July 21, 2018 - July 30, 2018 Colonial Beach, VA.
We are enjoying visiting historical places in Virginia. It took us a couple of days to get started, because Virginia did not like our cell service. We were now without phone, internet and GPS. How did we ever live without them? Now we needed to get a new phone service, and phone. There was also a lot of rain this week, so the timing was good, we had to stay inside anyway.
Located near our campsite in Colonial Beach is a National Park memorializing George Washington's birthplace. It is a beautiful park, nice trails and beautiful scenery. We took the tour yesterday, and enjoyed the park. The original structures are gone, however, they the foundation had been unearthed, A memorial home was build in 1930, near the original foundation. We were told that the original home was destroyed on Christmas Eve a few years after George was born.
President Washington's father, grandfather and great grandfather all lived here. Basically, this was the Washington compound.
Having visited Mt. Vernon almost 2 years ago, it was interesting to see the birthplace of the Father of our Country.
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| Dave at Pope Creek, Washington Birthplace |
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| Pope Creek meets Potomac River |
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| Washington's Birthplace |
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| Foundation of real Bitthplace |
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| Mini Washington Monument |
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| Bridge on grounds of Washington's family home. |
Located close by was the grounds of Startford House, the family home of the Lees of Virginia. The Lees were a very influential family in Virginia, in fact two Lee brothers Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee were the only brother to sign the Declaration of Independance. This house is well known as the birthplace of Robert E Lee. Our tour guide seemed to enjoy telling us how promiscuous the Lee family was. The grounds were beautiful.
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| Cliffs over Potomac River at Stratford House |
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| Stratford House, aka Gen Robert Lee' s Birthplace |
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| Sue at Stratford House |
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Speaks for itself, LOL
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On our next excursion, we had a great day hiking at Westmoreland State Park. First we hiked a steep trail to Fossil Beach and back. It was a nice walk, the beach was very scenic. People do find many shark teeth here. We then decided to go on another trail, however, we saw one of three sets of stairs that went to the Beach Trail and decided to turn around and go to the snack shop for ice cream instead.
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| Westmoreland State Park Beach Trail |
Westmoreland State Park Fossil Beach
Caledon State Park, Virginia
Caledon was a beautiful park. We took a trail that was 2.5 miles long, one way. Beautiful trees, and a great view of the Potomac at the end.
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| Rookery at Caledon State Park |
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| Trail to Rookery Caledon State Park |
Colonial Beach was a surprise. Our campground is in the same town. It reminded me a lot of the town I grew up in, in New Jersey. They said they have a boardwalk, which was just a sidewalk on the beach, but the families hanging out and having fun together was very heartwarming, and reminded me of the many days we spent at our local beach. Great memories, both than and now.
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| Colonial Beach Pier |
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| Colonial Beach Pier |
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| Colonial Beach |
As our Virginia trip comes to an end, I have to say, it was a great trip. The first few days were rainy and we had no GPS or internet. Once the sun came out, and we switched service, there was so much to see. Three US presidents, and Robert E Lee, were all born within 30 miles of where we are.
We went to Fredrickson to James Monroes library and museum, we was very impressed with his accomplishments. History was never my subject, I wish I had payed closer attention. Our Founding Fathers were amazing.
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| James Madison's Birthplace |
Good Bye Virginia - New Jersey Here we Come.
We will be in Williamsburg in a couple of months.
