Antietam National Battlefield

A year and a half into the Civil War, Union victory was far from assured.  Confederate forces were fighting successfully in the Eastern Theater, mainly in Virginia.  After his victory at the Second Battle of Manassas (Bull Run), Gen Robert E Lee decided to move his army out of war torn Virginia.  On Sept 4, 1862, he led his over 40,000 confederates across the Potomas River and through the Maryland countryside to Frederick. 
The battle of Antietam, in Sharpsburg, MD broke out Sept 17, 1862, a battle that lasted 12 hours, involved 100,000 soldiers and left 23,000 dead, wounded or missing.
What struck us as we drove the battlefield, and its quite large, what was the purpose?  Unlike Gettysburg, there was no town, no high ground, just woods and cornfields and by all historical accounts neither side won.

Gettysburg

This is our second stop here.  We took the bus tour this time and with a guide on board (from Maine) we learned a lot more than the last time where we drove ourselves round the battleground.  The National Parks Service is in the long process of restoring the battleground to reflect what the 2 armies would have seen on the 3 day battle.  We were told that they have pictures and maps and will be able to re-create the park to within an "inch" of what is was those 3 days.  This is the 150th anniversary of the battle that took place July 1,2,3 1863.
Today we visited the home of Jenny Wade, the only civilian killed during the battle.  She was 20yrs old and was in her mother's home which was literally between the Union and Confederate soldiers that were firing at each other.  She had been making bread for the Union soldiers and providing water for them and was standing in the kitchen when a musket ball came through the front door, through a 2nd door, struck her just under the left rib cage and exited through her heart.  The holes are still in the doors. Many of the buildings in Gettysburg still have pot marks from rounds striking them.
Tomorrow we are going over to the Antietam Battlefield which was considered the worst battle from loss of life and wounded.
We will be out of here friday morning headed for Max Meadows, VA for a one night stay then onto Lexington, SC for a 2nd night and then back into Jekyll on Sunday.

Amish Country

We spent the day in Amish Country (Lancaster).  We took in the "Amish Experience" which included a van tour of the farm country, visiting a farm and hearing the history mostly about the Lancaster Amish.  There are 29 states and the providence of Quebec, Canada that have an Amish presence, and it seems that the traditions may vary some in each place, but they all do without electricty, motor vehicles, TV, computers, etc  etc.  The kids go to school until they are 16 then they have to make a decision as to joining the church or not. The Amish population doubled from the last census and 90% of the kids do join the church when it comes time to decide.  A second part of the tour was a typical Amish house and the final part was a short film on a young man making a decision on joining or not joining the church.  It was topped off with a typical Amish meal where you sat down with other patrons whom you may or may not know and pass the food around.  All in all a very interesting day.  We are going back to the same area tomorrow so that NJ can get some photos in.
Some interesting facts about Pennsylvania....
It is home to more than 58,105 farms.
It has 2,164 Christmas Tree farms, more than any other state.
Produces more than 465 million pounds of mushrooms per year, more than any other sate.
Produces 82 million pounds of pumpkins & 442 million pounds of apples.
Produces 1.2 billion gallons of milk & 71  million pounds of peaches.
Produces 7 billion eggs a year.
Each farmer in the state provides enough food and fiber to feed 144 people for a year.

Moving On

Well time has come for us to get back on the road.  We will leave here next Tuesday 9/3 and will head for Hershey, PA to the Hershey RV show and will join a number of other winter Jekyll members and will staff a booth that promotes the Jekyll Campground.  Looking forward to getting back into the Amish country and will check in for the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg.

We spent the summer in a workcamp situation, which means that you perform a set number of hours in exchange for your camping free.  But being newcomers to this program we got stuck with the housekeeping job that included cleaning 5 cabins and 3 rv's that they rent out and the bathroom/shower building.  We have come to discover the truly inconsideration that people have when leaving the condition of the bathrooms for someone else to clean.  Never again........

We did however get a chance to see old friends again and will be having a farwell campfire here at the rig this saturday eve with the Frasiers and Somers.

Not sure that we will return to Maine next summer as we are considering looking into various volunteer programs at various National Park locations that would include Glacer Natl Pk, Yosemeite (if its still standing), Yellowstone or Voyageuers Natl Park in Minnesota.

We are also going to Sacramento for Christmas and will get the chance to see the kids and grandkids.

Stay tuned as the blog will become more active starting next week.

The Erie Canal

We are in Walworth, NY with friends Sharron & Judy, fellow winter campers at Jekyll. There is access to a large amount of history in this area.  We have visited the home of Susan B Anthony, The Women's Rights National Historic Park, The Women's Hall of Fame & will be traveling to Niagura Falls (the Canadian side) on Friday.

Tonight we took a walk along the Erie Canal.  A little history....At the beginning of the 19th century, New Yorkers, led by Gov. De Witt Clinton, had the vision and conviction to build the Erie Canal, a 363 mile long waterway connecting the Hudson River at Albany with Lake Erie at Buffalo.  Opened in 1825, the Erie Canal provided the first all-water link between the Atlantic seaboard and the Great Lakes.  It quickly became the most successful and influential canal in North America.  Although its success sparked a canal building boom throughout the eastern US & Canada, the Erie remained preeminent.  It made New York the Empire State and confirmed New York City's status as the young nation's most prosperous and vibrant seaport.

Moving North

Just a short note to say that we are out of the Outer Banks, NC tomorrow morning & making our way to Fredericksburg, VA for our first stop on the way to Walworth, NY.  We will spend a few days with Judy & Sharon, our good friends from Jekyll.  We will also be stopping the 2nd night in Williamsport, PA, the home of the Little League World Series.

This has been an interesting stop with a lot of history, some good beaches for shelling, and wind, wind, wind, but I guess it makes sense that this is where the Wright Bros made their flight as one of the requirements for flight is wind.

We will be in Durham, ME around May 1.

Ocracoke Island, NC. - Rated as the #1 Beach in the US and we agree!

Ocracoke Island is another beautiful barrier island in NC that is owned by the US National Park Service (except for the village).  We caught the ferry from the south end of Hatteras Island at 11am for a 45 minute lazy ride on the ocean.  One thing we couldn't believe is that this ferry is run by the State of NC and is FREE! That includes both ways!  We were shocked that a ferry that takes a while to make the trip and employes at least 12 employees did not charge a penny.  Shocking in this day and time but very appreciated.

Of course, the first thing we had to visit was the light house which began operating in 1823.  It is the oldest lighthouse in NC and the second oldest in the nation.  Of course we all know which is the oldest - that would be Portland Head Light in ME.

An interesting fact I wasn't aware of or may have forgotten (probably forgotten) but there were dozens of US ships sunk off the coast of the barrier islands  during WWII by the Nazi subs.  Including a 170ft British ship named the HMS Bedfordshire which was sunk on May 11, 1942 losing all 37 souls.  Four of the British sailors washed up on the island and a plot of land was donated to England to bury the dead.  A ceremony is held every year to honor these fallen sailors and the cemetery is kept by the US Coast Guard stationed on the island.

Norma  enjoyed seeing five of the Ocracoke Ponies.  It's not know exactly how they arrived but the two theories are they were victims of early Spanish ships that sunk off the coast or were brought over during the 16th century by the British.  There are now 24 of  these horses on the island and are rotated in a 180 acre pasture area.  Interestingly the Ocracoke Ponies have distinctive physical characteristics including five lumbar vertebra instead of six found in most horses, 17 ribs instead of 18 and a unique shape, posture, color, size, and weight.

The 3rd and 4th pictures are of a single  Laughing Gull followed by a group saying goodby as we headed back to the Hatteras Island.  For you west coast readers you won't see these gulls unless you had east.  They have the odd name because when they began calling they do sound like a lot people of laughing.  No, really, I wouldn't make this up.

A wonderful day and we are both tired and a little sunburnt but we had a great day and hope to return someday..

From Kitty Hawk to the Moon in 66 years!

Visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kill Devil Hills, the actual site of the first 3 flights the borthers conducted.  Pretty amazing museum with a significant amout of coverage of important people in aviations history.  Interesting fact that it was only 66 years from the date of this flight to the first space exploration.

Hatteras Island RV Park

So, we have been on Hatteras Island, NC for several days and Norma says it is a photographer's dream.  It is very clean, owners are very friendly and highly recommend it if you are ever coming this way.  You will love the beach but most days do have some wind.

Cape Hatteras, NC Outer Barrier

We are currently in the Camp Hatteras Campground.  This is a huge facility and I can imagine its wall to wall rigs in the summer. 

A thin broken strand of islands curves out into the Atlantic Ocean and back again in a sheltering of North Carolina's mainland coast and offshore sounds.  For thousands of years these barrier islands - North Carolina's Outer Banks have survived onslaughts of wind and sea.  The long stretches of beach, sand dunes, marshes, and woodlands are set aside as Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

There are literally hundreds of "stilt" homes here from the beach to some ditance in.  This area just says "Mr. Hurricane, come get me".  This campround suffered major damage in 2011 from one.  You have to wonder why people build here.

There is however, many things to see and visit here.  We will be here until the 17th of April and may extend for another 8 days so will blog on the sights we visit.

Heading North (sorta)

So we get away yesterday headed for Aiken, SC where NJ is speaking at the local humane society.  Talk went very well and had a great Italian dinner with them.  We were able to dry camp on their property so that worked well. 

Well as we are leaving I notice a strand of rubber sticking out from one of the rig tires, the new one,by the way, that we got in Houston.  Yup theres a hole in the side wall near the tread line and the tire is down 10lbs.  So we call a local tire guy who says bring it over.  They take the spare and mount it on the rig wheel and put this tire on the spare wheel and it appears to be holding air so win-win at least from a temporary standpoint.  Appears it will work for any short distance we may need.  So finally out of Aiken 2.5 hours after we left the shelter.

So we're finally rolling and make it to the I95 which is packed with traffic with nearly all northern license plates going back north.  We get about 45 miles from the exit we need and traffic comes to a dead stop.  This has accident written all over it.  We crawled to an exit as we needed gas, got that taken care of & back on the 95 and traffic still packed, then we come upon the problem.  What is left of an 18 wheeler being loaded onto a flat bed.  OK so now we're back moving but we are still 25 miles out and I am just about to say to NJ "this day is not thru screwing with us" but I decide not to, then here comes a rock and hits the windshield and puts a chip high left on the drivers side.  Its enough chip that if we don't get it fixed it could start a crack.  NJ & Tammy (daughter) both have had fun in the past calling me Eyore and I have window stickers and a stuffed one inside & this was definately a Eyore day.

Onto Cape Hatteras tomorrow and will be there unti 4/17.  Looking forward to seeing some country we've not seen before.

End Of Season

Wow this season went so fast.  We are in the packing up phase and will be out of here monday morning and will be making a stop in Aiken, SC where NJ has been invited to do a talk on hoarding.  A member of the humane society there was in the campground this winter and heard her talk which ended up in the invitiation to speak there. 

Events this season included a trip to Disney in Orlando, tours of Cumberland and Saphello Islands.  A tour of the deep water port in Brunswick where thousands of cars come in and leave.  We also went to Ft. Jackson, SC and watched our granddaughter graduate from Army boot camp.

From here we are headed to Cape Hatteras, NC for 2 weeks and then a slow trek north.  We are going to try and hug the coast up through Delaware and avoid interstate driving.  Eventually we will end up in Durham, ME just across the 95 from Freeport at a KOA where we have a work/camp job for the summer.  We are looking forward to seeing old friends.

Will start blogging again as we make the trip.

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuse

We spent the day at the Okefenokee.  The name means "Land of the Trembling Earth".  It measures more than 1/2 million acres in size and was established in 1936 to protect migatory birds.  In 1937 350,000 acres of the refuge was given additional protection as a National Wilderness Area.  the refuge is home to hundreds of plant and animal species including the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker.

We are going to Columbia, SC on the 19th and will see Granddaughter Samara graduate from Army boot camp. Will spend a couple days with her before she heads off for further training.

The Jekyll Arts group is having their annual arts festival this weeekend and NJ has entered 5 pictures in the photography judging.

Time on Jekyll is rapidly coming to a close.  We leave here on April 1 and will head for South Carolina where NJ is going to give a presentation to a SPCA group in Aiken.  From there we head to the Outer Banks and will stay at Cape Hatteras for about 2 weeks before moving slowly back to Maine.  We are due back in Maine around May 1.

Jekyll & The Campground

It occurred to me that I have never said anything about where we are and what we do then it occurred to me that most of you probably don't really care but I blog on....
Jekyll Island is a barrier island off the coast of Georgia and near the city of Brunswick, reachable by the causeway and the Sidney Lanier Bridge (quite impressive).  The entire island is a state park but receives no money from the state so has to be self sufficient.  It is run by what is called the Jekyll Island Authroity (JIA).  The island was inhabited by the super wealthy from the east, mostly NYC, from the 1800's to the start of WW2.  This is where the dreaded Federal Reserve was born in secret.  A good short read about that is in "The Jackals of Jekyll".  Also the first transconnetial phone call was made from here.  The last ship carrying slaves (The Wanderer) landed on Jekyll and there are still decendants of that load living in vatious parts of Georgia.
   The average temps during the winter runs from 65 to 75 with very little rain.  It is also located in what is called the "bite" of Georgia which causes most major storms, hurricans and such to bypass and strike the Carolinas.  There is a small airport that handles small aircraft.  There are many private residences and 2 hotels and about to be 2 more that will support the large new convention center that opened last spring.
   There are 4 major beaches, Driftwood, The Dunes, St. Andrews and Hope.  We spend a great deal of time walking all of them and NJ collects shells and has amassed quite a collection.
   The campground is located at one end of the island and has a little over 200 spaces.  Around 130 of those are taken by "winter" guests and most are here from the end of October to April 1.  $525 a month gets you full hookups.  It is a "primitive" campground, i.e. no pavement and many live oak trees that surround the spaces, which all go in different directions.  The winter guests are made up of many northern tier states and many Canadians.
   There are numerous activites that are afforded the winter guests and are basically put together by a group called the activites committe.  One of the campers organizes outside tours.  There is a large tent in the middle of the camp and there is a potluck every monday night and usually includes a speaker of interest to the group.  There are also speakers that come that are separate from the monday dinner, i.e. Norma is doing a talk on "animal hoarding".  There is a book club, a group of ladies that like to sew, gather on what is called "stitch & chat (know to the men as stitch & bitch).  There is a weekly "men's coffee" meeting where all the world's ills are solved.  2 very large pancake breakfast's are done that are major fund rasiers and people come from off  island to attend.  The JIA has an association called the Jekyll Arts and they hold several functions that include a large art show, Norma won for a couple of her photos last year.  There are 3 golf courses, 2 18 hole championship and a 9 hole.  There are around 16 campers (men) that golf 2 times a week and a women's group that goes once a week.  There are 21 miles of bike trails and many of the campers are avid bikers.  We also have audio/visual capabilities to support speakers and we put on a super bowl party in the tent and show the game on a large screen. 
   Well that is a thumbnail sketch of what we do for 5 months out of the year.  Most of us will be out of here by April 1, as will we.  We are headed this year to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a couple weeks before starting the trek back to Maine.  This year we will be in Durham, near Freeport, and have a work camp job for the summer at the KOA.

Cumberland Island

We spent the day on Cumberland Island about a 45 minute ride by Ferry from St. Mary's Georgia.  Cumberland is a National Seashore, the largest and southernmost barrier island.  The National Park shelters 36,000 acres of pristine maritime forests, wild beaches, freshwater lakes and saltwater marshes, and over 9,800 acres of wilderness Congress protected under the 1964 Wilderness Act.  It also has numerous species of birds, wild hogs, aramdillos, 2 species of deer, bobcats & coyotes.  Revolutionary war hero Gen. Nathanael Green was granted land in 1783.  His widow Catherine Green built a four story tabby home and named it Dungeness.  The ruins of the home stand today.  Thomas Carnegie began building on the ruins in 1884.  The settlement was established for African American workers.  The Carnegie family built the mansion, Plum Orchard on the north end of the island and it still stands today and we were able to tour it.  The Carnegie family donated the island to the National Park Foundation in 1971.  Family members were able to negotiate terms to be able to live there for the remainder of their lives and several decendants still come there to vacation.