As we have wandered south we have been fortunate to have a series of friends who have kindly taken us in for periods ranging from 1 to 4 days, and who, in some cases, spend considerable time showing us the local sights.
We just spent a night in Fredericksburg, with Ellen and Jerry Stokes. This tale goes back to the days when Dan was working for SCA and went to the Flathead National Forest in Montana for a site visit and to look into a problem reported with one of the SCA College Program students.
The USFS person managing the SCA volunteers was Jerry Stokes, and Dan and he hit it off immediately. Being a Southern Gentleman, Jerry also invited Dan home for the night and imposed him on his household of Ellen and three small kids in Kalispell.
So when we told Jerry and Ellen we were passing though Virginia nothing would do but that we spend the night, despite them just having returned from a three-week trip to England a few days before!
Jerry and Ellen gave us a personalized walking tour of downtown Fredericksburg, and Jerry showed us what he considers to be the most important monument in the US: to the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, written by Thomas Jefferson.
There is a monument to Mary Washington, George’s mother, a small, very well-done museum to GW’s friend, Monroe, who had an office in what is now a small museum, and a farm across the Rappahanock where GW grew up.
Fredericksburg was of course the site of some of the really dreadful Civil War battles. We are essentially giving the Civil War sites a pass on this trip, both because neither of us is fascinated by it and also because once you start to visit the Civil War sites, it’s a lifetime’s occupation, so we’ll do it in another lifetime….
But the Colonial history is fascinating, so we’re off to Williamsburg!
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