flank, but his troops were
checked at Blackburn’s Ford.
He then spent the next two days scouting the Southern left flank. In the
meantime, Beauregard asked the Confederate government at Richmond
for help. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, stationed in
the Shenandoah Valley at Harper’s Ferry with 10,000
Confederate troops, was ordered to support Beauregard if possible. Johnston gave an opposing Union army the slip and, employing
the Manassas Gap Railroad, started his brigades toward Manassas Junction. Most of Johnston’s troops arrived at the
junction on July 20 and 21, some marching directly into battle.
On the morning of July 21, McDowell sent his attack columns in a long march north towards Sudley Springs Ford. This route took the Federals around the Confederate left. To distract the Southerners, McDowell ordered a diversionary attack where the Warrenton Turnpike crossed Bull Run at the Stone Bridge. At 5:30a.m. the deep-throated roar of a 30-pounder Parrott rifle shattered the morning calm, and signaled the start of the battle.
Soon brigades under Barnard Bee and Francis Bartow marched to Evans’ assistance. But even with these reinforcements, the thin gray line collapsed and Southerners fled in disorder toward Henry Hill. Attempting to rally his men, Bee used Gen. Thomas J. Jackson’s newly arrived brigade as an anchor. Pointing to Jackson, Bee shouted, “There stands Jackson like a stone wall! Rally behind the Virginians!” Generals Johnston and Beauregard then arrived on Henry Hill, where they assisted in rallying shattered brigades and redeploying fresh units that were marching to the point of danger.
About noon, the Federals stopped their advance to reorganize for a new attack. The lull lasted for about an hour, giving the Confederates enough time to reform their lines. Then the fighting resumed, each side trying to force the other off Henry Hill. The battle continued until just after 4p.m., when fresh Southern units crashed into the Union right flank on Chinn Ridge, causing McDowell’s tired and discouraged soldiers to withdraw.
At
first the withdrawal was orderly. Screened by the regulars, the three-month
volunteers retired across Bull Run,
where they found the road to Washington jammed with the carriages of
congressmen and others who had driven out to Centreville to watch the fight.
Panic now seized many of the soldiers and the retreat became a rout. The
Confederates, though bolstered by the arrival
of President Jefferson Davis on the field just as the battle was ending, were
too disorganized to follow up on their success. Daybreak on July 22 found the
defeated Union army back behind the defenses of Washington.
0800 Leave Hampton Inn – Dulles Airport South, Chantilly,
VA
October 23, 2019 WEDNESDAY
Two
days later, Jackson's veterans
seized Pope's supply depot at Manassas
Junction. After a day of wild feasting, Jackson burned the Federal supplies
and moved to a position in the woods at Groveton
near the old Manassas battlefield.
The morning of August 30 passed quietly. Just before noon, erroneously concluding the Confederates were retreating, Pope ordered his army forward in "pursuit". The pursuit, however, was short-lived. Pope found that Lee had gone nowhere. Amazingly, Pope ordered yet another attack against Jackson's line. Fitz-John Porter's corps, along with part of McDowell's, struck Starke's division at the unfinished railroad's "Deep Cut." The southerners held firm, and Porter's column was hurled back in a bloody repulse.
Seeing
the Union lines in disarray, Longstreet pushed
his massive columns forward and staggered the Union left. Pope's army was faced with annihilation. Only a heroic stand by
northern troops, first on Chinn Ridge
and then once again on Henry Hill,
bought time for Pope's hard-pressed
Union forces. Finally, under cover of darkness the defeated Union army withdrew
across Bull Run towards the defenses
of Washington. Lee's bold and brilliant Second
Manassas campaign opened the way for the south's first invasion of the
north, and a bid for foreign intervention.
NASA's Langley Research Center is comprised of nearly 200 facilities on 764 acres in Hampton, Virginia, and employs about 3,400 civil servants and contractors. Langley works to make revolutionary improvements to aviation, expand understanding of Earth’s atmosphere and develop technology for space exploration. It is adjacent ot Langley Air Force Base.
Commanded
by a Colonel, the 633rd Air Base Wing is comprised of
three groups that provide installation support to more than 9,000 military and
civilian personnel including Headquarters Air Combat
Command
and three operational wings. The Wing provides mission-ready expeditionary
Airmen to combatant commanders in support of joint and combined operations
worldwide. The activation of the 633 ABW as the new host
unit for Langley Air Force Base, Va., Jan. 7,
2010, was the first step toward Joint Base
Langley-Eustis.
Stop 7 – Fort Morton. From here at what was then known as the “14 gun battery”, MG Ambrose Burnside, commander of the Union's IX Corps watched the Battle of the Crater.
Unfortunately, the Visitor Center is CLOSED
on Sunday and Monday. I arrived here on
Sunday and will leave Tuesday morning. Reconstruction Era National Monument
consists of the Visitor Center at
the Old Beaufort Fire House, 706
Craven St and three partner sites: Brick Baptist Church (not open to
the public), Camp Saxton Site (located on the campus of the Beaufort Naval
Hospital not open to the public) and the Penn School National Historic Landmark District located at 16 Penn
Circle West, St. Helena Island, SC.
Previous to September 23, 2019 the Penn School was also closed on
Sundays and Mondays.
Enslaved people built the Brick Baptist Church on St. Helena
Island in 1855 as a place of worship for white planters, several of whom are
buried in the small cemetery next to the sanctuary. Fingerprints of the
enslaved who made the bricks can still be seen in some of the walls. After the
Union Army liberated the sea islands, the church became a haven for enslaved
people, and, in 1862, Laura Towne and Ellen Murray established what became the Penn School in this sanctuary.
THE PENN CENTER
I walked the campus and viewed most of the buildings from the exterior. The Welcoms center had a video explaining the background of Penn Center.
Darrah Hall is the oldest structure
on the Penn Center campus, dating to
the end of the Reconstruction era. It is the only building at Penn Center that is physically managed by the National
Park Service, and is periodically open and staffed by ranger staff. Check
in at the visitor center for more information.
FORT HOWELL, 160 Beach City Rd, Hilton Head Island.
MITCHELVILLE – perhaps the first freedmen’s town established during the Civil War. Mitchelville was laid out by the Union Army on Hilton Head Ilsand to accommodate freed slaves. The town had a population of about 1,500 in 1862. Civil War photographs and illustrations who a wide variery of building types and activities.
Since I was on Hilton Head Island, I thought I’d pay a visit to the Hilton Grand Vacations Resort – a nice beach – nice location – not that exciting – great neighborhood. I picked up a couple of brochures on nearby golf courses.
OCTOBER 29, 2019 Tuesday
In the spring of 1961, the “Freedom
Riders,” an interracial group of civil rights activists, set out to challenge
discriminatory state laws and local customs requiring segregation on buses and
in bus station facilities. Their journey was dramatically opposed by white
supremacists who viciously attacked the Freedom Riders on multiple
occasions.
Through the media the nation and the world witnessed the violence. Images, like that of a firebombed bus burning outside Anniston, Alabama, shocked the American public and created political pressure, which forced the Federal Government to take steps to ban segregation in interstate bus travel.
Although only thirteen Freedom Riders started the journey they inspired hundreds of others to join their cause. In the end there were over 400 Freedom Riders. They succeeded in pressing the federal government to act. On May 29, 1961, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to issue regulations banning segregation, and the ICC subsequently decreed that by November 1, 1961, bus carriers and terminals serving interstate travel had to be integrated.
The Freedom Rides and Freedom Riders made substantial gains in the fight for equal access to public accommodations. Federal orders to remove Jim Crow signs on interstate facilities did not change social mores or political institutions overnight, but the Freedom Riders nonetheless struck a powerful blow to racial segregation.
Visitor Center (1330 Quintard Avenue) actually the Chamber of Commerce building – closed on Sunday
The Greyhound
Bus Station is part of the Anniston Civil Rights and Heritage Trail, which includes
nine sites associated with the struggle for civil rights in Anniston. A self
guided driving tour is available online at: annistoncivilrightstrail.org (Please
note that website is only accessible with a mobile device). Sites on the Anniston Civil Rights and Heritage Trail,
outside the monument, which are associated with the 1961 Freedom Rides include:
On January
19, 1862 Confederate and
Union forces clashed in the Battle of Mill Springs.
Initially, a sensation in newspapers North and South, the battle was largely forgotten, overshadowed by the bloody Battle of Shiloh in April 6-7, 1862. .
In Maj. Gen. Kirby
Smith’s 1862 Confederate offensive into Kentucky, Brig. Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne led the advance
with Col. John S. Scott’s cavalry
out in front. The Rebel cavalry, while moving north from Big Hill on the road to Richmond,
Kentucky, encountered Union troopers on August 29th and began skirmishing.
After noon, Union artillery and infantry joined the fray, forcing the
Confederate cavalry to retreat to Big
Hill. At that time, Brig. Gen. Mahlon
D. Manson, who commanded Union forces in the area, ordered a brigade to
march to Rogersville, toward the Rebels. Fighting for the day stopped after
pursuing Union forces briefly skirmished with Cleburne’s men in late afternoon.
That night, Manson informed his
superior, Maj. Gen. William Nelson,
of his situation, and Nelson ordered
another brigade to be ready to march in support, when required. Kirby Smith ordered Cleburne to attack in the morning and
promised to hurry reinforcements. Cleburne
started early, marching north, passed through Kinston, dispersed Union
skirmishers, and approached Manson’s battle line near Zion Church. As the day progressed additional troops joined both
sides. Following an artillery duel, the battle began, and after a concerted
Rebel attack on the Union right, the Yankees gave way. Retreating into Rogersville, the Yankees made another
futile stand at their old bivouac. By now, Smith
and Nelson had arrived and taken
command of their respective armies. Nelson
rallied some troops in the cemetery outside Richmond, but they were routed. Nelson and some men escaped but the
Rebels captured approximately 4,000 Yankees. The way north was open.
California later designated
this Tule Lake camp site as a California
Historical Landmark and in 2006, it was ranked as a National Historic
Landmark. In December 2008, the Tule Lake Unit was designated by President George W. Bush as one of nine sites—the
only one in the contiguous 48 states—to be part of the new World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, marking areas of major events
during the war. In addition to remains
of the concentration camp, this unit includes Tulelake camp, also used during the war; as
well as the rock formation known as the Peninsula/Castle Rock. The John D. Dingell,
Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed March 12, 2019, split up the three units of
the monument, creating a new Tule Lake
National Monument.
Adventures on the ICE AGE TRAIL will be on separate posts for 2019
FEBRUARY 7, 2019
WEATHER: low of 58 – high of 81 sunny
SUNRISE: 0709 SUNSET: 1809 Orlando, FL
TRAVEL: Orange Lake Resort to Disney’s Hollywood Studios..
HOLIDAY INN VACATION CLUB – Orange Lake Resort : when I checked in I was offered a 1 hour Owner’s Update - $100 cash if I attended – at first I said ‘no thank you’ – then figured for $100 . . Well, the 1 hour turned into 2 ½ hours - the world did not come to an end – but time share sales people are pushy - they just don’t know when to give up - - - I did not have a good experience with a HIVC sales person in Scottsdale last Fall and there’s no way I’m going to upgrade. I did get $100 cash for being nice and listening.
 |
| Hollywood Studios Entrance |
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
Not my first visit here – but my first visit to the Parking Lot – Cost $25 including Tax
BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT: Alone I saw a lot in 6 hours time – the Park was not that crowded. Toy Story Land just opened and that appeared to be the busiest place. The KEY - not my first visit, knew where to go, walk not gawk, no character lines to
wait in and I did the 3 Fast Pass - the max number.
 |
| Star Wars: Galaxy Far, Far Away 15 minute show at center stage |
 |
| Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular - a short version of the movie with plenty of stunts - it assumes you've seen the movie |
 |
| A Frozen Sing Along Celebration |
\
 |
| "For the First Time In Forever" - A Frozen Sing Along Celebration of course it snows at the end of the performance |
“For the First Time in Forever:” A Frozen Sing Along Celebration – seen this before – the music never fails to bring a tear to my eye
Star Wars: Path of the Jedi – a saga film experience that includes footage from Star Wars films
 |
| Lunch on the patio of the Hollywood Brown Derby |
Rock & Roller Coaster: Starring Aerosmith – just as I remembered this coaster bounces your head around a lot – and the music is loud.Salad and a glass for Chardonnay at the Hollywood Brown Derby – outdoor seating and watched the March of the First Order.
 |
| Beauty and the Beast – Live On Stage there is some good music in this show that I had forgotten |
 |
| Star Wars Star Tours - "The Adventure Continues" |
 |
| Twilight Zone Tower of Terror can you hum that tune |
 |
| Toy Story Land Entrance |
Star Tours – The Adventure Continues – experienced this ride first when I was in Vegas some years ago at what was then the Hilton – next to the Convention Center – for a NGAUS Conference. C3PO still hasn't been programmed to be a pilot.
A walk through Toy Story Land – nothing here of interest to me - except perhaps the Slinky Dog Dash – coaster with a very long wait line
Walt Disney Presents – Walt’s creative legacy through a fascinating multimedia journey and preview of concept art and models of park additions.
Dinner at Black Angus Steak House – got a seat immediately - sat the bar – food was reasonably priced – not top quality, which would have cost twice as much.
FEBRUARY 8, 2019
WEATHER: low of 58 – high of 80 sunny
SUNRISE: 0708 SUNSET: 1811 Orlando, FL
TRAVEL: Orange Lake Resort to Disney’s Animal Kingdom – Disney bus transportation to and from the Disney’s Magic Kingdom and back to Orange Lake Resort..
ANIMAL KINGDOM
 |
| Animal Kingdom Entrance |
 |
| Avatar Flight of Passage |
Parking was $25. The goal was to get hear early in order to get in a queue for the Avatar Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey. I had been on the River Journey before but not on Avatar – lines are always extremely long. I got into the park around 8:30 am and walked immediately to Avatar Flight of Passage. .
 |
| Na'vi River Journey |
Na’vi River Journey – a bioluminescent rain forest - this took about 45 minutes in a line to get on the boat ride.
Came off the Na’vi River Journey ride just in time to see the Pandora Drummers
DISNEY TRANSPORTATION – bus from ANIMAL KINGDOM to MAGIC KINGDOM
MAGIC KINGDOM
 |
| Disney Magic Kingdom Entracne - Train Station |
Arrived on Main Street around 11:30 am and of course there was a parade – The Move It! Shake It! MousekeDance It! Street Party. Another successful day afternoon – saw 7 attractions, 3 parades, had lunch and did shopping in 5 hours.- all entirely to the west side of the Fantasyland Cinderella Castle .
 |
| It's A Small World |
I decided to get in line for Peter Pan’s Flight – the wait was 45 minutes. It was just about a 50+ minute wait for a 4 minute ride through Peter Pan’s world.
 |
| Haunted Mansion |
I had a 1305 Fast Pass for the Haunted Mansion and got immediately on after “It’s A Small World”
Lunch of a Tuna Salad sandwich, home-made chips and a Coke at the Columbia Harbor House. I ate at an outside table. I tried to be seated at The Diamond Horseshoe, but without a reservation there was an hour wait.
 |
| Hall of the Presidents |
Disney Transportation took me back to Animal Kingdom. I had planned to stay around and perhaps see 1900 Rivers of Light show at Animal Kingdom but I was tired and headed back the resort.
FEBRUARY 9, 2019 Saturday
WEATHER: mostly sunny – high of 72 – turned cloudy around noon –it was supposed to rain by 3 – never rained but got cool and windy
SUNRISE: 0708 SUNSET: 1811 Orlando, FL
TRAVEL: Plans are to stay around the resort today – Disney Springs, Mass and dinner at the end of the day.
Orange Lake Resort – started out with a 6 mile walk with stops at West Village Fitness Center; Arcade, Pool, Beach and Marketplace – North village pool.
There are 4 golf courses here. Costs vary by time of play: 7am-12:59pm//1pm-2:59pm/ 3pm to close.
The Legends has 5 sets of tees.
 |
| The Legends Golf Course |
White 67.8/121 5780 yds Yellow 69.6/120 5188 yds
This course has a separate pro shop facility and a real score card.
Located in East Village. No GPS on carts
February member prices $75/$59/$39. Rental clubs are $50.
The Reserve has 3 sets of tees.
Teal 71.8/137 6505 yds White 69.4/128 6031 yds Yellow 68.3/118 5119 yds
The pro shop is located in the West Village Marketplace. No GPS on carts
February member prices $50/$42/$30. Rental clubs are $29.
Cranes Bend is a 9 Hole Executive Course with 3 sets of tees
Teal 30.0/106 1901 yds White 29.1/94 1667 yds Yellow 28.4/92 1342 yds
The pro shop is located in the West Village Marketplace.
February member prices $28/$20/$20. Rental clubs are $15.
The Legends Walk is located in North Village..
Teal 71.8/137 6505 yds White 69.4/128 6031 yds Yellow 68.3/118 5119 yds
This course is located in North Village..
February member prices $20/$15/$20. Rental clubs are $10
Kids golf FREE everyday at Legends Walk.
There is also a lit 9 hole course open until 11 pm located in North Village and a lit range open until 10 pm located in West Village.
DISNEY SPRINGS – drove to Disney Springs – free parking in the ramp – stopped by the check out the following Hilton properties – Doubltree Suites - Buena Vista Palace - Lake Buena Vista. Determined they may not be a good place to stay in November using Hilton Honors Points. All charge extra daily parking fees. All are “Disney” partner hotels with Disney Transportation.
 |
| St. Faustina Catholic Church the end of a strip mall |
 |
| Inside - St. Fautina's Catholic Church |
Eventually went back to Orange Lake Resort and had a dinner at Breezes. A drive-by Texas Roadhouse had people waiting outside – a stop by Applebee’s and after sitting at the bar and no service – I left – something about Applebee’s . . .seems they are on the decline – especially in the Orlando area – service is all but non-existent and the quality of the food is uneven.
Hilton Grand Vacation Club – Parc Soleil -
checked into a large Studio that exceeded my expectations. The Parc Soleil complex consists of two towers
with enclosed parking garages. I had a
room on the top floor (15th) of tower two (Rm 21515).\
Getting to
EPCOT early – they really
don’t open until 9 am . . . limited availability i.e. World
Showcase does not open
until 11 pm. EPCOT is a lot of walking . . . . but
again I saw almost all of the attractions . . .
.
Walked into Innovations
(Future World
East) there was nobody in the place – Like Discovery World, a hands-on experimentation place
for kids.
Walked back to Living With The Land (Future World West) and got in a 40 minute line for Soarin
Around the World – a great ride
– the floor disappears beneath you as you soar around the world .
Walked back to The Seas (Fast Pass 1050) in Future World West and almost immediately got on board a clam-mobile for an adventure with Nemo and friends.
I had short
waits to get in Journey Into Imagination With Figment – another hands-on like Discovery
World activity when
the ride is over.
In the theater
that long ago housed Michael Jackson’s Captain EO film now showcases the Disney
and Pixar Short Film Festival. A collection of 3 short films
with added 3D effects. Three good cartoons.
A walk back to
Future World East to get on Misssion:Space (Fast Pass 1235). I don’t remember being on this
flight simulator. You can “train” as an astronaut on the green Earth
Mission or the more strenuous
orange Mars. Mission.
You experience G forces – acceleration – deceleration – as part of a 4 member crew - - - -
don’t know how they do that? A
good ride.
Snack of pot-lickers and Tsing Tao in China.
It was a warm afternoon – I figured I would be unable to drink and eat my way through the remaining 7 countries. I decided to watch the Japanese Taiko Drummers; attend The American Adventure a 30-40 minute show and watch a live performance of the Disney On Broadway Concert Series.
The Broadway show started at 1730 and featured Ashley Brown and Josh Strickland. Brown played Mary Poppins and Belle on Broadway. Strickland starred in Tarzan. Togther they sang songs from Aida, Frozen, Newsies, Mary Poppins, Sleeping Beauty, Lion King, Tarzan and perhaps a few others..
After I
completed the 3 Fast Pass
reservations I was able to make one additional Fast Pass for Splash
Mountain (Fast
Pass 1920). A great ride with Brer’
Bear, Brer;
Fox and Brer’
Rabbit. Disney’s "Song of the South" is live action and animaton
telling the Uncle Remus stories. Released in 1946 it is probably not considered
politically correct today . . . . but it did have some good music - like the memorable Zip-a-Dee-Do- Dah - and
some good folk tale stories. It was 75 degrees
– I did get wet – but not soaked.
Left the park but still saw the Happily Ever After Fireworks as I waited, transferred and rode the monorail back to EPCOT parking.
I last visited here
21-27 JAN 2015, not much had changed. Admission to
the park is $30. I forgot my Lifetime
Senior Pass (which cost me $10
six years ago) so I purchased an Annual Senior Pass for $20. I visited the Shark Valley Visitor
Center.
There is a lot to do here but it was late in the day and I didn’t have a
reservation for the Tram Tour and didn’t feel
like walking the 7 mile trail or renting a bike and taking 14 mile bike path..
Marine and Estuarine waters extend from the Ten Thousand Islands to Florida
Bay. Seagrass beds lie beneath these waters
providing critical food, water and shelter for marine life.
FEBRUARY 10, 2019 Sunday
WEATHER: 66 degrees – cloudy and rainy at
7 am – forecast high of 75 with clearing by 6 pm SUNRISE:
0707 SUNSET: 1812 Orlando, FL
TRAVEL: Orange Lake Resort to Tavares, FL; back to Orlando and check in at
the Hilton Grand Vacations (HGVC) Parc Soleil.
Visited with relatives in Tavares – less than an hour drive from Orlando and
Deland – about an hour from Tavares
 |
| Studio - Parc Soleil |
 |
| Parc Soleil |
 |
| Parc Soleil view of the pool from the 9th floor |
The floor is
brown wood grain laminate, king bed, table, 2 chairs, dresser, tv, a small
kitchen with sink, counter, cabinets, flatware, cups, plates, bowls, cups
glasses for two, toaster, coffee maker . . . . more than adequate for my
needs. WIFI works.
Now I’ve stayed at 3 Hilton time share properties in the Orlando Hilton SeaWorld, Hilton
Tuscany Village; Hilton Parc
Soleil. The only property I haven’t stayed at is
Hilton’s Las Palmeras.
FEBRUARY 11, 2019 Monday
WEATHER: 64 degrees at 6:30 am mostly sunny;
high of 80, 75 at 9 pm – a great day
SUNRISE: 0707 SUNSET:
1812 Orlando, FL
TRAVEL: Parc Soleil to
EPCOT (a 10 mile – 20
minute drive); Monorail
to Disney
Transportation Center – transfer to Express Monorail to Magic
Kingdom and return to EPCOT
EPCOT - Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow
 |
| EPCOT Entrance |
 |
| FROZEN in Norway |
Additionally, EPCOT was hosting an International
Festival of the Arts . . .
a lot of additional vendors, acts, workshops and artists available for
those with an interest.
 |
| World Showcase not open yet |
Walked through
Mexico (not open yet)
to get to Norway and Frozen
Ever After – the Fast Pass
on this boat ride sells out quickly – I think the Frozen
show in Hollywood
Studios is 10x
better. There was a 35 minute wait –
it was early – the lines get much longer later..
 |
| The Land - home to Soarin' |
 |
| Fast Track - that's my car design |
A fast walk back
to Future World East and Test Track – Presented by Chevrolet (Fast Pass 0950). I got there just before the Fast Pass expired at 1050. I had forgotten that you build/design your
vehicle – a great ride. Lots of hands-on activities that you can test you
design car on after the Test
Track..
 |
| The Seas |
Walked back to The Seas (Fast Pass 1050) in Future World West and almost immediately got on board a clam-mobile for an adventure with Nemo and friends.
 |
| Crush --- in The Seas |
 |
| Journey Into The Imagination |
 |
| Disney & PIXAR Short Film Festival |
 |
| Mission Space |
Back to the entrance and got in a 30 minute
line for Spaceship Earth – a slow moving ride tracing human history and invention.
Walked to Mexico
and almost
immediately got on the Grand Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros – another one of those slow boat
rides.
Snack of pot-lickers and Tsing Tao in China.
Didn’t walk far
and decided to have a bratwurst and Beck’s Pilsner in Germany.
 |
| Japanese Taiko Drummers |
 |
| The American Adventure |
It was a warm afternoon – I figured I would be unable to drink and eat my way through the remaining 7 countries. I decided to watch the Japanese Taiko Drummers; attend The American Adventure a 30-40 minute show and watch a live performance of the Disney On Broadway Concert Series.
 |
| Disney On Broadway |
 |
| Disney On Broadway |
 |
| Disney On Broadway |
The Broadway show started at 1730 and featured Ashley Brown and Josh Strickland. Brown played Mary Poppins and Belle on Broadway. Strickland starred in Tarzan. Togther they sang songs from Aida, Frozen, Newsies, Mary Poppins, Sleeping Beauty, Lion King, Tarzan and perhaps a few others..
MAGIC KINGDOM
 |
| Cinderella Castle |
 |
| Splash Mountain Brer Rabbit & the Briar Patch |
Left the park but still saw the Happily Ever After Fireworks as I waited, transferred and rode the monorail back to EPCOT parking.
FEBRUARY 12, 2019 Tuesday
WEATHER: 71 and cloudy at 6:30 am; a high of 80 mostly
cloudy until it poured for 15 minutes at 4pm – partial clearing after SUNRISE:
0707 SUNSET: 1812 Orlando, FL
TRAVEL: Parc Soleil Orlando Area
Hilton Grand Vacations - BEWARE of EDGAR VELEZ- time share salesman - a fast talker – a double
talker – but boy - is he good! At any rate his actions caused me to lose a
vacation day here in Orlando - a $50 American Express Gift card did not make up for the lost time . . . . I am way
too patient. Why Do I Do Things Like
That?
However, it
probably worked out – rained poured hard between 4 and 4:15 pm then the sun
came out. It would have been miserable
at Animal Kingdom and recovery would not have been fast . . . . .
Late Lunch/Early
Dinner at Miller’s Ale House on International Drive – 3 16 oz beers and an order
of fish and chips for $13.84 – can’t get that in Wisconsin . . . .
This is what I missed:
ANIMAL KINGDOM
1100 Festival of the
Lion King
1200 UP! A Great Bird Adventure
Everest Expedition (Fast Pass 1200)
Dinosaur (Fast Pass 1330)
1430 Finding Nemo – The Musical
1605 Pocahantas
Its Tough To Be A Bug
African Safari (Fast 1710)
1900 Rivers of Light – a nighttime water show on the Discovery River that
combines Disney nature footage and an original scorel
FEBRUARY 13, 2019 Wednesday
WEATHER: mostly cloudy – high of 72
SUNRISE: 0708 Orlando, FL
TRAVEL: MCO-ATL-MKE lots of snow on the ground when I returned
MARCH 18, 2019 Monday
WEATHER: warm and mostly cloudy in
Florida
SUNRISE: 0708
Milwaukee, WI SUNSET: 1937 Fort
Myers, FL
TRAVEL: MKE-ATL-Fort
Lauderdale Drive to Fort Myers across
Alligator Alley (I-75)
Stayed with relatives
MARCH 19, 2019 Tuesday
WEATHER: rain until 2 pm - high of 60 -
cloudy
SUNRISE: 0732 SUNSET: 1938
Fort Myers, FL
TRAVEL: Fort Myers
area
Rain most of the day cancelled Golf at Shadow
Wood CC.
Golf Galaxy – Dick’s Sporting Goods - Lunch at
English Pub – Dinner at Luigina’s.
MARCH 20, 2019 Wednesday
WEATHER: cool and cloudy in the am, high
of 78 and became partly cloudy in the afternoon
SUNRISE: 0730 Fort Myers, FL SUNSET:
1939 Naples, FL
TRAVEL: Fort Myers,
FL Big Cypress National Preserve to Everglades
National Park to Naples, FL.
Hampton Inn – located in Naples just east of Tamiami
Dr – between Hwy
41 and I-75. An older – refurbished hotel. Nice but the lime green hallways are just a bit much – reminded
me of a hospital. WIFI works.
163 BIG CYPRESS NATIONAL PRESERVE,
FL
 |
| Big Cypress National Preserve - Welcome Center |
I last visited here 21-27
JAN 2015, not much has
changed. Big Cypress National
Preserve is mostly adjacent
to Everglades National Park on the south and east. I did
visit Big Cypress Swamp Visitor Center and the Oasis Visitor
Center on Tamiami
Trail East (US 41).
The Preserve is open all year except
Christmas. Rangers lead programs here December
through April. There is no admission
charge. If I return, the canoe trips
look like fun. If you have an ATV, there
are plenty of trails to explore as well at trails to hike
 |
| Map - Big Cyrpess National Preserve - Everglades National Park |
 |
| Big Cypress National Preserve - Oasis Visitor Center |
 |
| Ochopee Post Office |
 |
| Ochopee Post Office on Hwy 41 |
162 EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, FL
 |
| Everglades National Park Shark Valley Visitor Center on US 41 |
There are 4 Visitor
Centers in Everglades National Park and I’ve said that it is my most favorite National Park to visit – east of the
Mississippi – because it is huge – it has diversity – and there is a lot to
do. I spent over a week in the area. Biscayne National Monument is along the Atlantic south of
Miami and a drive to Key West will provide boat access to Dry
Tortugas National Monument.
 |
| Everglades National Park - Shark Valley - Sea of Grass |
Everglades National Park is a collage of habitiats. Water,
elevation, fire and hurricanes are major influences on the health of the Everglades.
 |
| they're everywhere |
Mangroves are found in
coastal channels, in rivers and along canals where fresh and saltwater
mingle. Forests stabilize costal lands,
sustain nurseries for marine life and provide nesting for wading birds.
The Everglades Freshwater
Marsh is a wide shallow,
slow moving “sea of
grass.” Two major drainages – the broad Shark
River Slough (pronounced slew) and
the narrow Taylor Slough and the main avenues for freshwater flow.
Cypress trees thrive in
flooded conditions. Cypress forests often grow in the shape
of a dome, with taller trees in the center of the dome or in a linear “strand” where tree growth follows the flow of water. Cypress live as long as 600 years –
logging was stopped in around 1960.
Pine Rockland is the rarest and most diverse habitat in the Everglades, occurring at the highest
elevations along a limestone ridge on the east coast of Florida.
Tropical Hardwood Hammocks are dense island forests growing on elevated land that rarely
floods. Live oak, tropical mahogany,
gumbo-limbo mastic – ferns and air plants thrive here. Natural moats around hammocks protect them
from fire.
MARCH 21, 2019 Thursday
WEATHER: 63 at 0730, clear and sunny high
of 75
SUNRISE: 0730 SUNSET:
1939 Naples, FL
TRAVEL: Naples to
Marco Island, to Everglades City to Everglades Gulf Coast VC to Naples
 |
| Hilton Marco Island |
 |
| Gulf of Mexico Beach in front of Hilton on Marco Island |
I visited the Hilton
Resort & Spa on
Marco Island. Nothing special about Marco
Island except that it’s
on the Gulf of Mexico and just about every lot has a canal behind it
leading to the Gulf – expensive and
prone to hurricane damage - OK, now I can say that I’ve been there.
 |
| Everglades National Park - Gulf Coast VC |
162 EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, FL
Gulf Coast Visitor Center – I’ve been here before . .
. . Hurricane Irma destroyed the Visitor Center
last year – it was the second floor of a maintenance building – not much larger
than a trailer - in my opinion, not a loss, and you don’t have to walk up to
the second floor – the Park
Service set up a Contact
Station in a mobile
trailer. A concessionaire still offers
canoes, kayaks and boat rides out into the Gulf.
 |
| Everglades Gulf Coast |
Lunch at Old
Naples American Sports Bar – great food – reasonably priced – a special every day – today was an 8” pizza for $4.98 – the
2 16 oz beers cost more than the pizza.
Enough left over for dinner.
Back to the Hampton
Inn – sat out by
the pool for about 35 minutes - the sun is hot.
Marquette 83 Murray
State 64 - in the
first round of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. – Marquette did not play well –
Murray obviously did. Marquette was
seeded 5th Murray 12th..
MARCH 22, 2019 Friday
WEATHER: nice 70’s – 80’s clear
SUNRISE: 0728 SUNSET:
1939 Naples, FL
TRAVEL: Naples, FL
area
Stay with relatives
Dinner at Pincher’s Crab Shack
MARCH 23, 2019 Saturday
WEATHER: a nice day – sunny – high in mid
70’s
SUNRISE: 0727 Naples, FL SUNSET:
1933 Fort Lauderdale, FL
TRAVEL: Naples area
Stay with relatives
Mass at St. Ann’s in Naples.
Average Sunday collection here, as published in the bulletin is around
$35,000.
Dinner at Texas Tony’s
Rib & Brewhouse
MARCH 24, 2019 Sunday
WEATHER: 70’partly cloudy to mostly cloudy
by afternoon
SUNRISE: 0708 SUNSET:
xxxx Fort Lauderdale, FL
TRAVEL: Naples to Fort Lauderdale FL Turn in the rental car at FLL Cab to Port Everglades $20 with tip.
This is the one of the largest in the Holland America fleet. The room I have is larger than on any cruise I’ve been on yet. Plenty of TV channels, movies on demand, etc. Typical cruise lots of activities, shore excursions, 2 pools, bars, restaurants, sports facilities, exercise and spa.
Officers & Crew: 988
Captain: Noel O’Driscoll
Possbile Guests: 2,666
Length: 975 ft as long as 12 blue
whales
Maiden Voyage: 2018
Music Venues: Rolling Stone Rock Room, BB Kings Blues Room, Lincoln Center Stage, Billboard Onboard
Yes, there is a Casino and a World
Stage featuring
dancers, a magician & a comedian
A comfortable
ship. More families on this than in the
past – spring break may offer more opportunity than cruises in February . This is a larger ship for Holland America - but
still it doesn’t seem crowded.
 |
| Ports Call - Port Evergaldes (Fort Lauderdale); Half Moon Cay (Bahamas); Ocho Rios (Jamaica); Georgetown (Cayman Islands - British Weest Indies); Cozumel (Mexico) |
 |
| Comfortable Stateroomn |
This ship has
more room on Decks 2 & 3 dedicated to lounges and restaurants.
A recent movie
is shown on a very large screen on Deck 9 in the forward Lido
Pool & Bar. Same movies and more are available in the
room on the TV.
Mass is said every day
in the Hudson and Half-Moon Rooms.
The outside Promenade
Deck is not as wide
as other ships I’ve been on.
The Emergency
Muster Drill/Stations are not located
near the lifeboats on deck. They are in
the wide lounges on Decks 2 and 3.
Tonight’s dining
room menu was not enticing – I had a shrimp cocktail, prime rib, potatoes, and
green beans at the Lido Market (a cafeteria style line) on Deck 9
MARCH 25, 2019 Monday
WEATHER: 73 cloudy, rain squalls at 0645
TRAVEL: Half-Moon
Cay, Bahamas - a private island for Holland
America offering a
white sandy beach and a wide range of water sports, snorkeling, catamaran
sailing, and rental of private cabanas on the beach. I settled for a “Historic Nature Walk.”
ARRIVAL 0900
ON-BOARD 1630
0700 walked 2
miles on the Promenade
Deck (equal to 6
times around the ship)
1015 Half-Moon
Cay -Historic Nature Walk – a leisurely 1 ½ hour walk on
the island with a guide.
Lunch on the island – included
 |
| Half Moon Cay - sting rays |
On Board Activities.
1400 Footprint Analysis in the Spa Deck 9 – purchased a pair of insoles –
get to wear them until Wednesday 6 pm – if they don’t make a difference -
refund
1600 Happy Hour – BillBoard Onboard Deck 2 – met a guy looking like Santa who has been sailing for 5 weeks
1715 Gala Night dinner with
7 people from Tucson, New Berlin, Sheboygan, Naples one person has been sailing
for 8 weeks
1845 Lincoln Center Stage – Women In Music – listened to 2 pieces
1915 Officers On Deck – a welcome aboard glass of champagne toast to safe
travels
2000 World Stage Performance – StepONE Dance Company’s
HUMANITY - nice the dancers worked hard
2100 BB Kings – very good band, met the comic who will perform on Thrusday/Friday
MARCH 26, 2019 Tuesday
WEATHER: 74 clear and sunny at 0545; high
of 83 calm seas
TRAVEL: At Sea
Ships clocks set
back 1 hour to CENTRAL Daylight TIME
On Board Activities
0630 walked 2.33
miles on the Promenade
Deck (equal to 7
times around the ship)
0800 Mass in the Half Moon & Hudson Rooms –‘forgiveness’
1000 Shore Excursions
 |
| Lincoln Center State - piano quintet a daily shot of entertainment |
1400 sighted Cuba, 5 miles off the starboard side
of the ship
1800 Lincoln Center Stage – I thought I was going to listen to the Based
On Bach program – but
that was at 1700 – so with a glass of Johnny Walker Black, I listened to the
Bernstein to Buble program again
2000 Dinner – Main Dinding Room – my scheduled table – met a group of academics
from Canada living in the US and a couple from Michigan (Jerry & Bobbi), a
sixth (John Paul) still did not attend.
All were cruisers – the older academic dominated conversation about
travels. I fear we have little in
common.
2130 Rolling Stone Rock Room – lead, rhythm, bass guitars, drummer and keyboards.
Excellent vocals and harmonies. Played
a bit of everything very well. Steve
Miller, Eagles . . . . the lead guitarist was outstanding.
MARCH 27, 2019 Wednesday
WEATHER: 77 clear and sunny when we docked
in Ocho Rios; 79 cloudy and 100% humidity at 1330
TRAVEL: Ocho Rios,
Jamiaca
ARRIVAL 0800
ON-BOARD 1630
0630 walked 3.00 miles on the Promenade Deck (equal to 9 times around the
ship)
 |
| John Crow's Taven Ocho Rios, Jamaica the panhandlers know what a fence is for |
1115 – 1330 Ocho Rios, Jamaica – found the Harley-Davison dealership – very friendly;
directed me to the Jamaican Post Office - $4 for 4
post card Bob Marley stamps
Plenty of
pan-handlers – only approached by one person who asked - “Want
some weed?”
I did find the
Post Office, wrote and mailed post cards – dropped them in what appeared to be
an unsecured large plywood box that apparently was the drop box. We’ll see. . .
.
Found some quiet
at a bar called John Crow’s Tavern. Drank a Red
Stripe ($3.50) and
wrote the post cards at the bar. Never did find Jimmy Buffet’s bar.
On Board Activities.
1600 Happy Hour – a double Johnny Walker Black lasted 3 hours
1800 Lincoln Center Stage - Masterworks by Dvorak
1900 Lincoln Center Stage – Movie Classics – from Forrest
Gump to “Windmills of Your Mind” (The
Thomas Crown Affair” to Poltergeist, Psycho, Schindlers List and the Star
Wars Cantina song.
A medical
emergency on-board required a stop at Montego Bay, Jamaica to disembark one passenger around
2030. Somehow I don’t think I would want to get that bill
MARCH 28, 2019 Thursday
WEATHER: 72 cloudy with rain at 0600;
TRAVEL: George Town,
Grand Cayman Island – British West Indies
 |
| Georgetown, Grand Cayman Island - tenders transferred passengers from the Nieuw Statendam to the dock |
ARRIVAL 0800 travel via tender – some concern about ocean swells that subsided enough fro us to visit. Three ships arriving an hour earlier were diverted to the other side of the island.
ON-BOARD 1530
0815 George
Town, Grand Cayman Island – “A Taste of
Cayman.” The tour promised a visit to the Cayman
Islands Brewery and Seven Fathoms Rum distillery. However, due to a visit by Prince Charles and
Duchess Camilla, the brewery is closed for the day Instead the tour operator offered a stop at
the rock formation “Hell” and a longer stay at the distillery and a 25%
discount.. The tour was cancelled at
0830.
Went into town –
100x better than Ocho Rios. However, the
Post Office closed. A “holiday” or “holy
day” to some, because of the Royal Visit.
No brewery tour but did find a good bar with WIFI. The Harley Davidson delaer did offer to mail
my post cards – let’s see when they arrive.
 |
| Local brew and very reliable WIFI |
1600 Happy Hour – bought a Miller Lite for today and one for later
1800 Lincoln Center Stage – Masterworks by Schumann – a solo piano piece and a piano
quintet
1900 Lincoln Center Stage - Piaf to Peanuts – the cabaret, to Argentina, to the most famous
Charlie Brown musician Schroeder – Bach and “Linus and Lucy” to McCartney’s
“Blackbird” and Zeppelin’s “Stairway
to Heaven”, concluding with Queen’s
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
2000 Dining Room – Gala Attire again met the same guests – still unable to hardly
get a word in edgewise – dinner was tasty – elegant but something missing in
the shrimp cocktail, pumpkin soup and surf & turf – just coffee little room
for dessert. The mysterious John Paul
did not attend..
MARCH 29, 2019 Friday
WEATHER: 77 and cloudy at 0630
TRAVEL: Cozumel,
Mexico
ARRIVAL 1100
ON-BOARD 1030
If this were a
Canival Cruise – plenty of time for people to get in trouble
Met Florin in
the Spa – the Goodfeet representative - -told him about the ‘cutting’ the arch support was
doing to my right instep – he said try for one more day – hour on – hour off -
- - sure . . . . ‘like new shoes you
have to break them in’ – I wouldn’t think this true of arch supports . . . we’ll see
The Captain
indicated 5 ships in port – there are at least 3 docks I saw 4 ships. The docks support most of the shops – no real
need to travel downtown like previous visits.
Unable to find anyone who sold stamps for postcards – only the Post
Office wherever that was.
 |
| San Gervasio - Mayan runins |
 |
| Mariachis at the Beach Club |
1700 Returned to the Docks. The docks
are walled – amazing – probably not to keep the Americans in but the caravan’s
out.
Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville – right on the docks – a state
of mind. Of course I had a margarita.
On Board Activities.
0630 walked 3.00
miles on the Promenade
Deck (equal to 9
times around the ship)
0800 Mass in the Half Moon & Hudson Rooms –
0830 Dining Room Breakfast with a couple from Boston (lobster
fisherman) Dave & Wendy), a couple from Iowa living on the West Coast of
Florida above Tampa (Joyce & Gary), and a retired salesman of water treatment products (Tony)
1000 Win A Cruise Bingo- World Stage 2 & 3 - What did I have to lose? Answer: $35.
1930 Folkorico Mexico – a good Mariachi Band – under the sky on the Lido
Deck with the canopy
over the forward pool open. Pizza for
dinner – not very hungry.
MARCH 30, 2019 Saturday
WEATHER: 76 and clear at 0730 – back on
EDT
Clocks were set ahead one hour to EDT
TRAVEL: At Sea
Met Florin in
the Spa – the Goodfeet representative - -told him about the ‘cutting’ the arch support was
doing to my right instep – he said try for one more day – hour on – hour off -
- - sure . . . . ‘like new shoes you
have to break them in’ – I wouldn’t think this true of arch supports . . . we’ll see
On Board Activities.
1000 Ask the Captain – World Stage 2 & 3 - a virtual tour of the Nieuw Statendam’s bridge and engine room
Ever since I
attempted to connect to WIFI on shore at the private beach club . . . my phone
has displayed the message Unfortunately,
the process the process com.android has stopped. Bottom Line – the phone will
only shut off and turn on – nothing else works.
I’ve tried everything except doing a Factory
Reset (which appears to
delete all data) can’t figure out how
to backup the phone to my pc. The IT guy on board has the personality
of a dead fish – and is of
little or no assistance – a course in communication could help – he belongs in
the water not on board - I’m getting frustrated.. It may be time for a new
phone but I will be lost without my
phone.
1230 Lincoln Center Stage Matinee – All American A toe tapping opening “Hoedown” from Copland’s Rodeo followed by Brubeck’s “Rondo A la Turk” and Bernstein’s opening prologue
to West Side Story. Ella
Fizgerald’s classic “Dream a Little Dream of Me” or was that Cass Elliot?. Dave Matthews found his way into the program
with the “Ants Go Marching”.
Another Copland – as expected the final movement (Simple Gifts) from Appalachian
Spring and closing
with Gershwin’s “Rhapsody
in Blue”
The SAGA of “Unfortunately, the process android.com.phone has
stopped working” An error message unique to Android
phones – you
won’t find this message on an Apple product (they’ll just tell you to buy a new
phone). I decided to purchase Internet
on the ship for 24 hours at a cost of $24.98 and see if I could get any
assistance from Samsung before I landed
in port.
I started around
4 pm and finished, just before 11 pm - waiting for an app called Smart
Switch to finish its
backup download of my phone data to my PC.
The saga continued into Sunday.
BOTTOM LINE: Patience is required – Contacts with at least 3 SAMSUNG
representatives
via Chat sessions
eventually guided me through the entire 7 hour process.
I had a club sandwich delivered to my room for
dinner – and three 16 oz Miller Lites
assisted in the process.
MARCH 31, 2019 Sunday
WEATHER: warm and clear – up to 80 in the
afternoon but with a breeze – it didn’t feel like 80
TRAVEL: At Sea - Fort
Lauderdale – Ft. Lauderdale Hilton Beach Resort – Marlins Stadium – Ft.
Lauderdale Hilton Beach Resort
0400 Woke up - Smart Switch had completed copying the data
from my phone to my PC
0415 Contacted Samsung via the PC and a Rep guided me
through the process of doing a Factory Reset (which wiped everything off my
phone) and transferring the data from the PC to the phone
From beginning
to end this process consumed almost 7 hours of time
May you never
see the message “Unfortunately,
the process android.com.phone has stopped working.
Ate breakfast on
board and left the ship ahead of schedule about 0845
US Customs was not a problem – the lines moved quickly
Today a taxi
cost $25 from
the terminal to the airport. The cost
was $16 last week Sunday – cost of fuel went up? I should have negotiated the price.. . . .
Obtained an Nissan
Sentra from Enterprise (an uncomfortable car compared
to the Hyundai or KIA, and drove about 35 minutes to the Fort
Lauderdale Hilton Beach Resort.
 |
| View of Fort Lauderdale Beach from the 6th floor of the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort |
 |
| My ugraded 4 room suite |
I connected to Hilton’s
WIFI and reset my
phone enabling Google, Messaging, Gmail and a variety of other APPS that were
on the phone previous to the recurring
‘message’ that made the phone useless.
Miami Marlins 3 – Colorado Rockies 0. A solo Home Run in the bottom of the 7th for the Marlins. It was a 35 mile, 50 minute drive to Marlins Stadium. Parking cost $25 in a structure on the 3rd Base side of the stadium Easy to get to. The stadium was not very filled. A nice baseball stadium. With only 2 more baseball parks to visit this could rate alongside Cleveland – after my favorites Milwaukee and Philadelphia. Good view of downtown Miami over the outfield wall. Lots of food vendors along the concourse– only one Team Store or stand selling Marlins gear – a 2019 Marlins Team Set was not yet available.
 |
| View of the ball park from my seat Row 22 - nice view of downtown Miami in the distance - hardly any fans in the park |
A walk along the beach, bars and restaurants proved fruitless. I stopped at the Ritz-Carlton (excellent service) for 2 Corona’s at $7.49 each decided not to eat there. Returned to a restaurant/bar on the corner of the Hilton but not affiliated with it – service was bad – I really don’t think the staff cared and a gin & tonic cost $12, compared to a $9 Tanquerey on the ship, this place was expensive. – went up to the 6th floor of the Hilton and had a delicious Lobster Mac & Cheese for $17 with a glass of Stella Artois $5.
APRIL 1, 2019 Saturday
WEATHER: 70 and mostly cloudy at 0500;
TRAVEL: Ft.
Lauderdale Hilton Beach Resort – Biscayne National Park –
Everglades National Park - Ft. Lauderdale Hilton Beach Resort
161 BISCAYNE NATIONAL PARK, Homestead, FL
I visited here on January
27, 2015. However, they were in the middle of
negotiations with a new concessionaire so none of the boat tours were
operating. Since 95% of the park is
underwater this was a bit disappointing.
Unless you have your own boat you could spend a day or two touring the
islands and reefs.
So today I made a
reservation with the new concessionaire, the Biscayne National PArk Institute for a trip to Boca
Chita.
 |
| Boca Chita Lighthouse |
The
Florida Keys is one of the most famous and most visited archipelagos in the
world. Contrary to what many may think, the Florida Keys do not begin at Key
Largo. To the north lie nearly 50 more keys (ancient coral reef islands) that
are virtually undeveloped. The fight to protect these last unspoiled keys
culminated over 30 years ago with the creation of Biscayne National Monument.
 |
| Biscayne National Park |
During the early 1950s, an era of newfound prosperity, Americans were taking more vacations and moving to Florida. The keys were a popular destination and property values soared. Many people looked at the northernmost keys, the ones bypassed by Henry Flagler's railroad and within the present day boundaries of the park, and saw them languishing in placid waters. They envisioned hotels, roads and other developments. Several years later came a plan to dredge up 8,000 acres of bay bottom to create a jetport. In 1961, 13 area landowners voted unanimously to create the City of Islandia. Plans for Seadade, a major industrial seaport, were announced in 1962. The proposal called for the dredging of a 40-foot deep channel through the Bay's clear, shallow waters. Dade County's "new frontier" was born, but it never grew beyond the toddler stage.
An
initially small, but vocal, group of people had an entirely different vision
for these islands; a national park unlike any other. The park would be covered
by water, protecting not only the islands but the bay to the west and the reef
to the east. It would provide a haven for wildlife and a respite for people
tired of cramped city life. The park's proponents were not extraordinary in the
usual sense of the word. They were doctors and pilots, farmers and writers.
They were people who knew the area — people who understood new concepts like
ecology and environmental preservation.
 |
| View of Miami from Boca Chita :Lighthouse - Marlin Stadium is the white dome on thr left |
The
Hatfields and McCoys had nothing on the two feuding groups. Words were exchanged,
tempers flared and fights broke out. Lloyd Miller, president of the local Izaak Walton League, said that the
opposition poisoned his dog and tried to get him fired from his job because of
his support for the park idea. Slowly though, support began to build. Juanita
Greene's inspiring newspaper stories in the Miami Herald helped accelerate the pace. Hardy Matheson based his
entire campaign for county commissioner on the issue of establishing the park.
Vacuum cleaner magnate Herbert W. Hoover, Jr., who spent considerable time in
the area as a boy, brought legislators down from Washington for dramatic blimp
rides over the proposed park, convinced that anyone who saw the place would be
just as smitten with it as he was. By early 1968, local and national support
for a Biscayne National Monument was
at an all-time high. |
| Boca Chita Key from the lighhouse |
While
the struggle to protect the park from current local threats continues, some
things have not changed. The northern keys are still untethered by roads and
bridges. The shallow water is still clear and beautiful. It is still a haven
for wildlife and a respite for weary urban dwellers.
I visited the Ernest
F. Coe Visitor Center in Everglades
National Park several times in January
of 2015 – not much has changed – today it
was the end of the day and later in the season – less people. I had originally planned to visit the NIKE
site again but tours stopped March 30th.
The site remains virtually the same as it was when official use of the site ended in 1979. Construction of the site by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was completed in 1965, just after the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. At the time, the nation's air defenses were positioned to protect against a possible Soviet air attack over the North Pole and thus, this and other anti-aircraft missile sites were established to protect against a possible air attack from the south. The Nike Hercules missile site was listed on the U.S. Department of the Interior Register of Historic Places on July 27, 2004 as a Historic District.
The area includes 3 missile barns, a missile assembly building, a guard dog kennel, barracks, 2 Nike Hercules missiles, and various support elements. HM69 was also significant because of the technology employed. The South Florida Nike Hercules sites were integrated with Hawk missile sites to provide an all altitude defensive capability around South Florida. Approximately 140 soldiers staffed the 3 above-ground missile barns of HM69 to protect against an air attack from Cuba. The personnel of HM69, along with the members of other South Florida unites, received the Army Meritorious Unit Commendation which was one of the few times that it was awarded for deterrence rather than engagement with the enemy.
APRIL 2, 2019 Saturday
WEATHER: 68 and clear and 0500 – 40’s in
Wisconsin
TRAVEL: Ft.
Lauderdale Hilton Beach Resort – Fort Lauderdale Airport - Home
APRIL 26, 2019 Friday
WEATHER: high of 58 – sunny – windy –
from the NNW
TRAVEL: Manitowoc to
Radisson Resort & Conference Center (Oneida Gaming), Green Bay, WI
After a bowl of
clam chowder at a Wisconsin bar along Lake Michigan in Manitowoc/Two Rivers, I
checked out the Ice Age Trail’s Connecting Route between the northern end of Tisch
Mills Segment and the southern
end of the Kewanee River Segment. There appears to be room to park at the junction of CTH F & Sleepy
Hollow Road.
RADISSON RESORT & CONEERENCE CENTER – actually better than the Holiday Inn –larger room,
friendlier staff – there are people here - WIFI works
WINGA/WIGEA Conference
The combined
69th WINGA (WIsconsin
National Guard Association)/47th WINGEA (Wisconsin National Guard
Enlisted Association) Conference.
These annual
conferences have been combined for some years – I am still not a fan of the
combined conference but I’m sure it’s a matter of attendance and cost – in the
name of efficiency.
Apprehension
about attending – emphasis seemed to be on Professional Development.
A poll at the Icebreaker on Friday night indicated that about a third of
the attendees were here for Professional Development – i.e. ‘on order’s’ and
getting paid. Same goes for the annual NGAUS
(National Guard Association of the United States) – in the hope of
getting younger members to attend again – it usually doesn’t happen for
“traditional guardsmen.” I’m not so sure there are stats somewhere that
say it does . . . . it’s more of a ‘feel good’ feeling
That pay thing
seems to be a recurring item – especially when it comes to resolutions.
Army & Air Resolutions always seem to be about equipment and modernization
but the specific WINGA resolutions
submitted seem to also include – for lack of a better word ‘entitlements’
-
Fitness Stipend
of $150/mo to belong to a Health Club
-
Provide Full BAS
to all NG Airmen and Soldiers
-
Eliminate MOS
specific bonuses, and provide bonuses to all IET Soldiers regardless of MOS
-
Provide a
one-time $1,500 uniform allowance to all National Guard officers – or provide
all uniforms free of charge to reserve component officers Amended to ‘exchange in kind’
-
Army and Air
Guard traditional and technician aviators receive full Aviation Incentive Pay
-
Recommend NGAUS
support the addition of a CUAS (Counter Unmanned Aerial System) capability to include
kinetic search and destroy
-
NGAUS establish
a resolution for KC-135 Refueling/Defueling Capability to add refuel/defual
capability to locations CONUS and OCONUs
Perhaps, only
the last two would get my vote.
Nice grab bag of
goodies at check-in: a UW water bottle, a wireless speaker, a 2 ½” jack knife, and several carbiners. I won a large aluminum water bottle (thermos)
in a raffle..
The Friday night
Ice Breaker had a variety of silent auction items and several vendor displays. Food buffet was ‘tailgate’ themed – brats,
burgers, beans, salad.
APRIL 27, 2019 Saturday
WEATHER: mostly cloudy – high of 40 – the
Cubs game was snowed out
TRAVEL: Manitowoc to
Radisson Resort & Conference Center (Oneida Gaming), Green Bay, WI
RADISSON RESORT & CONEERENCE CENTER – nice conference facilities and service, WIFI works
WINGA/WIGEA Conference
0700-0800 Breakfast Buffet
0800-0830 Retiree Caucus
0845-1030 WINGA/WIENGA Joint Session – MG
John Dunbar, Adjutant
General-Wisconsin; GEN Joseph Lengyel, Chief National Guard Bureau (NGB). Dunbar is also Chairman of NGAUS – hence
his ability to pull in Lengyel who also is one of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
BG DUNBAR
Membership –
profession – association
But “we” (the guard) are not full time soldiers – i.e.
365 days a year
To be a true
professional is to be an advocate – in support of
partner/contractors/vendors - a good message
– he may have been the 1st TAG I’ve heard to be vibrant – strong –
about the NGAUS
GEN LENGYEL
Concurrent –
professional – modernization
. . .
yes, the guard brings a civilian skill set to the military – nothing new
here
and yes, in all
the world the guard is unique – most other militaries (UK – AU) cannot
comprehend how we do this . . . . .
but we are an operational
force and “we’re not going back”
reiterated
SECDEF Mattis’ - National Defense Strategy
READY MODERN BUILD PARTNERSHIPS REFORMS/CHANGE
Vigilant Reach Power
Awards – to
include CPT Cody Anderson, B 1-121 FA – whose family received the award as Army
Guard Officer of the Year – congratulated
the family
1045-1130 WINGA Business Meeting – started late – reconvened
about 1245 - one resolution did not
pass/ one was amended
1145-1245 Lunch sit-down salad/rolls, pork loin, rice and beans UNEXPECTED not on Program or Registration –
also a presentation by MAJ Brian Faltinson, PAO on the history of the 32nd
Division during WW I
PD (Professional
Development) Sessions for those getting paid in attendance –
1900-2100 Annual Banquet – Speaker Randy Fox –
servant leadership
APRIL 30, 2019 Tuesday
WEATHER: 42 and fog at 0300, rain through
northern IN, sunny and 80’s in KY
TRAVEL: Burlington to
Nicholsville, KY to Danville, KY to Perryville, KY to Hampton Inn – Danville,
KY
Hampton Inn – Danville, KY
– WIFI
works
408 CAMP NELSON National Monument, Nichollsville, KY
 |
| Camp Nelson - entrance |
The origin of Camp
Nelson is closely linked
with Abraham Lincoln’s desire to free pro-union sections of
east Tennessee from Confederate control.
The camp supplied Union efforts in eastern Tennessee, central and
eastern Kentucky, and southwestern Virginia.
In the spring of
1863, the new Army of the Ohio was organized and palced under the control of MG
Ambrose Burnside with orders to
invade east Tennessee. To assist the
campaign and to defend central and eastern Kentucky, Burnside ordered his engineers to find a
suitable location in central Kentucky.
The site chosen was a high plateau above the Kentucky
River is southern
Jessamine County. The depot and
encampment was officially named Camp Nelson on June 12, 1863 after the late MG
William “Bull” Nelson who founded Camp
Dick Robinson, the first Union
recruitment camp in Kentucky, located south of Camp Nelson.
 |
| Camp Nelosn - map |
The site was naturally defensible and was astride a major turnpike and a bridge across the Kentucky River.
Camp Nelson is bounded by the Kentucky River and Hickman Creek, both enclosed by nearly vertical limestone walls which extend up to 500
feet in height. The only exposed portion
of the camp was its northern end where a line of entrenchments and
fortifications were constructed.
Camp Nelson provided the Union Army with over 10,000 African American soldiers, United States Colored Troops (USCT) making it the third largest recruiting and training depot for African Americans in the nation.
Many of these black
soldiers brought their families.
Eventually, the Army established a refugee camp, which had 97 cottages
and numerous tents and shacks providing housing for over 3,000 people.
Although the Emancipation
Proclamation was signed on
January 1, 1963 it did not free slaves in states loyal to the Union, such as Kentucky.
In 1864 slaves who joined the Army were declared free.
The Reverend John G.
Fee, an abolitionist
and founder of Berea College helped to teach and administer at the refugee camp, which included both
a school and a hospital. After the
closing of Camp Nelson, Fee bought 130 acres
including the refugee camp land which he sold or leased to the African
American residents. The NPS plans to develop and interpret
this area in the future.
Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site, Perryville, KY
My favorite Civil War Battlefield – I have not visited here in
almost 2 years and some land has been added, trails developed, trails named and
some contemporary buildings on acquired land razed.
This is not a site administered by the National
Park Service. It is a Kentucky State Park.
The Battle
of Perryville was fought on October,
8, 1862. There were 55,396 Union troops in the area –
only 20,000 fought in the battle. There
were 16,800 Confederate troops, of which 16,000 fought. Perryville was the “high water mark’ for the
Confederates in the Western Theater.
Never again were the Western Confederates closer to winning the
war. The battle kept Kentucky in Union
hands which contributed to Union victory.
MAY 1, 2019 Wednesday
WEATHER: 67 at 4 am – cooled to 62 at
higher elevations but steadied into the 70’s as the sun rose – 88 when I
reached Vicksburg, WI partly cloudy
TRAVEL: south to the Bluegrass Parkway –
south on I-xx through Nashville, through Memphis – south on I-55 into
Mississippi to - along the portion of
the Natchez Trace Parkway and to
Vicksburg.
Hampton Inn – Vicksburg, MS
– staff could
not give me Hilton Honors Points because the room was paid through a group
account – did not recognize me as a Hilton Honors member – could not connect to
WIFI – breakfast and 2 hour happy hour included
189 NATCHEZ TRACE PARKWAY
Last visited April
8-12, 2015. I made one historic stop along the Natchez
Parkway on my trip to
Vicksburg.
First visited with
Chad & Paul on the return trip from the National Guard Association of
the United States (NGAUS) Conference
that was held in September 2003 – Biloxi, MS.
A second visit
spanning April 8-12, 2015 covered Grant’s entire Vicksburg Campaign of 1863. At that time I was travelling with my
trailer. There are not many choices to
eat in Vicksburg – ate at the same place I’d stopped in 2015 – Rusty’s
Riverfront Bar & Grill.
MAY 2, 2019 Thursday
WEATHER: 69 at 4 am, cloudy – forecast
high in the 70’s possible rain, cloudy in the morning – cleared up – sunny – a
pleasant day
TRAVEL: bus – tour
guides Terry Winschel (retired Vicksburg NMP Historian & Ed Bearss NPS
Historian Emeritus
69th Annual Tour of the Chicago Civil War
Roundtable – VICKSBURG DAY 1
Vicksburg was a
campaign – a series of battles culminating with the surrender of the City of
Vicksburg on July 4, 1863 after a 47 day siege.
 |
| Louisiana Circle South Fort at the southern end of the Vicskbrug Defenses on the Mississippi River |
STOP 1 Lousiana
Circle – the southern end of the Vicksburg defenses
This fort is
referred to as South Fort. Confederate artillery commanded the River. Like Fort Hill at the northern end of the
Confederate line was so strong it was never assaulted by infantry.
 |
| View of the Mississippi River from Lousiana Cricle (South Fort) |
STOP 2 Pemberton’s HQ
Balfor
House
 |
| USS Cairo |
STOP 4 29 DEC 1862
Chickasaw Bayou Battlefield – I had not been here before – none of the land is administered by the NPS.
 |
| Battle of Chickasaw Bayou |
In the fall of 1862, Grant had originally planned a single-thrust attack following the Mississippi Central RR south from his base between La Grange and Grand Junction, TN. H initiated this operation on November 4. Confronted by stiffening Confederate opposition and upon learning that MG John McClernand had been authorized to recruit and field a force to attach down the Mississippi, Grant changed his plan. He devised a two-pronged attack on Vicksburg designed to seize the city and open the Mississippi River.
While Grant would occupy the main Confederate
Army under the command of LTG John Pemberton, along the line of the Tallahatchie
and Yalobusha Rivers, Sherman would be
able to attack and seize the relatively lightly protected fortifications on the
north side of Vicksburg.
Grant initially succeeded
but had his supply line interdicted by Confederate cavalry raids under MG Nathan
Bedford Forrest and MG Earl
Van Dorn. Grant tried to inform Sherman of his withdrawal, but the
Confederate raiders had cut the telegraph lines.
Sherman landed his troops
on the Yazoo River on December 26, 1862. At the time, the
river was very high and much of the countryside was underwater. While Sherman was trying to get his forces
organized, the defenders were warned of the advance of the amphibious force and
hastily put the 6,000 men available into the defenses. Eventually, because Grant was no longer occupying Pemberton’s
main force, 15,000
men were in the defenses before the beginning of the Union attack. This maneuver would prove deadly for the
attackers who had to use narrow causeways over the flooded ground to attack the
well-entrenched defenders supported by artillery that commanded to approaches
to the Confederate positions. Sherman’s
32,000 men eventually withdrew back to Milliken’s
Bend.
STOP 5 Lunch – box lunch
STOP 5 Lunch – box lunch
 |
| Grants Canal |
STOP 6 FEB-MAR
1963 Grant’s
Canal – Rather than wait
for his troops to sit idle in winter quarters until spring, Grant decided to conduct a series of
peripheral operations aimed at capturing Vicksburg.
In these efforts Grant had little
confidence of success, but at a minimum his troops would be kept busy through
the winter and would be campaigned hardened when spring did arrive.
The first of these
peripheral operations entailed the continuation of wok on the canal begun by BG
Thomas Williams, who brigade accompanied Admiral Farragut’s force the previous year when
they had moved up from New Orleans.
Because of the hairpin turn of the main channel of the Mississippi
River, a canal dug
across the base of the peninsula would bypass the fortifications at Vicksburg.
The canal was dug
wide enough and deep enough to float Rear Admiral David
Dixon Porter’s gunboats and transports. But before the protective dam at the north
end could be removed to allow the power of the river to complete the job, the Mississippi
River flooded and washed
out the dam, spreading water over the countryside instead of scouring the canal
as intended. In the meantime, the
Confederates had moved artillery to a position from which ti could sweep the
exit of the canal. On March 27, 1863 Grant ordered the canal to be
abandoned.
 |
| Grand Gulf Military Park - Fort Wade |
STOP 7 Grand
Gulf Military Park - a Mississippi State
Park
Grant opened a new line
of operations on March 31,1863, when he started moving his troops south of
Vicksburg on the Louisiana
side of the Mississippi River. First McClernand’s
and then McPherson’s corps moved through the difficult terrain, cut by numerous bayous that
had to be bridged by Union forces.
By April 29, the
two Union corps were at Hard Times, LA prepared to cross to the Louisiana side of the river. They were joined there by Porter’s fleet which had passed the
batteries at Vicksburg on April 16 and
22.
Originally, Grant had intended to land his forces
at Grand Gulf. To do that he planned to have Porter’s
fleet neutralize or
defeat the Confederate batteries located at Fort Coburn and Fort
Wade. Back then the Mississippi River ran directly under the forts.
Fort Coburn’s defenses were commanded by BG John S. Bowen, who had about 4,000 soldiers
available for defending the fortifications.
Reinforcements were promised but were delayed due to Grierson’s
Cavalry Raid and the danger
posed by Sherman’s corps left north of
Vicksburg..
Bowen’s defender’s proved
more than a match for the gunboats.
Unable to pound Forts Wade and Coburn into submission, Grant was forced to find another
crossing site.
 |
| Windsor Mansion Ruins - this truly must have been a magnificanet home scene of destroyed southern mansion in the movie 'Raintree County' |
STOP 8 Windsor Mansion Ruins a scene from Raintree County starring Montgomery Cliff and Elizabeth Taylor was shot here. The mansion burned after the war.
STOP 9 1 May
1863 Battle of Port Gibson (Battle of Thompson’s Hill) - stop along the
Bruinsburg Road
After landing at Bruinsburg, McClernand’s corps started marching to Port
Gibson along the Rodney
Road. Before nightfall his troops clashed with the
Confederates near the Shaifer House. This is located on what was then
a connecting plantation road. Today this
road and the Rodney Road are ill maintained, winding, dirt roads that I had traveled in the past;
the tour bus did not attempt to take this route.
 |
| Battle of Port Gibson |
During the night of
April 30-May 1 Confederate BG Martin Green had moved up to the vicinity of the Shaifer
House. After the initial skirmish, McClernand waited until daylight to attack
with the divisions of Carr, Hovey and A.J. Smith. Despite their numerical
superiority, the difficult terrain caused problems as the Union troops
attempted to deploy.
By this time BG Bowen realized that the bulk of Grant’s
army was in front
of him. He attempted to bring forward
every available solder as reinforcements.
At Magnolia
Church Green’s men were
eventually forced back toward Port Gibson. By this time
McCPherson’s corps had crossed the Mississippi River and was reinforcing Osterhaus’s
division. The Confederates were forced to retreat
behind Bayou Pierre. This action forced Bowen to withdraw his troops from Grand
Gulf to avoid capture.
MAY 3, 2019 Friday
WEATHER: light rain at 8 am – stopped
raining – cloudy most of the morning – warm and parly cloudy in the afternoon –
another pleasant day
Hampton Inn Vicksburg – still unable to connect
to WIFI – used my phone
as a hotspot
TRAVEL: bus – tour
guides Terry Winschel (retired Vicksburg NMP Historian & Ed Bearss NPS
Historian Emeritus
69th Annual Tour of the Chicago Civil War
Roundtable – VICKSBURG DAY 2
After his success
at Port Gibson, Grant had to make some
difficult decisions. His original plan
approved by General Halleck and President Lincoln
was to send a corps
south to assist MG Nathanial Banks seize Port Hudson.
Based on reports
from Banks, Grant concluded that he would lose a
month in reorganization and inactivity trying to take Port
Hudson, a month the
Confederates would use to recover from the position they were now in.
Grant decided to move on
Confederate forces reported to be in Jackson, MS, with the intention of preventing
them from reinforcing Pemberton at Vicksburg.. Once that force was neutralized he would
march on Vicksburg. He requested Halleck and Lincoln to approve his new plan. Of course, the nearest telegraph to
Washington was located at Cairo, IL. It took 7-8
days for the message to get to Washington and 8 days for the reply. His request was disapproved but by that time Grant was investing Vicksburg. Grant’s army was resupplied overland from Milliken’s
Bend and across the
Mississippi at Port Gibson
STOP 1 Crossroads at Willow Springs
STOP 2 Rocky Springs – old
Presbyterian Church
 |
| Raymond - Artillery Row |
Pemberton expected Grant to head directly for Vicksburg, from the Port
Gibson area, so he sent
Sherman’s corps which came
across the Mississippi River at Grand Gulf to move toward the
Big Black River on the route to Vicksburg. This was part of Grant’s operational deception plan. Grant ordered McPherson’s corps toward Jackson.
Pemberton, expecting no more than a small Union brigade on the right flank of an army marching toward Vicksburg sent BG John Gregg’s brigade of 2,500 Confederates to Raymond and attack Grant’s flank. Gregg planned to attack and roll up the flank forcing the Union army back to their base around Grand Gulf.
As Gregg put his plan into action, he
realized that he was facing an entire corps not just a small brigade detachment;
Gregg ordered his
regiments to withdraw..
STOP 4 Box Lunch - Raymond
STOP 5 16 MAY 1863 Battle of Champion
Hill – crossing of
current Billy Fields & D.C. Johnson Roads
Following the
capture of Jackson, MS, MG Ulysses S. Grant’s advancing 32,000 Union soldiers met 22,000 Confederates under LTG John C.
Pemberton in a fierce
struggle for a vital crossroad roughly halfway between Vicksburg and Jackson.
 |
| Battle of Champion Hill - Intial Confederate defense and Union appraoch |
Pemberton posted his
divisions on high ground in a 3-mile line covering the roads from Jackson. Grant’s men moved west along the Jackson Road and met Pemberton’s
men at Champion’s
Hill. Outflanked, Pemberton stretched his line to hold back
the Yankees advancing all across his front.
 |
| Battle of Champion Hill |
Grant ordered more men
towards the hill and Bowen’s Confederates were
themselves driven off, compelling a general retreat. Confederate BG Lloyd Tilghman was killed while directing a
desperate rearguard action that enabled most of the Confederate army to escape
toward Vicksburg.
The decisive Union
victories at Champion Hill and Big Black River the next day were instrumental in forcing the Confederates our of the
open and into a doomed position inside the fortifications of Vicksburg.
The Battle of Champion Hill was the largest and bloodiest action of Grant's Vicksburg Campaign.
 |
| Jim Litehauser & Ed Bearss |
Presented on
behalf of the American Battlefield Trust//Civil War Trust - President, Jim Lighthizer, several Trust board members, Sid Champion, Ed Bearss’ daughter, the
Vicksburg NMP Superintendent, other local dignitaries and of course the Chicago
Civil War Roundtable..
Ed Bearss (bars) was wounded by Japanese machine gun fire in the Pacific during WW
II and spent 26 months in military hospitals and spent hours reading
history. A Montana
Native educated
in a one-room schoolhouse, Ed began his long and storied
National Park
Service career in 1955
at Vicksburg National Military Park, where he helped locate the sunken Union gunboat USS
Cairo. From 1981-1994 Ed served as Chief
Historian for theNatural Park Service.
Since his
retirement in 1995, Ed has continued to give lectures, including Ken
Burns’ The
Civil War. Ed has received many honors, including the
US Department of the Interior’s Distinguished Service Award.
His dedication to battlefield preservation and Civil War history
prompted the American Battlefield Trust to name its Lifetime Achievement Award after him, and he was its first
recipient in 2001. In 2018 the organization
rededicated the award and again presented it to the longtime trustee, who
turned 95 that June.
Today the Trust unveiled a monument
in honor of Ed’s
truly monumental contributions to teaching American history and preserving
American battlefields, including his beloved Champion Hill.
 |
| Battle of Big Black River |
STOP 6 17 MAY 1863 Battle of Big Black River – stop just off of Old US 80 along initial union line of battle – no monuments/markers
Six miles west of Champion
Hill was the Big
Black River. Pemberton resolved to hold a line at the Big
Black River. Designated to defend earthworks that had been
dug in the previous month, BG Vaughn’s exhausted Tennessee brigade occupied the works. At daybreak on May 17 the lead units of Carr’s division made contact and pressed
the attack. Gaining the advantage Union
forces captured many Confederates before they could cross the Big
Black River.
Buffet dinner at
the historic B’nai B;rith Literary Club - downtown
Vicksburg
Retired BG Parker
Hills, from Mississippi, provided an informative power point presentation about
the acquisition and archeological work done by the Friends
of Raymond Battlefield
MAY 4, 2019 Saturday
WEATHER: rain at 8 am – rain most of the
day changed the tour
Hampton Inn Vicksburg – still unable to connect to WIFI – used my phone as a hotspot
 |
| Map of the Confederate Defenses at Vicksburg |
TRAVEL: bus – tour
guides Terry Winschel (retired Vicksburg NMP Historian & Ed Bearss NPS
Historian Emeritus
69th Annual Tour of the Chicago Civil War Roundtable – VICKSBURG DAY 3
STOP 1 Battery De Golyer
 |
| Battery De Golyer |
CPT Samuel De Golyer, 8th Michigan Battery (six guns)
Battery De Golyer is a typical Union Artillery emplacement in support of the siege of
Vicksburg. From this position, a
battery fired in support of the May 22 attack on the Great
Redoubt. Later 22 guns were moved into this position,
the largest concentration of Union artillery in the line. De Golyer was killed directing fire of his
battery. Earthworks were built up in
front of the artillery to help protect the gunners. Sharpshooters were assigned to help suppress
the fire of Confederate sharpshooters who were inflicting casualties on the gun
crew.
 |
| Batttery De Golyer |
 |
| Illinois Monument |
 |
| Shirley House |
 |
| Ed Bearss USS Cairo |
STOP 3 DUE TO RAIN USS CAIRO MUSEUM & BACKGROUND OF USS CIARO BY ED BEARSS
 |
| Story of the USS Cairo |
STOP 4 Goldies Trail Bar BQ – excellent
STOP 5 Logan’s Approach to Stockade RedanComplex
STOP 6 Vicksburg National Military Park Visitor Center – watched film
MAY 5, 2019 Sunday
WEATHER: clear and sunny morning temp in
the 60’s – high of 74
TRAVEL: bus – tour
guides Terry Winschel (retired Vicksburg NMP Historian & Ed Bearss NPS
Historian Emeritus – Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, Jackson MS –
Cape Giradeau, MO
Hampton Inn
Vicksburg, MS – still unable to connect to WIFI – used my phone as a hotspot
Holiday Inn Express Cape Girardeau, MO – no reservation but HIE treated me
much, much better than the staff at the Hampton Inn in Vicksburg –
WIFI works
At the end of the tour all participants received two
outstanding 8 ½ x 11 spiral bound books – Parker Hills, Terry Winschel, Mike
Green et al
Vicksburg Campaign driving tour guide - Friends
of the Vicksburg Campaign and Historic Trail
Vicksburg National Military Park Art of Commemoration
 |
| Assault on the Stockade Redan Complex |
STOP 1 Union Line view of the Stockade Redan Complex
Sherman’s attack
The Stockade
Redan complex is an
imposing defensive position built to guard the avenue of approach along the Graveyard
Road. On May 19. Sherman ordered MG Francis
Blair’s division to attack
and seize the redan. At dark, Blair pulled the remnants of his
division back having suffered more than 600 casualties in a few hours.
In the Union attack
of May 19, the Confederate defenders here were not the demoralized and defeated
troops that Grant had expected. Units of Hebert’s brigade of MG
Forney’s division occupied
the south and east side of the defenses here.
These troops were fresh and full of fight having prepared the Vicksburg
defenses while the
battles of Big Black and Champion
Hill were being fought.
 |
| Sherman's words - attack on the Stockade Redan |
After a second failed
attack of May 22,1863 using all 3 Union corps, the work of regular siege began.
STOP 2 USS Cairo rest stop
 |
| View from Fort Hill - the Chickasaw Bayou Battlefield is to the left below |
STOP 3 Fort Hill
Fort Hill was the northern
stronghold of the Confederate defenses around Vicksburg.
Deemed to strong to attack it was never assaulted by an infantry
force. Confederate guns, together with a
strong battery on the riverbank below the fort commanded the Mississippi
River.
STOP 4 Surrender Interview Site
As Union forces
edged ever closer to the Confederate lines, Grant planned a general assault for
July 6. The assault was being planned to
coordinate with the simultaneous detonation of 13 mines dug by sappers along
the Confederate defensive line.
Confederate LTG Joe
Johnston finally made a
move toward Vicksburg, to distract the
Union army and allow LTG Pemberton one last chance of breaking out on July
7. The word never got to
Pemberton.
On July 2 Pemberton
consulted with his
division commanders to determine the feasibility of a breakout. Due to the inactivity of soldiers remaining
in siege lines combined with reduced rations – there was little strength left
in the Confederate soldiers. There would
be no breakout.
Pemberton decided to
negotiate favorable terms of surrender – hoping to have his troops paroled
instead of becoming prisoners of war. Pemberton had BG John
Bowen, formerly
Grant’s neighbor when
stationed in St. Louis, attempt to open negotiations. Grant called for unconditional surrender.
Eventually, Grant met Pemberton between the lines. Early on July 4, the Confederate forces
surrendered
Grant would have been
hard pressed to feed and transport 30,000 prisoners. Pemberton’s forces were paroled, most went
home, some fought again for the South.
The surrender yielded 170 cannon and 60,000 rifles and ammunition. The battle of Vicksburg was over.
 |
| Texas Monument Railroad Redoubt |
 |
| McPherson's Attack on the Railroad Redoubt |
This fort was built
to guard the approach into Vicksburg along the line of the Southern
Railroad of Mississippi. On May 22, McClernand’s corps attacked parts of Stevenson’s defending division. Although remnants of several units planted
their colors on the parapet of the redoubt before being repulsed, the attack
was a failure. The southeast angle of the
fort had been crumbled by artillery fire and was breached by SGT
J.E. Griffith and 12 men of the 22nd
Iowa. Waul’s Texas Legion along with the 30th
Alabama quickly
counterattacked leaving only Griffith alive as he pulled back to Union lines
with prisoners. Unable to exploit any of the small breakthroughs, the Union
troops returned to their lines after dark.
409 EDGAR AND MYRLIE EVERS HOME NATIONAL MONUMENT, Jackson, MS
 |
| Edgar & Myrle Evers Home Jackson, Mississippi |
Medgar Evers was a World War II veteran who fought in
Europe and returned to his native Mississippi, where he again faced harsh
segregation. As the first field secretary of the Mississippi NAACP beginning in 1954, he led
voter registration drives and boycotts to push for racial equality. He was
assassinated June 12, 1963, outside the family’s modest ranch-style home.
The National Park Service took over the
modest ranch-style home from Tougaloo College, which supported
the change, bringing money for preservation. The Evers family donated
the home to historically black Tougaloo in 1993, and it
is open by appointment for tours. The three-bedroom home stood vacant for years
after the family moved away in the 1960s, and it was restored in the mid-1990s.
It is now filled with midcentury furniture, and one of the bedrooms has a display
about the family’s history. A bullet hole is visible in a kitchen wall..
As
the first National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP)
field secretary in Mississippi (1954-1963), Medgar Evers (1925-1963)
worked to end racial violence and improve the quality of life for black
Mississippians. Evers and his wife Myrlie established the NAACP office
in Jackson, Mississippi in the mid-1950s. He tirelessly led marches, prayer
vigils, voter registration drives and boycotts, and persistently appealed to
blacks and whites to work together for a peaceful solution to social problems.
The eyes of the nation turned to the city of Jackson in the early 1960s as Evers
orchestrated a boycott of white merchants. Backed by federal troops, he also
led efforts to help James Meredith integrate the University of Mississippi in 1962. When
disgruntled racists hurled a firebomb into the Evers home in 1963, Myrlie Evers
bravely put out the flames with a garden hose. Evers continued his work, but an
assassin's bullet ended his life a few weeks
later outside his home. Evers' brother Charles took up his work as the NAACP
field secretary in Mississippi. In 1994 - 31 years and three trials later -
Evers' killer, Byron De La Beckwith, was convicted and sentenced to life in
prison. After her husband’s death, Myrlie Evers (now
Evers-Williams) emerged as a civil rights figure in her own through her work
with the NAACP and later established the Medgar
and Myrlie Evers Institute in Jackson,
Mississippi. The Evers Home was added to the African American Civil Rights
Network in August 2018.
MAY 4, 2019 Monday
WEATHER: clear and sunny morning temp in
the 60’s – high of 74
TRAVEL: Cape Giradeau, MO to Cahokia
Mounds State Park to Burlington
CAHOKIA MOUNDS STATE PARK –
 |
| Cahokia Mounds - large mound |
MAY 17, 2019 Sunday
WEATHER: partly cloudy 68
TRAVEL: stopped here on the return to Interstate
Park from completing
a segment of the Ice Age Trail
43 ST. CROIX
NATIONAL SCENIC RIVER (NSR) – St. Croix River Visitor Center (St. Croix, WI)
Last visited here on
June 24, 2014. Today I took a photograph of the
Passport Stamp.
The St. Croix and Namekegon
Rivers are focal points
for people who live in and visit the area.
The river attracts paddlers, boaters and anglers. Historic river towns, scenery and wildlife
draw hikers, artists and nature enthusiasts.
Peoples have lived
here for at least 12,000 years, since the end of the last Ice Age. They found abundant food and materials and
used the rivers as trade routes.
Beginning in the
late 1600’s Europeans came to the area seeking furs of beaver and other
animals. They traveled the rivers to
trade with Indians.
Logging became the
economic driver after the Treaty of 1837 opened the are to European American
settlement. The new arrivals began
cutting the pine forest. They and other
settlers spurred development in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Their work supplied lumber to the
Midwest.
By the late 1890’s,
people were interested in preserving the St. Croix and Namekagon Rivers.
In 1895 Minnesota established a State
Park to protect a short stretch of the
St. Croix. Seventy years later,
the river was one of the original rivers named in the federal Wild
and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. People instrumental to passing
this law, like Senators Walter Mondale and Gaylord Nelson had deep ties to both rivers.
JULY 20, 2019 Saturday
WEATHER: high in the 90’s
TRAVEL: Burlington, WI to Independence,
OH (suburb of Cleveland). Driving a
Toyota Highlander (very nice SUV) as a follow on to my son and his family
moving to Carlisle, PA and a years attendance at the US Army War College. Left at 1100 CDT arrived in Independence, OH
at 2130 EDT - This just seemed like a long drive – probably
because of the late start.
Hyatt Place – a large room – but the amenities and staff were not up to the
standards of most Holiday or Hampton Inn’s
JULY 21, 2019 Sunday
 |
| St. Michael's |
WEATHER: another day with highs in the
90’s
TRAVEL: Independence, OH to Carlisle, PA.
Mass at St.
Michael’s in Independence –
a 2 mile drive from the hotel. A fairly
large church – probably built in the 60’s – could easily hold 400 – about 125
in attendance. An older priest – acolytes were 3 senior men – there were very
few children (families) in church but the announcements included mention of a
new “youth minister’ starting August 1 - a challenging assignment. The homily and first reading had to do with
“listening’ – we are a people of action – take the time to listen.
 |
| Paul & Sarah's House in Carlisle, PA |
 |
| Root Hall - US Army War College |
JULY 22, 2019 Monday
WEATHER: nice in Carlisle
TRAVEL: Flight to Harrusbrug to Milwaukee via Detroit
AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 3, 2019
141st NATIONAL GUARD ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED
STATES (NGAUS) CONFERENCE:
THURSDAY: Checked into the Hyatt
Regency Convention Center. Had a late afternoon snack at Bubba
Gump Shrimp Company – just across
the street from the hotel.
 |
| US Mint - Denver |
FRIDAY: I usually join the golf tournament on the day before the conference begins but
not this year – getting tired of carrying my clubs through airports. I also considered doing a ‘Fourteener’ – a climb/walk to the summit of the many peaks above 14,000 feet in Colorado. The one selected was a 3.5 mile one-way walk up a average grade of 15% starting around 12,000 feet – it would have been cool – but that’s 2 miles up – my legs may be in shape but the altitude may have gotten to me.
not this year – getting tired of carrying my clubs through airports. I also considered doing a ‘Fourteener’ – a climb/walk to the summit of the many peaks above 14,000 feet in Colorado. The one selected was a 3.5 mile one-way walk up a average grade of 15% starting around 12,000 feet – it would have been cool – but that’s 2 miles up – my legs may be in shape but the altitude may have gotten to me.
Plenty of things
to do in downtown Denver . . . Decided to go to the US
Mint but tours were
closed until Tuesday. The Mint offers
free tours of the Philadelphia and Denver facilities, which cover the present
state of coin manufacturing and the history of the Mint. Visitors learn about
the craftsmanship required at all stages of the minting process, from the
original designs and sculptures to the actual striking of the coins. I would
have been interesting – I’ve never been to a mint. An interesting history.
 |
| US Mint - Denver CLOSED |
Congress chose Philadelphia,
what was then the nation’s capital, as the site of our first Mint. President
George Washington appointed a leading scientist, David Rittenhouse, as the
first director. Rittenhouse bought two lots at 7th and Arch Streets to build a
three-story facility, the tallest building in Philadelphia at the time. It was
the first federal building erected under the Constitution.
Coin production began immediately. The Act specified the following coinage denominations:
In copper: half cent and cent
In silver: half dime, dime, quarter, half dollar, and dollar
In gold: quarter eagle ($2.50), half eagle ($5), and eagle ($10)
In silver: half dime, dime, quarter, half dollar, and dollar
In gold: quarter eagle ($2.50), half eagle ($5), and eagle ($10)
In March 1793, the Mint delivered
its first circulating coins11,178 copper cents.
In 1795, the Mint became
the first federal agency to employ women: Sarah Waldrake and Rachael Summers
were hired as adjusters.
In the early 1800s, America experienced its first two gold rushes: first in North Carolina
and then in Georgia. Demand on the Philadelphia Mint to melt, refine, and
produce coins from this gold pushed the Mint
to its limits. In 1835, Congress passed legislation to establish three new
branch Mints located in Charlotte, NC; Dahlonega, GA; and New Orleans, LA. Charlotte and
Dahlonega concentrated on processing the miners’ gold into coins, while New
Orleans minted both gold and silver coins to keep up with a growing America.
 |
| Colorado Museum of History |
In 1849, the California gold
rush brought a flood of people west for the chance to get rich.
Transporting the gold east all the way to the Philadelphia Mint was
time-consuming and fraught with risk. In 1854, a branch Mint opened in San Francisco to convert the miners’
gold into coins. By the end of that year, the San Francisco Mint produced $4,084,207 in gold coins.
Gold fever spread to
Colorado in 1858, bringing hundreds of people to settle around the new city
of Denver. In 1862, Congress approved a branch Mint in Denver and
bought the building of Clark, Gruber and Company, a private mint. The following
year, the Denver facility opened as
an assay office for miners to bring gold to be melted, assayed, and cast into
bars. It didn’t produce any gold coins, as was originally intended. In 1895,
Congress converted the Denver
facility back to a Mint, and in 1906
it produced its first gold and silver coins.
In 1864, in response to Oregon’s own gold rush, Congress
authorized a branch Mint in Dalles City,
OR and constructed a building. However, no minting or assaying duties were
ever performed. Congress gave the building to the state in 1875 to use for
educational purposes.
The country’s largest silver strike, referred to as the Comstock Lode, started in Nevada in 1859.
Congress authorized a branch Mint in
nearby Carson City. The Carson City Mint opened in 1870 to accept deposits from the Comstock Lode and
to mint coins. During its operation, it produced eight different coin
denominations. Congress withdrew its mint status in 1899 when the Comstock’s
ore declined, but it continued as an assay office until 1933.
Gold and silver pouring in from strikes throughout the West
created the need for assay offices around the country to assess and process the
metal ore. Most closed in the early 1900s when the metal deposits fizzled out.
The New York Assay Office in Manhattan was the notable exception; it stayed in
operation for almost 130 years, finally closing in 1982.
DENVER MINT
1858:
Gold discovered in Colorado
1862:
Congress establishes a Denver Mint
1863:
Denver facility opens as an assay office
1895:
Denver Assay Office becomes a Mint
1904:
Denver Mint moves to new building
1906:
Coin production begins
1922:
Gangsters steal $200,000 in $5 bills
1934:
Denver receives a third of the country's gold
1972:
Denver Mint added to National Register of Historic Places
2000:
Record coin production
2006:
100th anniversary of coin production
A Taste
of Denver was in the
process of setting up in a park near the state capital. Party time this weekend
. . . .
Colorado Museum of History – well worth the visit – from
beer - to the
indigenous Ute and Arapahoe
- to the history of Chicano’s - to Bent’s Fort to the Sand
Creek Massacre – to
silver mining – to 100
years of history – to art
– A well spent 2 hours.
Lunch at the
Yard House.
Coors Field was hosting a Colorado Rockies game less than a mile walk but I’ve been there
before – so I decided to go a a steak – plenty of steakhouses in downtown
Denver. Decided to go to the Palm
Restaurant for a filet –
pricey but delicious.
THIS IS
A BIG DEAL
 |
| NGAUS MG Dunbar |
Maj. Gen. Matt Quinn, the president of the
Adjutants General Association of the United States, strongly opposed the
provisions during his remarks on Monday, near the end of the four-day event.
The theme of the annual conference was The
National Guard: An American Treasure.
He said opposing the legislation is one of the top priorities of
AGAUS.
“We as a body have got to get in front of these destructive
legislative items that would result in a weakened National Guard, a weakened
national treasure,” said Quinn, the Montana adjutant general.
The three provisions, sections 1036, 1037 and 1038, would grant
new powers to the National Guard Bureau.
NGAUS is also opposed to the provisions, said retired Brig. Gen.
J. Roy Robinson, the NGAUS president, who added that the language was written
without input of the adjutants general or the nation’s governors.
Section 1036 would grant
the NGB chief inspection authority over Guard finances that come from the
federal government.
“Currently, our Army and Air Force have inspection authority
over our states. As adjutants general, we welcome that oversight and work to
ensure the federal requirements are met within our states,” Quinn said. “We are
manned and we are equipped by the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force. We go to
war with the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force. So who should have inspection
authority over the states? The U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force. Not a bureau, created and authorized as a
channel of communication between the states and the Pentagon and Capitol Hill.
“They are not a command organization. They are a bureau with well-intended Guard men and
women from our states, but who should not aim to be a command element of our
National Guard,” he added.
Section 1037 would expand the
authority of the president, in cases in which a state National Guards fails to
comply with federal law and policy, to limit or completely bar federal funds
from by the state and withdraw federal recognition of Guard officers and/or
units.
The president, who
can delegate that authority to the defense
secretary, would only be required to inform leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees and would not need to ask
permission to bar funds or withdraw recognition.
Section 1038 would fully remove the authority of governors to nominate the property
and fiscal officer for their state and would require those officers not have
worked within a state they are assigned for the previous three years.
Quinn said the provision essentially builds a brick wall around
the entire property and fiscal officer
organization in a state, placing it
under NGB. He described the proposal as “insane.”
“Do you
all think that language came from Capitol Hill? No. It came from the National
Guard Bureau, our channel of communication to Capitol Hill,” Quinn said. “And I’m forced to ask, does that language benefit the soldiers
and airmen of our states, territories and the District of Columbia? Or does it
simply serve to move NGB into a position of greater control over our states.
“Look around this room,” he added to the officers gathered in
Denver’s Colorado Convention Center. “Are we organized by NGB regions? No. We are organized
by states, territories and the District of Columbia and that’s the way we
should remain.”
Gen. Joseph Lengyel, the
NBG chief,
had an opportunity to address leaders’ concerns over the provisions earlier in
the conference.
Speaking to attendees on Saturday, Lengyel was asked about the provisions during a Q&A session
following his remarks.
He said the provisions
sounded reasonable, but that the decision ultimately lies with Congress.
“If Congress wants me to have that oversight authority and
responsibility then they have to give me those authorities,” he said.
Said Quinn, “We cannot let a few who don’t respect what we
represent change us to what they believe we should be."
“What happens to a treasure when it is squandered or neglected
or buried? Forgotten, it is lost. That’s exactly why you all have this
organization, our NGAUS, and our Adjutants Guard Association, fighting each and
every day to ensure our national treasure is not squandered by poor legislation
or poor decisions at the national level that risk our National Guards of the
54,” he said.
My thought – when asked by the coach to go in, a player will
hardly ever say no. Here ‘big army’ may have
planted a seed and NGB seeing an opportunity to control - more authority –
after all it has ‘a seat at the table’
moves forward to Congress without consulting the States. See what 4 stars and an ‘operational force’ get you?
There was discussion about this and the changing of the
National Guard logo from the minuteman at the Retiree Caucus on Sunday 1 SEP
19. The AGAUS did not stand firm against
the changing of the logo.
OCTOBER 11, 2019 Friday
WEATHER: a fine day
TRAVEL: Erie, PA to Auburn, NY- a drive
of over 213 miles I drove 8 ½ hours
yesterday, 523 miles Stayed at a Hilton Home 2 Suites.
 |
| Harriet Tubman |
Established
by President Barack Obama on January 10, 2017 (3 days before he left office) in Auburn, NY, Harriet
Tubman National Historical Park is located at the site where Tubman lived
and worshiped, caring for family members and other formerly enslaved people
seeking safe haven in the North.
 |
| Thompson Memorial AME Church & Parsonage under renovation by the National Park Service |
The
Harriet Tubman National Historical Park includes the Thompson Memorial African Methodist
Episcopal Zion Church
that Tubman
helped raise funds to build. Both buildings are currently uninhabitable and
require substantial repair and renovations prior to being returned to public
uses.
We expect to have the parsonage (home) building repaired and serviceable as a
NPS visitor support service center during the winter of 2019. NPS is undertaking
a Historic Structures and Finishes Study and limited emergency stabilization of the church building in
order to help guide appropriate repairs and future restoration of this iconic
building.
 |
| Tubman Home for the Aged no pictures allowed inside |
 |
| Harriet Tubman Grave Site Fort Hill Cemetery |
A related Tubman site that lies outside of the national
historical park is the Fort Hill Cemetery where
Tubman is buried. It is operated independently from the national historical
park.
OCTOBER 12, 2019 Monday
WEATHER: another fine day
TRAVEL: Auburn, NY to Hopewell
Furnace NHS to Edgar
Allan Poe NHS to Kosciuzko
NHS to Marianist
Community in Philadelphia
 |
| Hopewell - still hard to locate |
19 HOPEWELL
FURNACE National Historic Site
I had visited here
on Monday May 6, 2014.
All the exhibits were open, however the Visitor Center is CLOSED Monday and Tuesday. I did not get a NPS
Passport Stamp. This visit was solely to get the stamp while
enroute to Philadelphia. I watched the video at the VC.
 |
| Quote the raven "Nevermore" |
 |
| The Poe house is in the background |
20 EDGAR ALLAN POE National Historic Site
I had visited here
on Tuesday, May 7, 2014. It was about a one mile walk
from Independence Hall and of course
this site is only open on weekends. So
this time I actually entered the house, got th Passposrt Stamp, viewed the exhibits and watched a
video.
 |
| Kosciuszko - the conrer building with a small museum on the lower level and the apartment he rented on an upper floor |
This is smallest
site administered by the National Park Service, and only open for limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Just under a
mile walk from Independence Hall. Today was a Saturday so I did
get to gain entry, view exhibits, got the Passport Stamp, saw a video and the one room apartment rented
by Thaddeus Kosciuszko. I first visited here on Tuesday,
May 7, 2014. It was CLOSED.
OCTOBER 13, 2019 Sunday
Mass was said by
Fr. Pat in the chapel of the Marianist Community. In addition to Pat there were myself, Jack
and Bob – a pleasant experience. The
gospel and readings referenced the 10 lepers
and how only one came back to ‘thank Jesus’ after being cleansed.
 |
| View of downtown Philadelphia from the Art Museum's plaza |
 |
| Philadelphai Art Museumn |
 |
| First State my second visit here and it's CLOSED |
Columbus Day
WEATHER: partly cloudy 68
TRAVEL: Philadelphia to First
State to Great
Egg Harbor to Carllsle to Gettysburg.
118 FIRST
STATE NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK, New Castle, DE
I
visited here on Oct 12, 2014 – it was CLOSED. So today I deliberately delayed my visit to
ensure it was open – it was CLOSED. Quiet and peaceful – a nice short walk. Still do not have the Passport Stamp after two visits.
411 GREAT EGG HARBOR NATIONAL SCENIC and RECREATIONAL RIVER
 |
| Great Egg Harbor - covers a lot of territory |
There are no Visitor Centers administered by the National Park Service.
The
mailing address is:
Great Egg Harbor National
Scenic and Recreational River
200 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia , PA 19106
200 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia , PA 19106
I
had originally thought I could visit the Park Service’s headquarters in
Philadelphia but, I’m there over a weekend and Monday October 14, is Columbus Day – a Federal Holiday - I doubt that the
administrative types will be in the office.
On line, the locally run Fox Nature
Center
indicated it would be open and it was . . . . hence - I officially visited my 411th
site run by the National Park Service and got the Passport Stamp – a nice place and a beautiful day.
 |
| Great Egg Harobor Entrance sign Estelle Manor |
The Great Egg Harbor River is a 55.0-mile-long (88.5 km) river in southern New Jersey in the United States. It is one of the major rivers that traverse the largely pristine Pinelands, draining 308 square miles (800 km2) of wetlands into the Atlantic Ocean at Great Egg Harbor, from which it takes its name. At river location in Estell Manor Park.
The River gradually widens as it picks up the waters of 17 tributaries on its way to Great Egg Harbor and the Atlantic Ocean. Established by Congress in 1992, nearly all of this 129-mile river system rests within the Pinelands National Reserve. This National Park Service unit is unusual in that local jurisdictions continue to administer the lands.
Local Partners & Information Resources:
Estell Manor Park, is located 3.5
miles South of Mays Landing, New Jersey, off of Route 50. It is approximately
17 miles west of Atlantic City. There is a stamper for Passport Stamp Books at
the Fox Nature Center,
History
After the
Native Americans, this was land owned by the Estell family and was the site of a glassworks in the 1800's, then
became the site of a munitions plant during World War I. After 70 years, the
forest has reclaimed this area, and is now home to an incredible diversity of
plants and animals.
The Warren E. Fox Nature Center is located
within Estell Manor Park. This is
the headquarters for the park system and where most of our environmental
education and recreation programs are held. The center has environmental and
live animal displays, as well as maps and brochures, restroom facilities, and
environmental information.
OCTOBER 14-17, 2019
WEATHER: 14 Oct Monday a pleasant drive –
mid 60’s sunny; 15 Oct Tuesday a beautiful day for walking; 16 Oct cloudy and
rain from 9 to 5
TRAVEL: Arrive Monday 14 October from
Philadelphia with stops at First State National Monument, Great Egg Harbor
National Scenic River and Carlisle, PA. Toured the battlefield for the next 3 days
(Tuesday, Wedensday & Thrusday)..
Stayed at Hilton Garden Inn – Gettysburg Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday
in Carlisle.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve
visited Gettysburg and walked the battlefield – I stopped counting at 75 – I believe I’m
over a 100 visits – there is always something more to learn or to relearn.
Tuesday – in the morning I walked the Federal Cemetery Ridge gun line from
Cemetlery Hill to the end of McGivelry’s guns; in the afternoon I walked the
Confederate gun line along Seminary Ridge. Finally, I ate at Ernie’s Texas Lunch – outstainidng hamburgers. Late
afternoon was a visit to Cemetery Hill and a review of the action on the evening of July
2. A full day of walking.
Wednesday – rain all day - I
followed the route of Lee’s Retreat to Williamsport –
it rained for 2 days during Lee’s Retreat..
 |
| Lee's Retreat from Gettysburg |
16 CHESAPEAKE
& OHIO CANAL NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, Williamsport, WV
 |
| Chesapeake & Ohio Canal - my second visit and CLOSED on a day it should be open |
Today was a Wednesday and the VC
should have been open – it was CLOSED and it was
raining. Still do not have the Passport Stamp after two visits.
 |
| Falling Waters, WV |
Thursday - - a morning
visit to the Gettysburg Visitor Center Museum and a pleasant
lunch at O’Rourkes in Gettysburg with a couple I
had met the previous evening at Brick’s in Carlisle.
OCTOBER 17-19, 2019
WEATHER: 17 Oct Thursday windy, clear and
in the 50’s; 18 Oct Friday
TRAVEL: Carlisle and the USAWC are about 30 miles north of Gettysburg. Travel to Carlisle via roughly the same
route Confederate General Ewel brought his III Corps to Gettysburg
in July 1963.
UNITED STATES ARMY WAR COLLEGE (USAWC) CLASS of 1999
20 YEAR REUNION, Carlisle, PA
October 17, 2019 USAWC - Thursday
1630-2100 Registration
& Welcome Event Letort View Community Center(LVCC)
Buffet
begins at 1800 - a good evening about 45 in attendance (incl
spouses) about 1/3 DDE and 2/3 Resident to include International Fellows from
Greece and Australia. Each of use gave a
short introduction of self to include Seminar and activities since
graduation. A lot were now “scum sucking
contractors.”
October 18, 2019 USAWC - Friday
0815 Bus
from Army Heritage & Educaiton Center (AHEC)
0830 Coffee
0900 Welcome
0915-1030 “Then and
Now” Briefing – this was a
breakout for the DDE and Resident students – we wrote 30 papers of 750-1500
words each the current standard is 8 papers of 500-750 words each . . . . and
these guys get a MSS – we didn’t
1030-1045 Break
1045-1145 Windshield
Tour of Carlisle Barracks with stop at new housing
1145-1300 Lunch/Tour
of Root Hall/Gift Shop
1310-1345 Memorial
Tribute to deceased classmates
1400-1600 Tour of AHEC – this was the low point of
the day – the 20 or 30 something staffer was a rude “I don’t have time for you
unless you conform to MY schedule and MY agenda and on MY time” know-it-all. I did make a contact with the reference desk
regarding research for the Battle of Perryville.
1830-2200 Reunion
Dinner
Cocktails
1830/Dinner 1930 (Sport Coat)
October 19, 2019 USAWC - Saturday
Optional Activities
0830-1630 Gettysburg
National Military Park – a small group
of 14 including the guide – (5 couples 3 singles) 30% DDE 70% Resident. The tour guide was COL (Ret) amember of the War College staff.
Travel to Gettysburg
Mount Holly Springs - South Moutnain
story of perpear mill LTG Ewell's order of blank forms
apples orchards - green
0930 Buford's Status
1015 Tower - statue of "Sadie" the dog
1045 North Caroline Monument
1113 Longstreet's Towe
1200 Lunch - Movie - Cylcorama
1395 Deveil Dens - Roundtop - 20th Maine
1445 Wheatefield 'cornfield' bloodiest US acres ever
Travel to Gettysburg
Mount Holly Springs - South Moutnain
story of perpear mill LTG Ewell's order of blank forms
apples orchards - green
0930 Buford's Status
1015 Tower - statue of "Sadie" the dog
1045 North Caroline Monument
1113 Longstreet's Towe
1200 Lunch - Movie - Cylcorama
1395 Deveil Dens - Roundtop - 20th Maine
1445 Wheatefield 'cornfield' bloodiest US acres ever
1730 Mass at Our
Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Community at the chapel inside the gate of
Carlisle Barracks – presided by what I can only surmise was a Catholic Chaplain. Readings where Joshua won the battle only
while Moses’ arms were raised – similar gospel.
I’m wrting this later so I have forgotten the highlights of the homily –
but it was the feast of the North American Martyrs and the priest had relics
(pieces of bone from 3 of the French Jesuits who were martyred) - he
offered a special individual blessing to all after the mass.
OCTOBER 20, 2019 Sunday
WEATHER: raining
TRAVEL: Sunday - Carlisle to the Hampton Inn Dulles Airport
South, Chantilly, VA
121 MANASSAS NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD
Sunday – Welcome
Dinner (pizza) with the Kenosha Civil War Museum. Program by Paige Gibbons Backus, Historic
Site Manager for Prince William County, VA
Ben La Mond Historical Site, 10321 Sudley Manor Dr, Masassas, VA
“Revealing the Chaos & Carnage of the Hospitals of First
Manassas”
· - 3,500 casualties at
1st Manassas - an
unprecedented amount for a battle – there regimental surgeons were unprepared
for such carnage
· - Not many records
kept
· - Dr. Hunter McGuire
treated T.E.Jackson for a finger wound at a makeshift hospital site near
Holcombs Run
· - Almost all the
buildings in the area were used as hospitals, Wilmer House, Stone House (2nd
Manassas) Sudley Church, Chinn Ridge, Ben La Mond
· - MAJ Sullivan Ballou
was treated at Sudley Church (US Hospital)
· - Kirby Smith WIA was
treated at Ben La Mond Hospital
October 21, 2019 MONDAY
121 MANASSAS NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD
 |
| Manassas - Stone Bridge |
 |
| Manassa Stone Bridge - map |
 |
| Manassa Battlefield - Manassas I most of the action occured East (right) of Sudley Road |
On the morning of July 21, McDowell sent his attack columns in a long march north towards Sudley Springs Ford. This route took the Federals around the Confederate left. To distract the Southerners, McDowell ordered a diversionary attack where the Warrenton Turnpike crossed Bull Run at the Stone Bridge. At 5:30a.m. the deep-throated roar of a 30-pounder Parrott rifle shattered the morning calm, and signaled the start of the battle.
McDowell’s new plan depended on
speed and surprise, both difficult with inexperienced troops. Valuable time was
lost as the men stumbled through the darkness along narrow roads. Confederate Col. Nathan Evans, commanding a brigade
at the Stone Bridge, soon realized
that the attack on his front was only a diversion. Leaving a small force to
hold the bridge, Evans rushed the
remainder of his command to Matthews
Hill in time to check McDowell’s
lead unit. But Evans’ force was too
small to hold back the Federals for long.
 |
| First Manassas - Flight From Matthews Hill |
Soon brigades under Barnard Bee and Francis Bartow marched to Evans’ assistance. But even with these reinforcements, the thin gray line collapsed and Southerners fled in disorder toward Henry Hill. Attempting to rally his men, Bee used Gen. Thomas J. Jackson’s newly arrived brigade as an anchor. Pointing to Jackson, Bee shouted, “There stands Jackson like a stone wall! Rally behind the Virginians!” Generals Johnston and Beauregard then arrived on Henry Hill, where they assisted in rallying shattered brigades and redeploying fresh units that were marching to the point of danger.
About noon, the Federals stopped their advance to reorganize for a new attack. The lull lasted for about an hour, giving the Confederates enough time to reform their lines. Then the fighting resumed, each side trying to force the other off Henry Hill. The battle continued until just after 4p.m., when fresh Southern units crashed into the Union right flank on Chinn Ridge, causing McDowell’s tired and discouraged soldiers to withdraw.
 |
| First Manassas - Arrival of Jefferson Davis |
First Bull Run 21 JUL 1861 – Interpretive Guide Hank
Elliot, NPS – “needless
to say” Hank knows his sutff, an excellent guide, interesting, and kept the
patter up
 |
| NPS Ranger - Hank Elliot at Holcomb Branch |
0815 Manassas Battlefield Visitor
Center
0900 Video at Visitor Center – a 45 minute film
produced in 2002
1015 STOP 1 – Stone Bridge
1115 STOP 2 – Matthews Hill
Lunch at Golden
Corral, Manassas – 1st
visit to one of these – an excellent almost endless buffet
1330 STOP 3 – Henry House Hill
0000 STOP 4 – Holcomb Branch
1630 Return to Manassas Battlefield Visitor
Center
Dinner at Okra’s, Manassas – Outstanding! An excellent dinner - with choice of
appetizers, 4 main courses and dessert.
Cajun cooking.
1950 Return to Hampton Inn
October 22, 2019 TUESDAY
121 MANASSAS NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD
It was foggy all
morning with rain all afternoon
 |
| Cedar Mountain - I hadn't been to the sight before |
 |
| Battle of Cedar Mountain - August 9, 1862 a prelude to Second Manassas |
 |
| Scott Patchin Cedar Mountain yes it was raining and very foggy |
Second Bull Run - Guide Scott
Patchan
Today was a bus
ride – because of the weather we may have deviated from the plan . . . and
spent at least 5 hours of the day riding on a bus – no maps – except for Cedar
Mountain, I had been to all these places before . . . . not much patter on the
bus but the route gave me a better understading of what preceded Second
Manassas
STOP 1 Cedar
Mountain
STOP 2 Bristoe Station
STOP 3 Thoroughfare Gap
Lunch at City
Grille, Manassas – the
sandwiches were delicious with outstanding service.
STOP 4 Manassas Junction
STOP 5 Brawner’s Farm
Dinner at Firebirds, Gainesville, VA – excellent
meal and service.
 |
| Bristoe Station - more known for its role in 1864 than in 1862 - I had been here before - a nice park |
121 MANASSAS NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD
Federal forces in northern Virginia
were organized into the Army of Virginia
under the command of Gen. John Pope,
who arrived with a reputation freshly won in the war's western theater.
Gambling that McClellan would cause no further trouble around Richmond, Lee
sent Stonewall Jackson's corps
northward to "suppress" Pope. Jackson clashed indecisively with part
of Pope's troops at Cedar Mountain
on August 9. Meanwhile, learning that McClellan’s
Army
of the Potomac was withdrawing by water to join Pope, Lee marched with Gen. James
Longstreet's corps to bolster Jackson. On the Rapidan, Pope successfully
blocked Lee's attempts to gain the tactical advantage, and then withdrew his
men north of the Rappahannock River. Lee knew that if he was to defeat Pope he
would have to strike before McClellan's army arrived in northern Virginia. On
August 25 Lee boldly started Jackson's
corps on a march of over 50 miles, around the Union right flank to strike at Pope's rear.
 |
| Second Manassas - Map at Brawner Farm |
Pope, stung by the attack on
his supply base, abandoned the line of the Rappahannock and headed towards Manassas
to "bag" Jackson. At the
same time, Lee was moving northward
with Longstreet's corps to reunite
his army. On the afternoon of August 28, to prevent the Federal commander's
efforts to concentrate at Centreville and bring Pope to battle, Jackson ordered his troops to attack a
Union column as it marched past on the Warrenton
Turnpike. This savage fight at Brawner's
Farm lasted until dark.
Convinced
that Jackson was isolated, Pope ordered his columns to converge on
Groveton. He was sure that he could
destroy Jackson before Lee and Longstreet could intervene. On the 29th Pope's army found
Jackson's men posted along an unfinished railroad
grade, north of the turnpike. All afternoon, in a series of uncoordinated
attacks, Pope hurled his men against
the Confederate position. In several places the northerners momentarily
breached Jackson's line, but each time were forced back. During the afternoon, Longstreet's troops arrived on the
battlefield and, unknown to Pope, deployed on Jackson's right, overlapping the exposed
Union left. Lee urged Longstreet to
attack, but "Old Pete" demurred. The time was just not right, he
said.
 |
| Map - Manassas Battlefield National Battlefield |
The morning of August 30 passed quietly. Just before noon, erroneously concluding the Confederates were retreating, Pope ordered his army forward in "pursuit". The pursuit, however, was short-lived. Pope found that Lee had gone nowhere. Amazingly, Pope ordered yet another attack against Jackson's line. Fitz-John Porter's corps, along with part of McDowell's, struck Starke's division at the unfinished railroad's "Deep Cut." The southerners held firm, and Porter's column was hurled back in a bloody repulse.
Seeing
the Union lines in disarray, Longstreet pushed
his massive columns forward and staggered the Union left. Pope's army was faced with annihilation. Only a heroic stand by
northern troops, first on Chinn Ridge
and then once again on Henry Hill,
bought time for Pope's hard-pressed
Union forces. Finally, under cover of darkness the defeated Union army withdrew
across Bull Run towards the defenses
of Washington. Lee's bold and brilliant Second
Manassas campaign opened the way for the south's first invasion of the
north, and a bid for foreign intervention.
Second Bull Run Guide Scott
Patchan – today was a good
day – I learned much about Second Manassas – even though I have walked the
field several times the presence of a guide brought much more understanding to
the battle
0840 Stop 1 - Sudley
Methodist Church and a walk along the unfinished railroad
1010 Stop 2 -
Visitor Center
1050 Stop 3 - Confederate
Cemetery – walk to back of cemetery
1115 Stop 4 - Deep
Cut –walk unfinished railroad
1235 Stop 5 - Picnic
Area - Box Lunch on Battlefield
1330 Stop 6 - End
of New York Avenue circle
1415 Stop 7 - Chinn
Ridge
1500 Stop 8 - Henry
Hill
The tour actually
ended today but I decided to stay another evening at the Hampton
Inn Dulles Airport
South. Unfortunately, the promise of Hilton personnel (poor planning – not
listening to customer queries) to stay in the same room was untrue – I had to move this morning – unfortunate customer service.
OCTOBER 24, 2019 Thursday
WEATHER: 41 and clear at 5 am Chantilly,
VA a high of 72 by the time I reached Hampton, VA
TRAVEL: Manassas
National Batllefield, Fredericksburg-Spotsylvania National Chancellorsville-Wilderness
, Joint Base Langley-Eustis
136 FREDERICKSBURG-SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY
BATTLEFIELDS -
Fredericksburg, VA
CHANCELLORSVILLE-WILDERNESS, VA
Last visited November
7, 2014 . . . several
major Civil War battles are covered in this park. There are two major Visitor Centers one in
Fredericksburg focusing on the battle of Fredericksburg; the other is on the
Chancellorsville battlefield focusing on the Chancellorsville, Wilderness and Spotsylvania
Courthouse battlefields. I have spent several days on each of these
battlefields in the past.
 |
| Langley NASA Reearch Center - entrance |
NASA's Langley Research Center is comprised of nearly 200 facilities on 764 acres in Hampton, Virginia, and employs about 3,400 civil servants and contractors. Langley works to make revolutionary improvements to aviation, expand understanding of Earth’s atmosphere and develop technology for space exploration. It is adjacent ot Langley Air Force Base.
 |
| Langley AFB |
Air Force Inn – Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Hampton, VA
- Langley is home to NASA
Research, the air base
is home to the 633rd Air Base Wing. I stayed
at Lawton Hall, in a 2 room “VIP” suite just across from the South Branch of the Back
River.
OCTOBER 26, 2019 Saturday
WEATHER: 58 at 5 am partly cloudy, high of 73
TRAVEL: Langley AFB to Petersburg
National Battlefield to
Fort Lee, VA
139 PETERSBURG NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD, Petersburg, VA
Last visited on November
13, 2014 . . . . the Siege of Petersburg is
the longest military event of the Civil War.
Nine and a half
months, 70,000 casualties, the suffering of civilians, thousands of U. S.
Colored Troops fighting for the
freedom of their race, and the decline of Gen. Robert E. Lee's
Army of Northern Virginia all describe the
Siege of Petersburg. It was here Gen. Ulysses S. Grant cut off all of Petersburg's
supply lines ensuring the fall of Richmond on April 3, 1865. Six days later,
Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House.
 |
| Petersburg -example of earthworks - Stop3 |
There are 3 Visitor
Centers – Eastern Front, Western Front, Grant’s Headquarters at City Point and there is a Five
Forks Contact Station.. I only visited the Eastern
Front VC and watched the
video. I drove the 8 stops along the Eastern
Front. There were few
people in the park – a few walking their dogs – a beautiful day for a walk and
there are plenty of hiking trails.
Stop 1 – Confederate Battery 5. One of the
strongest works on the original Confederate defense line (the Dimmock
Line). Federal troops captured it on June 15,
1864. A trail leads to the “Dictator”, a mortar used to shell Confederate
batteries north of the Appomattox River.
Stop 2 – Confederate Battery 8. Captured by
black Union troops, this battery was renamed Fort Friend for the Friend House located
nearby. It played a major role during
the Battle of Fort Stedman in March 1865.
Stop 3 – Confederate Battery 9. Black
troops captured this position during the first days fighting. The site features reconstructed examples of
siege fortifications and related structures..
A trail leads to a wayside on Meade Station, an important supply and
hospital depot on the US Military Railroad built during the siege.
Stop 4 – Harrison Creek. Driven from portions of the Dimmock Line in the opening battle on June
15, 1964, Confederate forces dug in along the west bank of Harrison
Creek for two days before
withdrawing closer to Petersburg. In March 1865 Lee’s last offensive movement (the Battle
of Fort Stedman) was halted along
this stream.
Stop 5 – Fort Stedman. Lee attacked this Union stronghold
on March 25, 1865 to try to relieve pressure west of the city. A loop trail leads to Colquitt’s
Salient, where the attack
originated. The trail passes the
monument to the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery.
Stop 6 – Fort Haskell. Here, Union artillery, along with
heavy infantry fire stopped the Confederates’ southward advance from Fort
Stedman.
 |
| Peterssburg - Fort Haskell - Stop 6 |
Stop 7 – Fort Morton. From here at what was then known as the “14 gun battery”, MG Ambrose Burnside, commander of the Union's IX Corps watched the Battle of the Crater.
Stop 8 – The Crater. On July 30, 1864, at a part of the line known as Elliott’s Salient, Union troops exploded a mine
under the Confederate battery attempting to create a breakthrough into Petersburg.
The follow-up attack by Burnside’s IX Corps failed miserably.
.
IHG Housing, Fort Lee, VA
- a seven story
complex with two large wings, I stayed on the 7th floor in a 2 room
suite with kitchen (refrigerator & dishwasher) for $90 plus tax, . There is a 27 hole golf course, the Cardinal
Golf Club, that few people were on.
SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL:
PACKERS 31 CHIEFS 24
That puts the pack at 7:1 in the NFC North one game ahead of the
Vikings. The game didn’t start here
until after 2030 – I didn’t stay up to watch the game.
OCTOBER 28, 2019 Monday
WEATHER: 63 at 0500 –a high of 86 and
clear
SUNRISE: 0736 SUNSET: 1836 Beaufort, SC
TRAVEL: Sunday travel
Fort Lee, VA to
Hampton Inn, Beaufort SC
412 RECONSTRUCTION ERA NATIONAL MONUMENT, Beaufort, SC
 |
| Reconstuction Era Visitor Center CLOSED - Monday |
 |
| Recontruction Era Brick Baptist Church |
BRICK BAPTIST CHURCH
Today, the exterior of the church is preserved by the park, but the interior remains an active church congregation, and is not typically open to visitor access. If visiting the Brick Baptist Church site, please be respectful of the congregation and church activities that may be taking place.
Today, the exterior of the church is preserved by the park, but the interior remains an active church congregation, and is not typically open to visitor access. If visiting the Brick Baptist Church site, please be respectful of the congregation and church activities that may be taking place.
Camp Saxton was established in 1862 near the Smith
Plantation on Port Royal Island. It
was home to the 1st South Carolina Infantry (later renamed the 33rd United States Colored Troops). On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation
was read to the men of the 1st South Carolina Infantry, along with hundreds of
other formerly enslaved people, at the site of Camp Saxton in a stand of live
oak trees.
This area is preserved as part of Reconstruction Era National Historical Park. However, it is located on the campus of the Beaufort Naval Hospital, an active duty military installation. As a result, this area is not currently open to public access.
This area is preserved as part of Reconstruction Era National Historical Park. However, it is located on the campus of the Beaufort Naval Hospital, an active duty military installation. As a result, this area is not currently open to public access.
 |
| Reconstruciton Era Penn Center NPS Banner |
 |
| Reconstruciton Era Penn Center |
THE PENN CENTER
Penn Center is a cultural and
educational center located on St. Helena
Island. It evolved from the Penn
School, one of the first southern schools organized by northern
missionaries for formerly enslaved people. During the modern civil rights
movement Penn School became a site
where the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC) conducted its Citizenship Education Program. During the
1960s, Penn Center hosted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,and the SCLC
staff as they planned the March on Washington and the Poor People’s
Campaign. The Penn School was
first established in 1862 and lies within the boundaries of the national
historic landmark district.
 |
| Reconstruciton Era |
 |
| Reconstruciton Era |
I walked the campus and viewed most of the buildings from the exterior. The Welcoms center had a video explaining the background of Penn Center.
DARRAH HALL
 |
| Reconstruciton Era - Penn Center - Darrah Hall |
Reconstruction
Era National Monument, was established by President Barack Obama on January 12, 2017. It recognizes the historic significance of
the years between 1861 – 1898, from the early Civil War through
the start of Jim Crow segregation.
During this time period, the United States debated questions such as “What does
freedom mean? What are the rights of citizenship, and who can be a citizen?”
The country grappled with how to integrate millions of former African American
slaves into society, and how to build a more united nation with free and equal citizens.
Consequently, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were passed,
permanently abolishing slavery, defining birthright citizenship and
guaranteeing equal protection under the law, and prohibiting voter
discrimination based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Congress
also passed a series of Reconstruction Acts that divided
the former Confederacy into five military districts and laid out
requirements for re-admittance to the Union (except Tennessee). The experience
of Reconstruction, and the rebuilding of the Union following the Civil War, played out
across America and resulted in changes that fundamentally altered the meaning
of citizenship and the relationship between Federal and state governments.
Central to this drama was the former Confederacy where social, economic, and
political changes dramatically transformed the region and where major
activities of and resistance to Reconstruction took place. African Americans -
across America - faced steep obstacles as they attempted to claim their newly
won rights. Ultimately, the unmet promises of Reconstruction led to the modern civil rights movement 100 years later.
Despite the importance of Reconstruction, many Americans know very little about it. And what they do know is often outdated or inaccurate. Historians once portrayed the period as a failure and defined it narrowly as the years between 1865 and 1876. Now they see its broad triumphs and also its long reach.
Despite the importance of Reconstruction, many Americans know very little about it. And what they do know is often outdated or inaccurate. Historians once portrayed the period as a failure and defined it narrowly as the years between 1865 and 1876. Now they see its broad triumphs and also its long reach.
During
this period Americans debated profound questions: What did freedom mean? What kind of country would
this be? What kind of political
system should govern it? What were the rights of citizenship, and who could be a
citizen?
They struggled earnestly – if not always successfully – to build a nation of
free and equal citizens. Small wonder that Reconstruction
is
often called the country’s Second Founding. To this day
the outcomes of the vast political and social changes of the Reconstruction era
remain visible across the landscape.
One
place that embodies the themes of Reconstruction
with
special merit is Beaufort County, South Carolina. The significant historical
events that transpired here make it an ideal place to tell critical national,
regional and local stories of experimentation, potential transformation, accomplishment,
and disappointment. In the Beaufort region, including the City of Beaufort, the
town of Port Royal, and Saint Helena Island, many existing
historic sites demonstrate the transformative effect of emancipation and Reconstruction.
 |
| Fort Howell |
 |
| Fort Howell |
FORT HOWELL, 160 Beach City Rd, Hilton Head Island.
The
Fort Howell site is an earthen fort constructed
next to the Mitchelville settlement to protect freed
slaves from recapture by Confederate troops.
The fort was manned primarily by African American soldiers. Fort Howell was listed on
the National Register of Historic Places in 2011 and today is a public park
with interpretive signage.
MITCHELVILLE – perhaps the first freedmen’s town established during the Civil War. Mitchelville was laid out by the Union Army on Hilton Head Ilsand to accommodate freed slaves. The town had a population of about 1,500 in 1862. Civil War photographs and illustrations who a wide variery of building types and activities.
 |
| Hilton - Ocean Oak Resort facility |
Since I was on Hilton Head Island, I thought I’d pay a visit to the Hilton Grand Vacations Resort – a nice beach – nice location – not that exciting – great neighborhood. I picked up a couple of brochures on nearby golf courses.
 |
| Hilton - Ocena Oak Resort - sand beach |
OCTOBER 29, 2019 Tuesday
WEATHER: 70 at 5 am’ high of 95 in Florida – intermiittant
rain on the way south
TRAVEL: Hampton Inn, Beaufort SC to Reconstruction
Era National Monument to Hilton Grand Vacations Resort - Seaworld,
Orlando, FL
412 RECONSTRUCTION ERA NATIONAL MONUMENT, Beaufort, SC
I decided to not
leave Beaufort until after a stop
at the Visitor Center which didn’t open until 9 am.
Not much in the VC a few exhibits – no video – but, ‘oh what a tough job
for the Superintendent’ to coordinate with 4 agencies (Brick church congregation, Penn
Center, the Navy and the City) – give me a break. A small, but nice VC built in less than 2
years after the site was signed into law by President Obama (2017). I was told that Beaufort was chosen as the site for Reconstruction
Era because it was
literally the first area ‘freed’ by the Union.
A United States Navy fleet and
United States Army expeditionary force captured Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, on November
7, 1861
Hence, the area
where “reconstruction” started . . .that’s their story and their stickin’ to it.
OCTOBER 29 – NOVEMBER 23, 2019
29 OCT T ARRIVE – Check into a 1 BR unit-Owners
Reception
Weather: in the 90’s, mostly cloudy
30 OCT W 1 mi
Ex-Read -Sun-Mass-PUBLIX-Label Pics
Weather: 75 at 6 am partly cloudy high in the 90’s SUNRISE 0735 SUNSET 1842
HALLOWEEN
31 OCT Th Mass-Read-1.25 mi EX-Sun-Shingle Creek GC-Hawks
Landing GC-Lake Buena Vista GC tee times–Disney Springs
Weather: rain overnight, 76 at 6 am partly cloudy, in the
90’s SUNRISE
0736 SUNSET 1841
ALL SAINTS DAY
1 NOV F Mass-PUBLIX-Read-1.5 mi EX-Read-Sun
Weather: 70 and clousy at 7 am, clear and 76 by 2 pm SUNRISE 0737 SUNSET 1840
2 NOV Sa 1.75 mi
EX- Sun-Wal-Mart-Golf
Galaxy-Shingle Creek GC-Disney Springs
Weather: 70 at 0500 high of 88 partly coudy SUNRISE
0738 SUNSET 1839
DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ENDS
3 Nov Su 2.0 mi
Ex-Mass-Read-Sun-Lake Buena Vista GC practice range-Packer Game
Weather: 64 and cloudy at 0500 SUNRISE 0638 SUNSET 1739
4 NOV M Mass -DISNEY AK:Safari-MK:Pirates-AK:Nemo Musical-Lion King- Nomad
Lounge-Dinosaur FP-Everest FP- Rivers of Light FP (not needed) (a lot of
walking today wait times for ‘Avatar: Flight of Passage’ always in excess of
130 minutes)
Weather: mostly cloudy high in 70’s 10 minute rain at 3pm SUNRISE 0639 SUNSET 1738
5 NOV T Stretch-Read-Mass-Shingle Creek GC-Ford’s Garage-Sun-Read
Weather: 71 and clear at 6am –high of 86-T-storms 7pm SUNRISE 0640 SUNSET 1737
6 NOV W 1.5 mi EX-Mass-Walgreens-Read-Sun
Weather: 73 and mostly cloudy at 7am, high of 83 SUNRISE 0640 SUNSET 1736
7 NOV Th Stretch–Read-Hawks Landing GC-JoAnn Fabrics –USPS-Mass-PUBLIX-SUN-Disney Springs
Weather: 72 and mostly clear at 6am;high of 87 SUNRISE 0641 SUNSET 1736
8 NOV F Fly to Milwaukee LV MCO
0750-ATL-AR MKE1354 Frozen Jr 1900
Weather: 28 and windy in the evening SUNRISE 0642 Orlando
SUNSET 1637 Burlington
9 NOV Sa Burlington-USPS-Haircut-Pick up Blanket- Walgreens
Flu Shot –start Christmas decorations-Mass-watch Avengers: End Game
Weather: 28 in Milwaukee; 80 in Orlando SUNRISE 0638 Burlington SUNSET 1735 Orlando
10 NOV Su Fly to Orlando LVE MKE0636-DTWL-AR MCO 1240
GB 24 vs Carolina 16
Weather: 26 at 5 am;
low 80’s in Orlando SUNRISE 0642 Burlington SUNSET 1734 Orlando
VETERANS DAY
11 NOV M 2.0 mi EX -Read-Sun- Mass USPS-Read
Weather: 62 at 6 am partly cloudy; high of 80 SUNRISE 0644 SUNSET 1733
12 NOV T Shingle
Creek GC (exchange shirt)-Mass-Lake Buena Vista GC-Disney Springs-Longhorn
Steakhouse
Weather: 62 at 6am high in mid 80’s partly cloudy SUNRISE 0645 SUNSET 1733
13 NOV W Mass-2.25 mi EX-Read-Move from 1 BR
to 2BR
Weather: 57 at 5 am cloudy windy & cool high of 70 SUNRISE 0646 SUNSET 1732
14 NOV Th Label
Gettysburg Gun Line pics-Mass-Owner’r Reception-Disney Springs
movie MIDWAY- update blog
Weather: 64 at 5 am
partly cloudy, high of 75 SUNRISE
0647 SUNSET 1732
15 NOV F Update
blog-Mass-2.5 mi EX-Read-update blog
Weather: 72 at 5 am – cloudy SUNRISE 0648 SUNSET 1731
16 NOV Sa Stretch
Ex-Mass-Wash/Vacuum Car-Read-MCO-Disney
Springs-Applebees
Weather: 58 at 5 am – cloudy cool windy high low 60’s SUNRISE 0649 SUNSET 1730
17 NOV Su.1.5 mi EX-Read-Pizza/Popcorn
Owners Lounge
(alternate to Kennedy Space Center)
Weather: 52 at 5 am cloudy windy misty-high of 62 very cool SUNRISE 0650 SUNSET 1730
18 NOV M Animal Kingdom-Avatar: Flight of
Passage-Dinosaur FP-Safari-Up: A Bird Adventure with Russell & Doug-Everest
FP-Kali River Rapids
Weather: 56 at 5 am cloudy & clearing; 73 at 3 clear skies SUNRISE 0650 SUNSET 1729
19 NOV T DISNEY
Hollywood Studios-Frozen:Sing A
Long-Star Tours:The Adventure Continues-Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular
FP-Oga’s Cantina-Millennium Falcon:Smuggler’s Run-Sci-Fi Café-Tower of
Terror-(alternate Rock & Roller Coaster:Aerosmith-Toy Story Mania FP-Alien
Swirling Saucers
Weather: 57 at 5 am clear high of 70 SUNRISE 0651 SUNSET 1729
20 NOV W DISNEY Magic Kingdom-Seven Dwarfs Mine Train-Pirates
of the Caribbean-Splash Mountain FP-Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Café-Disney’s
Festival of Fantasy Parade-Big Thunder Mountain RR FP-Monster’s Inc. Laugh
Floor-People Mover-Stitch-Tomorrowland Speedway-Mad Tea Party-Peter Pan’s
Flight FP-Mickey’s Philharmagic-Big Thunder Mountain RR-Happily Ever After
Fireworks
Weather: 50 at 6 am clear high of 72 SUNRISE 0652 SUNSET 1729
21 NOV Th Mass-(alternate Disney
Springs)-tacos-SUN-(alternate
pool)-SUN-spaghetti
Weather: 57 at 7 am partly cloudy; high of 77 SUNRISE 0653 SUNSET 1728
22 NOV F -Disney
EPCOT-Soarin’-Test
Track-Mexico-monorail to Disney Magic Kingdom –Big Thunder Mountain RR-Splash Mountain-Space
Mountain (alternate Tomorrowland
Speedway)-monorail to Disney EPCOT-Test Track FP-Mission Space FP-Longhorn Steak house
Weather: 59 at 7 am high in the mid-70's SUNRISE
0654 SUNSET 1728
NOVEMBER 23, 2019 Saturday
WEATHER: 59 in Orlando clear – 79 in
southern GA – rain & 62 in Atlanta – 65 and sunny in Oxford,AL
SUNRISE 0624 EST Orlando, FL SUNSET
1646 CST Anniston, AL
TRAVEL: HGVC Seaworld to MCO to HGVC
Seaworld to Oxford/Anniston, AL – 525 hours; 8.5 hours; as anticipated-delays
in and around Atlanta;
HOME2 Suites – Anniston, AL WIFI
works 10x better than at Hilton Grand Vacations Seaworld.
After some calls, to Hilton, management gave me my 20,000 Hilton
Honors points back
since I decided not to stay until Monday because Freedom Riders National
Monument is not open on
weekends and the weather for Perryville on Tuesday is forecasted rain.
Sacred Heart Catholic
Church – 5 pm Mass – I showed up at 4 – Anniston is on CST came back at 5. A new church but it had a ‘cold’ design
feeling, but very friendly congregation.
The kneelers wer e extremely uncomfortable – I believe they may have
been from an older church. About 100
people present in church that can hold 300.
Celebrating Catholic Schools Week – students from the school were in
their uniforms and sang in the choir.
Middle aged priest sang most of the mass – Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus
Dei sung in Latin. Feast of Christ the King of the Universe – ‘remember me when
you come into your Kingdom . . . today you will be with me in Paradise.’
.
NOVEMBER 24, 2019 Sunday
WEATHER: 45 & cloudy at 6 am - 45 and clear in Danville at 5 pm
SUNRISE 0624 CST SUNSET
1646 EST
TRAVEL: Oxford, AL to Freedom
Riders National Monument to Mill
Springs (KY) Battlefield (a proposed National Monument) to Richmond (KY) Battlefield to
Hampton Inn, Danville, KY
413 FREEDOM RIDERS NATIONAL MONUMENT, Anniston, AL
Established by President Barack Obama on
January 12, 2017, Freedom Riders National Monument shares stories of
people and places that gained national attention in the fight against the injustices
of Jim Crow laws and eventually led to regulations banning segregation in
interstate travel.
I arrived in Oxford/Anniston, AL on Saturday November 23, 2019, after a
8 ½ drive from Orlando, FL. I may have
originally planned to stay Sunday, just to get the stamp on Monday because
Freedom Riders is CLOSED on weekends. The
following is from the National Park Service website. Hours: Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. Freedom Riders National Monument is a
National Park Service unit located in Anniston, Alabama. It is a park in
progress with limited services. In the coming years services will be added to
the park in cooperation with our partners.
 |
| Freddom Riders |
The monument includes the former Greyhound
Bus Station located at 1031 Gurnee Avenue and the place where the bus was
firebombed about six miles outside of the town on State Route 202, two sites
where the Freedom Riders were attacked by segregationist mobs.
 |
| Freedom Riders - route |
Through the media the nation and the world witnessed the violence. Images, like that of a firebombed bus burning outside Anniston, Alabama, shocked the American public and created political pressure, which forced the Federal Government to take steps to ban segregation in interstate bus travel.
Although only thirteen Freedom Riders started the journey they inspired hundreds of others to join their cause. In the end there were over 400 Freedom Riders. They succeeded in pressing the federal government to act. On May 29, 1961, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to issue regulations banning segregation, and the ICC subsequently decreed that by November 1, 1961, bus carriers and terminals serving interstate travel had to be integrated.
The Freedom Rides and Freedom Riders made substantial gains in the fight for equal access to public accommodations. Federal orders to remove Jim Crow signs on interstate facilities did not change social mores or political institutions overnight, but the Freedom Riders nonetheless struck a powerful blow to racial segregation.
There are several
sites associated with Freedom Riders National Monument.
 |
| Freddom Riders Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center - CLOSED |
 |
| Freedom Riders Greyhound Bus Station NPS Visitor Center Under Construction |
Visitor Center (1330 Quintard Avenue) actually the Chamber of Commerce building – closed on Sunday
- Greyhound Bus Station (1031 Gurnee Avenue) On Sunday, May 14, 1961, a group of segregationists, including members of the Ku Klux Klan, attacked the bus carrying African American and white Freedom Riders. The mob threw rocks, broke windows, and slashed the tires of the bus. Following police intervention the bus was able to depart for Birmingham, with the mob in pursuit. The former bus station is not currently open to the public. Today, the side of the adjacent building that borders the bus station’s driveway features a mural and educational panels about the events of May 14, 1961.
 |
| Freedom Riders - Mural and educational panels on building adjacent to Bus Station (right) |
 |
| Freedom Riders Greyhound Bus Burning |
 |
| Freedom Riders Bus Burning Site |
- Bus Burning Site (Old
Birmingham Highway/State Route 202) At this site, about six
miles outside Anniston, the slashed tires of the Greyhound bus gave out and the driver was forced to pull over. The segregationist mob continued its attack, and someone eventually threw a bundle of flaming rags into the bus that exploded seconds later. Joseph “Little Joe” Postiglione, a freelance photographer, captured the scene. Little Joe’s photographs of the burning bus—which appeared in hundreds of newspapers on Monday morning—became iconic images of the civil rights movement. An Alabama Historical Marker identifies the site of the bus burning. There is no marker. (near the intersection of Old Birmingham Highway and Barkwood Dr., Anniston, AL 36201).
 |
| Anniston Civil Rights and Heritage Trail |
- Anniston
Memorial Hospital (400 East 10th
Street) With
great trouble the Freedom
Riders made their way to the Anniston hospital, which provided little in the way of treatment, and where they found themselves once again under siege by a white mob. Their torment eventually ended when deacons dispatched by Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth of Birmingham’s Bethel Baptist Church, rescued them and drove them to Birmingham. The hospital is part of the Anniston Civil Rights and Heritage Trail and is supposedly marked with a sign. I didn’t locate the sign.
Anniston Memorial Hospital
I'm sure its much larger today
than it was in 1961
 |
| Freedom Riders 1018 Noble St |
- Trailways
Station (1018 Noble St.) At this station, a second group of Freedom Riders stopped before departing for Birmingham. During their brief stop, a group of white men
boarded and physically forced the Freedom Riders to segregate. The segregationists harassed the
Freedom
Riders throughout the two-hour
ride to Birmingham. In Birmingham, the Freedom Riders were attacked by a mob of segregationists. The
former Trailways
Station also features a mural and
educational panels . I didn’t locate any.murals and the address didn't look like a bus station.
4?? MILL SPRINGS BATTLEFIELD NATIONAL MONUMENT, Nancy, KY
NOT YET AN OFFICIAL NATIONAL MONUMENT i.e. part of the National
Park Service.
This is my third visit to the battlefield site. A much nicer museum and Visitor Center than
Camp Nelson National Monument..
On March
12, 2019, President
Trump signed into law the Natural Resources Management Act that recognizes
Camp Nelson in Jessamine County and Mill Springs Battlefield in Pulaski
County as National Monuments. Camp Nelson falls under the
National Park Service, Mill Springs is pending acquisition of land – sounds like an
excuse – politics seems like a better answer
.
BACKGROUND
 |
| Mill Springs - Visitor Center adjacent to the National Cemetery (background) |
Initially, a sensation in newspapers North and South, the battle was largely forgotten, overshadowed by the bloody Battle of Shiloh in April 6-7, 1862. .
The battle remained
forgotten and the grave unkempt until the 1970’s when local efforts were made
to preserve the battlefield. Due to lack
of funds, the efforts were unsuccessful.
In 1992 the National Park Service placed Mill Springs on the list of the 25 most endangered battlefields. The Mill
Springs Battlefield Association was formed in June of 1992 with the purpose of preserving and
interpreting the original battlefield.
The Mill
Springs Battlefield Association has a Visitor Center open 6 days each week and on Sundays from 1-4 pm. The Association has developed a 10 stop driving
tour.
BATTLE
OF MILL SPRINGS
Just
after midnight on January 19, 1862, 4,000 Confederate troops at
Beech Grove started a nine-mile slog towards a Union army camped at Logan's Cross Roads.
The
South had decided to attack the Union Army in order to protect the defensive
line it had set up across southern Kentucky. Maj.
Gen. George B. Crittenden,
who commanded the Confederate Army in this part of the country, had learned
that Federal forces under Maj. Gen. George Thomas were coming
together at Logan's Cross Roads.
After
six hours of marching in the dark, the Confederate troops encountered Federal
pickets and the Battle of Mill Springs began. For the
next four hours fighting ranged across hilly farmland that still retained many
patches of woods. Ravines cut across the battlefield, impeding the cavalry and
artillery of both sides.
At
the start of fighting, the Southern troops drove their opponents back. After
about an hour, however, the battle began to stabilize. More Union forces
arrived, It was foggy and raining.
The
Confederates, who used an old type of rifle that needed a spark to ignite its
black powder, which lay exposed in an open pan. "The rain was descending in torrents and our flint lock muskets
were in bad condition; not one in three would fire," wrote one
Southern soldier. "We...did the best we could with our old flint
locks. Mine went off once during the action, and although I wiped the 'pan' and
primed a dozen times it would do so no more."
 |
| Mill Springs - sketch of Gneral Zollicoffer's death |
It
was in this confusion that Confederate
General Zollicoffer rode up to the 19th Tennessee CSA, who held the Confederate center. He ordered them to cease fire, as he was convinced that they were shooting at other Southern units. Zollicoffer then advanced toward the unit being fired on and began speaking with another officer, whom he ordered also to cease fire. Neither recognized the other's face, and both men wore rubberized canvas raincoats that made it impossible to see a uniform. The other officer had turned away to follow his orders when one of Zollicoffer's aides rode up and shouted for the General to get away--these were the enemy's troops! Zollicoffer had been mistaken: the 19th Tennessee had been firing at the 4th Kentucky US, who still stood close enough to hear the warning. They opened fire, and Zollicoffer and his aide were killed instantly.
General Zollicoffer rode up to the 19th Tennessee CSA, who held the Confederate center. He ordered them to cease fire, as he was convinced that they were shooting at other Southern units. Zollicoffer then advanced toward the unit being fired on and began speaking with another officer, whom he ordered also to cease fire. Neither recognized the other's face, and both men wore rubberized canvas raincoats that made it impossible to see a uniform. The other officer had turned away to follow his orders when one of Zollicoffer's aides rode up and shouted for the General to get away--these were the enemy's troops! Zollicoffer had been mistaken: the 19th Tennessee had been firing at the 4th Kentucky US, who still stood close enough to hear the warning. They opened fire, and Zollicoffer and his aide were killed instantly.
Even after Zollicoffer's death,
fighting continued for at least two more hours. The Confederates mounted one
more significant attack, in which they advanced but were unable to break the
Union lines. Then the tide of the battle turned against the Confederates,
particularly after the 9th Ohio made
one of the first and most effective bayonet charges of the Civil War. They
broke the Confederate left and caused the entire army to retreat in confusion.
The Federal forces pursued, but rear guard action by some Southern units slowed
the Union enough to allow the Confederates to reach their fortified camps, nine
miles to the rear, as night fell.
During the night, as the Federals prepared to attack the camp at
dawn, the beaten Confederates retreated hastily across the Cumberland River. When the Union army approached in the morning,
they found their opponents were gone, having abandoned their artillery, wagons,
horses, food, and most of their personal possessions
The
Union had its first significant victory of the Civil War as 150 Confederates
and 50 Union soldiers lay dead on the field.
The South lost more than men at the Battle of Mill Springs.
The defeat caused their defense line to collapse in eastern Kentucky, leaving
the region itself under Federal control and eastern Tennessee open to invasion.
The subsequent losses of Forts Henry and Donelson, both just over
the border into Tennessee, forced all Confederate forces to retreat out of the state.
Though the South would try to retake Kentucky later in 1862,
the failure of this effort meant that the state remained firmly in control of
the Union for the rest of the Civil War.
Green Bay 8 vs San Francisco 27 - started 8:20 pm I
didn’t watch the game – based on the score, the Packers didn’t show up for the
game – they stayed in Green Bay again
NOVEMBER 25, 2019 Monday
WEATHER: 32 at 5 am partly cloudy in
Danville; 52 and clear at noon in Lexington;
61and clear in Perryville at 3:15 pm.
SUNRISE 0729 EST SUNSET
1723 EST Danville
TRAVEL: Hampton Inn (Danville, KY) to Richmond
Battlefield Park (Richmond, KY)
to Town Branch Distillery (Lexington, KY) to Perryville
Battlefield (Perryville, KY).
HAMPTON INN – Danville, KY - much friendlier reception than the Home2
Suites in Oxford, AL.
RICHMOND BATTLEFIELD
PARK.
Battlefield Park, located at 1546 Battlefield Memorial
Highway, encompasses part of the Civil War battlefield in Madison County. The center point of
the park is the 1824 Pleasant View home, which served as a hospital after the
battle. The home is currently closed for renovations.
The park features a picnic area,
restrooms, and 2.5 miles of paved walking trails lined with interpretative
signs about the battle.
TOWN BRANCH DISTILLERY
& LEXINGTON BREWING COMPANY –
I took the tour – cost $12 but half price for veterans.
Lexington
Brewing & Distilling Co. was founded in 1999 by Irish entrepreneur
Pearse Lyons, founder of Alltech. Alltech is a privately owned
company, Headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, Alltech has developed a strong global
presence in 128 countries. It also has 31 production facilities strategically
located throughout the world. Alltech
is one of the industry leaders in the animal feed industry. The Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co.
represents about 5% of Alltech’s
multi-billion dollar annual sales.
Its Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale® has grown
to become the brewery’s flagship brew, capitalizing on the brewery’s proximity
to fresh Kentucky bourbon barrels. Today, the Lexington Brewing Co. family of brews — Kentucky Irish Red Ale, Kentucky
Kölsch®, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale®, Kentucky Coffee Barrel Stout™, Kentucky IPA™ and a series of unique
barrel-aged seasonals — has collected numerous awards. In 2012, the company
became part of the world-renowned Kentucky
Bourbon Trail® experience with the opening of its Town Branch Distillery, which crafts Town Branch® Bourbon, Town Branch® Rye, Town Branch® Malt, Pearse Lyons
Reserve® malt whiskey and Bluegrass
Sundown® bourbon-infused coffee liqueur.
This was a well spent hour plus tour
with testing. Perhaps the best I’ve gone
through on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Some very distinct flavors. The cream ale did taste like cream
soda and the coffe barrel stout was like a morning wake-up or evening after
dinner.. I liked the Kolsch the best. The Town Branch bourbon or Irish whiskies
were smoothest.
PERRYVILLE BATTLEFIELD
PARK – well over a
dozen days spent on this battlefield. I
first ‘discovered’ this battlefield on a return trip from Shiloh in the Spring of 2003.
It was much smaller then. The Civil War Preservation Trust has added
much land to the park since then. Undoubtedly, the most undisturbed ‘major’
battlefield of the Civil War and yet not a part of the National Park system.
It’s November and the hours of the Visitor
Center are cut-back i.e. it was not open today. I have’t been here in several
years – it looked different. Yes, a
house is gone – more property acquired – but it just didn’t feel right. My purpose was to visit the artillery battery
sites – I just didn’t have the ambition to walk to them all – did what I could
by car.
The Battle of Perryville was fought on
October 8, 1862, in the Chaplin Hills west of Perryville, Kentucky, as the
culmination of the Confederate Heartland Offensive during the American Civil
War.
On
October 7, 1862, Maj. Gen. Don Carlos
Buell's Army of the Ohio, in
pursuit of Gen Braxton Bragg’s Army of Mississippi, approached the
crossroads town of Perryville,
Kentucky. Union forces skirmished with Confederates on the Springfield Pike before heavy fighting began on Peters Hill. The next day, fighting
continued as a Union division advanced up the pike. After noon, a Confederate
division struck the Union left flank and forced it to fall back. When more
Confederates joined the fray, the Union line made a stubborn stand,
counterattacked, but finally retreated. Reinforced on their left, Union troops
stabilized their line and the Confederate attack sputtered to a halt. Later,
three Confederate regiments assaulted a Union division on the Springfield Pike but were repulsed and
fell back into Perryville. Bragg, short of men and supplies,
withdrew during the night. The battle was a Confederate tactical victory, but
Bragg’s retreat effectively ended the campaign.
NOVEMBER
26, 2019 TUESDAY
WEATHER:
SUNRISE
0xxx SUNSET xxx
TRAVEL: Danville, KY to Burlington, WI
HOME A DAY EARLIER THAN PLANNED
ADDED JANUARY 2021
There will most likely be a
2020/2021 combined post/blook, however, when again recounting the visits to the
National Parks I noticed an error when comparing my EXCEL spreadsheet count to the on-line
National Park Travelers Club count.
First I noticed that the National Park Travelers Club count indicated that I had visited
413 of 423 sites run by the National Park Service.
My final EXCEL spreadsheet Trip #347-414 2017-19 Drf Rv/AK
indicated that I had visited 413
I confirmed that I had not yet visited:
Blackstone River Valley NHP
Governor’s Island NM
Stonewall NM
Kathqdin Woods and Water NM
Aniachak NM
Aniachak NPres
Mill Springs NM
Ste. Genevieve NM
The 413 + the 8 that I had not visited was short by 2. I had to determine which 2 I had missed.
A review of the numbered sites indicated that I had counted but forgotten #159 on the EXCEL file named Trip #1-159 EOYNational Tour.
Additionally, the review indicated that I had forgotten to count Tule Lake National Monument which I visited August 13, 2017. This accounted for one of the missing sites in my spreadsheet count.
A more thorough review indicated that New River Gorge NR which I visited became New River Gorge National Park and Preserve on January 20, 2020. This accounted for the other uncounted site visit on my spreadsheet.
I have no plans of going back to Tule Lake or New Gorge just to get a Passport Stamps. As far as I’m concerned I visited them . . .
Just a side noted I have the Passport stamps for Aniachak NM & PRES in Alaska from its designated Visitor Center in King Salmon, AK but could not find a day when the weather was good enough to fly from King Salmon to Aniachak. So I never actually visited there.
Rather than go back and renumber all the visited sites I visited:
New River Gorge National Preserve became #159 and
Tule Lake National Monument became #414.
#159 New River Gorge National Preserve see #214 May 25, 2016.
#414 Tule Lake National Monument see August 13, 2019
214 & 159
NEW RIVER GORGE National Park & Preserve
Nothing changed here only a designation
. . . . .
NPS Photo - New River Gorge National Park & Preserve
News Release Date: January 20, 2021
Contact: Eve West, 304-719-6364
Glen Jean, WV - Congress has redesignated New River Gorge National River as New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. This new name highlights
the park’s spectacular features and other national park qualities as well as
its traditional recreational opportunities. The new law also allows for the
expansion of this natural and recreational treasure.
“I am thrilled that this
designation will raise awareness of the great natural resources in my home
state and the many opportunities available for outdoor recreation and
exploration,” said Margaret Everson, Counselor to the Secretary, exercising the
delegated authority of the National Park Service Director. “My love of
conservation and the outdoors stems from lifelong experiences hiking, fishing,
hunting and camping in West Virginia. Today’s announcement will inspire more
people to discover New River Gorge and enjoy the benefits of time spent in
nature.”
Legislation to redesignate
this unit of the National Park System was spearheaded by U.S. Senator Joseph Manchin (D-WV), U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and U.S. Representative Carol Miller (R-WV) and included in the
Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal 2021, enacted in December. The name
change was supported by the State of West Virginia Governor's office, county
and municipal governments, the tourism industry and local communities.
The New River Gorge is one
of West Virginia's most cherished playgrounds. The whitewater rafting, hunting,
fishing, outdoor sports and natural beauty make it one of our most robust
tourist attractions. This new designation will highlight West Virginia’s
unparalleled beauty and resources thereby increasing the international
recognition. Over the last two years we have met with outdoorsmen, businesses
and local leaders and other interested groups to ensure this designation will
promote the beauty and rich history of the New River Gorge, while ensuring that
the longstanding traditions of hunting and fishing are protected for
generations to come, ”said Senator Manchin.
“The New River Gorge is
such an important part of West Virginia and a real source of pride in our
state. I am thrilled my legislation redesignating the National River as a National Park and Preserve was included in the legislative package that
became law at the end of last year. Redesignation of the National River to a
National Park and Preserve will
shine a brighter light on West Virginia and all that it has to offer, and provide
another catalyst for our tourism industry and local businesses. I’m grateful to
all of the West Virginians—sportsmen, business owners, and constituents—for
their feedback and involvement during this entire process. Throughout all of
these discussions, it has become clear that this redesignation would bring enormous benefits to the region and those
who call it home. As West Virginians, we all know that the New River Gorge is
perhaps the best-known landmark in West Virginia because of its breathtaking
natural beauty and elements of unique Appalachian history and culture. This
designation will allow more people to share in the wild and wonderful adventure
West Virginians take so much pride in, and I know it will be treasured and
enjoyed for generations to come, ”said Senator Capito.
“I am honored to help redesignate the New River Gorge as a National Park and Preserve, ” Representative Miller.“ The New River Gorge is home to all West Virginia has to offer - our beauty, small businesses, and tourism opportunities. This redesignation is a crucial step in reinvigorating our economy. It will preserve and protect the New River Gorge for generations to come and make our state an even better place to live, work, and raise a family.”
A rugged, whitewater river
flowing northward through deep canyons, the New River is among the oldest
rivers on the continent. The national park and preserve includes more than
70,000 acres of land along the river which showcase the cultural and natural history
of the area.
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| New River Bridge - NPS Photo |
“We feel fortunate to play
a role in preserving for future generations some of the most significant
natural and cultural resources in our country,” said Lizzie Watts,
Superintendent of the park. “We appreciate all that the community has done in
support of these efforts.
The new law also expands
the abundance of available recreational opportunities. Approximately 90 percent
of the land is in the national preserve which permits hunting, a traditional
use of the area, including 368 acres in the formerly off-limits Grandview area.
The law also allows for the possibility of purchasing an additional 3,700 acres
of land to add to the preserve in the future.
The 53-mile stretch of the
New River between Bluestone and Hawk's Nest Dams became a unit of the
National Park System in November 1978. The park is administered together
with the Gauley River National
Recreation Area
and Bluestone National
Scenic River
which were both established in 1988. The combined sites span five counties in
southern West Virginia: Fayette, Nicholas, Raleigh, Summers and Mercer attract
more than one million visitors annually. In 2019, park visitors spent more than
$60 million in nearby communities, which supported 846 jobs and had a
cumulative benefit to local economies of $70 million.
414 TULE LAKE National Monument
Visited August 13, 2018. I was unable to locate any Visitor Center – I do not have a Passport Stamp. The politics of redesignation . . . .
The Tule Lake National Monument in Modoc and Siskiyou counties
in California, consists primarily of the site of the Tule Lake War
Relocation Center, one of ten concentration camps constructed
in 1942 by the United States government to incarcerate Japanese
Americans forcibly removed from their homes on the West Coast. They
totaled nearly 120,000 people, more than two-thirds of whom were United States
citizens.
After a period of use, this facility was renamed the Tule Lake Segregation Center in 1943, and used as a maximum security, segregation camp to separate and hold those prisoners considered disloyal or disruptive to the operations of other camps. Inmates from other camps were sent here to segregate them from the general population. Draft resisters and others who protested the injustices of the camps, including by their answers on the loyalty questionnaire, were sent here. At its peak, Tule Lake Segregation Center (with 18,700 inmates) was the largest of the ten camps and the most controversial. 29,840 people were held there over the four years it was open.
Tule Lake Segregation Center - NPS Photo
After the war it became a holding area for
Japanese Americans slated for deportation or expatriation to Japan, including
some who had renounced US citizenship under duress. Many joined a class action
suit because of civil rights abuses; many gained the chance to stay in the
United States through court hearings but did not regain their citizenship due
to opposition by the Department of Justice. The camp was not closed until March
20, 1946, months after the end of the war. Twenty years later, members of the
class action suit gained restoration of US citizenship through court rulings.
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| Tule Lake Barracks & Tower |
The Tule Lake Unit currently used the Fairgrounds Museum as its temporary visitor center. This shared visitor center is staffed by Rangers seven days a week from Memorial Day weekend - Labor Day from 8:30am - 5:00pm. From Labor Day - Memorial Day the visitor center is not staffed by Rangers, but you may view the exhibits and pick up maps and brochures Monday - Friday from 9:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m. or when fair staff is there.o help
